Executive Director of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Leaving to Join Executive Leadership Team of New Impact Enterprise Entity

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After nearly 10 years leading Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Executive Director Thane Kreiner will be leaving April 30 to join a new impact enterprise as a founding team member.

Kreiner’s next venture is focused on discovering and harnessing transformative technologies to address the world’s most challenging problems.

Kreiner, a former life sciences executive and startup founder, has overseen tremendous growth in the programming, impact, and reach of Miller Center, one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University.

Miller Center now serves more than 150 social entrepreneurs a year – an order of magnitude increase from when he took the helm – through what has become the world-class Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI®) Accelerator program, helping entrepreneurs discern pathways to scale the beneficial impact of their work.

“The number of lives that have been improved, transformed, or saved through Miller Center’s exceptional work under Thane’s leadership is remarkable by any measure,” said Kevin O’Brien, S.J., president of Santa Clara University. “Miller Center’s focus on using social entrepreneurship in service of the most marginalized of this world truly embodies the principles of Jesuit education.”

“I am honored and humbled to have walked with so many amazing people on this incredible journey to impact,” said Kreiner. “Santa Clara’s devotion to ending poverty and protecting the planet and its attention to servant leadership has been formative for me in many dimensions and is forever part of my DNA.”

Prior to joining Santa Clara University, Kreiner was founder, president, and CEO of Second Genome as well as of Presage Biosciences, and president and CEO of iPierian. He spent 14 years at Affymetrix.

“Thane’s leadership of Miller Center has generated the highest return on any investment Karen and I have ever made,” said Jeff Miller, Santa Clara University trustee and chair of Miller Center’s advisory board. “As we move into the next phase in our journey, I am grateful to Thane for the platform he has created for future growth and success of Miller Center and its ever-expanding impact on the world."

Santa Clara University is commencing a national search for the next executive director. Further information on the position is available at https://www.scu.edu/hr/careers/employment-opportunities/executive-opportunities/.

About Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, located at Santa Clara University, has accelerated more than 1000 social enterprises since 2003. These collectively have improved, transformed, or saved the lives of over 400 million people in 100 countries. See more at https://www.millersocent.org/.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit, Catholic University in the epicenter of Silicon Valley, infusing ethics and social consciousness into a rigorous cross-disciplinary education for its nearly 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.