The South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) has announced that Adrian Grimes was named Director of Marketing & Communications on April 6.

“We’re extremely pleased to have Adrian join our team. She brings a diverse marketing and communications background spanning business, government, and most recently healthcare. Our marketing communications not only includes what we do here at SCRA, but we also have many opportunities for shared and cross promotions with our many partners and stakeholders throughout the state,” said Bob Quinn, Executive Director. “She will be an asset for our internal and external communications as well as in growing those external relationships.”

Grimes is responsible for the overall planning, development, and tactical hands-on implementation of SCRA’s marketing strategies and marketing communications. She also leads the operational aspects of marketing communications, including budgeting and staffing.

Prior to coming to the SCRA, Adrian Grimes led external affairs and marketing communications for the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance (SCTA) and the Medical University of South Carolina’s Center for Telehealth, headquarters of the SCTA, helping to expand services and insurance coverage into more than 400 telehealth sites across South Carolina. She also served on the board of directors for the Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society and on the business and financial sub-committee of the American Telemedicine Association where she helped develop the first online search tool for telehealth insurance coverage, pivotal to telehealth marketing.

Grimes earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Science from the Citadel Graduate College. She is based in SCRA’s Summerville office.
 
The SCRA fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy by accelerating technology-enabled growth in academia, entrepreneurship and industry. SCRA works with public and private sectors, including industry, to identify market trends and validate the commercial relevance of academic research that SCRA funds. SCRA’s programs and operations had an almost $700 million impact on the state’s economy during the last fiscal year.