Startup accelerator DreamIt Ventures sees new leadership in New York (exclusive)

Tech accelerator DreamIt Ventures, best known for housing startups such as SeatGeek and LevelUp, today announced major leadership changes in New York.

Mark Wachen, the founding managing director of DreamIt Ventures New York since 2011, has been replaced by Andrew Ackerman, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. With this change, Wachen will take on the title of managing director emeritus and will shift his focus towards mentoring DreamIt’s portfolio companies.

According to Ackerman, there’s no bad blood in this change. “Mark was personally happy to give me the logistics and operations side,” says Ackerman.

Ackerman tells VentureBeat that in addition to his new role, DreamIt has hired former STAR Angel Network director Erica Duignan Minnihan to serve as managing director of community. Ackerman will report directly to DreamIt managing partner Kerry Rupp, as did Wachen.

Tight-lipped on how new leadership will impact DreamIt going forward, Ackerman tells us that DreamIt will not change in any way on a philosophical level, including its appreciation for bootstrapping companies:

“On a philosophical level, there’s one way that DreamIt is a little different. DreamIt does not push its companies to raise a round simply because demo day is coming.”

That said, Ackerman shares that changes are coming. Ackerman tells VentureBeat he wants to double the number of yearly programs in New York from one to two startup cohorts.

DreamIt Ventures was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Philadelphia. In addition to New York, it also offers programs in Baltimore and Austin.