Dr. Assanis is the 28th President of the University of Delaware. He was elected to the position by the UD Board of Trustees and took office in June, 2016. Dr. Assanis is a distinguished educator, academic leader, scholar and expert in internal combustion engines and energy systems.
Members Categories: Board of Directores
Alexa Dembek, Ph.D.
Dr. Dembek joined DuPont in 1991 as a research chemist and currently is the Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer for DuPont. Over her career, Alexa has held a diverse set of roles that have included global business leadership and a broad range of end-to-end innovation experiences.
Jeff Bullock
Jeffrey W. Bullock was sworn in as Delaware’s 80th Secretary of State on January 21, 2009 and re-confirmed by the Delaware Senate on January 18, 2017. As Secretary of the most diverse department in state government overseeing nearly twenty different agencies.
Alexander Khutorsky
Alex is a Director at DuPont, where he works with the company’s many businesses to help develop and execute on portfolio strategies. Prior to joining DuPont in 2019, Alex was an investment banker and corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Over the course of his career, he has advised business leaders and entrepreneurs pursuing a diverse set of business models across a broad range of industries.
Julius Korley, Ph.D.
Julius N. Korley, Ph.D., is associate vice president for the University of Delaware’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships (OEIP). A unit of the Research Office, OEIP serves as the University’s gateway for connecting faculty innovators and entrepreneurs with potential collaborators outside UD for the benefit of society.
Korley is a businessperson, entrepreneur and scientist with expertise in several areas of biotechnology, including biomaterials, drugs, drug-delivery systems and medical device development. Korley is also a member of the national faculty for I-Corps at the National Institutes of Health.
Prior to UD, Dr. Korley served as the Associate Director of the Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). This position focused on translational medicine and the commercialization of laboratory technologies that address unmet or poorly met human healthcare needs. In this role, Dr. Korley oversaw more than 70 technologies leading to more $75M in follow-on funding, 13 licensed technologies, 11 startups and 16 technolgies in humans.
Dr. Korley also co-founded the biomedical engineering company Affinity Therapeutics and has successfully helped the company raise all non-dilutive funding to date. He has extensive experience in fundraising, business development, strategic partnering and licensing activities and was named Affinity’s inaugural President and CEO in August of 2015.
Prior to co-founding Affinity and joining CWRU, Dr. Korley first worked at Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA), a then startup. In October of 2020, Momenta was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Korley earned a Ph.D. at Cornell University and an MBA at the Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU.
Jon Sheehan
Jon currently serves at Chief of Policy and Senior Advisor to Governor John Carney. Prior to joining the Governor’s administration in 2017, Jon was a fifth grade teacher and served as Chief of Staff at the New York City Department of Education’s Division of Family and Community Engagement. Jon is a graduate of Wesleyan University and holds a Master’s Degree in Teaching from Fordham’s Graduate School of Education
William D. Provine, Ph.D.
Bill is the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Innovation Space in addition to a member of its Board of Directors. In this role, Bill oversees all operations and is responsible for its overall performance. Prior to joining the Innovation Space, Bill worked for DuPont where he led global operations for science and engineering encompassing DuPont’s open innovation practice that included oversight for DuPont’s innovation centers and regional laboratories around the world. He also has served in a variety of research, marketing, business development, joint venture, and manufacturing leadership roles in DuPont over the last 30 years. Bill is very active in cultivating and advancing science across sectors and has served on numerous private company, university, industrial, governmental, and scientific association advisory and management boards and committees. He currently serves on the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) supporting scientific research and advocacy; the Resolution Project, supporting social entrepreneurship; and the National Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship with US Department of Commerce, supporting creation of a national entrepreneurship strategy.