Paula Sorrell

Paula Sorrell is Vice President of Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venture Capital for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and has been with MEDC for three and a half years. She oversees programs to support Michigan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including university research and tech transfer, technology service providers, business incubators, seed funding programs, portfolio investments and venture matching investments. With a focus on leveraging private funding into early technology development, overall portfolio achieves a 35:1 leverage. Prior to MEDC, she was VP/CMO at seven early to mid-stage technology companies, focused on bringing new technologies to market. All start-ups resulted in successful sale of the company, or are still a going concern; four were university tech transfer spin-outs. Paula’s past activities in economic development include being a national trainer to economic development centers, universities, and consultants for early stage commercialization strategies and supporting eco-systems. She was the co-developer of screening tool used by several entrepreneurial support and investment organizations to evaluate commercialization potential in early stage companies. Paula has been a technology business evaluator for investment portfolio companies, business incubator tenants, National Lab managers for the U.S. Department of Energy, and for a membership group of 1300 international investors. She holds a bachelor degree in marketing and an MBA from Central Michigan University.