People Moves
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Goshen College names Raj Biyani inaugural chief innovation officer
Raj Biyani will step into the role after already driving change on campus through volunteering.
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Texas Tech recruits James Reecy as VP for research and innovation
James Reecy has been the associate vice president for research at Iowa State University since 2017.
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Craig Gravitz joins Penn as executive director of PCI Ventures
Craig Gravitz, who previously led commercialisation at ARPA-H, joins the University of Pennsylvania after the institution raised two venture funds.
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TIAP’s Parimal Nathwani joins BDC to head C$150 million life sciences fund
After nearly two decades with TIAP, Parimal Nathwani has joined the Development Bank of Canada to manage a new C$150 million life sciences fund.
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Constantin Coussios to lead innovation at Oxford following historic spinout exit
Constantin Coussios’ spinout OrganOx became the University of Oxford’s largest exit to date last year when it was bought for $1.5 billion.
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Darren Cooke to become permanent chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer at UC Berkeley
Darren Cooke has been in the role in an interim capacity since July 2024, when his predecessor Rich Lyons became chancellor of UC Berkeley.
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Tommy Sowers joins UNC-Chapel Hill as chief innovation officer
Tommy Sowers will serve as CIO and vice chancellor for innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development from 20 April.
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Michael Stucky becomes CEO of Swiss Startup Association
Michael Stucky has founded two university spinouts and was founding managing partner of a planned pan-European university venture fund.
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Andrea Huggins joins Monash as VP for innovation and commercialisation
Andrea Huggins has worked for CSL Behring in increasingly senior leadership roles for more than two decades.
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Katie Houston joins East Tennessee State University as director of commercialisation
ETSU Research Corporation has hired Katie Houston, who brings a decade of experience in corporate R&D and innovation to the job.0
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Michael Rondelli retires after more than two decades in tech transfer
Michael Rondelli had been the associate vice president of innovation and commercialisation at the University of North Texas since 2015.
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Rachel Simpson starts as director of pan-Scottish commercialisation office ShaKEs
Employed by Queen Margaret University, Rachel Simpson will be based at Abertay University and support knowledge exchange activities across Scotland’s smaller institutions.
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Zane Gernhart returns to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Zane Gernhart is rejoining his former employer to lead the Office of Industry Relations, just under three years after he left the institution.
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Cambridge x Manchester enlists Faye Holland to lead partnership
Faye Holland brings considerable expertise of the Cambridge cluster in particular to the job, and is a successfully exited founder.
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DGIST Technology Holdings appoints Choi Moon-jong as co-CEO, plans fund launches
The Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology’s commercialisation arm has changed its leadership structure to two CEOs.
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Sydney Biomedical Accelerator picks Victoria Cogger as executive director
The A$780 million Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, backed by the University of Sydney, is set to open in 2028.
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Rich Ferrie leaves Royal Veterinary College for Babraham Research Campus
Rich Ferrie is moving on from the RVC’s London Bioscience Innovation Centre after four years to become CEO of the Babraham Research Campus.
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East Carolina University promotes Sharon Paynter to senior vice provost for research and innovation
Sharon Paynter has worked for East Carolina University for more than 16 years, including in senior leadership roles for research and innovation.
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Inven2 brings in Hans Vassgård Eid to double down on investments
Hans Vassgård Eid’s appointment comes half a year after the tech transfer office Inven2 helped launch a life sciences investment fund.
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Helsinki Innovation Services CEO Marko Hakovirta set to leave in six months
Helsinki Innovation Services’ chief executive officer, Marko Hakovirta, will become president of the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
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Amanda Selvaratnam joins York St John University to lead knowledge exchange
Amanda Selvaratnam has spent the past 27 years at the University of York, most recently as associate director of research and enterprise and head of enterprise services.
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Utah appoints Jamie Dwyer chief innovation officer, Bruce Hunter moves to Tecnológico de Monterrey
Jamie Dwyer succeeds Bruce Hunter at the University of Utah, as the former becomes chief innovation officer at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
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Rosie Bennett returns to SETsquared as interim executive director
Rosie Bennett had worked for SETsquared from 2017 to 2022, and later followed former colleague Simon Bond to Bristol Innovations.
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UM Ventures elevates Felicia Metz to director
Felicia Metz has worked for the University of Maryland for more than 24 years and is also joining the AUTM board of directors this month.
