Gary Stark has resigned his position as executive director of the Indiana Information Technology Association Foundation to relocate to Connecticut. Stark raised $1 million during the past year to start an endowment for the foundation, which plans to award grants from the interest earned to combat the Digital Divide in the state.

The Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee of the Wyoming state legislature heard testimony last week encouraging the creation of two new initiatives to expand Wyoming's technology-based economic development efforts: a seed capital program and a technology incubator.

Katherine O'Dea has been named executive director of the Rhode Island Technology Council.

Rhode Island, like nearly every state in the country, is facing a projected budget deficit in FY 2004. To deal with a $175 million or 6.6 percent shortfall, 21 agencies are facing budget reductions in Governor Don Carcieri's first budget request to the Rhode Island General Assembly. However, demonstrating his commitment to "make strategic investments to promote job growth," Gov. Carcieri calls for increased support for several tech-based economic development initiatives.

Before ending its 2003 session, the Rhode Island legislature signed off on nearly all of the technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives at the core of Gov. Donald Carcieri's strategy to help the state rebound from the down economy. First outlined in his Feb. 4 State of the State Address (see the Feb.

The Rhode Island Economic Policy Council has named Jerry Schaufeld as director of the Samuel Slater Technology Fund.

Envirogen, Inc. cofounder Ronald Unterman will be the executive director of the newly created Slater Center for Marine & Environmental Technologies. The center was created through the merger of two existing Slater centers.

William Parsons is serving as acting executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. Parsons is the vice president of operations.

The Rhode Island Technology Council has appointed Katherine O'Dea as director of workforce development and JoAnn Johnson as manager of education partnerships.

Tom Schumpert, director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation for the past two years, is leaving to become executive director of the metro center of Roger Williams University in Providence. His responsibilities will include strengthening the university's relations with corporations and the community.

The Rhode Island Technology Council (RITEC) is launching a benchmarking survey this week of the state’s information technology (IT) industry to determine how the council and state economic development organizations can be most effective at addressing the sector’s needs in light of the continued restructuring of the national IT industry.

Joseph Hammang is leaving his position as director of science and technology at the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council to join the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, Inc.