VIC Tech is pleased to announce the appointment of Varun Vijay Rao, a global executive with extensive international leadership and P&L experience across life sciences, specialty chemicals, and industrial businesses, to its Strategic Advisory Board (SAB). Rao brings expertise spanning general management, operations, strategy, sourcing, sustainability, and corporate transactions.
Rao is Senior Vice President and Chief Supplier Management Officer at Actylis, where he leads global supplier management and procurement for a portfolio serving the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, nutrition, agricultural, and specialty chemicals markets.
Previously, Rao held leadership roles with CIRCOR, Actuant, ArvinMeritor, and Cummins. He also founded Radeo, where he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board.
"We are excited to welcome Varun to the Strategic Advisory Board," said Calvin Goforth, VIC Tech CEO. "His experience leading global operations and supply chains, along with his perspective as a founder, will be a valuable resource for our portfolio companies as they move from the lab into manufacturing and commercial scale."
Rao has served on commercial and nonprofit boards and brings a governance perspective grounded in strategic oversight, enterprise risk management, supply-chain resilience, responsible sourcing, management accountability, and sustainable long-term value creation. He holds degrees from Elon University and North Carolina State University.
Rao joins the industry leaders on the VIC Tech Strategic Advisory Board, where he will advise on operations, governance, and supply-chain strategy for VIC's early-stage life science and deep tech ventures.
About VIC Tech:
VIC's unique investment model sources innovation directly from universities nationwide, offering funding to form new start-up companies and advance these technologies. In addition to the initial capital, VIC provides its portfolio companies with business and scientific resources, including interim management, accounting, marketing, engineering support, and more. For more information, please visit victech.com