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Restructuring CURF 2022

From left to right: Chase Kasper, Pam West, Cindy Sauer, Andy Bluvas, Clarissa Austin, Mark Roth, Eden Wallace, Brittany Souto, Melissa Ioannidis, and Chris Gesswein.

The Clemson University Research Foundation (CURF) has a broad background and a wealth of experience in assisting faculty and graduate student researchers with protecting and commercializing intellectual property. To better serve you, CURF has made significant and exciting changes to the structure of the organization.  

Over the past few months, the CURF executive team has worked to craft and put in place a restructuring plan that supports the Clemson University research enterprise and effectively meets the needs of Clemson’s faculty and student inventors. The new structure of the organization envisions a continuation of the many core elements of CURF’s work to guide inventors through the technology transfer process, but also puts more focus on CURF’S efforts to connect the University to external opportunities for research collaboration.

The new team structure changes are as follows:

  • Chase Kasper, Senior Deputy Director: Chase manages the day-to-day business activities of technology transfer operations for CURF. He works closely with the Executive Director, supporting the leadership, guidance, and decision-making across all CURF initiatives, including the management of technology transfer, intellectual property, commercialization, corporate relationship development, communications, and economic development.
  • Andy Bluvas, Assistant Director of IP Management: Andy manages university technology disclosures and intellectual property (“IP”) capture and prosecution and is the primary contact for university stakeholders regarding intellectual property matters. He provides contractual support on non-financial terms and conditions in CURF agreements. 
  • Clarissa Austin, Assistant Director of Marketing, Business Development, and Branding: Clarissa oversees the development and implementation of the CURF marketing strategy, including but not limited to the marketing of university intellectual property (IP) for licensing and commercialization and the marketing of university research expertise to increase the profile of Clemson University's research enterprise.
  • Brittany Souto, Executive Assistant/Office Manager: Brittany supports the CURF Executive Director and is the recording secretary for the CURF Board. As CURF Office Manager, Brittany also manages day-to-day administrative duties related to personnel, space management, foundation operations, and serves a critical role as initial contact with CURF internal/external constituents.
  • Cindy Sauer, Contracts Manager: As the CURF Contracts Manager, Cindy is responsible for the administration and coordination of all non-financial post-transaction terms and conditions where CURF is a named party. Cindy also advises and provides support in both the pre- and post- transaction phases of contract development related to technology commercialization, sponsored research, and business development activities, specifically in contract compliance.
  • Melissa Ioannidis, Technology Commercialization Associate: Melissa supports the management of cases and ensures timely evaluation of new inventions.  She handles the docket of cases so that inventions go smoothly down the path to be patented.  She completes all the Federal reporting to ensure that Clemson University is in compliance.
  • Pamela West, Business Officer: As the Business Officer, Pam is responsible for the general accounting, payroll, procurement activities, and budget development & maintenance of the foundation, and is the CURF liaison to University and affiliated organization business offices.
  • Eden Wallace, Marketing Innovation Fellow: Eden supports the Assistant Director of Marketing, Business Development, and Branding with branding and marketing CURF and Clemson's intellectual property.
Vincie Albritton
Vincie Albritton will retire on September 30th after dedicating 23 years to Clemson University.

In addition to the above changes, CURF has hired a Business Development Associate who will be responsible for engaging external partners to identify, assess, evaluate, market, and license new technologies from Clemson’s research enterprise. The Business Development Associate will start on October 1st. Lastly, the former Deputy Director for CURF and Director of Finance & Operations for Technology Transfer, Vincie Albritton, will be retiring on September 30th after spending over twenty-three years at Clemson University. CURF would like to thank Vincie for all she has done to support the organization and wish her the best as she begins this new chapter.

For more information on the CURF team changes, click here.

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