A key executive with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce is heading back to higher education in the Triad.
Lou Anne Flanders-Stec, who has been the executive vice president of entrepreneurship at the Greensboro Chamber since 2016, will join Guilford College as the senior executive director for innovation and engagement. She will begin her new role July 1.
Overseeing Launch Greensboro’s entrepreneurship and small business programs, Flanders-Stec has worked extensively with Triad entrepreneurs and helped to build the local entrepreneurial support ecosystem. Launch Greensboro is the largest innovation and entrepreneurial support organization in the Triad, having helped 370 startups between September 2021 and September 2022, according to TBJ research.
In 2018, she helped launch First Launch Capital Fund, a seed-stage venture fund focused on the Triad. She hopes to stay involved as a fund executive.
Flanders-Stec has also worked with the Piedmont Angel Network and the United Way of Greater Greensboro.
“We are excited to welcome Lou Anne to the Guilford team,” said President Kyle Farmbry. “She has deep experience working on strategic initiatives in a range of organizations, including in academia, and she understands building engagement and growing revenue. She has a big-picture view of organizations, having worked at all levels.”
Joining Guilford College comes full-circle for Flanders-Stec. Prior to her position with the chamber, Flanders-Stec led the entrepreneurship centers at High Point University and at the City University of New York.
At Guilford, Flanders-Stec will assist with the implementation of the college’s new strategic plan, called Envisioning Guilford College 2027. The plan is designed to enhance the student experience, position the college as an anchor institution and establish mutually beneficial partnerships.
Guilford College has been in a rebuilding phase since Farmbry was appointed president in early 2022. The college, which is the eighth-largest in the Triad with an enrollment of 1,167, had faced years of leadership changes and financial uncertainty.
In addition, Flanders-Stec will help Guilford College develop new revenue streams; assist in new program development and in rebuilding the continuing education program; oversee the development of new marketing strategies; and improve business processes.
“It is truly a strategic look at how to better engage innovation opportunities on campus and with city, state, national and global partners to develop new revenue streams for the college and to look at how to fully execute the president’s strategic plan,” Flanders-Stec said of her new position.
After seven years of building successful programs, Flanders-Stec told TBJ that it felt like the right time to move on to a new challenge and let fresh ideas into the entrepreneurship arm of the Greensboro Chamber.
“I was truly intrigued and excited about the strategic work that’s being put in place at Guilford. I missed academia, as crazy as that sounds,” she said. “I am really excited about an opportunity to have a long-range impact on such a long-standing institution in our community.”
Flanders-Stec said that the Greensboro Chamber is now looking to hire her replacement. Since early 2022, Kaitlin Conover has served as the director of Launch Greensboro’s programming.
Flanders-Stec has been honored several times by the Triad Business Journal, including as a Power Player and a Women in Business honoree.
She has served on the advisory boards for the Eastern Musical Festival, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elon University, Elon Law and Greensboro College.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Flanders-Stec received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ouachita Baptist University and an MBA from the University of North Texas.
