His official retirement will begin during the first half of calendar year 2025, with timing dependent on working with the foundation’s board and his successor.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue Research Foundation President Brian Edelman has announced that he plans to step down after nearly 10 years with the foundation.
A national search will be launched, with the assistance of an executive search firm, to identify the foundation’s next leader. Edelman will remain in his current role until the new president starts.
“Brian Edelman led the continued transformation of Purdue Research Foundation — from holding key assets to creating strategic opportunities,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “The long and impressive list of accomplishments by the PRF team is a tribute to Brian’s leadership since 2017. From the creation of Discovery Park District at Purdue and historic success in economic development to the landmark wins in intellectual property rights and the steady growth of Purdue’s endowment, he has made a tremendous impact on PRF and the university, which all Boilermakers benefit from.”
Initially establishing his Purdue connection with a Master of Science in finance from the university’s business school, Edelman joined PRF in 2015 as chief financial officer and treasurer and was promoted to chief operating officer a year later. He has been PRF’s president since spring of 2017.
“Brian Edelman is a five-star recruit who more than lived up to our hopes based on his illustrious business career,” Purdue President Emeritus Mitch Daniels said. “He led the steady growth of the PRF mission to encompass new support of our inventors and entrepreneurs, and the active pursuit of new investments near our campus. His successes in attracting companies like Saab and Rolls Royce are delivering great new opportunities for our students, collaborations for our researchers and jobs for our neighbors. He is leaving us sooner than I would have wished but with a strong record and platform for his successor to build on. Purdue has been very fortunate to have him.”
During Edelman’s tenure with the foundation, PRF flourished. His guidance enabled PRF to excel in its mission of supporting Purdue’s persistent pursuit of excellence and carefully stewarding the university’s endowment through challenging periods such as 2020, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
Edelman carefully cultivated the development and execution of the 400-acre, more than $1 billion Discovery Park District. He led his team to attract and deepen relationships with Rolls-Royce, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Saab, Inari, imec, SK hynix and other companies. He was also instrumental in developing the foundation’s partnership with the city of West Lafayette and Purdue to finance, design and construct the $120 million State Street redevelopment, which enabled Discovery Park District to come to fruition. During his tenure, PRF has brought to life a live-work-play community for the university’s next generation of students, families and corporations.
Edelman oversaw the establishment of a dominant university intellectual property commercialization engine that, for three years running, put Purdue in the top five for U.S. universities in U.S. patents received. He also oversaw the defense of Purdue innovators’ inventions and technologies in court, which in 2023 resulted in $32.5 million awarded to Purdue in past compensatory damages.
Edelman’s key accomplishments at PRF reflect his steadfast commitment to forging the future for innovation, connection, commercialization and placemaking at Purdue:
- Endocyte Inc. became the first Purdue startup to reach $1.5 billion in value and was purchased for $2.1 billion by pharmaceutical company Novartis AG in 2018.
- SK hynix Inc. announced on April 3, 2024, that it plans to invest close to $4 billion to build an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for AI products in the Purdue Research Park.
- Inari announced the world’s first Seed Foundry in 2018, locating its 26,000 square feet of office space, labs and greenhouses in the Purdue Research Park.
- Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories broke ground in 2018 for its 100,000-square-foot facility, which supports up to 300 high-tech jobs and represents a $24 million investment in electric power research and development.
- The $32 million Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration, located in Discovery Park District, opened in 2020. At the center, ideas become discoveries and private industry collaborates with Purdue faculty, students and each other.
- PRF and Old Town Design Group announced the new Provenance residential village in 2019, one more piece in developing a vibrant live-work-play community adjacent to campus.
- Saab arrived at Discovery Park District in 2021 with a $37 million investment for a manufacturing facility that supports the production of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation T-X jet trainer.
- Purdue received more than $100 million as a portion of its royalty interest in the prostate cancer drug Pluvicto, developed by Philip Low in early 2023.
- Cunningham Restaurant Group announced plans for a farm-to-table restaurant in Discovery Park District in 2024. The restaurant will occupy part of the planned 10,600-square-foot, multiuse structure built from a century-old barn donated by the Beck family.
- Valued partnerships among PRF, Purdue, and companies Mediatek, Stratolaunch, Tilson, Kimley-Horn, Caterpillar, Rolls-Royce and many more continue to evolve and grow.
- Over the years, the foundation maintained year-over-year growth for the university’s endowment, showing persistent dedication to the mission of serving Purdue and its investments.
“Reflecting on my time at Purdue, I am filled with immense pride and gratitude,” Edelman said. “From my early days as a CFO to my current role as president, I learned so much and created incredible memories. It’s been a privilege to work alongside a set of extremely talented and dedicated individuals in our Foundation and at the university. I am deeply grateful for the support, camaraderie and friendship constantly extended throughout my years at the Foundation, but I also look forward to embarking on the next chapter of my life, catching and releasing trout, working on several corporate boards, and spending more time with family.”
Prior to being named PRF’s president, Edelman worked as Eli Lilly and Company’s vice president of corporate finance and investment banking.
About Purdue Research Foundation
Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Established in 1930, the foundation accepts gifts; administers trusts; funds scholarships and grants; acquires and sells property; protects and licenses Purdue’s intellectual property; and supports creating Purdue-connected startups on behalf of Purdue. The foundation operates Purdue Innovates which includes the Office of Technology Commercialization, Incubator and Ventures. The foundation manages the Purdue Research Park, Discovery Park District, Purdue for Life Foundation and multiple Purdue Technology Centers around the state.
For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org. For more information about involvement and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact Purdue Innovates at purdueinnovates@prf.org.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.
Media contact: Polly Barks, phbarks@prf.org
