It's a job with a tongue-tying title — entrepreneurship ombudsman — and it's never been done before, so no one is quite sure what all it will entail.

But the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the James Street Improvement District are intent on finding just the right person to live up to the title, and they're hoping to do it by Nov. 1.

"We're not looking for a knight in shining armor," said Tom Baldrige, the chamber's president. The person won't be expected to transform the local economy singlehandedly.

But Baldrige and Lisa Riggs, JSID's president, are looking for a leader — not just a manager — someone who can recognize the potential of emerging enterprises and help them tap the resources they need to thrive.

"We need someone willing to take a lot of risk and initiative [despite] the lack of clarity," Riggs said.

"And who sees the opportunities," Baldrige chimed in.

The position is being advertised this weekend with a closing date for applications of Sept. 5.

The idea of an entrepreneurship ombudsman was introduced in February when the chamber unveiled its new mission: "To build Lancaster County into a model of prosperity for 21st century America."

Asked who originated the idea, Baldrige and Riggs pointed to one another.

"It was a synergistic moment," Baldrige said.

The ombudsman will be a chamber employee, but the position will be funded in part through Lancaster's Keystone Innovation Zone, one of JSID's projects.

The ombudsman will become responsible for all the elements of the innovation zone, Riggs said, but will also reach beyond those boundaries and look at countywide strategies.

Baldrige stressed that the ombudsman will not supplant any of the existing efforts to help startups — such as the Economic Development Co., Ben Franklin Technology Partners or Pennsylvania Angel Network — but will help entrepreneurs connect with those organizations.

In the know
One of the first things the person who lands the job will want to do, Baldrige said, is get out and learn about the cutting-edge companies that are already here and how they've benefited from existing programs and the expertise at local colleges.

 Riggs can tick off a long list of those companies without hesitation — firms such as Iron Compass Map Co., which develops computer systems for emergency services, or Linear Acoustic, which has been helping NBC broadcast from the Beijing Olympics, or White Wolf Security, which provides computer systems and training for the Secret Service.

One technological field with a lot of potential right now, she said, is alternative energy.

"Anyone who has got an entrepreneurial flick in their head is trying to figure out energy. Who knows where the next great alternative energy widget is going to come from? It could be Lancaster," Riggs said.

"There's a huge opportunity in this community to accelerate" its economic growth, she said. "All the things the state envisioned for a Keystone Innovation Zone are here."

All it will take, she said, is for the right person to apply for the job — someone who is passionate about the possibilities and energized to work behind the scenes to turn them into realities.

"The person we're hiring doesn't need to be an expert in IT or energy or any of those things," Riggs said. "It's having enough intuition to see the possibilities."

In the zone
Although that person will work through the chamber in overseeing Lancaster's Keystone Innovation Zone, the James Street Improvement District will remain the lead agency for the zone and retain fiduciary responsibility for its funding.

Adding the entrepreneurship ombudsman will roughly coincide with other changes afoot for the innovation zone.

Those include the formation last June of a local advisory board, and requests that are pending before the state to expand the zone's boundaries and approve its second cycle of funding.

Lancaster was one of the first communities in the state to establish a Keystone Innovation Zone — in 2004, shortly after the program was launched as part of an economic stimulus effort by Gov. Ed Rendell, Riggs said.

"There are now 29 Keystone Innovation Zones throughout the commonwealth," she said.

One of the ideas behind the program is to help cutting-edge industries tap into the technological expertise of the state's colleges and universities, Baldrige said.

In Lancaster, that includes Millersville University, Franklin & Marshall College, Elizabethtown College and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

Innovation zones are set up with four distinct cycles of funding. The first for Lancaster — for $250,000 — will carry through until June, and the second — for $187,500 — will go before the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, the agency that administers the state funding, in October.

Two subsequent funding cycles — for $125,000 and $87,500 — will require additional approvals. In each instance, the community is required to match at least 100 percent of the money with a goal of shouldering ever more of the cost as the state's funding tapers off.

Keeping that local money coming in will depend in part on how well the entrepreneurship ombudsman performs.

An evolving process
Baldrige and Riggs had hoped to have the ombudsman position filled by now and have already gone through one round of interviews with applicants.

They say their commitment to finding the right person led them to extend the search and that the people they've already interviewed have given them a clearer idea of whom they're looking for.

It's common for communities to hire coordinators for their Keystone Innovation Zones, they say, but the position they envision will entail much more than that, which has made the hiring process more difficult.

"There's a lot riding on that selection," Baldrige said. "I was a little fuzzy [at first] on the degree to which we need a leader versus a manager."

"This is not a time-tested program," Riggs explained. "There's a lot of strategic decisions that will have to be made. Someone walking in will have to feel very comfortable with that."

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Dennis Larison is editor of the business section and can be reached by telephone at 291-8753 or by e-mail at dlarison@lnpnews.com.