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Space Investment Summit 3 Speaker Biographies
(Speakers are listed in order of appearance in the agenda. Click on red names below to view biographies.)
PAUL ECKERT, Ph.D.
Mr. Eckert is an International and Commercial Strategist at The Boeing Company.
As International and Commercial Strategist for Boeing's Space Exploration division, Dr. Eckert develops strategies to strengthen global business relationships and explore new commercial markets. He has become increasingly active in writing and speaking about the importance of international industrial cooperation to encourage innovation. Since joining the Boeing Company in 2003, Dr. Eckert has played a variety of roles, facilitating space exploration planning, infrastructure design, Earth observation, space science, government relations, and communications.
In 2001 and 2002, Dr. Eckert served as a Technology Policy Analyst in the Office of Space Commercialization, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., helping to develop policies promoting growth of the commercial space industry, both domestically and internationally. From 1999 through 2000, he was a Legislative Affairs Specialist at NASA, with responsibility for liaison with the U.S. Congress involving space and aeronautics, information technology, systems engineering, and technology transfer to industry. In 1997 and 1998, Dr. Eckert was science and technology advisor to U.S. Senator John Breaux, a prominent member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, having received a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). From 1986 through 1997, he gained expertise in productivity enhancement, as Director of Quality Improvement for a division of Henry Ford Health System.
Dr. Eckert holds a bachelor's degree with high honors in history from Harvard University, and a doctoral degree in psychology from Michigan State University, supplemented by postdoctoral training in organizational development. He is fluent in French and active in promoting international public-private partnerships to stimulate economic growth.
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PETER DIAMANDIS, M.D.
Dr. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation; CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation; Director of Space Adventures; and Chairman and Co-Founder of the Rocket Racing League.
Dr. Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector, including Zero Gravity Corporation, a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight Boeing 727-200 aircraft; the Rocket Racing League; and Space Adventures, the company which brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station.
In 1987, Dr. Diamandis co-founded the International Space University (ISU) where he served as the University's first managing director. Today he serves as a Trustee of the $30M ISU that is based in Strasbourg, France. Prior to ISU, Diamandis served as Chairman of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) an organization he founded at MIT in 1980. SEDS is the world's largest student pro space organization.
Dr. Diamandis attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and graduate degree in aerospace engineering. After MIT he attended Harvard Medical School where he received his M.D. In 2005 he was also awarded an honorary Doctorate from the International Space University.
Dr. Diamandis' mission is to open the space frontier for humanity. His personal motto is: "The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!"
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SHUBBER ALI
Shubber Ali is an Engagement Director within the Fast Innovation practice with the George Group, an Accenture Company.
Mr. Ali has over 12 years of experience in aerospace and high tech. He co-founded numerous technology and internet startups, from predictive modeling to consumer content. Previously, Mr. Ali was Manager of KPMG Space Consulting in Washington, DC., and worked on the strategic planning and financing of numerous commercial and defense satellite ventures, as well as technology commercialization projects for the Federal government (ISS and Sandia Labs) and university laboratories. He was the Group Manager of Risk Operations Strategy for Capital One, one of the leading credit card issuers in the United States. In addition, Mr. Ali has been a Director of a publicly traded telecommunications firm, held the post of President of the American Society of Sydney, and served on the Board of Directors of the California Space Authority, the Space Frontier Foundation, and the International Business Association of the Greater Los Angeles World Trade Centre Association.
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ROBERT (BOB) WERB
Mr. Werb is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Space Frontier Foundation.
Mr. Werb was an active partner in Rivercrest Realty Investors from 1976 until 2001. Rivercrest Realty Investors is a privately held, real estate firm that owns and manages a portfolio of garden apartments, shopping centers and office buildings with properties in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida. Since 2001, he has assumed a more passive role in Rivercrest Realty Investors and has been spending more time working on a variety of projects including the Space Frontier Foundation.
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LARRY AUSTIN
Mr. Austin is a merchant banker and former Wall Street lawyer.