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Tulsa promotes Chris Wright to assistant VP for innovation and entrepreneurship
Chris Wright was previously the director of the University of Tulsa’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for three years.
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KAUST names Izaro Lopez Garcia interim director of technology transfer
Izaro Lopez Garcia joined the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as head of technology development three years ago.
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University of Klagenfurt establishes TTO led by Harald Jenull
The Austrian university has launched a technology transfer office and recruited commercialisation expert Harald Jenull as founding director.
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Vanderbilt recruits Susan Margulies as VP for research and innovation
Susan Margulies succeeds Padma Raghavan, who became Vanderbilt’s executive director for science and technology strategy last summer.
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Monique Simair to lead Saskatchewan’s Slogotski Hunt Centre for Entrepreneurship
The Slogotski Hunt Centre for Entrepreneurship supports faculty and students across the University of Saskatchewan.
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City St George’s promotes Ian Gibbs to head of IP and commercialisation
Ian Gibbs has worked for City St George’s, University of London since 2017, having served as the head of academic enterprise since 2018.
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Melissa Mail joins Macquarie as director of research ventures and investment
Melissa Mail was previously the head of commercialisation at the Children’s Medical Institute, and has also worked for Uniseed.
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NJIT promotes Ike Nwabufo to director of technology transfer
Ike Nwabufo has been with the New Jersey Institute of Technology since April 2024, and will now oversee the full lifecycle of intellectual property.
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Justin Burns promoted to chief innovation officer at Georgia Research Alliance
Justin Burns has taken on the new role in addition to his duties as vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship.
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Melbourne’s director of commercialisation Ruth Park-Jones joins Monash
Ruth Park-Jones has been director of commercialisation at the University of Melbourne since 2023, having joined the institution in 2007.
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Neil Veloso joins Nationwide Children’s Hospital as VP for innovation and technology commercialisation
Neil Veloso is the new vice president for innovation and technology commercialisation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, joining from Brown Technology Innovations.
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Brad Burke retires after 25 years with Rice University
Brad Burke will step down at the end of June, bringing to a close more than two decades of leading entrepreneurship activities at Rice University.
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Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub hires Lewis Sheats as inaugural executive director
Lewis Sheats has worked in academic entrepreneurship for more than two decades, and comes to UW-Madison from Saint Louis University.
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University of Bristol hires SETsquared’s Marty Reid as director of innovation
Marty Reid is currently the executive director of enterprise partnership SETsquared, of which the University of Bristol is a member.
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Aberdeen appoints Lucy Leiper as interim head of innovation, seeks permanent director
The University of Aberdeen has named Lucy Leiper as interim director of research and innovation.
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Walter Copan, VP for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines, steps down
Walter Copan has been with the Colorado School of Mines since 2021 and will step down at the end of February 2026 to focus on his family.
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Osage University Partners promotes Stockman, Miri and Grafstrom
Manny Stockman has been promoted to managing partner, while Mitra Miri is now a partner, and Beth Grafstrom is the senior VP of finance.
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Shashank Priya joins Michigan State University as vice president for research and innovation
Michigan State University is bringing in Shashank Priya to succeed Douglas Gage as vice president for research and innovation.
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Ohio University’s director of tech transfer Bob Silva retires
Bob Silva, the director of technology transfer at Ohio University for the past fifteen years, is taking a six-month leave ahead of his retirement in June.
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Adelaide University opens its doors with Michelle Perugini heading tech transfer
Michelle Perugini has joined the newly established Adelaide University, the result of a merger between two institutions, to lead commercialisation.
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Cheryl Horst made permanent executive director of NUtech Ventures
Cheryl Horst has been serving in an interim capacity since July last year, and has worked for NUtech Ventures for more than sixteen years.
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Harvard promotes Sam Liss to succeed Isaac Kohlberg
Sam Liss has been appointed chief technology development officer and associate provost at Harvard University, where he will succeed Isaac Kohlberg.
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Trent University names Tana Allen vice president for research and innovation
Tana Allen has been appointed vice president for research and innovation at Trent University, and will take on her new role next autumn.
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QUBIS appoints Marina Donohoe as its next CEO
Marina Donohoe will succeed Brian McCaul, who announced his decision to step down earlier this year.
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Cindy Klein Marmer made permanent director of the Blank Center
She has served as interim executive director of Babson College’s entrepreneurship hub since last year, and her role is now permanent.
