Brian Thompson is Chief Innovation and Partnership Officer and leads UWM’s Office of Strategic Partnerships. He is responsible for partnerships with corporations, non-profit organizations, and other groups to enhance and uplift the academic enterprise, research accomplishments, and student experiences at UWM. In this role, he oversees key initiatives that include the Connected Systems Institute (CSI), Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI), Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin (FCW), and the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center (LEC). Thompson joined the UWM community in 2006 to help launch the UWM Research Foundation which he led through 2022. He also served as Director of the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center from 2016 to 2023 and is Co-PI on the Milwaukee I-Corps (Innovation Corps) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Thompson has taught new ventures as an adjunct instructor in the Lubar College of Business and the UWM Honors College. In previous roles, Mr. Thompson led the development and launch of communications satellites, worked in corporate ventures and helped create startups in biotechnology and the entertainment industry. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from UCLA.