Gwyn Riddick to start job Sept. 10
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Aug. 28, 2003 - Gwyn Riddick, director of economic development and corporate training at Guilford Technical Community College in Greensboro, has been named director of the new Piedmont Triad office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Riddick, 58, will work with and assist the Triad's growing biotechnology community, including about three dozen biotech and life science companies and several educational institutions and economic development groups. He will also ensure that other Biotechnology Center staff and resources serve biotechnology in the Triad.
"I expect to be a resource liaison to bring together elements of economic development, education and workforce training, and scientific and technical disciplines for commercialization of biotechnology enterprises," said Riddick, who will begin Sept. 10. "We have all the elements here in the Triad for a stable, nurturing environment for biotechnology: supportive local governments and officials, strong education and research universities and colleges, a core of strong scientific companies and visionary leaders."
Before joining the Center, Riddick worked for more than two years at Guilford Technical Community College as director of economic development. He led the college's Occupational Extension, and his division worked with more than 100 companies including Banner Pharmacaps in High Point and RF MicroDevices in Greensboro.
He also has 11 years' experience in the life sciences sector with Dow Chemical Co. in Indiana, where he worked as an operations planner and custom production manager.
Riddick has a bachelor's degree in microbiology and chemistry from Ohio State University and a master's degree in business administration from Butler University.
"Biotechnology has taken its place as a key economic development tool Triad-wide," said Steven Burke, senior vice president of corporate affairs at the Biotechnology Center. "Mr. Riddick will prove an imaginative, trusted and practical catalyst for that development."
Riddick's hiring is another milestone in a partnership among the Biotechnology Center and the Triad's business and academic community. Wake Forest University Health Sciences has committed $200,000 over two years to staff Riddick and a full-time assistant. Idealliance, the marketers of the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem, has provided space for the Center's office. Forsyth Technical Community College will donate two computer workstations, and WinstonNet, a local nonprofit organization, will supply high-speed Internet access.
The Biotechnology Center's Triad office, dedicated in June, is the first of four Center satellite offices to strengthen biotechnology communities and companies statewide. An office to serve the western portion of the state has opened in Asheville. Offices for Charlotte and Eastern North Carolina will be established in 2004.
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the state's General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide.
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Contact: Barry Teater, Director of Corporate Communications, or W. Steven Burke, senior vice president for corporate affairs, at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, 919-541-9366. Visit the Center's web site at www.ncbiotech.org.
Editors: A photo of Gwyn Riddick is available for downloading at www.ncbiotech.org/assets/images/staff/riddick_print.jpg.