Mr. Austin helped found/restructure companies in hi-tech corridors around MIT, NYC and Asia. He developed new financial products, transnational tax transfers, credit enhancement and non-traditional sale-leaseback techniques. As principal or advisor to select venture capital companies and allied organizations, he has also worked on economic development and technology infrastructure projects in Samoa, South Korea, China, and West Berlin. He has been principal/CEO in teams that acquired 200 businesses – involving $10 billion in financings. He was the first mover in several Asian markets including the team completing the first-ever trade with Chinese-GSE asset management companies, narrowly beating out the three largest investment banks in the world.
Mr. Austin is a graduate of Harvard Law School, 1980.
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PETTER KLEPPAN
Mr. Kleppan is a Managing Partner and Founding Member of NORROC Venture Partners LLC.
Mr. Kleppan founded NORROC in March 2005. He has won recognition from clients and partners alike for his creative mindset, winning instinct and strong personal drive. Previously, Mr. Kleppan was Offset and Industrial Participation Director at Fast Search & Transfer (FAST), an enterprise software company within search and data retrieval. At FAST he assisted in opening up new commercial markets in Asia and South America. Mr. Kleppan also brings experience from the public growth equity space, having advised GARP profile hedge funds with over $50B in assets under management on proprietary investment theses.
Recently at NORROC, Mr. Kleppan architected the equity build-up transaction and advised the Chairman and CEO (the acquirer) on the successful merger of Rocketplane Limited Corporation and Kistler Aerospace Corporation. Following the close of this transaction, it was announced in August 2006 that Rocketplane Kistler had received a NASA COTS free equity award of $207MM. In accordance with the plan, substantial equity was then built in less than nine months.
Mr. Kleppan holds a degree from the Norwegian School of Management (BI) and is an alum of the Handelshochschule Leipzig (HHL) in Germany. He was also enrolled in the Cornell University Silicon Valley program, organized by The Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship.
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REMIGIUS SHATAS
Mr. Shatas is CEO of Rymic Systems, Inc., an electronics manufacturer and a Partner in RNR Ventures, LLC, a seed capital company.
Previously, Mr. Shatas organized Cybex Computer Products Corporation in 1981, which had a successful IPO in 1995 (Nasdaq CBXC:NM) and which merged with Apex to form Avocent (Nasdaq AVCT:NM) in June 2000. He and his partner Robert R. Asprey (deceased) formed 2C Computing, Inc. in September 1999 and subsequently sold the company to Avocent in August 2002. He was named CEO of Rymic in September 2002.
Having invested in numerous startup companies, some of which have been successful, Mr. Shatas characterizes himself as an entrepreneur and inventor as well as a "recovering angel investor", now focused on talent discovery and enterprise formation.
He has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Alabama/Huntsville and serves as a trustee of several not-for-profit organizations.
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GEORGE PETRACEK
Mr. Petracek is the Managing Director of the Atrium Capital Corporation. Atrium Capital Corporation is recognized as a leader in managing outsourced venture programs for major corporations.
Mr. Petracek joined Atrium Capital Corporation in 2000. Previously, he was a Corporate Business Development Manager at Hewlett-Packard, where he focused on M&A and venture investments across various HP businesses. Prior to joining HP, he was a Vice President of Corporate Finance at Union Bank of Switzerland, working with telecommunications, industrial, utilities and financial institutions clients. Mr. Petracek was an Associate with Morgan Stanley in its M&A execution group. He began his professional career as a computer programmer for 3M.
Mr. Petracek earned his MBA from Stanford University and his MS degree in Cybernetics from CVUT Institute of Technology.
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THOMAS A. OLSON
Mr. Olson is the Managing Partner at Exodus Consulting Group LLC.
In the last 23 years, Mr. Olson has added value both in computer systems engineering and project management, as well as operations and investment analysis in financial services. As co-founder of Colonyfund.com, he helps engage the "alt.space" community in a realistic conversation concerning creative finance of, and business planning for, new space ventures. In his career, he has played a key role in projects for major firms in aerospace, civil engineering, communications, publishing and financial services. In 1987, he helped start up Sydney Capital, a cash and fund management firm. For the next three years he helped grow the firm's base of assets under management from $50 million to $250 million.
