Lisa McDonald Named Director of Texas Tech’s Accelerator Program

May 21, 2015

Lisa McDonald became director of the Kinetic Accelerator,
Innovated by Texas Tech in April. The accelerator program is
operated by the Office of Research Commercialization.

McDonald comes to Texas Tech from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was venture coordinator at EnterpriseWorks Chicago, the incubation arm of the university, where she worked to accelerate the commercialization of university research.

"I was especially interested in computer science and knew I wanted to be part of that world, but not as a coder," she said. "I was interested in launching new businesses and the excitement of new technology."

"We are excited to have Lisa join our team," said Robert Duncan, senior vice president of research at Texas Tech University. "It is our goal to engage our students and faculty in entrepreneurial activities that will in turn assist them in bringing their own, or other Texas Tech technologies into the marketplace."

McDonald, who was working in Chicago at the time, considered enrolling in a master of business administration program at Northwestern University, "But it wasn't quite what I wanted," she said. "I was searching for something more entrepreneurial and when I found that the University of Texas offered a master's in technology commercialization, I was elated and enrolled."

McDonald sees her new job as director of the Kinetic Accelerator, Innovated by Texas Tech, as an opportunity to give back to her home region and be closer to family.

"While I was working on my master's degree, I realized the rest of the state was fairly well developed when it comes to commercialization, but that is not the case in West Texas," McDonald said. "I started to research the intellectual property coming from the Texas Tech University System and saw that there is a real need to bring that research to market in a way that would bolster the local economy."

The accelerator program provides entrepreneurs with the knowledge to launch startup businesses based on Texas Tech technologies. The four-month program uses a curriculum based on the Lean Startup Methodology. The participants are selected through a competitive application process. The teams of students and entrepreneurs work alongside inventors and mentors to launch a new venture based on current Texas Tech technologies. The program begins in January and culminates in May with a presentation at Demo Day to an audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, and business leaders.

While McDonald is new to the position, she's working on a vision to expand the accelerator process. "The first part of the process brings the teams to Demo Day, but what happens next?" she asks. "We can't let all that work and enthusiasm diminish after the accelerator ends, we must create a support network around our accelerator teams."

McDonald also is working on plans to bring more applicants, especially students, into the accelerator. She is also working on ways bring more faculty who would like to learn to pitch their technology to entrepreneurs and industry experts into the accelerator program.

Before joining the University of Illinois at Chicago, McDonald was a partner in C3 Biotech Consulting Group in Austin and was a consultant and commercialization strategist in both Chicago and Austin.