Ian McClure

Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Impact

Ian McClure is the Associate Vice President for Research (AVPR), Innovation and Economic Impact and Executive Director of UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky (UK), where he leads efforts to translate UK discoveries for the public good, seek equitable returns on UK intellectual property (IP), enhance UK’s investments in innovation, catalyze a culture and capacity for entrepreneurship, and expand industry and other collaborative research partnerships.  

Ian’s portfolio includes oversight of the Economic and Innovation Talent Development, Innovation Connect for industry partnership, Social Innovation and Technology Commercialization. As UK Office of Technology Commercialization’s executive director, he oversaw a team of 25+ staff managing the university’s IP, licensing and startup portfolios. Under his oversight, UK OTC increased its commercialization metrics by up to 400%. Ian is the past Chair of the Board of Directors for AUTM and a member of the Advisory Board of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, Launch Blue Accelerator, the Oak Ridge Innovation Institute and Level Set Capital. On August 1, 2024, Ian will join the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) as a board member. In 2023, Ian received an Expert appointment supporting the NSF’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnership (TIP). In 2022, he was appointed by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), with his appointment ending July 31, 2024. As an innovator, Ian is a principal investigator or co-investigator on five federal grants focused on tech-based economic development (NIH, NSF, & EDA).   

Ian began his career as a Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and IP transactions attorney at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP in Louisville. Following private practice, he helped build a startup company in Chicago, IPXI, that was the world’s first financial exchange for IP and technology rights, which he led through growth to 30+ full-time employees and three offices.  

Before returning to Kentucky, Ian was Vice President of IP Strategy for Black Stone IP (acquired by Houlihan Lokey), a boutique investment bank headquartered in San Francisco focused on IP-rich M&A and technology-driven transactions. In parallel, he teaches graduate courses on the Law & Business of IP Management at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Law. In addition, Ian has been named one of the World’s Leading IP Strategists by IAM Magazine for six years.