Thank you to everyone who attended our 2026 NACRO Midwinter Leadership Meeting — your energy, insights and engagement helped make this year’s gathering a productive and inspiring experience.

We're especially grateful to the University of Texas at Dallas team for graciously hosting us and providing warm Texan hospitality throughout the meeting. Your support was essential to our meeting’s success.

From collaborative committee sessions, discussions on strategic planning to meaningful peer connections, this event reinforced the strength of our community as we continue advancing academic–industry engagement and leadership within corporate relations. We look forward to carrying this momentum into upcoming programs and to seeing you again at future NACRO events!

If you're interested in hosting NACRO for the 2027 Midwinter Leadership Meeting, please review the RFP and submit a proposal.

Save the Dates for the 2026 NACRO Annual Conference, taking place July 14-16 in Salt Lake City, UT. Registration for both Bootcamp and Conference will open in early April.

For those requesting approval to attend, please visit the conference webpage for more information.

If you have any questions, please contact us at conference@nacrocon.org.

NACRO is currently seeking recommendations for individuals to serve on the 2026-27 Board of Directors.

The following positions are open for nominations:

• Vice Presidents (2 open roles)
• Benchmarking Committee Chair-elect
• Communications Committee Chair-elect
• Membership Committee Chair-elect
• Professional Education Committee Chair-elect
• Member-at-Large

Nominations will be accepted until February 20 and voting will open May 1. 

To learn more about the criteria and nomination process, please visit the nominations page of the website.

For our next "Quick Text With," we're excited to feature Jason King, NACRO Co-Vice President and Director of Corporate Relations with the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine! 

NACRO: "Jason! What's a new CR project or recent big win at UC Irvine?

Jason: “Thank you! I led the coordination and management of a successful corporate trip to the Bay Area with my Dean and senior faculty, organizing twelve meetings over 1.5 days with vice presidents and C-suite leaders from several major companies to discuss research and corporate partnership opportunities. It was gratifying to see the impact of this effort, particularly with a cohort of ten colleagues from campus participating.” 

NACRO: "Fantastic Jason - you rock! Shoot us another text soon on more UC Irvine updates!"

This month we are delighted to feature Melissa Belcher, NACRO Professional Education Committee Co-Chair and Director of Corporate Relations with The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

In this video, Melissa shares her career path in corporate relations and key tips on how to optimize membership with NACRO for professional growth!

Ready to kick off 2026 with the skills, connections and confidence to drive your career in academic corporate relations? Register and participate in NACRO’s Virtual Corporate Engagement Bootcamp on February 17–18 (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m. ET) — a high-impact, foundational program designed for professionals working in or alongside academic corporate relations.

This virtual bootcamp is ideal for new CR professionals (under three years of experience), those new to Higher Education, new NACRO members and anyone exploring a career in corporate relations.

With our newly released NACRO white paper report — "CORPORATE RELATIONS REIMAGINED: How Academic Institutions Can Build Sustainable Industry Partnerships" — we're highlighting each month one of our "seven essential elements" for successful corporate engagement:

#1 — Institutional Support: The commitment of university leadership, particularly the President or Chancellor, to the Corporate Relations Office is critical. Executive administration must determine whether it sees the value it can gain in establishing clear processes/direction for corporate engagement. It's imperative that there is agreement from the top on down (and from down to up) on the structure and delivery of corporate engagement. Read more.

In the NACRO Blog, we’re delighted to feature Joseph Huang, NACRO Co-President and Associate Director of Development at Stanford University, and his timely piece on “Universities are like Seattle’s Pike Place Market: Many Small Businesses Under One Roof.”

In the post, Joseph draws a compelling analogy between universities and bustling marketplaces to illustrate how effective academic-corporate partnership work requires understanding both central institutional goals and the unique needs of individual faculty “entrepreneurs,” emphasizing that successful engagement balances support for the broader university brand with the diverse priorities of its internal stakeholders. Read more.

The University of Virginia has signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement with AstraZeneca to streamline and accelerate pre-clinical research partnerships by standardizing terms, reducing administrative barriers, and enabling more efficient cross-disciplinary engagement across UVA’s scientific expertise and AstraZeneca’s global R&D capabilities. The framework is aimed at enhancing discovery and translational research in areas such as oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, metabolism and infectious diseases, with initial projects expected to launch in 2026 and support from core facilities and institutes including UVA’s Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology. Read more.

The University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub has expanded its entrepreneurial ecosystem with two new corporate partners — N Solutions, a data analytics and business intelligence firm, and Incline Wealth Advisors, a holistic wealth management and financial planning firm — bringing added expertise in data-driven decision-making, financial strategy and workforce development to the hub. Both companies cite the collaborative environment and access to UC faculty, students and research talent as key drivers for joining, reinforcing 1819’s mission to connect industry leaders with academia and strengthen the region’s innovation pipeline. Read more.

The University of New Haven has launched a new Corporate Partnership Council to centralize and strengthen strategic industry engagement in support of its 2026 strategic plan and the development of a Center for Innovation and Applied Technology. The council will serve as a university-wide coordinating body to streamline external partnerships, expand experiential learning and talent placement opportunities, and enhance innovation and workforce development by aligning collaboration efforts across academic units and industry stakeholders through a unified “One University, One Voice” approach. Read more.

Our partner organization, Halo, posts a new blog piece on “Where Academia Meets the Production Line: Inside ZERO2FIVE,” exploring how translational R&D models are bridging the gap between academic research and industrial application. Using the case of ZERO2FIVE Food Innovation Centre, the post illustrates the challenges and opportunities of moving scientific discoveries from university labs into scalable food production systems. The article highlights how collaborative frameworks like ZERO2FIVE enables researchers and industry partners to co-develop sustainable materials and safety technologies, underscoring the importance of structured partnerships and shared expertise in accelerating real-world impact. Read more.

Corporate Engagement Bootcamp

February 17-18,11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET

Take your university's corporate relations to the next level with our virtual corporate engagement bootcamp — a foundational course that gives you tools to succeed. This program includes peer learning and networking and is a great fit for a range of professionals.

February Regional Meetups

Topic: CRM & Data Management

February 25

Midwest: 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. CT

Western: 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. PT

Southeast: 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ET

February 26

South Central: 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. CT

Northeast: 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ET

University of Colorado Boulder - Director, Industry Relations

University of Florida Advancement - Executive Director of Development, Corporate Engagement, Office of the Vice President for Research

Interested in posting your open position(s)? The cost is $50 for members and $75 for non-members for a one-time posting in our monthly e-newsletter. Should you wish to re-run your ad, simply resubmit the posting, along with payment.

Job posting forms are due to Aubryn Shivers no later than the 1st of the month to be included in that month's NACRO News. 

Kaylie Fontenot, Texas A&M Foundation

Audrey Lero, Texas A&M Foundation

Victor Neil, UNT Health

Danielle Parillo, Berklee School of Music

Hollie Seiler, Dartmouth College

Rosalie Seitz, Frontier Nursing University

Alex Trewatha, University of Colorado, Boulder

NACRO has launched one of our most frequently requested member resources – a member-only discussion forum, hosted as a private, unlisted LinkedIn group.

NACRO members can find information on how to join the group at the Discussion Forum page in NACRO's Member-Only Content section.