Speaker Bios

Ritu Agarwal is the Robert H. Smith Chair in Information Systems and director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. She has published over 50 papers on information technology in journals such as Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions, and Decision Support Systems. Her research focuses on how organizations derive value from information technology through adoption, diffusion and creative use, and the design and structuring of IT activities to maximize business innovation. She received her PhD from Syracuse University.

Joe Bailey is a research associate professor of decision and information technologies and the director of the Center for Electronic Markets and Enterprises (CEME) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. His research and teaching interest span issues in telecommunications, economics, and public policy with an emphasis on the economics of the Internet, particularly technologies and market opportunities that promote the benefits of interoperability. He is currently studying issues related to the economics of electronic commerce and how the Internet changes competition and supply chain management. He earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rakesh Bhatia is a Vice President at BearingPoint, with global P&L responsibility for the Global development Centers (GDCs) in various countries. Earlier, Mr. Bhatia, as country head for India, was responsible for building and managing India Global Development Center (GDC) operations with complete P&L responsibility. Mr. Bhatia is also a key advisor to "Cost Take Out" leadership team to explore BPO offshore opportunities for BearingPoint internal operations.

Before this role, he was managing Fortune 50 named accounts in Telecom Line of Business and had P&L responsibility for one of the largest Telecom accounts for KPMG Consulting (now BearingPoint). His primary responsibilities included, managing key relationships with senior executives of BellSouth and provide thought leadership for trends in wire line and triple play convergence. Mr. Bhatia provided consulting services to solve complex business problems in OSS/BSS, EAI and enterprise PMO. He also led Bearing Point's Global PMO and Telecom Industry Vertical Solutions practice and managed the "Tiger Team" to help implement large and complex PMOs for various Fortune 100 clients.

Before joining BearingPoint, Mr. Bhatia worked as a senior executive for a leading offshore service provider (Tata Info tech €“ now TCS) and was responsible for managing telecom, insurance and government clients in the USA and South America for offshore delivery. He was a key leader in the development of offshore delivery models and methodology in early years of the offshore phenomenon. Mr. Bhatia also managed many large complex offshore engagements in software factory as a leader of systems & networking line of business in India. He was also responsible for worldwide training on key IT disciplines include facility management, capacity planning and data center operations.

Mr. Bhatia has 22 years of extensive leadership experience in information technology including strategic planning, systems development, program management, software quality assurance and large-scale system integration efforts leveraging distributed delivery models.

Mr. Bhatia has been an invited speaker in many industries & universities forums for OSS, VOIP, Offshore trends, program management and Global Consulting landscape. He is also on advisory board of Institute of Global Business Studies to help them define the roadmap for developing new global leaders.

Mr. Bhatia was selected in the "Top Performing Managing Directors" of BearingPoint.

Madan Birla is a veteran of the "hard" side of business. In his 22 years at FedEx, he was Managing Director of Long-Range Operations and Facilities Planning and Materials and Resource Planning before being named Managing Director in the company's Leadership Institute. For eight years as a member of the Long Range Planning Committee he worked closely with Fred Smith (Founder & CEO) and the senior management team in evaluating strategic €˜what-ifs'. At the FedEx Leadership Institute, he excelled as a facilitator of Innovation, Leadership, and Life Balance courses for all levels of management throughout the world. For the last five years he has been advising executives on how to unleash employee creativity and commitment to build a culture of innovation and performance.

His life experiences in two rich cultures, East and West, and his broad educational background have prepared him well to creatively meld ideas from engineering, business and psychology to develop comprehensive €˜Leading for Innovation' models. He completed his undergraduate work in Mechanical Engineering at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India. Following that he enrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, IL, where he received his Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. After graduating from IIT, he joined RCA Records in Indianapolis. While in Indianapolis he did graduate work in Business at Butler University. After moving to Memphis to join FedEx, he received a Master of Science degree in Counseling from the University of Memphis.

He has received many awards including Membership in Alpha-Pi-Mu, Industrial Engineering Honor Society, Honorary Citizen, City of Indianapolis for community involvement and Five-Star Awards, the highest recognition for Leadership Excellence at FedEx.

