University of Melbourne promotes Hun Gan to executive director for commercialisation

Hun Gan

The University of Melbourne has promoted Hun Gan , who played an instrumental role in launching its two university venture funds, to executive director for commercialisation.

Gan was in charge of Genesis Ventures, the university’s investment arm, from October 2022 until last month, and has served as chief executive of the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund.

He first joined the University of Melbourne in February 2018 as a business development cluster lead for physical sciences and associate director for tech transfer and licensing.

In June 2019, he became director for business development and innovation.

He took on additional work with the Advancing Innovation & Commercialisation Program in December 2021, where he led the Commercialisation Funds project. That work ultimately led to the launch of the A$15 million Genesis Pre-Seed Fund and the A$125 million Tin Alley Ventures.

From December 2021 to November 2022, Gan also served on the investment committee of multi-university venture fund Uniseed.

Earlier in his career, he worked in commercialisation and business development for CSIRO. He was also an investment director with VC firm Starfish Ventures and an investment manager with Rothschild & Co.

The commercialisation group at the University of Melbourne has been led by managing director Ken Jefferd since July 2022. The team is currently also hiring for a senior knowledge and technology transfer manager.

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