Accelerate LI names 3rd entrepreneur-in-residence

A digital media specialist will join the ranks of Accelerate Long Island in its efforts to help innovative companies grow locally.

Philip Rugile will be taking on the role of entrepreneur-in-residence at Accelerate, the third EIR for the organization's Assist program.

Rugile is the co-founder of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit that supports minority entrepreneurship in order to encourage economic development in urban neighborhoods. He is also the founder of MYMAG, a company that collaborates with celebrities to create personalized magazines for promotions.

Accelerate, which launched this past September, works to connect scientists working on marketable and innovative research with entrepreneurs who can build companies with the end goal of creating new businesses and jobs on Long Island. The Assist program offers the mentoring from the entrepreneurs-in-residence as well as teams of legal, financial and business professionals to advise start-up companies.

Rugile will be joining the two other entrepreneurs-in-residence who were named in January -- Kevin Hesselbirg, the former chief executive of OpenLink in Uniondale, and Michael McEntee, the former senior director of corporate development at Melville-based InterDigital Communications Llc.