Adam Klein

Associate Vice President for Economic Development

adam.klein@duke.edu

Adam Klein is the Associate Vice President for Economic Development at Duke University. In this role, Klein leads and develops programs to positively impact economic opportunity across the Duke and Durham communities. His areas of focus include housing, workforce development, and economic mobility.

Prior to Duke, Adam led the American Tobacco Campus, an award-winning mixed-use historic renovation project totaling 1.3 million square feet. The Campus is home to global brands such as Clorox, RedHat, and GSK, startup companies, a high school, and 13 restaurants and retailers. Klein also led the American Underground, a home-grown tech hub based in Durham that serves over 250 startup companies. Under Klein’s leadership, American Underground was designated one of eight sites in the country to be part of Google for Entrepreneur’s Tech Hub network. This success garnered major national media coverage, including The Economist, Time Magazine, Fast Company, U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly, and TechCrunch, and prompted a visit by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. 

Originally from Brecksville, Ohio, he received his undergraduate degree from Denison University, where he was a two-time Academic All-American in golf, and holds a Master of Regional Planning with a specialization in economic development from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife, Manda, live in Durham with their three daughters.