VENTURE MENTORS ARE GROUPED BY TRACK
TRACKS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

AERO / ASTRO TRACK

Javier de Luis
Chief Scientist, Aurora Flight Sciences

Dr. de Luis joined Aurora in 2007 and is presently Aurora's Chief Scientist. Dr. de Luis earned his BS in1983,his MS in 1985, and his PhD in 1989 in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. His professional interests are in the fields of spaceflight research and operations, engineering design and analysis, and technology management. Dr. de Luis joined Payload Systems Inc. in 1989 as a staff scientist, and later held the position of Chief Scientist and CEO of the company. PSI was acquired by Aurora in 2007. Dr. de Luis has served as the co-investigator and project manager for several spaceflight payloads. He also served as a payload representative at Mission Control during mission operations. He has published papers on such diverse topics as piezoelectric actuators and intelligent structures, structural control, design and development of spaceflight systems. Dr. de Luis is a recipient of the MIT James Means Memorial Prize for excellence in space systems engineering; a NASA Commendation for Technology Excellence, a NASA Group Achievement Award, and a NASA Manned Flight Awareness Award. He was three times a finalist in the NASA Astronaut Selection Program. He holds a US patent for electrically insulated embedded piezoelectrics in composite structures. Dr. de Luis has appeared on several local and national news programs as commentator on space shuttle missions.

Marthinus van Schoor
CEO of Midé Technology Corporation

Marthinus is the founder and Chief Executive Officer/Chief Technical Officer of Midé Technology Corporation, an R&D company that develops, produces, and markets high performance systems for the aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing industries.   He holds a PhD from MIT and specializes in structural dynamics, fluid dynamics, aeroelasticity and the application of active materials in these fields.  Marthinus is also a lecturer in the Dept. of Aeronautics & Astronautics at MIT and an Adjunct Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pretoria.

Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman
Professor, MIT Dept. of Aeronautics & Astronautics

Prof. Hoffman is presently Professor of the Practice in the MIT Dept. of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium.  Previously, he was a NASA astronaut and completed five flights totaling over 1,000 hours in space on Space Shuttles Discovery, Columbia, Atlantis, and Endeavour.  Prof. Hoffman holds 4 NASA service medals and was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2007.  He holds a BA in astronomy from Amherst College, a PhD in astrophysics from Harvard University, and a masters in materials science from Rice University.

Raji Patel
Co-Director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium

Raji Patel is Co-Director of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium, which is sponsoring the aerospace track of the 100K competition.  In addition to working on NASA's education mission in Massachusetts, Ms. Patel is currently working with the state to create an aerospace cluster in the Commonwealth.  Previously, she has worked as Portfolio Manager for a private investment group in the Netherlands and as Associate Controller at Wellesley College. She is a Sloan alumna with bachelors degrees in physics and law.  She has served on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

Joel Pedlikin
General Manager, Aurora Flight Sciences R&D Center

Mr. Pedlikin oversees all day-to-day operations and activities within Cambridge MA facility. Mr. Pedlikin is an experienced manager, engineer, and executive with a background in mechanical and systems engineering. He spent the first twelve years of his career working for AeroAstro, a small spacecraft and technology developer. While at AeroAstro, he served as technical and/or programmatic lead for a wide variety of programs encompassing a very broad range of electrical, mechanical, and software technologies. These have included: PAE, a 14,000 lbf thrust LOX/kerosene rocket engine; Team Encounter, a commercial solar sailing spacecraft mission; SPORT, a small satellite upper stage; TERRIERS, NASA's first University Explorer-class spacecraft; and SENS, a LEO communications constellation. He has also created spacecraft configurations and basic system designs for more than two-dozen proposed spacecraft. Mr.

Pedlikin served as AeroAstro's Vice President of Engineering from 2000-2005, with responsibility for the company's technical performance on all projects, as well as responsibility for all recruiting and staffing. In this capacity, he managed over 35 engineers who executed technical projects providing over $10M per year in revenue. Mr. Pedlikin joined Aurora?s Research and Development Center in 2006 as the lead PM for all technology development efforts. He has also served as Program Manager for Aurora?s development of the ARES Mars airplane. He received an MS in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University.

BIOTECH TRACK

Jeff Behrens
Head of Business Operations, "BI3" - The Biogen Idec Innovation Incubator

Jeff is the Head of Business Operations of "BI3" - The Biogen Idec Innovation Incubator. BI3 makes equity investments in discovery-stage biotechnology companies and provides lab space, scientific expertise, and business management to launch these startup companies using an innovative model for drug development investing.

