Joe Sampson said he’s done a lot to help One Spark grow in the past two years.
Growing the festival to be a top 20 event in the country. Growing it internationally, with One Spark Berlin debuting this past September. And helping launch a Creator Academy.
The crowdfunding festival that’s continued to put Jacksonville on the map with entrepreneurs will now have to grow without him.
Four months away from the third edition of One Spark, Sampson has resigned as the festival’s executive director and chief operating officer. He’s leaving One Spark “to pursue other opportunities” he said.
Sampson said he was staying in Jacksonville and pursuing both local and out-of-market possibilities.
“Other opportunities pop up all the time,” he said. “That’s the life of an entrepreneur.”
One Spark CEO and co-founder Elton Rivas is stepping into the role of interim director while Sampson transitions out at the end of year.
“As businesses evolve and mature, there are times when leaders of an organization come to a point when they may feel that they have done what they set out to do,” said Peter Rummell, a One Spark board member and majority financial supporter.
Sampson said he would still be supportive of the festival from behind the scenes. He agreed with Rummell’s statement that he had accomplished what he came to do.
“We’ve done an awful lot over the past two years,” he said.
And he said it’s poised to grow further.
Rummell went on to say that Sampson did a “tremendous job helping take us from the starting blocks to today.”
There will be a search for Sampson’s replacement, but a timeline will be worked on through the end of the year. That timeline could impact whether Rivas is director through the 2015 festival. The organization has 10 full-time employees.
Rivas in the release said the organization “regretfully accepts” Sampson’s resignation, but owed him thanks for his work. Rivas returned to One Spark after the KYN accelerator program he was running closed after losing its funding from Shad Khan’s investment company.
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