People Moves
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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.