Editor's Note: A photo of Moore Jimenez is available from Julia Ann Easley of the News Service at (530) 752-8248 or jaeasley@ucdavis.edu.

Nora Moore Jimenez, who has 20 years of entrepreneurial executive experience, has been named to head a University of California, Davis, program that fosters the success of new business ventures in the Sacramento region.

Moore Jimenez, 46, assumed her duties as director of UC Davis CONNECT on Monday, April 2. She succeeds interim director Wayne Sawka, who helped launch the program, captained it through its first 18 months, and will now work as a private consultant to business start-ups.

UC Davis CONNECT helps start-up companies hone their business and marketing plans, facilitates mentor relationships with university professors and staff members and regional business professionals, and assists in identifying new sources of funding. Since the program's inception in 1999, member companies have raised more than $22 million in equity investments.

Moore Jimenez will lead UC Davis CONNECT, started with $600,000 from the University of California and the campus, to become a fully self-supporting program by the beginning of 2003.

Charlie Soderquist, of the Technology Development Center in West Sacramento and chair of UC Davis CONNECT's board of directors, said the program had a highly successful start under Sawka's leadership. "We are pleased that Nora Moore Jimenez has joined the program and are confident that she will build successfully on that foundation."

William Lacy, vice provost for University Outreach and International Programs with responsibility for UC Davis CONNECT, said Moore Jimenez has been highly successful in identifying strategic opportunities and partnerships and in connecting resources to implement successful business models in the high-tech business sector.

"She brings the right balance of business and entrepreneurial knowledge and experience, and interpersonal skills to make her a highly effective director," Lacy said.

Moore Jimenez said she is excited about the opportunity to work with the program's members, sponsors and team at UC Davis. "This program is an excellent tool that provides strong support in several areas of expertise and assists the long-term success for technology start-ups," she said. "A program such as this provides an unparalleled service, attracting new technology businesses to the greater Sacramento area."

Moore Jimenez was most recently vice president of new media for Amplified.com of Atlanta, Ga., a business-to-business service provider for entertainment e-commerce.

From 1993 through the spring of 2000, she worked for Valley Media of Woodland, the world's largest wholesale distributor and fulfillment services provider of entertainment products. Starting as manager of account development among independent retailers, she became the director of new media in June 1997.

Earlier, Moore Jimenez worked for Sony Music for 10 years as an account representative responsible for all retail promotion in Arizona and Nevada.

She earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Central Florida in 1991.

Media contacts:
-- Nora Moore Jimenez, UC Davis CONNECT, (530) 757-3569, nmoorejimenez@ucdavis.edu
-- William Lacy, University Outreach and International Programs, (530) 752-6376, wblacy@ucdavis.edu
-- Julia Ann Easley, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu