DURHAM – Ravila Gupta, president and chief executive officer of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, is stepping down from that job as of April 1.
Gupta has been nominated to become the group’s next board chair as of July 1. That move still has to be approved by its board, the CED announced Friday. In the interim she will remain an advisor to the CED, the organization said.
Gupta will become CEO of Bagchi Group, a recently formed expansion organization of Bagchi Law, which is a CED Strategic Partner, the CED said.
Ravila Gupta
Replacing Gupta on an interim basis will be Kelly Rowell, the current vice president of customer experience for CED.
Kelly Rowell
“I am honored to have served as President and CEO for the last three years and am excited to provide leadership to the organization from a Board capacity,” Gupta said in a statement.
“I am confident in Kelly’s ability to lead the organization and execute on the strategy that has been put in place.”
In the announcement, Rowell noted “I am humbled to assume this role at CED and value the tremendous impact it has on our community. Over the past two years, I have had the extraordinary opportunity to connect with the entrepreneurs we serve, as well as the strategic and community partners that stand behind our work. I look forward to building on those relationships and continuing to add value to the ecosystem along the way.”
Rowell “has a diverse background in the nonprofit space leading teams, maximizing organizational capacity, and fostering efficient and effective workflow,” according to her CED bio.
“As an accomplished development professional, she applies over 15 years of experience in designing engagement strategies that offer the best value to an organization’s supporters. She feels drawn to the entrepreneurial community by her personal alignment with its defining characteristics. In that, she is a continual learner who believes evolution is key to personal and professional success. Kelly has a B.A. in Marketing, Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Certified Fund Raising Executive.
Current board chair Brad Schomber said he was “very pleased she will succeed me and continue to bring her vision and guidance to the CED organization.”
The full announcement follows:
Today, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) announced Ravila Gupta, President and CEO of the CED will continue to play a critical leadership role with CED and has been nominated to be the next Chair of the Board of Directors, a role that she expects to assume July 1 (pending Board approval).
Current CED Board Chair, Brad Schomber says “It’s been a privilege working with Ravila as Board Chair and am very pleased she will succeed me and continue to bring her vision and guidance to the CED organization.”
