Conference Speakers

Index by Last Name: M-Z

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Tino Mantella
Tino Mantella joined the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) in September 2004 as the organization's new President. Prior to joining TAG, Mr. Mantella had amassed over 20 years of related experience leading two of the nations more prestigious volunteer-driven organizations - National Arthritis Foundation and YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. As President and CEO of two multifaceted and complex charities, he spearheaded agendas that led to the development of innovative new services, resulting in the facilitation of significant membership growth. In addition, his track record reflects impressive results in fund raising, advocacy, and economic development. Since coming to TAG, Mr. Mantella has worked with a team of dedicated volunteers and staff to: build a prestigious board made up of 60 technology stakeholders; grow membership by more than 600%; and add a series of program and services that support TAG's vision of educating, informing and uniting the technology community. Mr. Mantella has served on Northwestern Universities' Kellogg Board; and has been a long-standing member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO); and, among others, currently serves on the Board of Directors of Venture Atlanta.

The Honorable Chuck Martin
Chuck Martin is currently serving his fourth term of office in the Georgia State House of Representatives since being elected in 2002 after holding local office positions since 1992. In January 2007, Representative Martin was appointed Vice Chairman of the House of Appropriations Committee, Chairman for the Sub-Committee on Public Safety. Additionally, he has served as the Vice Chairman of the Science & Technology Committee and as a member of the Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications, Budget and Fiscal Oversight, and the Ways & Means Committees. He is additionally Chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee for Southern Legislative Conference comprised of 15 Southern states. Representative Martin was named by the Georgia Technology Association as 2010 Legislator of the Year for the second time in four years, 2007 Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and also was recognized for Legislative Leadership by the Association of County Commission for Georgia. After college, Representative Martin pursued a career in information technology and real estate consulting. He currently is a Director with Ryan, Inc., the leading tax services firm in North America. Representative Martin attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a B.B.A. in Management Science in 1983.

Jeff Mason
Jeff Mason is Executive Director of Michigan's University Research Corridor (URC), which is an alliance between Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University to transform, strengthen, and diversify Michigan's economy. The vision of the University Research Corridor is to play a key role in creating a vibrant Michigan economy that leverages the intellectual capital of its three public research universities, to work proactively to attract the knowledge economy businesses that can find the research activity that feeds new enterprise, educate the workforce, and plants the seeds for the new industries of tomorrow. Prior to joining the URC as Executive Director in July, 2009, Mr. Mason served as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. In that role he led a team responsible for the retention and expansion of existing Michigan businesses as well as the attraction of national and international companies to Michigan. In 2008, that team assisted businesses in creating or retaining over 105,000 jobs and over $7.6 billion in private investment. Before becoming Chief Business Development Officer, Mr. Mason headed up the Technology Development Group working to grow Michigan's technology oriented segments of the state's economy through the areas of technology transfer and commercialization, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and business development. The group's focus was in the sectors of life sciences, homeland security, and advanced automotive technologies that make up Governor Jennifer Granholm's 21st Century Jobs Fund, a $1.0 billion, ten-year fund designed to grow and diversify Michigan's economy. Mr. Mason serves on a number of technology organizations boards including the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Michigan State University.

Brian McGowan
Brian McGowan was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and COO for the U.S. Economic Development Administration in September 2009. Before joining the Obama Administration, he was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and served as California's Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Commerce in the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

Mr. McGowan has over 15 years of economic development experience at all levels of government. He was appointed as the Economic Development Agency Administrator for the County of San Bernardino, California overseeing four departments focused on economic development, community development and housing, redevelopment and workforce development. He also worked for the cities of Ontario and Palm Springs in California where he created award winning programs to grow the economy. He established offices to promote international trade and investment and created the Palm Springs Foreign Trade Zone. In addition, Mr. McGowan was a consultant on a U.S. Agency for International Development funded program to help cities in Bulgaria and Serbia create economic development and growth strategies.

While serving the state of California, Mr. McGowan created the California Innovation Hub program to promote the commercialization of technology and the California Certified Sites program to accelerate the development process for new projects. He also served on the boards of the Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, the Employment Training Panel, the California Workforce Investment Board, the International Trade Advisory Committee, the California Association for Local Economic Development and Team California.

Mr. McGowan received a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside and a Master's degree in Politics, Economics and Business from the Claremont Graduate University. He is also the Michael and Mary Johnston Fellow at the Claremont Graduate University where he is completing a Ph.D. in American Politics and Policy.

