About The DEIC

Meet the Team

Adam Sledd

Executive Director

A serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and startup advisor, Adam previously led multi-million dollar grant projects for the US DOE and National Labs. Experience includes developing national certification and training programs in partnership with the Building Technologies Office, including the Green Lease Leaders certification. He has grown DEIC into Virginia’s only energy-focused incubator and accelerator, launching DEIC Accelerate in 2020 and supporting 40+ companies annually.

Braden Croy

Program Director

Braden has over a decade of experience supporting startup communities and building entrepreneurship programs at R1 institutions; taking the Syracuse University Blackstone LaunchPad from zero to 4,000 entrepreneurs in 3 years. He has presented training on entrepreneurship ecosystem development internationally (China, Indonesia) and published a novel entrepreneurship ecosystem canvassing method. He has coached 500+ entrepreneurs from idea stage to acquisition and currently spends a significant portion of his time helping advanced energy startups commercialize cutting edge technology.

DEIC Board of Directors

The DEIC Board of Directors is composed of a group of industry experts and technology innovators focused on supporting our community’s accelerating march towards net-zero.