Speakers
John W. Ballard II '55 Th'56 Tu'56
Co-Founder and CEO
Radio Propagation Services, Inc.
John W. Ballard II '55 Th'56 Tu'56 is co-founder and CEO of Radio Propagation Services, Inc. In the past forty-two years, Ballard has founded or co-founded four technology companies - including TCI International - each of which remains a world leader in its technology. Recently. Ballard founded Angeli Parvi (Latin for "Little Angels"), a nonprofit organization that provides early-stage seed money to Dartmouth start-ups. It provided some or all of the initial capital for three new ventures, one of which, GlycoFi, was recently purchased by Merck for $400 million in cash. Ballard received an AB from Dartmouth, an MS from Thayer School, and a MBA from Tuck School. He was first in academic rank among his Tuck-Thayer class.
Shayan Bhattacharyya '01 Adv'06
Shayan Bhattacharyya is interested in mitigating the development risks of medical innovations that are at the pre-clinical and clinical research stages, so that they may be more easily commercialized. Previously, Bhattacharyya assisted in the scientific and business development of a novel biopolymer for total knee arthroplasty. The biopolymer was discovered at Harvard Medical School and has since been licensed to Zimmer Orthopedics. Bhattacharyya received his AB in engineering science modified with biology from Dartmouth in 2001, and a MS in evaluative clinical science from Dartmouth Medical School in 2006.
Colin Blaydon
Founding Director, Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship
Buchanan Professor of Management, Tuck School
Colin Blaydon is the founding director of the Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship. He is also dean emeritus at Tuck and the William and Josephine Buchanan Professor of Management, teaching entrepreneurship, corporate governance, and private equity finance. His research interests include private equity finance (both venture capital and buyout) and strategy and governance of firms providing or receiving private equity financing. Formerly on the faculties of Harvard and Duke Universities, Blaydon has also worked at the Defense Department and Federal Budget Office and as an executive, and served as a board member at a number of private-sector firms and investment funds. Blaydon received a BEE from the University of Virginia and an AM and PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University.
Nancy Briefs
Founder and CEO
Percardia
Nancy Briefs is the founder and CEO of Percardia. Since establishing the company in 1998, she has raised more than $55 million in equity financing to support device development, feasibility testing, and clinical trials. Briefs recruited a world-class scientific advisory board, expanded the intellectual property portfolio, and hired the senior management team. Her background includes more than twenty five years in the medical device industry building shareholder value by raising both venture and public financing, developing and commercializing innovative paradigm shifting technologies. She holds a BS in business administration and a BA in psychology from Emporia State University and a MBA in finance and marketing from Golden Gate University.
Roderick Carmody Tu'03
Vice President
Business Intelligence Advisors
Roderick Carmody Tu'03 is a vice president at Business Intelligence Advisors, where he focuses on sales, marketing, and business development opportunities. Before joining BIA, Carmody was a member of the management team of CapAdvisory, a specialty finance and accounting consulting firm acquired by Navigant Consulting in 2004. He worked extensively on CapAdvisory while at Tuck, even presenting the company for consideration for the 2003 Greener Ventures conference. It did not make the cut. Prior to Tuck, Roderick worked for Arthur Andersen in Washington, DC, and attended Washington and Lee University.
Lew Cirne '93
CTO
Wily Technology Division, CA
Lewis Cirne is chief technology officer of Wily Technology Division, CA. Cirne founded Wily Technology in early 1998 and invented the company's core, patented Java Agent technology. He served as the company's president and CEO until October 2001, and is currently the CTO of CA's Wily Technology Division. Cirne takes a leading role in the future technological development of the group and its products, with the goal of extending the services offered by Wily to customers deploying high performance e-business solutions. Prior to founding Wily, Cirne held senior technical positions at Apple Computer and Hummingbird Communications. He holds several additional patents. He received his AB from Dartmouth, majoring in computer science.