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Kevin Gardner, Stony Brook’s VP for research and innovation, steps down
Kevin Gardner, the vice president for research and innovation at Stony Brook University, will step down by the end of the year to return to teaching.
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CWRU promotes Michael Oakes to executive VP for research and economic development
Michael Oakes joined Case Western Reserve University as the senior vice president for research and technology management over three years ago.
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Mikkel Sørensen steps down from DTU Skylab to focus on SkyFactory
After twelve years with TU Denmark’s innovation hub Skylab, Mikkel Sørensen is putting his focus on the new DTU SkyFactory.
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Alexander Khalessi promoted to chief innovation officer at UC San Diego Health
Alexander Khalessi is the current chair of neurological surgery and a professor of surgery, radiology and neurosciences at UC San Diego Health.
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Michelle Chrétien joins Toronto Metropolitan University to oversee commercialisation
Michelle Chrétien has been appointed assistant vice-president, research partnerships and commercialisation, at the Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Ball State University hires Bette Smith to run the Center for Innovation and Collaboration
Bette Smith will serve as director of Ball State University’s new Center for Innovation and Collaboration from January.
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Dedric Carter moves to UNC Health Care System
Dedric Carter will move into his new system-wide role next month, having served as chief innovation officer of UNC-Chapel Hill since 2023.
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University of Waikato recruits Callaghan Innovation’s Florian Spoerl
Florian Spoerl, currently the chief product officer Callaghan Innovation, will become Waikato’s director of commercial and business partnerships.
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Polytechnique Montréal brings in Luc Paquet to head its new Lassonde Deeptech Institute
Luc Paquet is returning to work for a university, having led tech transfer offices TransfertTech Sherbrooke and Univalor earlier in his career.
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Qbic promotes Sara Vandenwijngaert to chief scientific director
Qbic, a venture fund backed by multiple Belgian universities, is introducing the position of chief scientific director and appoints Sara Vandenwijngaert.
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Zuzana Paulovics leaves CUIP after police intervention
Zuzana Paulovics has left her role as chairwoman of Charles University Innovations Prague after just a little over five months.
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Dan Geller is put in charge of Innovation Gateway’s Startup Program
The University of Georgia’s Dan Geller assumed his new role as director last month, having previously served as assistant director of the Startup Program.
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University of the Philippines Los Baños restructures innovation infrastructure
Haerold Dean Z. Layaoen will lead the new Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Enterprise Management at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
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MSU Technologies promotes Brian Wright to executive director
Brian Wright has been chosen to succeed his former boss Anne DiSante, who retired earlier this year.
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Uniseed brings in Alastair Hick as its new CEO
Alastair Hick, currently the chief commercialisation officer of Monash University, will take over from Peter Devine.
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Michelle Cote will lead UConn’s Werth Institute
Michelle Cote has been named interim director of the Peter J Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut.
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William Kirkland picked to helm South Carolina Research Authority
The former executive of the University of South Carolina’s Office of Economic Engagement will run the South Carolina Research Authority.
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Cicada Innovations picks Liza Noonan as CEO
Liza Noonan is currently the executive director of Investment NSW, and she will succeed Sally-Ann Williams.
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Karen Deak made permanent executive director of IDEA Center
Karen Deak has been executive director of the University of Notre Dame’s IDEA Center in an interim capacity since September 2024.
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Allison Markova to head tech transfer at the URI Research Foundation
Allison Markova is the new director of technology transfer and innovation partnerships at the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation.
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University of Arkansas promotes tech transfer leader David Hinton
David Hinton, the executive director of Technology Ventures since 2023, is now associate vice chancellor for research and innovation.
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Mireya McKee to run Innovate Carolina’s New Ventures and Partnerships group
Mireya McKee has been appointed interim director of the New Ventures and Partnerships group within UNC at Chapel Hill’s innovation unit.
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University of British Columbia’s Gail Murphy will step down in spring
The University of British Columbia’s vice president for research and innovation, Gail Murphy, will step down after nine years in the role.
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Karim Bahou joins Manchester innovation district Sister
Karim Bahou has been appointed head of innovation at Sister, a joint initiative of the University of Manchester and Bruntwood SciTech.
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University of the Virgin Islands promotes Nelson Pizarro
The University of the Virgin Islands has promoted Nelson Pizarro to assistant vice president for entrepreneurship and economic development.
