Thursday, September 16, 2010

USC Stevens Appoints Two Directors

The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, the group at the University of Southern California run by Krisztina Holly, and which was kick started by a major donation from Sand Hill road venture capitalist and USC trustee Mark Stevens, said Wednesday that it has appointed two directors to the institute. USC Stevens said it has appointed Rick Friedman as Senior Director of Technology Advancement and Licensing, and expanded Dr. Richard Hull's role to Senior Director of New Ventures and Alliances. Friedman was most recently Associate Director of Licensing at the University of Texas at Austin, and also served as a partner at Heller Ehrman in Silicon Valley. Hull had previously been head of licensing efforts at USC's Health Sciences Campus. USC Stevens said that Friedman will lead efforts to identify socially and commercially promising technologies within USC, and also head up business development for translating those technologies into practical applications. Hull will manage the institute's "Ideas Empowered" effort to provide grants and mentoring to move ideas from the lab to the market. USC Stevens was established back in 2007, when Mark Stevens--a General Partner at Sequoia Capital--and his wife gave $22M to the school.

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