Kelly Sexton, PhD
Associate Vice President, Research and Innovation Partnerships
University of Michigan
Former Co-Chair, AUTM Eastern Regional Meeting Committee
AUTM Member since 2006
Who would play you in a movie about your life?
I don’t know, but I’d love to have David Sedaris write the screenplay.

How would you describe your job in a presentation to a college class?
We help faculty take their research and connect it with society through patenting, licensing and startup company formation. 

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?
I wish that I was fluent in another language or two.  I’d start with Spanish and go from there.

What’s your idea of a perfect day?
An early morning run followed by spending time with my husband, three boys, and golden retriever. A wonderful dinner at home and ending the day by reading a good book in front of the fireplace. 

What are/were the best (or favorite) perks you’ve received at a job?
When I was in graduate school at the University of California, San Diego, my university-subsidized grad student apartment had an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean. 

What makes a great leader?
Being a leader is an enormous responsibility - people are trusting you to support their careers and help them establish economic success for themselves and their families. We must approach this with the utmost seriousness and a growth mindset. I think that you can’t be a great leader unless you’re truly interested in helping others advance in their careers. 

What led you to a career in tech transfer?
While I was a postdoc at Stanford I became interested in exploring “alternative careers for scientists” and had the good fortune to learn about the field of tech transfer. I was able to convince Gregg Kyle at the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing to take me on as an intern at the conclusion of my postdoctoral fellowship. I knew from day one that this was the career for me. Writing marketing abstracts, eventually reviewing redlines of Material Transfer Agreements, and sitting in on inventor meetings and license negotiations - I loved it.  I’ve always been so grateful to the team at Stanford OTL for this opportunity and it’s why I think paid internships and fellowships are so important.

What’s one AUTM course you’d recommend more tech transfer pros take?
I’m a big believer that operations and compliance are core to our success, and I think anyone who aspires to be a tech transfer leader should become very familiar with the complexity of these “back-office” functions. You cannot have a successful office without outstanding patent docketing, strong data integrity, a robust compliance program, and a transparent and scalable royalty distribution practice. Establishing strong practices in these areas typically won’t make it into your annual report but getting these foundational aspects right will drastically increase the productivity of your entire team.

Where do you see tech transfer five years from now?
I think that in five years we will spend even more time supporting startup growth and launch and creating new research alliances and corporate consortiums. In five years I hope that we will have developed new licensing models for the physical sciences and for software to help move more of our innovations into practice.  Also, I hope that Tech Transfer professionals have additional translational research funds that they can access to advance their most promising portfolio projects.