John Hardin is the Acting Executive Director for the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology.  The Board advises and makes recommendations to the North Carolina Governor, General Assembly, Secretary of Commerce, and Economic Development Board on the role of science and technology in the economic growth and development of the state.  Created in 1963 (the first such organization in the US), the Board has been responsible for the creation of a number of internationally recognized initiatives to catalyze the transformation of the North Carolina economy by leveraging university research, science, entrepreneurship, and technology-based economic development.

Hardin’s duties include developing and justifying legislation related to defining statewide research capacity and structure; implementing science and technology-related economic development policy and resource allocations; research, analysis, and review of substantive policy issues and proposals; preparing public policy and budget analyses; preparing and presenting high-level state policy briefings, assessments, and reports to policy makers and external constituencies; conducting strategic planning and making recommendations for technology-based economic development; directing and overseeing strategic initiatives with impact at the state level; and overseeing the administration of grant programs to support technology commercialization by North Carolina small businesses.

From 1998 to 2003, he served as Assistant Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs at the UNC General Administration.  The division advises and assists the University president in the planning, administrative review, development, promotion, and evaluation of research and sponsored programs within the 16 UNC institutions.

From 1998 to 2005, he held an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Department of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he taught courses on American government, political institutions, and state and local politics.  He currently holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Department of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he teaches courses on American politics, public policy, and policy analysis.  His research and teaching interests focus on American politics and public policy, particularly on how legislative and executive institutions simultaneously shape and respond to changing issue agendas.  He has published articles in the Journal of Politics the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and the Economics of Innovation and New Technologies, book chapters in Policy Dynamics and Pathways to High-tech Valleys and Research Triangles, and several administrative and policy reports for UNC and state government.

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hardin holds the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a B.A. in economics from Baylor University.  He, his wife Jane, and their two daughters live in Durham.