Our Team

The Dingman Center is prepared to match entrepreneurial industry, innovation, and zeal with an extensive support system comprised of management staff, active professionals, faculty, student scholars, board members, sponsors, and volunteers who generously give their expertise and energy to the Center. Their contributions, both in intellectual capital and personal commitment—allow us to develop robust entrepreneurial programs that impact and serve the University of Maryland and the wider regional community.

MANAGEMENT

Full Time Staff

Entrepreneurs in Residence

Entrepreneurship Fellows

Research Fellows

Asher Epstein, Managing Director

Asher Epstein joined the Dingman Center full time during the summer of 2004. Prior to that Mr. Epstein held a variety of management and operational positions working with Fortune 500 companies and startups. He began his career working for American Management Systems, a billion dollar information technology consulting firm headquartered in Northern Virginia. Epstein was responsible for the implementation of a proprietary software application designed to manage delinquent customers for a variety of credit products ranging from home equity lines to telephone service. His clients included AT&T, the Bank of Montreal, Bezeq Ltd. and Chevy Chase Bank.

Following that, Epstein took a position as the Director of Business Operations for Exit1, a local e-commerce and web development startup. Epstein helped grow the company from 9 employees and $250,000 in revenue to 30 employees and almost $2 million in revenue in just over one year. Exit1's clients included AOL, eAgents and the Federal Government.

Mr. Epstein then teamed up with his father and brother to co-found SilentFrog. SilentFrog operated as an internet marketplace to facilitate hiring in the "microservices' market for local tasks ranging from lawn-mowing and babysitting to plumbing and car repair. He helped raise $550,000 for this venture and was featured in the Washington Post and on the local NBC affiliate. SilentFrog operated for over two years with close to 10,000 registered customers across the country.

Mr. Epstein has an undergraduate degree in English and History as well as a Certificate of Management Studies from the University of Rochester. Mr. Epstein received an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of business.

Asher currently lives with his wife and daughter in Chevy Chase, MD.

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Melissa Carrier, Director of Venture Investments and Social Entrepreneurship

Melissa Carrier joined the Dingman Center in the spring of 2006 after 11 years of leading organizational growth for technology companies ranging from Fortune 500 to early stage start-ups.  Ms. Carrier brings broad experience across corporate and product-line positions including acquisitions and divestitures, venture investments, partnerships, new product launches, system implementations and marketing programs.

Ms. Carrier joined the Dingman Center from AT&T, where she served as Finance Director for AT&T Mergers and Acquisitions. While at AT&T, Ms. Carrier also led investments for the company's corporate venture fund. In this role, Melissa had lead responsibility for managing the investment pipeline, analyzing financial and market data, performing on-site due diligence, and executing deals.  During Ms. Carrier's tenure at AT&T, she also served as the Product Manager for the MVNO wireless data content offering/platform as well as Manager of Strategy and Business Development for AT&T Consumer Services.

Ms. Carrier began her career as a process consultant for Andersen Consulting.  During this time, she worked with U.S. and European clients on business process design and ERP system implementations.  Subsequently, Ms. Carrier served as a Director at two startup technology companies focused on web-based business-to-business strategies. Immediately prior to obtaining her MBA, Melissa led strategic development of core processes for SAP's Global Solution Center.

Ms. Carrier received a BS in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA with Honors in Finance and Strategic Management from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Melissa currently lives with her husband, two boys, and flat-coated retriever in Potomac, MD.

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Dr. Rudolph P. Lamone, Founder

Dr. Rudolph P. Lamone is the Founder and member of the Board of Advisors of the Michael D. Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and a Professor Emeritus at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Lamone received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the business school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

From 1973 to 1992, Dr. Lamone served as Dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, now ranked among the top business schools, and as the first chair of the Program in Entrepreneurship. He is co-founder of the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers and a founding member of the National Consortium for Life Science Entrepreneurship Programs. Dr. Lamone serves as Director on the board of several companies, public and private.

In 1996, Dr. Lamone was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young for his work in support of entrepreneurship. In 1998, Dr. Lamone was selected to receive the President's Medal at the University of Maryland. In 1999, Dr. Lamone co-founded DirectGene, a biotechnology company that has developed gene therapies directed toward the treatment of metastatic prostate and breast cancer. He also serves as a venture partner with Gabriel Venture Partners, Annapolis, MD, and Redwood Shores, CA.

