Rev1 Ventures Names Jennifer Hankins President and CEO

Jennifer Hankins started as president and chief executive officer of Rev1 Ventures on Sept. 14, taking the top job at the Columbus venture development nonprofit that has supported more than 1,700 startups since 2013.

She replaces Tom Walker, who is now executive chairman of the Rev1 Ventures board. Walker remains CEO of R1 Capital, the venture capital firm that spun out from Rev1 in June, and will stay involved with Rev1 on capital strategy. Day-to-day leadership, he said, "is hers now."

Hankins arrives from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she worked with Tulsa Innovation Labs. TIL won federal Build Back Better and Tech Hubs awards. Her family is relocating to Central Ohio.

The organization she inherits

Rev1's client companies have generated an estimated $7.74 billion in total economic impact and employ more than 2,800 people, according to figures released alongside the leadership change. R1 Capital, the spinout firm Walker now runs, manages more than $200 million in assets.

Hankins pointed to that record as the main reason she took the job. "Rev1's impact speaks for itself, and it's the kind of track record that gets noticed nationally," she said.

Her approach to economic development will not change from Tulsa to Columbus, she explained. A region's innovation economy grows out of what it already does well, and her job is to help those strengths grow faster. Rev1 already operates that way by investing in local entrepreneurs and the startup community Columbus already has.

"Columbus knows what it wants to be, and it's building the best version of itself," Hankins said. "That's the same opportunity I saw in Tulsa: a region with real assets, real institutional muscle, and the will to go after what's next. I want to help write that next chapter."

The move also brings her back to her roots. "I'm a Kansas City native, so the Midwest is home," she said. "Coming here feels like a return to the place, and the values, I come from."

What Tulsa taught her

Hankins credits TIL's federal awards to the partners who worked together to win them. The effort brought together philanthropy, government, entrepreneurs and innovators, major corporations, universities and tribal nations to build a strategy for making the region globally competitive.

"The wins were the outcome, but the lesson is what produced them, which is the power of a coalition," she said.

She sees the same ingredients in Central Ohio. "Central Ohio already has those ingredients, and it has the habit that matters most: showing up together," she said.

First-year priorities

Hankins listed three priorities for her first year, in order: listening to Rev1's team, portfolio founders and partners to build on existing progress; building stronger connections among founders, investors, companies and institutions; and promoting Central Ohio as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

She wants to connect more founders, investors, companies and institutions across Ohio and to promote the region nationally. "The regions doing this work well make sure their story gets told, and we have a great one to tell," she said.

A new flagship space

Hankins described Rev1 at The Peninsula, the downtown Columbus innovation hub Rev1 opened this year, as proof that Columbus is investing in itself. Rev1's team and coworking space for early-stage startups occupy the first floor. R1 Capital and flexible office space for growth-stage companies sit on the second. The setup puts founder support, investors and other founders under one roof.

"That proximity is what moves a founder faster - from a first conversation, to a customer introduction, to a term sheet," she commented.

"All of it rests on partnership," Hankins added. She credited the City of Columbus and Downtown Columbus Inc. with helping build the space, and pointed to Rev1's partnerships with Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University as the kind of long-term relationships that keep a startup community strong.

Why the board chose her

Walker said the board ran a national search for a leader with experience in entrepreneurship, economic development, building startup communities and working across sectors.

"Jennifer's experience doing exactly that in Tulsa really shone through during the search and impressed the board," he said.

Walker listed what Rev1 has accomplished since 2013: supported more than 1,700 startups, opened Rev1 at The Peninsula and spun out R1 Capital. "This is real proof that the model works and that Columbus can compete nationally," he said.

He added that the next phase will require the same partnership-building Hankins did in Tulsa, including advocacy for state programs.

"There's going to be a lot of advocacy needed around what comes next for programs like Ohio Third Frontier, and for keeping Ohio on a growth trajectory that supports both innovative startups and the research base behind them," Walker said. "Jennifer is exactly the right person to lead that work forward."