Karl Puckett
The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, S.C.)
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) As Karl Puckett reports, “Jess O’Brien, the new executive director of the Beaufort Digital Corridor, is spearheading new hiring and fundraising efforts as the initiative to nurture technology start-ups relaunches its efforts in the wake of COVID-19.”
Hilton Head
Started in 2018, the downtown Beaufort-based not-for-profit works to attract and mentor tech startup companies with the goal of creating high-paying jobs that attract young professionals to town.
O’Brien, who has worked for startups, brings first-hand experience to the job. The 2011 University of Georgia graduate, who studied advertising, also is from the right demographic.
“I’m very passionate about the economic development portion and being able to provide high-paying jobs for young adults and grow the economy, because I am one,” 32-year-old O’Brien said.
O’Brien replaces Nicie Phillips. She’s Digital Corridor’s fourth director. She began work May 3.
Her hiring comes as the organization plans to intensify fundraising and marketing efforts, relaunch services quelled by COVID-19 and hire a manager who will focus on cybersecurity startups, a timely move in the wake of the attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which was compromised earlier this month causing gas shortages and long lines at fuel stations.
“Really it is a whole incubator program to help these businesses thrive,” O’Brien said of the BDC’s purpose from her office at 500 Carteret St. earlier this month.
Through the program, members can get access to capital, mentors and office and conference space which they lease at the Digital Corridor’s BASEcamp.
Space can be rented on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The not-for-profit relies on those fees, grants and regular funding from the city of Beaufort.
The city has allocated $90,000 for the program in its 2022 budget.
As executive director, a big part of O’Brien’s job will be fundraising.
The idea for tech startup assistance came in 2015 in the face of bleak wage numbers and census data showing young residents fleeing Beaufort.
It points to Nate Schaub as one of its early successes.
In September 2020, a company owned in part by Schaub, a member of the BDC, was acquired by a publicly-traded performance marketing company that helps brands expand reach and acquire new customers.
Schaub originally moved his company, MINDFLINT, to Beaufort in 2018 when he became part of the BDC.
Tech entrepreneur Gary Lang, owner of Breakwater Restaurant, is going through the BDC incubation process and is close to launching his product and hiring his first two employees, O’Brien said.
Services ramping up again
Mayor Stephen Murray, who serves on the BDC board of directors, says some of BDC’s services were shelved during the COVID-19 pandemic but with the disease on the decline and the hiring of O’Brien they are ramping up again,.
Networking events in which tech entrepreneurs exchange ideas are returning along with “coding camps” for adults interested in app or web design and video game design classes for students.
Murray says O’Brien brings the right energy and background to the job especially with her marketing skills.
O’Brien and her husband, Danny O’Brien, visited the city five years prior to moving here. They loved its location on the coast, charm, easy walking and friendliness.
But they ended up in Charleston because of the lack of jobs.
Both worked at ClickGiant, a digital marketing agency.
They eventually made the move to Beaufort in 2017.
The BDC began advertising last week for a cybersecurity project manager who will work specifically on cybersecurity startups.
In April, the South Coast Cyber Center, a partnership between local colleges, the City of Beaufort and economic development groups, received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department.
The initiative is aimed at training Lowcountry students in the growing cybersecurity field and luring technology firms
A portion of the money also will be used by the Digital Corridor to offer cybersecurity mentoring for businesses and teach related skills.
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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
