Description
Managing Director, Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship
Guest Speakers
Brad Burke - Managing Director, Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship
Brad Burke, Managing Director of the Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship,
joined the Alliance from Viant Corporation, a global internet consulting firm, where he
founded and led the Houston office. He has a background in technology, entrepreneurship,
consulting, and energy. Prior to Viant, Brad was a principal with CSC Index (the management
consulting division of Computer Sciences Corporation) where he worked with companies in
the energy, distribution, and retail industries. Earlier in his career, Brad was an executive with
Exxon Corporation. He received his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate
School of Management and B.S. from Vanderbilt University.
Desh Deshpande - Chairman, Sparta Group LLC
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is the Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, A123 Systems (AONE),
Sycamore Networks (SCMR), Tejas Networks, Sandstone Capital and HiveFire.Prior to co-
founding Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande was founder and chairman of Cascade Commu-
nications Corp. Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous
donations have made possible MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
Dr. Deshpande holds a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technol-
ogy - Madras, an M.E.from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D from
Queens University in Canada. He and his wife are involved in several non-profit initiatives
that include support for MIT, IIT, Akshaya Patra Foundation, and the Social Entrepreneurship
Sandboxes in India and USA. Deshpande co-chairs a National Council to support President
Obama's innovation and entrepreneurship strategy with Mary Sue Coleman, President of the
University of Michigan and Steve Case co-founder of AOL.
Jackie Eastwood - Former CEO, Salient Surgical Technologies
Jackie Eastwood was co-founder and CEO of Salient Surgical Technologies, formerly know as
TissueLink Medical, Inc. Salient is located in Portsmouth, NH. Eastwood was a VP with Med-
tronic, Inc from 1987-1998. She has served on a number of public and private boards and is the
recipient of numerous awards for her contributions in entrepreneurial and technology initia-
tives. She was named as a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2003 and Ernst and Young Entrepreneur
of the Year in Medial Devices in 2004 and was a finalist in NH High Technology Council En-
trepreneur of the Year in 2006. She is the founder of The Global Child
(www.theglobalchild.org ), a school for street children in Cambodia. Eastwood is on the board
The Center for Family Business and CEO Forum at the Whittemore School of Business and
Economics at the University of New Hampshire.
Luka Erceg - Founder, President and CEO, Simbol Materials
Mr. Erceg is founder, President and CEO of Simbol Materials, a venture backed company com-
mercializing transformative technology that leverages renewable energy to create clean energy
storage materials. Mr. Erceg brings 12 years of transaction advisory experience predominantly
in the energy and energy technology sectors. Prior to founding Simbol Materials, Mr. Erceg
was engaged in private transactions related to oil & gas field telemetry, petroleum marketing
and coal gasification. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Strategic Development for Cen-
terPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) where he completed acquisitions of an oil & gas field telemetry
business, intellectual property licensing transactions, and pipeline and gas gathering systems.
While at El Paso Corp. (NYSE:EP), he led the valuation and analysis team for El Paso’s domes-
tic and international power asset portfolio of 77 power plants and restructured power assets as
Guest Speakers
part of a multi-billion dollar financing vehicle. Mr. Erceg holds a M.B.A. degree from Rice
University, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Economic Law from the University of
Houston’s Law Center, a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law, and a Bachelors (B.Com.)
in Marketing from the University of Guelph in Canada. Mr. Erceg was born and raised in To-
ronto, Canada, and now resides in Menlo Park, California with his wife, daughter, and son.
Jeff Fagnan - Partner, Atlas Venture
Jeff Fagnan is a Partner in the technology group at Atlas Venture, and focuses on very early
stage projects. Before joining Atlas Venture, Jeff was a Partner with Seed Capital Partners.
While at Seed Capital, Jeff was the lead and founding investor in several companies including
DataPower (acquired by IBM) and Polychromix (acquired by ThermoFisher). Before venture,
Jeff worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton and Nortel Networks. Jeff currently serves on the
Boards of Atlas portfolio companies AEB, AngelList, Bit9, DataXu, Grockit, Hopper, Keas,
Lucky Labs, Songbird and Veracode. Jeff is a founder of TUGG (Technology Underwriting
Greater Good), a non-profit foundation harnessing “Crowd-sourced Philanthropy” to catalyze
social innovation in New England. Jeff was also a founder of Koffee for Kids, a non-profit com-
pany in Rochester, New York. Jeff received his M.B.A. with distinction from the William E.
Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester and a B.S. from the Univer-
sity of Alaska.
Barry Fougere - CEO, Big Belly Solar
Chief Executive Officer of BigBelly Solar, Inc., the world’s first waste collection systems com-
pany that integrates renewable power and information technology to lower the operating
costs, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the waste collection
process by up to 80%. Former CEO and President of Colubris Networks, a leading global
wireless infrastructure company that was acquired by HP. At Colubris, grew revenues at an
average rate of 2.5 times per annum while increasing enterprise value more than 12x over four-
year tenure as CEO. During this period, Colubris operated at the highest ratio of revenue gen-
eration per dollar of invested capital of any private company in its industry. Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. Has served as a Partner with several professional and busi-
ness services firms. Launched Sunapee Advisors to provide advisory support to companies in
the energy/environmental sector, with an emphasis on resource efficiency (power, water,
waste) in facilities and/or industrial processes. Co-led global Energy Efficiency sector at
Heidrick & Struggles, the leading executive search and leadership advisory firm. Was a Part-
ner and Executive Committee member at Cambridge Strategic Management Group (CSMG), a
strategy consultancy serving the communications industry and venture capital investors in
this sectors. Prior to CSMG, was a Partner and office head at A.T. Kearney. Began career at
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, where he worked in R&D, manufacturing operations and
product management. Consistently active advisor to executives, Boards and investors in the
clean energy and high tech sectors. Serves on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Tech-
nology Leadership Council and the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technological
Literacy, an organization focused on advancing STEM education in the K-12 levels. Has been a
mentor with MIT’s Clean Energy Prize and Ignite Clean Energy competitions.
Guest Speakers
Kenneth W. Freeman - Dean, Boston University School of Management
Kenneth W. Freeman is the Allen Questrom Professor and Dean of Boston University School of
Management. Ken comes to Boston University with almost forty years of business experience,
most recently as a Member of the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
(KKR). During his tenure at KKR, Ken has taken an active role managing the firm’s invest-
ments in Accellent Inc., previously as Executive Chairman and Acting CEO, and currently as
Chairman; Masonite Inc., previously as Chairman and CEO and currently as a director; and
HCA, Inc. as a director. He continues as a Senior Advisor at KKR and serves on the firm’s
Portfolio Management Committee. Ken served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the leading provider of medical diagnostic testing services,
from 1997 through 2004. He joined Quest Diagnostics’ predecessor company, Corning Clinical
Laboratories, in 1995, and subsequently led its spin-off from Corning. By executing a dramatic
financial turnaround (establishing industry leadership, effecting expansion through acquisi-
tion, and driving organic growth), Ken created exceptional value for Quest Diagnostics’ share-
holders. The results of a recent study conducted at INSEAD rated Ken the 67th best perform-
ing CEO in the world. Quest Diagnostics provided the third highest five-year shareholder re-
turns among the Fortune 500 (1999-2003) and in 2004 was named to the BusinessWeek 50. The
company’s market capitalization increased from approximately $350 million at the time of the
spin-off to more than $9 billion. In 2004, he passed the Chairman and CEO position on to his
groomed successor. Ken began his career at Corning Incorporated in 1972, progressing
through the company’s financial function before leading several business turnarounds. An
outspoken proponent of the need to improve quality throughout the healthcare industry, Ken
introduced Six Sigma at Quest Diagnostics, became a Black Belt, and led defect reduction pro-
jects at the company. He has addressed industry groups on the subjects of Six Sigma quality
and improving patient safety. His thoughts on CEO succession planning, driving profitable
growth, the importance of culture and values, and executing turnarounds have been featured
in Harvard Business Review, and Strategy + Business, in addresses to business and academic
leaders, and in classrooms. Ken received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration,
summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Bucknell University in 1972, and an M.B.A. with Dis-
tinction from the Harvard Business School in 1976. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
Bucknell University, past chairman of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, and
served as lead director of TRW until it merged with Northrop Grumman Corporation in
2002. He also served on the 2004 National Association of Corporate Directors Blue Ribbon
Commission on Board Leadership.
