Philly's new interim commerce director brings nearly two decades of city experience to the role
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at philly@technical.ly.
A management shakeup is taking place at a key Philadelphia government agency.
The Commerce Department underwent a change in leadership, with former Commerce Director Alba Martinez stepping down and longtime city gov employee Karen Fegely taking her place.
Plus, local startups are getting the chance to show themselves off through accelerators and pitch competitions this spring.
Software company Ideate won the Demo Pit competition at the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies' Phorum conference last month. The HiveBio Accelerator, which is focused on support for underrepresented life sciences founders, selected its first cohort.
Check out all the details and more power moves below the chart, where we look at the top 10 desirable skills for jobs right now and how many job postings request each skill.
Longtime city gov employee appointed acting commerce director
Mayor Cherelle Parker appointed Karen Fegely as acting commerce director earlier this month. Fegely is taking over the position from Alba Martinez, who announced her departure from the Commerce Department in March to produce an original musical.
The Commerce Department's role is to help economic development happen by creating initiatives to increase accessibility and equity, Fegely told Technical.ly. This includes creating opportunities for Philadelphians to build wealth through a sustainable career, owning a business, owning property and more.
'Philadelphia is really well-positioned to do that,' Fegely said, 'to be in a place where we grow together.'
Fegely has almost 18 years of experience working in the city's Department of Commerce, most recently as deputy commerce director of policy and strategic initiatives. She was also previously the deputy commerce director of neighborhood business services.
Fegely now oversees initiatives that the Commerce Department already has in place, such as the Small Business Catalyst Fund and the PHL Open for Business initiative, which aims to streamline access to business resources. The goal is to provide one-on-one assistance to businesses, but also partner with orgs across the city that can support the business community in Philly, she told Technical.ly.
'We have all the right ingredients,' Fegely said. 'It's just doing more and bigger, and making sure we're connecting to people, that people know to come to us for help.'
Ideate wins PACT Demo Pit, will pitch at mid-Atlantic conference this fall
Rahmi Halaby, founder of early-stage startup Ideate, won Best in Show at Phorum 2025, securing a spot to pitch at the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies' (PACT) Mid-Atlantic Capital Conference in the fall.
Ideate, which is developing a software product to automate operational tasks for designers so they can focus on creative work, was one of six companies selected to pitch at PACT's Demo Pit competition during the conference.
The companies were all connected to the theme of AI in the workplace, but ranged in stage. Ideate is currently pre-revenue and pre-product launch, so it felt good to win next to other companies that are further along in development, Halaby told Technical.ly.
'What really needs to set us apart is the story that we're able to tell and the vision of the product,' Halaby said. 'To have that recognized was very reassuring.'
The company currently has a closed beta product and plans to launch a full product in the fall. Ideate is also raising a $500,000 seed round that it hopes to close in November, Halaby said.
'I'm really excited to, in the coming months, basically have a product that people can fully sign up for and use and save time within their day to focus on the creative work,' Halaby said.
HiveBio Accelerator selects its first cohort
Ten Philly-area startups were selected for the first cohort of the HiveBio Accelerator, which aims to support underrepresented life sciences founders. The chosen startups include five therapeutics companies, three medical device companies, one digital health company and one biotech supply chain company.
'I'm most proud of the diversity within our underrepresented founder cohort,' said Tia Lyles-Williams, founder and chief innovation officer of HiveBio. 'Of this cohort, eight are BIPOC-led, eight are first-generation-led, seven are woman-led, and seven are immigrant-led. I'm looking forward to working with this impressive cohort and supporting their unapologetic success.'
The chosen startups include Ajaya Bio, BioLattice Ophthalmics, Bound Therapeutics, Cerespectus, DRS.LINQ, Higher Medicine, QuneUp, Trevarx Biomedical, Valfard Therapeutics and Vasowatch.
The nine-month program will provide mentorship, commercialization strategies, opportunities to meet investors and other resources to the companies. The accelerator program is supported by a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.
More power moves:
The University City Science Center selected five life sciences entrepreneurs for the fifth cohort of its Founders Fellowship program. Grace Akinyele, Top Charoensombut, Tuhin Das, Josh Freedman and Thomas Tam will participate in a year-long program that starts with an educational curriculum about healthcare for aging populations. The second half of the program focuses on commercialization and turning product ideas into companies. Each fellow will receive mentorship, a $50,000 stipend and access to lab space.