A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Olson's latest venture is Exodus Consulting Group, where he and his partners offer both independent due diligence services for tech sector VC investors and assist selected tech startups with structuring VC funding proposals.
Mr. Olson earned his undergraduate degrees in Biology at Portland State University and in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Washington. He is a founding member of the Mars Society and was elected an Advocate of the Space Frontier Foundation in 2003. Mr. Olson lectures frequently at national space advocacy conferences and is a frequent guest on talk-radio programs such as The Space Show. His topics center on the fiscal, regulatory and political challenges of private space commercialization, public perceptions of space and humanity's future in the high frontier.
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PER WIMMER
Mr. Wimmer is the Chief Executive Officer at Wimmer Space and Wimmer Financial.
Per Wimmer is expected to be one of the first Danish citizens ever to enter space. Whilst currently involved in space-related activities, corporate presentations about the project and preparations for his space launch in 2008, Per Wimmer is also working in investment banking, equities, at Man Securities, part of The MAN Group, a £ 7 Bn market cap financial company including Europe's largest (USD 54 Bn) listed Hedge Fund of Funds. At Man Securities, Per Wimmer advises various financial institutions on equity investments. Before, Mr. Wimmer worked at Collins Stewart in a similar capacity. From 1998 to 2002 he worked for Goldman Sachs & Co., leaving the company as Executive Director for Institutional Sales of European Equity products advising on investments to Scandinavian-based financial institutions.
During 1996-97, Mr. Wimmer was an Associate management consultant at McKinsey & Co. with a particular focus in the media sector. Until the end of the Jacques Delors administration in early 1996, he worked in the cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Union, Mr. Henning Christophersen, in a junior capacity. The VP responsibilities included the Monetary Union and the EU budget.
Mr. Wimmer's initial educational background was law, graduating with distinction from the LL.M. program at the University of London (1991-92) and receiving the B.A. and M.A. degrees in Law from the University of Copenhagen (1988-91, 1992-93). In 1998, he graduated from Harvard University as an MPA graduate with concentrations in business, finance and international relations. He received the Don K. Price Award for academic excellence, community contributions and potential leadership.
Alhough strong, the interest in space remained academic until 2000 when space tourism became a realistic possibility at which point Per Wimmer got involved. He bought the ticket from Plenge & Co and is now anticipated to be one of the first Danish citizens ever to enter space.
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STEVE BOWSHER
Mr. Bowsher is the Executive Vice President of In-Q-Tel, Inc.
Mr. Bowsher joined In-Q-Tel from InterWest Partners. While at InterWest, he served as General Partner, concentrating on the Enterprise software and Internet sector, and led and managed 13 investments in those sectors. Previously, Mr. Bowsher worked at E*TRADE, managing its value-added products and services. During his tenure at E*TRADE, he helped launch Destination E*TRADE, the company's award-winning Web site. Mr. Bowsher was also an early stage employee at two start-up companies, where he was responsible for revenue and distribution targets.
Mr. Bowsher has been a frequent speaker at industry-leading conferences such as the Wharton Technology Conference, IBF's Early Stage Investing Conference, Internet World Annual Conference, and Dow Jones Private Equity Summit, and has been frequently quoted as a subject matter expert in national publications including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Fortune magazine.
Mr. Bowsher graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received his MBA from Stanford.
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RICH HELFRICH
Mr. Helfrich is Managing Director at Alameda Capital LLC.
Rich was a founder of three semiconductor companies including Vitesse. He has held senior sales, marketing and strategy positions at AMD, California Micro Devices, Northrop and Hughes. Consulting clients have included Sun Microsystems, Corning and Philips Semiconductors. Prior to co-founding Alameda Capital, Rich spent three years with First Global Venture Capital AG of Germany, conducting due diligence and managing investments in the SF Bay Area.
Rich has taught business and marketing classes at the University of California extension. Rich holds an M.S.E.E. from CSULA and an A.B. in Physics from Occidental College, California. He also has a full pre-medical education in biology and biochemistry from CSULA.
