Opportunity clicks: Mount Pleasant tech firm a matchmaker for students, manufacturers

As a former kicker for Purdue University’s football team, Casey Welch knows how the recruiting game works in the college sports arena.

These days, he’s working to bring that same technique to the business world.

“If there’s a seven-foot basketball player in the eighth grade, everybody in the country knows who that kid is,” said Welch, co-founder of Mount Pleasant-based STEM Premier. “But what about the architect, the welder, the nurse or the engineer?

“Sports does a great job of getting students early,” he said. “Dabo Swinney doesn’t start to recruit students during their senior year of high school. He starts early when he sees the talent. So we thought, why isn’t there something like that in the academic and technical sector?”

That’s how Stem Premier was born in 2013, the creation of Welch and co-founder Donald Tylinski, an educator with 35 years of experience in public school districts. The company, with backing from The InterTech Group Inc. and the South Carolina Research Authority, created a website —stempremier.com — that helps students, colleges and businesses connect with each other.

Last week, the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance announced a partnership with Stem Premier called Future Makers, which hopes “to connect the dots to opportunities,” according to James Richter, the alliance’s marketing director.

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