Speakers
Alex Andrianopoulos
Chief Research and Development Officer
Alex leads the team of investment analysts at Kairos that conducts research and due diligence on all the companies Kairos considers invest in, either through incubation or Series-A funds. Alex joined Kairos with 20+ years of experience at high-tech companies specializing in enterprise software, ranging in size from startups with a handful of employees to behemoths with tens of thousands of employees. In these companies, Alex led global teams of dozens of employees responsible for product strategy, intellectual property protection, engineering, professional services, sales, marketing, and business development, and actively participated in the efforts to close, and successfully closed, multiple rounds of financing by venture capital firms as well as the public markets. Moreover, while at Oracle, Alex led the research and strategic alignment efforts for numerous acquisitions ranging in value from a few tens of millions to billions of dollars. Alex has a degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Engineering and an MBA in Finance and Marketing.
Chief Research and Development Officer
Alex leads the team of investment analysts at Kairos that conducts research and due diligence on all the companies Kairos considers invest in, either through incubation or Series-A funds. Alex joined Kairos with 20+ years of experience at high-tech companies specializing in enterprise software, ranging in size from startups with a handful of employees to behemoths with tens of thousands of employees. In these companies, Alex led global teams of dozens of employees responsible for product strategy, intellectual property protection, engineering, professional services, sales, marketing, and business development, and actively participated in the efforts to close, and successfully closed, multiple rounds of financing by venture capital firms as well as the public markets. Moreover, while at Oracle, Alex led the research and strategic alignment efforts for numerous acquisitions ranging in value from a few tens of millions to billions of dollars. Alex has a degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Engineering and an MBA in Finance and Marketing.
David Berokoff is the Director of the Energy Practice at Larta. David has over 38 years of experience in the energy industry, covering a wide range of disciplines including C-level suite executive support, business strategy and the development and commercialization of emerging technologies. David was lead developer and manager of Sempra Energy's uniquely successful emerging technology investment portfolio. Throughout his career. He has ample experience with the identification of customer needs and related business opportunities, design of innovative solutions, implementation of project plans, contract negotiations, construction and commissioning activities. David holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from California State University Los Angeles with post-graduate studies in energy systems analysis and economics at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Swati Chaturvedi is the co-founder and CEO of Propel(x) - an investment platform that enables investments in deep technology startups. Prior to starting Propel(x), Swati was an investment professional at Exigen Capital, where she worked on IT Telecom, Travel, and BPO deals. Before that, she was a management consultant working across a variety of industries. Swati is the co-founder of the MIT Alumni Angel Investors group. She founded and led the group 2013 – 2015, and continues to be on the screening committee. Swati has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an M.S. from MIT, an M.S. from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.
Meghali Chopra is CEO of Sandbox Semiconductor, which aims to solve a bottleneck in semiconductor manufacturing: the long development cycles necessary to create new chips. In 2018, SandBox Semiconductor received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop SandBox Studio™, and a Phase I SBIR grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to build high performance computing models for roll-to-roll semiconductor fabrication. They participated in Larta's Commercialization Accelerator Programs with both agencies, working with Principal Advisors Diane Hickey-Davis and Ferey Faridian. She earned her bachelor's degree with Honors, from Stanford University and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, both in Chemical Engineering.
Diane Hickey-Davis
As a Principal Advisor for Larta's Commercialization Assistance Programs, Diane Hickey-Davis is a commercialization expert with over 20 years of experience translating technology into products and revenue. In addition to strong communication skills, Diane has deep technical expertise in the microscopy, semiconductor, photonics, and material sciences industries. Her business expertise lies in commercialization, sales strategy, new product introduction, start-ups, and strategic marketing with a proven a track record of quickly growing revenue for established companies and start-ups. Diane holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, an M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering, a partial-M.S. in Science Communication from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Florida.
As a Principal Advisor for Larta's Commercialization Assistance Programs, Diane Hickey-Davis is a commercialization expert with over 20 years of experience translating technology into products and revenue. In addition to strong communication skills, Diane has deep technical expertise in the microscopy, semiconductor, photonics, and material sciences industries. Her business expertise lies in commercialization, sales strategy, new product introduction, start-ups, and strategic marketing with a proven a track record of quickly growing revenue for established companies and start-ups. Diane holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, an M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering, a partial-M.S. in Science Communication from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of Florida.
