Jeff Stinson, a private equity and entrepreneurial developer with 23 years of experience in venture investing, has joined UALR as director of UALR’s Center for Innovation and Commercialization.

The center works with university faculty, students, entrepreneurs, and established businesses to commercialize university research and intellectual property.

Stinson has been executive director of the Fund for Arkansas’ Future, an “angel” investing fund that invests in the early stages of Arkansas-based technology companies. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt University and a bachelor of science degree from Tennessee Technological University.

“Jeff Stinson’s experience in mentoring and developing entrepreneurs in our state over the past 13 years will translate well into the role of advancing UALR technologies on their path towards commercialization,” said Chancellor Joel E. Anderson. “His statewide network of contacts will bring critical exposure to the efforts of our exellent researchers.”

Stinson replaces J. Thomas “Tom” Walker, who established the Innovation and Commercialization Center in 2006 following a career in Washington to guide new scientific breakthroughs from private and public laboratories to commercial ventures. Walker retired earlier this year.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with the university and its faculty over the past decade, so I know first-hand the tremendous opportunities that lie within the technologies being developed on campus,” Stinson said. “I look forward to spearheading a collaborative on- and off-campus effort to bring these technologies to their full commercial potential.”