Scott E. Friedman, partner, co-leader of Lippes Mathias’ startups & venture capital and family business practice teams, and immediate past chairman of the firm, has been reappointed to the University at Buffalo Council. The UB Council serves as the primary oversight and advisory body to the University at Buffalo and its president and senior officers. Established in accordance with New York State Education Law, the council consists of ten members, nine who are appointed to seven-year terms by the governor of the State of New York, and one student member who is elected to an annual term by the university’s students. Among the regular duties of the council are reviewing all major plans and activities of the university in the areas of academics, student life, finances, buildings and grounds, as well as making recommendations and regulations for the benefit of the university in matters of community and alumni relations. One of the council's foremost, albeit infrequent, responsibilities is to recommend candidates to the state university trustees to serve as campus president. 

In addition to his role as a partner at Lippes Mathias, Scott Friedman is the co-founder and managing director of Varia Ventures, a management consulting firm with a capital raising platform, and a general partner in Impact Capital of New York, LLC, an Upstate New York venture capital fund. The author of seven books and over 100 articles on business, he serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the University at Buffalo’s School of Management. Friedman is also a frequent speaker at professional, university, and corporate-sponsored events across the United States on a variety of topics, including entrepreneurship, innovation, and family businesses. Working with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors across the United States, and as local counsel for companies with headquarters in China, Canada, and Europe, Friedman provides guidance on a range of issues, including strategy, financing, and innovation. His work also includes providing counsel on strategic joint ventures and other forms of cooperative agreements and his experience includes negotiating joint ventures with strategic partners in China, Europe, Israel, and Canada. Helping to pioneer the application of a variety of new strategies informed by melding traditional legal, economic, and business principles with insights from science, including the fields of positive psychology, social neuroscience, and behavioral economics, Friedman also assists with cultural transformations, effective governance, and dispute resolution and conflict management. In addition to sitting on a number of private company boards, Friedman is an active volunteer in the WNY community, currently serving on the Daemen College Board of Trustees, the board of directors of the WNY Law Enforcement Foundation, and the Western New York Venture Association. 

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