Happy Hour with Vice Dean Vanessa Chan

Vanessa Chan is an accomplished entrepreneur, angel investor, speaker and educator renowned for her expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship at the intersection of technology and business.

Under President Biden, Vanessa served as the Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy. In this role, she was instrumental in nationally advancing clean energy technologies, notably through the “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” reports, which provided roadmaps for decarbonizing various sectors, including geothermal and hydrogen. In recognition of her work, Time named her as one of the world’s 100 most influential business leaders in climate in the Time100 Climate 2024 list.

Prior to joining the faculty at Penn Engineering in 2017, Vanessa was a partner at McKinsey & Company for 13 years, where she co-led the innovation practice, guiding large publicly traded companies in commercializing their technologies.

Following her time at McKinsey, she founded re.design, a company dedicated to reinventing consumer products to solve everyday challenges. Her inaugural product, Loopit, featured tangle-free, stylish headphones that garnered significant attention, doubling its Kickstarter campaign goal and ultimately appearing for sale on QVC.
Transitioning to academia, Vanessa joined the University of Pennsylvania as a Professor in Penn Engineering and served as the Undergraduate Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering department. She was also a member of the Executive Committee of Penn Health-Tech, a center bridging the Perelman School of Medicine and Penn Engineering with a mission to develop transformative medical devices. Throughout her time at Penn, she has focused on educating and training engineering students in technological innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as supporting the commercialization of University technologies.

Vanessa is a sought-after speaker and writer, sharing insights on transitioning from corporate executive to entrepreneur and advocating for an entrepreneurial approach to life. Her journey has been featured in various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and CBS.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Vanessa is passionate about supporting others. She has been involved with organizations such as the Philadelphia Chapter of Ellevate Network and has supported startups as a partner at Robin Hood Ventures, an angel investing group. She has also served on advisory councils for the Free Library of Philadelphia, Vanguard’s Innovation Board and United Technologies Corporation.

Vanessa earned her Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in Materials Science and Engineering, and holds three patents. She is the mother of two children, Karina and Ariana. In her personal time, Vanessa runs a pottery studio and is an avid mountain biker, skier and world traveler.