Stan Hickory has been named the new director of the McNeil Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Colorado School of Mines.
A 25-year veteran of education and founder of multiple businesses, Hickory currently serves as director of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Boulder. He will start his new role at Mines in July.
Built with the support of a $5 million endowment from Mines alum Charlie McNeil ‘71 and his wife, Judy, the McNeil Center is the student-focused heart of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem at Mines. The McNeil Center offers courses and workshops for students focused on developing the skills needed to launch commercial ideas and scale startups. The center is also home to Innov8x, where Mines students take on real problems posed by industry and government partners and learn to investigate, build and create real impact.
“Stan understands that at Mines, innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a mindset our students apply to the world’s toughest challenges,” said Mines Provost Stefanie Tompkins. “His success in building cross-campus pathways makes him the perfect leader to integrate the McNeil Center even more deeply into the student experience. We aren’t just teaching business — we’re empowering engineers and scientists to be problem solvers and leaders from day one.”
Hickory led CU Boulder’s New Venture Challenge (NVC) from 2021 to 2023 before taking on the university-wide role of director of innovation and entrepreneurship. NVC is a campus-wide entrepreneurial competition and accelerator program where students, faculty and staff develop new for-profit or non-profit ventures. Participants engage in mentorship, training and workshops, culminating in a pitch competition for over $335,000 in funding and prizes. The competition is often described as the "Super Bowl" of entrepreneurship on campus.
Before moving into higher education, Hickory was a teacher and instructional guide in private schools, Boulder Valley School District and Mapleton Public Schools. Prior to his teaching career, he served as executive director of Trek to Learn, a non-profit that provides service-learning and educational travel programs for middle and high school students.
Hickory holds a master’s degree from CU Denver in administrative leadership and policy studies and a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Iowa.
“The opportunity to come to a school that is world renowned was too good to pass up,” said Hickory. “I’m looking forward to getting to work with the world class students at Mines while having the explicit support from the provost and the president to build an entrepreneurial program that is worthy of Mines’ rich history.”
The entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem at Mines is a modern network of state-of-the-art facilities and programs designed to provide Mines students with the skills and mindset to thrive as creative, business-savvy leaders in today’s fast-paced global workforce. Key components include the Labriola Innovation Hub, the Beck Venture Center and the McNeil Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.