He is a regular speaker in Executive Education programs at Kellogg Management Institute, Northwestern, Tuck Business School, Dartmouth, American Management Association, The Conference Board, and professional meetings including Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Global Human Resource Forums, Tennessee Leadership conference and Leadership Academy, Illinois Institute of Technology, Columbia, Fordham, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, Indian School of Business, Singapore Institute of Management, and others.

He is actively involved in volunteer work for giving back to the community. He led the effort to establish the Indian Community Fund for Greater Memphis that funded the permanent exhibits including the Gandhi exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and €˜Windows to the World' an interactive educational exhibit at the Children's Museum of Memphis. He developed long range plans for the Church Health Center (serving working poor), Friends for Life (serving HIV/AIDS affected population), the Tipton Commission on Aging (serving seniors) and Shelby County Schools Education Foundation. He lives with his wife Shashi in Collierville, TN and has two grown children who live in New York and Chicago.

Bhaskar Chakravorti is a Partner of McKinsey & Company, based in the Firm's Boston office. He is a leader of McKinsey's Innovation practice. Bhaskar has helped senior managements the leading global companies in multiple industries (technology, health and consumer care and renewable energy) formulate and act on strategies for long-term impact in key areas: innovation, growth and new business-building.

Bhaskar's book, "The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World," Harvard Business School Press; 2003 (selected as Best Business Book of the year by multiple publications and an Amazon.com best-seller on Innovation), has been influential in multiple client recommendations and in public policy, academic and philanthropic circles. Bhaskar's articles appear in the leading peer-reviewed academic journals, with over 25 scientific publications, four edited books, and in several widely-read publications, e.g., Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal Europe, Financial Times, Economic Times, etc., and in two websites he has authored.

His ideas feature in interviews in multiple media, e.g., BusinessWeek, The Economist, Fortune, BBC, Fast Company, Economic Times, CBS MarketWatch, NECN-TV, etc., as well as in a documentary film on the spread of innovation through the open source movement. He has been invited as keynote speaker to audiences in business, academia, policy (e.g. government agencies, Capitol Hill, regulators), multi-lateral bodies (e.g. World Bank, IFC) and think-tanks (e.g. Aspen Institute, National Academies of Sciences, Global Business Network), research, and the venture capital and investor community.

Examples of Bhaskar's work with clients include: Creating growth and innovation platforms by helping build scalable new businesses, developing strategies to capture value from global and macro trends, and organizing key partnerships and strategic negotiations.

Bhaskar's appointments prior to McKinsey include: Partner and Thought Leader at another global strategy firm, Monitor Group; game theorist at Bellcore, the R&D labs for the Bell telephone companies; assistant professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; officer of TAS, the executive cadre for the Tata Group, India's pre-eminent conglomerate.

Bhaskar has a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from the University of Rochester, where he was a University Fellow, a Masters from the Delhi School of Economics, where he was awarded the Shri Ram Fellowship, and earned a B.A. in economics with Honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University in India. He lives with his wife, Gita, two children, Tarit and Sahana, and, unwillingly, with three cats in Brookline, MA.

Shari Garmise joined the International Economic Development Council as Vice President for Knowledge Management in August 2007. Previously, she was Assistant Professor of Economic Development at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Dr. Garmise has over 17 years of experience in economic development research, analysis and policy development in the United States and Europe. She has worked on various economic development issues including workforce development, technology-led economic development, entrepreneurship, legislative affairs, and many others. Last year, Dr. Garmise published a book entitled People and the Competitive Advantage of Place: Building a 21st Century Workforce. In addition, she has published work in several journals including Local Economy, Economic Development Journal and Regional and Federal Studies as well as various book chapters, working papers, and professional reports and policy analyses.

As President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen is responsible for setting the strategic direction for all Association activities, including public policy efforts, research initiatives, educational programs, and member services. In this capacity, Mark works closely with the NVCA professional staff and Board of Directors to demonstrate the positive impact of venture capital investment on the United States economy. Under his direction, the NVCA has created numerous value-added sub-groups including the CFO Task Force, Strategic Communications Group, Corporate Venture Capital Group, Medical Industry Group and Human Capital forum, all of which are dedicated to supporting NVCA membership in uniquely critical areas.

