mHUB Names Entrepreneurial Community Veteran Melissa Lederer as Chief Experience Officer
With nearly 10 years supporting and growing Chicago’s innovation ecosystem by helping to launch 1871, MATTER, and mHUB, Lederer joins mHUB’s leadership team to help further opportunities for product innovation to thrive
CHICAGO (January 10, 2019) – mHUB, the nation’s largest and fastest growing innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing, announced today the appointment of Melissa Lederer as Chief Experience Officer. A fixture in the Chicago tech community, Lederer brings more than 20 years of experience, most notably serving on the founding teams of three of the City’s innovation centers; 1871, MATTER, and mHUB.
In 2016, Lederer supported the launch of mHUB as a strategic marketing consultant in charge of establishing the mHUB brand and setting the course for the organization’s marketing and communications strategy. In its first year alone, mHUB’s community grew to more than 330 members that contributed more than $19M to the regional economy and created more than 300 jobs. As Chief Experience Officer, Lederer’s focus will expand to include oversight of programming, human resources and culture, marketing and strategic initiatives, along with the launch of Accelerated Incubation, a program designed to leverage mHUB’s resources and network to fast track startup growth. The year-long program, which is still in the planning stages, will connect cohorts of startups with corporate partners and investors around defined technology needs with the first cohort to focus on Industrial Internet of Things.
“Melissa has been an integral member of our team since we launched,” said mHUB co-founder and CEO, Haven Allen. “Her counsel has been invaluable to drive this business forward, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her join our team in a full-time capacity.”
Lederer’s counsel and expertise has lent itself to much more than mHUB marketing, branding, and communications. Her experience and learnings from supporting the launches and growth of two of Chicago’s top incubator spaces, 1871 and MATTER, have proven to be imperative to the development of mHUB’s model.
“I’ve watched this business model grow and evolve over the past few years, and mHUB has truly become a vital resource for the product innovation community,” said Lederer. “I look forward to leveraging the experience I’ve generated through helping to build Chicago’s incubators and supporting entrepreneurship to continue to expand mHUB’s offerings as well as to create better collaboration across the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in the Midwest, and across the nation.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Melissa at 1871 and have seen her direct impact on building and strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Chicago,” said partner at Chicago Ventures, founding CEO of 1871, and mHUB board member Kevin Willer. “Melissa has been one of the un-sung heroes in Chicago's entrepreneurial eco-system over the past few years. She’s played a significant role in many milestones that this City has had in growing our innovation community.”
This announcement comes on the brink of a high-growth year for mHUB. In the first quarter alone, the organization is expanding the team by 6 full time staff members.
ABOUT mHUB
mHUB is the nation’s largest and fastest growing innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing. mHUB is a community of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, a network of manufacturing mentors, industry experts and investors, and a source of intellectual and economic capital. mHUB is home to more than $5 million in resources including ten shops and labs, including electronics, plastic fabrication, metals and rapid prototyping as well as a microfactory for small production runs. Learn more at mHUBChicago.com.