Previously Jeff founded an IT managed services company, The Telluride Group, which was successfully sold to Fidelity-funded mindSHIFT Technologies in late 2003. From 2004-2006 Jeff consulted with a number of biotechnology venture capital firms while completing graduate work at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Jeff is an angel investor and a member MIT's Venture Mentoring Service. Jeff also volunteers with several community organizations including the Museum of Science and the Harvard Alumni Association and sits on the boards of Finale Restaurants.

Timothy Coleman PhD.
Price Waterhouse BioMedical Advisory Practice

Timothy P. Coleman is the leader of the Biomedical Strategy Group in PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Industries Practice. Residing in the firm’s Boston office, Dr. Coleman works with health science companies, delivering advisory services including business development strategies, intellectual property protection and management systems, R&D planning and operations, technology valuation, and commercialization strategies.

Prior to joining PricewaterwaterhouseCoopers, Dr. Coleman was president, CEO and co-founder of BioCache Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Richmond, Virginia-based biopharmaceutical company primarily engaged in the research and development of cancer vaccines. There, he was a National Cancer Institute funded principal investigator studying the interaction of cancer vaccines with Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) to induce a clinically relevant immune response. Additionally, he successfully led the firm’s growth through early stage funding, strategic expansion and eventual establishment of a non-founding executive leadership team.

Amir Nashat
General Partner - Polaris Ventures

Prior to joining Polaris, Amir completed his Ph.D. as a Hertz Fellow in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in Biology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. Amir’s doctoral research focused on information flow through neurons, neural implants, and neural tissue engineering. During his time at M.I.T., Amir completed an internship in the London office of Goldman, Sachs & Company, where he worked on interest rate derivative products.

Carmichael Roberts
General Partner NorthBridge Ventures

Dr. Carmichael Roberts is a long-time commercial and scientific collaborator of Dr. George Whitesides at Harvard. In 1999, Dr. Roberts and Dr. Whitesides co-founded Surface Logix, a drug optimization company, and more recently, WMR Biomedical, a medical device company. Dr. Roberts has served in an executive capacity for both of these companies. Before starting his career as an entrepreneur, Dr. Roberts worked in business development at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he contributed to the design of business development strategies for the company’s pre-clinical product line aimed at fighting infectious disease and obesity. Prior to GelTex, Dr. Roberts was responsible for new product and business development at Sentry Products, a life science venture wholly owned by Union Carbide Corporation (now Dow Chemical). While at Sentry Products, Dr. Roberts was an instrumental member of a group that developed several chemical-based technologies used in launching products like Pfizer’s Procardia XL and Boston Scientific’s balloon catheters. In 1999, he was named by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine as one of the world’s top 100 young entrepreneurs. Dr. Roberts received his B.S. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Duke and was a National Science Foundation Fellow at Harvard’s Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. He also earned an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. University

Scott Rocklage, PhD
General Partner - 5AM Ventures

Dr. Rocklage joined 5AM Ventures in 2003 as a Venture Partner and became a Managing Partner in 2004. Dr. Rocklage has over 20 years of healthcare management experience with strategic leadership responsibilities that have resulted in the successful approval of three U.S. New Drug Applications by the FDA (Omniscan™, Teslascan® and Cubicin®), and entered six drug candidates into clinical trials. Dr. Rocklage has served as Chairman & CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, President & CEO of Nycomed Salutar, President, CEO & Chairman of Nycomed Interventional, and has held various R&D positions at Salutar and Catalytica. Dr. Rocklage currently serves as Board Chairman of Achaogen, Ilypsa as well as on the Board of WaveRx, Pulmatrix, Variation and Wildcat and the Board of Associates at the Whitehead Institute. Dr. Rocklage received his BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and his PhD in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Rocklage is based in the Waltham, MA office.

DEVELOPMENT TRACK

Vikas Goyal
Extera Partners

Vikas is an experienced life science consultant. Since joining Extera Partners, he has led and supported the business development, M&A, and corporate strategy efforts of over 40 private and public life science companies. Previously, he was a consultant with McKinsey & Co, where he worked with top-tier pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health companies around the world. Over his career, Vikas has supported the diligence, negotiations, and post-transaction management of multiple corporate partnerships, from multi-billion dollar M&A events to initial R&D collaborations. Vikas is a graduate of Harvard University, where he studied neurobiology. He has over seven years’ bench research experience in electrophysiology, and has worked with top investigators at the Rockefeller University and Boston University’s Center for Memory and Brain.  