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BENNETT DUBIN
Mr. Dubin is a Managing Partner at Asset Management Company.
Ben Dubin joined as a partner in 1998 and heads the Information Technology venture capital team at Asset Management Company. Ben has over 20 years working in technology, primarily as an engineer and technologist. He started as a hardware and software engineer at Lockheed Martin in 1985 designing EDA tools for chip- and board-level systems. In 1987, he joined Sun Microsystems and helped design and release a state of the art parallel software development environment. He then co-founded two start-up Silicon Valley companies: Full Source Software, an open source application software firm, and Los Altos Technologies, an open systems software security business. At Los Altos, he also served as Chief Technology Officer and a board member until the sale of the company. Ben also worked as an engineer or consultant at Netscape, Sybase, Sandisk, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (PRTM), Broadware and Vicinity. Ben was the senior manager for Enterprise Java at JavaSoft. His responsibilities included the introduction, management, and marketing of the EJB component technology as well as some other essential Java interfaces such as JNDI, JMS, RMI and JDBC technologies. He holds a patent on a technique for minimal information database restoration.
Ben holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Michigan, in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
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DAN RASTLER
Mr. Rastler is the Technical Leader and Program Manager of the Electric Power Research Institute's Distributed Resources business area.
As an early visionary of a "distributed power electric grid", Mr. Rastler conceived, developed and grew EPRI's distributed energy program which today provides a portfolio of products and services to the U.S. electric power industry. He is world-recognized authority on distributed generation and emerging alternative clean energy technologies, their applications, markets, and business opportunities; he is also an internationally recognized technical expert in stationary fuel cell power systems. Mr. Rastler has a network of professional contacts which include electric and gas utilities, leading and emerging early stage alternative energy companies, government, and private investment firms in North America, Europe and Japan.
Mr. Rastler has been a member EPRI's technical staff for twenty four years and he has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Davis and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
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MAURICE GUNDERSON
Mr. Gunderson is a Senior Partner at CMEA Ventures.
Mr. Gunderson joined CMEA Ventures in October 2006 to focus on investments in new and innovative energy sources and technologies. Maurice is a specialist in thermodynamics and energy technologies. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in the development of cryogenic equipment, energy systems, turbo-machinery, and computer-based control systems for process plants and pipeline systems. Previously, he co-founded Nth Power, a venture capital firm specializing in investments emerging from the global restructuring of the energy industry. Prior to founding Nth Power, Mr. Gunderson spent more than 20 years developing profitable products and launched five successful companies. He also has served on the board of directors of many energy technology companies, including Capstone Turbine, CellTech Power, Clean Air Power, Electronic Power Conditioning, H2Gen Innovations, Metallic Power, NanoGram, NEOPhotonics, Pentech Solution, Pentadyne Power, and STM Power. He currently serves on the board of CMEA Ventures portfolio company Superprotonic.
Mr. Gunderson has an MBA from Stanford University as well as MS and BA degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University. He is also a member of ASME, SAE, ASHRAE, AIAA and AEE, and a patent holder, Registered Professional Engineer, and pilot.
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NEVILLE MARZWELL, Ph.D.
Dr. Marzwell is a Manager of Advanced Concepts and Technology Innovations at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Neville Marzwell is the Manager for Advanced Concepts and Technology Innovation at NASA-Jet propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Dr. Marzwell has 33 years experience in defense and aerospace systems technologies in which he initiated various technology breakthroughs and paradigm innovations. His work expertise is in the area of robotics; power generation, management and transfer; sensors, guidance, navigations and controls. He has expertise in expediting moving concepts to prototype hardware to verify and validate the technology. He has managed projects such as space solar power, space based lasers, large optical systems for imaging far fainted objects, and high energy system developments. He has developed adaptive, distributive and hierarchical control systems for large space structures. He has done a multitude of hardware and software developments in the area of autonomous space systems, robotics, and teleoperated systems. Before joining JPL, he was program manager of Advanced Technology with the High Energy Laser research at the Rockedyne Division of Rockwell International where he developed innovative wavefront sensing and correction systems, and optical and sensor protection systems for surveillance satellites. At Honeywell Research Center he was instrumental in advances in infra-red detector technology, electro-optical materials and fiber optical systems. Neville worked at the Industrial Division of the World Bank with assignments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Dr. Marzwell was a Josephine de Karman fellow at the California Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, and Materials Science from Caltech, and a minor in International Economics. He has published 130 papers in refereed and professional journal and served on various national and international panels, workshop, conferences and symposium committees. He taught courses over the last 26 years in Strategic Management, International Economics, Business and Finance, Financial Audit at the University of Minnesota, University of Southern California, and the Peter Drucker Institute of Management. He is now, Senior Adjunct Professor of Strategy at the University of La Verne, in California and Department Associate in the School of Business and Public Management.