Center City District selected Adam Robinson as the new vice president of development and partnerships, where he will lead the org's non-assessment revenue team.
Online safety company Kidas is partnering with esports and gaming platform PlayVS. Kidas' anti-bullying software will be integrated into esports programs across the country.
Comcast Business acquired Nitel, a Chicago-based telecommunications services provider. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
Data security and privacy consulting firm Zaviant ranked No. 50 on Inc Regionals: Northeast list, which ranks companies in the region based on revenue growth between 2021 and 2023.
Anna Paulson is the new CEO and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The Fed also appointed John Grady of Wexford Science & Technology, Warren E. Moore of Inspira Health and Brian Schaller of Wawa to its Economic and Community Advisory Council.
PACT welcomed Amanda Arroyo as its new director of membership and Roland Nichols as its new marketing manager.
Temple University's Institute for Business and Information Technology recognized David McGettigan, Rick Nucci and Craig Conway at the 2025 Information Technology Awards.
Montgomery County Community College's esports team won its fourth national championship from the National Junior College Athletics Association Esports.
The Novella Center for Entrepreneurship launched in Trenton, New Jersey, earlier this month. The Novella Center is licensing business accelerator curriculum from the Baltimore-based Conscious Venture Lab.
Clinical trial payment company Greenphire won best patient portal at the MedTech Breakthrough Awards. It was also recognized as a finalist for the Citeline Awards for Innovative Clinical Trial Solutions.
The Moore College of Art and Design is partnering with the Franklin Institute to support a new entertainment design major. The program will teach students about interactive design for immersive experiences.
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Technical.ly
5 days ago
- Technical.ly
ARM Institute welcomes a longtime Pittsburgh entrepreneur as its new CEO
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at pittsburgh@ Every year, Pittsburgh's universities train a new wave of talent, and while some stay to build locally, others take their ideas elsewhere. A longtime robotics entrepreneur with decades of experience shaping Pittsburgh's tech scene is sticking with the city as he assumes a new leadership role at the ARM Institute. Meanwhile, two early-stage founders from the University of Pittsburgh are heading to Philadelphia to grow their startups, and the cofounder of a well-known autonomous trucking company has taken on a new leadership role at General Motors to support its push into self-driving vehicles. Read on below the chart for more on these power moves and other professional changes in the region. ARM Institute appoints robotics entrepreneur as new CEO A new chapter begins at the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute today, as its newly appointed CEO officially steps into the role. Jorgen Pedersen, a local robotics entrepreneur, has contributed to the growth of the Pittsburgh robotics scene for more than 25 years. He was one of the founders of Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center and later founded RE2 Robotics, a leading developer of human-like robotic arms for unstructured environments. Pedersen succeeds Ira Moskowitz, who recently retired from the position after being appointed to the role in 2020. When RE2 was acquired by Sarcos Robotics in 2022, Pedersen worked as Sarcos' COO for a year during the transition. He then joined the board of directors for the Pittsburgh-based manufacturing consultancy Catalyst Connection and the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, where he was eventually appointed president. After that, he became the Robotics Entrepreneur in Residence at Innovation Works ' Robotics Factory, where he mentored early-stage robotics founders. 'We're at a pivotal moment where robotics and AI are no longer future technologies — they're ready to transform US manufacturing today,' Pedersen said in a prepared statement. 'I'm honored to join the ARM Institute in its mission to drive innovation, strengthen our industrial base and prepare a workforce ready to thrive alongside advanced technologies.' The ARM Institute is structured as a public-private partnership of over 450 member organizations. Pedersen will continue the ARM Institute's work of fostering collaboration between government, industry and academia to make robotics, automation and AI more accessible to manufacturers. Pittsburgh loses two founders to Philly-based fellowship program Two researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are leaving the city to develop their innovations across the state. Molecular pharmacology graduate student Olayemi Grace Akinyele and AI health researcher Thomas Tam have been selected for the University City Science Center 's year-long Founders Fellowship program in Philadelphia. The life sciences builders will receive hands-on experience on tackling challenges related to aging populations. Akinyele will work on developing her bioengineered platform that would preserve mitochondria, the parts of the cell that produce energy, even after they've been removed from the body. Since mitochondria have emerged as a biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer's, the new technology could make it easier to research the disease in the future. Tam will also leave Pittsburgh to continue working on his