Douglas Cole, MD, '82
General Partner
Flagship Ventures
Douglas Cole, MD, '82 is general partner of Flagship Ventures, focusing on life science investments. He joined Flagship in 2001 with significant industrial experience and a strong academic background. He has served as medical director at Cytotherapeutics in Providence, Rhode Island, and as program executive at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously, he was appointed Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Cole holds an AB magna cum laude with high distinction in English from Dartmouth, where he was a Senior Fellow and a member of Phi Beta Kappa; and a MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha.
Charles Corfield
President and CEO
SandCherry, Inc.
Charles Corfield is president and CEO of SandCherry, Inc., a communications software company based in Boulder, Colorado. He has worked and invested in the technology sector for twenty years. His company portfolio includes start-ups as well as private equity investments and buyouts (through Silver Lake Partners). Corfield sits on the boards of iBasis, BeVocal and Intuicom. He enjoys rock and ice climbing as well as competing in ultra-marathons. He worked as project manager on the National Geographic Society/Boston Museum of Science resurvey of Everest, and participated in the rescue of climbers in the 1996 Everest disaster chronicled in the book, Into Thin Air.
Dick Couch '64 Th'65
Founder and CEO
Hypertherm
Dick Couch Jr. '64 Th'65 is the co-founder and CEO of the Hanover-based Hypertherm - an innovator and world leader in plasma and laser cutting technology. Under his leadership, the company has become as well known for its progressive employee relations as for excellent products and service; in thirty-eight years, Hypertherm has never had layoffs, and the company has offered generous profit-sharing since 2001. In 2002, Hypertherm ranked 12th in Forbes magazine's listing of "Best Companies to Work for in the United States," and in 2006 ranks 6th among the "25 Best Medium Companies to Work for in America" according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Couch was elected to the National Academy of Engineers in 2001.
Jesse Devitte
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Borealis Ventures
Jesse Devitte is co-founder and a managing director of Borealis Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that is a member of the Village Ventures national network of early-stage venture funds. He has helped found and served as director for several companies Devitte also helped grow Softdesk from a start-up New Hampshire software firm to a public, multinational company while serving on the Board of Directors and in a variety of executive positions. He is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and completed his military service as a member of the White House Communications Agency during the Ford and Carter admistrations.
Ed Diffendal Tu'00
Founder and CEO
MRail Technologies
Ed Diffendal Tu'00 is founder and CEO of MRail Technologies, providing industrial companies accurate, efficient, and timely safety data. He has broad experience in the technology industry, spanning both large and startup companies. Most recently, Diffendal served as director of business development at Symantec, where he was responsible for all of Symantec's software partnerships, generating over $50 million in revenue for the company. He also has deep experience in growing technology companies as an investor, most recently with Broadview Capital Partners. More often than not, Diffendal can be found outdoors, rock climbing, and mountaineering. He has reached the highest summit on every continent and climbed El Cap four times. Diffendal prefers light and fast mountain solos where no one is forced to smell his feet.
Gregg Fairbrothers '76
Founder and Director, Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN)
Adjunct Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School
Gregg Fairbrothers '76 serves as the founding director of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network and is an adjunct professor of business administration at Tuck School. Before returning to Dartmouth in 1999, he served for more than twenty-two years in a variety of management and executive positions in the oil and gas industry, managing and founding exploration and production companies on three continents. Fairbrothers received his AB in earth sciences in 1975, a MS degree in geology from Rutgers in 1977, and a MBA from the University of Tulsa in 1983.
Phil Ferneau '84 Tu'96
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Borealis Ventures
Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School
Phil J. Ferneau '84 Tu'96 is co-founder and managing director of Borealis Ventures, a Hanover-based venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage companies in northern New England and throughout the national Dartmouth network. He is also an adjunct professor of business administration at Tuck School. Ferneau formerly served as the founding executive director of Tuck's Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship He is now an advisory director and an adjunct associate professor teaching private equity and entrepreneurship at Tuck. Prior experience includes senior operating roles with an application software company and a private legal practice specializing in international trade. He received an AB from Dartmouth, a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, and an MBA with high distinction from Tuck.
