Claire England, the long-time executive director of Central Texas Angel Network, is stepping down from her role to pursue other unnamed opportunities.
“After almost five years with CTAN, I’m excited to delve into new opportunities and challenges," she said in a statement. "Although I do not plan to announce my next move at this time, I expect to remain engaged in the Austin ecosystem and continue to put my energy and efforts into entrepreneurship and startup investing."
England has led CTAN for about five years, making her easily the longest-tenured leader CTAN has had since its founding. She told Inno that she has accepted a few contract gigs that involve travel, and that she is taking time to explore several local opportunities. But we'll have to wait to see what those may be.
England said she had committed to staying with CTAN for a year after finishing a Kauffman Fellows program -- and she felt now was the right time to leave as CTAN opens its next chapter. She noted that she will assist CTAN during the transition.
“There are so many new initiatives that they’re undertaking that would be ideally owned by a new director with a commitment to stay there," she said.
CTAN Board Chair John Paulos told Inno that CTAN will start a search process for a replacement that will probably take a couple months.
"We are a member-led organization, and we have one other full-time staff person (Claire Hansen, our Investment Associate)," he said via email. "Between Claire Hansen and the Board we will cover the Executive Director role until we have a replacement in place."
England's departure seems to mark the end of a big chapter for the angel investing organization. She joined CTAN in 2014 and helped lead the organization to become the most active angel network in the nation -- as well as streamlining how the organization sources deals and elevating its prominence throughout the state. It has invested more than $108 million across 174 companies since its founding in 2006.
“Under Claire’s leadership, CTAN has grown to be universally regarded as a national model of best practices for angel groups,” Paulos said.
England is a graduate of Kauffman Fellows and received the program’s leadership award. She's also an LP in the Kauffman Fellows Fund and is on the board of advisors at St. Edward’s University’s Bill Munday School of Business; on the Austin Chamber’s Capital Committee; and has mentored a ton of startups at local accelerators and entrepreneurship programs.
“I think this is good for all of us and I remain a huge fan of CTAN," England said. "It’s bittersweet.”
