After nearly a decade of being run by volunteer board members, Minnestar, a nonprofit organization supporting local tech startups, is getting its first full-time director.
Maria Ploessl, formerly campus director for the coding school Iron Yard, was named Minnestar's first executive director, the organization announced Friday. In her new role, Ploessl said she will focus on supporting Minnestar's core events (like Minnebar and Minnedemo) while growing through new efforts and connections.
"I'm really, really excited to partner with the Twin Cities technology community," Ploessl said. "There's so many incredible events going on, and Minnestar has always been a nexus for that."
Ploessl has more than a decade of experience working in the nonprofit and education sectors. Before her stint with Iron Yard, she served as program manager for City Year Boston, and was an educator in Minneapolis Public Schools.
Ploessl said that she first started connecting with the Twin Cities tech community when she was the campus director for Iron Yard. After Iron Yard's Golden Valley campus closed its doors earlier this year, Ploessl said that she wanted to remain involved with the community.
Minnestar's 11 board members began the search for an executive director earlier this summer. In her new role Ploessl said she hopes to focus on "strategic and operational" duties to alleviate these volunteer board members.
"There's a lot of really good momentum from all aspects of the tech sector, but there's also a lot of ways we can do better," Ploessl said. "There's such an opportunity for doing good and growing the community here. The possibilities are endless."
---------- CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story stated that Ploessl was a teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools. She worked with English Learning Learner students, but was not a teacher.