Brendan Miller
Brendan Miller was hired in September 2008 by the New Mexico Economic Development Department as its first Green Economy Manager. In this role, he promotes the growth of clean energy and clean technology business in New Mexico and staffs Governor Bill Richardson’s Green Jobs Cabinet. In March 2010, Mr. Miller assumed additional responsibilities as the Director of the Office of Science and Technology for the Department. He has worked with a hydrogen fuel cell company and real estate development company focused on energy- and location-efficient projects in New Mexico. He has experience working for industry, government and the nonprofit sector and is interested in business and government collaboration to improve the quality of life for New Mexicans. Mr. Miller has an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelors of Science in Math-Computer Science from Brown University. He is the Board Chair of the Permaculture Credit Union.

Kathy Mitchell
Kathy Mitchell draws upon more than 25 years of extensive strategic and operational human resources experience to design and implement Innovation Works’ strategies for portfolio companies in the areas of talent acquisition, organizational development, workforce planning, leadership coaching and development and training. Before joining Innovation Works, Ms. Mitchell was Vice President of Human Resources for McKesson Automation Group, a $300 million, 1,850-employee business within McKesson Corporation. She joined McKesson with the rare opportunity to direct the human resources activities of startup company Automated Healthcare as it grew exponentially through technology excellence and market dominance. Prior to joining McKesson, Ms. Mitchell worked at CBS Corporation and Westinghouse Electric Corporation for 20 years, where she developed a diverse human resources career in service, engineering, and manufacturing operations. She held a consulting position as a training consultant with The Continental Group, Inc. and worked two years as a sports writer/journalist. She holds a degree in journalism from Lehigh University.

Catherine Mott
Catherine Mott is a founder and CEO of BlueTree Capital Group and BlueTree Allied Angels, which is one of 300 professionally managed angel investor networks in the U.S. and Canada. As of May 2010, BlueTree Allied Angels has invested $14.3 million in 24 regional companies. BlueTree Allied Angels was listed in INC. magazine in 2009 as one of the Top 50 angel investor networks in the U.S., and Ms. Mott has been recognized in many professional industry publications as one of few women who represent the industry of angel/venture capital. Previously, she founded Synergetics Sales Performance Group (formerly Strategic Sales Solutions) and Indigo Capital Development, LLC. Prior to forming her own businesses, she worked 17 years in corporate banking management where she served in senior management roles for investment sales/wealth management, commercial lending, business development, and retail expansion. Ms. Mott is the past Chairman of the Angel Capital Education Foundation, an organization that researches angel capital, tracks angel capital, and provides education to bring professionalism and ethics to the industry, and recently became Chairman of the Board of the Angel Capital Association. Additionally, she has been or is a member of numerous boards of directors, including Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF/ACA); Grove City College Entrepreneurship Program; Chatham College Women's Entrepreneurship Program, Duquesne University's Entrepreneurship Advisory Council, and Carnegie Mellon University's Olympus Advisory Council, among others. In 2009, she served as a Corporate Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State representing professional managers of Angel networks in the U.S., and in 2002 she was named one of Pennsylvania's 50 Best Women in Business. Ms. Mott holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Bachelor of Science and Master's degrees in Education.

Josh O'Brien
Josh O'Brien is Senior Business Development Manager for Bioscience at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. He came to the Chamber in 2003 to work on bioscience initiatives after working in public education at the local and state level for nearly seven years. Mr. O'Brien earned his Bachelor's degree from Oklahoma City University in 1987 and a Master's degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1991.

Rich Overmoyer
Rich Overmoyer is the CEO of Fourth Economy Consulting, a company that recently spun out of GSP Consulting. For the past four years, Mr. Overmoyer and his team have been involved in helping communities understand the opportunity that the movement to green and clean technology provides. Early on, the Fourth Economy team pioneered a definition of green jobs and assisted their clients in establishing a set of programs focused on green building products for the manufacturing sector. Mr. Overmoyer led an effort to assist the state of Minnesota in defining green jobs and creating targeted strategies to support their growth. He also recently completed a green jobs strategy for a task force in Southwestern Pennsylvania and a joint Cleveland-Pittsburgh consortium to promote energy efficiency and a snapshot of the renewable energy industry in a post-recession economy.

