Pavita is an entrepreneurial leader with experience in business development, marketing, strategy, program management, new products, launches, business planning, and building ecosystems at start-ups, academic institutions and large organizations. Most recently, Pavita served as Director of Entrepreneurship Partnerships at Rutgers University, where she worked with internal and external partners to grow Rutgers’ entrepreneurial ecosystem, bring visibility to Rutgers affiliated start-ups, and connect them to valuable resources at the university and across the broader New Jersey entrepreneurial network. In addition, Pavita worked with start-ups in the Rutgers community who were bringing innovations to market in a variety of industries, including life sciences, healthcare, technology, digital health, food and agriculture and climate/sustainability technologies.
Prior to Rutgers, Pavita spent her career working in marketing and leadership roles at start-ups in California and New Jersey. Her first entrepreneurial experience was with Forte, a San Diego-based technology start-up which was acquired by Genesys in San Francisco, where Pavita led the Marketing Launch team until the company’s acquisition by Alcatel. Pavita has served as a mentor and advisor at TechLaunch NJ and the NJ Technology Council (now TechUnited) and a co-organizer at Morris Tech Meetup in New Jersey. She has appeared multiple times on the ROI-NJ Influencers in Technology list and was also named on ROI-NJ’s Influencers in Higher Education list in 2022.
As BioNJ’s Vice President, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Pavita will engage and support the life sciences entrepreneurial community and innovation ecosystem expanding BioNJ’s outreach and collaboration with investor, academic, industry and government partners with the intention to increase successful entrepreneurship. Additionally, Pavita will lead the BioNJ BioPartnering Conference forging new opportunities and pathways for collaboration while building on its 10-year history of success.
Current role