Brandy Salmon, who since 2017 has led Virginia Tech teams focused on connecting the university with corporations, foundations, and alumni worldwide has been named the university’s first vice president for innovation and partnerships.
“True collaboration between higher education, government, and industry is essential for success in today’s evolving landscape,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “For the past eight years, Brandy has led the development of a ‘partnership engine’ to drive sustainable innovation and economic growth. As vice president, she will elevate our efforts to create value-added partnerships with companies and foundations, encourage patenting, licensing, and new venture creation, connect our global alumni network, and prepare Hokie graduates to engage with an increasingly complex world.”
Salmon came to Virginia Tech as the first executive director for business engagement, where she helped build a team of business development directors for what is now known as Virginia Tech Innovation and Partnerships.
Before joining the university, she worked for more than a decade promoting technology commercialization, innovation and strategic partnerships, including for RTI International, an applied research institute dedicated to improving the human condition and Duke University’s Office of Licensing and Ventures.
Salmon has served in roles of progressive responsibility at Virginia Tech, including as the initial managing director for the university’s operations in Alexandria, and most recently as associate vice president for innovation and partnerships.
Salmon leads teams that connect faculty, students, industry, and foundations in multiple ways, helping to foster intellectual property creation, technology commercialization, public-private partnerships, and transformative philanthropy. She will continue to jointly report to the university’s senior vice president for advancement and the senior vice president and chief research and innovation officer.
“Brandy and her team have connected us with numerous leading companies, foundations, and alumni, helping to generate a significant percentage of the new gifts and commitments we have secured over the past eight years,” said Senior Vice President for Advancement Charlie Phlegar. “Her skill at collaborating across teams, both within and beyond Virginia Tech, has helped us begin and advance numerous high-impact initiatives, and we are excited that this will continue in her expanded role.”
Among the many industry partnerships Salmon and her team have helped to cement are a $50 million commitment toward scholarships, research, and outreach by Boeing and a $12.5 million commitment toward quantum research and education by Northrop Grumman. By engaging with a wide range of external partners, her team carries demand signals from the marketplace to the university community — a modern take on the land grant with a focus on meeting partners where they are. The team encourages more comprehensive engagement and partnerships with purpose, designed to solve important global challenges through collaboration. One recent example is support for Virginia Tech’s Carbon CoLab, led by Ryan Pollyea, associate professor in the College of Science’s Department of Geosciences. Innovation and Partnerships also focuses on strategic events and helping Hokies connect within and across companies, and has a growing Alumni Corporate Network program.
Salmon and her team foster technology commercialization and other initiatives to ensure the discoveries and talent nurtured at Virginia Tech make a positive economic impact throughout the commonwealth. She was on Virginia Tech’s special team focused on expanding the university’s presence in the greater Washington, D.C., area to help attract Amazon’s second headquarters to that region in 2018. More recently, her team’s work has helped transform the technology transfer operation to ensure record numbers of invention disclosures as well as an array of new programs, including customized workshops, proof-of-concept grant programs, an annual Celebrating Innovation event to recognize inventors, and a Presidential Innovation Post-Doctoral Fellows program through the Office of Research and Innovation.
The work of her team has enabled numerous National Academy of Inventors senior members and fellows acceptances and led to Virginia Tech’s placement in the top 100 global rankings for patents.
“Forging creative partnerships at the intersection of industry and government is a critical part of us identifying ways Virginia Tech expertise can be best harnessed to make tangible, lasting impacts in our communities, nation, and world,” said Dan Sui, Virginia Tech senior vice president for research and innovation. “Brandy and her team are tremendously skilled at fostering such relationships that are not only mutually beneficial to the partners and university, but are also key to our land-grant mission of leveraging higher education to serve all.”
Salmon’s expanded role includes a close collaboration with colleagues from the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center (VTCRC) to provide strategic counsel on how the Corporate Research Center can extend the university’s reach. It is among the nation’s most recognized university research centers with 40 buildings housing 220 companies across more than 1.2 million square feet of space — right next to the university’s Blacksburg campus. As the Corporate Research Center enters its next era, by the side of the university in all its Virginia locations, including Newport News, Roanoke, and Alexandria, Salmon will provide insights on how it best can serve Virginia Tech as its partner in education and research advancing business and industry.
“VTCRC is where education meets business,” said Virginia Tech Foundation CEO and Corporate Research Center President Elizabeth A. McClanahan. “Brandy and the Innovation and Partnerships team have been by our side, helping define the specific elements of this purpose. This team’s collaboration and partnership will propel Virginia Tech’s definition of innovation into private and public sector relationships. It is instrumental in unleashing the power of VTCRC to provide places and programs where entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and researchers can collaborate and deploy ground-breaking technologies — innovated by Virginia Tech people — to create opportunity and solutions to the world’s challenges.”
Salmon credited Virginia Tech for recognizing that higher education must be ready to forge creative partnerships with industry, including those that involve government and other organizations, to maintain its crucial position in society and maximize its positive impact. She credited her team, and its many partners within and outside Virginia Tech, for co-designing meaningful collaborations.
“The modern university is increasingly called upon to engage with communities, solve real-world problems, and foster innovation that extends beyond academic walls,” Salmon said. “As part of a presidential priority launched more than eight years ago, Virginia Tech is well positioned to lead in a rapidly evolving future — and I’m excited to help guide our response. I’m deeply honored and grateful for this promotion, which I see not only as a recognition of our team’s impactful work, but also as an acknowledgement of all of our partners — both within the university and external — who are working tirelessly to drive meaningful impact in our communities and beyond.”
By Albert Raboteau – The Roanoke Star