Belinda Pedilla
Belinda Padilla is currently the Program Manager of the Development Office within Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Technology Transfer Division, where her group is responsible for the Laboratory’s entrepreneurial programs and stimulating the development of new businesses based on Laboratory technology and expertise, particularly in Northern New Mexico. The office also supports the identification, packaging and marketing of technologies available for licensing or strategic collaborations. Ms. Padilla has been at LANL for 16 years, working within a wide variety of programs to facilitate technology commercialization, including commercialization and entrepreneurship training, networking and education events, business consulting and technology maturation programs. She established the M.B.A. internship program at LANL for students interested in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship. She also spearheaded the creation and implementation of a number of LANL, Los Alamos National Security LLC, and state-sponsored programs under the umbrella of Northern New Mexico Connect designed to stimulate regional economic development with an emphasis on assisting small and startup businesses. Additionally, Ms. Padilla developed a Visiting Entrepreneur program at LANL and is currently recruiting for LANL’s new, two-year Entrepreneurial Post-Doc program that she established within the Technology Transfer Division. She received Distinguished Performance Awards from the Laboratory Director in 1996 and 1998. Ms. Padilla, who is active in local and national organizations, earned a B.B.A. in Marketing and Executive M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico.

Thomas Peterson
Thomas Peterson is Assistant Director for Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The ENG Directorate at NSF provides critical support for the nation's engineering research and education activities, and is a driving force behind the education and development of the nation's engineering workforce. With a budget of approximately $640 million, the directorate supports fundamental and transformative research, the creation of cutting-edge facilities and tools, broad interdisciplinary collaborations, and through its Centers and Small Business Innovation Research programs, enhances the competitiveness of U.S. companies.

Prior to joining NSF, Dr. Peterson was Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona. He served on the faculty of the University of Arizona since 1977, as head of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department from 1990 to 1998, and as Dean from 1998 until January 2009. During his service as Dean, Dr. Peterson was a member of the Executive Board for the Engineering Deans' Council of ASEE and was Vice Chair of EDC from 2007 to 2008. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Council for Chemical Research and on the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). He was one of the founding members of the Global Engineering Deans' Council, and at Arizona made global education experiences a high priority for his engineering students. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a recipient of the Kenneth T. Whitby Award from the American Association for Aerosol Research. Dr. Peterson received his Bachelor of Science from Tufts University, his Master of Science from the University of Arizona and his Doctorate from the California Institute of Technology, all in Chemical Engineering.

Catherine Renault
Catherine Renault serves as the Director, Office of Innovation in the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and as Science Advisor to the Governor. As such, the Office of Innovation oversees and evaluates all programs that receive state funding for research and development, coordinates efforts between and among the state's educational, nonprofit and for profit research-intensive organizations and develops and implements a science and technology plan for the state consistent with Maine's overall economic development strategy. The Office of Innovation manages the budgets for the Maine Technology Institute and the Technology Centers as well as the annual Comprehensive R&D Evaluation. Dr. Renault comes to Maine from RTI International in Durham, NC, where she consulted with a wide variety of states and regions about technology-based economic development. Her previous state experience was as Managing Director of Virginias Center for Innovative Technology where she was responsible for entrepreneurship and access to capital policy as well as statewide technology transfer initiatives. She also spent ten years in the private sector including AT&T and Data General. Dr. Renault is originally from Boston and received her undergraduate degree from Harvard, her M.B.A. from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Governor Edward Rendell
Edward G. Rendell, Pennsylvania's 45th governor, began a second term of office on January 16, 2007, following a landslide re-election victory. He serves as chief executive of the nation's 6th-most-populous state and oversees a $28.3 billion budget. Governor Rendell's unprecedented strategic investments have energized Pennsylvania's economy, revitalized communities, improved education, protected the environment and expanded access to health care to all children and affordable prescription drugs for older adults. He championed and signed into law Pennsylvania's first comprehensive measure to substantially reform the local tax system by providing urgently needed property tax relief to homeowners. In 2008-09 taxpayers will save nearly $800 million in the first year of statewide property tax relief from gaming revenues.

Under Governor Rendell's leadership, Pennsylvania's economy rebounded sharply. Governor Rendell's economic stimulus plan is investing more than $2.8 billion to create new jobs and revitalize communities. Pennsylvania's unemployment rate continues to be better than, or on par with, the national average. To ensure that all Pennsylvanians share in the benefits of our growing economy, the governor successfully championed the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade.