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John LaPides, Entrepreneur in Residence

John LaPides has spent over 20 years at the helm of Snow Valley, Inc., a regional bottled water company based in Maryland. He has been president and CEO since 1988. During that time LaPides has guided the company through twenty straight years of record sales. He has spent 14 years as a director of the International Bottled Water Association, chaired 7 different committees, served as chairman of the International Council (IBWA's international governing body) and as President and Chairman of the association in 1997. He is also president of Quality Bottlers Cooperative, the bottled water industries largest cooperative buying group, and president of American YardPros, LLC, a Maryland based landscape contractor. For the past four years he has been the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. He has also served on numerous boards and advisory committees.

LaPides lives in Annapolis with his two children, Jay and Elizabeth. Born in 1959, LaPides was an economics major at Washington College and is a member of the Young Presidents Organization. He is an avid boater, golfer, musician and holds his private airplane pilots license.

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Adam Lehman, Entrepreneur in Residence

Adam Lehman has extensive experience developing new business opportunities, as a strategist, dealmaker, investor and entrepreneur.

Mr. Lehman is currently Managing Partner of Rock Ridge Ventures. Rock Ridge develops and invests in new business ventures, and provides a variety of strategic advisory and management services to emerging businesses. Mr. Lehman also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, advising and incubating early stage ventures, at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Prior to his current roles, Mr. Lehman was an executive with America Online for seven years, ultimately serving as a Senior Vice President. During his tenure with AOL, he had the opportunity to participate in the development of a wide range of new domestic and international business ventures and opportunities. Mr. Lehman's functional responsibilities during this period included strategic and business planning, business development, dealmaking, legal and operations management.

Prior to joining AOL, Mr. Lehman was an associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of the corporate law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, working on investments, acquisitions and financings, principally in the media, communications and technology sectors.

Mr. Lehman is also a playwright. His work has been performed at professional and community theatres in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New York, California, Massachusetts, Arizona and Montreal, Canada.

Mr. Lehman has been a board member and volunteer with several non-profit organizations in the Washington, D.C. area. He is currently a member of the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and of the Advisory Board of Fair Chance D.C.

Mr. Lehman is a graduate of Dartmouth College (summa cum laude) and Harvard Law School (cum laude) and a 1987 Truman Scholar.

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Neil Selvin, Entrepreneur in Residence

For over 25 years, Neil Selvin has created unique, differentiated product brands, and built successful product lines and companies that leverage these brands.

Neil has built and executed marketing strategies for a broad array of high technology products, including sophisticated chemical instrumentation, professional television equipment, personal computers and enterprise software. In the early 1990's, Neil worked at Apple, where he was the Director of Marketing for portable computers and drove the launch of the original PowerBooks. By creating unique positioning for the PowerBook, Neil was able to permanently change the laptop playing field, resulting in first year revenues of a billion dollars, and the most successful new brand at Apple in seven years.

Neil then became CEO of Global Village Communication, a Macintosh modem and communications software company. He grew Global Village from $20M to $140M in three years, and went public in 1994. By “making communications easy,” Neil built Global Village into the leading Macintosh communications company, with over 70% market share.

Since then, Neil has run a number of small companies, including OneWorld Systems, which produced integrated communications servers for small business, and Pivia, which developed web acceleration software for large enterprises. He has also served on a number of boards of directors. After 25 years in Silicon Valley, Neil and his family recently moved to Northern Virginia, where he became the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Approva, a compliance software company.

Now, Neil is using his brand and marketing expertise to assist small companies with strategic positioning and rapid execution of marketing programs. His independent consulting practice focuses on formulating strategic positioning to customers, creating strong brand clarity for small companies, and then implementing comprehensive marketing programs that consistently reinforce the brand. Neil possesses a rare skill in being able to create brands that establish an “emotional hook” with the end customer, and then developing compelling sales and marketing strategies that leverage this bond.

Neil lives with his family in Great Falls, Virginia. In his spare time, Neil collects wine, is an avid though terminally mediocre golfer, and enjoys travel.

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S. Tien Wong, Entrepreneur in Residence

Mr. S. Tien Wong is Chief Executive Officer of Opus8, Inc., a Chevy Chase, Maryland-based private investment firm specializing in middle market buyouts, private equity and venture capital investment.

In 1991, Mr. Wong co-founded and served as CEO of CyberRep, Inc. until its acquisition in 2003 by Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS). At the time of its acquisition, CyberRep was one of the ten largest privately held Customer Relationship Management (CRM) companies in the world, operating 6 customer interaction centers throughout the USA with over 2,300 employees and $80 million in revenue. In addition to garnering such prestigious awards as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine's MVP Quality Award and Customer Interface magazine's ACCE (Award for Call Center Excellence), CyberRep was ranked in INC. magazine's 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000's "Inc. 500" as the 51st, 53rd, 72nd and 408th fastest growing private company in the USA, respectively. CyberRep was profitable for eleven consecutive years and was backed by Allied Capital Corporation, a $4 billion investment company (NYSE: ALD).

