Former NCTA president takes new post with defense industry incubator

Raleigh, N.C. — Joan Myers, former president of the North Carolina Technology Association, is taking on a new role with a project she advocated while running the state’s largest trade group focused on technology.

Myers is now director of special programs for the Defense & Security Technology Accelerator, which is based in Fayetteville.

She is based in Raleigh, operating out of the DSTA’s recently opened office at North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus.

A spokesperson for DSTA confirmed Myers’ appointment.

Myers left NCTA last summer to take a job at SAS, where she focused on government relations.

DSTA is a new business incubator for science and technology firms seeking to develop and sell new technology to the U.S. military. DSTA also operates a federally funded wireless fidelity (WiFi) research lab and is helping to commercialize technology developed by the U.S. military that has civilian applications. Scott Perry, a Special Forces veteran, is general manager of DSTA. The Partnership for Defense Innovation, which also is based in Fayetteville, is the parent of the DTSA program.

Based in Raleigh, Myers is in a position to lobby the North Carolina General Assembly for continued financial support of the DSTA. Myers and NCTA helped draft a plan along with NC IDEA, an economic development group, to launch DSTA. It is part of a wider effort to build a defense and technology cluster across North Carolina.

The General Assembly approved the idea in 2005 and provided the initial funding needed to open the DSTA facility in 2006. The building already houses more than 10 clients.

DSTA firms have created more than 80 jobs and have won more than 50 government contracts.