Welcome Ellen Christo

UNHInnovation is very excited to welcome Ellen Christo, our new Manager of Strategic Partnerships!  Ellen joined the UNHI team in March, bringing with her a veritable heap of professional expertise and industry contacts. Ellen will serve as the bridge between the University of New Hampshire and the business community.  She will help businesses to utilize university resources and commercialize intellectual property, which will in turn benefit the public by promulgating the fruits of the extensive research and development undertaken at UNH. 

Ellen is a UNH alum – she holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, plus a law degree from UNH School of Law.  She credits her successful career partially to the education that she received here and is excited to be back in such a vibrant environment. During her time as a student, she served as a Student Admissions Ambassador: giving tours and conducting interviews with prospective students. This means that Ellen has served as a gateway to the university in two capacities: first to students, and now to the corporate world.

Ellen’s career as a business attorney includes many large-scale, high-tech jury trials all over the country and most recently, a year at Shaheen & Gordon in Dover, practicing transactional business law. Her law career has had the unique element of being centered on relationship management, and the human elements of jury trials. In her new role, she is looking forward to the opportunity to help both the university and businesses create mutually beneficial commercial interactions. She’ll be a sort of business concierge: the person who helps shepherd businesses to university resources, and helps the university interact and partner better with the corporate world.

“It’s a bit like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,” says Ellen, “fitting all the pieces in the right places to create the big picture.”  The big picture might be a successful joint research project, or through taking intellectual property created at the university, and enabling it to be commercialized by a business, to the benefit of both parties and the public. Ellen hopes that businesses will look to the university as a resource to help grow and expand their operations.

Ellen is a member of Sounds of the Seacoast – a women’s a cappella (award-winning!) singing group. She is also a proud citizen of Red Sox Nation. You may contact Ellen at ellen.christo@unh.edu or 603-862-5446.