Speaker Bios

Janet Bryant, Principle Scientist & Technology Deployment Manager of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Janet Bryant is a Principle Scientist and Technology Deployment Manager for the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. As a Systems Engineer with degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics, plus an MBA, Janet has had a multi-faceted 30 year career as a non-traditional chemist. For the past 7 years, she has deployed sensor technologies for the Department of Homeland Security. As part of that Program, Janet directs lifecycle configuration and property management activities for over 500 operational sites across the United States. Additionally, she is part of the Technical Support Team to continue to advance the state-of-the-art, provide technology adaptation, post-deployment support, and data analysis. Back To Top ^

Cheryl Cejka, Director, Technology Commercialization of Battelle/Pacific Northwest National Labs Cheryl Cejka was recently named executive board chair of the DOE Technology Transfer Working Group (TTWG). The TTWG, composed of representatives from across the DOE national lab system, is tasked with addressing technology transfer activities, issues and concerns at the working level. It was formed as part of DOE's effort to establish a framework for consistency and improvement of industry partnerships and technology transfer activities throughout the DOE complex. Cheryl has led PNNL's intellectual property management, portfolio development and investment and technology commercialization activities for the past eight years. She also has led the creation of many significant technology licensing arrangements, including the establishment of several new business ventures based on PNNL technologies. Many of these transactions have received national recognition from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Excellence in Technology Transfer. Cheryl received a bachelor's degree in business and marketing and an MBA in finance, both from the University of Washington. Back To Top ^

Judith Giordan, President and Co-founder of Visions in Education Judith C. Giordan has held executive and leadership positions in R&D and operations spanning a 25+ year career. Currently, Judy is Managing Director of Steel City Re, LLC, an intangible asset services firm; Vice President and co-founder of Visions in Education, Inc., a strategic and human capital services provider to universities, start-ups and non-profits; Senior Advisor for the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance; a member of the Board of Directors of start-up companies; and Professor of Practice in the College of Science and Technology of the University of Southern Mississippi - from which she has just completed a detail to the National Science Foundation as Program Director for the IGERT Program. Previous executive positions include Vice President and Global Corporate Director of Research and Development at International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.; Vice-President Worldwide Research and Development for the Pepsi-Cola Company, the global beverage arm of PepsiCo, Inc.; Vice President Research and Development, Henkel Corporation, the North American operating unit of the Henkel Group, and co-founder and managing partner of 1EXECStreet a successful San Francisco based boutique executive search firm. She has also held management and technical contributor positions at Polaroid and ALCOA. Judy received her Bachelors degree from Rutgers University, her PhD from the University of Maryland (Chemistry), and was an Alexander von Humboldt Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Frankfurt in Germany. Back To Top ^

Elizabeth Gordon, Founder & President of Flourishing Business Elizabeth Gordon is the founder and President of Flourishing Business ®, an advisory firm for entrepreneurs. A visionary leader with a passion for helping others achieve their entrepreneurial dreams, Elizabeth regularly has the opportunity to share her business acumen with clients and audiences, large and small. She challenges others to reconnect with their true passion and purpose as she helps them to achieve their business goals through her unique flourishing business® philosophy. Elizabeth has consulted for companies like Krispy Kreme, Bank of America, 24 Hour Fitness, the Province of British Columbia, Ameriquest Mortgage, Wachovia and hundreds of mid-size businesses in industries ranging from high tech to machine shop. Her other employment credits include Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in Charlotte, NC, Smith Barney outside of Philadelphia, The Northern Trust Company in Chicago, and consulting stints for the State of New Jersey and for a Pennsylvania State House Representative. Elizabeth is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Wake Forest University, where she earned a BS in Business with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Economics. She received her master's degree in Marketing from Georgia State University. Back To Top ^

Lisa Kemp, Chief Science Officer of Ablitech Lisa Kemp co-founded Ablitech in 2006 as its initial COO and current serves as its Chief Science Officer. She has industrial work experience in the polymer coatings field as an R&D Chemist. During her time in industry, she developed three new coatings technologies and played a key role in bringing two of them from lab-scale to full-scale production. She currently holds two patents, one of which has seen commercial success with revenues greater than $5.5 million. Kemp is currently the PI for an NSF funded SBIR Phase I project developing new drug releasing biocompatible materials. Kemp holds a BS degree in Polymer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi and a PhD in Polymer Science with a Technology Commercialization focus. Back To Top ^

Linda Plano, Associate Director of Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center Dr. Linda Plano is the Associate Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC). In this role, she assists in the development and implementation of MTTC programs. Her focus is on recruiting and coaching early stage entrepreneurs for these programs with the goal of facilitating the commercialization of their technologies. Dr. Plano works with inventors in all high tech sectors from life sciences to information technology and has coached over 200 entrepreneurs and inventors in preparation for their presentations to investors at the MTTC, many of whom have gone on to found companies, several of which have raised millions of dollars in venture funding. Dr. Plano has been involved in business and product development throughout her career in positions ranging from Vice President for New Business Development at MicroNetworks Corporation, Group Head at both Kobe Steel's Electronic Materials Center and Sarnoff Corporation. She earned a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and B.S. in Physics from MIT. Back To Top ^

Pam Roach, CEO of Breakthrough Group Pam Roach provides critical advice to clients making strategic, product and market decisions. She has led Fortune 100 business segments in global marketplaces and delivered top and bottom line growth. At Honeywell, Pamela created successful e-business strategies and produced a leading edge electronic solution to information management, sales and training needs. Pamela is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University Business School. Back To Top ^

Tracy Warren, General Partner of Battelle Ventures Tracy Warren focuses primarily on health & life sciences and emerging energy technologies, and has led investments in seven companies, including university and government laboratory spin-outs Endovalve (cardiovascular devices / University of Pennsylvania), Superprotonic (solid acid fuel cells / California Institute of Technology), BioNanomatrix (DNA sequence analysis / Princeton University) and NellOne Therapeutics (regenerative medicine / U.S. DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory). Warren, who sits on the Battelle Commercialization Council, started in venture capital in 2001 after focusing on companies in the medical device and health care information technology fields as an analyst and associate in SG Cowen Securities & Health Care Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Finance divisions. Prior to SG Cowen, she was in the Global Financial Analyst program at Chase Manhattan Bank and holds a B.S. degree in accounting and international business from New York University and an MBA from Columbia University. Back To Top ^

Deirdre Zammit, External Venturing Project Leader of Saint-Gobain Deirdre Zammit is Project Leader External Venturing in Saint-Gobain. Saint-Gobain's corporate venture organization, External Venturing, seeks partnerships with start-up companies including equity investment, joint development, manufacturing, distribution, and license arrangements. Saint-Gobain businesses include activity in flat glass, glass packaging, construction products, construction products distribution, and high performance materials including inorganic grains and powders, ceramics components, performance plastics components, crystals, coated fabrics, and abrasives. Key areas of interest are in materials, energy, clean-technologies, lighting, building materials, services for the construction industry, and high performance applications enabled by innovations in ceramics, crystals, glass, or performance plastics. Saint-Gobain has a history dating back to 1665 with the manufacture of glass and mirrors for the Palace of Versailles. Headquartered in France, Saint-Gobain has over 200,000 employees, manufacturing facilities in over 50 countries and 2008 revenues were greater than 43B€. Deirdre has been with Saint-Gobain External Venturing for more than 2 years and has over a dozen years of experience in intellectual property licensing, business development, and corporate venturing. Deirdre has a BS Materials Engineering from Rutgers School of Engineering and a MBA with a focus in management from Seton Hall University. She began her professional career as an engineer in the microelectronics sector. Back To Top ^