The Greater Des Moines Partnership has chosen a marketing professional with experience in technology product development to be the executive director of a new regional business accelerator.  Mike Colwell, 45, a former Cedar Rapids resident who moved his family to Ankeny from Seattle last year, will formally begin his position with the Central Iowa Business Accelerator on Feb. 26.

“One of the reasons I’m interested in this is I grew up in the entrepreneurial world and I’ve always been passionate about it,” said Colwell, who is a 1984 University of Iowa graduate. “My father owned a small business in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area until his death, and the company I went to work for out of college was a small start-up electronics firm.”

Colwell left his position as senior director of product strategy and marketing of Seattle-based Intermec Inc. last year after 22 years with the company, which acquired Cedar Rapids-based Norand Inc. 10 years ago.

The Central Iowa Business Accelerator, which initially will be located in the Partnership’s downtown Des Moines offices, is one of eight such projects that were funded across the state in 2005 by the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Each project received a commitment of $175,000 in seed funding from the state. The center will focus on assisting start-up companies in accessing resources and capital more efficiently.