Imagine what Rochester might look like if we were able to cultivate and support an ecosystem of neighborhood entrepreneurs creating prosperity for themselves and for their community. Many of these businesses might not fit the high-tech, high-growth model served by traditional accelerators, but thanks to Denny DeLeo and the Venture Jobs Foundation, the traditional curriculum has been adapted to focus on entrepreneurs that are otherwise underserved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition to unleashing these neighborhood entrepreneurs, the Venture Jobs Foundation is investing in existing businesses willing to create jobs in high poverty neighborhoods and has an annual Prosperity Conference to promote impact investing in Rochester.

Denny DeLeo is currently President of the Venture Jobs Foundation and a Partner at Trillium Group. The VJF invests in small businesses that will bring jobs to higher poverty neighborhoods. It provides a suite of technical assistance services to support this mission, including a revolving microlending fund and a business accelerator, the VJF Jobs Kitchen.

In 1997, he co-founded Trillium Group, a venture capital and private equity firm that raised and invested $100 million. At Trillium, he the managing partner and fund executive of a venture fund invested in regional technology-oriented businesses.

Prior to founding Trillium Group, he was employed at Eastman Kodak Company, starting in the Legal Division and ending his Kodak career as Vice President and General Manager of the Bioscience and Emerging Businesses Division and President and CEO of a Kodak subsidiary, Eastman Technology, Inc., formed to guide Kodak’s internal entrepreneurship operations and launch businesses based on leading-edge technologies.