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DAN LOAGUE
Mr. Loague is the Executive Director at Capital Formation Institute (CFI).
With the CFI Board of Directors and Advisors, all distinguished researchers and practitioners, Mr. Loague is building the CFI's capability to gather detailed and comprehensive information on the early stage investing process and to make this information readily accessible to the public. He joined CFI on December 1, 2004, retiring from the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) after eight years of service. As NASVF's Executive Director, Mr. Loague specialized in the creation and nurturing of seed investing and enterprise development networks in communities and regions throughout the United States. The NASVF has become the nation's largest network of seed stage and technology investment professionals.
Mr. Loague is a frequent speaker at professional meetings throughout the U.S. on the topic of seed investing and enterprise development. He has also made several presentations at professional meetings in the People's Republic of China.
His most recent publication is "Enterprising Capital - Bringing the Knowledge-Based Economy Home" published in Economic Development America, Economic Development Information Coalition, Spring 2004, Washington DC. He also hosts VC Online and VC Radio Show, both Web-based audio-on-demand interview programs. The weekly programs feature leading experts in early stage investing who, with Mr. Loague as moderator, discuss venture capital, angel investing, university tech-transfer and other topics on innovation and enterprise creation.
Prior to joining the NASVF, during 1977-1995, Mr. Loague worked as an economic development professional for the State of Oklahoma, directing major programs in enterprise development for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and its predecessor organizations. Besides economic development, Mr. Loague's professional and technical skills include seminar leadership and strategic, business and market planning. Mr. Loague is a former university professor and instructor. His has held teaching positions at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City University (OCU) and Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford OK. As part of OCU's International MBA program, during 1989, Mr. Loague taught on-site at Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
Mr. Loague's educational background includes two-year's doctoral study at Arizona State University, Tempe, Master of Arts in Teaching, University of Kansas, Lawrence and Bachelor of Arts, University of Oklahoma, Norman. Mr. Loague is a veteran of the United States Air Force, serving from 1963-67. His primary service duties were to work with test pilots to perform technical and performance evaluations of advanced airborne electronic reconnaissance systems of the RF-4C, a Mach II aircraft.
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MARCO DEMIROZ
Mr. DeMiroz is Managing Partner. He has close to 20 years of experience in management, operations and venture capital. His areas of investments cover internet, infrastructure and applications software as well as mobile solutions. At Selby, he led the Firm's investments in Active-Semi, Attributor, Feedster and ModViz. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Feedster and ModViz. In addition, he also serves on the boards of Active-Semi and Attributor.
Prior to Selby, Mr. DeMiroz managed venture funds and portfolios at Piper Jaffray Ventures and GameChange, both U.S. and European funds. He has been an active, hands-on investor and board member of a number of technology start-ups. He was Senior Vice President, Business Development, at Fujitsu Business Systems, the second largest systems integrator in Japan. His management and operating experience comes from both established and start-up technology companies, such as Oracle, Sun, General Magic, Silicon Graphics and BigBook. Mr. DeMiroz also served in various executive roles including President, Vice President Operations, and CFO. As an executive and CFO in start-ups, he raised close to $200 million from public and private financings.
Mr. DeMiroz started his career at NASA/Ames Research. He received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University where he received Rockwell Scholarship, and obtained a post-graduate Engineer Degree in Aeronautics/Astronautics from Stanford University.
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PAUL SMITH
Mr. Smith is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at DigitalGlobe Inc.
