RALEIGH – Raleigh Innovate’s executive director Bridget Harrington has stepped down to return to the private sector.

This month, she joined Thinc Strategy, a female-led management consulting company, as chief operating officer.

Headquartered in Wilmington, Thinc focuses on strategy, financial services, mergers and acquisitions for clients in technology, life sciences, architecture, and engineering.

“I’m looking forward to my next adventure, but will continue supporting Innovate Raleigh, the Raleigh Chamber, and innovation in our region,” Harrington told WRAL TechWire.

Her departure marks the end of a nearly four-year tenure at Innovate Raleigh in which she spearheaded a number of initiatives.

Among them: creating the Triangle Innovation Hub, a comprehensive list of resources for entrepreneurs; establishing the annual Innovate Raleigh Summit; and supporting the virtual Wraparound Program, an experimental program to support entrepreneurs during the pandemic.

She also initiated new marketing efforts, including the News & Observer Fellowship and WRAL TechWire’s upcoming ‘Founders Series.’ Both help support coverage of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Triangle.

“Bridget positioned Innovate Raleigh as the welcoming ‘front door’ of the area’s innovation ecosystem,” said Sarah Glova, founder of Reify Media and an Innovate Raleigh board member.

“It’s difficult to overstate the impact she’s had on this area just by maintaining and championing that mindset. She was constantly taking meetings, making introductions, and facilitating connections. It was ongoing, but she was relentless about maintaining it.”

Harrington started at a pivotal time in the organization’s history.

Before she took over the reins, Innovate Raleigh, founded in 2011 as a non-profit to support the Triangle’s startup ecosystem, had been an “open source-led” organization, with a group of dedicated volunteers leading the way.

She became the first full-time executive director of the organization when the Raleigh Chamber and Innovate Raleigh formed a partnership to support the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in 2017.

“It’s been my honor to lead Innovate Raleigh through this exciting period of growth and change,” Harrington said. “I’m very proud of everything we accomplished.”

Bridget Harrington

She believes the group’s strategy is working.

“Every day, we get closer to the goal of becoming a top five center for innovation and entrepreneurship,” she said.

“When Innovate Raleigh started ten years ago, Raleigh did not even have a co-working space, and now we have several of the world’s most innovative companies right here in our backyard. It has been so much fun being a part of the growth.”

Innovate Raleigh’s board and the Raleigh Chamber is instituting a search for her replacement.

In the meantime, Clark Rinehart, former director of Community at The Loading Dock, has been named interim director to execute the Innovate Raleigh Summit scheduled for October 25-29.

This year’s Summit will celebrate 10 years since Mayor MaryAnn Baldwin and Dr. Terri Lomax founded the organization.