Guest Speakers
Jack Gill, Ph.D. - Co-founder, Vanguard Ventures, Professor in the Practice of Entre-
preneurship, Rice University
Jack is the co-founder of Palo Alto-based Vanguard Ventures. In its first five funds, Vanguard
invested $155 million into 88 startups, producing over 30 winners, which returned over $1 bil-
lion to Vanguard’s investors, ranking it among the top Silicon Valley VC firms. Since 1999, he
has been teaching entrepreneurship courses at Harvard Medical School, MIT, Rice University,
UC Berkeley, UC Davis and University of College, London. He serves on the boards of M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, The Horatio Alger Association, Project Hope & the Presidents’ Circle
of the National Academies. Additionally, in 1997, Jack and his wife Linda established the Gill
Foundation of Texas to focus on educational philanthropy.
Dr. Richard D. Gill, President & CEO at ActiveCyte Holdings
Dr. Gill has over 28 years of strategic management, research, and technology commercializa-
tion experience in the life sciences industry. Until recently as President and Chief Executive
Officer of ProNAi Therapeutics, the Kalamazoo, MI, based DNAi Drug Development Com-
pany for which he & his team raised $11.5M of $13M invested in achieving an IND AP-
PROVED lead drug product PNT2258, in less than 2 year from the pre IND briefing meeting
with the FDA, & previously as President and Chef Executive Officer of Signet Laboratories the
Dedham, MA, based Evidence Based Medicine company, for which he led a successful M&A
strategy – sold to Covance, and prior to that Dr. Gill was the President and Chief Executive
Officer of AnVil, the Burlington, MA, based preeminent commercialization partner to the life
sciences industry focused on in silico drug discovery and drug development solutions. Prior
to AnVil Dr.Gill served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ActiveCyte, Newton, MA,
which provided an enterprise wide solution for pharmaceutical intellectual property licensing,
& was sold to Wolter’s Kluwer. Dr. Gill served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ge-
nome Therapeutics Corp; now Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GENE now OSCI), a
Waltham, MA, genomics company, which focuses on the commercialization of genomics-
based drug discovery. He had overall operational and strategic management responsibilities
and led the company's successful follow on financing efforts raising $55M. Prior to this Dr. Gill
served as General Manager and Senior Vice President of BTG International, Inc., a subsidiary
of BTG plc (LSE: BGC), a global leader in the patenting, marketing, and commercialization of
intellectual property rights. Earlier, he held positions of increasing responsibility in research
and general management with Unilever plc. in the United Kingdom. Dr. Gill holds a Ph.D. in
Endocrinology and a B.Sc. with honors in Physiology and Biochemistry from Reading Univer-
sity, UK.
Eugene Kuznetsov - Co-founder and Chairman, Abine
Eugene Kuznetsov is co-founder and Chairman of Abine, the online privacy company, where
he previously served as CEO. Before Abine, he was an executive at IBM, with responsibility for
product management and marketing of SOA appliances. In addition to his P&L management
duties, Kuznetsov was also a member of IBM Software Group Architecture Board and IBM
AIM (WebSphere) Strategy Council. Kuznetsov joined IBM through acquisition of DataPower
in October 2005, with substantial returns for all shareholders. He founded DataPower in 1999
based on his idea of combining dynamic compilation and network hardware technology to
Guest Speakers
simplify the process of securely connecting disparate applications. At DataPower, he served as
President, VP of Marketing, CTO and Chairman at various points in the company’s history.
Both Kuznetsov's business and technical leadership has received recognition, including the
prestigious InfoWorld Top 25 CTOs of 2005 and regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year 2006 awards. Kuznetsov earned a BSEE from MIT.
Hambleton Lord - Managing Director, Launchpad Venture Group
Hambleton (Ham) Lord has over 25 years experience in the software industry founding and
building industry leading companies. Currently, Ham is the Managing Director of Launchpad
Venture Group. Launchpad is a Boston-based angel group that focuses on seed stage technol-
ogy companies. He manages the group’s deal flow, due diligence and investing activities. Ham
is an active angel investor and advisor to early stage companies. He is a board member for
Building Engines and a board observer for EveryScape. Ham co-founded data visualization
vendor, Advanced Visual Systems. Ham helped launch two computational chemistry compa-
nies, MicroChem Technologies and Polygen. These companies were early developers of drug
discovery tools, and were part of an industry wide acquisition roll-up that resulted in Accel-
rys. Ham graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Brown.
Michael McClurken, Ph.D. - Former CTO, Salient Surgical Technologies
Michael McClurken, Ph.D. has over 30 years of experience managing the design and develop-
ment of medical devices in small startups and large organizations. He has published 15 techni-
cal papers on medical technology and has 19 US patents. Mike developed disposables for
American Hospital Supply, implantable vascular grafts for IMPRA (Bard), and the first trans-
venous defibrillation lead for CPI (Boston Scientific). Prior to joining Salient (now Medtronic
Energy) as VP of R&D in 1999 he was VP of R & D for Angiomedics II, a startup company fo-
cused on the development of a device using an ultraviolet laser to prevent restenosis after
coronary angioplasty.
