Category: Q&A

Meet Entrepreneur of the Year Kyle York

The New Hampshire Tech Alliance has named Kyle York, co-founder and CEO of the Manchester-based strategic growth and investment firm York IE, its Entrepreneur of the Year. York discussed his work, the award and his approach to business and entrepreneurship.

What entrepreneurial work have you done in New Hampshire?

My entrepreneurial work began as a young man working at my parents’ store in Manchester called Indian Head Athletics. In college I got my first internship at … WhippleHill [in Bedford]. I later went on to become the head of West Coast sales for WhippleHill. … I became the Chief Revenue Officer of Dyn … [and] helped lead the sale of Dyn to Oracle. For three years I was VP [of] product strategy for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and general manager of Oracle Dyn. In 2019 I co-founded York IE. … I’ve invested in nearly 100 startups over the past decade, which have created thousands of jobs. … I also own a real estate portfolio [with] more than 100,000 square feet in Manchester … focused on innovators, community organizations and nonprofits.

What are you working on now?

York IE … [is] committed to supporting the startup ecosystem globally. We’ve invested in over 30 scaling companies that have created hundreds of jobs, with hundreds if not thousands more to come in the future. … We work with hundreds of companies … helping them to grow responsibly … [and are] incubating a few additional New Hampshire-based startups as part of our York IE labs efforts.

What is the Entrepreneur of the Year award?

The Entrepreneur of the Year is an award given out by the New Hampshire Tech Alliance. It was first given 33 years ago to … Dean Kamen. Since then, it’s been awarded to some truly outstanding business leaders and visionaries, so it’s a true honor to be included in such esteemed ranks.

How did it feel being named Entrepreneur of the Year?

It felt great. I’ve worked very hard over the years to make an impact, but … so many people have helped me along the way, starting with my wife, Katie, my children, my parents and brothers and everyone I’ve been blessed to work with in all of my various roles.

What is the secret to your success?

My parents preached and … [demonstrated] in their daily actions the importance of an incredible work ethic and commitment to family. Those … characteristics fuel my life to this day. From the beginning of my career, I’ve operated under … two principles: be loyal [and] play the long game. These are … [how] I view everything and [are] the parameters I use to keep myself guided. If I do something that contradicts either of these principles, an internal warning alarm goes off in my gut. If there’s a great outcome but it comes at the expense of my principles, I don’t pursue it; the end doesn’t justify the means.

What is your business philosophy?

We don’t operate with management fees or a traditional fund of any kind. … We work with entrepreneurs in so many different ways because we want to do what’s best for the entrepreneur and what will help their company grow. We never want to make decisions simply because we have capital to deploy. That’s not normal or natural. … I’ve never believed in the win-at-all-cost method. I think, in most markets, there’s room for many winners [because] success is relative to ambition [and] goals. … If there can only be one winner in a market, then the market is too small.

What do you enjoy most about helping startups?

I truly enjoy sharing my knowledge and mentoring entrepreneurs. [There are] so many wonderful people with bright ideas who simply need someone — or a firm, like York IE — they can call when faced with a new problem. I always want to be that phone call, because passion and integrity are contagious, and, honestly, I learn as much from these entrepreneurs as they learn from me. Making an impact and always learning is what fuels me.

Do you have any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in New Hampshire?

One of the key lessons I like to share is to not be passive. Don’t sit back and let things happen to you. Take charge and ownership of your career. Think of your career as a company … [and] be the CEO. Lead your ‘company’ to success.

Featured photo: Kyle York. Courtesy photo.

UNH opens Children’s Behavioral Health Resource Center

The University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability is developing a new Children’s Behavioral Health Resource Center, funded by the New Hampshire Executive Council, set to open this spring. UNH research associate professor JoAnne Malloy, who co-directs the center with UNH Institute on Disability director Kelly Nye-Lengerman, discussed the center’s mission and operations.

What is the Children’s Behavioral Health Research Center?

Our center will form around a lot of work we’ve already been doing with the state. … In 2019 the state legislature and the governor signed Senate Bill 14, which established funding for a Children’s Mental Health System of Care, which is a national model. It’s necessary because families who have a child with a mental health issue often find that the services are fragmented; they could have a mental health counselor and a school counselor and a DCYF worker. It’s really hard for parents, because they’re already dealing with a very stressful situation, and then they have all these services coming at them. The System of Care is designed to help families … find the services and support they need. …This center is part of that bigger work. Our job will be to help identify practices that have good research evidence … and are shown to be effective.

How did you get involved?

I started working here at the university in the mid ’90s. I’ve always specialized in working with adolescents with emotional and behavioral challenges. … I started working with the state to build a System of Care … and develop a model to help that population [of youth] … and to help the people working in the field get good quality training and education and to give them the support they need.

What needs will the center address?

A lot of children and young people have been going to the emergency room in a mental health crisis. It’s been really exacerbated by the pandemic, with children not being able to go to school consistently and not being able to see their friends and trying to learn online. … The problems we’ll be addressing are for those children and youth who are really stressed and have a mental health concern. Perhaps they’re acting out in the community or attempting self-harm or suicide. Perhaps they’re going out into the community and breaking laws. They’re not going to school. They may have emotional disorders such as severe anxiety or depression. It’s a wide variety of issues [affecting] children and youth that we’re looking at.

What will some of the center’s main day-to-day operations be?

We have 10 community mental health centers across the state, so we’ll be training providers … and some of their staff in how to work with children who have significant trauma backgrounds and use cognitive behavioral therapy, which is an evidence-based practice. … We also do consultations. Once somebody goes to the training, they often need guidance … so we’ll be observing them in treatment sessions and providing them feedback to make sure that what they’re doing is good practice. … We also bring [mental health care] partners together and gather information about what they need. Some of our staff will be doing interviews and focus groups [to find out] where we need to fill in the gaps.

Is there anything else like this in the state?

There are currently no other centers in New Hampshire that focus on children’s mental health and evidence-based practices … but there are smaller groups, and this [center] is bringing everybody together. … There are centers like this in other states, and I’ve been looking at those and [their] models.

What are the center’s goals, short-term and long-term?

Short-term, we want to do three trainings by the end of June to train and provide consultation to 80 people. … Long-term — the contract [for the center] is for three years and potentially renewable — I’d like to see the center become a permanent fixture in the state, and something that changes with the needs of people in the field. Most of all, I want it to make an impact, because at the end of the day, if we’re not actually helping children and families, we might as well all pack up and go home.

Featured photo: JoAnne Malloy. Courtesy photo.