Ms. Chase has 25+ years of broad expertise in the areas of economic and business development including; the design, start, and management of programs and organizations; evaluation and recommendations for rural communities, regions, and countries to activate entrepreneurial activity and innovation ecosystems; as a practitioner, policy maker; mentor and advisor for hundreds of companies and a founder and board member of several startup companies.
Thea has gained extensive experience working with communities to build on their unique qualities to create sustainable economies including internationally through systems change. Thea’s passion is working with entrepreneurs and building communities interested in engaging entrepreneurs through developing supportive ecosystems.
As a practitioner Thea has;
- Run an award-winning Business Incubator and Hub in Grand Junction, Co
- Founded a University based program including a student Accelerator, Community Incubator, and Small Business Development Center at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
- Managed a Seed Accelerator in Telluride, Co, and
- Built a regional ecosystem capacity and collaboration program to support the start and growth of innovation-based SMEs in Western Colorado.
As a subject matter expert Thea;
- Is a regular presenter for the InBIA Entrepreneurship Center Management (ECM) courses, https://inbia.org/ecm/, including delivering all 4 modules along with a colleague, at the recent international conference in Detroit, MI, for the American Council for International Education and in the Middle East.
- Co-developed the Digital Trust tool for evaluation of Entrepreneurship platform best practices (Incubators, Accelerators, Coworking spaces) used internationally in collaboration with PwC.
- Serves as Chair of the Colorado Venture Capital Authority with ~60M under management.
Thea believes in collaboration and efficient use of resources to build the greatest impact and has worked extensively with diverse groups of stakeholders to drive successful projects. Chase’s expertise has awarded her the opportunity to perform international consulting work in the West Indies, Asia, and the Middle East, aiding developing economies and catalyzing their economic growth through entrepreneurship.