AMES, Iowa (October 30th, 2020) – After growing up in the Ames community, Alison Doyle seized the opportunity to return to her roots with a role at the Iowa State University Research Park (ISURP). During her time at the Park, her role has evolved; Alison’s current title is Chief Relationship Officer – Director of Campus and Business Engagement.
Alison graduated from Ames High School and moved to Missouri to attend Northwest Missouri State University. After one year there, Alison realized her goals were pulling her in a different direction. She transferred to Iowa State University (ISU), and completed undergraduate studies in Rhetoric and Professional Communication. She is currently working on completing her Master’s.
Alison’s professional background was with advertising/strategic communications agencies and tech companies prior to the Research Park. Her wanderlust and professional pursuits took her all over the world from California to Vermont, to England to Germany, and eventually northwest Washington, before moving back to Iowa. Alison attributes much of her professional success to great mentors, but frequently quips that restaurant work from from age 14 until her mid-20s equipped her best for her current role at ISURP. From those jobs, she learned to think on her feet, help facilitate conversation, read a room, and fulfill needs and wants from multiple people at one time.
“I always say I’m frequently the dumbest person in the room,” said Alison of her campus based role. “But there is a specific need on our campus for people to help connect industry to academia and help push science and technology out into the market, and academia and industry really operate differently; I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be working in that space that sits in the middle of the two. Every day is completely different and I learn new things all the time.”
She enjoys the ability to sit in meetings with scientists, technologists, CEOs and leaders from various industries to learn about their businesses and to formulate plans about how they can connect to resources and tools at Iowa State. Alison originally took this job because of the combination of academia and industry. In the long term, Alison hopes to infuse the spirit of the Research Park- aggressive, growth centric innovation and entrepreneurship- into the broader Ames community. She is thankful for the leadership that President Wintersteen has shown in promoting this spirit across Iowa State’s campus, which creates a stronger foundation for the work the Research Park continues to do.
Outside of work, you can find Alison doing anything outside: biking, hiking, trail running, piddling in her yard trying to grow things, or traveling. Alison loves spending time with her kids and dogs. Alison plays an essential role in the Research Park’s mission to help innovators prosper. You can contact Alison at adoyle@iastate.edu.