Tillman Gerngross
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, GlycoFi, Inc.
Associate Professor of Engineering, Thayer School of Engineering
Tillman Gerngross co-founded GlycoFi Inc. with Charles Hutchinson in 2000 and served as the chief scientific officer until the company was acquired by Merck in 2006. In addition, he holds faculty positions at the Thayer School and the departments of biological sciences and chemistry at Dartmouth. In 2006, Nature Biotechnology named him as one of the most notable people in biotechnology in the past ten years. His work has been covered by national and international publications and he regularly publishes in Science, Nature Biotechnology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He obtained his MS in chemical engineering in 1989 and his PhD in microbiology in 1991 from the Technical University of Vienna in Austria.
Mike Gonnerman '65
Founder and CEO
Michael Gonnerman, Inc.
Mike Gonnerman '65 is founder and CEO of Michael Gonnerman, Inc. He has thirty-eight years of experience with Arthur Andersen, as the CFO for two public and two private high technology companies, and as a financial consultant to more than eighty-five companies. Gonnerrman has also served on the boards of directors and advisors of twenty-four companies, where he typically chairs the audit and compensation committees. The author of Ask Mike: Answers to Common and Uncommon Questions about Entrepreneurial Finance, he has been a frequent speaker or panelist at entrepreneurial events at Tuck School, MIT, Tufts, Harvard, and elsewhere. He received his AB in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1965, and a MBA in accounting from Northwestern University in 1968.
Dick Green '75
Co-founder and Managing Director
Granite State Angels
Richard L. Green '75 is co-founder and managing director of Granite State Angels, a regional investment group based in Hanover. He has twenty-five years of experience in entrepreneurial senior management and finance. Green is a co-founder of the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center business incubator, scheduled to open in the fall of 2006. He is also a co-founder of the Grafton County Economic Development Council, and was president from 1999 to 2004. From 1983 to 1993, Green was co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Corporate Microsystems, Inc., a New Hampshire data communication software company. Green received an AB from Dartmouth, where he was awarded the John G. Kemeny Prize in Computing in 1976.
Bob Hower Tu'93
General Partner
Advanced Technology Ventures
Bob Hower Tu'93 is general partner of Advanced Technology Ventures, focusing on investments in the enterprise infrastructure and software sectors. He serves on the boards of Acme Packet, Application Networks, ChannelAdvisor, and eSecurity, and is an observing board member for AppIQ. Previously, he was vice president of sales at LHS Group, where he built the company's Enhanced Services Division for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions and help helped grow its revenue from approximately $3.5 million to $45 million. Hower also had sales and marketing roles at Lotus Development and General Mills. and was a director at BancBoston Ventures, where he focused on the telecommunications and IT infrastructure sectors. Hower received an AB cum laude from Harvard and a MBA from Tuck School.
Charles Hutchinson '68A
Co-founder
GlycoFi, Inc.
Charles Hutchinson '68A co-founded GlycoFi, Inc. in 2000 with Dr. Tillman Gerngross. Prior to selling the company to Merck and Co in 2006, they built the company, which developed and commercialized the production of therapeutic proteins in yeast, to approximately 60 employees as a self-sustaining collaboration and licensing business. From 1984 to 1992, Hutchinson served as Dean of the Thayer School, which he led Thayer through several major capital campaigns and a major expansion program of the facilities, faculty, and research funding. He serves on the board of directors of several New England firms. Hutchinson received his AB from Dartmouth, a BSEE degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an MSEE and PhD from Stanford.
Jeremy Katz '95
CEO
segTEL, Inc.
Jeremy Katz '95 is the CEO of segTEL, Inc., a facilities-based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) serving New England. segTEL has designed and built one of the largest telecommunications networks in Northern New England, and has notably done so during the recent industry downturn without incurring any debt obligations or accessing any third party capital investment. Katz's first telecommunications venture was started while a student at Dartmouth with only $248 and shortly after inception controlled over $20 million of annual telecommunications revenue. He is a former member of the Alumni Council of Dartmouth College and presently serves as the treasurer on the board of directors of Dartmouth Hillel. Katz received an AB from Dartmouth in 1995.
