Bentley University announces alumni Woody Benson and Tom Koulopoulos as executives-in-residence beginning in fall 2010. In this new role each executive will teach graduate courses, mentor students, work with faculty and staff on curriculum initiatives, and serve in advisory roles. A 1980 alumnus, Woody Benson is an investor with Prism VentureWorks and a high-tech industry veteran of 30 years. A prolific thought leader in innovation, globalization and information technology, Tom Koulopoulos founded Boston-based technology management and advisory firm Delphi Group, and is a 1981 alumnus.

"We are thrilled that these two prominent alumni and great friends of Bentley are joining the Bentley community as executives-in-residence," notes Heikki Topi, associate dean of business at Bentley. "Their wealth of expertise, experience, and business acumen will be very beneficial to our students in their roles as instructors and mentors. We are all looking forward to collaborating with them and benefiting from their wise guidance and deep industry knowledge. This is an important milestone for our Executives-in-Residence program."

Benson and Koulopoulos will each teach two graduate courses per year beginning this fall. Benson will teach a Corporate Immersion course with Perry Lowe, senior lecturer in Marketing at Bentley; and Koulopoulos will teach Management of Innovation. Both will serve in various advisory capacities related to curriculum development, executive education, and relationships between the academic and corporate communities.

As the head of Prism VentureWork's digital media practice, Benson is a director for LogMeIn, KickApps, Worldwide Biggies, 5:1, Expo and Conduit Labs. Previously he was on the board of Maven Networks, acquired by Yahoo!; and M:Metrics, acquired by comScore. Before making his mark in venture capital, Benson had an extensive business operations career  including serving as chairman, president and CEO of MCK Communications and senior executive roles at Shiva Corporation and Lotus Development.

Benson's proven know-how of the industry has been recognized with CEO of the Year honors from the Massachusetts Telecom Council, which in 1999 lauded his work as chairman, president and CEO of MCK Communications. Most recently, Benson's business acumen  put him on the Venture Capital 100 list, compiled by media company AlwaysOn to recognize investors who backed the most profitable companies from 2005 to 2009. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on topics from redefining venture capital to trends in digital media. He serves on the board of the Massachusetts Network Communications Council, the MIT Enterprise Forum 10-250 Committee, The American Red Cross-Metro West, and the Bentley Private Equity Council.

"During the past year, I've had the opportunity to teach a Corporate Immersion course using KickApps, one of my portfolio companies, and a Directed Study Project on Augmented Reality," Benson notes. "I've seen the benefits that Bentley students can bring to diverse corporate partners and how personally rewarding it is to help our graduate students solve current business problems. My decision to serve as an executive-in-residence this year is part of my continuing commitment to work with Bentley to provide the most relevant and realistic training ground for tomorrow's international business leaders."

Koulopoulos was named one of the industry's most influential information management consultants by InformationWeek Magazine. Under his leadership, Delphi group opened global offices and ranked on the Inc. 500|5000 List of America's fastest-growing private companies. In a senior executive role at Perot Systems Innovation Labs he established and led a global organization dedicated to tracking, analyzing, and delivering thought leadership on all aspects of innovation in technology and services. Koulopoulos founded IndividualTV, a Boston-based provider of high quality web-broadcasting solutions for professional education. He was a founding board member of KYOS clinical records management firm, and a founding board member of Content Integrity, a provider of high tech solutions for disaster recovery.

"Bentley's vision and ambition to produce well-rounded leaders who understand a broad spectrum of business disciplines is a must in today's complex markets," says Koulopoulos. "Having watched that vision mature over the past three decades, and admiring it from a distance, I am thrilled to now be able to contribute to this outstanding institution by bringing some of my experience back to the same classrooms that once inspired me."

Koulopoulos is an accomplished author of books that include The Innovation Zone, Smartsourcing, Corporate Instinct, Smart Companies, Smart Tools, and The X-economy. During the past two decades his works have introduced core industry concepts, frameworks and vernacular such as single point of access, touch points, digital control rooms, business operating systems and corporate IQ, that are widely used today in describing the impact of technology on business. In addition to Bentley, his academic resume includes executive director at the Babson College Center for Business Innovation and roles at Boston College, Boston University and Harvard University.