Ken Porter

Ken Porter is the Director of UM Ventures - College Park and leads a team of dedicated professionals who serve faculty, staff, and students at the University of Maryland at College Park.  UM Ventures - College Park manages the University IP portfolio, engages corporate partners for research, supports faculty startups, and provides experiential learning opportunities for students.

Ken served most recently at Innovate Calgary as VP for IP Management and Director of Social and Clinical Innovations, and where he co-founded the Western Canadian Innovation Offices (wcio.ca).  WCIO is a consortium of 46 western Canadian academic institutions that together create “Market Pull” opportunities for cross-border industry-academic research partnerships.  He has led teams at the Universities of Colorado and Texas, and each team held the aim of building stronger relationships for faculty and students with industry, government, and entrepreneur communities.

He holds a BS degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel, and Ph.D. (Chemistry) and MBA degrees from Duke University.  Ken is an active member of LES and AUTM, and is currently a member of the AUTM Board of Directors.