“Gratitude is a Game Changer” with Heather McWhorter, Director, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, UNC-Wilmington

Heather McWhorter is the Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).

Heather is passionate about building ecosystems to support the prosperity of all entrepreneurs.  She provides executive oversight of the UNCW CIE. CIE nurtures high-impact startups with education, connections, and incubation and collision space, and accelerates the entrepreneurial ecosystem in southeastern North Carolina as a vibrant hub of innovation. Established in 2013, the CIE has given startups a place to call home while supporting the growth of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to the top startup ecosystem in the nation for cities under 300,000 (StartupBlink, June 2022). As the Director, her responsibilities include entrepreneur services development and capacity building, entrepreneur advising and consulting, community and team leadership, strategic planning, and sustainability and funding strategy.

A proven leader, some of Heather’s leadership and management strengths include building high-functioning teams and community engagement. Some of her technical specialties and interests include entrepreneurship and innovation and developing entrepreneurial ecosystems.

The CIE nurtures emerging ventures and connects entrepreneurs to a world of startup support services. Whether you’re from the community or UNCW faculty, staff, student, or alumni, they are ready to accelerate the launch and growth of your business. It is a vibrant hub of innovation and a central facility that offers both education events and a state-of-the-art incubator space.

Heather’s LinkedIn profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermcw/

Website for UNCW CIE: https://uncw.edu/cie/