Diana Gomez
MEMO S.A. – Co-chair of the Board

Ms. Gomez serves as Co-Chair of the Board of this large agribusiness operation just outside of Bogotá, Colombia. Historically a significant player in the dairy industry, MEMO´s strategic focus has been shifting over the last 3 years under Ms. Gomez´s leadership towards real estate development.

Ms. Gomez was, until recently, the Chief Operating Officer of Endeavor Global, a non-profit organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurship in the emerging markets. She was responsible for overseeing Endeavor’s programs in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey and Uruguay. She is currently a member of the board of Endeavor Colombia. 

Among her other active roles, Ms. Gomez is a Trustee of The Hotchkiss School, a boarding school in Lakeville CT; an Independent Director of Athilon Capital Corporation and a member of the board of Lumni Colombia, an innovative start-up company that provides human capital financing in 4 countries. She also serves as an advisor to Ecoflora – a Colombian company which produces biological raw materials for the agricultural, food and personal health industries.

Ms. Gomez holds a BA from Harvard College in Government and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Paul McManus
Director, International Programs, Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization

Mr. McManus is Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the School of Management at Boston University. In addition, he holds dual appointments as the Director, International Programs for the Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (ITEC) and Director, Venture Mentoring Program in the Office of Technology Development (OTD).  He has nearly thirty years of experience in building, leading, advising and investing in high-growth ventures within the high technology and venture capital industries into the classroom at the MBA, International Diploma and Executive Education levels. His teaching interest centers on the issues related to global entrepreneurship with a focus on innovation, technology commercialization and new venture formation. Mr. McManus lectures internationally on these topics and is a member of the Academic Advisory Board for the University of Oslo’s Masters Programme in Entrepreneurial Management.

Prior to joining the faculty at Boston University full time in 2006, Mr. McManus was a Venture Partner with Boston Millennia Partners, a $750M venture capital fund with investments in early stage technology companies in the life sciences, healthcare, medical device, information technology and telecommunications industries for six years. Previously, he was a management consultant, executive and engineering in the high tech industry. Mr. McManus received his MBA from Boston University in 1986 and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute of Technology in 1977.

Raj Melville
Strategy consultant

Raj Melville has over 25 years of product management, marketing and consulting experience at a number of organizations, including Microsoft Corp., Digital Equipment Corporation, Booz Allen & Hamilton and several start-up companies. He currently provides marketing and strategy consulting services to emerging social entrepreneurs. Previously, as VP of Product Management, he was responsible for managing the overall product strategy and features for nTAG Interactive a spin off from the MIT Media Lab. nTAG pioneered face-to-face social networking solutions using wearable computers.

Prior to nTAG, Raj was Vice President, Product Management and Marketing, at Vaultus managing the release and marketing of Vaultus' Java-based mobile applications server. Previously, Raj was Senior Director of Product Management at Be Free Inc. (now ValueClick), where he helped define the product direction for a market leading affiliate marketing e-commerce solution. He has also managed the launch of two high-end Internet server products at Electronic Book Technologies (later acquired by Inso) and has directed consulting teams at CSC Onward and Microsoft Consulting Services.

Raj is an active Charter Member of TIE, a volunteer driven non-profit organization with a mission to foster and support entrepreneurship that has over 800 members in the Boston area. He chaired the Software and Services SIG for TIE and founded and launched the Social Entrepreneurship SIG. He founded and chaired the TIE Annual Outsourcing Workshop, which drew over 150 attendees for the past three years. He founded and chaired the Forum for Social Entrepreneurs at Boston University that was sold out with over 200 attendees. Raj has an undergraduate engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, a M.S. and D.Sc. in Engineering from MIT, and a M.S. in Management from the Sloan School at MIT.

ENERGY TRACK

Please visit the MIT Clean Energy Enterpreneurship Website for all details at www.mitceep.com.

MOBILE TRACK MENTORS

Jeffrey Busgang
General Partner, IDG Ventures Boston

Jeff is a General Partner at IDG Ventures Boston whose investment interests and entrepreneurial experience are in consumer, Internet commerce, marketing services, software and wireless start-ups. Prior to joining IDG Ventures in January 2003, Jeff co-founded Upromise (acquired by Sallie Mae), a loyalty marketing and financial services firm that currently manages over $17 billion in assets, where he served as President, Chief Operating Officer and Board Director. Prior to Upromise, Jeff was an executive at Open Market, an Internet commerce software leader that went public in 1996 and grew to nearly $100 million in revenues. During his five year tenure, he served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development, Vice President of Worldwide Professional Services and head of Product Management. Prior to Open Market, Jeff was with the strategy consulting firm, The Boston Consulting Group, and served on the executive team of Athena Design, an object-oriented software start-up. Jeff holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.

