Phillip Singerman

Phillip Singerman is a recognized national innovator in public–private partnerships to promote economic development, job creation, and national security. His five-decade career includes senior executive positions in the private and public sectors at the local, state, and federal levels. He currently serves as a senior advisor to the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative; member of the board of directors, Maryland Technology Development Corporation; and an affiliate at the Technology Partnership Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as well as an elected fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration. From 2010 to 2020, he was the first associate director for Innovation and Industry Services at NIST, one of the agency’s three senior career executives, and responsible for NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Manufacturing USA Innovation Institute National Network. From 1995 to 1999, he served as the U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, where he directed the Economic Development Administration. He was the founding chief executive of two of the best-known technology-led economic development public–private partnerships: Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Partnership for Technological Innovation (1983–1995) and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (1999–2005). His private sector experience includes serving as venture partner with Toucan Capital Corporation, a $120 million private venture capital firm investing in early-stage life science companies, and senior vice president, B&D Consulting. He received his BA from Oberlin College and his PhD from Yale University and taught at Barnard College (Columbia University), Yale University, and the Fels Center of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.