AI-powered medication guardrails, which aim to fix the current error-prone process of tracking medications across different care settings. Tam's venture was previously supported by Carnegie Mellon's Project Olympus Incubator Program and the Pittsburgh-based Patient Safety Fellowship. Cofounder of Aurora leaves for General Motors Aurora cofounder Sterling Anderson announced his resignation as the autonomous trucking company's chief product officer in May, following the launch of Aurora's self-driving trucks in Texas. The news was made public in a regulatory filing, where the company said Anderson's departure 'did not result from any disagreement with the company concerning any matter relating to its operations, policies or practices.' During the company's first-quarter earnings call, Anderson said Aurora's recent launch gave him the confidence to leave the company at this time. 'Aurora has reached a critical inflection point; product strategy is firmly established,' he said. 'The technology is on the road, the team is in place to scale it, and the momentum we've created in the industry is palpable.' A few days later, General Motors announced Anderson as the company's new executive vice president of global product and chief product officer. Anderson joins the team as General Motors works to incorporate autonomous technology into its vehicles. Later that month, Aurora made the call to put 'observers' back in the front seat of its autonomous trucks, per a request made by Paccar Inc., the company that manufactures the trucks. More power moves: North Shore-based aluminum producer Alcoa named Thomas J. Gorman as its non-executive chairman of the board in May. About 105 Leviathan Energy employees will lose their jobs as the company closes its Monroeville and Canonsburg offices following the $1.8 billion acquisition of Olympus Energy. Innovation Works eliminated its portfolio executive role, cutting three team members. Based on founder feedback, Innovation Works says it updated its service model to give portfolio companies direct access to managing directors, a mentor network and a new service desk to route, track and manage requests. California-based defense tech company Anduril is hiring for several software roles in Pittsburgh, despite not currently having a physical presence in the city. The company develops autonomous weapons used by Ukraine. Point Park University appointed Shari Payne as the permanent provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. Payne had served as interim provost since January. Kristen Martin, a former professor of IT and technology ethics, will serve as the next dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College starting in July. After the local software firm Smith Micro had a 50% drop in revenue last year, it brought back Tim Huffmyer to resume his former role as CFO and take on the COO position as well.
Technical.ly
05-06-2025
- Technical.ly
Commerce Department nixes ‘safety' in NIST AI institute rebrand
President Trump's cabinet continues to overhaul federal programs and initiatives, with some recent AI-related moves hitting the Department of Commerce. Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that the AI Safety Institute will now be called the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). In addition to removing 'safety' from the title of the agency, which was created under the Biden administration in 2023 to set AI standards and guidance, CAISI will pivot to focus more on national security risks and global competitiveness. 'For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards,' Lutnick said in a press release. 'CAISI will evaluate and enhance U.S. innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards.' The Commerce Department did not respond to request for comment, including to provide examples of 'censorship.' CAISI also houses a consortium, established in 2024, of more than 200 companies and organizations that was originally created to develop science-based safety standards for AI operation and design. The group, known as the US AI Safety Institute Consortium, includes several universities and startups from throughout the Mid-Atlantic. That group remains in operation following this announcement, but there are suspicions that it will shut down, according to a person with knowledge about the consortium. CAISI and the consortium's formation under the previous administration was spurred by an executive order by former President Joe Biden, which the Trump administration revoked during his early days in office. Priorities for this newly-renamed government body include plans to ink voluntary agreements with AI developers and companies that can pinpoint risks to national security. That strategy isn't entirely new. Under the Biden administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology — the regulatory agency, housed under the Commerce Department, that hosts CAISI — signed memoranda of understanding to undergo AI safety research with US-based AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. In these new evaluations, CAISI will prioritize looking at use cases in cybersecurity and chemical weapons, per the release. CAISI leadership will also collaborate with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies to 'conduct evaluations and assessments.' This move comes as states are grappling with how to regulate AI. Nearby Virginia did not follow through with passing blanket legislation regulating the technology, and House Republicans are torn over a federal budget provision that would ban states from regulating AI for a decade.
