RBTC

Erin Burcham

RBTC photos

Taylor Spellman Katie Conner

By Nanette Levin

Six months after being named the executive director of Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council (RBTC) in June of 2021, Erin Burcham was selected to become president of Verge (an alliance that includes the RAMP business accelerator and the Valleys Innovation Council) concurrently. Taylor Spellman was brought on to RBTC in February of 2022 as associate director. The latest hire, Katie Connor, filled the position of technology talent strategist in October of 2022. These position shifts and hires reflect the growing focus on serving technology companies in our area, along with an increasing priority on collaboration among the groups that do.

“Katie is coming from Virginia Tourism Corporation and has a great background in placemaking for our region,” says Burcham. “She really understands the region and what it took to brand the area to bring people here, to get the right type of people to come to the area, to bring jobs and to fill jobs.” Burcham indicates she’ll be creating regional outreach campaigns to attract workers while working with existing local companies and higher education institutions to maintain talent.

Conner’s role is a new one, designed to put greater focus on building GO Virginia Region 2 and RBTC member company talent strategies. In other words, her charge is to

develop ideas and initiatives to better attract and retain technology talent.

She comes from the Partnership Marketing Division with the Virginia Tourism Corporation, where she was a development specialist who worked with tourism industry partners throughout Virginia. Conner is currently enrolled in an MBA program at Longwood University and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Radford University. She brings 15 years of experience in hospitality, finance, event planning and marketing to the RBTC as she assumes this role.

“I’m very excited,” says Spellman. “The Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council has existed for quite some time, and I think the technology council as a whole is eager to support our tech companies. This is a really perfect way to compliment the region and our partners as they strive to find high paying jobs. I’m thrilled to have Katie on board. The RBTC exists to support our members and right now talent is a top priority for them.”

Burcham explains that the technology workforce RBTC is developing with the Conner hire is designed to be a spoke off the regional economic development organizations talent program hubs. She sees her staff as boots on the ground for the technology sector. This includes working with the Roanoke Regional Partnership and Onward New River Valley as the technology talent experts. “We are complimenting what the regional economic development companies are doing with tech and biotech related (companies) to help growth the sectors from a talent stance.”

Conner’s salary is funded through the Roanoke Biotech Project with money coming through the City of Roanoke. “It’s part of a big project with the city and state,” Burcham says. “The conversations that I’m already having with our member companies and our higher education institutions supports why this position was created, the demand for it and the opportunity to grow,” says Conner, who resides in Botetourt County with her husband and dogs.

“We have evaluated all the resources in the region and we’re looking at programming that fills gaps, trying not to duplicate but compliment and work collaboratively with different organizations,” Burcham asserts.

RBTC is the only technology council associated with an accelerator in the Commonwealth of Virginia (see related article in this issue on RAMP). While other areas may have incubators and memberbased organizations standing on their own, none have both under one portfolio. “We have one big overarching agenda in the innovation space,” states Burcham. “We’re talking about how we can realistically support innovation from multiple angles.” This includes Virginia Tech, Carilion, regional economic development, workforce development boards, community colleges, higher education and more. “Everybody’s really working well together.”