Appointment of Siobhan Dullea as Executive Director of Innovate@BU
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
This past fall, we launched a national search to identify a new executive director of Innovate@BU, Boston University’s state-of-the-art laboratory and training ground on the Charles River Campus for future entrepreneurs. After a competitive process that considered several top-notch business and academic sector candidates, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Siobhan Dullea as Innovate@BU’s next executive director, effective April 3.
A nationally respected business innovator and executive leader, Siobhan brings over three decades of private industry success to BU, mentoring and supporting startups, managing client services, and working collaboratively to grow and scale organizations through periods of significant change. She most recently served as president and CEO of MassChallenge, a Boston-based global network of zero-equity startup accelerators that since 2009 has connected over 4,000 rising innovator-entrepreneurs with more than $9 billion in funding – businesses that have, in turn, created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Siobhan drove significant growth and change at MassChallenge, building transformative new partnerships with private funders, dramatically streamlining its administrative structure, and successfully steering the organization and its start-ups through the pandemic-era shift to virtual work and services. Siobhan was named a Boston Magazine “Visionary on the Rise” in 2019 and in 2021 was named to the FCW Fed 100, the most prestigious award in federal information technology. In addition to MassChallenge, she has held executive roles at consumer product innovator The Grommet and global business consultancy C Space. She is a BU graduate (CAS ’91), has engaged extensively as a business leader in innovation programs across numerous area universities including Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, and is a founding team member of Mass FinTech Hub, a public-private partnership fostering financial technology growth across the Commonwealth. She is a board member of Women in SportsTech and a founding member of Wage Equity Now.
Through extensive conversations with Siobhan and our search committee about her background, educational philosophy, and ideas for further growing Innovate@BU and its IDG BUild Lab Student Innovation Center as a campus hub for entrepreneurial activity, it was clear from the outset that her energy, deep industry knowledge, and experience building business ecosystems and promoting a culture of innovation across large audiences were an ideal fit for this leadership role. We were also especially impressed by Siobhan’s track record and ongoing commitment to connecting aspiring entrepreneurs of all backgrounds and abilities – particularly from underrepresented groups – with business leaders and supporting their work to translate ideas into tomorrow’s business and societal solutions. Siobhan will begin her new role at Innovate@BU on April 3, and I hope that you’ll join me in congratulating and welcoming her to BU.
I’d like to give special thanks to Ian Mashiter, master lecturer of strategy and innovation in the Questrom School of Business, who has led Innovate@BU as interim executive director since April 2022, for his excellent service through this period of transition. I would also like to thank the members of the Innovate@BU Executive Director Search Advisory Committee (listed below), including committee chair and College of Engineering Dean Kenneth Lutchen, for their time and exceptional diligence fielding a strong pool of candidates and completing a successful search. We are excited to bring Siobhan Dullea to Innovate@BU and for the important new opportunities her arrival brings for collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurial growth at Boston University.
Innovate@BU Executive Director Search Advisory Committee
Chair:
Kenneth Lutchen, Dean and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Members:
Eric Jarvis, Associate Director, BU Hub
Diane Joseph-McCarthy, Executive Director, Bioengineering Technology & Entrepreneurship Center; Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Jodi Luber, Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Actions; Associate Professor of the Practice of Film & Television, College of Communication
Ian Mashiter, Interim Executive Director, Innovate@BU; Master Lecturer of Strategy & Innovation, Questrom School of Business
Michael Pratt, Managing Director, Technology Development
Gregory Stoller, Senior Lecturer of Strategy and Innovation, Questrom School of Business
Staff Liaison:
Megan Funaro, Assistant Provost for Operations
Appointment of Siobhan Dullea as Executive Director of Innovate@BU – 3.15.23