University Venture Development Fund

Leadership Team

Rich Linton

Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies

Rich joined the UO in 2000 and oversees a research enterprise that has experienced a 67 percent increase in competitively awarded grant dollars between 2001 and 2006. The UO’s tenure-track faculty now ranks among the nation’s best in sponsored funding and technology transfer activities on a per capita basis.

Rich has provided leadership in developing and coordinating interdisciplinary and collaborative research programs, most notably the Brain, Biology and Machine Initiative (BBMI) and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI). He has administrative responsibility for UO’s 30 interdisciplinary research centers and institutes and the Riverfront Research Park. In addition, he serves on a variety of boards that focus on expanding the impact of Oregon’s R&D infrastructure on local and regional economic development.

Prior to joining the UO, Rich was chief research officer for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, and professor of chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill. In his administrative roles for UNC, Rich contributed to the development of North Carolina's "Research Triangle" involving government-industry-university partnership for technology-based economic development.

Randy Swangard

Managing Director, Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship and Charles H. Lundquist Distinguished Entrepreneur

Under Randy’s leadership, the UO’s acclaimed New Venture Championship (NVC) has emerged as one of the world’s top business plan competitions. Randy directs the university’s Technology Entrepreneurship Program, which focuses on commercialization of newly patented technologies developed at the University of Oregon. A consultant to private and public companies throughout the Northwest, Randy has participated in a number of start-up and ongoing companies as an owner, investor, or adviser.

Donald A. Upson

New Venture Planning Coordinator/Technology Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator

In addition to coordinating the UO’s Technology Entrepreneurship Program, Don is the Office of Technology Transfer's Operations Liaison with the UO Venture Development Fund. At Oregon since January 2004, he has co-taught the New Venture Planning and Venture Launch courses at the UO’s Lundquist College of Business. A Ph.D. chemist, Don retired from the chemical industry in 2002 after 27 years in technology management positions at Eastman Kodak and Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, and executive positions at Molecular Probes (now Invitrogen) and The Willamette Valley Company. In 2005, he co-founded Land Savvy, Inc. He also serves as a consultant to several companies and the American Chemical Society.

Don Gerhart

Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation and Director, Office of Technology Transfer

Don has more than twenty years of R&D experience at the interface of academia and industry. Under his leadership, the UO’s technology transfer programs have expanded dramatically, with innovation-derived income rising steadily to a record $4.31 million in FY2006. That’s an increase of 1,280 percent since 2000–1, and the highest revenue level ever achieved by an Oregon technology transfer program. Previously, Don led research teams and assessed intellectual property for a pharmaceutical development company headquartered in Durham. Earlier in his career he was as associate director of technology transfer at North Carolina State, and as a faculty member at the Duke University Marine Laboratory where he earned six U.S. patents.

Chuck Williams

Associate Director, Office of Technology Transfer

The newest member of the UO’s tech transfer leadership team, Chuck managed the Digital Ventures licensing office at the University of Washington for close to 5 years, with licensing revenues exceeding $4 million in 2006 and multiple startup companies launched during his tenure. He holds two bachelor’s degrees (molecular biology and botany), a master’s in biology, and a Ph.D. in botany in addition to his juris doctorate.