Under Governor Rendell, student achievement is on the rise at every grade level and in every subject. Pennsylvania's public schools now have the resources to invest in proven education initiatives like pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten and tutoring. Pennsylvania has gone from one of the nine states in the country that failed to fund pre-kindergarten to a national leader in early childhood investment, and for the first time ever more than half of Pennsylvania kindergartners are in full-day programs.

Governor Rendell also is making Pennsylvania a leader in pursuing energy independence — creating jobs in the emerging alternative energy economy while developing effective strategies to reduce dependence on foreign oil and save families money. In addition, Governor Rendell won passage of the landmark Growing Greener 2 environmental investment package. The $625 million initiative is cleaning up rivers and streams, improving parks, returning abandoned industrial sites to productive use, protecting open space and preserving farmland.

Governor Rendell has accomplished all of this while being a careful steward of the commonwealth's finances. When he became governor, the commonwealth faced a projected budget deficit of $2.4 billion. As one of his first acts, Governor Rendell cut government spending to close that deficit and implemented programs and policies to apply business principles of productivity and cost-savings to the operation of state government.

From 1992 through 1999, Mr. Rendell served as the 121st Mayor of Philadelphia. Before serving as Mayor, Mr. Rendell was elected District Attorney of Philadelphia for two terms from 1978 through 1985.

Governor Rendell served as general Chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 presidential election, has been active in the community through a variety of memberships on boards, and also teaches government and politics courses at the University of Pennsylvania. An Army veteran, the Governor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctorate degree from Villanova Law School.

The Honorable Tom Ridge
The Honorable Tom Ridge is the President and CEO of Ridge Global LLC, where he leads a team of international experts that helps businesses and governments address a range of needs throughout their organizations, including risk management and global trade security, strategic business generation, technology integration, event security, crisis management, campus security and other issues that encompass a diverse portfolio.

Following the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Mr. Ridge became the first Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and, on January 24, 2003, became the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The creation of the country's 15th Cabinet department marked the largest reorganization of government since the Truman administration and another call to service for the former soldier, Congressman and Governor of Pennsylvania. During his tenure, Secretary Ridge worked with more than 180,000-plus employees from a combined 22 agencies to create an agency that facilitated the flow of people and goods, instituted layered security at air, land and seaports, developed a unified national response and recovery plan, protected critical infrastructure, integrated new technology and improved information sharing worldwide. Mr. Ridge served as Secretary of this historic and critical endeavor until February 1, 2005.

Mr. Ridge was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania. He served as the state's 43rd governor from 1995 to 2001. Known for his commitment to high standards and results, Governor Ridge delivered on his promise to make Pennsylvania "a leader among states and a competitor among nations." Governor Ridge's aggressive technology strategy helped fuel the state's advances in economic development, education, health care and the environment.

Rick Ritter
Rick Ritter serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Idaho TechConnect, Inc., a position he has held since 2005. In addition, Mr. Ritter serves as the Chief Operations Officer for Invest Idaho, an EB-5 Regional Center. Mr. Ritter has more than 20 years of business incubation/assistance/commercialization experience. He has started and successfully operated five businesses (technology, construction, real estate development, consulting, nonprofit). He has experience in federal and state government, university, nonprofit and private sector arenas. Mr. Ritter holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Boise State University and a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education from the University of Idaho.

Duane Roth
Duane Roth is Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of CONNECT. CONNECT is the globally recognized public benefits organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by assisting new business formation of technology and life sciences companies. Since its inception in 1985, CONNECT has been directly involved with over 2,000 companies that have secured over $10 billion in funding. Prior to joining CONNECT, Mr. Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., where he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Prior to Alliance, he held senior management positions at Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth operating companies. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors and executive committees of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and BIOCOM (past Chair). Mr. Roth was appointed to the oversight board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and was elected Vice Chairman in 2009.

Doug Rothwell
Doug Rothwell is the first President & CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, a Michigan business roundtable, comprised of senior executives from Michigan's largest employers and leading universities. In this role, he has led the development of the Michigan Turnaround Plan, a comprehensive strategy for making Michigan a "Top Ten" state for job & economic growth. Previously, Mr. Rothwell served as President of Detroit Renaissance, a regional business roundtable, and as Executive Director of Worldwide Real Estate for General Motors. He also founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Delaware and was an Executive Vice President at MBNA Corporation, the nation's second largest credit card issuer (now part of Bank of America). He is one of a handful of state executives to be honored with the National Governors Association's outstanding public service awards. His community service extends to serving on the Board of the School of Government Foundation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chairing the Corporate Relations Council for the University of Michigan's Musical Society. Mr. Rothwell holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware and attended the John F. Kennedy School's residential program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University.

