Asli Koksal

Asli Koksal brings more than 20 years of experience building programs, developing growth strategies, managing complex operations and cultivating partnerships across research, international development, nonprofit and academic settings. An operations and business development executive with expertise spanning strategic planning, finance, communications, partnerships and organizational development, she has built her career translating ambitious ideas into fundable, operationally sound initiatives that deliver measurable impact.

At the AI Plus Institute, Ms. Koksal serves as Associate Director and Chief Operations Officer, providing broad strategic and operational leadership as the Institute establishes and expands its role as a university-wide hub for interdisciplinary AI research, collaboration, and innovation. Working across the Institute and its affiliated centers, she helps build the organizational, financial, administrative, and partnership infrastructure needed to support and grow the research enterprise. 

Her portfolio spans Institute strategy and operations, external communications, partnerships, budget development and financial planning, business development, and institutional coordination. She leads efforts to strengthen the Institute's visibility and external engagement and represents AI Plus in university, government, industry, and public-facing forums. She also serves as a liaison to university administration and the Research Foundation, helping ensure that faculty and research teams have the institutional support, resources, and pre- and post-award infrastructure needed to advance their work.

In her concurrent role as Associate Director of the Center for Emerging Artificial Intelligence Systems (CEAIS), a $20 million research center established through a strategic partnership between UAlbany and IBM, Ms. Koksal supports the center's strategic development, competitive research grantmaking, portfolio management, operations and engagement with industry, academic, nonprofit and government partners. CEAIS brings together researchers working at the intersection of advanced computing hardware and emerging AI systems.

Before joining UAlbany, Ms. Koksal served on the leadership team of the U.S. Division at Education Development Center (EDC), a global research and development organization, where she led new business development. In that role, she directed division-wide growth strategy and the full business-development function, contributed to institutional strategic planning and board communications, and led the development of major initiatives connecting institutional expertise with emerging federal and philanthropic priorities across education, STEM, health, workforce development and economic opportunity.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Koksal has worked extensively across federal, philanthropic, academic and international development environments. She has cultivated funding relationships and developed initiatives for a wide range of U.S. government agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, State, and Veterans Affairs, as well as NSF, NIH and CDC. She has also worked with major private foundations, the World Bank, the United Nations, and multilateral and bilateral development institutions.

Earlier in her career, spanning multiple international development organizations, Ms. Koksal designed, launched and managed multi-year, multimillion-dollar programs across more than 15 countries in governance, economic growth, education and institutional development — managing complex programs, building country operations from the ground up, leading multidisciplinary teams, working directly with government counterparts and funders, and strengthening the operational and institutional systems required to deliver and scale complex initiatives.

Ms. Koksal has continued her professional development through Cornell University in project management, marketing strategy, sales growth and the design and development of AI solutions, and through Harvard University in sustainable development and blockchain innovation. She also brings a technical foundation that includes experience with programming languages including BASIC, COBOL, C and Python.

Across her career — from launching international programs and building new organizations to leading business development and helping establish a university-wide AI institute — Ms. Koksal has combined operational discipline with strategic and financial leadership, communications, business-development expertise, and partnership building. At UAlbany, she draws on this multidisciplinary experience to strengthen the institutional foundation, external relationships, funding strategy and organizational capacity needed to advance the Institute's research mission and long-term growth.