A Northern Kentucky startup and small business group is on the hunt for a new leader following the exit of its inaugural executive director.
Covington-based Blue North, a spinout of Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, is looking for a new executive director, per a job posting on its website.
The hire would succeed Brit Fitzpatrick, the organization’s founding executive director. Fitzpatrick left the organization last year and is currently in Louisville serving as chief of staff for New York-based software startup Stark.
Fitzpatrick served as the director of entrepreneurship for Tri-ED before taking on the Blue North post. She founded tech startup, MentorMe, in 2013 and had led communities for entrepreneurs in Tennessee and Louisville. She was a 2020 Cincinnati Business Courier “Women Who Mean Business” honoree.
Blue North is a community for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The nonprofit offers a suite of in-house services and programs, including one-on-one counseling for entrepreneurs, and serves an eight-county region, including Kenton, Campbell, Boone, Grant, Gallatin, Owen, Carroll and Pendleton.
Blue North initially launched in 2019 under Northern Kentucky Tri-ED before spinning out as its own entity in July 2020. At the time Lee Crume, CEO of Tri-ED, said the separation gave the entrepreneurial community more ownership of the organization, rather than it being a Tri-ED initiative.
Blue North is currently funded by a grant from the commonwealth of Kentucky.
