Member Spotlight

Q&A with Joon Cho, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

May 11th, 2020

What is your current role at your institution?

I am Director of Business Development, Industry Relations, a part of central University Development at UNC Chapel Hill.

How long have you been a NACRO member?

I have been a member since 2015 and my first conference was at Georgetown University. I have worked with Site Selection, Membership & Alliances, and Benchmarking committees.

What do you enjoy most about your NACRO membership?

Networking and sharing best practices - because our roles are extremely diverse across each institution, we have a lot to learn from each other. When I have a question, there is someone who will read my emails or pick up my calls.

So far, what has been your greatest Corporate Relations success? What has been your greatest challenge?

My greatest success and challenge has been building a new industry relations team at UNC over the past few years. We have built a healthy ecosystem that benefits numerous teams across UNC. For instance, my team has mutually collaborative relationships with a number of offices from across the university. Sponsored Research, Technology Commercialization, Clinical Trials, Career Services, Conflict of Interest, Trademark Licensing, and University Counsel are just a few. This is an ongoing challenge as we all have different goals.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

I have visited all but 3 states: Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.