A new face at a familiar place.

• Position: Triangle - Bob Geolas from Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina - Interview

When Bob Geolas was a boy, his father took him to see construction at Research Triangle Park. They watched workers and cranes build massive complexes to house some of the world's most iconic technology companies. Now the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina has tasked Geolas, 47, with recasting the park for a new generation of tech wunderkinds, naming him president and CEO in November The N.C State University alumnus has earned a reputation as a builder: At his alma mater's Centennial Campus--which he led from 2000 to 2004--he coordinated development of 1.5 million square feet of space. As executive director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research from 2004 until last year, he saw 760,000 square feet developed and 2,400 jobs created on its 250 acres in Greenville, S.C

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

RTP has been pretty successful. Why does it need to change?

The leaders that will be making decisions for the next 30 to 50 years, they're 45 and younger, and the traditional business culture doesn't appeal to them. What young technology workers and leaders want is a little less corporate culture and a little more creative culture.

How do you provide that?

Highly collaborative physical spaces that bring people together. It has to be truly authentic--young people aren't interested in being a part of the same old thing. There should also be places around this park--whether through science, technology, arts or culture--that really inspire you. And it needs to be accessible.

What do you mean by "accessible?

We need to make it affordable. We need to rethink how we finance space and facilities. Our competition in China, they give space away to recruit the best minds and the best companies. But in our market, we can't do that.

So how do you compete?

Become more flexible. You're not going to see large corporate entities building big research and corporate headquarters. One, there's a lot of vacant space in the world today. Two, because of the virtual world not everyone has to be in the same building. Our financing isn't structured that way. We need anchor tenants for big spaces, a five-year lease is the minimum, 10-20 years is preferable-I want to challenge our financial industry in North Carolina to see if we can upend that. If we can, I think we have a huge...