Hindsight

JOHN PLETZ ON TECHNOLOGY

December 12, 2019 11:39 AM UPDATED 43 MINUTES AGO

Howard Tullman leaving Illinois Tech's Kaplan Institute

The tech entrepreneur, who joined the school after leading 1871, is stepping down at year-end.

JOHN PLETZ  

Technology and airlines

•  TWEET
•  SHARE
•  SHARE
•  EMAIL

REPRINTSPRINT

Howard Tullman

Howard Tullman, who helped the Illinois Institute of Technology launch a new center for innovation and entrepreneurship, is leaving the job at the end of the year.

Tullman, who previously ran 1871, was named executive director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation & Tech Entrepreneurship in early 2018. It was designed to bring together students from various fields of study from across the campus to pursue projects for new products and startups and to collaborate with private-sector companies as well. Such cross-disciplinary collaboration has been a popular idea in higher-education circles for the past decade.

Illinois Tech is searching for a replacement. 

"We are grateful for Howard’s important contribution in helping Illinois Tech launch the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation & Tech Entrepreneurship," the university said in statement. "Under his leadership, the university built a solid platform to ensure that every single Illinois Tech undergraduate student is able to combine rigorous academic training with the practical skills needed to be future entrepreneurs and innovators. We thank Howard for helping to position Kaplan Institute and Illinois Tech for continued success as leaders in Chicago’s tech rise."  

Tullman took over at Kaplan just as the $37 million institute was preparing to open. He previously oversaw the expansion of 1871, a high-profile startup technology incubator at the Merchandise Mart, during a four-year run.

“It was a good adventure,” says Tullman, 74, a serial technology entrepreneur and investor who took his first technology class at Illinois Tech. He didn’t say what he’ll do next, though he’s involved with several startups.

The institute is named for Ed Kaplan, founder of Zebra Technologies, one of the Chicago area's early publicly traded technology companies, who got his undergraduate degree at Illinois Tech and contributed $11 million to the project. The distinctive 70,000-square-foot facility was the first major new building on the school’s Bronzeville campus in 50 years.