31/12/2014
To the extended RTPark Community:
December 31, 2014 is my last day as RTPark’s Executive Director, and I would like to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts and reflections.
Roughly 9½ years ago, a professional recruiting firm was retained to identify candidates to lead a unique public/private/academic partnership economic development institution in its development stage, designed to appeal to the economic interests of its tenants and to the Virgin Islands, and unlike traditional and academically based research and technology parks. The leadership role would require “transferable experience in starting new commercial businesses or ventures, leadership experience with e-commerce technology based companies and a good understanding of information technology.”
I’d previously founded and grown an engineering, operations and marketing software and services company in the wireless communications industry, exited that business eleven years later via a NASDAQ merger, and was subsequently nearing a decade of involvement in private equity, early stage venture capital, and “active director” leadership roles, when I was contacted regarding this opportunity. I saw my background and experience as a fit, and was intrigued by the boldness of the vision. Public/private sector partnerships were becoming more common as mechanisms to achieve regional and institutional objectives, but the notion for a public/private/academic partnership, which would rely on stakeholder co-investment to create value and sustain operations, was at the same time brilliant and preposterous. It occurred to me I could count on one hand the number of successful public/private/academic partnerships of which I was aware, and I wanted a 50-yard-line seat – or to be on the field – for this one.
RTPark already had a 3-4 year history by the time I joined as Executive Director in November, 2005, as community leaders and visionaries had carefully laid the groundwork and provided the broad shoulders on which I was to stand. Some of those early thought leaders were captured on video during a May, 2000 planning symposium (which can be found among other content on RTPark’s web site at http://www.uvirtpark.com/media-center/industry-news-articles). Even so, I joined at a time when RTPark had much more future than past, and I was offered a relatively blank slate on which to begin.
I am pleased that in the intervening years, RTPark has joined the ranks of successful public/private/academic partnerships, having developed and responded to many opportunities, confronted and overcome numerous challenges, and performed with an agility made possible only through the extraordinary talents of a dedicated and diligent staff. In that, I believe RTPark has much in common with and is aligned to the private sector it serves.
But I am more excited about the prospects for recognizing that RTPark’s original visionaries set in motion the creation of a home-grown, exportable skill set for a new form of economic development – one that can offer new paths for creating differentiated value through the co-investments of public, private and academic stakeholders – around the world..
So the essence of my message (and new year's wishes) is this: RTPark still has much more future than past, and is being offered a relatively blank slate on which to begin. I have underscored to the Board and to the incoming Executive Director that they can count on my support as we look forward to RTPark’s next chapter. On a personal level, I look forward to the possibilities which still await us.
Let me extend a fond farewell, and warm wishes to you and yours for a prosperous and happy New Year, on this New Year’s Eve.
Sincerely yours,
David M. Zumwalt
Executive Director
November, 2005 - December, 2014
Press releases announcing significant developments are available, as are industry articles which track recent news and innovations of interest to tenants ...
