A Northern Kentucky organization designed to boost entrepreneurship has its next executive director, pulling a familiar face from within Greater Cincinnati's startup community.
On Monday, Blue North announced Dave Knox will lead the organization. He fills a role that's been vacant since founding executive director Brit Fitzpatrick left in May 2021.
Knox is a well-known player in Cincinnati's startup space, having launched the local office of marketing firm Rockfish in 2010. He also co-founded startup accelerator Brandery. And more recently, he's been co-founder and managing partner of seed venture firm Vine Street Ventures and an independent marketing, strategy and business development adviser for Predicting the Turn.
“In Dave Knox we found a leader who experienced every seat around the entrepreneur table,” Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann, who chairs Blue North, said in a statement. “He's been an investor, mentor, adviser, board member, corporate executive and entrepreneur. Through this diverse background, I'm confident that Dave Knox will be the leader we need to galvanize our entrepreneurship community and take Blue North and Northern Kentucky to the next level.”
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.
