Heath Naquin is the senior global and government liaison officer at VentureWell. He works on the identification and development of new opportunities and initiatives to support our strategic program goals, with a particular focus on our global and federal funders and partners. As part of this role, he leads the Global Innovation in Science and Technology (GIST) initiative on behalf of the U.S. Department of State and advises the National Science Foundation’s Industry & University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program. Prior to joining VentureWell, Heath spent nearly 20 years working in the global startup, innovation, and entrepreneurship field. Most recently, he was Executive Director for the Southwest I-Corps Node at the University of Texas at Austin. Heath holds a BBA from St. Edwards University, an MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin, is a Certified NSF I-Corps instructor and maintains a PMP designation.