Murray Berkowitz
Joseph Bohan
Henry Gibson
Michael Giles
Dev Gupta
Robert E. Hunt
Eric Janszen
Gerard O'Conner
Tripp Peake
Joseph C. Stokes
Robert Tosti

Speaker Bios

Murray Berkowitz, CEO and Founder of CTO Services

Murray Berkowitz is an entrepreneur, an enterprise executive, a UMass Alumni and CEO and Founder of CTO Services. CTO Services provides business and technology services to companies and venture capital. New companies, growth companies and established businesses need ongoing help and assistance to navigate today's business, technology options and strategies.

Murray has more than 25 years of industry experience and is recognized as an expert in communications infrastructures, software due diligence, enterprise management, performance, transaction processing, change control systems, storage and open source technologies. His open source work includes active community and licensing experience and a founder of OSDL for Linux advancement. A hand's on approach to technology, Murray leverages his strong technical background, experienced due diligence work and market strategy to help companies make critical decision. As a hobby and to stay current with PC technology, Murray provides PC repair, tune-up and PC recovery for "Friends and Family".

As a Technology Partner at Kodiak Venture Partners, he evaluated new companies for consideration, tracked emerging technology and new paradigm shifts, performed due diligence for new investments and worked closely with portfolio companies on technology issues.

Murray joined Kodiak from Computer Associates (CA) where he served as Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology responsible for CA's strategy across multiple business areas and due diligence for new acquisitions.

Murray serves as a technical advisor and board member for multiple startup companies and community organizations. He is also a regular industry speaker and lecturer at University of Massachusetts.

Murray is an active and avid racquetball player and cyclist. He holds an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.S in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Joseph Bohan, CEO, of SciDose

Joseph Bohan is CEO of a drug delivery company, SciDose LLC, which he founded in 2006 with operations worldwide. He serves on the Board of Directors for Bioject, a NASDAQ listed company, and as Chairman of Nexgen, a drug delivery company focused on biotechnology drugs. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Bohan served as Vice President of Worldwide Business Development for Nektar Therapeutics (formerly Inhale Therapeutics), a maker of advanced drug delivery technologies. From 1989 to 1998, Mr. Bohan served as President and CEO of Amherst Process Instruments, Inc., a distributor of scientific instruments.

Henry Gibson, IP Counsel of SABIC Innovative Plastics

Henry Gibson is IP Counsel at SABIC Innovative Plastics in Pittsfield MA (1999 to the present), including when the business was called GE Plastics. He was also IP Counsel at Texaco (1991-1999) and a Patent Attorney at Union Carbide (1978-1991), after starting out as a patent associate at the law firm of Larson, Taylor & Hinds (1976-1978). During his legal practice he has worked mainly in various chemical and mechanical technologies doing: patent preparation and prosecution; IP transactions including confidentiality, licensing, mergers and acquisitions; patent and trademark clearances and strategic analysis; patent and trademark portfolio management and assessment; patent and trade secret litigation; and given guidance and counseling to technology, commercial and other business clients on all aspects of IP.

Henry received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia and J.D. from George Washington University. He likes singing, and is an(other) avid cyclist (century rides preferred), enjoys running and marathons, challenged swimmer, and so occasional pedestrian triathlete.

Michael Giles, Founder of Otalo

Michael Giles is currently the founder of Otalo, a search engine for vacation rental property, and also servers as an advisor to several startups. Previously, he founded Furl.net which he sold to LookSmart (LOOK) in 2004. Furl co-created and continues to be a leader in the social bookmarking market, enabling users to save, share and recall anything they find online. Prior to founding Furl, Michael held various management and technical leadership positions at Vitria Technology (VITR), helping to grow the business from early start-up to multibillion-dollar public company. He also co-founded a company focused on enterprise marketing automation and worked on early content management software at Illustra/Informix. Michael received a BA in Physics from Oberlin College where he managed the Visual Cognition Lab, researching object and face recognition.

Dev Gupta, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Newlans

Dev Gupta is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Newlans and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Newlans supplies components to implement millimeter wave based Local Area Networks and Digital Television Distribution networks in enterprise and residential applications. Prior to Newlans, Dr. Gupta was President and CEO of Narad Networks and developed Cable TV networks based on Gigabit Ethernet networking for small and medium business. In 1998, Dr. Gupta founded Maxcomm Technologies which developed voice and data integration products that could be provisioned over Telco DSL infrastructure. Cisco Systems acquired Maxcomm in 1999. In 1995 he founded Dagaz Technologies. Dagaz developed DSL Multiplexing equipment for the central office as well as associated premise equipment. Dagaz was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1997 and Dr. Gupta joined Cisco as VP and Chief Architect/Chief Technologist of Cisco's access business. Prior to Dagaz, Dr. Gupta was a senior executive at Integrated Network Corporation. Dr. Gupta began his career at Bell Laboratories where he developed various Digital Transmission and Switching products. At the Consumer Product Laboratory of AT&T, he developed various products for residential and small business markets. Dr. Gupta has a Ph.D. from UMass Amherst, an MSEE from the University of Maine and a B.Tech. EE degree from IIT Kanpur in India. He was named a Tech. Pioneer for the years 2001 and 2002 by the World Economic Forum. Dr. Gupta has developed several successful companies two of which were acquired by Cisco System where he acted as the Vice President. His recent work lays the foundation of next generation Ultra-Broadband communication.

Robert E. Hunt, Shareholder of Wolf Greenfield

Bob Hunt provides full service IP counseling, including patent preparation and prosecution, product design and development consultation, patentability studies, infringement and validity opinions, license negotiations, and offensive and defensive consulting in matters involving patent litigation.

