Stephen joined CTTC in May 2024 and is responsible for leading the New Ventures team in their efforts to advance entrepreneurship and new venture creation and support programs across the Vanderbilt campus, in the greater Nashville area, and throughout Tennessee. He works closely with the CTTC unit directors of Licensing and Industry Collaborations and their teams, as well as key university leaders, administrators, and faculty, to identify promising technologies, assess market potential, secure IP, build management teams, and attract funding to accelerate commercialization.
Prior to joining CTTC, Stephen led the University of Colorado/Boulder’s venture development team, where he helped manage a pipeline of over 130 high potential innovations through a 3-stage I-Corps® curriculum, corporate formation, launch, and venture funding. With 25 startups launched in 2022 alone, over $3B in venture funding was secured by startups commercializing university technology from 2018-2023. He also founded Destination Startup®, a collaboration of 15 research universities and national laboratories to showcase cutting edge innovations in the Rocky Mountain/Desert Southwest region; over $700M in venture, angel and grant funding raised through Q2 2024. Stephen received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Denver, and a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver.
