Contact Staff
UM Ventures is a team of professionals with expertise in all aspects of technology transfer, including basic science, intellectual property development and management, technology marketing, and license strategy and negotiation.
Leadership
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James L. Hughes
Senior Vice President and Chief Enterprise and Economic Development Officer, University of Maryland, Baltimore
410-706-1935
Jim Hughes is the Senior Vice President and Chief Enterprise and Economic Development Officer for the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). He is responsible for UMB’s Office of Research and Development, the chief administrative unit and catalyst for advancing research, technology commercialization and economic development at UMB. Mr. Hughes serves as president of the University of Maryland Health Sciences Research Park Corporation, the management operation for the 14-acre University of Maryland BioPark.Prior to joining UMB in 2001, Mr. Hughes worked for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) for six years, most recently as Director of Technology and International Business. Before working at DBED, he was Executive Director of the World Trade Center Institute, a public-private partnership dedicated to expanding international trade and investment.Mr. Hughes is a director of several not-for-profit corporations, including Lexington Market, Maryland Global Initiatives Corporation, the Maryland-Israel Development Center, and the University of Maryland BioPark. Mr. Hughes has an MBA from the Columbia Business School and a BA from Davidson College. -
Dean Chang, PhD
Interim Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development, University of Maryland, College Park
301-314-8121
Dr. Dean Chang is currently Interim Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development in the Division of Research at the University of Maryland. In this capacity, he oversees the innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and technology commercialization enterprise at the University of Maryland, including UM Ventures and the Discovery District, providing support for inventors, entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses.
Between 2013-2022, Dr. Chang served as the founding Associate Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the University of Maryland's Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (AIE), reporting to the President and the Provost. In this role, he has been tasked with engaging all 41,000 UMD students in all 12 colleges and schools in innovation. Before leading the AIE, Dr. Chang oversaw the Clark School of Engineering technology startup venture programs. He is also the lead PI and instructor for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) I-Corps Hub program. He has also served as a lead instructor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) IDEA Lab Ignite innovation program, and an instructor and a coach in the Stanford Teaching and Learning Studio.
Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Dr. Chang spent 15 years in Silicon Valley, serving dual roles as the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Gaming Business of Immersion Corporation. He helped transform the venture-backed spinout of the Stanford University robotics lab into a publicly traded (NASDAQ: IMMR), world-leading licensor of haptics technology embedded in hundreds of millions of products from companies like Sony, Microsoft, Apple, BMW, Samsung, CAE, LG, Logitech, and Electronic Arts. As Vice President, Gaming Business, he was responsible for maximizing revenue from licensing Immersion's patent portfolio to the video game industry. Dr. Chang was also part of the executive road show team that successfully raised $51 million in the company's initial public stock offering.
Dr. Chang earned a B.A. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.