Quint and Rishy Studer and The University of West Florida announce a new partnership the which will be the “University of West Florida’s Center for
Entrepreneurship” during an event at the Voices of Pensacola Thursday, July 2, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)

The University of West Florida’s Center for Entrepreneurship has a director.

Joel R. “Rick” Duke was in late February named the center’s first director, a job that comes with a $135,000 salary and a responsibility to build a place the nurtures a culture of entrepreneurship from students and throughout the community.

Duke took the position after a search that began on Oct. 30, 2015, and garnered 76 applicants from across the country, according to Megan Gonzalez, director of university communications.

In July 2015, UWF announced the formation of the Center for Entrepreneurship through a $1 million gift commitment from Quint and Rishy Studer.

The Center will encourage and support educational initiatives related to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking while serving as a comprehensive resource for economic innovation for students, industry and community partners. The Center is housed in the UWF College of Business, and Duke will report to Dr. Tim O’Keefe, dean of the College of Business.

Rick Duke, founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of West Florida. Photo credit: UWF.

“We are truly excited to welcome Rick Duke as founding director of our new Center for Entrepreneurship,” said O’Keefe in a news release. “Rick brings with him a wealth of experience from his leadership positions in entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development at several high-profile organizations. His proven abilities to marshal resources, craft and lead effective organizational frameworks, and build strategic partnerships are the precise combination of skills needed to successfully launch our new center.”

Plans for a physical home for the center fell apart last year when plans to lease parcels at the Community Maritime Park site dissolved at the City of Pensacola.

A rendering of the University of West Florida Center for Entrepreneurship as proposed at the Community Maritime Park.

Duke says he would like the center to have a presence in downtown Pensacola.

Duke’s experience in entrepreneurship and economic development includes 25 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he worked from 1984 to 2009. He served in a variety of roles in economic development at Georgia Tech, culminating as general manager for business development at the Enterprise Innovation Institute. He also spent four years as Director of the Economic Development Institute, which was named the “best university-based economic development organization in the country” by Innovation Associates in 2005.

Duke was hired at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2010 to lead the startup of the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, a university-based community engagement enterprise.

His most recent position was director for economic development and executive director for Insight Park at the University of Mississippi. There, Duke established a framework for the technology incubator and research park marketing plan and engaged the university community to identify knowledge assets suited for both economic development and university-industry partnerships.

What appealed to him about the UWF job?

“I have spent the vast majority of my career in higher education and doing things that are economic development related,” Duke said by phone. “The opportunity to come back and work in higher education and work in Pensacola was appealing. The people at the university I’ve met have been bright and collaborative and an exceptional group of people.

“I’d like to be part of their team,” Duke said. “I’m attracted to a center that has a major benefactor like Quint Studer, who has a passion for entrepreneurship.”

Duke says that as he gets to know the community, he sees the vision of the Center for Entrepreneurship as twofold — one focused around students and one tied deeply to the community.

“(One is to)  identify, recruit and nurture the students who are part of UWF,” Duke says, “and equally important is reaching outside the university’s boundaries and bringing to the business community the human capital and knowledge transfer the university has to offer.

“They are equal ‘sweet spots.’”

As Duke works to get his foothold in the community, he’s met with partners through the College of Business including Ed Ranelli, professor and dean emeritus of the UWF College of Business; Gulf Power Co. officials; and a group of 15 entrepreneurs in Fort Walton Beach.

“(I want to) explore the entrepreneurial ecosystem…, to learn about other resources in the region that could be leveraged and that there could be some collaborative effort so we aren’t duplicating,” Duke said.

“Then I want to throw myself into the mix of any forums or events where I can network, from the economic development community to the elected leadership community. I’m going to have a very active first 90 days.”

Building opportunities for establish business leaders to share their wisdom and serve in a mentorship role is a priority for Duke, as well as taking advantage of the expertise of the business community to be part of a guest lecturer series, for credit or noncredit or noncredit certificate programs.”

Duke said he hopes that the community and the university both find value in what the Center for Entrepreneurship can bring to the table.

“The university is being more proactive to engage the business community at their level, at their location and in bringing the business community to campus to find areas of common interest for both,” Duke said. “There are tremendous benefits to be gained from creating those partnerships.

“They might not have known how to go about it in the past, or known who at the university can be the portal or place to call to gain access to all that university has to offer. That could be one of the benefits of the role I’m in.”