The leader of one of the most visible St. Louis organizations supporting startups is stepping down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arch Grants announced Monday morning that executive director Gabe Angieri will be leaving after a decade with the orgnaization. Angieri took over the top role in 2022 after Emily Lohse-Busch\u2019s departure from the nonprofit that awards non-dilutive grants to early stage companies in the region or looking to relocate here.<\/p>\n
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This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n He says he\u2019s ready for the next big thing after considering the current point of his career and what may still lie ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cI reflected on the past 10 years\u2014it\u2019s been quite a journey\u2014there\u2019s just a point in time where you look around and say, \u2018Where else can I drive impact?\u2019 and \u2018Do I still have the same energy that I brought to this work a few years ago?\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cWhile the gratification is there and the excitement for the future of Arch Grants is there, I\u2019m just more interested in pursuing other opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Angieri says he\u2019s especially proud of the community that has flourished under his leadership, something he says goes beyond the individual grants awarded to companies.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of our founders have met their significant others through our program. They\u2019ve met major investors. They\u2019ve become fast friends with each other. They\u2019re doing joint ventures between their businesses,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to quantify that impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Arch Grants\u2019 inception, the $20 million it\u2019s doled out has translated to over 4,000 new local jobs, nearly $300 million in regional wages and just shy of $1 billion in follow-on capital, according to the organization\u2019s internal metrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n During Angieri\u2019s tenure, Arch Grants has grown from a startup competition that awards non-dilutive grants of $75,000 to local entrepreneurs and up to $100,000 to those looking to relocate to the area into an organization that, in addition to those things, supports entrepreneurial growth in the region more broadly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Angieri plans to remain as the executive director for the next handful of months as the organization begins a national search for a first-ever chief executive officer. The new title is a reflection of Arch Grants\u2019 success and how its programming scope has expanded, says board president Zundra Bryant. The organization also has a strategic evaluation currently underway, which Bryant says will likely lead to growing its programming offerings and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an indication of the success that we\u2019ve achieved and the opportunity that\u2019s ahead of us,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re moving to a different stage of maturity. Our impact has increased with the number of founders that we support that\u2019re now in our ecosystem, and our credibility in this space has increased.\u201d<\/p>\n Bryant is clear, though, that this transition is a positive one. \u201cIt is a celebration of Gabe and his contributions, the success of Arch Grants, and the opportunity for someone to take hold of a successful organization and drive it forward,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Born in New York but raised in the Twin Cities, Angieri spent more than a dozen years working in various roles for the private Saint Louis Club before a brief tenure with the regional business council and then coming to Arch Grants as its director of development and strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cI entered the workforce in hospitality when I was 17, 18 years old. I have done everything from scrubbing toilets to serving banquet food to coordinating meetings and events for the regional business council to managing facilities at the Saint Louis Club,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t have any firm fast lane in which I see opportunities. I have a bit of entrepreneurial spirit myself, although I\u2019ve never had the risk profile to go out and launch something of my own, nor would I suggest I\u2019m about to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n