As a spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to present the overarching venture capital perspective to a wider audience. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, appears regularly on CNBC, and is consistently quoted in the press in stories concerning venture capital trends.

Since 1991, Mark has worked on behalf of the NVCA to enact a wide range of policies that benefit the venture capital and entrepreneurial communities, including a significant capital gains differential, securities litigation reform, numerous SEC and FASB accounting issues, immigration reform, and a streamlining of the FDA and CMS approval processes, among other issues.

Prior to coming to the NVCA, Mark was an aide to a former Governor of Pennsylvania and was Deputy Director for Federal Funds reporting to the Texas Legislature. Mark received a law degree with an emphasis in taxation from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.

Vinod Jain is director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. He is also the academic director for the School's Executive MBA program in Shanghai, China, and senior director of Professional Programs. Prior to joining the Smith School in 2005, he taught for some twelve years at universities in the United States, U.K., and Bahrain. And, in spring 2005, he taught on the Executive MBA program at the Polish-American Management Center, University of Lodz, Poland as a Fulbright Scholar. A true cosmopolitan, Vinod has lived, studied, and worked in India, United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Vinod teaches courses in strategy, global strategy, and clusters and competitiveness on Smith's MBA and Executive MBA programs in College Park, China, and Switzerland. His current research involves measuring the innovation economy in the United States, a project partially funded by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. His research and publications have been in fields as diverse as strategy evolution, foreign direct investment, performance measurement, and knowledge management. During the last eight years, he has received and managed four competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Education, with a total budget of over four million dollars.

Prior to returning to academia in 1989, Vinod worked in industry for some twenty years and held a variety of positions including Vice President (Macmillan Publishers), Manager Sales and Marketing (Falcon Publishing), Manager Coordination (Molins PLC), Marketing Research Executive (Coca-Cola), and Marketing Analyst (FMC). He has also consulted for a number of multinational corporations and has conducted over one hundred executive seminars worldwide.

In 2004, Vinod received a Citation from Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr., recognizing him for his services promoting international understanding with people from different parts of the world in business and education. And, in 2001, he won the "E" Award for Excellence in Exporting from Ohio Governor Robert Taft for the services he provided to multinational companies in the state.

Vinod has a Ph.D. degree in Strategy and International Management from the University of Maryland at College Park and Master's degrees in Management (UCLA) and Statistics (Indian Statistical Institute). He is a member of Academy of International Business, Academy of Management, Maryland-Washington D.C. District Export Council, Mensa, Strategic Management Society, and the World Affairs Council. He is President Emeritus of the board of directors of the Toledo Area International Trade Association and was on the boards of governors of Ohio's Information Technology Alliance and the IT Alliance for Northwest Ohio during April 2000 - April 2002.

P. K. Kannan is Harvey Sanders Associate Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is the Director for the Center of Excellence in Service. His current research stream focuses on new product/service development, design and pricing digital products and product lines, marketing and product development on the Internet, e-service, and customer relationship management (CRM) and customer loyalty. He has received several grants from National Science Foundation (NSF), Mellon Foundation, SAIC, and PricewaterhouseCoopers for his work in this area and research papers have been published in Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and Communications of the ACM. Dr. Kannan was a panelist in the NSF Workshop on Research Priorities in e-Commerce (1998) and a Fellow of the AMA Consortium on e-Commerce (2001).

Dr. Kannan serves on the editorial boards of the Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, and International Journal of Electronic Commerce. Dr. Kannan has served as the Chair for the American Marketing Association SIG on Marketing Research.

His teaching interests include customer relationship management, new product development, Internet retailing and pricing and marketing models/research. He has taught these courses in executive programs for Black & Decker, Home Depot, ARINC, McCormick, and Northrup Grumman. He is the recipient of the Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence (2001). He has corporate experience with Tata Engineering and Ingersoll-Rand and has consulted for companies such as Frito-Lay, Pepsi Co, Giant Food, Black and Decker, SAIC, Fannie Mae, and IBM.

