Maha Krishnamurthy Named President of the UT Research Foundation

Randy Boyd, president of the University of Tennessee System, announced the appointment of Maha Krishnamurthy as president of the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF), pending approval by the UTRF board.

Krishnamurthy has served as interim president since October 2022.

“Maha’s leadership during her time as interim president has been exceptional,” Boyd said. “I appreciate her service to the university, and I look forward to continuing to work with her to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem at UT in this permanent role.”

Krishnamurthy joined UTRF as a licensing associate in 2011 before being named assistant vice president of licensing in 2014. She was named vice president for UTRF in 2018. In that role, she led technology transfer efforts aimed at growing and promoting innovation and commercialization as a part of the University of Tennessee’s research mission. She also has served as president and chief executive officer of TennEra LLC, a subsidiary of UTRF. Prior to joining UTRF, she served as a technology transfer consultant, providing commercialization strategy recommendations and marketing support for several NASA and Oak Ridge National Lab technologies and a physics research associate at UT Knoxville.

“I am honored to serve UTRF in this role, and I look forward to working with system and campus leadership to build a stronger innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Krishnamurthy said.

Krishnamurthy holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Xavier College in India, a master’s in business administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Ph.D. in physics from Colorado State University.

The president serves as the chief executive officer of UTRF. UTRF is a board-managed, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that promotes the transfer and commercialization of UT intellectual property, encourages an entrepreneurial culture, contributes to state and regional economic development, and promotes research and education to benefit the people of Tennessee and beyond. While UTRF is a separate entity from UT, it provides assistance and resources to the research activities of faculty, staff, and students at all campuses and institutes across the UT System. For more information on UTRF, visit https://utrf.tennessee.edu.