Bill Frezza
General Partner - Adams Capital Management

Bill joined Adams Capital Management in 1997 as a General Partner. Prior to his work at Adams Capital, Bill was Founder and President of Wireless Computing Associates, providing technology and strategic consulting services to major vendors in the semiconductor and telecommunications industries. Bill served as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Ericsson, Inc.'s wireless data division and has extensive engineering and product management experience from General Instrument Corp. and Bell Laboratories. Bill has also been involved in several start-up ventures, holds seven patents, and was a regular columnist for Network Computing Magazine and InternetWeek. He is a former of Director of the Materials Research Society (MRS).

Jeff Glass
Venture Partner, Bain Capital Ventures

Mr. Glass joined Bain Capital in 2006. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Glass was President & CEO of m-Qube, Inc. a Bain Capital portfolio company acquired by VeriSign. In 2006, Mr. Glass was voted Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" in New England and was also named to the Boston Business Journal's "40 under 40" list. Prior to m-Qube, Mr. Glass held positions as Founder and President of Transactive Solutions, Chief Operating Officer of Travelers/NETPlus and strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group where he focused on multimedia and convergence technologies.

Mr. Glass received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Amherst College.

Rohini Chakravarthy
Principal, NEA

Rohini joined NEA in 2007 as a Principal, focusing on information technology investments. Prior to joining NEA, Rohini was most recently with Cisco Systems as Head of Wireless, Corporate Business Development, where she set strategy and led an acquisitions and investments team for growing Cisco's wireless businesses. Prior to Cisco, Rohini spent more than seven years at Intel Capital as a Senior Investment Manager, where she invested in several companies, spanning semiconductors, systems and service provider markets.

While at Intel, she also led Intel's early WiMAX investments and provided strategic advice to Intel's WiMAX business groups. Rohini started her career as a design engineer at Bay Networks, working on Ethernet chips and hardware. Rohini received a master's in business administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She also holds a master's degree from Case Western Reserve University and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, both in Electrical Engineering.

Paul Grim
General Partner, SunBridge Partners

Mr. Grim is a founder and General Partner at SunBridge Partners with an investment focus in wireless communications and retail systems.  Mr. Grim co-founded SunBridge Partners and its predecessor Equitek Capital, and has been actively involved in each of the firm's investments from initial sourcing through due diligence to post-investment strategic guidance, including Flarion Technologies (QCOM), Zipit Wireless, Alien Technology, Eclipse Aviation, The New Media Group and W5 networks. Mr. Grim is currently a Board Director at Zipit Wireless and Board Observer at W5 networks and DFT Microsystems. Prior to venture investing, Mr. Grim worked across Europe with Gemini Consulting in the Telecoms/Media and Retail sectors, where he focused on market entry strategies and new business ventures in wireless, ISPs, e-commerce and IP/broadband services. Prior to Gemini, Mr. Grim worked with Coopers & Lybrand’s Financial Services Strategy Group in Paris, and CGI, an IBM company in software and IT services also based in Paris. Mr. Grim received an MBA from the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management in Dec. 1995 and a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1990.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES TRACK

Ian Carver
DLA Piper Venture Pipeline Group

Ian Carver is a Regional Manager of the Venture Pipeline group, a DLA Piper business unit specifically focused on enhancing the funding prospects of early stage ventures.  Mr. Carver has consulted with over 250 early stage technology and life sciences companies on start-up issues, provided advice on raising venture capital and, for the most promising new ventures, identified appropriate investors and made investor introductions utilizing a broad network of venture capital and angel investor contacts.

Mr. Carver is currently a member of the Programs Planning Committee at the Massachusetts Network Communications Council (MassNetComms), a member of the VC advisory board for the MassNetComms Investor Conference and a member of the programs planning committee for the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council’s (MTLC) "Access to Capital" Series. Mr. Carver is a member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) organization and the MIT Enterprise Forum and has moderated and/or participated on panels discussing angel and/or venture finance at the MTLC, MassNetComms, the MIT Enterprise Forum, and TiE.

