Background
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
bwtech@UMBC is a university-affiliated research park in Baltimore, Maryland. A number of senior leaders within park and the university administration were due to retire within two years, including the park’s long-standing President. It was felt that there were some important skill sets missing from the current leadership team that would be useful to move the organization forward.
Before conducting a search for replacements, the leadership team decided to undertake a third-party review to gain perspectives on the organization’s evolution and what key roles and capabilities would be needed by its future leaders.
Solution
Stiletto conducted a review of the park’s current governance and operations structure:
- Interviews were held with a substantial number of key stakeholders, including university leaders, park team members, community leaders, and companies within the park.
- Research was completed on existing park models.
- A comparative analysis was constructed of the park’s goals for development and operations.
Results
Based on the information gathered, Stiletto delivered immediately implementable recommendations for the current and future park organizational structures, as well as for the team composition. Clients agreed that these practical solutions would be needed to bring the future vision of the park to reality. Stiletto also provided recommendations for finding a replacement for the outgoing President.
The project has certainly highlighted some of the things we need to do going forward. Stiletto also delivered a good experience. What I liked most was that they really took care of a lot of the planning and setting up meetings. We’ve seen sometimes with these types of things, it can take an awful lot of our staff time. I didn’t find that with Stiletto. Laura and her team really did the heavy lifting. We would work with them again and would recommend Stiletto to others.
President and Executive Director (retired) | bwtech@UMBC