Bill McCullen - Director, Launch Capital
Bill is an experienced private investor, with over 7 years backing companies in the networking,
semiconductor, clean energy and online markets. Bill has been in/around the Boston startup
scene for close to 15 years, previously holding senior level roles at companies such as Syca-
more Networks. Bill received his BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Bill is a lifelong
Bostonian who currently lives in the suburbs with his wife and 3 children. When he has time
he enjoys playing basketball and cycling.
Jeff Mullen - Founder and CEO, Dynamics Inc.
Jeff is the Chief Executive Officer of Dynamics Inc. which produces next generation payment
cards. Dynamics was the winner of the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition. Before his role
at Dynamics, Jeff served as a Patent Attorney at the Fish & Neave IP Group of Ropes and Gray
where he first began as a technical specialist, matured as a patent agent, and then excelled as a
patent attorney. Jeff earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship from Carnegie Mellon University,
his JD from the New York Law School, and his B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Guest Speakers
Peter Russo - Director, Entrepreneurship Programs, BU
Russo is an Executive-in-Residence who teaches Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Boston Uni-
versity School of Management. He is the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs for the Insti-
tute for Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization (ITEC). Russo teaches courses at
the MBA, executive, and undergraduate level, is responsible for the School’s Entrepreneurship
curriculum (both degree and non-degree) and serves as faculty advisor to the students concen-
trating in Entrepreneurship at the graduate and undergraduate level. In 2009, the School of
Management awarded him the Broderick Award for Service to the Graduate Programs. Prior to
joining the faculty at BU, Russo served as the CEO of Data Instruments, (currently Honeywell
Data Instruments). He currently serves on the Boards of Advisors and/or Boards of Directors
for a number of commercial and not-for-profit organizations. He has a BS in accounting and an
MBA from Harvard Business School where he was elected a Baker Scholar.
Nicholas Seet - Founding CEO, Auditude
Nicholas has been a serial-entrepreneur since his first startup concept was funded and he left
his software-development position at Deloitte Consulting. Since that time he has worked to
refine his business skills, serving at different times as CTO, CEO, and Founder of Auditude. A
part of Auditude (called IntoNow) was spun-off in 2010 and was acquired by Yahoo in 2011. In
November that same year, Auditude was acquired by Adobe Systems. Nicholas received his
MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2005. While there he participated in
and won the UCLA Knapp Business Plan Competition as well as the Rice University Business
Plan Competition, receiving over $1 million in funding and prizes. Nicholas received a BS in
engineering and BA in economics at Harvey Mudd College in 1999. Nicholas is Chinese by eth-
nicity and was born in Australia. He has two daughters, Anya and Maya. He enjoys public
speaking, creative writing, and being with his wife Vivien.
Matthew Witheiler - Principal, Flybridge Capital Partners
Matt is a Principal at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience
broadly cover companies and technologies across the information technology sector including
financial technology, digital media, semiconductors. Matt currently represents Flybridge Capi-
tal Partners on the board of Convoke Systems and serves as an observer on the boards of
DataXu, Sand 9, Saving Star, Simple Tuition and a portfolio company working in stealth. He
previously sat on the board of Ready Financial. He also sits on the board of The Capital Net-
work and is a Founding Executive Committee Member of FirstGrowth Venture Network, a net-
work of venture and angel investors supporting first and second time entrepreneurs building
exciting companies in the New York area. Matt joined the firm as a Senior Associate in July
2008 after completing his MBA at Harvard School of Business (HBS). Most recently, Matthew
was a Summer Associate at Jefferies Broadview in technology investment banking where he
advised on sale, IPO and debt strategies of various companies in the technology industry. Prior
to that, Matthew spent three years at ATI Technologies, a $4B 3D-graphics silicon provider. At
ATI, Matt focused on the integration of 3D graphics and digital video and was responsible for
the TV on the PC integrated circuit product line. He researched, led development and launched
the company’s flagship multimedia processor. Before joining ATI, Matt served for four years as
co-owner and Senior Hardware Editor of the successful hardware review website, Anand-
Tech.com, where he helped build one of the world’s largest hardware review sites.
doc_322230239.pdf
Managing Director, Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship
Guest Speakers
Brad Burke - Managing Director, Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship
Brad Burke, Managing Director of the Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship,
joined the Alliance from Viant Corporation, a global internet consulting firm, where he
founded and led the Houston office. He has a background in technology, entrepreneurship,
consulting, and energy. Prior to Viant, Brad was a principal with CSC Index (the management
consulting division of Computer Sciences Corporation) where he worked with companies in
the energy, distribution, and retail industries. Earlier in his career, Brad was an executive with
Exxon Corporation. He received his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate
School of Management and B.S. from Vanderbilt University.
