The following story was published by The State Journal-Register on Aug. 4, 2023.
The University of Illinois Springfield has named a local non-profit executive to be the new director of Innovate Springfield, to lead the incubator as it prepares to move into the school's new Innovation Center in two years.
Ben Hage – who also goes by the name Nabih Elhajj – was named Innovate Springfield's new director Thursday, two weeks after the school appointed Robert Kerr to be executive director of the UIS Innovation Center, which is slated open its downtown headquarters in 2025.