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April 3, 2006
Purdue Research Park adds staff, services to support growing list of technology companies
The foundation, which owns and operates the West Lafayette-based research park, hired Timothy Peoples, Ph.D., in the first quarter of 2006 to provide additional support for the growth and development of the park's high-tech companies. ''I'm charged with helping the research park's early-stage companies to generate new business growth by creating vital links between product research and commercial application,'' Peoples said. ''My goal is to provide tangible assistance that will significantly reduce the entrepreneur's time, effort and resources needed to commercialize their product, service or process.'' Peoples' principal areas of assistance include business plan development, seasoned counsel, test marketing, financial and technical input, and direction from market-specific mentors. He supervises the research park's six-person client services team, a department created in late 2005 to assist all park-based companies in making connections to the following: consulting opportunities and research partnerships with Purdue University faculty and staff; Purdue's expensive technical equipment under a "chargeback" arrangement; opportunities for purchasing small quantities of chemical and metal goods from Purdue; Purdue libraries; on-campus parking permits; and membership with Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union. Peoples' team also helps companies utilize the park's state-of-the art conference rooms featuring two-way videoconferencing, and they provide networking opportunities, wellness fairs, seminars and more. In addition, research park companies are benefiting from expanded services offered by Human Resources Services, a department of Purdue Research Foundation that acts as an interface between potential candidates and the recruitment needs of research park-based firms. ''We assist interested companies within the park with candidate screening, and we provide opportunities for park companies to participate in joint advertising and job fairs,'' said Judith Hall, director of human resources for the foundation as well as the research park-based Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy and Contract Manufacturing. ''Our team also counsels park firms on human resource needs related to employment law, standard HR practice, employee recruitment, spousal relocation, and HR training and development.'' Firms also benefit from marketing and media relations assistance. Peoples earned his bachelor's degree in botany from Defiance College and his master's degree and doctorate in plant sciences (plant biochemistry and physiology) from the University of New Hampshire. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Arizona from 1978 to 1982, followed by a vice president of research position at startup company GENOCO Industries. During his 18-year career with American Cyanamid Co., Peoples worked in product development, traveled internationally and was stationed for five years in Rio de Janeiro. In 2001 Peoples served as a biotechnology consultant, working with Brazilian government officials, academicians and private startups. From 2001 to 2005 he worked as director of R&D and director of regulatory affairs for Nutra-Park, a startup developing University of Wisconsin technology. Peoples resides in Crown Point, Ind., with his wife and three children. Hall earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue and she has been with the foundation for 18 years. In addition to her Professional in Human Resource (PHR) designation, Hall holds a number of certificates in areas such as employee relations law, internal investigations, employee benefits law, compensation and human resource management. Hall currently is a participant in Leadership Lafayette and she is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management. She is married with one son and resides in Lafayette.
About Purdue Research Park Based in West Lafayette, Purdue Research Park is Indiana's first Certified Technology Park and home to the largest university-affiliated business incubator in the country as well as the greatest number of technology companies in the state. More than 190 of the park's peers at the Association of University Research Parks named Purdue Research Park the nation's top program for technology transfer (2005) and top research park (2004).
Contact: Jeanine Phipps, communications and marketing, Purdue Research Park, (765) 494-0748 (office), (654) 413-5579 (mobile), jeanine@purdue.edu
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