Linda Olson

President/CEO of Tampa Bay Wave

Linda Olson is the founder and current President/CEO of Tampa Bay Wave. For nearly two decades, Linda has worked with early stage innovation-based startups in senior management and advisory roles. Under her leadership, Tampa Bay Wave has supported 250+ early stage innovation-based startups in the past five years who collectively have raised over $166 million and created 1,400 jobs. In 2012 and 2014 Linda led the efforts that resulted in two successful i6 Challenge Grants from the US EDA. In total, Linda has raised nearly $4 million in private and public sector funding for the nonprofit Tampa Bay Wave Prior to Wave, Linda had extensive experience as a technology and Sarbanes-Oxley consultant for Fortune 500 companies. She was also a founding member of Startup Florida under President Obama’s Startup America initiative. Linda is a two-time finalist for the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year Award, and also currently serves as an Honorary Commander of MacDill Air Force Base. Linda graduated with a B.S. and Masters in Accounting from Florida State University, and holds an MBA from Columbia University.