Malcolm S. Townes, PhD, MBA

Dr. Malcolm Townes serves as Innovation Fund Manager in the Office of Technology Management (OTM) at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). In this role, he oversees the WashU Gap Fund, which provides funding for translational work on promising medical (non-drug), engineering, and physical science technologies to increase the chances of attracting the necessary industry partners to commercialize them. Dr. Townes has worked in the field of technology transfer for 16 years. Prior to joining WashU, he was associate director for technology commercialization at Saint Louis University. Before that, he was associate director for the office of technology transfer and economic development at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). Earlier in his career, Dr. Townes served in various product management roles and had profit and loss responsibility for products with as much as $50 million in revenues. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri S&T. He obtained a Master of Business Administration with concentrations in entrepreneurship and marketing from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He earned his Ph.D. in Public and Social Policy, with a focus in technology transfer policy, from Saint Louis University.