Desh Deshpande - Chairman, Sparta Group LLC
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is the Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, A123 Systems (AONE),
Sycamore Networks (SCMR), Tejas Networks, Sandstone Capital and HiveFire.Prior to co-
founding Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande was founder and chairman of Cascade Commu-
nications Corp. Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous
donations have made possible MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
Dr. Deshpande holds a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technol-
ogy - Madras, an M.E.from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D from
Queens University in Canada. He and his wife are involved in several non-profit initiatives
that include support for MIT, IIT, Akshaya Patra Foundation, and the Social Entrepreneurship
Sandboxes in India and USA. Deshpande co-chairs a National Council to support President
Obama's innovation and entrepreneurship strategy with Mary Sue Coleman, President of the
University of Michigan and Steve Case co-founder of AOL.
Jackie Eastwood - Former CEO, Salient Surgical Technologies
Jackie Eastwood was co-founder and CEO of Salient Surgical Technologies, formerly know as
TissueLink Medical, Inc. Salient is located in Portsmouth, NH. Eastwood was a VP with Med-
tronic, Inc from 1987-1998. She has served on a number of public and private boards and is the
recipient of numerous awards for her contributions in entrepreneurial and technology initia-
tives. She was named as a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2003 and Ernst and Young Entrepreneur
of the Year in Medial Devices in 2004 and was a finalist in NH High Technology Council En-
trepreneur of the Year in 2006. She is the founder of The Global Child
(www.theglobalchild.org ), a school for street children in Cambodia. Eastwood is on the board
The Center for Family Business and CEO Forum at the Whittemore School of Business and
Economics at the University of New Hampshire.
Luka Erceg - Founder, President and CEO, Simbol Materials
Mr. Erceg is founder, President and CEO of Simbol Materials, a venture backed company com-
mercializing transformative technology that leverages renewable energy to create clean energy
storage materials. Mr. Erceg brings 12 years of transaction advisory experience predominantly
in the energy and energy technology sectors. Prior to founding Simbol Materials, Mr. Erceg
was engaged in private transactions related to oil & gas field telemetry, petroleum marketing
and coal gasification. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Strategic Development for Cen-
terPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) where he completed acquisitions of an oil & gas field telemetry
business, intellectual property licensing transactions, and pipeline and gas gathering systems.
While at El Paso Corp. (NYSE:EP), he led the valuation and analysis team for El Paso’s domes-
tic and international power asset portfolio of 77 power plants and restructured power assets as
Guest Speakers
part of a multi-billion dollar financing vehicle. Mr. Erceg holds a M.B.A. degree from Rice
University, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Economic Law from the University of
Houston’s Law Center, a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law, and a Bachelors (B.Com.)
in Marketing from the University of Guelph in Canada. Mr. Erceg was born and raised in To-
ronto, Canada, and now resides in Menlo Park, California with his wife, daughter, and son.
Jeff Fagnan - Partner, Atlas Venture
Jeff Fagnan is a Partner in the technology group at Atlas Venture, and focuses on very early
stage projects. Before joining Atlas Venture, Jeff was a Partner with Seed Capital Partners.
While at Seed Capital, Jeff was the lead and founding investor in several companies including
DataPower (acquired by IBM) and Polychromix (acquired by ThermoFisher). Before venture,
Jeff worked for Booz Allen & Hamilton and Nortel Networks. Jeff currently serves on the
Boards of Atlas portfolio companies AEB, AngelList, Bit9, DataXu, Grockit, Hopper, Keas,
Lucky Labs, Songbird and Veracode. Jeff is a founder of TUGG (Technology Underwriting
Greater Good), a non-profit foundation harnessing “Crowd-sourced Philanthropy” to catalyze
social innovation in New England. Jeff was also a founder of Koffee for Kids, a non-profit com-
pany in Rochester, New York. Jeff received his M.B.A. with distinction from the William E.
Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester and a B.S. from the Univer-
sity of Alaska.
Barry Fougere - CEO, Big Belly Solar
Chief Executive Officer of BigBelly Solar, Inc., the world’s first waste collection systems com-
pany that integrates renewable power and information technology to lower the operating
costs, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the waste collection
process by up to 80%. Former CEO and President of Colubris Networks, a leading global
wireless infrastructure company that was acquired by HP. At Colubris, grew revenues at an
average rate of 2.5 times per annum while increasing enterprise value more than 12x over four-
year tenure as CEO. During this period, Colubris operated at the highest ratio of revenue gen-
eration per dollar of invested capital of any private company in its industry. Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. Has served as a Partner with several professional and busi-
ness services firms. Launched Sunapee Advisors to provide advisory support to companies in
the energy/environmental sector, with an emphasis on resource efficiency (power, water,
waste) in facilities and/or industrial processes. Co-led global Energy Efficiency sector at
Heidrick & Struggles, the leading executive search and leadership advisory firm. Was a Part-
ner and Executive Committee member at Cambridge Strategic Management Group (CSMG), a
strategy consultancy serving the communications industry and venture capital investors in
this sectors. Prior to CSMG, was a Partner and office head at A.T. Kearney. Began career at
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, where he worked in R&D, manufacturing operations and
product management. Consistently active advisor to executives, Boards and investors in the
clean energy and high tech sectors. Serves on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Tech-
nology Leadership Council and the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technological
Literacy, an organization focused on advancing STEM education in the K-12 levels. Has been a
mentor with MIT’s Clean Energy Prize and Ignite Clean Energy competitions.
Guest Speakers
Kenneth W. Freeman - Dean, Boston University School of Management
Kenneth W. Freeman is the Allen Questrom Professor and Dean of Boston University School of
Management. Ken comes to Boston University with almost forty years of business experience,
most recently as a Member of the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
(KKR). During his tenure at KKR, Ken has taken an active role managing the firm’s invest-
ments in Accellent Inc., previously as Executive Chairman and Acting CEO, and currently as
Chairman; Masonite Inc., previously as Chairman and CEO and currently as a director; and
HCA, Inc. as a director. He continues as a Senior Advisor at KKR and serves on the firm’s
Portfolio Management Committee. Ken served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the leading provider of medical diagnostic testing services,
from 1997 through 2004. He joined Quest Diagnostics’ predecessor company, Corning Clinical
Laboratories, in 1995, and subsequently led its spin-off from Corning. By executing a dramatic
financial turnaround (establishing industry leadership, effecting expansion through acquisi-
tion, and driving organic growth), Ken created exceptional value for Quest Diagnostics’ share-
holders. The results of a recent study conducted at INSEAD rated Ken the 67th best perform-
ing CEO in the world. Quest Diagnostics provided the third highest five-year shareholder re-
turns among the Fortune 500 (1999-2003) and in 2004 was named to the BusinessWeek 50. The
company’s market capitalization increased from approximately $350 million at the time of the
spin-off to more than $9 billion. In 2004, he passed the Chairman and CEO position on to his
groomed successor. Ken began his career at Corning Incorporated in 1972, progressing
through the company’s financial function before leading several business turnarounds. An
outspoken proponent of the need to improve quality throughout the healthcare industry, Ken
introduced Six Sigma at Quest Diagnostics, became a Black Belt, and led defect reduction pro-
jects at the company. He has addressed industry groups on the subjects of Six Sigma quality
and improving patient safety. His thoughts on CEO succession planning, driving profitable
growth, the importance of culture and values, and executing turnarounds have been featured
in Harvard Business Review, and Strategy + Business, in addresses to business and academic
leaders, and in classrooms. Ken received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration,
summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Bucknell University in 1972, and an M.B.A. with Dis-
tinction from the Harvard Business School in 1976. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
Bucknell University, past chairman of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, and
served as lead director of TRW until it merged with Northrop Grumman Corporation in
2002. He also served on the 2004 National Association of Corporate Directors Blue Ribbon
Commission on Board Leadership.
