Jaci is Head of Consulting Services at Oxford University Innovation and was previously Head of Research Commercialisation and Investment at the University of Bristol. She has over 15 years’ experience in research commercialisation and technology transfer. She was previously President of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), was on the Council of the Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP), and was Chair of ATTP’s Course Review Committee.
She has an undergraduate and master’s degree (by research) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa and an MBA (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria. After starting her career in industry, she moved to a contract research organisation and, in 2005, joined the commercialisation company of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg as Chief Operations Officer. In 2007, she moved to Nelson Mandela University and established the Innovation Office, where she was Director for ten years. In that role she was responsible for contract research, innovation and commercialisation, and also established a business incubator and a regional innovation forum. Jaci has experience in both non-executive and executive roles on the boards of start-up companies in both the United Kingdom and South Africa.