Cordova replaces Donahue at BTI helm

Business Report Correspondent

BOULDER ? The Boulder Technology Incubator (BTI) has appointed a three-time chief executive officer to be its new president. Lu M. Cordova, recently relocated to Boulder from California, accepted the position and started Jan. 2.

Cordova is replacing former BTI President Jerry Donahue, who spent eight years at the incubator. Donahue built the non-profit from a financially struggling organization to a stable incubator with an annual operating budget of more than $500,000. While Donahue led the BTI, it graduated more than 50 companies and assisted them in raising more than $500 million in start-up capital. Donahue recently was named interim president and chief executive officer of University Technology Corp. at the University of Colorado.

Cordova said she always intended to get involved with an incubator at some point in her career. When she moved here a few months ago, she called BTI to offer to help, but had no idea the incubator was looking for a president. “The exciting business climate in Boulder and the healthy way of life was the unique combination I was looking for,” she said. “My attraction to BTI was that it would be an opportunity to build the right model for incubating companies. Incubators have a role in developing small businesses and a new set of CEOs,” Cordova said. “It takes both ? a business model and people.”

She said blending the best business models of dot-coms and dot-orgs in a way that is sustainable, robust and scaleable is her goal at BTI. “If we get the right model, it can spread to other incubators,” Cordova said.

Cordova has been chief executive officer of the Corlund Group, Acteva and @Home Network, now Excite@Home Services. She founded the Corlund Group to work with companies in operations management, strategic planning, business development and marketing.

While at Acteva, Cordova was chairman of the board in addition to CEO and catapulted the firm to more than 100 percent growth in revenue and clients in one year. She co-founded the @Work Division within @Home Network, which accounted for 45 percent of total sales its first year, and went on to create @Home Online Services.

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