Native San Antonian Amanda Keammerer has been named the first-ever managing director of the gener8tor Cybersecurity Accelerator, a 12-week program held twice a year in partnership with startup accelerator and coworking space Geekdom to bolster local cybersecurity startups.
Keammerer has spent 14 years in program management, stakeholder engagement and public policy. She is the founder and CEO of cybersecurity-focused Javilud LLC, a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a nationally recognized LatinX NextGen Leader in national security and foreign policy. Previously, she served as executive director for the South Texas Association for International relations and an author and chief inspiration officer for Cyberdillo.
In her new role with gener8tor in collaboration with Geekdom, Keammerer will be the liaison between San Antonio's local startup ecosystem and gener8tor's broader programming. Keammerer said she plans to "harness the power of the cyber ecosystem right here in my hometown."
Charles Woodin, CEO of Geekdom, said Keammerer's experience is ideally suited to create more local, scalable cybersecurity solutions alongside other Alamo City success stories like Jungle Disk, the Denim Group and SecureLogix.
Geekdom announced the inaugural gener8tor Cybersecurity Accelerator, led by Wisconsin-based accelerator gener8tor Management LLC, last November and the first cohort will be hosted later this year in Geekdom's downtown San Antonio office. It is currently accepting applications.
Two more cohorts will follow in 2023 and two in 2024, with 25 startups in three years selected through a competitive application process.
The gener8tor Cybersecurity Accelerator is designed to connect high-growth cybersecurity technology startups with resources, mentoring and capital — with gener8tor investing $100,000 in five different startups in each accelerator cohort.
gener8tor is a Madison-based startup accelerator that invests in high-growth startups and offers mentors, corporate partners, angel investors, venture capitalists and technologists to startups in more than 35 communities nationwide.
Troy Vosseller, co-founder of gener8tor, started the company in 2012 as a venture capital fund focused on startup accelerator initiatives. As of the end of 2021, it had operated 40 different accelerator programs across 29 cities, 16 states and provinces and three countries. It had also connected 750 startups with funding while adding jobs to local tech ecosystems.
