TRAVERSE CITY — A Traverse City resident and former executive in California’s Silicon Valley will take over as executive director of the 20Fathoms business incubator.
Craig Wesley, a Michigan native who moved to Traverse City in 2013 after a nearly 30-year career with several technology companies in Silicon Valley, is taking over the Traverse City-based regional business incubator from Eric Roberts, who announced plans to retire this summer after three years of running 20Fathoms. Roberts plans to remain on the 20Fathoms Board of Directors.
Wesley grew up in Grosse Isle and holds a communications degree from Michigan State University. He moved to California in the mid-1980s where he worked for various technology and start-up companies. He’s also worked in consulting for executive support, including serving as a strategic advisor for trulyfreehome.com, a Williamsburg-based maker of non-toxic, chemical free laundry and cleaning products.
“There you have an opportunity to do so many different things,” Wesley said of his time in Silicon Valley. “I was looking for opportunities and was able to find them.”
His highest-profile position on the West Coast came when he joined Southwell Technologies in Palo Alto, and in 2010 was named president of Southwell Films which made high-grade glass products and thin films. Its glass work during renovations to the Empire State Building in New York generated international acclaim for the company.
While Lesley enjoyed his professional career in California, he and his wife were looking for somewhere they felt comfortable raising their three daughters and chose Traverse City, where his family had vacationed over the years. The family moved here in 2013 where he started the Wesley Performance Group, a consulting firm that had worked with 20Fathoms on behalf of one its clients.
He also served on the board of the City Opera House from 2019-23.
Lowell Gruman, 20Fathoms’ board chair, said the organization conducted a nationwide search to find its new leader but “found him right in our own backyard.”
20Fathoms was launched in 2018 as a business incubator and co-working space in downtown Traverse City. It moved to its current location in the Bayview Professional Centre in late 2020, located at 10850 E. Traverse Highway next to the city’s border with Leelanau County.
The operation received a major boost in late 2023 when it was awarded $7.3 million in combined state and federal funding from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the U.S. Economic Development organization, both to expand its programming and increase its service district across the 10-county region. Earlier this year, 20Fathoms also took over operation of TCNewTech, the area’s original pitch competition for Michigan and locally-based technology and start-up companies.
Wesley said his focus at 20Fathoms will be to expand on the organization’s run of success and growth. He said he wants to work collaboratively with support organizations in places like Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor to strengthen Northern Michigan’s entrepreneurial and start-up culture.
“There’s a real need here to build this ecosystem so we’re working more collaboratively around the state … Michigan doesn’t need to compete against itself,” Wesley said. “That’s really important — not only for 20Fathoms, but for this region and the state of Michigan.”
Improving access to capital for northern Lower Michigan companies is also a major focus, he said, along with expanding 20Fathoms programming and services across the 10-county region. He said 20Fathoms has already launched a start-up “boot camp” working through the Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce, and a similar effort is planned in Benzie County as well. 20Fathoms will also work with the Northern Lake Economic Alliance based in Boyne City to expand its services into Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Cheboygan counties.