Mr. Wong is a recognized international expert in CRM, direct marketing, and business process outsourcing (BPO). He frequently presents at industry events, and has written numerous articles on the CRM and BPO spaces. He has also appeared on the ABC, Fox, NBC, and CNBC television networks to provide industry commentary. Prior to co-founding CyberRep, he worked for ten years in commercial real estate finance and investments.

Mr. Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Greater Washington region. He volunteers as a business advisor in the Mentor Program at the Georgetown University School of Business in Washington, DC and is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, University of Virginia, and Mount St. Mary's College.

Mr. Wong serves on the Boards of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, HarVest Bank of Maryland (www.harvestbankmd.com), and the Potomac Officer's Club (www.potomacofficersclub.com). He is former Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association. He is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, DC Tech Council, Direct Marketing Association, and the Technology Council of Maryland. He is Co-chairman of the DC Tech Council's 2006 Early Stage Capital Forum.

Mr. Wong is Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship's Greater Washington region. He is CEO of The Tien and Beverly Wong Foundation, which supports youth, education, and social services charities. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government.

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Dan Goodman, Senior Fellow for Renewable Energy

Dan Goodman is a serial entrepreneur with over thirty years of experience in starting and running product, service and consulting businesses. He has extensive experience in bootstrapping start-ups, product development, technology transfer and business development. Dan was the founding Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Maryland’s Office of Technology Commercialization, where he promoted the licensing of University-owned inventions to business and industry. He served as the CEO of Zernike USA, Inc., the U.S. arm of the Zernike Group, a science park and venture fund management firm based in The Netherlands with offices in 12 countries.

Dan is the Senior Fellow for Renewable Energy at The University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business and an Entrepreneur in Residence at the nationally recognized Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, where he focuses on social venturing and assisting startups. He is the faculty advisor for the Smith School’s NetImpact Board Fellows program, which places MBA candidates on the boards of nonprofit organizations in mutually beneficial pro-bono engagements. 

Dan served as Acting Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the U.S.-China Science Park, the People’s Republic of China’s first science park outside of mainland China, and served on the Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Innovation Center, the nation’s first Homeland Security incubator. Dan is a member of the Board of Directors of HandsOn Toys (a specialty toy company), Eneractive Solutions (an energy services firm), and Volante (an automotive-focused TV production company), as well as a member of the Board of Advisors of Hook and Ladder Brewing Company, Goozex (video game trading) and several other companies and venture funds. Dan is a Scientific Advisor to the University of Maryland’s New Markets Growth Fund. He is a frequent moderator, panelist, and lecturer on the topics of new venture creation, entrepreneurship, and renewable energy. 

Dan has been interested in renewable energy since he built his first methane digester in 1977 using canine waste. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Biodiesel University, a not-for-profit organization focused on educating middle school through college students, teachers and the public on environmental stewardship and renewable energy topics, and inspiring students to choose careers in science and technology. 

Dan holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and has studied Technology Transfer at the National Institutes of Health’s Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences.

Dan's profile appears on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).

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Wei-Wu He, Senior Smith Fellow

Wei-Wu is a General Partner and Co-founder of Emerging Technology Partners LLC. Prior to ETP, he was the founder and president of OriGene Technologies, Inc. Dr. He was also one of the first few employees of Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NSDQ: HGSI). Dr. He has been involved in over 20 biotech companies through his career.

Dr. He is actively investing in growth capital and pre-IPO bridge opportunities in China.

Dr. He has been awarded over 20 U.S. patents and has more than twenty original research publications. Dr. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine and conducted cancer research at Mayo Clinic and at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his MBA from the Wharton School.

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H. Edward Muendel, Senior Smith Fellow

H. Edward (Ted) Muendel is the Co-Founder of an international executive search firm, Stanton Chase International, which currently operates 60 offices in 43 countries and is ranked in the profession among the top 1% by size, stature, and reputation. He recently stepped down as Chairman of the organization and divides his time running the Baltimore and San Francisco practices.

Altogether, Ted has over 30 years broad background experience in global executive search, selection, and organizational development. Ted's clients include large multi-nationals as well as early stage pre-IPO startups in the Life Science, High Technology, Industrial, and Higher Education markets. Specifically, Ted has worked with venture capital portfolio companies in building their leadership teams and Boards of Directors.

Previously, Ted worked for Allegheny Ludlum International in acquisition integration and was a Managing Associate for Theodore Barry & Associates, a prominent west coast general management consulting firm.

Ted utilized his entrepreneurial skills in building a successful vineyard business in Sonoma Valley where he developed 8 acres of Syrah which achieved a silver medal award at the California State Fair competition. He has since sold the business and continues to reside both in Baltimore, Maryland and Sonoma, California.

