MIT Entrepreneurship Center Under New Management

When you see the word “acting” before someone’s title you often immediately begin to wonder who is being considered to fill the position long-term. Every once in a while, though, it becomes clear that the best person for the job was there all along.

Former acting managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, William K. Aulet, has proven there is no need to look elsewhere for a de jure holder of his position. Just days ago, “acting” was dropped from Aulet’s title as he officially assumed the role of managing director of the Center. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/aAzXAr)

“With his depth of experience and dedication to entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet will be a great asset to the Center as it continues to develop and support MIT’s many entrepreneurial programs and activities,” David Schmittlein, dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, said about Aulet.

For several years Aulet has served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Center where he teaches classes and assists students with start-up companies. In all, Aulet has 25 years of experience in “institutional financing via private placements and public offerings.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Harvard University, Aulet went on to get a master’s from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Aultet then dedicated eleven years to IBM before leaving to found two Cambridge companies: Decision Dynamics and SensAble Technologies. SensAble Technologies was twice rated a “500 Fastest Growing Private Company” by Inc. Magazine. The company also gained attention from Fortune Magazine, BusinessWeek, and The Wall Street Journal.

More recently, Aulet served as Chief Financial Officer at Vissage Technology. While in this position, Aulet instituted policies that revitalized the company, which had been losing $2.4 million each quarter before his arrival. When Aulet left Vissage after two and a half years, the company’s market value had increased from about $50 million to over $500 million. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/9snmla)

Edward Roberts, founder and chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, expressed that, “Aulet brings a wonderful combination of practical experience, enthusiastic and effective teaching and mentoring, and a host of new ambitious ideas to entrepreneurship at MIT.”

After seeing only a summary of Aulet’s credentials, it’s easy to see why the Center decided to look no further for its managing director. I’m sure Aulet is already coming up with many ideas to lead the Center to new successes.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/9snmla, http://bit.ly/9SGHNp]

BWP Puts $38 Million Back into Your Pocket

As the job market is beginning to look slightly brighter, stories of organizations doing more than their fair share to create new positions are surfacing faster than ever. Recently, the Boston World Partnerships (BWP), a nonprofit organization founded by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, celebrated its one year anniversary. (Image courtesy:http://bit.ly/ahgHyK)

“The information that they bring forward to me is astounding,” said Menino about the BWP’s progress report. In just its first year of operations, the organization was responsible for creating over 200 new jobs in Boston with salaries averaging to $70,000. Additionally, the BWP takes credit for preventing the loss of an additional 115 Boston-area jobs. Altogether, this translates into an extra $38 million dollars entering the Massachusetts’ economy from the BWP’s efforts alone.

“I wish some people in other positions in the government understood that creating jobs is the best way to move the economy, and that’s what BWP does,” Menino explained.

According to its homepage, the BWP’s goal is to “raise global awareness of Boston as one of the world’s foremost centers of intellectual capital and innovation.” Essentially, the BWP serves as a networking organization with hundreds of thousands of connections. The BWP describes itself as “similar to an alumni organization” in this way. New connections are generated naturally via word-of-mouth and also by BWP employees who work fulltime at cultivating new leads.

Ultimately, the BWP serves to publicize “Boston’s economic opportunities and assets,” so that entrepreneurs and investors from outside of the city will realize its appeal. Ideally, these connections from outside of the city will then choose to locate their companies in Boston, open a Boston branch, or tap into the expertise offered by the city in some other mutually beneficial manner.

Mark Maloney, former Boston Chief Economic Development Officer and current director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, serves as president of the BWP. “I am truly an entrepreneur... But as an entrepreneur, I like to work one on one with people who are sparking my imagination and my creative spirit,” Maloney said in regards to his motivation for working at the BWP.

Looking towards the future, the BWP hopes to open its first international chapter in Dublin, Ireland later this year. According to representatives of the BWP, the U.S. State Department has been encouraging the formation of this branch because “the business cycle is down” in Ireland and the country has a “strong connection to the Boston area.” This new chapter will be only one of the six or seven international chapters the BWP intends to open within the next couple of years. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/cY2oQI)

In addition to generating new Boston-area jobs, the new chapters the BWP plans to open abroad will augment the organization’s success in fostering diversity in the city. In 2009, “Color Magazine” awarded the BWP an “All Inclusive Award as Boston’s most significant Change Agent organization.” This honor came shortly after the BWP signed The Commonwealth Compact, declaring its commitment to setting goals to work towards increasing diversity via its practices.

It is stunning that the BWP has managed to rise to such a level of success inside of a year. If all goes well, it stands to reason that as the organization’s number of connections grows further, its success will increase exponentially. Cleary, the BWP will be worth keeping an eye on over the next few years.

