Dear Brown Faculty and Staff,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Behr P’15 as the University’s executive director of corporate relations, effective July 1, 2017.  A versatile, pragmatic and strategic entrepreneurial leader, Daniel emerged as the top candidate following an extensive national search. As executive director, he will report directly to the vice president for research and work closely with me as provost. He will serve as a member of President Paxson’s Executive Committee.

The executive director of corporate relations is the University’s most senior officer dedicated to growing and cultivating a holistic corporate and industry relations portfolio to advance opportunities for funding, research, technology transfer, executive education, teaching, student internships and employment. The decision to create this position emerged following a comprehensive review of Brown’s corporate relations landscape; a survey to assess faculty interest in strengthening corporate outreach and coordination; and an evaluation of best practices at peer institutions. Findings demonstrated the value of and support for having a campus-based corporate relations leader to help advance academic excellence and impact, and promote financial sustainability.

As executive director, Daniel is charged with developing and implementing a strategic plan to identify, cultivate, coordinate and steward corporate partnerships in support of Brown’s mission of teaching, research and service. Collaborating with colleagues from across the University, he will work to spawn promising innovations, facilitating their progression from laboratory to marketplace. He will oversee the Technology Ventures Office, determine the infrastructure needed to establish an office of corporate relations, and convene and staff an advisory board to inform the University’s commercial sector engagement. In addition, he will establish initiatives to showcase Brown’s distinctive strengths in research and discovery, and forge productive connections with industry.

Daniel Behr is supremely qualified to join Brown at this juncture to launch a robust program of corporate relations. He brings 30 years of experience in technology commercialization, moving science-based innovations from lab to market, primarily through the numerous startups with which he has been involved as entrepreneur, venture investor, and technology transfer professional. 

Most recently, Daniel served as president and CEO of SLIPS Technologies, a venture-funded Harvard University spinoff commercializing advanced materials and coatings. He is also a co-founder and director of Rediscovery Life Sciences, a drug development company focused on drug repurposing. As venture investor, Daniel was co-founder and senior vice president of Access BridgeGap Ventures, and director of technology ventures at Allied Minds. Daniel also served as director of business development at Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development, and as a consultant for the University of Massachusetts. Before starting his first company in 1987, Daniel was a senior consultant at Bain & Co., and a materials research engineer at Albany International. He holds an engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in German.

I am grateful to have worked with the following search committee members  over the course of the spring semester to identify an exceptional pool of candidates for this important role: School of Engineering Associate Dean for Programs and Planning Jennifer Casasanto; Professor and Chair of Computer Science Ugur Cetintemel; Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Eric Morrow; Assistant Vice President of Development for Schools, Initiatives and Foundations Catherine Nellis; Vice President for Computing and Information Services and CIO Ravi Pendse; Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor of Mathematics Jill Pipher; Vice President for Research and Professor of Epidemiology, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology David Savitz; Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Dean of the School of Professional Studies Karen Sibley; Professor of Engineering and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology Anubhav Tripathi, and Chief of Staff to the Provost Marisa Quinn, who staffed the search.

Please join me in welcoming Daniel to this new role and wishing him great success.

Sincerely,

Richard M. Locke