Northern Kentucky University has a new leader for its award-winning Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Zac Strobl, formerly assistant director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and an NKU alumnus, has been tapped as the center’s next director, effective Jan. 1.
Strobl takes over for David Schneider, who has served in the role since January 2020. Schneider is stepping down to serve as the center’s entrepreneur-in-residence and will continue as a professor of practice in NKU’s Haile College of Business.
Schneider called Strobl’s appointment “so deserving.” A release said Strobl is a “proven leader who will continue to advance the real impact the center has on students, the university and the region.”
“I was a student entrepreneur at NKU, and I really gained an appreciation for the dedication of our faculty and staff," Strobl said in the statement. "They have invested in me, and now I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead."
Since arriving on campus more than a decade ago, Strobl has served in many roles at the center and the Haile College of Business, serving as lecturer teaching classes in entrepreneurship for the latter.
He is the program director and a co-founder of Inkubator, launched in 2011 as the university’s pre-seed stage, 12-week business accelerator program. Through that program, 35 businesses have been launched, creating 64 jobs. The Inkubator also has provided business consulting to 94 students and 50 different startup teams.
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, created in 2014 and housed in the Haile College of Business, is a hub for students pursuing innovation and entrepreneurial activities. The center on more than one occasion has been named among the best in world at launching and supporting student-led startup companies, an honor handed down by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
NKU is the Tri-State's third-largest university with an enrollment of more than 16,000.
