Osage University Partners hires former Stanford Office of Technology Licensing associate director Kirsten Leute for university relations post.
Osage University Partners, the US-based university spinout investment consortium, has named Kirsten Leute as senior vice president of university relations.
Leute joins Osage from Stanford University where she previously held the post of associate director of the institution’s tech transfer unit, the Office of Technology Licensing, working under tech transfer veteran Katherine Ku. Over her 18 years at Stanford, Leute has been involved in numerous licensing transactions and has supported the launch of numerous spinouts.
Leute has also held positions with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the membership organisation for technology transfer professionals in the US and Canada. At present, she is AUTM’s vice president for membership, and was previously its vice president for communications.
Lou Berneman, founding partner at Osage, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Kirsten to Osage University Partners. Kirsten has a stellar reputation across the industry for her work, both at Stanford and AUTM. Kirsten joins us from a technology transfer office that many consider one of the leading models among research universities, and she brings a deep understanding of technology licensing best practices to our fund. She has also displayed an abiding commitment to nurturing talent and to promoting the role of women in entrepreneurship. Kirsten will now assume a leadership role in the development of Osage’s new relationships with domestic and international institutions. More importantly, Kirsten will spearhead the formation of an enhanced suite of Osage services that aim to help our partners identify and implement best practices from the variety of innovation ecosystems that we have observed at our partner institutions.”
