INTERVIEW WITH DR’s NEW PRESIDENT

We at DR wanted to spend some time bringing you the thoughts of DR’s new President, Josh Bouk. We hope you enjoy this interview about DR and where it’s headed!

FIRST OF ALL, WHAT IS DR?

Digital Rochester is a not-for-profit organization  focused on building and empowering the tech industry in the Greater Rochester area.  But what does that mean?  It means that DR creates value within the Greater Rochester tech industry by building connections within the “tech sector value chain”.  That value chain is made up of a variety of relationships – employer to employee; investor to entrepreneur; customer to supplier; student to educator; etc.  Each of these relationships represent real economic value in our area and the sum of the value in these relationships is the value of Rochester’s tech industry.  So when I say DR exists to build connections within that value chain, it means that everything we do is focused on creating and strengthening these relationships, thereby driving new or increased economic value to our region.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH DR AND HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED?

I began coming to DR events back in 2001 at Tonic and over the years, I was a “casual” member – coming to a few events here and there but never getting actively involved.  However, about five years ago, I began recognizing that while I believed Rochester was a great place to raise a family, the direction that Rochester (and New York State) was headed did not give my family – my kids – the best chance of staying in the area over the next few decades.  Now I could choose to sit back and tell myself that the problem was too big to tackle, but instead, I decided I wanted to try to make whatever difference I could.  Since I’ve always been in the tech sector, the best way for me to contribute would be in helping build Rochester into a vibrant, growth-focused high-tech hub.  That led me to DR and its 4,500 members.  After getting initially involved in designing a series intended to build strong peer relationships between area tech CEOs, I joined the DR Board of Directors.

WHY DOES DR MATTER IN OUR REGION?

The Greater Rochester area has so much to offer as a tech center.  We have world-class universities and research facilities, a labor base that is simultaneously one of the most educated and affordable in the country, a history of innovation and entrepreneurship and recognized excellence in emerging tech areas including optics, energy and biotech.  We have all these assets, and yet, one thing is missing.  Collaboration.  When we look at how Boston, Austin and the Bay area all became prominent, we find a high degree of cross-industry collaboration.  This is why DR matters.  DR is focused on creating an environment that fosters collaboration by building awareness and relationships across our region and across tech industries. 
 

WHAT’S ON DR’s PLATE RIGHT NOW; WHAT’S THE GROUP CURRENTLY UP TO?

This is an exciting time for Digital Rochester.  We are in the process of growing our Board of Directors and have added several new board members over the past few months.  They are bringing new ideas and a tremendous amount of energy that I can guarantee will add significant value to our community.  We’re improving our communications strategy (starting with this fantastic new web site and our increasing use of social media tools) and will now focus on aggregating and distributing content of all sorts that will be of value to our members.  And there are some other, very exciting developments, that we’re not quite ready to go to press on … so stay tuned!

EVERY ORGANIZATION IS IN SOME STATE OF FLUX RIGHT NOW; WHAT ARE DR’S CURRENT CHALLENGES?

Simply put, finances and labor are our biggest challenges.  Digital Rochester has always been funded primarily through event sponsorships.  Not surprisingly, in this economic climate, fewer companies have the discretionary funds available for such things.  So we are taking a creative look at how we can raise the funds needed to continue to increase the impact of Digital Rochester in today’s economic climate.  We have also been a primarily volunteer organization.  We have an amazing VP of Operations in Lisa Doerner (who is our only paid staff member) who drives much of the day-to-day business of the organization and makes sure our events are delivered to the same level of quality that we have become known for.  But Lisa is only one person and everything else that we accomplish is through volunteers.  So we are constantly looking for other talented professionals who share a passion for the Rochester tech industry and want to help make Rochester the next great tech center.

WHERE IS DR HEADED? WHAT’S IT GOING TO BECOME?

Digital Rochester is nine years old and in those nine years, DR has become the premier networking community for Rochester’s tech crowd.  As we look forward, we all need to find ways to capitalize on the strength of that network to create real, measurable and sustainable economic value.  Therefore, we must be focused on enabling growth – for individuals, for companies and institutions, and for our entire region.  And while I may not be able to define exactly how we’re going to do that today, I can tell you that our Board is full of high-energy, committed people who want to partner with our members to make a difference in this city that we all love.