Marsha Schachtel
For the past 12 years, Marsha Schachtel has been a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, where she conducts research and provides technical assistance for Baltimore and Maryland organizations. She previously served as Director of Technology Development at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, Executive Assistant for Economic Development to Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer and to Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, and Assistant Director and Business Development Manager of the Greater Baltimore Committee. She also has worked with states and cities around the country as Deputy Director of the National Association of State Development Agencies and Education Manager of the National Council for Urban Economic Development, and continues to play an advisory role in state science and technology organizations. Until 2006, she chaired the national Advisory Committee of NIST’s Advanced Technology Program. Some recent and current projects include: overview of technology-based economic development for TBED advocates, technology development strategy for the City of Baltimore, a technology optimization strategy for both Harford and Carroll Counties in Maryland, technology commercialization budgets and programs in Maryland and seven other states, and state-federal partnerships for an innovation economy for the National Governors Association. Ms. Schachtel holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.S. from The Johns Hopkins University.

Stephen Schillo
Steve Schillo joined Duquesne as its new Vice President for Management and Business in July 2002. He serves as the University's chief business and financial officer, providing leadership and direction to all university business and support functions. Mr. Schillo started his professional career as the Budget & Research Officer and Assistant Director of Finance for the City of Pittsburgh. In 1983, he assumed the position of City & School Treasurer and Deputy Director of Finance for the City of Pittsburgh. In 1987, he made the transition from the public sector to higher education finance when he became the Budget Director at Carnegie Mellon where he also has taught Accounting. Later that year, he assumed the position of Director of Business Services and in 1990 attained the position of Associate Vice President for Business Affairs & University Planning at Carnegie Mellon. Later in 1990, Mr. Schillo became the Associate Vice President — Chief Finance Officer for the Main Campus of Georgetown University. He served in this position for three years after which he assumed the position of Vice President for Finance & Administration at Gannon University in Erie, PA, before joining Duquesne. He serves on several local boards and professional organizations and is a financial reviewer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education and for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Mr. Schillo completed his undergraduate and graduate education at Carnegie Mellon University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Economics and a Master of Science in Public Management and Policy Analysis from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy & Management.

Patricia Scruggs
Pat Scruggs is founder and President of Scruggs & Associates, LLC. Ms. Scruggs brings over twenty-eight years of business and economic development experience to her practice. She has led the development of over 60 economic and workforce development plans, focusing on midsize metropolitan regions and technology-based industries. She has developed in-depth strategies for workforce and industry clusters in information technology, biotechnology, clean technology, creative services, financial services, health care, manufacturing, and others. After multiple tech-based projects across the country, Ms. Scruggs was appointed Oregon's first Director of Innovation and Technology. As state director, she managed the Governor's innovation council and state's technology efforts, including legislation. Since leaving Oregon in 2005, she has continued her innovation services assisting a variety of other states and regions. Most recently, she led a national study on the role of equity capital in rural communities and serves on the Ford Foundation's working group for Wealth Creation in Rural America.

Peggy Shults
Peggy Shults is President and CEO of Lytmos Group, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solix, Inc. Lytmos provides consulting, process outsourcing services, and software solutions to government and private sector organizations managing competitive grant programs for high-technology research and development. Ms. Shults provides consulting support to program officers and advisory councils in grant program design, development, and evaluation as well as in policy formation and stakeholder communications. She has directed the development of the firm's peer review practice, spearheading the growth of the Lytmos peer review network to more than 1,500 of the nation's top scientists and technical professionals in hundreds of specialty topics. Before founding Lytmos in 2001, she provided general business consulting to small high-technology businesses in the pre- and post-award stages of the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant process, including proposal preparation and project management. In addition, as a partner in a family business in the mailing industry, she helped raise $4 million in venture capital before that business was acquired by a national firm. Prior to beginning her successful entrepreneurial career, Ms. Shults gained considerable technical and managerial experience as a manufacturing engineer, manager, and director for AT&T Technologies, Microelectronics Division. Ms. Shults holds an M.B.A. from Rockhurst University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Susan Shows
Susan Shows manages Georgia Research Alliance's investment portfolio, which includes the award-winning Eminent Scholars Program and over $600 million of strategic research infrastructure at Georgia's six leading research universities. She led the launch and development of the GRA VentureLab program in 2002, and managed its growth until 2008. Prior to joining the Alliance in 2001, Ms. Shows worked at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she played a leading role in the development and growth of several university-industry initiatives in partnership with the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and key industry organizations in Georgia. She also served as general manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a technology incubator based at Georgia Tech. Before moving to Georgia in 1987, she worked for Square D Company, and was part of the company’s startup team for a major manufacturing facility in North Carolina. Ms. Shows holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Xavier University and a B.S. in Industrial Management from the University of Tennessee.