Mr. Smith is a geospatial industry veteran with over 25 years in GIS, remote sensing, and location-based data products. As a Vice President at DigitalGlobe, he drives company growth by targeting and developing key technology partnerships and global business alliances. He has raised capital for startups and has managed strategic acquisitions of competitors as well as negotiated asset purchases of third party intellectual property. He joined DigitalGlobe through the acquisition of GlobeXplorer, where he was Chief Operating Officer and a founder. Under his direction, GlobeXplorer became an early leader in global earth imagery content aggregation now common on the Internet.
Mr. Smith was an innovator of online pricing and licensing models through business with the largest mapping and real estate portals, personal navigation hardware providers, and street content purveyors. He is a frequent speaker on location based web services and has extensive experience working with search portals, leading navigation companies, geographic content providers, international governments, as well as GIS software suppliers.
Mr. Smith graduated from Cook College of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Design.
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LLOYD L. TRAN
Dr. Tran is the president of the International Association of Nanotechnology, a non-profit association to foster research and business collaboration in nanotechnology worldwide.
Dr. Tran serves as the managing director of the California Institute of Nanotechnology focusing on the advanced research and applications of nanotechnology for biotechnology, aerospace, homeland security and clean tech industry. He is the chairman of Neurobiomed Corporation, a biotechnology company to discover and develop new drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. He has more than 20 years experience working as a scientist and technical director for biotechnology companies including G.D. Searle & Company, Monsanto and Biomed Corporation.
Dr. Tran is the sole inventor holding several US patents on nanocoating membrane controlled release drug delivery system which has been approved for marketing in the USA. He is also the inventor of a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's diseases.
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BILL REICHERT
Mr. Reichert is the Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures.
Mr. Reichert has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. Since joining Garage in 1998, Bill has focused on early-stage information technology and materials science companies. He sits on the Boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares, and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, he was a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company, and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and the World Bank.
Mr. Reichert earned a B.A. at Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He was a founding board member and a Chairman of the Churchill Club, and a Charter Member of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. Currently he is the Chairman of the Small Fund Roundtable of the VC Taskforce and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
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MAX GRIMARD
Mr. Grimard is the Vice President of Business Development at EADS Astrium. Astrium is a subsidiary of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services.
Mr. Grimard has held successive positions in the Launchers, Missiles and Manned Space Flight subsidiary at EADS Astrium (formerly Aerospatiale) for over 20 years. As a project manager, he managed Assured Crew Return and Manned Re-entry Capsule Programmes. He then became the Head of Advanced Studies and at the time of the EADS merger became the Executive Assistant to the Chairman and CEO of EADS Launch Vehicles. In 2004, Mr. Grimard became the Vice President of Strategic Business Development Space at EADS Corporate. In 2006, he was named the Vice-President of Business Development. Prior to joining EADS, Mr. Grimard was a Research Engineer in Astrodynamics at the French Aerospace Research Center (ONERA) from 1979-1986.
Mr. Grimard is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and served as Secretary of Commission 4 (Space Operations) and on the IAA Committee on Safety, Rescue and Quality and the Subcommittee on Mars Exploration. He is also a member of the IAF Space Station Committee, the Committee on Integrated Applications and the Committee on Investment and Entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Board of the World Space Week Association.
Mr. Grimard earned a Bachelor of Sciences at the "Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace."
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TIM CRAINE
Mr. Craine is the Isle of Man Government's Director of E-Business and Space Commerce.
Mr. Craine took up his e-business portfolio in 2000 and since that time has been responsible for developing e-business strategies for the Isle of Man. An essential part of this process has been close coordination across Government and between Government and the private sector. A recent report called 2014, looking forward as to how the Island's economy might look in 10 years time, concluded that e-business had the potential to become the second largest sector of the economy after banking by 2014. A recent review of the projections concluded that growth rates are already ahead of expectations. Government is also working with the private sector to target e-downloads, e-travel, e-money and intellectual property/assets.
