Dr. Anthony Margida, Ph.D.

CEO
TechGrit
Alliance, OH

Dr. Anthony J. Margida, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, visionary and accomplished entrepreneurial ecosystem architect, brings energy and expertise to customizing tech startup programing for communities, universities, and corporations. His depth of experience spans business accelerator design, equity investment, private/public partnerships, company formation, and organization sustainability. As CEO of Akron Global Business Accelerator, he envisioned and spearheaded its transformation into an entrepreneurial super-hub creating 450 new jobs and securing $75 M in equity investment while securing over $10M in grant funding to ensure multi-year operations.

His 30-year career in innovation has focused on developing/commercializing new technologies and the creation of companies spanning the specialty chemical, advanced material, cleantech/energy, nano-tech, IT and medical device industries. As Director of Technology at HB Fuller he led development and global commercialization of a waterbased footwear adhesive offering an alternative to a highly abused toluene based staple. His Magnetorheological Fluid (MR) patents are widely cited and are core to GM’s Magneride suspensions on over one million vehicles.

A nationally recognized thought leader, Dr. Margida serves on the Council on Competitiveness, a non-partisan recommending organization for US policy.

He is Leadership Chair for LaunchTown™, a program designed to promote entrepreneurship for Northeast Ohio's college and university students. He has served on the Akron ARCHAngels Deal Flow Committee and the University of Akron Research Foundation Spark Fund Board focusing on investment of University technologies. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Wooster, Dr. Margida received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Akron and his business education from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.