As the Director of TechPort, the UAS business incubator of Southern Maryland, Tommy Luginbill works to connect entrepreneurs and their ideas with the resources to help turn their dreams into reality. Whether it is strategic advising or helping connect to expanded funding opportunities, Luginbill helps innovators focus on both the defense and commercial applications of their product. He also wants TechPort, located adjacent to the St. Mary’s County Airport and a key component of the St. Mary’s County Innovation District, to help larger corporations identify and link with the engaging new ideas of these creative small businesses and entrepreneurial thinkers. In his role as both facilitator and changemaker, Luginbill brings experience in business, military contracts, and winning funding through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) seed fund programs sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and higher education. He began his career as a solar contractor, partnered with the Navy for the licensing of Naval technology and worked as an assistant professor and director of the Entrepreneur & Innovation Institute at the College of Southern Maryland. He is chairman and co-founder of Grey Ops, a technology transfer firm that was born from the University of Maryland National Science Center I-Corps program. A native of Rockville, Maryland, Luginbill received a bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from the Lerner School of Business at the University of Delaware, a Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and is currently completing a doctorate in Business Administration at Florida Institute of Technology. “We want TechPort to be at the forefront of UAV technologies. Pairing our most innovative thinkers with the University of Maryland, the St. Mary’s County Innovation District and the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, we have an outstanding opportunity to positively impact the future of our community, our region and our world,” Luginbill says. He and his wife, Alison, live in Dunkirk, Maryland where they enjoy caring for geriatric horses.
