WS Chronicle

DURHAM – NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina, announced today that the organization has hired Allan Younger as senior director of programs to lead the foundation’s programmatic priorities and partnerships.

Allan comes to the organization having most recently served as the director of the Small Business Center at Forsyth Technical Community College located in Winston-Salem. While at Forsyth Tech, Allan was responsible for strengthening operations and services, enhancing support to small businesses, and providing community advocacy.

“We are thrilled to add someone with Allan’s background and expertise to our team,” said Thom Ruhe, president and CEO of NC IDEA. “We have the great fortune of hiring a friend who has been intimately involved with the foundation through activities in the Triad and his service on the North Carolina Black Entrepreneurship Council. Even more fortunate, he is a true champion of entrepreneurs and values the power of community in leading equitable economic development,” Ruhe added.

Allan will serve as a member of the NC IDEA Senior Leadership Team in charge of overseeing all programs that provide education, training and mentoring for individuals seeking to start and grow companies in North Carolina. He will lead program development, management and evolution for all entrepreneur programming; including the Foundation’s NC IDEA LABS customer discovery curriculum, programmatic support for NC IDEA MICRO grant recipients, and deployment of the Ice House curriculum through NC IDEA MINDSET. Allan will also oversee coaching and mentoring and support NC IDEA’s ECOSYSTEM partners who do so likewise.

In addition to his role at Forsyth Tech, Allan owns GRACE Consulting, providing business effectiveness consulting, leadership development and community relations and serves as a facilitator of an entrepreneur program through Shaw University. Previously, Allan was a business counselor at the Small Business and Technology Development Center. He also served in several roles at GE Capital. Allan currently serves as an adjunct professor at Winston-Salem State University and previously served as adjunct professor at Carolina Christian College, Forsyth Technical Community College, and Salem College.

Allan will begin his new role in April. He joins the organization less than six months following the hiring of Barry Ryan, NC IDEA’s senior director of Strategic Partnerships, who spent nearly 15 years prior at the NC Rural Center.