The University of Chicago has named the next leader of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Jay Schrankler, an entrepreneur and former leader at the University of Minnesota's technology commercialization office, was named associate vice president and head of the Polsky Center on Wednesday. He'll officially begin the job on Aug. 1.
Schrankler takes over for John Flavin, who left the university last year to become the CFO of Endotronix, a Lisle-based medical technology company.
Schrankler will oversee the Polsky Center, UChicago's tech and entrepreneurship hub that runs the school's New Venture Challenge startup competition. He'll be tasked with executing an innovation strategy that integrates entrepreneurship and scientific commercialization initiatives across UChicago, the university said. He'll also look for opportunities to partner with private- and public-sector organizations that want to collaborate with the school.
He'll also help launch new programs at UChicago's international campuses in Hong Kong, London, Paris, Delhi and beyond.
Prior to accepting the Polsky Center job, Schrankler was associate vice president of the office for technology commercialization at the University of Minnesota. During his leadership, the university spun out more than 130 startups that raised a combined $420 million to date. He is also the founder of Aero1217, an aviation tech accelerator in Minneapolis, and has also held leadership positions at Honeywell.
"The University’s great reputation, coupled with the longtime success of the Polsky Center, provide a tremendous opportunity for the future," Schrankler said in a statement. "I’m eager to get to work harnessing the Polsky Center’s existing momentum and scaling it to entirely new levels.”