George Cooney
Venture Partner - Summerhill Ventures

George Cooney brings to BCE Capital more than 25 years of experience in developing and executing successful business strategies in global technology markets. Throughout his career, George has established a solid track record of identifying and realizing growth opportunities through strategic vision and hands-on leadership positions in product marketing, business development, operations, and finance with a reputation for customer-focused execution. Prior to joining BCE Capital, George co-founded InfoClarus, a wireless application platform company, where he launched a smartphone messaging platform and an enterprise mobility applications development platform. George saw InfoClarus through two rounds of financing, two major acquisitions, and several strategic partnerships.

David Lucchino
Stericoat CEO and Co-Founder

Ken Jones
WaveRx, Co-founder and Chairman

Ken Jones is a Co-founder and Chairman of WaveRx, a venture backed medical device company that he led as President and CEO through the pre-commercial development and clinical trial phase. He has 20 years of experience in electronic system and device commercialization. Prior to co-founding WaveRx in 2004, he was the President and CEO of a venture-backed semiconductor startup with operations in Scotland. Prior to that, he was the VP and GM of a $300MM semiconductor division within a NASDAQ 100 company in California. Ken began his career as an engineer and progressed into management roles in engineering, field applications, marketing and sales within semiconductor test and packaging companies. Ken is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Thayer School of Engineering with AB, BE, and ME degrees where his graduate work involved hyperthermia system and protocol development to treat various cancers.

WEB 2.0 / IT TRACK

Todd Dagres
General Partner - Spark Capital

Todd Dagres is a founder and General Patner of Spark Capital. Mr. Dagres has led Spark's investments in Veoh Networks, Menara Networks, Verivue and Intune Networks. Mr. Dagres was previously a General Partner and Executive Committee Member at Battery Ventures, where his investments generated profits of over $1.1 billion to Battery Limited Partners. At Battery, Mr. Dagres led the Communications Investment practice while focusing on the Media, Entertainment and Communications Industries. Some of his investments at Battery include: Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM), Qtera (acquired by Nortel Networks), XCOM (acquired by Level 3 Communications), Redstone (acquired by Siemens), River Delta Networks (acquired by Motorola), Broadbus Technologies (acquired by Motorola), Arbor Networks and Cedar Point Communications.

Mr. Dagres was named to the Forbes Midas List, which ranks top venture capitalists who have created the most wealth for their investors, three times. Mr. Dagres' Entertainment and Media endeavors include establishing two film and television production companies (Prospect Pictures and Ealing Studios) that together have produced over 10 films and TV shows since 2003. Mr. Dagres holds an MBA from Boston University and a BS in Psychology from Trinity College, Hartford CT.

James Geshwiler
Managing Director - Common Angels

As Managing Director of CommonAngels, James runs one of the first formal venture capital investing networks and the largest in the Northeast. He joined CommonAngels in 1999 when it was an informal group of private investors, and since that time has grown it into a structured network that has invested $44 million from individual investors supplemented by two $10 million co-investment funds. He has funded 33 companies and worked with them through nearly 100 rounds of financing totaling over $260 million. Day-to-day, James manages deal flow, due diligence and the investment process. 

James also was the founding chairman of the Angel Capital Association, the professional alliance of angel groups that has grown from 46 groups as charter members to now over 130, representing over 6,500 investors. He also was the founding chairman of ACA’s sister organization, the Angel Capital Education Foundation, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. AECF works with angel investors, venture capitalists, academic leaders and entrepreneurs around the country to provide research and educational programs on angel investing. He is a contributing author to Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing, published in October 2003 by Darden Business Publishing of the University of Virginia, has written papers and various articles on angel investment processes, and regularly speaks on entrepreneurship and private investing.

Roger Walton
General Partner - Castile Ventures

With a technology industry career spanning over twenty years, Roger Walton has a deep knowledge of networking and computing technologies and extensive marketing experience. Mr. Walton has an investment focus on advanced computing, component and subsystems, and innovation enabled services. He currently serves or participates on the boards of ASPEED Software, Sandbridge Technologies, and Whaleback Systems. He led Castile's investment in Neah Power (NPWS.OB) and was a member of the board of directors at Quantiva (acquired by NetScout) and at Stargus (acquired by C-COR). Prior to joining Castile, Mr. Walton advised start-up and established businesses, both solution vendors and service providers, on market, product/service and partnership strategies. Clients included Comverse, SBC, Altiga, Salix and Xedia. For IT analyst Ovum he researched and authored several reports on information services markets, developed forecasting models and scenarios for emerging segments, and wrote about a broad range of technologies.

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