Cumulative funding secured across Fields Institute and George Brown College
Strategic advisory · Toronto
Move complex ideas
into collective action.
Mobilizing knowledge into institutional impact at scale. I advise research institutions, innovation teams, and public-purpose organizations on growth, capital strategy, partnerships, and research commercialization.
Scientist · Founder · Strategist
Toronto
FrameFundConveneScale
For consequential work that crosses disciplines, sectors, and geographies.
Strategy → Funding → Partnerships → ImpactCareer outcomes
Selected results across research, innovation, and institutional leadership.
Growth path advanced—from the long-standing $10M provincial baseline to a submitted $16.25M request for 2026–2030
Operating-budget growth delivered from 2020–2024
Industry and fee-for-service projects closed
Public–Private Innovation Partnership — Reactivated a collaboration stalled for three years with the Fields Multiplier team, securing a $40K RBC pilot within 2.5 months to translate RBC’s existing IP into industry value.
Stalled partnerships advanced across sectors, communities, and international borders
01 / Practice
Clarity for work
with many moving parts.
01
Growth & institutional strategy
Shape positioning, growth priorities, governance, organizational design, and change programs that translate ambition into an executable portfolio.
02
Funding architecture & capital strategy
Build fundable narratives, renewal strategies, partner coalitions, and diversified capital pathways for complex institutional initiatives.
03
Research commercialization
Connect scientific expertise with market need, operating models, and industry relationships so research can move toward practical adoption.
04
Partnerships & stakeholder alignment
Align academia, industry, government, and community partners through purposeful engagement, strategic convening, and a clear value exchange.
02 / Approach
A practice built for the space between expertise and execution.
See the whole system.
Start with the people, pressures, evidence, and incentives already in the room—including the ones usually left outside it.
Make strategy usable.
Reduce complexity to a sharp set of choices, a shared story, and a sequence of decisions an organization can actually carry.
Create durable momentum.
Bring partners into the work early, define the value exchange, and leave behind ownership—not dependency.
03 / Experience
Evidence across
the full journey.
Mallika’s path spans science, venture building, commercialization, research operations, and executive strategy. The through-line is an ability to turn expert knowledge into institutions, partnerships, and programs that perform.
01
2019—2026 · Institutional strategy
The Fields Institute
Progressed from Research Grants Manager to Senior Strategy Officer and Head of Strategy. Secured $19.4M+ in funding, helped deliver 50% operating budget growth, and architected a provincial renewal strategy advancing a 62.5% funding increase for 2026–2030.
See the work at Fields02
2017—2019 · Research operations
University of Toronto
Managed a $22M+ multi-stakeholder research portfolio at the Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials, supporting 35+ researchers and a network of 60+ partners while overseeing operations, budgets, reporting, and audits.
03
2014—2015 · Commercial growth
George Brown College
Repositioned a government-funded innovation centre, secured $14M+ in expansion funding, increased cost recovery from 30% to 100%, and closed 30+ industry and fee-for-service projects.
04
Science & entrepreneurship
From nanomedicine to venture building
Earned a PhD in Nanomaterials & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, published seven first-author papers, co-authored Commercializing Nanotechnology for Medicine, founded a clean- technology venture, and co-founded a sustainability education platform that partnered with 16 TDSB schools.
Read the U of T founder profile04 / Perspective
What leadership with integrity means.
Thriving institutions require transparent decisions, meaningful access, responsible stewardship, and recognition of the people whose knowledge makes progress possible.
“Leadership must widen access—and govern responsibly.”
05 / Contact
Have a complex idea
that needs to move?
Let’s talk about the decision, initiative, or partnership in front of you—and what it will take to turn it into meaningful action.
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