Kei Koizumi is director, R&D Budget and Policy Program at American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a leading authority on the federal budget, federal support for research and development, science policy issues, and R&D funding data. He is the principal budget analyst, editor, and writer for the annual AAAS reports on federal R&D and for the continually updated analyses of federal R&D on the AAAS R&D web site. He is widely quoted in the general and trade press on federal science funding issues and speaks on R&D funding trends and federal budget policy toward R&D to numerous public groups and seminars.

Kei Koizumi received his M.A. from the Center for International Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the George Washington University and received his B.A. from Boston University in Political Science and Economics.

Lemuel Lasher is Chief Innovation Officer and President for Computer Sciences Corporation's Office of Innovation, which includes: The Leading Edge Forum, The Research Network, Global Solutions Organization, Corporate Alliances, and Knowledge Management & Enablement. Prior to this assignment, he has held numerous Managing Director positions within CSC's European Group, including: BAE Systems Global Account; European Consulting; CSC Belgium & Luxembourg and Industry Practices for Benelux.

Lasher joined the CSC European Group in 1992 as Director, Network Integration Europe, where he was responsible for CSC's network and telecommunications activities in Europe. He joined CSC in 1990 as director, Commercial Programme Development for the Network Integration Division in Herndon, Va.

From 1984 until joining CSC, Lasher was vice president for Integrated Software Resources, Inc, a software consulting and engineering firm in the airline telecommunications industry. Prior to this, he held the following executive positions: president, Deca Group, Inc; executive vice president, Aitta, Inc; director, Investment Seminars, Inc; director, North American Operations, Elan Vital, Inc.

Lasher attended Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, and Friedrich Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany, where he studied German Literature and Philosophy. He speaks German, French, Dutch, and Spanish.

Dave McQueeney is the Chief Technology Officer for IBM's US Federal Government unit. Dave's team works with IBM's Federal Clients and IBM's Federal System Integrator partners to provide technical leadership across the domain of enterprise systems technology and architecture. He is responsible for the IBM Federal Innovation Solution Center and directs a team of highly skilled distinguished engineers, IT consulting architects, and strategy consultants interfacing directly with Federal customers.

Immediately prior to joining IBM's Federal team, Dave led the IBM Global Services Intellectual Property and Global Competencies team. Dave was responsible for developing and deploying the business and technical strategies, methodologies, professions, and intellectual property licensing approaches that maximize the creation of business value for IBM's customers.

Throughout his career, Dave has driven strong connections between IBM Research and the other units of IBM, most recently IBM Global Services. He is passionate about enabling IBM's evolving research strategy to shrink the distance from technical innovation to business innovation. Dave was recognized by Consulting Magazine as one of the top 25 consultants for 2002, citing his work to make the innovations of IBM Research directly available to customers via IBM's Global Business Services unit.

Dave has held a number of significant positions in IBM Research, including Director of the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Vice President of Communication Technology, and Vice President of Technical Strategy and Worldwide Operations.

Dave joined IBM in the Research Division in 1988. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Solid-State Physics from Cornell University, and an A.B. in Physics from Dartmouth College.

Mr. Milbergs has far-reaching public and private innovation experience.

• President of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM), an industry-led organization advocating for a stronger US manufacturing base as vital to America's productivity, competitiveness and long-term prosperity.
• Founder of Learning Access in 1994 to implement internet learning applications in K-12 education. He originated the Chicago Neighborhood Learning Network of after school centers and co-organized the CyberEd truck tour that introduced the powerful potential of the internet to parents, students, administrators and the media in 15 Empowerment Zones across the nation.
• President of the Institute for Illinois that formulated a comprehensive federal agenda and championed over $2 billion in investments for advanced technology, defense industrial base and human capital.
• Senior advisor to the president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) on the strategic technology plan and space commercialization initiative.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary for Productivity, Technology and Innovation at the U.S. Commerce Department under Malcolm Baldridge and led the Administration's initiatives in technology transfer, R&D commercialization, the Bayh-Dole Act, Stevenson-Wydler Act, US metric system, National Technology Transfer Act and productivity improvement. He developed the core concepts for the Baldridge National Quality Award.
• Executive director of the Commission on Industrial Competitiveness chaired by John Young, CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The commission produced the landmark report to President Ronald Reagan entitled "Global Competition: The New Reality." The report and the continuing work of the Council on Competitiveness set in motion an enduring policy framework for maintaining US competitiveness and global economic leadership.
• Program Director at the Stanford Research Institute leading research on federal R&D management practices, technology commercialization and alternative business future scenarios.
• Budget and Program Analyst at the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management of Budget and staff member of the President's Council on Executive Organization.
• Mr. Milbergs is a graduate of Harvard College where he concentrated in public policy and economics. He lectures frequently on the subject of technology policy, innovation, entrepreneurship and global competitiveness issues.

