Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network names first executive director

Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, a new support network financed by the private equity giant, has named Robert Creeden to be its first executive director.

Creeden is founder and managing partner of Boston-based Partners Innovation Fund. 

PIV invests in early-stage technology companies that focus on improving medical care for patients. It was launched in 2007 with $35 million from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network was announced in April.

It is a partnership between the company and the Triangle's four major universities -- Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- as well as the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.

Financed with $3.6 million from Blackstone's charitable foundation, it is designed to provide entrepreneurs with the support they need to turn their ideas into fast-growing companies.

The private equity firm hopes the network will become a model that can be replicated across the country.

Creeden will help identify and assist area entrepreneurs who will then work with startups on and off campuses.

He will relocate to the Triangle from Boston and is expected to begin work later this month.