Maria Meyers, like the organization she leads, is entrepreneurial about supporting entrepreneurs. She has years of experience in creating successful companies in the high technology, biotechnology, manufacturing and museum industries. She has lived through the struggles of launching a startup, turning it into a small business and sustaining its growth.
Maria founded KCSourceLink in 2003, creating a network that connects entrepreneurs with hundreds of business-building organizations throughout the Kansas City region. She later scaled that network model nationally as founder of SourceLink®, creating America’s first platform for entrepreneur-led economic developers and e-community champions.
Maria is frequently requested to keynote and facilitate discussions on topics like entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship economic development, and entrepreneurial infrastructure and ecosystem building for leading international organizations, including the Kauffman Foundation, International Economic Development Council, as well as regional economic development organizations..
In addition to her SourceLink accomplishments, Maria is executive director for the University of Missouri–Kansas City Innovation Center, connecting university resources with the community to ignite collaborative partnerships leading to innovations. The center supports thousands of community members every year in starting and growing businesses, delivering jobs and creating wealth for the Kansas City region and across the state of Missouri.
Maria has a strong project management background, successfully leading a variety of large projects and has a solid background in information technology. At UMKC, she was also instrumental in the creation of the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, establishing entrepreneurship as a mainstream field of study that now offers BBA and MBA degree concentrations in entrepreneurship. Through the UMKC Innovation Center, Maria has recently launched UMKC TalentLink, an initiative that connects professionals to non-credit continuing education at UMKC.
Blog Posts by Maria Meyers
