NJII welcomes Michael van Ter Sluis, Victoria McMullen to leadership team

Moving business man leads team to win as pieces on chess board

New Jersey Innovation Institute, a New Jersey Institute of Technology subsidiary, on Wednesday announced two additions to the leadership team — Michael van Ter Sluis has been appointed as vice president of the Entrepreneurship Division and Victoria McMullen joins as the new vice president of marketing.

“NJII is delighted to start the new year with trailblazing additions to the leadership team,” Michael Johnson, NJII president, said. “Both Michael and Victoria share our mission of spurring innovation and accelerating the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies. I am looking forward to collaborating with both of them as we look to grow NJII and continue to expand our impact within New Jersey and beyond.”

Van Ter Sluis, promoted from assistant vice president of NJII’s Entrepreneurship Division, joined the organization in 2015 and will oversee all NJII Entrepreneurship programs, including the Merck Digital Science Studio effort.

Prior to joining NJII, he was the vice president of innovation at the Council on Competitiveness, where he worked side-by-side with leaders from industry, technology startups and university presidents to educate Congress on the importance of university technology commercialization to drive the economic impact of federally sponsored university research.

“Our research universities — NJIT no less — are powerhouses of tech-drive economic development. I am proud and energized to lead the NJII entrepreneurship division, an essential lab-to-market channel for technologies incubated by NJIT and our regional industry partners,” van Ter Sluis said.

Meanwhile, McMullen will lead the marketing team with a focus on branding, content, public relations and events, as well as digital marketing strategies. McMullen brings 30 years of marketing experience across industries such as education, finance and life science. Most recently, she led a global marketing team at Certara.

“I am thrilled to join this team of collaborative visionaries at NJII. There is revolutionary work being done here and I will be sure to increase the population that know about it,” McMullen said.