Managing Director - Great Lakes Innovation Accelerator

Managing Director - Great Lakes Innovation Accelerator Location: Chicago, IL Salary: $150,000 - $175,000 Description Do you know the water and ocean technology sector, and want to spend your time getting the best companies in it to market?? Do you want to support the best and brightest entrepreneurs tackling some of our biggest water challenges? Are you committed to providing opportunities across race, place and gender? If so, this position is for you! gener8tor fosters innovation ecosystems through its accelerator programs, venture capital funds, and skills-based workforce initiatives. With a strong track record of supporting high-growth companies, gener8tor has expanded across the U.S. and internationally, building partnerships with governments, corporations, universities and economic development organizations to drive entrepreneurship and economic impact. gener8tor operates accelerators across 50 cities, 32 states and 9 countries, working with more than 300 startups per year. To date, gener8tor has worked with more than 2,300 startups that have cumulatively gone on to raise more than $3B in financing and employ more than 15,600 people. gener8tor is a nationally recognized startup accelerator and entrepreneurial support organization and is seeking a Managing Director (MD) to lead the Great Lakes Innovation Accelerator (GLIA) in Chicago, IL. This program is supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and runs three 12-week programs per year, each investing $100,000 of non-dilutive funding into five startups (15 per year) focused on Ocean Enterprise innovation, including water measurement, observation, forecasting, and data-driven solutions that benefit the Great Lakes ecosystem and drive water-related advancement globally. Note that this is non-dilutive, grant-funded capital. You will deploy roughly $1.5M per year into founders without taking equity, and without carry. As Managing Director, you will be responsible for recruiting, selecting, and investing in the most promising early-stage water tech and ocean enterprise startups, while building relationships with ecosystem partners to strengthen the support system for your portfolio. You bring real investment acumen. You understand early-stage funding dynamics, know how to position a company for seed, and can speak credibly to what it takes to get a startup to Series A+. You also bring operator depth: you can get into the weeds with founders on financial modeling, go-to-market strategy, and pitch decks, and you coach founders through commercialization. You will work directly with our current partners, including the Great Lakes Observing System, Michigan Tech's Great Lakes Research Center, Cleveland Water Alliance, and the Northern Michigan Blue Economy Consortium. You will be gener8tor's face in the Great Lakes water community and a direct point of contact with our federal partners at NOAA. Success for an MD looks like building a strong portfolio of early-stage water tech startups, investing in the best and brightest founders, and making the Great Lakes region a leading hub for water innovation. You will develop relationships with a personally curated group of mentors, investors and community partners to engage with founders while bending over backward to ensure the startups are set up for success. You will report to the Senior Managing Director of Sustainability while collaborating across the organization with gener8tor's centralized support teams. Responsibilities Recruit startup applicants and lead the due diligence and selection process for three cohorts of five water tech and ocean enterprise startups per year, with a mandate to build a materially larger and higher-quality top-of-funnel. Find and develop relationships with mentors, investors, and others who can help support the program and its founders. Act as the lead mentor, cheerleader and point of contact for startups before, during and after the program, incl…