By Julia Knope
Digital Media Zone (DMZ) director Valerie Fox has resigned from her position, effective June 31, 2015.
“I’m leaving because it’s the right time. The DMZ is doing fantastically. I think I’ve taken it as far as I can and now its time for others to shape it,” she said.
Taking her place is Abdullah Snobar, current director of student engagement and business development.
“I plan on taking what I know, using the help and advice of others and working with the solid DMZ team we have to continue doing incredible things,” Snobar said.
Fox is planning on becoming an entrepreneur in the near future and will only be taking a two-week vacation in the summer.
Fox has held her current position since April 2010, when the DMZ was first created. With her leadership, the DMZ became the number one ranked university incubator in Canada and top five in the world.
“The DMZ was created to support brilliant young people and was built around and for them,” she said. “We built this together. We learned together and grew together. This particular gig showed me that I can start, develop and run an organization. I never did that before.”
She says she is confident that Snobar is a good person to fill her shoes.
“I think Abdullah is perfect as the new executive director and I’m quite excited to see where things go and grow,” Fox said.
Snobar is also confident that the skills and ideas he has brought to the DMZ have worked and will continue to work has he transitions into his new job.
“I think the mix of selling a vision for something new and exciting with the ability to give sound judgement on matters concerning the bigger picture is something that has worked well for me at the DMZ,” he said.
Snobar already has changes that he plans on implementing within the DMZ.
“We are focusing on improving our brand, creating sustainable revenue sources, improving support for startups and advisors, becoming more engaged with community both nationally and internationally [and] creating stronger industry partnerships to bring more opportunities to the DMZ and its members,” Snobar said.
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