Ms. Linda Dickerson Hartsock
Director, Center for CleanTech Entrepreneurship
The Syracuse Technology Garden
Linda Dickerson Hartsock is Director of the Center for CleanTech Entrepreneurship, a consortium that includes leading Upstate academic institutions, research and development centers, investors, industry associations, and government agencies. The NYSERDA-funded initiative helps entrepreneurs and early stage clean tech companies understand the industry from a policy and market perspective, develop best practices and new technologies, and finance growth.
Ms. Hartsock brings expertise in state, regional and local development, strategic planning, and structuring complex projects. She has helped organize regional development efforts across New York State, particularly education-industry partnerships related to emerging technologies, and has been the recipient of numerous federal and state awards related to her work.
She was previously a senior member of New York State’s economic development team, with responsibility for the Central Upstate region. She led a comprehensive outreach program, working closely with ESD’s International and Strategic Business Division, and helped structure major expansions by some of Upstate’s leading employers. She has also administered an Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and Local Development Corporation (LDC), and has a depth of experience in public authority governance and finance issues, as well as local development financing and capacity building. She is an executive board member of the New York Business Development Corporation, and also serves on the board of many Upstate organizations.
Before moving to the Upstate region, Ms. Hartsock was the President and CEO of a Hudson Valley based nine-county regional planning, policy and development group spanning from New York City to Albany. She was also a longtime faculty member at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, teaching organizational studies.