[Sources: http://bit.ly/SPkT, http://bit.ly/bBQZex]

UMass Online Says: "No Degree Required to be our CTO"

Technology is becoming increasingly significant in academia. The expanding use of such devices as Smartboards, which are essentially high-tech whiteboards that allow professors to access the Internet, documents, and videos, emphasizes that a working knowledge of technology is more than ever a requirement of being an effective teacher. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/bnWsM9)

UMassOnline, the online learning consortium of the University of Massachusetts, recently appointed Patrick Jay Masson as its Chief Technology Officer. Previously, Mason held the position of Chief Information Officer at State University of New York (SUNY). Masson brings with him a strong history of hands-on experience in information technology, specifically in regards to the education, research, and healthcare industries.

“He, like all of us on the team, believes we can build on our commitment to learner and faculty success through the use of a variety of technologies that serve as catalysts that enhance access and improve learning experiences and outcomes,” said UMass Online’s CEO, Dr. Ken Udas, about Masson.

It is particularly impressive that Masson has risen to several executive technology positions in his career when considering that he has no formal schooling in Information Technology. Mason holds only a BS in Environmental Design from the University of California. Presently he is working towards a MA in Management and Policy at State University of New York’s Empire State College to augment his experience.

“UMassOnline is one of the leading few in online education which clearly appreciates technology’s impact on higher education, particularly in support of the institutions’ mission to exte nd access while advancing teaching and learning outcomes,“ said Masson when accepting his new position. (Image courtesy of: http://www.umassonline.net/)

UMassOnline’s formal mission is to “enable students, professionals, and lifelong learners to receive the highest quality of education offered by UMass systems, anywhere, anytime.” The online college offers 90 different degree and certificate programs and more than 1500 online courses.

Masson seems to be the ideal candidate to spearhead UMassOnline’s efforts to fully embrace new technologies. With Masson on its team, UMassOnline is sure to cement its position as a frontrunner in exploring the educational applications of developing technologies.

[Source: http://bit.ly/aOYZgj, http://www.umassonline.net/]

Microsoft Survey Says 10% Work from Bathrooms

Even new technologies, such as smart phones and high-speed internet access, which make staying connected a nonissue, have not managed to quell the debate over telecommuting verses working in a traditional office. Recently, a survey commissioned by Microsoft Corp. and conducted by 7th Sense Research set out to examine several key points of the concept by polling 3,600 employees in 36 cities across the country. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/dr1p6p)

Over 70% of survey respondents reported that they “were more productive when working from home.” Some common support respondents offered for their position that they have “fewer distractions” at home, the “home atmosphere is quieter,” and that there is a “lower stress level” at home. This positive outlook on telecommuting meshed with a 2008 survey conducted by Telework, which found that almost 40% of respondents said they would be willing to accept a “maximum 10% pay cut to work from home.”

In Microsoft’s survey, proponents of working from home cited “achieving work/home balance, saving on gasoline, and avoiding long commutes” as key reasons why they support the concept. Of all the places to work while outside of the office, family vacation spots ranked number one. Coffee shops and doctor’s offices where also popular work locations. The fact that nearly 10% of respondents reported working at home from bathrooms was mildly disconcerting.

Despite the fact that many workers embrace working from home in hopes of improving their work/life balance, several professionals caution that this may not be the outcome. Jayne Nanavaty-Dahl, manager of IBM Corporations’ group for work-at-home employees, stressed how easy it is for telecommuters to end up spending more time on work-related activities when not on the clock. “We make sure our employees know that at the end of their scheduled work day, they can stop working,” Nanavaty-Dahl explained.

Although the survey showed that support for working from home was strong, just under 60% of respondents reported that their company does not have “a formal policy permitting them to work remotely.” Furthermore, of the employees that do have the opportunity to work from home, only a third reported actually doing so. A common reason respondents cited for not telecommuting was the decrease in “face-to-face interaction with colleagues.”

“Being there in person, that's how relationships are established,” Leslie Truex, author of The Work at Home Success Bible, explained. “Sometimes if those relationships lapse, you are not being effective, or productive, anymore.”

Taking an opposing viewpoint, Marty Cassidy, an executive monitoring Microsoft’s New England operations, expressed that interacting with telecommuters used to be a considerable problem, but that today that is not the case due to improvements in technology. “Collaboration, when you’re remote, is much more as if you were physically present,” Cassidy expressed. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/9dB9EX)

Out of all the cities in which Microsoft’s survey was conducted, Boston, MA reported the highest number of telecommuters. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia ranked second and third, respectively, in regards to number of telecommuters.