Guest Speakers
Jack Gill, Ph.D. - Co-founder, Vanguard Ventures, Professor in the Practice of Entre-
preneurship, Rice University
Jack is the co-founder of Palo Alto-based Vanguard Ventures. In its first five funds, Vanguard
invested $155 million into 88 startups, producing over 30 winners, which returned over $1 bil-
lion to Vanguard’s investors, ranking it among the top Silicon Valley VC firms. Since 1999, he
has been teaching entrepreneurship courses at Harvard Medical School, MIT, Rice University,
UC Berkeley, UC Davis and University of College, London. He serves on the boards of M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, The Horatio Alger Association, Project Hope & the Presidents’ Circle
of the National Academies. Additionally, in 1997, Jack and his wife Linda established the Gill
Foundation of Texas to focus on educational philanthropy.
Dr. Richard D. Gill, President & CEO at ActiveCyte Holdings
Dr. Gill has over 28 years of strategic management, research, and technology commercializa-
tion experience in the life sciences industry. Until recently as President and Chief Executive
Officer of ProNAi Therapeutics, the Kalamazoo, MI, based DNAi Drug Development Com-
pany for which he & his team raised $11.5M of $13M invested in achieving an IND AP-
PROVED lead drug product PNT2258, in less than 2 year from the pre IND briefing meeting
with the FDA, & previously as President and Chef Executive Officer of Signet Laboratories the
Dedham, MA, based Evidence Based Medicine company, for which he led a successful M&A
strategy – sold to Covance, and prior to that Dr. Gill was the President and Chief Executive
Officer of AnVil, the Burlington, MA, based preeminent commercialization partner to the life
sciences industry focused on in silico drug discovery and drug development solutions. Prior
to AnVil Dr.Gill served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ActiveCyte, Newton, MA,
which provided an enterprise wide solution for pharmaceutical intellectual property licensing,
& was sold to Wolter’s Kluwer. Dr. Gill served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ge-
nome Therapeutics Corp; now Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GENE now OSCI), a
Waltham, MA, genomics company, which focuses on the commercialization of genomics-
based drug discovery. He had overall operational and strategic management responsibilities
and led the company's successful follow on financing efforts raising $55M. Prior to this Dr. Gill
served as General Manager and Senior Vice President of BTG International, Inc., a subsidiary
of BTG plc (LSE: BGC), a global leader in the patenting, marketing, and commercialization of
intellectual property rights. Earlier, he held positions of increasing responsibility in research
and general management with Unilever plc. in the United Kingdom. Dr. Gill holds a Ph.D. in
Endocrinology and a B.Sc. with honors in Physiology and Biochemistry from Reading Univer-
sity, UK.
Eugene Kuznetsov - Co-founder and Chairman, Abine
Eugene Kuznetsov is co-founder and Chairman of Abine, the online privacy company, where
he previously served as CEO. Before Abine, he was an executive at IBM, with responsibility for
product management and marketing of SOA appliances. In addition to his P&L management
duties, Kuznetsov was also a member of IBM Software Group Architecture Board and IBM
AIM (WebSphere) Strategy Council. Kuznetsov joined IBM through acquisition of DataPower
in October 2005, with substantial returns for all shareholders. He founded DataPower in 1999
based on his idea of combining dynamic compilation and network hardware technology to
Guest Speakers
simplify the process of securely connecting disparate applications. At DataPower, he served as
President, VP of Marketing, CTO and Chairman at various points in the company’s history.
Both Kuznetsov's business and technical leadership has received recognition, including the
prestigious InfoWorld Top 25 CTOs of 2005 and regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year 2006 awards. Kuznetsov earned a BSEE from MIT.
Hambleton Lord - Managing Director, Launchpad Venture Group
Hambleton (Ham) Lord has over 25 years experience in the software industry founding and
building industry leading companies. Currently, Ham is the Managing Director of Launchpad
Venture Group. Launchpad is a Boston-based angel group that focuses on seed stage technol-
ogy companies. He manages the group’s deal flow, due diligence and investing activities. Ham
is an active angel investor and advisor to early stage companies. He is a board member for
Building Engines and a board observer for EveryScape. Ham co-founded data visualization
vendor, Advanced Visual Systems. Ham helped launch two computational chemistry compa-
nies, MicroChem Technologies and Polygen. These companies were early developers of drug
discovery tools, and were part of an industry wide acquisition roll-up that resulted in Accel-
rys. Ham graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Brown.
Michael McClurken, Ph.D. - Former CTO, Salient Surgical Technologies
Michael McClurken, Ph.D. has over 30 years of experience managing the design and develop-
ment of medical devices in small startups and large organizations. He has published 15 techni-
cal papers on medical technology and has 19 US patents. Mike developed disposables for
American Hospital Supply, implantable vascular grafts for IMPRA (Bard), and the first trans-
venous defibrillation lead for CPI (Boston Scientific). Prior to joining Salient (now Medtronic
Energy) as VP of R&D in 1999 he was VP of R & D for Angiomedics II, a startup company fo-
cused on the development of a device using an ultraviolet laser to prevent restenosis after
coronary angioplasty.
