UCF’s Dr. Tom O’Neal Reelected to the Board of Directors of the National Business Incubation Assn.

ORLANDO, Fla., – Dr. Tom O’Neal, president of the Florida Business Incubation Assn., (FBIA) executive director of the Florida Economic Gardening Institute and associate vice president for research and commercialization at the University of Central Florida, was recently re-elected to the board of directors of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA).

Dr. O’Neal, founder of the UCF’s Business Incubation Program, said the NBIA is the world’s leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship.

“Each year, the NBIA provides thousands of professionals with information, education, advocacy and networking resources to assist early stage companies accelerate their growth and generate new economic activity and new jobs,” O’Neal said.

The NBIA currently serves more than 1,000 members in more than 60 nations. Some 25 percent of NBIA’s membership is located outside the U.S.

About the National Business Incubation Association
With more than 7,000 business incubators worldwide, the NBIA – the world's leading organization in advancing business incubation – estimates that in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenue of more than $17 billion, according.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 200 emerging companies (including more than 134 current clients) create over $363 million in annual total economic output and more than 3,120 new jobs (taking direct and indirect and induced impact into account) with an average salary of $59,000. With ten facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development among the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Apopka, the City of Winter Springs, the City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Volusia County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information about the Program and its clients and graduates, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu and UCFBIP on Facebook, on www.facebook.com/ucf4bip.