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Alan Rowan joins Wollongong to lead innovation
Alan Rowan will join the University of Wollongong in January, moving on from the University of Queensland after a decade.
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Concordia names Emad Shihab AVP of research, policy, entrepreneurship, and impact
Emad Shihab will step into his new duties as associate vice president of research, policy, entrepreneurship and impact on 1 November.
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Wayne State University promotes two for innovation roles
Matthew Allen is the new assistant vice president for research and innovation, while Jessica Back also joins the Division of Research and Innovation.
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Rice Alliance hires John Reale as managing director
John Reale will report to associate vice president Brad Burke, and will oversee startup and investor engagement.
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Oliver Schmitz takes on entrepreneurship role at UW-Madison
Oliver Schmitz has been appointed the inaugural associate dean for corporate engagement and entrepreneurship at the College of Engineering.
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Marcus Burgess joins Florida A&M University to head innovation
Florida A&M University has brought in Marcus Burgess as senior vice president of enterprise partnerships and innovation.
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UH Ventures promotes Kipum Lee to president
UH Ventures has selected Kipum Lee as its new president, succeeding David Sylvan, who will focus on his role with University Hospitals itself.
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Brian McNicoll leaves the University of Dundee
The university’s head of entrepreneurship is stepping down after thirteen years with the Scottish institution.
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Missouri Innovation Center brings in Charlie Bolten as CEO
Charlie Bolten is the new president and chief executive officer of the Missouri Innovation Center, a startup hub affiliated with the University of Missouri.
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Ohio State University selects John Horack to lead innovation
John Horack, the university’s Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy, will become vice president for research next week.
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Lindsay DiStefano assumes innovation role at UConn
The University of Connecticut has named Lindsay DiStefano interim vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
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James Hotaling named inaugural chief innovation officer for University of Utah Health
James Hotaling’s promotion comes after he played an instrumental role in launching University of Utah Ventures.
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Binghamton reveals Jitendra Jain as the director of its TTO
Jitendra Jain joined the university in July, but Binghamton has only now released an announcement naming him director of its tech transfer office.
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Caroline Aruoja takes over leadership of TalTech’s TTO
Caroline Aruoja started in the new job this week, having previously led the Estonian university’s Startup Centre.
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Langis Roy named vice president of research and innovation at Lakehead University
Langis Roy joins Canada’s Lakehead University to craft a new research strategy, boost industry ties, and explore AI-driven entrepreneurship.
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Paul Cherukuri leaves Rice University for the University of Virginia
Paul Cherukuri, the vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer at Rice University, will join the University of Virginia in October.
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NCInnovation CEO Bennet Waters reveals intention to step down
Bennet Waters has led NCInnovation, which provides commercialisation support to North Carolina’s public universities, since April 2022.
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UChicago’s Polsky Center sets up new venture development team
Dev Gavaskar and Alyssa Master have been recruited by the Polsky Center to work with another recent hire, Heather Walsh, on setting up more startups.
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Nick McNaughton hands over the reins to Ken Mahon at Campus Plus
The organisation, co-founded by Nick McNaughton six years ago, will now be led by interim CEO Ken Mahon.
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Michael Poisel takes on leadership role at the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre
Michael Poisel, who stepped down as executive director of PCI Ventures after more than 16 years in April, will now lead the MEC.
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Michael Burtov joins Nova Southeastern University as chief innovation officer
Michael Burtov has been appointed chief innovation officer at the private university, and will also serve as executive director of the Levan Center of Innovation.
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Mandy Parkinson takes on knowledge exchange role at the University of Salford
Prof Mandy Parkinson has been appointed associate pro vice chancellor for knowledge exchange at the University of Salford.
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University of Melbourne promotes Hun Gan to executive director for commercialisation
Hun Guan has been with the University of Melbourne since 2018 and has led both Genesis Ventures and the Genesis Pre-Seed Fund.
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James Zanewicz leaves Tulane after a decade to become Connect CEO
The move marks the conclusion of more than two decades in university innovation for James Zanewicz, who was most recently Tulane School of Medicine’s chief strategy officer.
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University of Southern Mississippi promotes Natalie Guess to assistant director
Natalie Guess, innovation and entrepreneurship programme manager at USM’s Office of Innovation Management, is promoted to assistant director.
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Vojtěch Malina steps down as head of tech transfer at Charles University
Vojtěch Malina is leaving Charles University’s tech transfer office after just over a year of being in charge.