With prominent individuals speaking out on both sides of the telecommute vs. traditional worker debate, it is hard to accept any viewpoint as correct. Realistically, an all or nothing approach to telecommuting will probably never be realized. Telecommuting will most likely coexist with traditional employment and be implemented on a case-by-case basis when mutually beneficial for companies and workers.

For more information visit: http://bit.ly/aBwDzQ

[Sources: http://bit.ly/aBwDzQ, http://bit.ly/blBKoX, http://bit.ly/dmt4Ku]

IT Industry Growing Stronger

Most people agree that, logically, the larger a problem is, the longer it takes to resolve. While the economy is no exception, signs are finally beginning to show that the job market may be improving. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/cEjSP2)

From its peak in November of 2008, domestic information technology (IT) employment gradually decreased until August of 2009 when it flat-lined, and then remained level through to January of 2010. At the end of the first month of the new year, there was a 0.3% increase in IT employment. Figures show that the market had strengthened by an additional 0.37% by February. On a national scale, this increase translated into the creation of 3.8 million new jobs in domestic IT employment. While this was encouraging, IT employment in the U.S. was still roughly 3% lower at the start of February 2010 than it was at the start of February 2009.

Thankfully, the IT job market continued to strengthen throughout February of 2010. As of March 1st, the IT job market had expanded by seven percent nationally compared to last year. “We’re not seeing a huge rebound... what we’re seeing is a nice steady increase in recruiting activity,” said Scott Melland, CEO of major tech job board Dice.com.

Mark Roberts, CEO of TechServe Alliance, “a collaborative association of IT services firms,” believes that the continued growth of the industry throughout February of this year proved that January’s gain was not “an anomaly.” Roberts further stated that “an increase of over 25,000 IT jobs during the first two months of the year” is “ a positive harbinger for the future,” which “reflects renewed optimism among business leaders as they reverse recession-driven cutbacks.”

Sure the IT industry is only a single piece of the pie, but economists also expect a net gain of 300,000 jobs in the domestic job market as a whole by the end of March. Of course, some sources fear these newly created jobs may be only temporary positions meant to appear impressive for the 2010 Census. (Image courtesy of: http://bit.ly/93RFaD)

While these signs of strengthening job markets may not mean all is well again, they are definitely encouraging. With any luck, optimism will be contagious and more positive outlooks about the future will help to right the job market even faster.

Fore more information visit: http://bit.ly/bYHpm5

[Sources: http://bit.ly/bYHpm5, http://bit.ly/9cBoY0]

World Wide Web Consortium Names New CEO

With the recent corporate bailouts and the series of scandals that shook the business community not long ago still fresh in people’s minds, it is comforting to come across someone promoted to an executive position who is setting out to guarantee transparency and cooperation with the general public.

The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, has named Dr. Jaffrey Jaffe its new Chief Executive Officer. According to www.w3c.org, Jaffe has left his Novell Inc. position as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to work jointly with W3C director Tim Berners-Lee, and the public as a whole, to promote the growth of the W3C’s vision. (Image courtesy of: www.w3c.org)

At 350 members strong, the W3C is an organization dedicated to the promotion and evolution of standards and guidelines for the Worldwide Web. The overarching goal of the W3C is to make the Internet an accessible resource to everyone. Recently, the W3C has focused specifically on expanding and improving mobile web access.

“Jeff [Jaffe] has outstanding leadership and business skills to help address a wealth of arising opportunities,” W3C director Tim Berners-Lee expressed. Previously, Jaffe held the positions of President at Bell Labs Research, President of Advanced Technologies at Lucent Technologies, and Vice president of Technology at IBM. The W3C trusts this impressive history has provided Jaffe the “global leadership experience” needed to succeed in the Information Technology industry.

In his most recent position as CTO of Novell Inc., Jaffe aligned the company to win valuable partnerships with corporate giants Microsoft, IBM, and SAP. Jaffe learned to build lasting relationships based on the idea of “co-op-petition,” a term coined by former Novell CEO Ray Noorda, which involves partnering with traditional competitors to further the goals of both parties. The partnership Jaffe formed with Microsoft was particularly noteworthy, considering the two firms had trouble working together in the past due to significant differences in opinion. The diplomatic skills Jaffe used to assuage the old wounds between Novell and Microsoft will surely serve him well as the leader of the W3C.

On March 8th, Jaffe wrote his first blog as CEO in which he stated he was “excited to join the W3C at this time of increased innovation, since W3C is the place where the industry comes together to set standards for the Web in an open and collaborative fashion.” Jaffe also explained that his top priority “is to preserve and enhance the W3C culture of having an open consensus-based process.” (Image courtesy of: www.w3c.org)

In an organization such as the W3C, which strives to embody the ideas of all internet users, Jaffe’s diplomatic leadership style appears to fit perfectly. It will be exciting to see if internet standards will be able to keep up with the pace at which technology is evolving. It won’t take long to find out if Jaffe is up to the challenge.