Bill Loginov '85
Partner
Cesari and McKenna LLP
William Loginov '85 is a partner in the firm of Cesari and McKenna LLP. He advises clients in all areas of intellectual property with an emphasis on patent prosecution in the electrical, mechanical, computer software and medical device areas. Loginov also performs infringement analysis, clearance and due diligence opinions, and trademarks. Along with representation of publicly traded technology companies, he works closely with a number of entrepreneurs and startup companies, advising on the best paths to securing and capitalizing on intellectual property assets. Loginov will join the firm of Hinckley, Allen and Snyder LLP in November to head their Patent Group. He earned an AB in engineering from Dartmouth and a JD from Cornell Law School.
Bill Martin '87
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Tuck School
Bill Martin '87 is an adjunct assistant professor at Tuck School. He spent a decade working in the fixed income derivatives markets for Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan. Martin's last tour of duty included running J.P. Morgan's bond options business in London. He retired in 1997 in order to spend more time with his young and growing family. Martin, his wife, and their three children live in Hanover. Martin's current activities include coaching local entrepreneurs, serving on nonprofit boards, instructing MBA candidates, and fly-fishing. He received his AB from Dartmouth in 1987.
Ken Merritt
Managing Director
Merritt & Merritt & Moulton
Ken Merritt is the managing director of Merritt & Merritt & Moulton, a law firm with offices in Burlington, Vermont, and West Lebanon, New Hampshire, focusing on the representation of emerging growth companies throughout the Northeast. It provides strategic counsel for financial, intellectual and organizational capital to clients in a variety of business sectors. Merritt began his career in New York City focusing on debt and equity financing and mergers and acquisitions and has more than twenty-six years of experience representing growth companies and investors. He is also the founder and president of the Vermont Venture Network and a director and co-chair of the Vermont Investors' Forum, Inc. Merritt is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Columbia University School of Law.
David Mott '86
Vice Chairman, CEO, and President
MedImmune
David M. Mott '86 is vice chairman, CEO, and president of MedImmune. He joined the company in April 1992 as vice president with responsibility for business development, strategic planning and investor relations. In 1995, Mott was appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer. Later that year, he was promoted to president and chief operating officer, and was elected to the board of directors. Prior to joining MedImmune, he was a vice president in the Health Care Investment Banking Group at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc. Mott is chairman of the board of directors of Conceptis Technologies. He also serves on the board of trustees of St. James School and on the board of governors of Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School. Mott received his AB from Dartmouth in 1986.
Peter Nieves
Of Counsel
Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green
John Pepper '91 Tu'97
Co-founder and CEO
Stellar Restaurant Group
John S. Pepper '91 T'97 is the co-founder and CEO of Stellar Restaurant Group, which owns, operates, and invests in fast-casual restaurant concepts. Currently, its primary business is Boloco a 16-unit restaurant chain started as part of his entrepreneurship project at Tuck in 1997. Pepper also co-founded and actively manages Boston-based B.Good, another fast-casual concept currently operating 2 units in Boston. He is also on the board of the Farmer's Diner and Resmex, Inc., a multi-unit fine dining chain based in San Francisco. Prior to attending Tuck, Pepper spent four years in sales and marketing at Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon Endo-Surgery division. He also spent brief stints at Smith Barney and Montgomery Securities.
Scott Pueschel
Partner
Pierce Atwood, LLP
Jim Rich '96
Partner
Gemini Investors
Jimmy Rich '96 is a partner at Gemini Investors, a private equity firm with more than $450 million in capital under management. Gemini provides growth capital to - and finances management buyouts of - privately held companies between $10 and $50 million in sales in a variety of industries. Rich currently serves on the board of seven Gemini portfolio companies. He joined Gemini from Citizens Energy, where he focused on that firm's venture activities. Previously, Rich was an investment banker with JP Morgan, where he advised companies in the consumer products and retail industries. Rich received his AB from Dartmouth in 1996.
