Kimberly Gramm

Kimberly Gramm is Managing Director of Tulane Ventures and a member of the leadership team building Tulane University's innovation and entrepreneurial pipeline. With more than 18 years of early-stage technology venture development experience, she has helped create over 390 university-affiliated startups that have collectively raised more than $500 million in investment capital, and has secured over $12 million in federal and economic development grants for research and commercialization. She is part of the team recently awarded $160 million by the National Science Foundation for FUEL, an engine grant supporting energy transformation across Louisiana, and currently serves on FUEL's Governing Board as co-Chair of the Translation of Innovation to Practice/Technology Commercialization committee. 

Kimberly leads Tulane Ventures, a $10 million seed fund investing in biotech and life science, energy, and AI/machine learning startups, and previously founded two university accelerators and a university venture fund focused on energy commercialization. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida, an MBA from UT, and a PhD from Texas Tech University. Under her leadership, the Tulane University Innovation Institute earned the 2024 Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, and in 2026 she received the Scott Gale Memorial Award for her leadership in Gulf South ecosystem building.