A Rochester entrepreneur advocate and co-working space leader announced this week that he is stepping down from a leadership role to join Mayo Clinic.
Jamie Sundsbak, the executive director of the Collider Foundation, posted on social media that he is stepping down on Dec. 3.
“I have accepted a fantastic opportunity to be a part of a new and exciting initiative at Mayo Clinic called Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate,” he wrote.
Amanda Leightner , who also works with the foundation, will take on his role as executive director on an interim basis.
The Collider Foundation, which was formed in 2019, works with local early-stage entrepreneurs, grew out of the Collider Coworking space.
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“In just two years, we have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs reduce or remove barriers they were facing with their businesses, said Sundsbak.
Collider also manages the Ecosystem Navigator program to support Latinx, Black and female entrepreneurs. The program is funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation .
Sundsbak helped launch the Collider Coworking space in Rochester’s Conley-Maass-Downs building in 2016. That space is now the future home of Google’s planned Med City office . Collider Coworking is now based in the Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator in the Minnesota Biobusiness Center.
This move returns Sundsbak to Mayo Clinic, where was working as a senior research technologist when he became involved with the local entrepreneurial community by organizing weekly BioAM gatherings.
He is joining the Mayo Clinic Platform, a technology initiative created in 2019 that is led by Dr. John D. Halamka . The Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate is a new 20-week program that helps early-stage health technology startups using artificial intelligence become “market-ready.”
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