John Thode has been appointed as the Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in honor of his extensive contributions to enhancing Illinois’ reputation as a leader in entrepreneurial education. He is the inaugural Clinical Professor for Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering Entrepreneurship at The Grainger College of Engineering’s Technology Entrepreneur Center. The investiture ceremony was held on April 10 at the Beckman Institute.
The Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professorship of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is the first joint professorship for The Grainger College of Engineering and the Gies College of Business.
Rick and Gayle Landuyt attribute their successful careers to the education they received at the University of Illinois. In establishing the Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professorship and Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, they hope to provide students with entrepreneurship opportunities and to contribute to Illinois’ legacy as a national leader in entrepreneurial education.
Rashid Bashir, Dean of the Grainger Engineering, said, “John’s remarkable career and unwavering commitment to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship perfectly aligns with the vision of the Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professorship of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His leadership will undoubtedly inspire our students and further strengthen our commitment to being a leading institution for entrepreneurial education.”
John Thode joined the Technology Entrepreneur Center in Grainger Engineering as the Clinical Professor for Innovation, Leadership and Engineering Entrepreneurship (ILEE) in 2019.
John is a visionary technology executive and entrepreneur who has architected and led the growth of a multitude of businesses, as Chairman, Board Member, CEO, and senior executive. John has led businesses at Motorola, Dell, and McAfee as well as the successful exits as CEO of ISCO Inc., and President of Digital Optics Corporation. John bootstrapped Thode Residential Rental Properties, LLC and remains its Chair.
“This is perhaps my best opportunity in my entire career to make a profound impact by paying forward my time and talent to the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators and, at the same time, paying back the investment that the last generation of entrepreneurs and innovators made in me,” Thode said.
“In my view, this university stands as the premier institution globally for cultivating innovators and entrepreneurs with a rich history of technology disruption. We, the next generation, owe it to this institution and those giants of innovation to carry on and accelerate that tradition. It is that obligation to those innovators and that legacy that inspires all of us to the next level of disruptive innovation, ultimately with the mission to improve the human condition and the world we share.”
While currently on a leave of absence from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, John holds the position of co-CEO at AKHAN Semiconductor. In May, he plans to resume his full-time role as the Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
For almost two decades, John has played an active role in the programs and activities of the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) and Grainger Engineering. Currently, John serves as a part-time Clinical Professor for Innovation, Leadership and Engineering Entrepreneurship for TEC in Grainger Engineering, University of Illinois. He is also the instructional lead of the Cozad New Venture Challenge, an experiential program that helps students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and supports new business venture creation.
John also designed and instructed several modules for the Duality Quantum Accelerator, a unique 12-month accelerator created by a partnership between the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, Argon National Labs, Chicago Quantum Exchange, and P33. Duality is the first accelerator program in the U.S. exclusively focused on supporting innovative quantum startups.
In addition to many TEC courses, he has designed and taught, John co-instructs the renowned College New Venture Challenge (CNVC). CNVC is a venture accelerator targeted at mixed teams of Grainger Engineering and UChicago undergraduate students. He also serves as the Adjunct Instructor from the Midwest Node of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, an immersive entrepreneurial training program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact. The experiential training program prepares researchers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory — accelerating the economic and societal impact of NSF-funded and other research projects.
His academic credentials include an MBA with Distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois.
John also holds State of Illinois Professional Educator Licenses in secondary science and career and technical education specialties and has taught at Chicago Public Schools. Besides his professional and academic achievements, John has served on several boards, contributing his expertise to both profit and non-profit organizations. His leadership and advisory roles span across many profit and non-profit organizations and various councils and boards associated with the University of Illinois. John is an active angel investor as both a Hyde Park Angel and a founding member of the Illini Angels, where he invests and mentors many university-related startups.
“A close relationship between business and engineering is imperative for driving innovation and progress,” said W. Brooke Elliott, Dean of Gies College of Business and Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor in Business. “That synergy helps creatively address important challenges and enables us to seize opportunities for sustainable development. No one understands the value of this collaboration more – or personifies it better – than John Thode. He’s an innovator at his core. He has built businesses of all sizes and scales, and his work makes all of us at the University of Illinois better and stronger.”
About Richard and Gayle Landuyt
Richard Landuyt: Richard Landuyt earned a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1978 at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois Chicago. Rick is a serial entrepreneur who has bootstrapped and successfully sold four high technology companies during a thirty-two-year period. He has served on several boards, mentored entrepreneurs, and helped grow one of the largest angel investment networks in the southeast U.S. He is a founding member and advisor to the Illini Angels Network.
Gayle Landuyt: Gayle Landuyt earned a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1978 from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Gayle worked at Motorola for 25 years holding progressive leadership positions in supply chain management. She went on to an academic position at DePaul University where she taught in the MBA program and was the director of the Management Development Center.