By Jim Senall (originally published on the NextCorps Blog)

Changes are coming to Rochester. Everywhere you look, there’s more life and more activity, especially in the heart of downtown. Here at NextCorps, we have both a new name and a new headquarters, and it’s thrilling to be a visible, centralized hub of startup activity for the community.

The last few months have been busy. We launched the first cohort of the Luminate Accelerator, educating 10 optics, photonics, and imaging teams through a rigorous and intensive program. One of those teams walked away with a one million dollar investment. We’ve been running the fifth cohort of NEXUS-NY, our clean energy accelerator. We’ve been onboarding new clients to join our incubator in the historic and newly revitalized Sibley Square. We’ve even been gearing up for a new program that will help clean technologies move from prototyping to mass production.

Our daily work with companies aims to help them accelerate their growth. The more company success we see, the more our region grows and prospers. We’re also striving to bring the broader startup ecosystem together, leveraging the many resources the Rochester area has to offer into something awesome. Plus, we’re working to disseminate good news and advice, and foster connections among entrepreneurs and their supporters.

But we can’t do it alone.

We want your involvement and input. If there’s a story you think needs to be told, a problem that should be addressed, or advice you want to share, we want you to let us know.

Join us—join the corps—and together, we’ll shape what’s next.

Jim Senall joined NextCorps as President in 2009, and in that capacity leads the NextCorps team towards their mission of creating entrepreneurship and innovation-based regional growth.  During his tenure at NextCorps, the organization has launched several new initiatives including a software accelerator program, clean tech accelerator, a statewide Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, and an optics, photonics, and imaging accelerator. Jim holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. in marketing and entrepreneurship from the Simon Business School, University of Rochester.