Two MBIA members to join Virginia officials in panel discussion on business incubation

06/22/04

Two MBIA Members to Join Virginia Officials in Panel Discussion on Business Incubation

Lansinger and Hemmerly to Present Incubation Best Practices at VBIA Conference

BALTIMORE, MD (June 22, 2004) - The Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) (www.mdbusinessincubation.org) is pleased to announce that two of its members today will speak at the Virginia Business Incubation Association's (VBIA) Annual Conference. Ann Lansinger, president of the MBIA and executive director of the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) in Baltimore, and Ellen Hemmerly , executive director of techcenter@UMBC at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), will be part of a panel discussion during the conference, "Success in Changing Times," in Herndon, Va.

Lansinger and Hemmerly will be part of a joint panel of representatives from the MBIA and VBIA who will discuss current issues and best practices in incubation. They will present details of how Maryland incubators collaborate to share resources and ideas through the MBIA, which was formed in 2001. In addition, Lansinger will discuss a provisional program at the ETC, which counsels companies to prepare them for business and entering the incubator. Hemmerly will present details about the techcenter's relationship with UMBC, as an example of a successful incubator and university partnership. They will be joined by VBIA members Russell Combs of the Winchester Incubation Regional Enterprise and Lisa Ison of New Century Venture Center. The moderator for this event is Lisa S. Smith of BioAccelerator of Fairfax County.

Lansinger is executive director of the ETC, a venture of the Baltimore Development Corporation and a network of three technology incubators totaling 123,000 square feet of office and wet lab space in Baltimore. She has extensive experience in the technology incubation industry, instituting a program of technology commercialization and venture creation at the ETC and working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and several universities in and around Baltimore.

Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corp., oversees UMBC's 350,000-square-foot bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, its 165,000-square-foot incubator and emerging technology center, and the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. She also is immediate past president of the Association of University Research Parks. Prior to joining UMBC, Hemmerly was a vice president at the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) serving as its senior lender and director of the Enterprise Development Fund, the City's venture capital fund.

The VBIA Annual Conference is designed for local and regional economic developers, chamber of commerce officials, business assistance providers, industrial development authority members, planning district commission staff, county and city administrators, and business incubator staff and board members. The conference is being held June 22, 2004 and June 23, 2004 at the Days Hotel & Conference Center in Herndon, Va.

The Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA), a private, professional organization, is comprised of managers supervising existing and active business incubators in the State of Maryland. MBIA's missions are to serve as a united voice for the advancement of business incubation in Maryland and to maintain the growth and viability of business incubation through shared best practices and resources. In 2005, MBIA will host the National Business Incubation Association International Conference, which will take place in Baltimore from May 14, 2005 to May 17, 2005, and will attract approximately 600 visitors from as many as 45 countries. For more information on the MBIA, NBIA 2005 or for a list of the MBIA's members, please visit www.mdbusinessincubation.org.