James Senall

President, NextCorps, Inc.

Years in current role: 13

What are your priorities for 2023?

For 2023, one of NextCorps’ priorities will be to take a moment to celebrate the startup community’s achievements to date, as we also chart a course for the next several years. 2023 marks the five-year anniversary of building the new startup hub facility in the Sibley building and the establishment of the Downtown Innovation Zone. We’ve exceeded all of the original five-year goals set back in 2018 and are now eager to accelerate those efforts even further with expanded offerings, serving more companies, and building even more collaborative partnerships across the region!

What advice would you give young professionals in the Rochester business community?

My advice to young professionals would be to get involved in things that you are passionate about or want to learn more about. Join an advisory board or a nonprofit board, volunteer to mentor if you have a specific skill set that could be useful to others, or get involved in supporting connections between college students and local businesses and activities. All of these things will not only build your knowledge and experience base, but will also help build your professional networks, which can be extremely valuable to you as you continue along your own career.

What do you think will be different about the Rochester community in five years?

In five years, I see continued growth in entrepreneurship and innovation, and in downtown development. To be clear, this is already underway, and has a lot of momentum already, but what I see as different in five years is that all of this will become much more visible to the general business community, and the general public. As more startups continue to form, grow, and have exits, and as downtown projects like ROC the Riverway, the Constellation Brands HQ, and Main and Clinton development, among others, take shape, there will be an increased level of optimism and excitement in the community.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 100 list for 2023. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.