When you see the word “acting” before someone’s title you often immediately begin to wonder who is being considered to fill the position long-term. Every once in a while, though, it becomes clear that the best person for the job was there all along.Former acting managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, William K. Aulet, has proven there is no need to look elsewhere for a de jure holder of his position. Just days ago, “acting” was dropped from Aulet’s title as he officially assumed the role of managing director of the Center. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/aAzXAr)
“With his depth of experience and dedication to entrepreneurship, Bill Aulet will be a great asset to the Center as it continues to develop and support MIT’s many entrepreneurial programs and activities,” David Schmittlein, dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, said about Aulet.
For several years Aulet has served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Center where he teaches classes and assists students with start-up companies. In all, Aulet has 25 years of experience in “institutional financing via private placements and public offerings.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Harvard University, Aulet went on to get a master’s from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Aultet then dedicated eleven years to IBM before leaving to found two Cambridge companies: Decision Dynamics and SensAble Technologies. SensAble Technologies was twice rated a “500 Fastest Growing Private Company” by Inc. Magazine. The company also gained attention from Fortune Magazine, BusinessWeek, and The Wall Street Journal.
More recently, Aulet served as Chief Financial Officer at Vissage Technology. While in this position, Aulet instituted policies that revitalized the company, which had been losing $2.4 million each q
uarter before his arrival. When Aulet left Vissage after two and a half years, the company’s market value had increased from about $50 million to over $500 million. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/9snmla) Edward Roberts, founder and chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, expressed that, “Aulet brings a wonderful combination of practical experience, enthusiastic and effective teaching and mentoring, and a host of new ambitious ideas to entrepreneurship at MIT.”
After seeing only a summary of Aulet’s credentials, it’s easy to see why the Center decided to look no further for its managing director. I’m sure Aulet is already coming up with many ideas to lead the Center to new successes.
[Sources: http://bit.ly/9snmla, http://bit.ly/9SGHNp]
