Jillian Murray

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JILLIAN MURRAY

One of my first jobs was selling luggage. I enjoyed chatting with customers to learn where they were going, what they were missing for that journey, and the joy of finding that perfect item they seek. It wasn\'t difficult to upsell an item or two. Achieving an ambitious sales target with part-time hours was a challenge I welcomed. Every shift brought people on a different adventure, but the formula was always the same: listen to their needs, ask the right questions, present options, find the solution and close the sale = we both walk away happy. My chemistry PhD may seem like a professional detour. It built my perseverance, creativity, and problem-solving skills, but was scoring low in the ‘working with new people every day’ column. I felt leaving research entirely would be a ‘failure’ as I had dedicated so much time and effort. Shifting focus to my transferrable skills landed me an amazing opportunity. Enter Mitacs: an organization that connects companies with academia, fostering the development of students as the talent of tomorrow through immersive research internships- all while solving industry challenges and boosting Canada\'s productivity. Their mission became my passion on the business development team for 11+ years now: inspire innovation and drive creative solutions by using the power of sales to develop research projects through a suite of programs. My research background is invaluable in helping companies and academics navigate their respective ecosystems and drill down their ideas into successful research and innovation funding proposals.I currently lead a team focused on building relationships and developing projects with key ecosystem partners. I am a trusted advisor for companies of all sizes, including start-ups and multi-national corporations, with a focus in the life sciences and biomanufacturing sectors. Since 2013, I have developed more than internships by securing $30.6M invested by Canadian companies into academic research ($70M+ value). I had held the record for largest research project submitted valued at $6.5M. Recently, I have diversified my skillset becoming a certified SAFe 6 Agilist to better support our digital transformation and my role as our organizational business lead for our CRM. Looking forward to connecting!