In 2005, Mr. Craine took on the space commerce portfolio. As with e-business, he is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies and for close coordination between the public and private sectors. Space Commerce contributed over £23 million in direct exchequer benefit in the last two years and the Island is now home to three of the world's top ten operators. As well as providing benefits for the so called "traditional space industry" which includes satellite launches, the Island is also becoming attractive for the "emerging space industry" which includes space tourism. The first "Manx Satellite" (AMC 18) was launched from Kourou last December and the second (Sirius 4) from Baikonur in November this year.
Mr. Craine is Manx born, married and has two children. He is a graduate of Durham University and is a career civil servant, having joined the Isle of Man Government in 1979.
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RAMIN KHADEM, Ph.D.
Dr. Khadem is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at The International Space University, Strasbourg, France. He is a former Inmarsat Chief Financial Officer and executive Board member of the ISU.
Dr. Khadem provides consultancy in the space and satellite field in the commercial and financial area and acts as independent non-executive director on the boards of few enterprises. As CFO of Inmarsat, he was part of the team that transformed Inmarsat from an international organisation to a public company, and subsequently was involved in its sale to private equity firms Apax Partners and Permira.
He earned a Bachelors of Science from the University of Illinois and Masters and Ph.D. degrees from McGill University in Canada. He also received specialized training in Econometric Analyses of the Financial and Monetary System at MIT, as well as training at Carnegie-Mellon University and the Executive Management Forum at Harvard Business School.
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JEAN-CHRISTOPHE DE TAUZIA
Mr. de Tauzia is a Project Manager Europe at ASSYSTEM UK, a leading engineering and innovation consultancy company.
Mr. de Tauzia started his career by providing loans and grants at OSEO, the French Innovation Agency and Bank for SMEs. He has been at ASSYSTEM Luxembourg since 1999 and has was a finance expert for the LIFT (Linking Innovation, Finance and Technology), Gate2Growth projects, and European Commission sponsored initiatives to boost VC investments in Knowledge Intensive Companies. At the European Space Agency Paris Headquarters, he coordinated SME activities such as a dedicated Leading Edge Technology procurement procedure and the organisation of the Industry Space Days conference, exhibition and business meetings. He now manages a support action "Match2BioSMEs" to stimulate biotech research, a coordination action "FinanceSpace" and contributes for ESA to the deployment of the tenderer/supplier database and to the preparation of the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) initiative.
Mr. de Tauzia holds a Business School's MA in international business and an Engineer School's "Mastère - Conférence des Grandes Ecoles" in technological innovation and project management.
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BURTON LEE, Ph.D., MBA
Dr. Burton H. Lee is Managing Director of Space Angels Network, a virtual network of angel investors focused on seed- and early-stage investments in space-related ventures. He also serves as Managing Partner of Innovarium Ventures, a firm that provides senior strategic, financial and technical advisory services to hitech startup company CEOs, venture capital and private equity firms, investment banks, major technology corporations, research universities, and federal and state government agencies.
Dr. Lee's professional experience spans 16 years in strategy consulting, high tech industry, government and venture-backed startups, and leading think tanks working in senior executive and R&D positions in corporate development and strategy, business development, technology venturing and commercialization, advanced computing and space systems research, and national innovation policy. His management and technical experience includes senior assignments with leading organizations such as GE Global Research, Hewlett Packard, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan. Burton's technical expertise spans advanced computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, alternative energy/hydrogen technologies, nanotechnology and clean tech, along with commercial aerospace systems.
Dr. Lee currently serves as Innovation Policy Advisor to the Richardson for President campaign. He was appointed a 2006 Senior Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C., where he worked on IT sector innovation policy for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. Dr. Lee holds a PhD in Mechanical & Electrical Engineering from Stanford (2002), an MBA in Finance & Entrepreneurship from Cornell (2004) and an AB in Physics from Brown University.
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LEE S. VALENTINE, M.D.
Dr. Valentine is the Executive Vice President of the Space Studies Institute in Princeton, New Jersey and an Angel Investor.
