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Bala Srinivasan

Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategy and Deputy Provost, University of Chicago.

Bala Srinivasan is Vice President for Global Initiatives and Strategy and Deputy Provost, and is currently serving as the interim head of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago. The Polsky Center brings together the University’s nationally recognized programs in venture creation and education, technology commercialization, and business incubation and streamlines access to venture support resources for University and community entrepreneurs and corporate partners.

Bala grew up in Kolkata, India and moved to the U.S. for his undergraduate work at CalTech. He received a B.S. in Mathematics in 1989 and then came to the University of Chicago to complete a Ph.D. in Mathematics, which he received in 1995. Bala then went to Wall Street, where he worked in international private equity investing for more than 20 years, including as Associate Director of Jardine Fleming in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai; Executive Director of Goldman Sachs Hong Kong; and Managing Director of Och Ziff Capital Management, based in India and Hong Kong.

Bala joined the University of Chicago in September 2016 as Senior Advisor to the President and Associate Provost. In July 2017 he took on the Vice President and Senior Associate Provost role. Bala oversees the University’s global engagement activities and manages the University Centers in Hong Kong, Delhi, and Beijing. He and the UChicago Global team work to build academic partnerships, create global education opportunities, and strengthen our connections to foreign institutions, policymakers, and civic leaders. Bala also collaborates closely with deans and faculty on nontraditional academic opportunities, as well as with administrative leadership regarding issues of compliance and risk.