Rénu Kulkarni
Rénu Kulkarni’s expertise lies in scaling emerging technologies to improve the human condition, bridging the gap between academia, industry, and government stakeholders. As a senior executive and an ‘accidental academic’, Rénu has spent over 30 years working for and advising leading global organizations in technology, strategy, innovation, and enterprise transformation in higher education, digital communications, consumer electronics, and media sectors.
Rénu’s industry career spans executive, strategic, and operational roles at Motorola—where she served as a corporate officer and VP of Technology Partnerships—as well as leadership positions at Deloitte, BellSouth (now AT&T), Sprint, and Verizon during transformative periods in the telecom sector. Rénu brings extensive higher education leadership experience. She served as Associate Dean of Executive Education at Booth School of Business, and Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Chicago, and as founding director of FutureMedia at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Her most recent position was leading corporate engagement for the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), led by the University of Illinois System in partnership with top research universities. Rénu spearheaded an industry partnership program for DPI’s Research and Development arm to create new equitable economic value in the state of Illinois and beyond.
Rénu serves on numerous boards and civic organizations, including the University Club of Chicago, International Women’s Forum Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Illinois Tech’s College of Computing. She is also a judge for Booth’s New Venture Challenge, a board member of Pilot Light,a national food education nonprofit, and a board member of Georgia Tech’s College of Lifetime Learning.
Rénu holds an MBA from Emory University, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and an Executive Management Certificate from Booth School of Business.