At the Lundquist College of Business, innovation has been a core value from our very earliest days. Most recently, this pioneering instinct has led to the creation of the Business Innovation Institute, the new framework for the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) and the Center for Sustainable Business Practices (CSBP). While each center remains a distinct entity, their alignment under the Business Innovation Institute will streamline operations, enabling both centers to strengthen connections to industry and to facilitate greater opportunities for student learning and faculty research. John Hull, who joined the college in August, is the institute's managing director and will serve as the main point of contact for organizations and individuals wishing to partner with the centers. CSBP and LCE's new program managers--Laura Strohm and Nathan Lillegard, respectively--will both report to Hull. Strohm and Lillegard will teach courses and also oversee MBA- and undergraduate-level experiential learning projects associated with their centers. With its pioneering mission and dynamic leadership, the Business Innovation Institute aims to expand the notion of innovation beyond new products to creating entirely new business models, reinventing relationships with suppliers and customers, and redefining the very nature of business success. "Oregon is on the cutting edge here," said Hull, "and with the creation of the Business Innovation Institute, the Lundquist College of Business has poised itself at the forefront of educating the professional work force that companies will need to outperform in a new competitive landscape." 

	John Hull, Managing Director, Business Innovation Institute John Hull comes to the college from Nike, Inc., where he served as the first partner at its Sustainable Business and Innovation Lab. Hull brings with him ten years of experience in venture capital as well as a multiyear post directing a $500 million corporate strategic equity fund for Intel.
	Nathan Lillegard, Program Manager, Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship Nathan Lillegard, MBA '06, is a graduate of the program he now manages. Lillegard cofounded Floragenex, a research services organization focused on genomics in all plant and animal species that got its start with the Technology Entrepreneurship Program.
	Laura Strohm, Program Manager, Center for Sustainable Business Practices Laura Strohm joins us from Monterey, California, where she was owner and principal of Strohm Sustainability Consulting. Strohm also served as executive director at The Sustainability Academy, a nonprofit organization that teaches sustainable business practices. She has previously held faculty positions at Indiana University and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.