Bob Stolle is stepping down from his role as president and CEO of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp., a state-created nonprofit that serves as an economic development driver for the commonwealth's tech sector.
Stolle has been with the VIPC and its predecessor organization, the Center for Innovative Technology, for 13 years, serving as CEO for the last three.
Joseph Benevento, Virginia’s deputy secretary of commerce and trade, will become VIPC’s interim CEO this month, and Stolle will stay on as an adviser through at least the end of October. The VIPC board, led by Chair Barbara Boyan, the director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s engineering and medicine institute, will oversee the search for a permanent CEO.
During his tenure as CEO, Stolle is credited with consolidating several innovation and entrepreneurship programs within the VIPC, including combining two legacy funds: the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund and the Virginia Research Innovation Fund. That created the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund, which has backed hundreds of Virginia-based companies with state grant money, including dozens from the Richmond area.
"Under Bob's leadership, VIPC has forged a series of integrated programs to help entrepreneurs bring their technologies to commercialization, whether the technology originates in one of Virginia's academic institutions or in the private sector,” Boyan said in a statement. “As an entrepreneur myself, I know that these programs make a real difference in the success of our emerging and growing tech enterprise.”
Stolle was previously state secretary of commerce and trade under Gov. George Allen and was senior vice president of operations at VIPC before taking the chief exec role.
Stolle told Virginia Business his decision to step down is not a retirement, but that he has yet to determine his next steps.
“VIPC has a staff of exceptionally talented and experienced professionals," Stolle said in a statement. "I’m very proud of where we are as a team, but I believe this is a good time to pass the baton to the next generation of leadership for innovation in Virginia."
