After six years leading the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship, Florian Villaumé has been selected as the new CEO for techNL, the Newfoundland and Labrador association for digital industries.

The techNL board’s search committee had been working with the seach agency Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette for several months to find a replacement for former CEO Paul Preston. He left the organization in January to join St. John’s-based Genoa Design International as its Chief Marketing and Sales Officer.

A native of France, Villaumé will join techNL next month after being the inaugural CEO of the MCE, the centre that nurtures entrepreneurship among students and faculty at Atlantic Canada’s largest university.

“The board is excited for this next phase of techNL’s development under Florian’s leadership,” said techNL Board Chair Dan Brake in a statement. “Florian’s extensive international experience in innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development make him the ideal candidate to continue the growth of technology and innovation in the province.”

In March 2016, Villaumé took the helm of the new Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship, which he developed into an internationally recognized university centre for entrepreneurship. In 2019, the MCE was named one of five finalists in the emerging entrepreneurship centre category of the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Center’s annual awards.

During his MCE tenure, Villaumé helped to launch such initiatives as Hacking Health and Bounce Health Innovation, and crafted the Mel Woodward Cup into one of the main events on the St. John’s startup community calendar. MCE in this time helped to launch such companies as CoLab Software, Mysa Smart Thermostats, BreatheSuite and Metricsflow.

TechNL, formerly the Newfoundland Association of Technical Industries, said in the statement that Villaumé is fully committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. He has experience developing initiatives to increase the representation from under-represented groups in the local technology sector.

“My goal is to engage with techNL member companies, board, staff and stakeholders to build on and accelerate the growth and momentum that we have seen in the sector over the past few years,” said Villaumé. “Newfoundland and Labrador should be a destination of choice in North America for highly skilled workers worldwide who desire a lifestyle immersed in a vibrant tech sector, a supportive community and spectacular nature.”