Matt Rightmire Tu'96
Managing Director
Borealis Ventures
Matt Rightmire Tu'96 is a managing director of Borealis Ventures. He previously acquired significant experience as an operating executive at both early-stage and public Internet companies, starting with Yahoo! in 1995. As a founding member of Yahoo!'s product development team, Rightmire crafted and oversaw a strategy of expanding network product offerings into various media segments under the Yahoo! brand. In 2003, he joined with the two founders to launch Efficient Frontier, an early-stage firm applying financial market optimization techniques to the paid listings marketplaces operated by Google and Yahoo! Rightmire holds a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford and a MBA from Tuck School.
Mike Sapers '82
Co-CEO
CATZ (Competitive Athlete Training Zone)
Mike Sapers '82 is co-CEO of CATZ (Competitive Athlete Training Zone). In 2004, he and co-CEO Lars Hem turned CATZ, a single strength and conditioning facility in Pasadena, California, into a national franchise business. In a little less than two years, CATZ has sold thirty-one franchises from New England to California. Prior to joining CATZ, Sapers owned real estate companies. In 1991, he founded RealtyIQ, which provided brokers, owners, investors, and property managers with a comprehensive electronic database of commercial properties in a given market. He developed the business from a concept into a 300-employee nationwide company that covered fifty-three markets across the United States. Mike received an AB from Dartmouth and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mark Sawyer
Entrepreneur in Residence, Borealis Ventures
Former CEO, @Last Software
Mark Sawyer is the entrepreneur in residence at Borealis Ventures. He joined the firm in 2006 after years of experience as a senior executive in the software industry. Previously, Sawyer was president and CEO of Borealis portfolio company @Last Software in Boulder, Colorado, where he led the merger between @Last and Google, Inc. in March 2006. Before @Last, Sawyer was vice president of worldwide field operations for design software maker Graphisoft headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. From 1993 to 2000 he was with software industry leader Autodesk of San Rafael, CA, finally serving as the company's vice president of the AEC division. Mark received his BA and MA in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.
Mark Scarano
Executive Director
Grafton County Economic Development Council
Mark Scarano is executive director of the Grafton County Economic Development Council (GCEDC), a non-profit dedicated to business attraction and business retention. He is currently focused on expanding its business assistance services, developing incubator space in two communities in Grafton County, and growing the Council's $1.5 million revolving business loan fund. Scarano cut his economic development teeth as community development director in Millinocket, Maine, before being hired by the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council as their business development director and, subsequently, executive director. He received a BA from the University of Southern Maine and a MA from the Iowa State University of Science and Technology.
Dean Spatz '66 Th'67
Founder, former Chairman, and CEO
Osmonics, Inc.
Dean Spatz '66 Th'67 is the founder, former chairman, and CEO of Osmonics, Inc., which, prior to being acquired by GE in 2003, had $210 million in annual sales and 1,400 employees. He has been active in membrane technology since 1964, and has been awarded five U.S. patents and their related foreign patents in the reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration field. Spatz is the author of twenty-five technical papers on the use of reverse osmosis and other membranes for water recycling, heavy metal reclamation, industrial wastewater treatment, and food processing, as well as water purification for medical and industrial applications. Spatz holds an AB from Dartmouth and a BE and ME from Thayer School.
Mark Stein '84
Partner
McDermott Will and Emery
Mark Stein '84 is a partner in the corporate department in McDermott Will & Emery LLP's Boston office. He concentrates his practice in securities, mergers and acquisitions and general representation of start-ups, including companies in the information technology and health fields. Stein advises on the issuance of equity and debt securities in private and public offerings, portfolio investment and buy-out transactions, and investments in private equity funds. He currently is outside general counsel to companies in such industries as software, computer peripherals, internet infrastructure systems, and health information systems. Previously, he was acting executive director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment. Stein received his AB from Dartmouth and a JD from Harvard, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review.