Bill McCullen - Director, Launch Capital
Bill is an experienced private investor, with over 7 years backing companies in the networking,
semiconductor, clean energy and online markets. Bill has been in/around the Boston startup
scene for close to 15 years, previously holding senior level roles at companies such as Syca-
more Networks. Bill received his BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Bill is a lifelong
Bostonian who currently lives in the suburbs with his wife and 3 children. When he has time
he enjoys playing basketball and cycling.
Jeff Mullen - Founder and CEO, Dynamics Inc.
Jeff is the Chief Executive Officer of Dynamics Inc. which produces next generation payment
cards. Dynamics was the winner of the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition. Before his role
at Dynamics, Jeff served as a Patent Attorney at the Fish & Neave IP Group of Ropes and Gray
where he first began as a technical specialist, matured as a patent agent, and then excelled as a
patent attorney. Jeff earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship from Carnegie Mellon University,
his JD from the New York Law School, and his B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Guest Speakers
Peter Russo - Director, Entrepreneurship Programs, BU
Russo is an Executive-in-Residence who teaches Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Boston Uni-
versity School of Management. He is the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs for the Insti-
tute for Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization (ITEC). Russo teaches courses at
the MBA, executive, and undergraduate level, is responsible for the School’s Entrepreneurship
curriculum (both degree and non-degree) and serves as faculty advisor to the students concen-
trating in Entrepreneurship at the graduate and undergraduate level. In 2009, the School of
Management awarded him the Broderick Award for Service to the Graduate Programs. Prior to
joining the faculty at BU, Russo served as the CEO of Data Instruments, (currently Honeywell
Data Instruments). He currently serves on the Boards of Advisors and/or Boards of Directors
for a number of commercial and not-for-profit organizations. He has a BS in accounting and an
MBA from Harvard Business School where he was elected a Baker Scholar.
Nicholas Seet - Founding CEO, Auditude
Nicholas has been a serial-entrepreneur since his first startup concept was funded and he left
his software-development position at Deloitte Consulting. Since that time he has worked to
refine his business skills, serving at different times as CTO, CEO, and Founder of Auditude. A
part of Auditude (called IntoNow) was spun-off in 2010 and was acquired by Yahoo in 2011. In
November that same year, Auditude was acquired by Adobe Systems. Nicholas received his
MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2005. While there he participated in
and won the UCLA Knapp Business Plan Competition as well as the Rice University Business
Plan Competition, receiving over $1 million in funding and prizes. Nicholas received a BS in
engineering and BA in economics at Harvey Mudd College in 1999. Nicholas is Chinese by eth-
nicity and was born in Australia. He has two daughters, Anya and Maya. He enjoys public
speaking, creative writing, and being with his wife Vivien.
Matthew Witheiler - Principal, Flybridge Capital Partners
Matt is a Principal at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience
broadly cover companies and technologies across the information technology sector including
financial technology, digital media, semiconductors. Matt currently represents Flybridge Capi-
tal Partners on the board of Convoke Systems and serves as an observer on the boards of
DataXu, Sand 9, Saving Star, Simple Tuition and a portfolio company working in stealth. He
previously sat on the board of Ready Financial. He also sits on the board of The Capital Net-
work and is a Founding Executive Committee Member of FirstGrowth Venture Network, a net-
work of venture and angel investors supporting first and second time entrepreneurs building
exciting companies in the New York area. Matt joined the firm as a Senior Associate in July
2008 after completing his MBA at Harvard School of Business (HBS). Most recently, Matthew
was a Summer Associate at Jefferies Broadview in technology investment banking where he
advised on sale, IPO and debt strategies of various companies in the technology industry. Prior
to that, Matthew spent three years at ATI Technologies, a $4B 3D-graphics silicon provider. At
ATI, Matt focused on the integration of 3D graphics and digital video and was responsible for
the TV on the PC integrated circuit product line. He researched, led development and launched
the company’s flagship multimedia processor. Before joining ATI, Matt served for four years as
co-owner and Senior Hardware Editor of the successful hardware review website, Anand-
Tech.com, where he helped build one of the world’s largest hardware review sites.
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