Dr. Valentine is an investor in SEEGRID Corporation, a Pittsburgh firm that introduced the world's first commercial autonomous mobile robots in late 2006. He is also an investor in Constellation Services International, in XCOR Aerospace, and in Orbital Outfitters. Dr. Valentine helped finance the design of the Lunar Prospector spacecraft and the construction of Mass Driver III. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Space Studies Institute in Princeton since 1980. He is a director of ProSpace America, the Citizens' Space Lobby. He is also a director of Orbital Outfitters and a member of AIAA.
Dr. Valentine earned a B.S. in science from Penn State and an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine. He is the editor of Settling Circumsolar Space, Vol. 13 of Princeton/SSI Conference on Space Manufacturing and Space Settlement, 2001, and co-author of "Mass Drivers for Planetary Defense", 2004.
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MICHAEL LEVENTHAL
Mr. Leventhal is a Founding Partner at PRAXIS LLP.
Mr. Leventhal brings almost two decades of experience in entertainment, digital and media law, representing clients from News Corporation and MySpace.com to Nirvana and Concrete Blonde, and Beavis & Butthead creator Mike Judge to New Line Cinema and Mammoth Records. His digital media practice represents a wide range of multinational media companies, technology companies and numerous start-ups in all aspects of the industry. Michael has been working in the digital media business since before the advent of the internet as a business platform. In recent year, Michael has expanded his practice into both the commercial space and environmental technology fields.
Prior to the formation of PRAXIS LLP, Mr. Leventhal was a partner at the law firm of Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheifeld and then ran a private practice advising new media, entertainment and environmental technology clients. His prior experience also includes managing partner of a boutique entertainment law firm, Codikow, Leventhal and Carroll.
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KARL HANDELSMAN
Mr. Handelsman is a Managing Partner at CMEA Ventures.
Mr. Handelsman joined CMEA Ventures in February 1999. He has been involved with numerous CMEA investments such as: Ambrx, Ensemble Discovery, Ilypsa, Intellikine, Kalypsys, Maxygen, Phenomix, Rigel, Syrrx, Tetraphase, and Xenoport. Prior to joining CMEA, he was one of the first employees of Tularik, Inc., a drug discovery company, where his business development role spanned corporate partnering, technology licensing, and operations. He was also one of the first employees of Whitehead Institute, a premier research organization within Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and he worked in business development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Handelsman holds graduate degrees from both MIT and Harvard Medical School.
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CHRISTOPHER HOEBER
Mr. Hoeber is a Senior Vice President for Systems Engineering and Program Management with Space Systems/Loral.
Mr. Hoeber has been with Space Systems/Loral for 28 of his 33 years in the commercial satellite business. In his current position, his responsibilities include customer satisfaction; program profit; schedule and performance objectives; and planning and managing SS/L's R&D and product development activities. Most recently, Mr. Hoeber was vice president of business development for SS/L, which included marketing and sales. Prior to that, he held the position of chief engineer.
Throughout his career, Mr. Hoeber has served in systems test and engineering and program and functional management positions. He led the systems engineering team that developed SS/L's modern geostationary satellite platform, the 1300, and managed the first program to use that platform. Before joining SS/L in 1975, Mr. Hoeber was with Hughes Space and Communications Corp. for five years.
Mr. Hoeber has written extensively on the communications satellite industry and has contributed to a number of studies of export control and technology transfer. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University.
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RICK CITRON
Rick Citron is an attorney, business advisor, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He has contributed to the success stories of hundreds of companies, utilizing his experience combined with the synergy of a carefully selected network of professionals. An entrepreneur at heart, Rick has started five dozen of his own businesses.
Rick's core philosophy focuses on bringing an experienced management team to the table to significantly increase the probability of raising capital. He actively assists his clientele in team development, business and financial planning, and capital formation. Some success stories include Spacehab, Inc., a public company which has raised over $200M and has provided space station supply and low earth orbit laboratory experiments on 19 Space Shuttle flights; and Kistler Aerospace Corporation, a privately held company which has raised over $600M to develop reuseable aerospace launch vehicles.
Mr. Citron earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966, a Master's in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1970.
His law firm, Citron & Deutsch, provides business consulting and legal services to several hundred companies, most of which were formed by the firm.
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