David Strohm '70
Partner
Greylock Partners
Dave Strohm '70 is a partner with Greylock Partners, one of the longest-established American venture firms. In 1983, he moved from Boston to California and opened the Greylock office in Silicon Valley, which has since become the firm's largest operating unit. Over twenty-five years of venture investing, Strohm's primary areas of focus have been on enterprise technology (especially enterprise software), and electronic design. He has been an early or founding investor in more than thirty companies, ten of which have become publicly-traded. He has also been an early/founding investor in more than twenty companies that have resulted in successful mergers. Strohm currently commits intensively to a small number of companies, often serving as chairman or lead director.
Fred Wainwright Tu'02
Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School
Executive Director, Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship
Fred Wainwright Tu'02 is executive director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at the Tuck School. He is also an adjunct associate professor at Tuck and teaches MBA and executive education courses in private equity and entrepreneurship. He has authored and co-authored a book, reports, cases, and articles on finance and strategy topics, and has fifteen years experience in financial services and entrepreneurship. Wainwright is an investor and board member in growth companies. He is on the board of advisors of North Atlantic Capital, a late stage venture capital firm, and is executive director of North Country Angels and Granite State Angels. Wainwright also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Ventures. He earned a BA in economics and BS in engineering from Stanford and a MBA from Tuck School.
Chris Weiss '82
Co-founder, President and CEO
Dynamic Clinical Systems
Chris Weiss '82 is co-founder, president, and CEO of Dynamic Clinical Systems (DCS), a healthcare software company providing Web-based solutions for collecting, managing, and analyzing patient-reported health information to improve research and individual patient care Core domains are outcomes research, clinical care support, and reporting. The company was recently selected by a large hospital system to install the DCS Integrated Survey System™ (ISS) for all services lines and all facilities. Weiss has twenty-five years in IT and business management, in both industry and consulting, including long-term assignments at GE, Arthur D. Little, and Accenture. He holds an AB in computer science from Dartmouth.
Lisa Torrey Weiss Tu'92
Co-founder
Dynamic Clinical Systems
Lisa Torrey Weiss Tu'92 is co-founder of Dynamic Clinical Systems, a healthcare software company providing Web-based solutions for collecting, managing, and analyzing patient-reported health information to improve research and individual patient care. Previously, she spent ten years with Arthur D. Little helping companies across several industries - including financial services, high-tech, healthcare, manufacturing - design and implement business processes, organizational structures, and information technology to improve operational effectiveness. Weiss began her career with GE where she spent five years working in various information technology roles. She earned a BS in computer science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Tuck School.
Kent Womack
Associate Professor of Business Administration
Tuck School
Kent L. Womack is an associate professor of finance at Tuck School. From 1982 to 1989, he was a vice president in the equities division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. working directly with portfolio managers and security analysts. Previously, he worked as a CPA at Price Waterhouse. He began his academic career at Tuck in 1994. His research interests focus on the value of security analysis, security analysts' conflicts of interest, and the underwriting of IPOs. He teaches courses in investments (first-year MBA course "Capital Markets") and the psychology of decision-making ("Managerial Decision Making"). He received a BA in economics and mathematics from Yale in 1978, an MBA from Stanford in 1982, and a PhD from Cornell in 1995.
James Wright '64A
President
Dartmouth College
James Wright '64A is the sixteenth president of Dartmouth College. A veteran academic administrator and noted historian, he has spent more than thirty years in higher education. Wright joined the faculty of Dartmouth's history department in 1969. Prior to becoming president in 1998, he chaired a succession of key committees at the College, including the committee that proposed changes in the undergraduate curriculum that led to a comprehensive overhaul in 1993. A specialist in American political history, he is the author or editor of five books. Wright received a BS from Wisconsin State University-Platteville and an MA and PhD in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is married to Susan DeBevoise Wright.
