Engage Northeast Indiana - Fort Wayne

A dynamic, strategic and innovative economic development leader, Stephane joined the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership to serve as President and CEO in October 2021. Stephane is responsible for leading the economic development strategy for the 11-county region represented by the Regional Partnership, including the task of increasing business investment and regional prosperity through ongoing collaboration with local, regional, private, and public partners and organizations.

For over 10 years, Stephane honed his craft in the fast-paced, competitive and politically complex environment of the top economic development organizations in the country. In his previous role as the senior vice president of strategy for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, he attracted billions in new investment and thousands of new jobs to the region.

He served as an advisor to c-suite and policymakers regarding market intelligence, public relations, international relations, policy and foreign direct investments.

Stephane was responsible for continually improving internal processes to gain actionable market and industry intelligence, to drive traditional deal-flow, economic diversification. He has a proven track record for developing and managing regional cluster-based industrial attraction strategies to catalyze investment into new industrial parks across the region.

Additionally, Stephane led the creation of new consortiums of public, private, university and community partners to create a new smart region framework to develop and help scale solutions rooted in connectivity, mobility, equity and sustainability.

Stephane earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Planning and a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Management Technology from Arizona State University.

He was recognized in 2019 as top 40 under 40 in the economic development industry by Development Counsellors International (DCI), a national leader in marketing places.

Elicia Harris MD, MBA is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Navigate Maternity. Dr. Harris a board certified OB/GYN who currently practices as an OBGYN Hospitalist in Indianapolis, IN. She completed her undergraduate studies at Purdue University.. Dr. Elicia Harris has always been a passionate advocate for her patients and a warrior of healthcare disparities. In addition to providing excellent care to her patients, she also works as an advocate for healthcare policy and reform as the Treasurer of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) District V. She completed her medical school training and OBGYN residency at Indiana University School of Medicine. She recently completed a Physician Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) at IU Kelley School of Business.

Dr. John Shannon is the 17th President of Trine University. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in foreign and second language education from The Ohio State University, an M.A. in applied linguistics from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and a B.A. in psychology from State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He has taught at the rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor, and has been awarded tenure. He has served as a university faculty member, department chair, program director, academic dean, vice president for academic affairs, and provost. On June 1, 2023, he became President of Trine University. Additionally, Dr. Shannon has earned recognition as an educator and is a presenter at conferences. He has served as a journal review board member, newsletter editor, ESL program accreditation site reviewer, and accreditation liaison officer to the Higher Learning Commission. Furthermore, he worked as a pioneering academic leader at a start-up university (the American University of Sharjah). He also served as dean of a school of Arabic at the largest intensive language institute in the world: the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Lastly, Dr. Shannon’s career includes serving in the U.S. Army in the former West Germany and as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching in special education classrooms in Tunisia.

Brenda Gerber Vincent is a speaker, community leader, and outspoken mental health advocate. Her passions include inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders by creating opportunities for others to succeed. She is committed to creating equity and quality of place for all through economic development, programming, and leadership.

Brenda currently serves as the Chief Impact Officer at Greater Fort Wayne Inc. In her role she oversees Advocacy, Leadership Fort Wayne, programs, events, and marketing. Brenda served as a Governor appointed, Indiana Bicentennial Commissioner, and serves on numerous boards and committees including, The Board of Governors for the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series, Vera Bradley Foundation, The Carriage House, Parkview Systems Board, United Front Initiative and Love Fort Wayne. 

Brenda is proud to be a fourth generation Fort Wayne native. She received her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, where she continues to serve on the Indiana University Board of Associates for the Student Foundation.  Besides her husband and children, she considers her single greatest achievement co-founding the Carriage House, a rehabilitation facility established to restore seriously mentally ill persons to maximum social and employment functioning. 

Brenda is a recipient of the “Sagamore of the Wabash,” Indiana’s highest civilian honor, an alumna of the Aspen Institute for Global Leadership, and the first woman in NE Indiana to be awarded the prestigious “Heart of Indiana” Torchbearer Award.

Bob Vitoux is the President & CEO of OrthoWorx and AcceLINX based in Warsaw, Indiana. OrthoWorx has been around since 2009 in support of the orthopedic cluster represented in Northeast Indiana (NEI) with an epicenter in Warsaw, Indiana – known around the world as the Orthopedic Capital of the Word®. Since his appointment in July of 2022, it has been his desire for the organization to be known as Northern Indiana’s orthopedic catalyst focused on Equipping the Next Generation, Enriching Community, and Accelerating Industry. Prior to this role he was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer at Dovetail Brands, an Ambassador Enterprises (AE) holding company invested in businesses producing high-end products serving the luxury home market. Before that Bob served as the senior leader for the Private Equity Lane at AE after having joined the organization in April of 2018. AE is a legacy-minded private equity firm based in northern Fort Wayne with a portfolio of approximately fifty affiliate companies committed to cultivating legacies grounded in purpose, people, and performance.

Bob has held many different roles across a variety of businesses and several industries, including serving as the President & CEO of Seymour Midwest in Warsaw, a privately held landscape and specialty tool manufacturer, and as the CFO & EVP for the iconic Steinway Musical Instruments business based in Manhattan, but much of his career has been spent in the medical device (namely orthopedics) industry. Before moving to New York with Steinway, Bob held executive roles in Finance and Commercial Operations at Biomet Orthopedics over an 8-year period before the business was purchased by Zimmer, Inc. (now Zimmer Biomet). Bob and his family also lived in northern Scotland for nearly two years while he was part of the Johnson & Johnson companies, where he was the Finance Leader for the LifeScan Scotland diabetes business. He attributes this as one of the most formidable times in both his career development and family’s connectedness. Bob served as the Finance Leader for the US Joint, Trauma, & Extremity business at DePuy prior to moving overseas. Earlier in his career, Bob served in progressively more responsible finance roles at Zimmer, Inc. over a 6-year timeframe after having left Price Waterhouse where he progressed to Manager and started his professional career.

Bob obtained both his degrees, B.S. in Accounting and A.A. in Computer Applications, from Manchester College, now known as Manchester University. He is a CPA and also has completed Executive Programs at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and the University of Notre Dame.

He and his wife Debbie were married back in 1987 and they have two kids, Austin and Ashlyn. They are active members in the church and their community, including Bob’s participation on several nonprofit boards over the years. Bob recently completed his 15-year tenure on the Grace College board and is still serving on the NEI Elevate Ventures board and is an Advisor for First Merchants Bank. He also remains on some AE boards, the Razor Medical LLC board, and recently has joined the board of Biopoly, Inc.