Bob represents a range of clients and industries, including consumer products, medical devices, semiconductors, and electronics industries. He also represents clients in areas such as electromechanical devices, robotic systems, and communication systems.

Bob has assisted clients in adversarial situations by providing advice on negotiation and settlement tactics and written opinions when required.

Eric Janszen, Former Venture Capitalist & Founder of iTulip, Inc

Eric Janszen is a former venture capitalist, author, speaker and expert on financial bubbles. In 1998 he founded iTulip, Inc. and iTulip.com, a global online economics and financial-market community frequented by more than 6 million visitors from 75 countries. In addition to iTulip.com, Mr. Janszen writes articles on global economics and financial markets for several online publications, including the AlwaysOn Network and Bankrate.com. He co-authored America's Bubble Economy: Profit When It Pops, a 2006 book published by John Wiley & Sons that Ken Kurson, financial columnist at Esquire, calls an investing "roadmap" that not only predicts what lies ahead, but also "tells a reader exactly how to plan and respond" and simultaneously manages to be "readable and even funny." Mr. Janszen has served as president and CEO of RF control technology company AutoCell Laboratories, Inc.; entrepreneur in residence at Trident Capital; president and CEO of Bluesocket, Inc.; and managing director of seed stage investment firm Osborn Capital. In all, he is credited with raising more than $30 million from nine venture capital firms. In 2003, he was a finalist for the Massachusetts Telecommunications Council's "CEO of the Year" and for Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year." Mr. Janszen has been the subject of articles and profiles in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, and the BBC. He has appeared as a panelist at more than 50 events in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and has spoken at dozens of industry events, including "The Money's Back," (Stanford 2005), "Trends in Capital Markets (MIT 2004), and "Finding Hope in the Tech Rubble" (Harvard 2003). In 2002, he won the Best Presentation Award at VentureOne. Mr. Janszen has served on more than a dozen boards of directors and currently serves on several advisory boards and on the board of the Massachusetts networking and Communications Council. He holds a B.S. in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Gerard O'Conner, Partner of Foley Hoag

Gerard O'Conner is Partner of Emerging Enterprise Center at Foley Hoag (Waltham, MA). Jerry has a wide-ranging business law practice that focuses on corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and intellectual property matters. He represents clients in a variety of industries, including software and information technology, advanced and renewable energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, venture capital and professional services. Jerry represents buyers and sellers of public and private companies. He assists early-stage companies with formation, securities offerings, employment and intellectual property issues. He advises public companies and their directors and officers on securities law, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and reporting obligations. Jerry's practice has particular emphasis on advising early stage software and energy technology companies, representing them in negotiating and carrying out strategic alliance and joint venture agreements.

Tripp Peake, Managing Partner of Long River Ventures

Mr. Peake is a Managing Partner of both Long River Ventures and Worcester Capital Partners and brings 18 years of venture building and investing experience to the funds. Immediately prior to Long River, Tripp was a partner at Kestrel Venture Management, where he focused on the management of Mass Ventures Equity Fund, a $14 million early stage fund established in western Massachusetts in 1997.

Tripp serves or has served on numerous boards as board member or observer, including Clarity Imaging, Optasite, Profile Systems, Protedyne, Reconda International, Sovereign Hill Software, and WRNX Radio. Before joining Kestrel, Tripp was co-founder and CEO of two venture development consulting companies: Mass Ventures, based in Amherst, MA and associated with the University of Massachusetts; and Science Park Associates, based in New Haven, CT and associated with Yale University. Both of these companies provided university spin-offs and regional entrepreneurs with strategic and financing advice and helped raise over $50 million in private equity for 18 different early stage ventures.

Tripp holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A from Yale University. Tripp lives in Amherst, MA and operates out of both the Hadley, MA and Worcester, MA offices.

Joseph C. Stokes, Lecturer, Corporate Finance of UMass Amherst

Joseph Stokes has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Life Technologies, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland (NASDAQ: LTEK). He was responsible worldwide for investor relations, treasury, tax, risk management, accounting and control, information technology, legal, corporate governance and SEC reporting for this leading supplier to the biotech, life science and heath care industries.

Earlier positions include, treasurer, Dexter Corporation, (NYSE:DEX), a Fortune 500 manufacturer of specialty materials and chemicals and corporate banking officer at Connecticut Bank and Trust in Hartford, Connecticut.

Joe holds an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a M.S. in Business from The Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Robert Tosti, Partner of Cooley Godward Kronish

Robert Tosti - is a partner in the Intellectual Property, Patent Counseling & Prosecution, Intellectual Property Litigation, Trademark, Copyright & Advertising, Clean Technologies and Medical Device practice groups and a member of the Cooley Godward Kronish Litigation department. He joined the Firm in 2007 and is resident in the Boston office. His practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, portfolio development, licensing and the assessment and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Mr. Tosti is a registered patent attorney and has experience with a variety of technologies including software, business methods, semiconductors, networks and medical devices. Mr. Tosti has been named as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer. Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Tosti was a partner in the Boston office of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP. Prior to joining Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, he was a partner in the Boston office of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP. Mr. Tosti was an adjunct faculty member at Suffolk University Law School from 1999 to 2001 where he taught the Intellectual Property Survey course. Before beginning his practice in intellectual property law, Mr. Tosti worked as an electrical engineer doing software development and hardware design at General Electric, Mitre and IBM. Mr. Tosti received his law degree, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School. He received his M.S. and his B.S., cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Speakers & Panelists