Technical.ly
05-06-2025
- Technical.ly
Virginia Tech hones in on advanced computing with new institute
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at dc@ Higher education and government contracting continue to prove their dominance in the DMV through new programs, acquisitions and hires. Following its opening of a new $1 billion campus in Alexandria, Virginia Tech is launching a new advanced computing program in the region. On the private side, government IT contractor Tyto Athene acquired its fourth company in less than a year and a half. On the other side of the district, a startup founder is working with the State of Maryland to improve police training. Keep reading to get the details on those and more regional power moves. Virginia Tech to open new advanced computing institute The university's new academic and research program will be housed at its recently opened campus in Alexandria. Dubbed the Institute for Advanced Computing, the center will cater to graduate students working in artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing. Computer science professor Kirk Cameron has been named the institute's interim director. 'As Virginia's land-grant research university, we are connecting the world's best talent and partners to the commonwealth and bridging the gaps between academia, industry, and government in the greater DC area,' Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a press release. Virginia Tech opened this new location in Alexandria this February. The university houses its colleges of business and engineering at the new campus while its main one remains in Blacksburg. Tyto Athene lands another acquisition After the Reston government contractor acquired three companies in 2024, Tyto Athene purchased yet another tech firm to boost its capabilities and expand its customer base. Tyto Athene acquired stackArmor, a Tysons-based cloud and cyber compliance company providing services to federal agencies. 'By combining the capabilities of Tyto and stackArmor, we're able to deliver secure and cost-efficient digital infrastructure that accelerates the mission of our government and defense customers through automation,' said Gaurav Pal, principal of stackArmor. StackArmor is also a part of the US AI Safety Institute Consortium out of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is still in operation even though President Donald Trump rescinded former President Joe Biden's AI executive order. Startup founder to serve on Maryland police committee Colin Fraser, founder of the cannabis delivery app Upling and a DC Startup and Tech Week organizer, will serve on the Maryland Police Training and Standards Committee after being appointed by Gov. Wes Moore. A returning citizen, Fraser will focus on training for police that reduces harm, he wrote on LinkedIn. 'As someone who has experienced both sides of the criminal justice system, I bring a unique perspective to police training and standards that I believe is essential for building trust and creating positive change,' Fraser wrote. More leadership moves Investment firm and incubator Red Cell Partners tapped John C. Aquilino, a retired admiral, to be an advisor for its national security vertical. Carr Properties landed approval to redevelop an office building on Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon into residential housing. Rhizome, which developed AI tools to identify vulnerabilities in energy grids caused by weather, is moving to San Francisco from DC, the Washington Business Journal reported. The startup recently raised a $6.5 million seed round. NobleReach, an organization aiming to bridge the public and private sectors to boost technological prowess in the US, appointed two members to its board: Ralph Semmel, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory's director; and Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO at the National Geographic Society. Falls Church government contractor GDIT launched an AI tool that detects fraudulent payments, including healthcare claims and benefits. Blink Charging in Bowie is laying off 20% of its workforce as its revenue continues to drop, as additionally reported by the Washington Business Journal. The electric vehicle charging manufacturer relocated from Miami in 2024. IT services company Navteca in Chevy Chase hired Hector Collazo as its new president. ShorePoint, a cybersecurity company based in Herndon, appointed Kevin Cox as its new executive director of cyber operations modernization. Cvent, a hospitality and event technology platform, acquired the spatial event design technology Prismm. Core4ce, a data-focused IT company in Arlington, tapped Rick Hubbard to be the firm's chief data scientist. Global satellite communications company Iridium hired Rohit Braggs as its vice president of position, navigation and timing. Maryland's venture arm TEDCO tapped six new executive officers for its board of directors, including people hailing from the higher education sector and private companies. AI adoption firm Meibel is opening a 3,000-square-foot office in Tysons, also reported by the Washington Business Journal. Local business award grantor Moxie announced its 2025 finalists, including investment firms like K Street Capital and several government contractors.
