Professor of Practice, Watts College, Arizona State University
Senior Fellow, University Design Institute, Arizona State University
Dr. Shangraw is an entrepreneur and academic who has dedicated his career to thoughtfully scaling organizations and revolutionizing the landscape of global higher education. He currently serves as the President of Cintana education and holds a number of positions within Arizona State University (ASU). At Cintana, Rick collaborates with Arizona State and other academic institutions around the globe to help them scale and prosper. He oversees Cintana’s professional services teams and is the executive sponsor for partnerships in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and India. As an extension of Cintana’s partnership with American University Kyiv, Rick served as their founding president from November 2021 to May 2023.
After 15 years as a senior executive at ASU, named the most innovative university in the country by U.S. News and World Report 9 years in a row, Rick has learned how to handle the unique challenges that come with growing a large university enterprise. He helped ASU establish itself as one of the fastest-growing research enterprises in the United States during his time as senior vice president for research and innovation. Under his leadership, nearly 5,000 distinct research projects were awarded over $1.2 billion in funding.
In 2011, Dr. Shangraw became the chief executive officer of the ASU Foundation and from 2016 to 2019 transitioned his role into the founding CEO of ASU Enterprise Partners. During his nine-year tenure, ASU Enterprise Partners grew its assets from $500 million to $1.5 billion, spanning five subsidiaries raising resources through philanthropy, real estate, technology commercialization, applied research, and venture partnerships. Rick currently serves as a Professor of Practice in the School of Public Affairs within the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and a senior fellow with ASU’s University Design Institute.
Prior to his tenure at ASU, Rick was the founder and CEO of Project Performance Corporation, a Washington, D.C.-based research and technology consulting firm specializing in environmental, energy, and information management challenges. He advised the U.S. Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Energy, as well as Fortune 100 companies.
Dr. Shangraw began his career in academia as a tenure-track faculty member at Syracuse University where he received a doctorate in public administration with a specialization in technology and information policy and organization design from the Maxwell School. He also sits on the Board of Trustees for his undergraduate alma mater, Dickinson College.