Biography

Jim McGwin ’80, Adjunct Professor in the URI College of Business, serves as a volunteer Entrepreneur in Residence and Innovation Coach at the Library Innovation Labs and Athletic Department. He is also a Supply Chain Advisory Board Member, AI Research Working Group member, former Chair of the Education Technology Advisory Council, and faculty advisor to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula Club.

McGwin brings over 40 years of international industry experience, including senior roles at KPMG and Brown & Sharpe, and multiple startups, notably UltraCision, a medical device venture acquired by Johnson & Johnson. From 2001 to 2021, he founded and led Collaboration Catalyst Corp., specializing in value chain collaboration and enterprise innovation.

Since retiring in 2022, McGwin has advanced student entrepreneurship through INE courses and as a full-time volunteer advising commercial and non-profit startups. He created the Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Athletics Award, promoted interdisciplinary collaborations with engineering, AI-quantum initiatives, including an industry-student chatbot development, organized the AI Big Data Forums, and led projects spanning financial literacy, podcasting, innovation lab utilization, and launching a URI license plate.

McGwin holds a U.S. patent for a “Method and Apparatus for Using Process Exceptions to Provide Instant Notifications for Distributed Processes” and developed the Hierarchy of Business Needs and the Information Product and Cash Ratio frameworks. He coauthored a United Space Alliance case study published in Building the Knowledge Economy: Issues and Application Case Studies. He was an early contributor to the SCOR model, a frequent international conference speaker, and a 1993 speaker at the URI International Engineering Conference.