RIT names interim director for Venture Creations technology business incubator

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Venture Creations technology business incubator has named upstate New York entrepreneur Peter Parts as interim director. Parts assumes the role from former director Richard Notargiacomo, who will continue his work with Venture Creations as a coach while he transitions into retirement.

Parts, retired president and CEO of Peter Parts Electronics, founded his company in 1986 in Webster, N.Y., after spending nearly a decade in the electronics business working for other companies. Since then, Peter Parts Electronics, headquartered in Ontario, N.Y., has become a large-scale supplier of electronic parts and assemblies working with hundreds of customers and more than 80 manufacturers in North America and around the world. The company, which specializes in circuit board assembly, plastic-injection molding, value-added assembly, metal machining, sheet-metal fabrication and turnkey original equipment manufacturer products, has grown to include sales and customer service representatives and has offices in New York, Florida, California and China, with more than 20 representative offices across North America.

Parts, a 1998 graduate of RIT’s Executive MBA program in Saunders College of Business, is a past chair and current member of the Saunders’ College Dean’s Advisory Council. He is on the boards of the Flaum Eye Institute and InterVol, an organization connecting donated medical supplies to people in need around the world.  

“It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to work closely with everyone in RIT’s Venture Creations incubator,” said Parts. “My goal is to continue building upon the strong foundation that has been already been established by helping to guide our current incubator companies and providing avenues for new companies to join our ranks. I am also looking forward to working alongside Venture Creations’ team of professional coaches who are among the best in the business and willingly share their knowledge and experiences with our resident companies. It’s both exciting and fulfilling to be able to further solidify my connection with RIT in this new role.”

In addition to Parts, Venture Creations welcomes Roy Pierce as interim associate director. Pierce, also a 1998 graduate of RIT’s EMBA program, has worked at Xerox Corp. as a training manager in the Technical Education and Management Training Department and was a former director of finance and operations for RIT’s Training and Professional Development Department (formerly the College of Continuing Education.) Pierce was also a founding faculty member of RIT Kosovo, developing and teaching courses in financial and managerial accounting. He also retired from the U.S. Army after 31 years of service. 

Venture Creations was created in 2003 to provide services to incubating companies, facilitating the development and operation of these companies for the purpose of advancing the educational and research missions of RIT through the enhancement of faculty, student and staff involvement in high technology. It was also created to promote economic development and competitiveness in Monroe County and New York state by encouraging and facilitating the transfer of technology resources to the marketplace. The total number of launched companies now stands at 42, with 559 jobs having been created.