Satish Nambisan is Associate Professor of Technology Management & Strategy at the Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a globally recognized researcher and thought-leader in the areas of innovation management and technology strategy, and his recent research work has focused on customer co-innovation, network-centric innovation, and IT-enabled product development. Through his articles in journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Review, and Management Science, he continues to influence both research and practice in the above areas. His new book "The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World," was published by Wharton School Publishing in October 2007. He has been recognized for his research with awards and grants from several organizations including the IBM Center for Business of Government, Ernst & Young, and the National Science Foundation. In 2006, he was a Visiting Research Professor at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He was recently honored with the Whitman Distinguished Alumni Award by Syracuse University. Prior to his academic career, Nambisan held executive positions at Unilever Plc.

Professor Rhonda K. Reger is Associate Professor of Strategic Management and co-chair of the Management & Organization department at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. She received her B.B.A. in marketing from Texas A&M University, and her M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the faculty of the Smith School of Business in 1995, she served as a faculty member at Arizona State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Reger primarily uses methods from cognitive psychology to study three areas of managerial and organizational cognition and knowledge management: managerial mental models of competitors, managerial mental models of joint ventures and other cooperative relationships, and the effects of organizational identity on planned, fundamental organizational change. In the international arena, she has examined international joint ventures and the international entry decisions made by smaller and medium-sized firms.

She is the author of over 20 publications. Her articles have appeared in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, Strategic Management Journal, and Organization Science. She has also published three edited books for use in M.B.A. strategic management classes (with Robert Wiseman), Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantages (McGraw Hill College Custom Series, 1996), Readings in Strategic Management (Copley Publishing Group, 1994), and Cases in Strategic Management (Ginn Custom Publishing, 1994).

Dr. Reger has served as the Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Management and on the review boards of the Academy of Management Review, Organization Science and the Journal of Quality Management. She has served on guest or ad hoc editorial review board for all the major journals in her area, and for the National Science Foundation. She is a member of the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society, and the INFORMS College on Organizations. She has consulted with Intel Corporation and served as a Professor-in-Internship with Dillard's, a leader in using information technology for competitive advantage and an innovator in value strategies for the department store industry.

Harvey is the founder and director of Creativity Connection, a program of the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts that helps corporations surface creativity and enhance organizational learning. Widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities in the field of arts-based learning for business, he is frequently invited to design programs for global corporations such as AstraZeneca, AT&T, Honeywell, Morgan Stanley, and Siemens. Harvey's book, LEADERSHIP ENSEMBLE: Lessons in Collaborative Management (Holt/Times Books) has been published in seven languages, and he lectures on the Senior Executive Faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Harvey is also a classically trained musician who has enjoyed a 25-year career at the helm of distinguished arts organizations including Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco's Magic Theater, and New York's Theater for the New City. He has also served as Executive & Artistic Director of Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts, a Smithsonian-affiliated center for the visual and performing arts located in the most diverse neighborhood in America. Harvey currently serves as Principal Artistic Advisor to the National Music Center and Museum in Washington, D.C.

Debra L. Shapiro (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Clarice Smith Professor of Management at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business (formerly the Willard J. Graham Distinguished Professor of Management at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill where she was on the faculty from 1986-2003). A Past Chair of the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management (and a recipient of the Best Paper Award in that Division in 1991, 1992, 1996, and 2007), Debra's research centers on how to manage conflict (e.g., change-resistance, perceived injustice) in organizations and, more positively, how to encourage innovative thinking including the discovery of win-win outcomes in negotiations. An author of over 60 journal publications and book chapters, Shapiro's publications appear in many premier journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, The Academy of Management Journal, The Academy of Management Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and others. Dr. Shapiro is currently an Associate Editor of The Academy of Management Journal.

