Marc Alessi, chair of the Startups and Economic Development practice groups at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, Suffolk County’s premier law firm, has been selected to lead the Business Incubator Association of New York State, Inc. (BIA/NYS). A nonprofit trade association, BIA/NYS is the state’s largest organization dedicated to strengthening and expanding the facilities and programs that foster the growth and development of startup and incubator-based enterprises throughout New York. As Executive Director, Alessi is charged with furthering the association’s mission to promote networking, knowledge-sharing, and advocacy among organizations operating business incubators throughout the state.
The organization is a natural fit for Alessi, an experienced navigator of the local and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. The recipient of the Innovator of the Year Award from Innovate Long Island, Alessi has helped launch and finance a number of early stage companies across a variety of industries including biotechnology, IT, construction, and real estate. Alessi helped establish Accelerate Long Island, a unique collaboration among the region’s research institutions and business community to foster startup growth. He currently serves as Chairman and Founding CEO of one of their portfolio companies, SynchroPET, which is advancing its technology and developing its business as a tenant in the Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI) at Stony Brook University. The company’s medical imaging products, based on intellectual property licensed from Brookhaven National Laboratory, are the smallest, lightest PET scanners in the world, facilitating research via non-invasive PET and simultaneous PET/MRI imaging.
Alessi, a resident of Shoreham, has a long history of public service, including serving three terms in the New York State Assembly representing the First Assembly District, which included the Towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southold, and Shelter Island.
“After a decade of impressive growth, the BIA Board was seeking an Executive Director to take the organization to the next level in scale, support for our constituencies, and recognition. Marc’s diverse background, as well as his personal skills and talents, are a terrific match for our vision. We all look forward to making great strides with him in the years ahead,” said Ann-Marie Scheidt, Chair of the Board of Directors of the BIA/NYS and Director of Economic Development at Stony Brook.