Halifax’s Volta Labs has named Jesse Rodgers, the founding director of both Velocity and the Creative Destruction Lab, as its new CEO.

The startup house, which offers office space and mentoring to tech statups, has been looking for a CEO since last summer. With the hiring of Rogers, Executive Director Melody Pardoe will become the organization’s Chief Operating Officer.

“We’re entering into our next growth stage at Volta,” Pardoe said. “Jesse will primarily work on executing our growth plans and fundraising.”

A 15-year veteran of the startup world, Rodgers was the founding director of the Velocity incubator at the University of Waterloo and later of the Creative Destructive Lab at the University of Toronto. Rodgers also has startup experience as the co-founder of TribeHR, an HR SaaS company acquired by NetSuite. For the 15 months, he has been the Vice-President of Business Development at Waterloo-based startup Boltmade.

“Jesse brings a unique view of both the customer and the user to the product development at TribeHR,” David Crow, a partner at TheNextPhase mentorship team, wrote of Rodgers in 2012. “He has insight in both how the service offering should be priced (i.e., the economic decision of the purchaser) and around the usage scenario for everyday users.”

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Aside from bringing fresh blood and experience to the Volta executive, the hiring of Rodgers strengthens the links between Volta and the burgeoning tech community in the Waterloo Region. Iain Klugman, the CEO of Communitech, already serves on the Volta board.

Rodgers and Pardoe now have the long-term goal of creating a new innovation hub at the old Memorial Library, which has been empty since the new Central Library opened in late 2014. The city staff has recommended that Volta be allowed to occupy the building.

“This is an exciting time for Volta,” said Jevon MacDonald, the chair of the Volta Board. “We’re thankful for the support of our sponsors and local community as we continue to grow our team to serve the ICT community in Nova Scotia and across Atlantic Canada.”

Rodgers’ duties will also include assisting Volta’s resident founders, building on Volta’s community partnerships, expanding its influence in the ICT sector and forging new relationships within the Atlantic Canada business ecosystem.

Volta began three years ago in a smaller location in Halifax, and moved in 2014 to the Maritime Building, where it occupies two floors. The organization said that its resident companies can receive more than $43,000 worth of resources, such as office space, in-house experts, scholarships, Amazon Web Services, travel program discounts and more.

Since 2013, Volta’s 39 resident startups and alumni have raised more than $24.5 million in equity financing.