Quentin Ortega, executive director of the Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneur Network (ITEN), is stepping down from his role as he shifts back to a position he previously held with the entrepreneur support organization.
Ortega will transition from ITEN’s executive director to an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), effective Tuesday. Ortega previously was an EIR with ITEN before taking on the executive director role in May 2021, replacing Mary Louise Helbig.
Founded in 2008, ITEN is part of Lindenwood University and supports tech entrepreneurs and helps them launch new companies through educational programs, events, mentoring and partnerships. ITEN and Lindenwood in May 2020 joined together.
"Quentin Ortega has been a strong leader and resource for ITEN and Lindenwood University during his time as the ITEN director,” said Molly Hudgins, dean of Lindenwood’s Plaster College of Business and Entrepreneurship. “He helped build a foundation to move ITEN into the future and to continue to help Lindenwood grow its entrepreneurial culture for its campus community. We are thankful that he will still be available to support founders through his role as an EIR.”
Ortega said his decision to depart the executive director role will help him devote more time to his business ventures, which include RMQ Equity, a multifamily investment firm, and QCO Consulting, a firm he founded that provides strategic consulting and executive coaching to companies.
“I’m excited to be in a position where I can spend more time with my ventures and ramp them up even more, but at the same time, still contribute to ITEN,” Ortega said. “I still believe in the mission, as I always have. I think they do very important work for the ST. Louis ecosystem and really in that early stage space that no one else is really doing a ton of work in. I’m excited for the future of ITEN.”
ITEN said it will examine the “long-term and short term needs” of the organization and Lindenwood before it begins the hiring process for Ortega’s replacement. It said it expects to have a job posting for the role in the near term.
