Board of Directors
Alex Waters
Board Member
Alex Waters is the Director of Economic Development & Innovation at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, whose mission is to create a vibrant, self-sustaining ecosystem that results in more and better job opportunities for residents of Southeast San Diego and the surrounding Promise Zone communities. One of his primary functions is running San Diego’s first low-to-moderate income and diversity focused accelerator program – (Formerly known as CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center). This City of San Diego and HUD funded initiative focuses on the creation of jobs and building capacity so that entrepreneurs can create sustainable businesses.
Prior to this role, he ran the Collaboratory for Downtown Innovation, a project with UC San Diego, the City of San Diego, and the Downtown San Diego Partnership designed to increase access to entrepreneurship training for novice and early-stage entrepreneurs in the city’s downtown core. Alex spent close to decade in Education Technology with several roles at 2U, has been an instructor in business and leadership at the University of San Diego, an Enterprise Innovation Coach and currently serves on the Board for The Design Forward Alliance and the SDSU Research Foundation.
Alex holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Maryland-College Park and a Masters in Philosophy from San Diego State University.