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UCL Business managing director Steven Schooling steps down
Steven Schooling, who has been with University College London’s commercialisation subsidiary since 2006, is leaving today.
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Sally-Ann Williams bids farewell to Cicada Innovations
Sally-Ann Williams stepped down as chief executive officer of Cicada Innovations today after six years at the helm of the Australian incubator.
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University of Adelaide promotes Michael Goodsite
Michael Goodsite, managing director of the university’s commercialisation arm Innovation & Commercial Partners, has been promoted to pro vice chancellor for research services and infrastructure.
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Jill Kravetz will lead Harvard Innovation Labs
Jill Kravetz has been named the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans executive director of Harvard University’s entrepreneurship unit.
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Colleen Fitzgerald moves to Hofstra University
Colleen Fitzgerald will become Hofstra’s inaugural senior vice provost for research and creative activities, joining from North Dakota State University.
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Catherine Lafarge appointed interim president of Linksium
Linksium is one of France’s regional tech transfer organisations, Réseau SATT, and Lafarge had previously served as deputy CEO.
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Korea Institute of Science and Technology launches new innovation subsidiary
KIST Innovation will focus on the full spectrum of commercialisation, ranging from IP management to startup and corporate support to investments.
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Vanessa Wood leaves knowledge transfer role at ETH Zurich
Vanessa Wood, vice president for knowledge transfer and corporate relations at ETH Zurich, will step down at the end of the year to focus on her research full time.
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Brian McCaul steps down as chief executive of QUBIS
Brian McCaul will leave his role at QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University Belfast, at the end of this year after more a decade in charge.
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Greg Cook returns to Otago for innovation role
The University of Otago has appointed Greg Cook as deputy vice chancellor for research and innovation, bringing him back to the institution after a year.
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Moran Zilbershtein joins TAU Ventures as general partner
TAU Ventures, the university venture fund of Tel Aviv University, has brought in Moran Zilbershtein as a general partner.
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Stevens Institute of Technology hires Shintaro Kaido
Shintaro Kaido will oversee technology transfer at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
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Quin Chang joins Care Economy CRC leadership
Quin Chang was the director for enterprise development at La Trobe University for the past three years and is the immediate past chair of Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia.
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Simon Bond moves to the University of Bath
Simon Bond, currently the director of Bristol Innovations, will oversee the development of the Bath Riverside Innovation Quarter.
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Chalmers Ventures appoints Jenny Dahlberg as CFO
Jenny Dahlberg succeeds Emma Siljeäng, who stepped down earlier this week after a decade working for the Swedish university venture fund..
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Padma Raghavan takes on newly established role at Vanderbilt University
Padma Raghavan will move into the newly created position of executive director for science and technology strategy at Vanderbilt University next week.
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David O’Neill departs from FACIT
David O’Neill had been president of oncology-focused commercialisation firm Fight Against Cancer Innovation Trust since 2018. Peter Goodhand replaces him.
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Emma Siljeäng leaves Chalmers Ventures after a decade
Chalmers Ventures CFO Emma Siljeäng stepped down today, having been with the university venture fund since its inception in 2015.
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Harvard’s Isaac Kohlberg will retire at the end of 2025
Isaac Kohlberg, who’s been the senior associate provost and chief technology development officer at Harvard University since 2005, will retire later this year.
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Liam Cronin hired as the new innovation director at University College Dublin
Cronin was most recently the chief executive officer of digital innovation centre RDI Hub and he succeeds Tom Flanagan, who left in October last year.
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Peter Devine will leave Uniseed by the end of 2025
Peter Devine, the chief executive of Australian university venture fund Uniseed is stepping down at the end of this year.
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SETsquared Bristol promotes Caroline Thompson
Caroline Thompson had been a programme manager at the SETsquared Partnership since last year and brings more than a decade of experience to her new role.
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Charles University Innovations Prague finds new chairwoman in Zuzana Paulovics
Zuzana Paulovics is the new chairwoman of Charles University’s technology transfer arm, replacing Otomar Sláma.
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Christine Karslake to run innovation at Missouri S&T
Missouri University of Science and Technology is bringing Christine Karslake on board to oversee innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialisation efforts.
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Virginia Tech promotes Brandy Salmon to vice president for innovation and partnerships
Virginia Tech today announced Brandy Salmon is to be the university’s inaugural vice president for innovation and partnerships.
