Industry Engagement

Mark serves as the associate vice chancellor where he oversees NC State’s strategy for engaging with corporate, government and nonprofit partners, including the 75 partnerships on Centennial Campus. He is also chair of the Conservation Technology Information Center. Previously, Mark held a 22-year career at John Deere, where he oversaw the company’s university partnerships strategy, as well as a diverse range of external public and private stakeholder relationships and partnerships. Mark earned Bachelor of Science degrees in landscape architecture and agronomy from Purdue University, a Master of Science in agronomy from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in crop science from the University of Illinois. Little known fact – he holds twelve patents relating to intelligent and autonomous vehicles and machine systems. 

Since 2007, Anthony M. Boccanfuso has led UIDP (uidp.org), a solutions-oriented membership organization comprised of top-tier innovation companies and world-class research universities. UIDP supports mutually beneficial collaborations by developing and disseminating strategies for addressing common issues between the sectors—academic, corporate, and government. Its activities help members achieve meaningful impact on a broad array of collaboration matters, ranging from contracting to commercialization and workforce development.

After completing his doctorate in inorganic chemistry, Boccanfuso embarked on a career spanning more than 30 years with a focus on research and innovation. He managed a variety of administrative, programmatic, and strategy initiatives for academic, government, and private sector organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

More recently, Boccanfuso was part of a team selected to create and manage the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA, ervacommunity.org), an NSF-funded initiative with a mission to identify and develop new engineering research directions and catalyze high-impact research that benefits society.

Tony’s wife, Dr. Laura Boccanfuso, is a successful roboticist and entrepreneur who founded Van Robotics, an ed tech company.  They have three children and reside in Columbia, SC.

Keisha has accumulated nearly 15 years experience working with industry through business and workforce development.  Keisha leads the industry partnership office for NC State University. Her team develops partnerships locally and globally; providing real-world opportunities to faculty and students. The Partnerships office builds robust relationships with academia, industry and government. Together, these relationships lead to increased innovation, workforce development and economic impact to the State of North Carolina.  The Partnerships Office helps construct a long-term cross-disciplinary relationship that promotes the advancement of science and education and assures the success of our business partners and NC State.

Keisha has been a member of the Association of University Research Parks for 8 years and recently won the Rising Star award by peer institutions.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Arizona and was born in Los Angeles, California.  She made Raleigh her home in 2006 with her husband and 2 children (20) and (14).

Mark serves as the associate vice chancellor where he oversees NC State’s strategy for engaging with corporate, government and nonprofit partners, including the 75 partnerships on Centennial Campus. He is also chair of the Conservation Technology Information Center. Previously, Mark held a 22-year career at John Deere, where he oversaw the company’s university partnerships strategy, as well as a diverse range of external public and private stakeholder relationships and partnerships. Mark earned Bachelor of Science degrees in landscape architecture and agronomy from Purdue University, a Master of Science in agronomy from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in crop science from the University of Illinois. Little known fact – he holds twelve patents relating to intelligent and autonomous vehicles and machine systems.