Director, Corporate Engagement

Classification Title:

DIR, Corporate Engagement

Job Description:

The Director of Corporate Engagement for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering (HWCOE) serves as part of the University of Florida Engineering Innovation Institute and provides operational leadership, management, and administrative direction in promoting and developing partnerships between industry and the College, with the aim of identifying opportunities for synergistic partnerships that advance the mission, vision, and goals of the College. Working with UF leadership, faculty and staff, the Director of Corporate Engagement will aid in ensuring appropriate University agreements and protocols are adhered to and will aid in the development of internal processes to improve efficacy and efficiency in engagements with industry partners. The primary goal of this position is to promote increased engagement between HWCOE and industry in support of the HWCOE strategic vision and plan.

Holistically based Key Performance Indicators include:

• Corporate Support of research ranging from individual research programs and infrastructure to collaborations on major research and education proposals for state and federal funding agencies.

• Corporate Philanthropic Support, including unrestricted giving for research and education programs, spaces, scholarships, fellowships, etc.

• Student Engagement, including educational programs support, student organization support, recruiting and internships, engagement with student teams, etc.

• Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning, including industry support of distance and continuing education programs, collaboration on workforce development programs, etc.

• Technology Commercialization and Translation, including industry guidance on integration of research with industry needs, technology commercialization, start-up company support, etc.

• Infrastructure and Resource Sharing, including use of university facilities and other resources, collaborations on industry resources to promote industrial application of research, etc.

Business Development

• Support development of an annual Corporate Engagement Strategy to maximize near- and longer-term industry engagement per the KPIs to support the HWCOE Strategic Plan and key industry needs and trends. This includes staying abreast of target industry trends, market dynamics, and corporate needs.

• Develop, recruit, and engage a portfolio of targeted industry relationships that expands HWCOE research and education endeavors per the Annual Corporate Engagement strategy. This includes visits, calls, industry days at UF, etc.

• Create and maintain "industry front door" resources to streamline initial contacts to HWCOE for general industry inquiries. This includes working with appropriate UF offices (e.g., HWCOE Marketing and Communications) to maintain an "industry front-door" web portal and collateral materials as well as maintaining an internal database of HWCOE researcher expertise to expedite connections as appropriate to UF researchers.

• Serve as an initial point of contact for corporate engagement and implement scalable processes to appropriately triage industry inquiries before connecting to UF faculty, students or administrators.

Relationship Management

• Coordinate with appropriate UF, State and Federal Agency stakeholders (e.g., HWCOE Office of Advancement, UF Office of Government and Community Relations, UF Office of Research, UF Career Connections Center, Florida Dept. of Economic Opportunity, Florida Dept. of Education) to maximize industry engagement activities to the benefit of UF and the State of Florida. This includes service on appropriate advisory boards and committees internally and externally with regards to industry engagement.

• Work especially proactively with the college Office of Advancement in coordinating corporate contacts and transferring corporate giving opportunities to Development Officers for consummation.

• Maintain collaborative relationships with key UF leadership and colleagues to enhance corporate relations and engagement, including assuring the corporate engagement-related communications and messaging are clear and consistent.

Performance Benchmarking

• Benchmark annually against national best practices in industry engagement and contribute to the national industry engagement discussion.

• Annually assess and report progress and challenges against the Corporate Engagement Strategy and work with stakeholders to update the Strategy for the coming year(s).