Dr. Shivakumar conducts a portfolio of policy research on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the National Academies. Since joining the staff of National Academies the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) in December 2001, he has played an instrumental role in STEP's evaluation of public-private partnerships as well as its multi-part analysis of the drivers of the information technology-led productivity growth, known as the New Economy. Current studies include a comparative review of national innovation policies around the world as well as a review of best practices in innovation policies among U.S. states. He is also a member of the National Research Council's research team assessing the Small Business Innovation Research program. A political economist by training, Dr. Shivakumar has highlighted the important role of institutions in facilitating the development of small knowledge-based firms within complex innovation ecosystems.

Before joining the Academies, Dr. Shivakumar was a visiting scholar at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. His work there focused on the political economy of development and development cooperation. During his tenure at Indiana University, he worked on post-conflict institution-building and constitutional development in Somaliland, and conducted a major study for Sida, the Swedish international development agency, on the role of incentives in the structure of development aid. Earlier, Dr. Shivakumar worked at the United Nations Development Program's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.

Dr. Shivakumar received a B.S. in Physics from Carleton University, Canada, and received his doctorate in Economics from George Mason University in 1996. He is recently the author of The Constitution of Development - Crafting Capabilities for Self-Governance published by Palgrave-Macmillan, and co-author of The Samaritan's Dilemma - The Political Economy of Aid published by Oxford University Press.

James Throckmorton co-founded IP2Biz and co-designed the unique IP2Biz business model. He is working with university researchers, university technology transfer offices and corporations to unearth early stage technology and launch it towards commercialization. Before IP2Biz he advised CEOs of manufacturing and technology companies for more than 15 years. As an operating executive and an advisor, he has worked with boards of directors of both private and public companies. He has held a broad range of senior management positions including marketing, sales, operations, materials management, purchasing, new product development and finance in the US and Europe with Xerox Corporation, Donaldson Company Inc. and others. He holds degrees from The Ohio State University (BS, Mathematics; MS, Computer and Information Science) and the University of Minnesota (Executive MBA). He serves as president of the Atlanta Chamber Players and treasurer of ProArte Chorale of Ridgewood, New Jersey and enjoys traveling for his bird watching hobby.

Vandy is a Principal and co-Founder of Evergreen Innovation Partners. Van Wagener has over 30 years of diverse experience in marketing, general management and new products. His experience and network are heavily rooted in consumer goods, having worked for Procter & Gamble for 22 years, ultimately as a Vice President in their Asia Pacific operations. This was followed by stints as CEO of multiple tech/service startups, and Director or Advisor to several consumer-oriented firms. He has raised over $30M in venture capital, and his innovations across 14 countries have produced in excess of $1 billion in market value.

Van Wagener received his MBA with distinction from the Tuck School at Dartmouth, and graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. He lives in Denver with his wife; has three children; and enjoys golf, tennis, skiing, music and travel in those all too rare windows of spare time.

As the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Tom leads InnoCentive's go-to-market strategy, oversees the sales and marketing organizations and manages all business development activity in the commercial, government and not-for-profit sectors. Previously he served as the Senior Vice President for Digital River, Inc., a publicly traded ecommerce services provider. There Tom held many operational and client facing positions, the last of which was as executive sponsor of Digital River's strategic partnership with Microsoft Corporation for the on-line sale and delivery of Microsoft Office and other Windows based applications. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Business Development for the Expense Network division of Gelco Information Network. From 1985 through 1999 he helped start 6 technology companies specializing in messaging, Internet communications, wireless technologies and E-commerce.

Tom holds an economics degree from the University of Minnesota and resides in Eden Prairie, MN with his wife Ginger and their 3 children. In addition to having a passion for web-based business models, Tom is very actively involved in local charities and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the A Better Chance Foundation and previously served on the Board of Directors of Bridging, Inc. Additionally Tom is very involved with his community and schools where he currently serves as the President of the Eden Prairie Youth Football Association.