For more information visit: http://www.w3.org/2010/03/ceo-pr.html

[Sources: http://bit.ly/9o2jI8, http://bit.ly/bb6BUI, http://bit.ly/bE4qOu, http://bit.ly/cMXzDh]

38 Studios Hires New CFO and CMO

If you’ve ever seen an “Under New Management Sign” hanging in a business’ window, then you know that sometimes all it takes to turn around a company that is down on its luck is a change of executives.

38 Studios LLC, based in Maynard, MA, recently selected Rick Wester as its new chief financial officer and Denise Kaigler as its new chief marketing officer. Wester brings over 18 years of startup experience, focused on software and IT services, to the position. Additionally, Wester, who is a Certified Public Accountant, previously worked for five years as a Chief Financial Officer, where he honed such skills as budgeting, fundraising, accounting, planning, and public company reporting. (Image courtesy of: http://www.38studios.com)

Kaigler comes to 38 Studios with extensive industry knowledge after having served as vice president of corporate affairs for Nintendo of America. Before holding the VP position, Kaigler spent 16 years working in the footwear and apparel industry in various marketing positions for such companies as Reebok and Adidas.

“Having Rick and Denise join 38 Studios adds significant strategic experience to our executive management team,” Jen MacLean, President of 38 Studios explained. “They each bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the company...”

According to 38 Studios’ website, the company hopes to create an “Online Entertainment Experience™ that transcends the traditional MMOG genre, novels, comics, toys, movies, TV, and more.” Since its creation in 2006, by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, under the guidance of comic book and toy creator Todd McFarlane and bestselling fantasy author, and Leominster native, R. A. Salvatore, 38 Studios has been working towards just that.

In May of 2009, 38 Studios’ acquired Big Huge Games to assist them in realizing the company’s vision of “combining the ages-old art of the story with 21st century interactive entertainment.” Presently, 38 Studios is looking to hire 18 additional employees at its Maynard offices for jobs including: senior MySQL database administrators, user interface designers, and senior software engineers. Another five jobs are open in the studios’ Baltimore, MD location.

While 38 Studios appears to have a unique mission and is deadest on hiring the best employees, the company has thus far been unsuccessful in accessing venture capital. Schilling has invested over $5 million of his personal funds into the company to allow it to continue operating. (Image courtesy of: http://www.38studios.com)

By the end of the year, 38 Studios plans to release a game to the market. Naturally, the reception of this game will decide the fate of the company and its likelihood of ever obtaining venture capital. Hopefully, hiring a new CFO and CMO will prove to be exactly the change 38 Studios needed to secure a prosperous future.

For more information visit: http://www.38studios.com/news/press_show/24

Deep Snow Incubator Opens in Charlestown

When trying something you’ve never done before you are sure to encounter obstacles you never even considered. It’s times such as these when having a solid support network to turn to can make the difference between failure and success. To give budding Boston companies a leg-up in a tough market, Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com and Eons.com, has opened a business incubator in Charlestown, MA.

Making light of companies choosing such sunny climates as California’s Silicon Valley to evade Boston’s winters, Taylor named the incubator “Deep Snow.” “I thought to go right in the face of that objection,” Taylor explained. “I wanted to do my part to help keep local IP in this town and create some jobs.”

Since its opening in January, two companies have moved into Deep Snow: a PR firm and RetireLife, an company which hosts an online directory for those caring for elderly individuals. “I moved into this incubator to surround myself with other startups and to get a new set of blood to bounce ideas off of,” said Meagin Shea, founder of RetireLife. Another six companies will have offices in DeepSnow by the end of the month, leaving 12 spaces open for future expansion. (Image courtesy of: http://www.xconomy.com/?attachment_id=65960)

Startups can expect to pay $200 a month for a desk in an open workspace and $250-$350 for an individual office in the 10,000 square foot Deep Snow incubator. All companies in the space share a kitchen, internet access, and a conference room, which they can rent for $75 an hour.

While keeping twenty companies from leaving Boston for Silicon Valley may seem as if it will barely tip the scales, as those companies grow, the number of jobs they create could definitely be consequential. Starting a new company can be very difficult. Thankfully, incubators, such as Deep Snow, are there to ensure entrepreneurs don’t have go it alone.

For more information visit: http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2010/03/02/monster-and-eons-founder-jeff-taylor-starts-incubator-as-protest-to-startups-fleeing-boston/