Adam Stoten (pictured), current head of technology transfer life sciences at Oxford University Innovation (OUI), the tech transfer office of Oxford University, has been promoted to chief operating officer from April 1.
Stoten will replace Linda Naylor, currently OUI’s managing director who is retiring. The position of chief operating officer has been newly created and will replace the managing director position.
Stoten joined OUI in 2005 as a project manager. In 2010, he joined the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium, a joint venture between the university and Emergent BioSolutions that undertook a first ever efficacy study of a new tuberculosis vaccine in infants.
In 2013, Stoten returned to OUI to lead the TTO’s life sciences commercialisation activities. Stoten has been involved with initiatives such as Lab282, the $16m biomedical research commercialisation partnership established in November 2016.
Linda Naylor, who joined OUI in 2002, will retire at the end of April. During her time with the tech transfer office, she oversaw the creation of more than 100 spinouts and more than 1,000 licensing agreements.
GUV recently spoke to Linda Naylor about her time at OUI and will publish the interview in next Monday’s newsletter as well as on our website. An interview with Adam Stoten will follow in April as part of a multi-series in-depth look at the Oxford innovation ecosystem.
Stoten said: “Having witnessed the rapidly accelerating culture of innovation within Oxford University and the investment in support available to its world-leading academics, I believe that OUI has an unprecedented opportunity to translate Oxford intellectual property and expertise into new products and services that will have a positive impact on society.
“It is a privilege to be leading tremendously talented teams within OUI and I am looking forward to working closely with our new CEO to take OUI into its next chapter.”
Linda Naylor said: “Although I am stepping down to pursue activities outside of technology transfer, I know that I leave behind a dedicated team at OUI who are passionate about supporting researchers of all disciplines in translating their ideas into real world impact.
“Looking ahead, I will be keeping an eye out for opportunities where I can continue to use experience gained over many years.”
Matt Perkins, chief executive at Oxford University Innovation, said: “Linda’s legacy at OUI is she transformed OUI into one of the world’s leading research commercialisation offices. This changing of the guard comes with the company in its strongest position yet, and I look forward to working closely with Adam to build on Linda’s contribution.”
– Image of Adam Stoten courtesy of Oxford University Innovation
