Ryan Sharp to Serve as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Business Engagement

To: UC Santa Cruz Community 

From: Vice Chancellor for University Relations Mark Delos Reyes Davis and interim Vice Chancellor for Research John MacMillan

Following a nationwide recruitment, we are excited to announce that Ryan Sharp has accepted an offer to serve as our campus’s first assistant vice chancellor for Innovation and Business Engagement. He starts Nov. 15. 

For the past six years, Sharp has worked in UC Davis’s Venture Catalyst unit, which focuses on supporting faculty, students, staff, alumni, and technology licensees in launching and growing new startups based on translational research, intellectual property, and innovative ideas developed at the university. He joined the university in 2015 as the associate director for economic engagement and took on new roles as the unit’s senior associate director in April 2020 and director in May 2021. Because he was hired shortly after the unit was formed, he helped to develop, implement, and manage most of the unit’s core innovation and entrepreneurship programs and partnerships. As part of the senior leadership team within UC Davis Innovation & Technology Commercialization, Sharp also worked closely with the technology transfer team, InnovationAccess, with the goal of translating innovative research into successful commercial impact.

Sharp brings a skill set and leadership experience that will immediately help to further advance our efforts in innovation, entrepreneurship, and business engagement. He will lead the Innovation and Business Engagement Hub (The Hub), which will help support the campus community in bringing to market cutting-edge research and ideas from faculty, students and innovators, expanding corporate philanthropy and partnerships, creating more career pathways for students, and supporting a thriving regional economy.

Sharp earned a master’s degree in international affairs from CSU, Sacramento, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from UC Davis. He also holds a graduate certificate in collaborative governance from CSU, Sacramento, and the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) designation from the International Economic Development Council. 

We like to thank the search committee for its work in reviewing candidates and yielding a terrific set of finalists.