Entrepreneur Richardson to head UH technology transfer and commercialization office

Local venture capitalist and entrepreneur William K. (Bill) Richardson has been named as interim director of the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development (OTTED), effective December 1, 2014.

In his new role, Richardson will lead a department that will work closely with the University of Hawaiʻi’s recently launched XLR8UH proof-of-concept center to help program cohorts to fully exploit their UH-owned technologies commercially. OTTED is also responsible for the marketing, licensing and protection of UH intellectual property and the creation of new opportunities for collaboration between UH faculty and industry partners.

“It’s a very exciting time to be at the University of Hawaiʻi to help grow the commercialization area of its research arm,” said Richardson. “I look forward to sharing my passion, knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship to help UH faculty to become successful entrepreneurs themselves.”

Richardson founded and built a series of venture funds that invested in 17 Hawaiʻi-based companies, including two that went public on the NASDAQ exchange. Prior to venture funding, Richardson worked as an attorney in Hawaiʻi specializing in commercial law and finance after a nine-year career at Wang Laboratories.

Since 2002, Richardson has served as an adjunct professor at the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business and as a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the William S. Richardson School of Law. He is an advisory board member of the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the Shidler College of Business, a University of Hawaiʻi Foundation trustee and is a founder and current board member of HiBEAM, a locally based virtual incubator. A double major in economics and sociology at UC Santa Barbara, Richardson received his bachelor’s degree with honors in 1978 and was awarded his juris doctorate from the Duke University School of Law in 1981.

“We are extremely pleased to have someone like Bill Richardson on board to help lead OTTED in our efforts to create a more vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem through the aggressive commercialization of our IP,” said UH Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis L. Syrmos. “With his impressive credentials, extensive industry contacts and a wealth of entrepreneurial experience and knowledge, we expect OTTED to be a major contributor to the success of the Hawaiʻi Innovation Initiative.”