SPIRIT OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
by Derek Helms
photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

As a young professional, Julie Goonewardene never imagined being an entrepreneur.

"I always thought entrepreneurs were crazy," Goonewardene says with a laugh. "Really. I never understood why someone would take on all that risk and stress with no guarantee of a return. No thanks."

Well, her opinion has changed. As the new Associate Vice Chancellor Innovation and Entrepreneurship and President of The Center for Technology Commercialization at University of Kansas (KU), Goonewardene is charged with helping faculty at KU capitalize on their research.

Julie Goonewardene"This is the greatest job in the world," Goonewardene said. "I spend my time helping absolutely brilliant people take their complex and sometimes a bit abstract ideas and turn them into a marketable product or service. Really, it’s completely fascinating."

Prior to coming to KU in January, Goonewardene established herself as a major player in the world of academic entrepreneurship. As the Director of Business Development at Purdue University, Goonewardene was at the helm of the Purdue Research Park, the largest university-affiliated research park in the United States. A study compiled by Thomas P. Miller and Associates of Indianapolis and released in June estimates the Purdue Research Park provides an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion to Indiana’s economy.

Wally Meyer, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at KU, said the business school is thrilled to have Julie on board.

"You can’t work in the academic and entrepreneurship arena and not know what Julie helped accomplished at Purdue," Meyer said. "The research park at Purdue is absolutely an example of what is possible, and I know Julie played a major role in its success. To have her working on behalf of our researchers and faculty is absolutely something from which Lawrence, KU and the state of Kansas will benefit."

At Purdue, she created a philanthropic venture capital investment fund, handled faculty entrepreneurial programs and worked closely with Purdue-based startup companies. Previously, she spent more than 20 years in the private sector, including six years as founder, CEO and president of Cantilever Technologies, which was purchased by i360technologies Inc.

Goonewardene’s consulting expertise is born from more than one successful stint as an entrepreneur. After ushering start-ups to successful public offerings, it became clear to Goonewardene that maybe she was a little bit crazy too.

"I learned that I really like to create things," Goonewardene said. "The process of taking an idea, putting in the work to make it a marketable product, and then being successful is thrilling. I thrive in the collaborative spirit that is essential for a new company to be lucrative."

A collaborative spirit is exactly what she is trying to build on Mount Oread. Goonewardene’s major function is to, for lack of a better tern, hold the hands of KU faculty looking to capitalize on their research.

"There is no end to the things I try to do to help," Goonewardene said. "This campus is bursting with brilliant people. Professors have already come to me with phenomenal ideas. Some of them are well along the way, and my office is needed only as a small guiding voice. Others are much less developed. It’s my job to guide that idea, find investors, determine marketability and help with a business plan."

Wally Meyer said Goonewardene’s influence has already been felt on campus, not just by faculty members. "Specifically, Julie’s work with a possible start-up on campus has provided KU students with opportunities to learn needed business skills," Meyer said. "Because of her help with the company, our students are working on market research that is essential for any entrepreneur. They are actively doing the work they are in school to study." Goonewardene is clearly excited about the possibilities.

"The campus is at an inflection point," Goonewardene said. "That’s one of the reasons I am so excited to be here. There are so many inspiring people on this campus, I’m thrilled to work with them. Yes, these are challenging times for all universities. But I’m a huge believer in the social sciences and our faculty are doing truly noble work."

As Goonewardene and family settle in Lawrence, she has noticed an unnecessary amount of humility. KU as a university and Lawrence as a city need to stick out their chest. Both are, according to Goonewardene, absolutely fantastic.

"Kansans tend to be modest," Goonewardene said. "But KU needs to be a bit more willing to brag about its outstanding infrastructure, assets and capabilities. This university has a lot to offer in terms of economic development, and we’ve seen plenty of examples of that recently. Given the state and nation’s economic challenges, KU has an important role in creating an educated workforce and engaging in research and innovation that creates jobs and grows the economy," Goonewardene said. "That’s what we’ve been doing. And I believe the best is yet to come."

Share.

72 Comments

  1. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who was doing a little research on this. And he in fact bought me lunch due to the fact that I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this matter here on your website.

  2. I needed to thank you for this fantastic read!! I certainly loved every little bit of it. I have got you book-marked to look at new stuff you post…

  3. You have made some really good points there. I checked on the internet for more info about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this website.

  4. Thanks for your article. It is extremely unfortunate that over the last several years, the travel industry has already been able to to tackle terrorism, SARS, tsunamis, influenza, swine flu, and the first ever entire global economic downturn. Through it all the industry has proven to be sturdy, resilient as well as dynamic, acquiring new ways to deal with trouble. There are generally fresh problems and chance to which the industry must again adapt and behave.

  5. A motivating discussion is definitely worth comment. I think that you ought to write more about this topic, it may not be a taboo subject but generally people don’t discuss such topics. To the next! Best wishes.

  6. Bridal attire: Tamil brides are normally spotted carrying a 9-yard or a six-yard Kanjivaram saree in vibrant hues with contrasting borders that have exquisite patterns woven in golden threads as their wedding ceremony outfits.

  7. Giorgio Armani chose to deal with the invasion of Ukraine throughout his runway by refusing to play music whereas the model donning his wares strutted down the catwalk, changing into the primary designer to make a statement.

  8. As we speak, in this article, we are going to put together the highest 20 travel agency websites in the world however earlier than that allow us to have a have a look at the benefits of traveling for Umrah with Muslims Holy Travel.

  9. The natural salt lick attracted animals, which in flip attracted Native American hunters with whom the French could trade, and the area became referred to as “French Lick.” This identical portion of Nashville would later be often known as Sulphur Spring Bottom and Sulphur Dell.

  10. Moreover, so as to increase awareness and make the event successful, green and organic meals will be included within the menu, the audience could be concerned in inexperienced games and items like small plants may be gifted to the audience members.

  11. Thanks for the concepts you are sharing on this web site. Another thing I’d prefer to say is that often getting hold of duplicates of your credit rating in order to look at accuracy of any detail is the first motion you have to conduct in credit repair. You are looking to clean your credit reports from damaging details errors that spoil your credit score.

  12. While Crimson is the preferred shade for performing any Pooja and for the married ladies in major occasions, multicolored dresses equivalent to long Kurtis, Anarkali, gowns, and Maxi dresses are in and anyone pairing them with good equipment can dazzle the gang.

  13. There are wedding ceremony decorators Bangalore out there who consider in planning the wedding with ease and within the specified price range, these professional are very inventive and doesn’t go away a stone unturned to make the wedding a profitable event.

  14. Earlier than 1972, Pussade and Posade Forsthaus belonged to the municipality of Harlingen, Dötzingen Manor, Hagen Manor, Marwedel, Meudelfitz Manor, Meudelfitz and Sarchem to the city of Hitzacker and Leitstade to Wietzetze.

  15. A 2014 study executed for the aquarium by the University of Tennessee Middle for Sustainable Business and Growth concluded that its annual financial influence is an estimated $101.Three million and over a thousand jobs overall.

Leave A Reply

Contact to Listing Owner

Captcha Code