COLUMBUS — One of Central Ohio’s longest-running technology communities is starting a new chapter, as TechLife Columbus announced its official relaunch on Friday, Oct. 16, under new leadership and with an expanded vision for connecting the region’s tech ecosystem.
Leading that next chapter is Kristine Tsirigotis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Hive+Co. She brings experience across technology, talent, entrepreneurship, and community building to an organization whose whole purpose is bringing the people behind Columbus tech into the same room.
Tsirigotis describes her ambition for TechLife as becoming the front door to Columbus tech — a single, welcoming entry point where a student, a founder, a chief information officer, a working technologist, or a newcomer simply looking for their people can all find a place. The relaunch is meant to honor the community’s legacy while widening what it offers.
The programming slate reflects that wider brief. Alongside its events and connections, TechLife plans to expand technical education, professional development, mentorship, and wellness programming, building more deliberate community experiences around each of them rather than treating gatherings as networking for its own sake.
The organization has deep roots to build on. TechLife was founded in 2008 by Ben and Sandy Blanquera, beginning with 15 technology and startup leaders gathered in their living room around a simple idea: strengthen Columbus tech by connecting its people. That gathering grew into a community serving thousands of professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and students.
Ben Blanquera, reflecting on the handoff, has said the founding idea was that bringing good people together makes good things happen — that technology brought people through the door, but the relationships are what made TechLife special, and that Tsirigotis understands that deeply.
The relaunch lands as Central Ohio’s technology footprint keeps growing, with established employers, startups, and a steady flow of new arrivals all competing for talent and connection. A community hub that can route a newcomer to a mentor, a founder to a partner, or a student to a first professional network fills a gap that job boards and company events do not.
What comes next is the build-out: expanded programming, new partnerships, and more opportunities for connection across the ecosystem, rolled out under Tsirigotis’s leadership. For Columbus tech workers who remember TechLife’s earlier years — and for those who have arrived since — the front door, as she puts it, is open again.
