Dr. Tim Faley became interim dean of the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development in March 2023. He is also associate vice provost for innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization, a role he has held since November 2022, to advance a culture of technology commercialization and practice throughout the university.
In both roles, Faley’s priority is to help build an entrepreneurial campus culture. Based on his experience in both industry and academia, Faley believes that being entrepreneurial is a mindset — not necessarily a track record of starting companies.
Faley’s industry work spans development of new products and businesses, technology licensing, and corporate venture capital. At Dow, Faley was a founding member and CFO of the technology licensing business unit and was a member of the company’s corporate venture capital team.
Academically, he’s been a professor of chemical engineering and business and led development of several innovation education programs. In addition to serving on the faculty of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Faley was the architect and builder of that university’s entrepreneurship program. Under his leadership, it was ranked the top graduate entrepreneurship program in the U.S. by the Princeton Review in 2013.
Faley has authored three books on innovation and entrepreneurship, two of which are published by Cambridge University Press.