Last week’s news that Monique Kuykendoll Quarterman was stepping down from her position may have come as a bit of surprise to the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Since 2022, Quarterman has served as the executive director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (KY Innovation) at the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
In her role, she has been one of the most well traveled Kentuckians, going from “Paducah to Pikeville” as she says with regularity to help promote the activity that have been happening in the commonwealth’s six innovation hubs.
When the news broke of Quarterman leaving to take on a new role as the president and CEO of The Enterprise Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I received statements from several people talking about the impact she has made on the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem — and Kentucky in general.
I did not, though, hear from Quarterman herself, though, until early on Friday morning via email.
She provided two statements, one about her time at KY Innovation and one about the next chapter in her career, which will begin on July 15.
“It has been the apex of my career serving Kentucky in this role, and I am tremendously grateful to the Cabinet, KY Innovation, and the administration,” Quarterman said in the statement to Business First. “I am also proud that we, as a team, made historic advancements that will benefit Kentuckians for generations.”
She went on to provide a few reasons for why this was the right time to pursue a new opportunity.
“First, Kentucky has developed a wellspring of innovation leaders, all capable of bringing vision and energy to this service — we must give them the opportunity to fly right here at home and I am blessed to have found that chance myself in Kentucky,” Quarterman said in the statement.
“Chattanooga is a city that prides itself in leveraging civic innovation, community, and a remarkable technology infrastructure to improve lives. They lead the nation in this work, and I am honored to join the team. Personally, I’ve recently transitioned away from being a caregiver, and so I’ll be living much closer to my extended family in the South.”
One thing to note about Chattanooga is that it is known as the “Gig City” after it earned the distinction of being the first U.S. city to offer community-wide fiber optic capability of one gigabit Internet speeds in 2010. Five years later, 10 gigabit connectivity was available for residential use.
When I went to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in July 2023 for a cover story on that city’s growing tech presence, John Stupp III, the president at Stupp Fiber, talked about how he was in the process of building a similar 10-gig community in Bowling Green.
Stupp also mentioned how Chattanooga was the closest city from there to offer that capability — and had established itself as a model to follow for other cities with similar aspirations.
Other things to note: Quarterman lived in Louisville (and earned two degrees from the University of Louisville), which has other ties to her new city. For one, both are river towns (the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, in this case). For another, the Louisville Bats are the AAA affiliate of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. Cincy's AA team? Yep, that would be the Chattanooga Lookouts.
