Ms. Rucker began her work July 9, 2018 as UEL’s first full-time Executive Director in over 10 years. “As UEL continues to grow and contribute to Minnesota’s economy, the Board is very excited for Diane to lead us into our next stage.” said Steve Mertens, UEL Board Chairman.
Diane is responsible for all aspect’s of UEL’s operations, working especially with UEL’s early-stage life-science and biotechnology resident companies to create partnerships to help them grow. This includes marshaling small business resources, shared resources, space management, financing and connections to global innovation systems.
Diane has extensive experience in business strategy and growth, having held leadership roles in innovation, engineering design, product management, and technology transfer. Her experience includes a collaboration with MIT’s Trust Center for Entrepreneurship and broad-based research and business experience around the world, including Europe and the Middle East.
“The Twin Cities’ entrepreneurial ecosystem for the bioscience and health technology industries is one of the most vibrant and successful clusters in the world,” states Ms. Rucker. “UEL is well-positioned to be a center of innovation for this cluster and to attract entrepreneurs and companies looking for the necessary support to succeed. I look forward to developing partnerships that will accelerate our growth and our contribution to our thriving economy.”
Rucker has an Executive MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She most recently served as the VP of Client Services for Carrot Health. Previously, she held senior positions with Seagate and General Motors.
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