A Chattanooga nonprofit that aims to boost tech literacy has a new home and a new CEO.
Sammy Lowdermilk, a 10-year employee at the Enterprise Center, has worked as the interim president and CEO of the nonprofit for almost a year, and on Thursday, the organization’s board unanimously made his title permanent.
“A theme throughout the years, at least as long as I’ve been involved with Enterprise Center, is everything we do is built on collaboration and partnership,” Lowdermilk said in an interview.
The nonprofit is now shifting much of its focus onto emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum, cybersecurity and data analytics, Lowdermilk said. It’s trying to prepare both residents and employers for the economy of the future.
Lowdermilk has primarily worked for the nonprofit’s Tech Goes Home program, which is the group’s largest initiative and dates to 2015. It encompasses 20 different curricula that teach participants about everything from computer basics to artificial intelligence.
The nonprofit partners with community organizations to teach those classes. The Enterprise Center provides the curriculum, the devices and keeps up with attendance. Participants get a new Chromebook laptop at the end of the class, and the group educates people about low-cost internet options like Hamilton County Schools EdConnect, which provides free internet to eligible families.
Lowdermilk estimates the program has served more than 18,000 people across the state and 10,000 in Hamilton County.
The Enterprise Center also has a reservable space at its office for the public, where entrepreneurs can host meetings or groups can hold conferences. It has enabled smaller organizations that can’t afford office space to hold board or community meetings.
The organization has grown over the past decade, jumping from six employees in 2015 to 24 now. Its budget, which consists of a mixture of city, county, state, federal and foundation funding, has ballooned from roughly $1.4 million approximately 10 years ago to about $6.3 million now.
The Enterprise Center has also recently moved from the Edney Innovation Center on Market Street to new offices at the Lupton Building, 1010 Georgia Ave., down the road.
Lowdermilk said the nonprofit didn’t have adequate space on the fifth floor of the Edney building and had grown segmented. With its lease almost up, the organization worked with a broker to find other options. Rent would have also increased if the center had remained at the Edney.
“A lot of our funding is public funds, so we want to be good stewards,” Lowdermilk said, noting the nonprofit will save about $45,000 a year at the new space. “It checks all the boxes for us.”
Lowdermilk will succeed Monique Kuykendoll Quarterman, who served as the CEO for several months before resigning in December of last year. She initially stepped into the role in July 2024 after a national search attracted 240 applicants.
“It just unfortunately wasn’t a good fit and her decision, ultimately,” Dan Ryan, the chair of the Enterprise Center’s board, said about Quarterman’s departure. “We were grateful to have a deep bench of people we could call upon to lead us in the short term while we made our next move. We literally had just spent a year doing that search, and we didn’t want to rush through another one. We wanted to take our time and do the right thing.”
Ryan said the previous search was a big national push, and because of the changing landscape, the organization decided to focus on people with local connections because much of its funding comes from local sources. The group interviewed a few applicants and decided Lowdermilk was the right fit.
“We had a year to see how he would do, and he did a great job,” Ryan said.
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In a phone call, Quarterman said she’s thrilled for Lowdermilk, adding he’s a phenomenal executive who will serve the organization well. She had no comment on the reason behind her departure.
“She just told us she didn’t feel like it was working for her, and we respected that,” Ryan, the chair of the board, said in an interview.
As nonprofits broadly feel more uncertainty about the availability of federal funding, Lowdermilk confirmed he has concerns about federal officials clawing back the Enterprise Center’s dollars. The group has two projects funded by the federal government, one by the Environmental Protection Agency and the other by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“So far, those have not been cut, and we’re proceeding with those and actively being reimbursed,” he said.
The HUD program is primarily focused on older adults, providing money to install handrails or repairing floors and walls to make homes safer for residents. The Enterprise Center has enough funding to assist 60 people, Lowdermilk said.
The EPA program is an air quality monitoring project, which the Enterprise Center has been doing for a few years. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga uses some of that data for research, and the group is working with CARTA to put monitors on buses to assess air quality on their routes.
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Recently, the Enterprise Center has been working directly with communities in Chattanooga to identify problems it can help solve. In Orchard Knob, the group cooperated with partners to make general home improvements, including fixing air conditioning, windows and more. It also trained people how to use telehealth services for doctor’s appointments.
Those priorities were determined through multiple meetings with the neighborhood association to determine exactly where the group could step in to help, Lowdermilk said. The Enterprise Center plans to replicate that work in other city council districts across Chattanooga.
Contact business reporter David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.