Jonathan Pruitt is no stranger to North Carolina’s research ecosystem. 

Jonathan Pruitt (Courtesy of RTP)

After beginning his career in the Kentucky governor’s office and Council on Postsecondary Education, Pruitt spent more than 15 years working in the UNC System. He held senior leadership positions in finance and operations, including stints as vice chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill and chief operating officer for the system. Four years ago, he left the latter role for the University of Texas System, where he oversaw finance, real estate, and business operations for 13 public universities.

Now, Pruitt is back in the Tar Heel State—not at a university, though.

In July, the Research Triangle Foundation, which manages the Research Triangle Park, named Pruitt its next president and CEO. He succeeds Scott Levitan, a longtime real estate developer who worked at Harvard University, Georgia Tech, and Johns Hopkins University before joining the Research Triangle Foundation in 2017. Pruitt started September 15.

It’s a time of change for RTP, the 7,000-acre park that was founded in 1959 by government, business, and higher education leaders and made central North Carolina a top destination for research and technology companies. 

Levitan oversaw several efforts to make the park a destination not just for companies and their workers, but the greater public. That includes establishing Boxyard RTP, a food hall made of shipping containers; Frontier RTP, a coworking space in the former IBM offices; and Hub RTP, which is meant to be “the downtown of the largest research park in the United States.”

This summer, the companies and landowners behind RTP approved significant changes to the development standards that govern how land is used in the park. The rules will bolster the long-term initiative known as “RTP 3.0” and help transform the campus into a mixed-use development with retail and housing alongside the research spaces for which the park is known.

As CEO, Pruitt will play a key role in overseeing the initial implementation of the framework.

The Assembly spoke with him about his new job and his vision for the park.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

You have extensive experience working in higher education in North Carolina and you spent a few years in Texas. What about this role appealed to you and brought you back to N.C.?

Overall, my career has been at the intersection of higher ed, civic engagement, economic development, and industry partnerships, and this opportunity was one that was very special. I feel both an honor and a privilege to be in this position. I think it is a nice continuation of my career and will allow me to translate the work I’ve done in higher education administration to help lead the Foundation and RTP going forward. Whether at the University of Texas System, the University of North Carolina System, or even on campus at UNC-Chapel Hill, I’ve had the opportunity to lead strategy, finance, operations, real estate, capital, construction—all of those in the furtherance of the mission of the university. I feel it’s, really, a nice fit and married my background with this opportunity.

How might your time in higher education help you in this role? Are there things you anticipate being different or taking time to learn?

Some of the areas that are, I think, fundamental to success in either environment are building strong relationships and partnerships with a diverse set of stakeholders. I’ve had the opportunity to do that within a university system, and I think that translates well from the higher education environment to RTP. That’s the thing that excites me most. That’s what I’m spending most of my time on right now, is listening and reconnecting with those that I’ve worked with in the past, and building new relationships going forward. I see that as very core to who I am and my experience, but also core to the success of RTP.

There’s a lot going on at RTP right now, from the growth of the Hub to the start of RTP 3.0. How would you describe this moment in RTP’s long history?

I think it’s a really exciting moment. We just had approved RTP 3.0, which is the most significant rewrite of our land-use policies and, I think, will really unlock potential for our companies, for the park, and for the region and the state. I’m really excited about that, and I think that’s a testament to the leadership of Scott Levitan and the staff here at RTF and the board. A lot of years were spent planning for this, and now I come in at a time where execution is key. I’m really excited about helping drive RTP 3.0 in the future. It’s a long-range framework—a 50-year framework—so we’re in early stages.

Alongside this excitement for RTP, it’s been a challenging couple of years for the research industry. The environment may change again after last Tuesday’s election. How is RTP adapting?

RTP has evolved over seven decades and has been very successful at navigating change in all types of environments. I think that’s core to who RTP is, and I think that we are positioned well to compete for changing funding opportunities, areas of focus, the evolving technology landscape. Our strength has been in the life sciences and technology and advanced manufacturing. I expect that to continue, and I’m really optimistic about where we’re positioned competitively going forward.

In an interview with Axios last month, your predecessor said he believed “we do have to sort of re-establish RTP’s brand as a high-tech [research and development] center,” and that local universities could “play a major role in that.” Do you agree with that? 

I think RTP is a high-tech R&D center, and that’s core to what RTP is. I think the 3.0 initiative is additive to that, and our mission remains the same. The universities—the founding universities of RTP—have been and will continue to be critical to the success of RTP to the region and the state. I look forward to partnering with them closely as we move forward.

What’s your vision for what RTP will become under your leadership?

It’s early days. But I think what I would like to see is continued strong partnerships and collaborations between RTP and the region and universities. We’re really at a strong place right now. I would like to further that and take that to a stronger place, and continue to support the growth in the economic and innovation ecosystem in North Carolina. I think North Carolina is a very competitive state, and we can only become stronger. Demographics are strong. We expect many more North Carolinians over the next 10, 20, 30 years, and so how we plan for that and how we compete for that talent and produce that talent, I think, is going to be really critical. It’s very exciting.

Korie Dean is a higher education reporter for The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. She previously worked at The News & Observer, where she covered higher ed as part of the state government and politics team. She grew up in Efland and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.