Duncan Adams | The Roanoke Times

Cory Donovan is the NewVa Corridor Technology Council's executive director; his one-year anniversary on the job is Sept. 12.

A single mother raised Cory Donovan and two siblings, and Donovan says his family was among the poorest in a city where poverty was no stranger.

Scranton, Pa., was once a center for mining anthracite coal. Like Sen. Joe Biden, Donovan was born and brought up in Scranton, a city where many knew firsthand the grueling work of underground mining.

Donovan, 33, marks his one-year anniversary next week as executive director of the NewVa Corridor Technology Council, a nonprofit organization that works to create a favorable climate in the region for technology-based businesses and entrepreneurship. He succeeded Gordie Ziegler, who left NCTC for a job in the technology sector.

Donovan's childhood in poverty, raised by Brenda Donovan, helped shape his values, attitudes and character.

"If I'm having a bad day, I can stop and put it into perspective," said Donovan. "At least I'm not working in one of those mines."

Donovan said he and his brother, Jimi, remain very careful about how they spend and save money, a tendency Donovan said has so far restrained him from risking an entrepreneurial venture of his own.

He said he learned early the importance of self-reliance -- almost to a fault.

Donovan said he recently accepted that he and NCTC's one other employee, office manager Bethanne Trexell, cannot accomplish everything alone. He has learned to delegate, asking council members to volunteer their time.

"I don't come from the nonprofit industry," Donovan said. "You don't have a paid staff, and you have to rely on volunteers. You have to break off pieces and hand them to other people."

During his first six months on the job, Donovan said he did not take a weekend off.

Year one

NCTC board members say Donovan has had an exceptional first year.

Neil Wilkin, president and chief executive officer for Optical Cable Corp. in Roanoke, is president of the council's board of directors.

"Cory has a gift for bringing people together, and from the beginning he has reached out to the technology community and brought the community closer," Wilkin said.

He said Donovan understands the necessity of regional cooperation among technology and business communities in the Roanoke and New River valleys. The council's membership, currently at 182, includes businesses from both regions. About 70 percent are technology-based companies.

Wilkin said Donovan "has done a terrific job of taking the reins of the organization and moving the organization forward."

Jay Foster, president of SoftSolutions in Roanoke and a council board member, offered similar observations. Donovan "has hit the ground running," he said.

"He had some big shoes to fill following Gordie Ziegler, but I think he is doing a terrific job of understanding the business needs of our region's technology firms," Foster said.

"Certainly one of those needs is market exposure and access to capital. Another need is having a highly trained work force. Cory is doing some exciting things on both of these fronts."

Getting here

A need-based full scholarship allowed Donovan to attend high school at Scranton Preparatory School.

He said his mother bought him new clothes on credit but that many of his wealthier classmates teased him anyway. He got a job as a freshman to help pay for school expenses.

For a time, Donovan said, he resented people whose money seemed to make their lives much easier than his.

In 1996, he graduated from the University of Scranton with a bachelor's degree in marketing. In 2003, he earned a master's degree in business administration, with a concentration in e-commerce, from Johns Hopkins University.

Before taking the NCTC job, Donovan had worked for two technology-based companies -- Aerotek/TEKsystems and Hughes Network Systems in Maryland.

He and his wife, Julie, moved to Blacksburg three years ago after she enrolled as a student at the Blacksburg campus of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

Donovan commuted to Maryland for two and a half years but found time to begin attending NCTC meetings. At one event, he heard about Ziegler's resignation from the council.

A perfect fit

When he learned more about the executive director's role, Donovan decided that the position fit him perfectly.

"I like working with people. I understand technology. I've always been in a role where I've been between the really, really smart people who are creating technology and the people like my mom, who can barely get on the Internet," he said.

"I like making progress. I like making things better. With companies that are growing, there are always things you can do to make things easier, make things better."

Among his many duties, the executive director is charged with helping small and large companies connect, helping startups learn how to market themselves, organizing networking events and promoting the region -- touting it as a place where there is already a growing community of technology-based companies.

"This region is under the radar with regard to our technology companies," Donovan said. "They are small, they are growing, but they are not household names. There's a wealth of diverse technology companies here, with really smart and successful people.

"Since taking the job, I still uncover companies all the time. And I think, 'How do so few people know about them?' "