Chuck Hoge

Chuck Hoge is a veteran manufacturing executive from the Fargo–Moorhead region who spent the back half of his career leading North Dakota State University's Research & Technology Park. Before moving into economic development and startup support, he held senior operating roles in North Dakota industry, including president and CEO of Bobcat Company (the West Fargo–based compact-equipment maker) and CEO of Otter Tail Corporation's manufacturing platform. That operating background — running large, established manufacturers — informed his later work mentoring and building young companies.

Hoge served on the board of directors of the NDSU Research & Technology Park from around its founding in 2000, and in 2013 he stepped off the board to take over day-to-day leadership, initially as interim executive director. After roughly three years in the interim role, he signed a contract in 2016 to become the Park's permanent executive director. The Park is a nonprofit affiliated with North Dakota State University in Fargo that provides lab and office space, a technology business incubator, and programming that connects university research and students with commercial ventures.

Under Hoge's leadership the Park's flagship programs grew substantially. He oversaw the expansion of the Innovation Challenge, an idea/pitch competition that helps NDSU students test and develop entrepreneurial concepts, and he collaborated on the Innovation Alliance and on efforts (with NDSU College of Business dean Scott Beaulier) to broaden entrepreneurship education. During his tenure the Park's tech incubator roughly doubled its number of startup tenants and graduated several companies, and the Park added a Bank of North Dakota presence on-site.

In early 2019, Hoge announced he would resign as executive director effective April 15, 2019, to become CFO of Life Action Ministries in his hometown area of southwest Michigan. He was succeeded at the Park by a new executive director (Kalk). His current LinkedIn profile lists him as retired.

• Operates at the seed / earliest stage, primarily through an institutional/university vehicle (the NDSU Research & Technology Park's tech incubator) rather than as a traditional check-writing angel; the "angel / seed" label reflects support for very early founders.
• Focus on university-connected and regionally-rooted ventures — companies tied to NDSU research, students, and the North Dakota entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Strong lean toward Hoge's own domains of expertise: manufacturing, agriculture/ag-tech, and applied technology, reflecting decades running Bobcat and Otter Tail's manufacturing platform.
• Emphasis on entrepreneurial education and talent development — Hoge repeatedly framed the Park's mission around teaching students to "learn entrepreneurial skills outside of the classroom" and "better define NDSU's role in educating innovation and entrepreneurship."
• In his own words on the work: *"I love what I'm doing and through this position I'm able to connect with a lot of fabulous organizations, people and companies... There's a lot of energy. There's always a lot to do."*