“As a Connecticut native, I’ve always said Connecticut has everything it needs to be successful,” Obiocha said in an interview. “I’ve always been excited about the potential here. Giving businesses opportunities to grow is something I couldn’t say no to.

Obiocha, 32, a New Haven resident and Windsor native, joined CTNext after serving as director of the Heron Foundation’s Integrated Capitals and Learning program, playing a key role in managing a $350 million endowment.

The University of Connecticut alum previously worked as Managing Director of the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, where he focused on developing programs and resources for students to start and grow businesses at across the country. Additionally, he co-founded A Happy Life, a New Haven-based coffee company, and founded Shareological, an e-commerce platform.

“Connecticut is much more than one between Boston and New York,” Obiocha said. “We have our own culture, our own people and our own ecosystem.”

As the new executive director, Obiocha takes charge of an agency with a current year budget of approximately $14 million; this financing comes from the guarantee of the State. He succeeds Glendowlyn Thames, who concurrently served for the past two and a half years as the State Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Economic and Community Development.

“Ony brings both leadership vision and the experience needed to cultivate vibrant innovation ecosystems throughout Connecticut,” said Revell Horsey, chairman of CTNext’s board of directors, in a statement. “We have a number of programs at CTNext that have the ability to scale and succeed. Ony embodies entrepreneurship in action and spirit, and has the skills to improve current programming and maximize impact for the entrepreneurs we support.

While reporting to the CTNext board, Obiocha will also work with officials from Connecticut Innovations, the state-chartered venture capital organization. CTNext is a wholly owned subsidiary of Connecticut Innovations.

“Ony is going to critically review all of the investments we’ve made across the board and come up with a plan,” Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe said in an interview. “He has a really great opportunity. He is a very charismatic and very intelligent young man who wants to make a big impact and make a difference.

Among his main goals, Obiocha said he wants to further develop CTNext’s flagship program, Innovation Places, a multi-year initiative to foster technology and entrepreneurship in Connecticut’s urban centers. The program allocated $7.7 million to New Haven, $6.5 million to Hartford, $6 million to Stamford and $2.5 million to the New London area.

“Innovation Places is an amazing program,” Obiocha said. “It’s a program I’m really focused on because it keeps all the major economic drivers in mind, including insur(ance)-tech in Hartford and fin(ancial) tech in Stamford. But it’s thinking also what it means to create an ecosystem.

Obiocha said he also wants to expand CTNext’s partner network.

“I think part of my job is to capture hearts and minds,” Obiocha said. “I hope my enthusiasm and pure enjoyment for this job and Connecticut is contagious because I want all of these people who haven’t been at the table to come join me.”

Obiocha said he’s optimistic about Connecticut’s economic outlook largely because of students and young professionals in cities such as New Haven, Stamford and Hartford. He believes the state’s demographics position him well to learn from successful economic development in other states and countries.

“I had the opportunity to travel and observe other entrepreneurial ecosystems, whether in Budapest, Barcelona, ​​Chicago or Detroit,” Obiocha said. “We live in a global economy, so why can’t Connecticut operate on this scale?”

[email protected]; twitter: @paulschott