John Sider
John Sider serves as the Deputy Secretary for the Technology Investment Office within the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). In this role, he oversees the Technology Investment Office, which serves as a catalyst for growth and competitiveness for Pennsylvania's innovation economy. Major initiatives administered by the office include: Keystone Innovation Zones; the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, including the Ben Franklin Technology Partners; the Tobacco Settlement Investment Board; Life Science Greenhouses; Venture Capital Investment programs; and the Industrial Resource Centers. He and his team in the Technology Investment Office manage more than $45 million in annual appropriations and over $1 billion in assets. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Secretary in July 2009, Mr. Sider served as the Director of Venture Investment for DCED where he managed a venture capital incentives portfolio of more than $350 million and helped to significantly increase the amount of risk capital available to Pennsylvania entrepreneurs. Specifically, he managed the New PA Venture Investment, New PA Venture Guarantee, and BFTDA Venture programs as well as all outreach to Pennsylvania's Angel investor community. Prior to his experience at DCED, Mr. Sider was lending group leader for Community First Fund, a Lancaster, PA-based community development financial institution where he chaired the loan committee and conducted more than a dozen nationally certified entrepreneurial training classes in communities around central Pennsylvania. He started his career at Fulton Bank where he spent six years in a variety of roles before becoming Market Manager for the City of Harrisburg, supervised two branches, and conducted all small business and mortgage lending in the city. Mr. Sider is a graduate of Wheaton College and earned his M.B.A. from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.

Beth Sirull
Beth Sirull is the Executive Director of Pacific Community Ventures (PCV), an organization that provides focused business advisory services along side three venture investment funds. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Ms. Sirull was the founding Director of Insight — PCV's research and analysis practice that provides research, knowledge and tools to investors, policymakers and other stakeholders. These tools enable investors to allocate capital to earn competitive financial returns, identify means to maximize social and economic benefits, and help policymakers craft innovative policies to influence the flow of capital and other resources to underserved markets. As Director of InSight, she was responsible for developing and managing consulting relationships, providing return on investment research and analytical services to external institutional investors. Prior to joining PCV, Ms. Sirull spent over fifteen years consulting in market research and strategy, working with such clients as AT&T, Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, and Deloitte and Touche. She has held academic appointments in marketing and management at Depaul University and Dominican University. Over the past fifteen years, she also has been involved as a volunteer in a number of nonprofit organizations. Ms. Sirull earned a B.A in Political Science at Brandeis University, an M.B.A. at Boston University and a Master of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark Skinner
Mark Skinner is Vice President of SSTI and Editor of the SSTI Weekly Digest, the weekly electronic newsletter for the TBED community. His expertise focuses on public-sector, science and technology program conceptualization, development and evaluation. Mr. Skinner began his 23-year career in TBED with the Ohio Department of Development, first as a Technology Center Liaison for Ohio's Thomas Edison Program and later as the manager of Ohio's SBIR Program for six years, responsible for the initial design, implementation and evaluation. He is the principal author of numerous reports, including the National Science Foundation's Survey of State Research and Development Expenditures for 1995 and SSTI's State and Federal Perspectives on the SBIR Programin 1999. Mr. Skinner holds a B.A. in Urban and Regional Planning and Public Administration from Miami University of Ohio.

