EEC Ohio Honors Ray Leach, Founding CEO of JumpStart

​EEC Ohio honors Ray Leach as he leaves his role as founding CEO of JumpStart to become co-founding partner at The Ohio Fund.  Over the last two decades, Ray provided exceptional leadership, helping to establish Cleveland’s venture capital and entrepreneurship ecosystems and leading the way to  meaningful economic growth for our region. 

EEC Ohio pays special tribute to Ray’s visionary leadership, including his pivotal role in recognizing the critical interconnection between entrepreneurship on college campuses and the larger ecosystem. He realized the importance of strengthening the bonds between higher education and the startup world by building bridges between JumpStart’s mentoring program and student ventures. JumpStart team members also worked hand-in-hand with higher education to develop the JumpStart Higher Education Collaboration Council founded in 2009, now merged with EEC Ohio, as a disseminator of information and resources to help student entrepreneurs thrive.  
 
Throughout his storied career, Ray has served as a vocal champion of student ventures, and EEC expresses gratitude for his commitment to supporting our EEC goals and aspirations.  We wish him great success in his next chapter!