A pair of advocate organizations for the New York technology community joined forces today to form one supergroup.
The New York Tech Meetup, an organization that hosts monthly tech demos and took political action on net neutrality in 2014 speaking out against the Stop Online Piracy Act, merged with the New York Tech Council to form the NY Tech Alliance. (The website for the new organization is still in the works.)
Jessica Lawrence Quinn, who served as executive director of NYTM, is now CEO of the NY Tech Alliance. Erik Grimmelmann, president and CEO of the New York Tech Council, is president for the newly merged group. NYTM chairman Andrew Rasiej is now chairman for the NY Tech Alliance.
The combination makes some sense given the comparable mission the two groups had—bringing together people from the local innovation community.
Lawrence Quinn (pictured above) says the merger helps increase the organizations’ mutual capacity, and will let them focus more on various policy and community-building efforts.
It also means less friction when seeking backing for their activities. “As two organizations, we were competing before for some of the same funding,” she says. “Additional revenue would allow us to do even more in the community.”
That may include running more programs for the New York tech scene, along with the programs the two predecessor groups were known for, Lawrence Quinn says. For example, Tuesday evening’s tech demo meetup will proceed at the Skirball Center at NYU.
The alliance might also go more in-depth in some of its other activities, she says, such as advocating for increased diversity in the tech industry—something NYTM did through its Women’s Demo Nights—and continuing to look at workforce development in tech for New Yorkers.