Leslie Smith
Leslie Smith is General Manager of TechTown where she continues pursuit of her passion to move forward meaningful economic development and opportunities within the City of Detroit. As a Detroit native, she has a special commitment to its renaissance and looks forward to being even a small part of the solution. Her commitment to mission-focused enterprise at the community level is demonstrated through years of leadership roles within organizations focused on culture development, strategic planning, expansion of arts and physical activity and executive leadership across all sectors of industry, both public and private. She has extensive experience managing multi-faceted organizational teams, implementing best practices, right seating interactive teams, challenging status quo, building multi-dimensional relationships, raising money in complex economic times, managing complex national real estate portfolios, overseeing site selection and development, negotiating and managing programmatic GSE capital transactions (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, HUD, MSHDA), traditional and institutional financing vehicles, joint venture partnership arrangements, venture capital raise initiatives and participative equity transactions totaling in excess of $2 billion. Prior to joining TechTown, Ms. Smith most recently served as Director of Business Acceleration at Michigan Economic Development Corporation where she had direct oversight of a $300 million investment portfolio, state and federal grant and loan programs (review, analysis, development, creation, award, negotiation, documentation and ongoing oversight), SmartZone and regional, state and national entrepreneurial strategic service provider relationships including statewide incubation and acceleration service. Prior to that, Ms. Smith was Chief Financial Officer for a privately held real estate firm in Ann Arbor.

Bob Starzynski
Bob Starzynski serves as Director of the Innovation Adoption Grant Fund for Innovation Works, managing a program that helps established manufacturers with research and development needs, raising outside funding for the program, consulting with manufacturing companies on product development and manufacturing process development initiatives, and managing the award and disbursement of grant money to companies. He has been with Innovation Works since 2001, having served in various capacities prior to assuming his current role. Before joining Innovation Works, he worked with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where he helped launch and manage a weekly technology business section for the newspaper. Prior to that, he spent nearly 10 years in the publishing industry in Washington, D.C., as a reporter, columnist and editor for several newspapers and magazines. The capstone of that work was the creation and oversight of TECHcapital magazine, a technology finance magazine owned by the Washington Post Company, where as Editor-in-Chief he helped build TECHcapital into the largest magazine of its kind on the East Coast. Mr. Starzynski has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Board of StartingGate, a small business incubator, as well as on the Board of Directors for five different Keystone Innovation Zones in Southwest Pennsylvania. Additionally, he is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh. Mr. Starzynski has a degree in Political Science and Economics from North Carolina State University.

The Honorable Dick Thornburgh
Identified by Washingtonian magazine recently as one of "ten legendary Washington lawyers who will forever leave their mark on the District's legal landscape," the Honorable Dick Thornburgh is currently counsel to the international law firm of K&L Gates LLP, resident in its Washington, D.C. office. He previously served as Governor of Pennsylvania, Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, during a public career that spanned over 25 years.

Elected Governor in 1978 and re-elected in 1982, Mr. Thornburgh was the first Republican ever to serve two successive terms in that office. He served as Chair of the Republican Governors Association and was named by his fellow governors as one of the nation's most effective big-state governors in a 1986 Newsweek poll.

During his service as Governor, Mr. Thornburgh balanced state budgets for eight consecutive years, reduced both personal and business tax rates, cut the state's record-high indebtedness and left a surplus of $350 million. Under his leadership, 15,000 unnecessary positions were eliminated from the swollen state bureaucracy that he inherited and widely recognized economic development, education and welfare reform programs were implemented. Pennsylvania's unemployment rate, among the ten highest in the nation when he was elected, was among the ten lowest when he left office as 50,000 new businesses and 500,000 new jobs were created during his tenure.

Among the many path-finding efforts of Mr. Thornburgh's administration was the creation of the Ben Franklin Partnership, widely recognized as a national model for cooperation between research universities and the entrepreneurial community. Created in 1983, it has been responsible for countless new future-oriented Pennsylvania businesses and increases in employment in the advanced technology area. He was the founding Chairman of the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI). In 2001, he was selected as a lifetime National Associate of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in recognition of his pro bono service to their programs, including the chairing of studies on science and technology and economic development; youth, pornography and the internet; and electronic voting.

After his unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate, Mr. Thornburgh served three years as Attorney General of the United States (1988-1991) in the cabinets of Presidents Reagan and Bush. All told, he served in the Justice Department under five Presidents, beginning as United States Attorney in Pittsburgh (1969-1975) and Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division (1975-1977), emphasizing efforts against major drug traffickers, organized crime and corrupt public officials. During his service as Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations (1992-1993), Mr. Thornburgh was in charge of personnel, budget and finance matters.

Mr. Thornburgh was educated at Yale University, where he obtained an engineering degree, and at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. His autobiography, "Where the Evidence Leads" was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in September 2003.

