NCInnovation Names Michelle Bolas President and CEO Following National Search
By Michelle Fiscus, Senior VP & Chief Communications Officer
The NCInnovation Board of Directors unanimously appointed Michelle Bolas President and Chief Executive Officer following a national search that attracted high-quality candidates from across the country.
Bolas has served as Acting President and CEO since December 2025, when the Board launched a formal search for the organization’s next leader. After a four-month national process, the Board selected Bolas for her deep understanding of NCInnovation’s model, her experience advancing research commercialization across North Carolina’s public universities, and her ability to steward the organization’s state endowment to deliver long-term economic impact.
“Michelle stood out in a search that brought forward exceptional candidates from across the nation,” said Kelly King, Chair of the NCInnovation Board of Directors. “She understands the purpose behind NCInnovation — to help more discoveries coming out of our public universities become companies, jobs, and economic opportunity across North Carolina. Just as importantly, she understands the responsibility that comes with stewarding the state’s endowment to achieve those outcomes. The Board has full confidence in her leadership as NCInnovation continues building a nationally significant model for research commercialization.”
Michelle Bolas said following her appointment, “What gives me the most confidence in where we’re headed is the strength of this team and the partnerships we’ve built across the state. We have a clear opportunity to demonstrate that the discoveries coming out of our public universities can translate into companies, jobs, and long-term economic value for North Carolina. That’s the work in front of us, and I’m committed to building on the foundation this team has already put in place.”
Leaders across North Carolina’s higher education and economic development community said Bolas’ appointment positions NCInnovation to continue expanding its impact statewide.
“At UNC Charlotte, we are deeply committed to expanding our research enterprise and strengthening a culture of innovation across campus,” said Sharon L. Gaber, Chancellor of UNC Charlotte. “Michelle is helping accelerate that momentum by advancing a model that creates clearer pathways for faculty discoveries to move beyond the university and into the marketplace. Partnerships like this help ensure the breakthroughs happening on our campus can deliver real benefits for communities across North Carolina.”
“Universities have a responsibility not only to generate new knowledge, but to ensure that knowledge benefits the communities we serve,” said Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., Chancellor of UNC Greensboro. “NCInnovation is creating new pathways for the work of our faculty to move beyond the campus and into real-world solutions that improve lives and strengthen North Carolina’s economy. Michelle understands the broader purpose of this work, and I’m confident her leadership will help expand the impact universities can have across our state.”
“North Carolina’s ability to attract and grow leading companies depends on the strength of our innovation ecosystem,” said Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC). “NCInnovation complements the work of EDPNC by helping more university discoveries move toward commercialization, which strengthens the technology clusters companies look for when deciding where to invest and expand. Under Michelle’s leadership, NCInnovation is well positioned to continue building that pipeline.”
Bolas joined NCInnovation in 2023 after more than a decade advancing innovation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of Innovate Carolina, leading the university’s innovation strategy and expanding efforts in technology commercialization, venture creation, and industry partnerships. She brings more than 25 years of experience advancing innovation across higher education, industry and government.
NCInnovation is a nonprofit public-private partnership based in Research Triangle Park that works to accelerate the commercialization of research discoveries from North Carolina’s public universities.
To date, NCInnovation has awarded more than $29 million in funding across 38 applied research and commercialization projects, representing 14 universities within the UNC System, helping promising technologies move closer to market and strengthening innovation-driven economic growth across the state.
About NCInnovation: NCInnovation, Inc. is a Research Triangle Park, NC-based 501(c)(3) public-private partnership designed to accelerate commercialized innovation from North Carolina’s research universities. Backed by more than $25 million in private philanthropic commitments, NCInnovation uses the interest and income from a $500 million State-funded endowment to provide non-dilutive grant funding, mentors, and support services so that North Carolina university proofs-of-concept return value to the regional communities that created them. Learn more at NCInnovation.org.