ANN ARBOR ? Diane Durance, the former president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone, is the new executive director of Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, a business-plan writing contest that has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Michigan entrepreneurs for nearly a decade.

Durance was approved on Tuesday by the GLEQ board of directors. She replaces Art DeMonte who has left GLEQ to devote full time to his consulting business. Durance had worked for Ann Arbor SPARK, where she worked to develop a network of SPARK supporters, after SPARK acquired the Ann Arbor IT Zone earlier this year.

?I?m excited we?ll be working with all the technology and entrepreneurial networking groups in the state, teasing out entrepreneurs around the state so they will find out about a whole range of resources available to them,? Durance said.

?I hope to reach out to areas of the state outside Southeast Michigan to include Midland, Lansing and the entire SmartZone network,?? she said.

Michigan SmartZones are collaborations between universities, industry, research organizations, government, and other community institutions intended to stimulate the growth of technology-based businesses and jobs by aiding in the creation of recognized clusters of new and emerging businesses, those primarily focused on commercializing ideas, patents, and other opportunities surrounding corporate, university or private research institute R&D efforts. SmartZones include:

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor SPARK)

Automation Alley

Battle Creek Aviation & e-Learning

Detroit/Woodward Technology Corridor (Tech Town)

Grand Rapids (West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative)

Houghton/Hancock (MTEC SmartZone)

Kalamazoo (Southwest Michigan Innovation Center)

Lansing/East Lansing

Mount Pleasant (Center for Applied Research and Technology)

Muskegon Lakeshore

Rochester Hills (Oakland University INCubator)

Wayne County – Pinnacle Aeropark

The mission of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, and its competition, is to continually encourage and educate entrepreneurs on the creation, start up and early growth stages of high-growth businesses within the state of Michigan. This will be accomplished by linking entrepreneurs pursuing high-growth opportunities with access to a statewide network of community resources, expert advice, high quality education, management talent and capital at every stage of development.

For more information, click on GLEQ.Org

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