The Orange County Capital Development Corp. is a subsidiary of the Orange County Partnership, the county's chief economic development agency. The OCCD was formed earlier this year and its purpose is to match new entrepreneurial, non-retail venture ideas with capital funding resources. In return for the match, the new start-up company is required to locate in Orange County.

In accepting the post, Hannan stated, "The connections I've made in the world of banking, coupled with my experience reviewing business plans and managing people, will be key components in my ability to turn OCCD into a strong economic development tool for Orange County." He noted that the corporation is expected to begin operations by the first quarter of 2004.

The corporation, which will share offices with the Orange County Partnership at 40 Matthews St. in Goshen, will begin accepting applications for qualified business plans by early next year.

"Bob's main role will be to act as a liaison between venture capitalists, private investors and angel networks and entrepreneurs who have viable ideas for innovative products and services," says David Dirks, chairman of the board of the OCCD. "We're going to rely on Bob to keep both our investor pool and our qualified business plan collection strong and growing."

Maureen Halahan, president and CEO of the Orange County Partnership, says the new organization will provide a boost to the county's economic development efforts. "OCCD is another outstanding resource in our arsenal of economic development incentives," she said. "We expect that Orange County will become the most desirable destination for start-up companies in the region because of the power of OCCD."