Former Ojai school chief Tiffany Morse to head Camarillo business incubator

Isaiah Murtaugh, Ventura County Star
·1 min read
Tiffany Morse, pictured during her time with Ojai Unified School District.
Tiffany Morse, pictured during her time with Ojai Unified School District.

Tiffany Morse, the former superintendent of the Ojai Unified School District, has taken over as executive director of a new entrepreneurship education project in Camarillo, the nonprofit NewCo Foundation announced Monday.

Morse will head the development of Foundry 805, a 25,000-square-foot business incubator and career education lab that NewCo, based in Ventura County, hopes to open by 2025.

The project will expand NewCo’s entrepreneurship programming beyond its original focus working with high school students to include college students and other adults trying to get businesses off the ground.

"We're going to be a lot more in the community," NewCo founder Dave Gross said.

Concept art for Foundry 805, a nonprofit career education project in the works in Camarillo.
Concept art for Foundry 805, a nonprofit career education project in the works in Camarillo.

Morse's four-year stint leading Ojai Unified ended with her ouster in March amid a fiscal crisis, but Gross said Morse's earlier background in career education makes her a "perfect fit" for Foundry 805.

Before joining Ojai Unified in 2018, Morse worked for six years as executive director of career education for the county education office. During that time, Gross said, she was "instrumental" in helping his organization launch its first career education program — RC Makes — at Rancho Campana High School in Camarillo.

"I really love this work," Morse said. "We're in the early stages and there are a lot of exciting things to come."

The new project will make its home at 900 Avenida Acaso in a former office building the nonprofit bought in June.

When it's completed, Gross said, the converted structure will be divided in thirds between offices, a makerspace-style product lab and commercial space, including a restaurant.

"It'll be everything to attract entrepreneurs to Ventura County," he said.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ex-Ojai school chief Tiffany Morse lands at NewCo Foundation