Sawczuk will lead activities of the ATDC -- Georgia Tech’s internationally-known accelerator for startup companies -- which helps Georgia technology entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. ATDC also manages services designed to commercialize technology emerging from Georgia Tech laboratories and help Georgia companies win Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

Sawczuk has served the ATDC as assistant director for biosciences since October of 2009. Prior to that, she was CEO of Zygogen LLC, an Atlanta-based biotechnology company that advanced the use of zebrafish for drug screening. Before co-founding that company, she served in drug discovery, biotechnology consulting, and business development roles for several organizations in the Boston, Research Triangle Park and Southern California areas.

"It is an exciting time to be part of ATDC as this successful startup accelerator begins its fourth decade of helping Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build science and technology companies," Sawczuk said. "With the economy encouraging more people to start companies and ATDC’s membership now open to a broader group of enterprises, the organization has never been more important to the state’s entrepreneurs."

Sawczuk holds a master's degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard Medical School, an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a bachelor's degree in social and behavior sciences from Johns Hopkins University. She has served in a variety of positions with Georgia BIO, and as a member of the external review committee for the Georgia Research Alliance VentureLab Program.

Startup companies play a key role in creating new jobs and new economic activity for the state, region and nation, noted Stephen Fleming, a Georgia Tech vice president and executive director of the Enterprise Innovation Institute.

"Startups play an essential role in creating new jobs and growing the economy," he said. "We are proud of the many companies that have emerged from ATDC during its 30-year history, and we look to Nina to help Georgia Tech maintain its vital role in building Georgia’s economy."

ATDC is a startup accelerator that helps Georgia technology entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. Founded in 1980, ATDC has helped create millions of dollars in tax revenues by graduating more than 120 companies, which together have raised more than a billion dollars in outside financing.

A year ago, ATDC expanded its mission by merging with Georgia Tech's VentureLab and with the Georgia SBIR Assistance Program. The change enabled ATDC to greatly extend its reach to serve more technology companies along multiple growth paths and at all stages of development. ATDC has opened its membership to all technology entrepreneurs in Georgia, from those at the earliest conception stage to the well-established, venture-fundable companies.

The program currently has more than 300 members within Georgia's technology community and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Forbes Magazine recently named ATDC to its new list of the "ten technology incubators that are changing the world." ATDC was the only incubator in the Southeast to be included on the Forbes list.

ATDC is part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) at Georgia Tech, which helps Georgia enterprises improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology and innovation. ATDC currently has three facilities; two at Georgia Tech's main campus in Atlanta, and one at Georgia Tech's satellite campus in Savannah. It also conducts programming at other locations in metro Atlanta and beyond.

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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986)(jtoon@gatech.edu) or Nancy Fullbright (912-963-2509)(nancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon