Techstars hires managing director for sustainability accelerator

DENVER — Techstars has a new managing director for its sustainability accelerator, done in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.

Jenna Walker, a long-time entrepreneur, will serve as director of the accelerator in Denver.

“I engaged with nonprofits, for-profits, foundations and founders on a path to understanding where there might be a fundamental need for creating impactful solutions for society through startups,” Walker wrote in a blog post announcing her new role. “And, together, we worked on some big questions. How might we reduce single-use plastics in consumer goods? How might we use technology to help reduce food insecurity? How might we build solutions to help identify and reduce exposure to toxic stress in children? How might we improve our health through connection to nature?”

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Prior to joining Techstars, Walker was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Listen Ventures in Chicago, according to her LinkedIn. She was a co-founder and CEO of Artifact Uprising, an e-commerce site that sold custom photo books and goods. She is also a mentor at Techstars and Galvanize.

The accelerator program begins July 16 in Denver, and applications are now open. Walker said in her post that she is looking for founders building commercially viable technologies and business models that can help governments, companies and communities provide food and water sustainably and tackle climate change. She is also looking for mission-driven, for-profit companies that are scalable.