Michael Purello is the new executive director of the Rivers Region Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
There are puzzle people, and there are picture people.
Michael Purello is a puzzle person.
Put thousands of disparate pieces in front of him, and he’s quite happy to spend his time figuring out how they all fit together.
As the new executive director of the Rivers Region Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, his job is gathering all the pieces that make up Go Virginia Region 6, and connecting them in a way that will attract entrepreneurs large and small to our region.
Recently, Purello sat down with the Advance to learn more about him, and the work before him.
FXBG Advance: Welcome to Fredericksburg! Your new title is a mouthful — Rivers Region Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Executive Director. Can you help us understand that?
Michael Purello: It is a long title, but it’s also quite descriptive of what we’ll be doing. As executive director, my main responsibility will be to attract entrepreneurs to our region and encourage them to start new companies.
We’re looking for both Main Street Businesses (MSBs), and High-Growth Businesses (HGBs). The MSBs are single shops that tend to produce products that are sold locally — coffee shops, electronics stores, etc. HGBs, by contrast are companies that sell products to the entire country and across the globe. Maintaining relationships with the military bases in the area, such as the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, can be useful for identifying possibilities for potential HGBs.
The expression “River Region” comes from the fact that our area, which is Go Virginia Region 6, includes the York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers. That’s how they came up with “Rivers Region.”
This is a large area that includes 14 counties and a dozen cities. It also includes three area districts: George Washington, Middle Peninsula, and Northern Neck planning district commissions.
FXBG Advance: How does one person manage all that area?
MP: My first 30-day plan is to spend time reaching out to the key players in Go Virginia Region 6. This includes the key people in each of the areas described above, as well as the economic development authority leaders in the area.
FXBG Advance: Once you get your feet wet, and learn the major players, how do you go about attracting entrepreneurs?
MP: Fortunately, some strategic planning has already been done on attracting entrepreneurs. We will take what’s been done and formalize an overall strategic plan for rolling out this new operation.
Among the things that I’ll be focusing on are grant writing, which I have some experience doing, and attracting venture capitalists (Angel Donors) who can provide seed capital for attracting entrepreneurs.
We’re also developing a coaching system for entrepreneurs. The goal is to make it easy for people to find sources to help get them rolling. The more business we bring in for the area, the better it is for the area.
We already have a number of successful entrepreneurs in this area to lean on.
A great example is First Line Technology. One of its products is called Dahlgren Decon. Originally developed at the naval base, this decontamination product has become a successful private sector product.
FXBG Advance: What are some of the assets that this region already has?
MP: Clearly, we have a strong connection to our local high-education centers — the University of Mary Washington, Germanna Community College, and Rappahannock Community College — all of which are developing entrepreneurial programs.
One of the things we’re going to need are facilities where we can bring these entrepreneurs together, and universities and colleges are attractive places to do this. Coffee shops are another popular choice.
FXBG Advance: Your new office is in the same space as the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance. Is that who you are working for?
MP: The Rivers Region Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Council is the group that I will ultimately respond to. However, we have a very tight relationship with the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance.
FXBG Advance: Do you have a philosophy for launching this ambitious program?
MP: Fail forward. It’s ok to have some failures, but when you have them, it’s important to figure out why, reset the rudder, and try again. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of parts to this effort.
FXBG Advance: This type of work requires a wide variety of skills. You’ve mentioned a background in grant writing. What other experience do you bring to the table?
MP: I grew up in northern New Jersey and got my degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. I started out wanting to be a mechanical engineer, but wound up in industrial engineering because I enjoyed projects that involved working with lots of people. Shortly thereafter, I earned my masters in business administration (MBA).
Beyond that, I started out in the private sector doing food manufacturing and distribution. I started my government career in Norfolk as a production engineer at the shipyard before moving to Wallops Island to work at the then-named AEGIS Combat Systems Center.
When I got there, the Aegis facility was fairly new, and the Navy was a tenant of NASA. I worked there in the 90s and got my master’s degree in systems engineering. Systems engineering requires you to talk to people and deal with multi-layered projects, and those skills will be important in this work.
In 1999 I moved to Dahlgren working as a systems engineer, had many great jobs, and retired from there in 2019.
FXBG Advance: Where do you live, and what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
MP: I volunteer a lot of my free time. What I really enjoy is working with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in King George. I’m involved with several projects there. One of them is organizing their Octoberfest.
We’re coming up on our third one and they have been very successful events. I’m also on the board of the Dahlgren Heritage Museum where I have written many grants.
I have found real satisfaction in the stuff that I’m doing for the community. The work at St. Paul’s is about reaching out and supporting the community. At the museum, it’s about how we tell the Dahlgren story and support the young kids in the community with STEM programs.
I live in King George with my wife. We have four children who are now out of the house. We share our home with two dogs and two cats.
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