Mihai Patru is an Entrepreneur in Residence on Social Entrepreneurship at the Office of Technology Partnerships, University of California in Riverside. Prior, he was a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of California in Riverside, where he designed and launched the first social entrepreneurship pre-accelerator at the University, SEED Lab.

He serves as Executive Director of Caravanserai Project, a hybrid mission-driven venture he co-founded in 2016 which focuses on identifying, mobilizing and supporting change makers along their journeys. He founded Mozaïque, a social business working with artisans around the world to develop mechanisms meant to increase their financial predictability. He was involved in various capacities with numerous social impact ventures as part of initiatives like Echoing Green, European Social Innovation Challenge and Mentor Capital Networks.

He started his professional career as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania serving in different capacities including advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Minister for Global Affairs. In 2015, he joined the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University, as Senior Fellow, and was the recipient of the U.S. State Department Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellowship (2013/2014 cohort). He completed his graduate work at Central European University in Budapest (MA '10) and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC (MIPP '17).