Triple Hokie Brett Malone to lead Corporate Research Center
he next president and CEO of Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center is a triple Hokie with 20 years of executive experience in growing engineering, biotech, and software business.
In some ways, though, Brett Malone’s most direct qualification came when he founded and grew a software firm in the warm confines of the Corporate Research Center.
Malone ’90, M.S. ’91, Ph.D. ’96 learned firsthand what it was like to build a company in Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg-based research park, led then by longtime CRC President and CEO Joe Meredith. As co-founder of Phoenix Integration, a firm that creates software for engineering, Malone helped build a notable company that is still part of the CRC and serving the aerospace industry.
“Joe was an incredibly helpful mentor for me as I was getting my first company started,” Malone said. “He made connections that allowed me to be successful with my first start-up. I’ve taken that initial experience, gone on the road, and built other companies and helped firms in biotech, robotics, engineering, and software. Now, I want to help our companies the way Joe helped me. That to me defines what service looks like.”
Although Malone has led multiple companies based around the country since graduating from Virginia Tech, he’s always retained his connection with the New River Valley through a house he built in 2005 on the New River in Giles County. Now he’s returning in a professional capacity, as leader of the Corporate Research Center.
To learn more, check out the whole article below.