Simon Tripp
Simon Tripp is Senior Director of the Battelle Memorial Institute’s Technology Partnership Practice (TPP). Battelle is the world’s largest non-profit science and technology R&D institute and manages or co-manages six of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories. At Battelle, Mr. Tripp is responsible for project team leadership in technology-based economic development, regional economic development strategies and impact assessment. He has led major technology-based economic development projects in states and regions throughout the U.S. and is increasingly engaged in international work. While working in all technology areas, Mr. Tripp has broad expertise especially in development projects involving biosciences (biomedical, industrial biotech and agbiosciences) and in advanced energy and renewable technologies. Recent projects completed include: a five-state regional strategy in the southern U.S. for biobased products and agriculture-based economic development; West Virginia's biometrics and advanced energy platform strategies; economic analysis for the Mayo Clinic; Oklahoma City's bioscience strategy; and Central Ohio's agbioscience-based development strategy. Prior to joining Battelle, he served as Senior Partner of Impact Economics, LP, a consultancy providing specialized economic impact and strategic planning services for government, higher education institutions and bioscience organizations. Mr. Tripp founded Impact Economics in 2000, following his position as co-founder, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh-based research and planning company Tripp Umbach & Associates, Inc, (which he led from 1991 through 2000). A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Tripp has also held positions as Director of U.S. Operations for the British Government’s West Midlands Development Agency and as North American Business Development Representative for the Welsh Development Agency. He is the author of two chapters of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO’s) recently released book “The Value of Biotechnology” in which he outlines the technologies and impact of biotech in industrial manufacturing processes, renewable fuels, food and agriculture. Mr. Tripp holds a Master’s degree in Geography (Regional Science) from West Virginia University and a B.A. (Honors) degree in Geography from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

John Vidmar
John Vidmar has been involved in startup and small companies for over 20 years. He has been founder, co-founder or partner in four business ventures and has served as a consultant for 50+ businesses. Mr. Vidmar's experience in marketing and strategic issues has been focused on healthcare, financial and technology markets. Currently, as Director of Business Development he works with small businesses in the Transformation Business Services Network in 32 counties in Central Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the Ben Franklin Partnership, the project provides services and education directly to qualified manufacturing and technology companies.

David Wilhelm
David Wilhelm is an entrepreneur at heart and a firm believer in the idea that every individual should possess the tools to make the most of their God-given potential – and it is that idea that informs his business and political commitments. Among the many startups he has launched or backed, Mr. Wilhelm is the founder of Hopewell Ventures, Adena Ventures, and New Harvest Power, companies designed to bring sustainable job and wealth creation to the central Appalachian region and the rural Midwest. In the world of politics, Mr. Wilhelm is best known for his work as a manager of high-level campaigns, including the 1992 presidential campaign of then-Governor Bill Clinton, and campaigns for Vice President Joseph Biden, the Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, and the late Illinois U.S. Senator Paul Simon. Upon his election, President Clinton nominated Mr. Wilhelm to serve as Chair of the Democratic National Committee. More recently, he co-chaired the successful campaign to renew Ohio’s innovative “Third Frontier” job creation program and, in 2008, was one of the first superdelegates to support the candidacy of then-Senator Barack Obama for the presidency. He is the recipient of honorary Doctorate degrees from Ohio University and the University of Charleston. He has taught at the University of Chicago and DePaul University and is currently a Visiting Professor at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. Mr. Wilhelm is a graduate of Ohio University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Renée Winsky
Renée Winsky is the Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Council of Maryland responsible for charting the tactical course of action given the strategic input from the constituent boards, and leading the activities of the TCM staff to achieve those strategic objectives. She also is responsible for the financial management of the Council and each of its constituent organizations. Prior to joining TCM as CEO in September 2009, Ms. Winsky served as President and Executive Director of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), a public instrumentality established by the Maryland General Assembly to promote economic development through the development, transfer and commercialization of technology, and was responsible for all operational, staff, technical, financial and program functions of the Corporation. Ms. Winsky previously held positions at the Information Technology Association of America, the National League of Cities and its affiliate, and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. She also has worked with the Maryland Municipal League and the City of Greenbelt, Maryland and has served on the City of Bowie Ethics Commission and on the Technology Council of the American Society of Association Executives. She serves as a board member of the Chesapeake Innovation Center, the UMBC Research Park Corporation, Leadership Maryland, and the Maryland Health Care Product Development Corporation. Ms. Winsky is a graduate of the University of Maryland and a graduate of the Leadership Maryland Class of 2005.