University of Georgia appoints Executive Director for its Innovation District
Industry veteran, entrepreneur, and UGA team member Chris Rhodes assumes the new role November 1.
The University of Georgia (UGA) is accelerating its commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship with the appointment of an Executive Director to lead its growing Innovation District. J. Chris Rhodes, Director of Industry Partnerships and Project-based Learning in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will begin leading the campus-wide initiative on November 1.
Prior to joining UGA, Rhodes served as Director of Global Business Development and Open Innovation in the crop cycle division of AGCO Corporation, a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural solutions. Earlier, he fulfilled a variety of management assignments at John Deere Inc., including leading strategic planning efforts in the company’s Latin America market and coordinating global strategic planning and change management activities for the company’s agriculture division.
Rhodes earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. While a student at Duke, he co-founded Precision Biosciences, a company that employs novel genome editing technology to develop new medicines designed to treat hard-to-cure illnesses including rare genetic diseases. The Durham, NC company underwent an initial public offering in 2019 and is listed on NASDAQ.
Launched by UGA President Jere W. Morehead in 2018, the Innovation District aims to catalyze entrepreneurship and innovation by providing UGA stakeholders with essential resources to commercialize discoveries and ideas. Located at the intersection of UGA’s North Campus and downtown Athens, the Innovation District integrates campus programs offering entrepreneurship coaching and mentorship, accelerator services for early-stage business ideas, training and tools for small businesses, pitch decks, and co-working spaces, offices for start-ups, and community-building activities for entrepreneurs.
As part of the Innovation District initiative, the university launched Studio 225 in 2019, providing a new home for UGA’s Student Entrepreneurship program and co-working spaces for student start-ups. Additional units devoted to commercialization and business support relocated to the district in 2020, and in 2021 the university dedicated the Delta Innovation Hub, the home of UGA’s faculty start-up program.
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