The longtime leader of a local accelerator group and a pivotal player in the Cincinnati startup ecosystem has been hired for a new role with one of the region’s largest universities.
Bill Tucker, who retired in June 2022 after more than a decade leading Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, an accelerator, coaching and startup consulting group, has accepted a position at Miami University. He is now serving as associate director of community engagement and external relations in the John W. Altman Institute of Entrepreneurship, part of Miami’s Farmer School of Business, effective Oct. 3.
The full-time role involves engaging Miami alumni and startup ecosystem professionals around the country, part of Miami's push, Tucker said, to be the top-ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the country and globally.
It currently ranks No. 1 in Ohio, No. 3 in the Midwest and No. 9 globally in that category, according to Entrepreneur Magazine and the Princeton Review.
“I'm excited about collaborating with Miami alumni who have excelled as entrepreneurs and business leaders,” Tucker told Cincy Inno. “Miami alumni are the ‘secret sauce’ that have elevated Miami to No. 1 in Ohio, No. 3 in the Midwest, and No. 9 globally for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs.”
Tucker joined Flywheel as part of his second act, following a career in printing, lastly serving as executive VP of sales at Berman/TouchPoint Print Solutions.
He helped launch Flywheel in 2011, and the concept received backing from some the biggest names in Cincinnati: The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, the Manuel D. & Rhoda Mayerson Foundation, U.S. Bank, Interact for Health and Scripps, among others.
The idea was to create a “hub” for social entrepreneurship, or building businesses set up to address social issues through the products or services they sell and/or the people they hire.
Flywheel had maintained multiple ties with Miami. In 2019, it created the Social Impact Fund in partnership with the university, an undergraduate-led risk capital investment fund considered one of the first of its kind in the country.
Tucker has also served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Miami since 2020.
The new role is a “graduation” of sorts, said Tim Holcomb, professor, department of entrepreneurship chair, and director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship.
“Bill has had a tremendous impact on the startup and social enterprise ecosystem across Greater Cincinnati for more than a decade,” Holcomb said. “I couldn’t be more excited for our students, faculty and staff, alumni and the broader ecosystem as we continue to prepare tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders to be ‘job ready, day one.’”
Holcomb said Miamian-founded and/or Miamian-led startups have raised a combined $10.6 billion in venture capital and growth and private equity in 2021-2022, including 16 companies that closed rounds of at least $50 million. Those companies have had a $1.1 billion impact to Ohio’s economy, he added.
Miami ranks as the second-largest university in Greater Cincinnati with an enrollment of 22,000, according to Business Courier research.
