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Managing Director, Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Employer
Washington University in St. Louis
Location
Missouri, United States
Salary
Commensurate with experience
Date posted
Jan 16, 2018

 

Managing Director

Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship

 

Washington University in St. Louis seeks nominations for and expressions of interest in the position of managing director of the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship.  Reporting to the provost, the managing director will be expected to inspire and develop creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis. Serving students, alumni, faculty, staff, and the St. Louis community, the managing director will foster and enhance the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem; lead campus efforts to offer practical, venture-specific skills training; and provide promising ventures with opportunities to access funding.

 

The Skandalaris Center

The Skandalaris Center seeks to connect, train, and fund WashU community members at every stage of development from an undergraduate with a novel idea to seasoned executives and investors. The Center offers practical training and advising through extracurricular as well as academic opportunities including training events, workshops, and courses.  The Center has a team of venture analysts and professional staff to assist those in need of individualized advice related to: brainstorming venture ideas, strengthening financial models, drafting business plans, perfecting pitches, grant writing, and business development.  The Center has also launched a new venture-capital seed fund named the William Greenleaf Eliot Seed Fund helping to propel early-stage business ventures by students, faculty, and recent alumni. In 2017, WashU was awarded a 5-year, $2.5 million grant whose focus is the training of biomedical investigators in how to apply innovative and entrepreneurial skills to their research. The Center also runs business plan and seed funding competitions to incentivize and reward entrepreneurial activity. These include the Leadership in Entrepreneurial Acceleration Program (LEAP), The Suren G. Dutia and Jas K. Grewal Global Impact Award, the The Skandalaris Center Cup and The Social Enterprise Impact Accelerator.

 

The Position and Qualifications

The managing director will lead, manage, plan, and report activities of the Skandalaris Center, inspiring its staff and interns to develop and deliver programs and tools that advise and support the University community’s innovative and entrepreneurial endeavors. The managing director will also leverage the expertise, commitment, and capacity of the Center's National Council, consisting of successful entrepreneurs, investors, and other Trustee and non-Trustee supporters of the Center.

Washington University seeks an energetic, diligent, thoughtful, and savvy leader with relevant expertise to create sophisticated entrepreneurship programming for diverse stakeholders in a complex and intellectually rigorous environment. Candidates must have a record as a catalyst for and a nurturer of early-stage endeavors, of conceiving of and growing programs and events to advance awareness of, participation in, and knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship. An undergraduate degree is required; an advanced degree is highly preferred. Ideal candidates will have substantial executive-level leadership experience, including experience in executing diverse, creative transactions around early-stage intellectual property. From a cultural perspective, the managing director must be a collaborative and innovative individual. Successful candidates will have demonstrated experience bridging the academic and commercial cultures, exceptional negotiation skills, and strong mentorship skills.

The Search

Inquiries, nominations and applications are invited.  Although the search will remain open until the position is filled, review of candidate materials will begin immediately. Candidates should provide a curriculum vitae, a letter of application that addresses the responsibilities and requirements described herein, and the names and contact information of five references.  References will not be contacted without prior knowledge and approval of the candidates.

Materials should be sent electronically via e-mail to the university’s consultant, Dr. Jonathan Fortescue of Park Square Executive Search, at SkandalarisDirector@parksquare.com. Documents that must be mailed may be sent to Jonathan Fortescue, Ph.D., Managing Partner, or Kyle Meingast, Principal, Park Square Executive Search, LLC, 125 Summer Street, 18th Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Phone: 617-401-2991.

Washington University in St. Louis is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Washington University welcomes difference on our campus in the form of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, geography, socioeconomic status, age, politics, religion, philosophy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and veteran status. All applicants who share this goal are encouraged to apply.

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