Chairman Smith-Hayes

SELECTION of an executive director for the Nashville Business Incubation Center (NBIC) has been in limbo for about a year. But, that might be about to end.

Tennessee State University President Glenda Baskin Glover announced Friday (May 10) the university had appointed Millicent Lownes-Jackson, Ph.D., to the post of Dean of the TSU College of Business.

That appointment may prove key to moving NBIC planning forward, after a lengthy lull. NBIC and TSU sources have not yet responded to a query in this matter. This story will be updated, as warranted.

NBIC is a program that has long been sponsored via the TSU College of Business, and has been led the past year by Valerie Smith Hayes (a Deloitte executive), who is chairman of the board of Growth Enterprises Nashville Inc. (GENI), which operates NBIC in partnership with TSU. GENI is a nonprofit organized in 1984.

NBIC Assistant Director Angela Crane-Jones has for the past decade been NBIC's assistant director, serving most of her tenure under former Executive Director Mildred Townsend Walters, who resigned a year ago.  Crane-Jones would likely prove a competitive candidate for the executive directorship, according to several sources.

The NBIC board conducted a strategic planning process in winter 2012, examining its physical plant, financial needs, relationship with TSU and other factors.

A decision on those matters and on the issue of a successor to Walters was apparently held in abeyance to allow Glover to select a dean for the College of Business, among other factors. The business dean has traditionally been the school's liaison to the NBIC board.

Glover assumed the office of TSU president in January; she is also member of the NBIC board of directors, according to an NBIC release in February.

In February, NBIC announced additions to its board, including James Crumlin (Bone McAllester Norton), Allison Lynch (Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce), Todd Nisbet (North Highland), JJ Rosen (Atiba), Paul Smith (North Highland), Anthony Tate (Tate Commercial Services) and Luther Wright (Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoke & Stewart), augmenting members already in-place. VNC