Lisa Delp brings a first-person perspective to the needs of emerging companies and the role of government in economic development. At state, national, and international levels she works to build sustainable entrepreneurial environments and create active networks of vital business resources. Using her experience as the Executive Director of the Ohio Third Frontier and founder of a successful technology start-up she assists governments and non-government organizations to create and implement programs to grow companies and create jobs.

As the Director of the Ohio Federal Research Network Commercialization Team at Lorain County Community College Ms. Delp worked to create and deliver a suite of services to support technology transfer from academic research to Ohio industry. Under her leadership 18 academic / industry partnerships were supported by a 12 person Commercialization Team who provided technology, legal, and business development services to small companies and enabled them to address the mission critical technology needs of NASA, DoD, and DoE.

During her career, Ms. Delp has provided guidance in many aspects of technology-based economic development. Her work includes the assessment of start-up ecosystems in Vietnam; evaluation of the potential for a pre-seed investment fund in Tunisia; and the development of a micro-enterprise support program for rural Egypt. Ms. Delp is also a sought after evaluator of proposals for funding in state, national and international grant programs.

 Ms. Delp actively participates in education programs as both a volunteer and a paid consultant. Her expertise in government led economic development programming has benefited such programs as the highly successful Coursera title, “Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies.” She also includes projects for Franklin University and the Jordanian Companies Control Department in her business course development experience.

A strong believer in the value of community involvement. Ms. Delp supports entrepreneurs as a mentor, and is active on a number of business and academic advisory boards. She is also a founding board member and past Research Committee Chair for VentureOhio, an investor association she helped to organize and launch.