Henry Mortimer, founder of Baltimore-based Mortimer Communications and an important voice in the metropolitan area's growing ecosystem for start-ups and small businesses, has been named director of the University of Baltimore's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The center, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2016, provides support and assistance to all UB undergraduate and graduate students who are intent on establishing an enterprise. Mortimer started on August 23.

In his role as director of the center, Mortimer will expand on his well-established role as a facilitator, problem solver and source of inspiration for entrepreneurially-minded women and men. The University of Baltimore, which was founded in 1925 by city-based business leaders who sought a way to educate Baltimore's working adults, is ideally positioned to help entrepreneurs succeed, he says.

"Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of UB," Mortimer says. "It's a founding principle behind the university in general, and the center in particular, which is less well-known beyond the walls of the Merrick School. I'm looking forward to continuing my role of mentoring young companies and eager to find ways to share the center's wealth of resources with the greater UB campus and into the community."

Mortimer already is familiar with UB, having served as an entrepreneur in residence here. He also has been involved with a number of Baltimore-area incubators and business education providers, including ETC, Betamore and Towson University. He frequently teaches workshops for emerging and established entrepreneurs. Through his communications firm, which he founded in 2008, he helps entrepreneurs understand their niche in the local business community and how they can own their origin story?from "elevator speech" to strategic planning and execution.

Mortimer says that Baltimore and the region are poised for the next phase of an entrepreneurial evolution, with a broadening respect for the power of ideas to greatly enhance the local economy. UB's significant alumni population, for example, includes hundreds of area small-business leaders, each of whom is contributing to a city that is more self-reliant, and more self-actualized, than perhaps at any time in its history.

"It's an exciting time to be involved in the startup ecosystem in Baltimore," Mortimer says. "The number of innovation and incubation opportunities is increasing, with just about something for anyone looking to launch a business. My goal is to ensure that the folks we primarily serve, the student and community-minded entrepreneurs, know who we are, what we offer and, most important, why we matter to them."

Mortimer holds a B.A. in English from Bucknell University. He resides in Roland Park.

Learn more about the University of Baltimore's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the teaching and support of entrepreneurship at UB.

The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, the UB School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.