Steve Case to co-chair Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council

Congratulations to our chairman, Steve Case, who was named yesterday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

As stated in yesterday's press release, which announced the names of all of its members, the Council will "support President Obama's innovation strategy by helping to develop policies that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic growth and create jobs." Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan and Desh Deshpande, Chairman of A123 Systems, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks and Sparta Group, will serve as co-chairs of the Council along with Steve.

The full Council includes:

• Tom Alberg, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group
• Tom Baruch, Founder and Managing Director, CMEA Capital
• Claude Canizares, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Curtis Carlson, President & CEO, SRI International
• Steve Case, Chairman & CEO, Revolution; Co-Founder, AOL
• Robin Chase, Co-Founder, Zipcar
• Marcelo Claure, Founder, Chairman, President & CEO, Brightstar
• Mary Sue Coleman, President, University of Michigan
• Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
• Desh Deshpande, Chairman, A123 Systems, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks, and Sparta Group
• Judith Estrin, Co-Founder, Bridge, NCD, Precept, Packet Design; Former CTO, Cisco Systems
• Ping Fu, Co-Founder, Chairman, President & CEO, Geomagic
• Christina Gabriel, Director, Innovation Economy, The Heinz Endowments
• Barron Harvey, Dean, Howard University School of Business
• Krisztina Holly, Vice Provost for Innovation, University of Southern California; Executive Director, USC Stevens Institute for Innovation
• Ray Leach, CEO, JumpStart
• Kenneth Morse, Co-Founder, 3Com and Aspen Technology; Founding Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center
• G.P. "Bud" Peterson, President, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Michael Roberts, Founder & CEO, The Roberts Companies
• RoseAnn Rosenthal, CEO, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
• Carl Schramm, President & CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
• Ellen Siminoff, CEO, Shmoop; Founding Executive, Yahoo!
• Holden Thorp, Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Charles Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering; former President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Jeffrey Wadsworth, President & CEO, Battelle
• Jerry Yang, Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo, Yahoo!

The announcement was made at an event at the University of Michigan hosted by the Department of Commerce, designed to discuss the role of universities in innovation, economic development, job creation and the commercialization of federally funded research.