Phillip Denny is Director of Innovation & Social Impact at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley, where he leads the university’s flagship social impact accelerator, Big Ideas. Through this work, he has supported more than 3,000 interdisciplinary student teams in developing solutions to pressing social challenges. Under his direction, the program has secured millions in early-stage funding for student ventures and built a mentor network of more than 1,500 industry, government, and nonprofit leaders. Phillip has also forged cross-sector partnerships that strengthen social innovation ecosystems across higher education, collaborating with universities in the U.S. and internationally to design and scale entrepreneurship programs. He received UC Berkeley’s Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award in recognition of his leadership and contributions to the campus innovation community.