Ted has led seminars and conferences on executive recruitment and organizational planning and on building partnerships with the venture capital community. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, and other national and regional publications.

Ted was recognized for international leadership by his alma mater, Lehigh University, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Delta International Honorary. He also received the University's highest alumni award for his achievements. For Lehigh, he was elected President of the International Alumni Association and served on the Board of Trustees for nine years. Currently, he is a founding member of the University Global Leadership Council.

Ted has been active on “for profit” and “non profit” Boards of Directors for various organizations including the United Nations Business Council, The Ocean Conservancy, and Continental Manufacturing Corporation, among others. He earned an Undergraduate Degree in Behavioral Sciences from Lehigh University and received a Masters Degree with honors in business from Northern Illinois University.

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Mark Walsh, Senior Smith Fellow

Mark L. Walsh is the managing partner of Ruxton Ventures, LLC, a private equity and investment firm he founded in early 2001. Ruxton has made investments in a number of technology and service companies, including Blackboard (www.blackboard.com - NASDAQ:BBBB), Half.com (Acquired by eBay), Day Corporation (http://www.day.com/en.html - SWX:DAYN), IndustryBrains (www.industrybrains.com/), Transactis (www.transactis.com), Visual Systems Group, Inc. (www.vsgi.com), Phocuswright (www.phocuswright.com), and many others.

He served as Chairman of the VerticalNet (www.verticalnet.com - NASDAQ:VERT) Board of Directors from July 2000, until February 2002. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer from August 1997, to July 2000. Before joining VerticalNet, he was a Senior Vice President and corporate officer at America Online, Inc. from 1995 to 1997. He founded and managed AOL Enterprise, the business-to-business division of AOL. Prior to his position with AOL, Mr. Walsh was the President of GEnie, General Electric's online service. He currently serves on a number of private company and non-profit boards of directors and advisors. He was a board member and chairman of a number of interactive and technology trade associations.

He has been active in many political causes: as CEO and co-founder of Air America Radio in early 2004; as head of internet operations for the John Kerry Presidential Campaign in 2003; and as Chief Technology Advisor to the Democratic National Committee in 2002. He was named man of the year by the Maryland State Democratic Party in 2001.

He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and B.A. from Union College, where he serves as a trustee.

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Mark Grovic, Venture Capitalist in Residence

Mark Grovic is the founder and Managing Director of the New Markets Growth Fund (NMGF), a $20 million venture capital fund focused on high-growth technology companies and housed at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). Grovic is a member of the Board of Directors of Lightningcast, an NMGF portfolio company. He serves as Venture Capitalist in Residence for the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, where he is also a Professor of Practice of Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. In 2004, he received the US Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship National Outstanding Course Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship in Education. Grovic is also a Senior Fellow in the Executive Education Department and teaches in Smith's Executive MBA program.

From 2001 to 2004, Grovic served as the Deputy Director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Smith School of Business, where he created and managed a successful University wide program in Technology Commercialization, launched a Capital Access Angel Network, and oversaw a 10 times increase in service revenues to the Center.

Grovic was a Professor of International Business at Howard University from 2000-2002, and was voted "Professor of the Year" for the 2001-2002 school year. In 2000, Grovic was a Teacher for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), where he received NFTE's New Teacher of the Year Award. From 1997-1999, Grovic was a top-rated Professor of International Business at the Estonian Business School in Tallinn.

Prior to joining the New Markets Growth Fund, Grovic was Portfolio Manager of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF). SEAF manages $150 million in small business equity investment funds operating in a total of 10 countries, with over 150 portfolio companies. From 1997 to 1999, Grovic was based in Tallinn, Estonia as Director of the Baltic Small Equity Fund, managed by SEAF, where he sat on the Board of Directors of ten of his portfolio companies in industries such as software, biotechnology, medical equipment, distribution, and light manufacturing.

Grovic is Co-Founder of the Templeton Emerging Europe Fund, a $60 million Central European private equity fund, and a Principal of the Fund Manager, Templeton Direct Advisors, a wholly owned direct investment subsidiary of the $150 billion Franklin Templeton Group. From 1993 to 1995, Grovic was the Associate Portfolio Manager of Private Equities at the Calvert Group, a $5 billion socially responsible mutual fund. During this time, Grovic worked with Booz Allen in Romania, helping develop a mutual fund industry. Prior to Calvert, Grovic worked for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, in both their finance and general counsel's office. In 1992, Grovic lived and worked in South America as a Ford Foundation Fellow, where he provided financing to small businesses and helped set up Profund, a $20 million fund investing in South American banks. Grovic continues to serve on Profund's Board.

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