Lars Johansson is a manager of the E8 Fund, the former board chair and long term member of E8 (Element 8) Angels and an active angel investor in cleantech companies. He's been engaged as an Entrepreneur in Residence for cleantech startups at i2E and the University of Washington. Lars' background is in IT where he was an executive at Microsoft for a combined 16 years, the first 5 in his native country of Sweden, before relocating to the Pacific Northwest in 1993. He has a business degree from the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
Henry C. Kapteyn is CEO of Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories Inc. (KMLabs), a Professor of Physics and ECE at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a fellow of JILA—a research institute joint between the University of Colorado and NIST. He and his wife and long-term collaborator, Margaret Murnane, have pioneered a "tabletop x-ray laser" which allows to "view" atomic and molecular processes in real time. KMLabs is now actively commercializing this technology. Henry has received numerous awards and published several hundred papers in topics ranging from laser science and engineering to materials to nanoimaging. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2013, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018, and is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Daniel Kolker received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Vassar College in 1992. He worked as a technician in a small drug company in Cambridge MA for over two years, and then enrolled at Northwestern University's Institute for Neuroscience. He received a Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2001, and served as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Upon joining the USPTO as an examiner in TC1600, he examined patent applications in the fields of neurobiology, receptors, and cytokines. In 2012, he became a supervisory patent examiner (SPE) and currently oversees art unit 1644, which examines applications in immunology.
As a supervisor he works closely with junior examiners in the art unit, and is an expert on patent subject matter eligibility, particularly in the biotechnology area.
Roger London
CEO Corporate Links
Our speaker, Roger London has worked with startups and F500 companies as a principal, investor or strategic/business planning advisor in almost a one billion dollars of transactions and awards. He has over 25 years of experience working with corporations, as well as being an entrepreneur, merchant banker, security incubator manager, technology scout for the defense and intelligence community, corporate venture capitalist, angel investor and entrepreneur mentor.
CEO Corporate Links
Our speaker, Roger London has worked with startups and F500 companies as a principal, investor or strategic/business planning advisor in almost a one billion dollars of transactions and awards. He has over 25 years of experience working with corporations, as well as being an entrepreneur, merchant banker, security incubator manager, technology scout for the defense and intelligence community, corporate venture capitalist, angel investor and entrepreneur mentor.
Joey Price is an award-winning Human Resources executive, business coach, thought leader, and professor. He is the founder of Jumpstart:HR, LLC, an HR Consulting Practice specifically for small businesses and startups, and host of Business, Life, and Coffee, a weekly personal and professional development podcast. As the CEO of Jumpstart:HR, LLC, Joey innovates by creating HR solutions for small business owners and start-up founders who want to build better, more competitive businesses. As a podcaster on the Business, Life, and Coffee show, Joey shares carefully curated conversations on personal finance, psychology, professional development, and business for emerging professionals and business owners alike. BLC is a podcast focused on enhancing the quality of your business and life through relevant content that endures over time. Joey is a recent HR Executive Magazine Top 100 HR Tech Influencer, SHRM Top 30 Under 30 award winner, one of Forbes Magazine's Kevin Kruse's Top 100 Employee Engagement Experts in the World, and frequently cited HR and Startup Thought Leader in publications such as Forbes, HR Magazine, Inc., Businessweek, AMEX Open Forum, Money Magazine, and more.
Rohit Shukla is the CEO and Founder of Larta, and is an established thought leader and respected practitioner on innovation, commercialization, and enterprise and technology-led economic development. He has advised governments, multilateral organizations, communities and enterprises throughout the world, creating initiatives that expand entrepreneurship, and enhance the competitiveness of regions across many parts of the globe. Rohit's knowledge of key issues in several industries has led to a unique career. He directed a prominent group of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the defense, electronics and aerospace industries, which included Peter Drucker, Bill Perry (former U.S. Secretary of Defense), and Malcolm Currie, CEO of Hughes. Rohit has a Master's in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University, England, and a Master's in Communications Arts and Sciences from Loyola Marymount University, LA.
Claudia Cantoni has served as the Commercialization Program Manager for the DOE SBIR/STTR Programs since 2016. She manages the Commercialization Assistance Program implemented by Larta, and the Phase I PI Meetings, which she introduced in 2017. Claudia focuses on improving SBIR/STTR commercialization outcomes and grantee's collaborations with the DOE National Laboratories for technology transfer. Prior to joining DOE, Claudia was a materials scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 16 years. Her research resulted in 5 R&D 100 Awards, 3 U.S. patents and 150 technical publications. Claudia holds a masters' degree in Physics from The University of Naples Federico II, Italy, and a Ph.D. in Physics from The University of Salerno, Italy.
Scott Davis works for Department's Office of Inspector General, specifically under the Office of Investigation's Hotline and Analysis section. He has worked for the Department since his retirement from the US Army last year, where for the majority of his 20-year career he was a Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent. He has worked and supervised hundreds of criminal investigations, from fraud and narcotics investigations to murder. He will address the topic of fraud within the SBIR/STTR Programs.
Mike Dobbs is the Deputy Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property at DOE, Office of Science - Integrated Support Center in Chicago. Mike leads the Department's Center of Excellence in Intellectual Property Law, which is responsible for over $5B in R&D efforts, including 9 of the 17 DOE Laboratories and a yearly workload including over 1,600 inventions reports, 2,000 award closeouts, 100 Cooperative Research and Development reviews and 250 Strategic Partnership Project reviews. Mike drafted and prosecuted over seventy-five patent applications, drafted the intellectual property provisions for the SBIR/STTR awards and worked with the Small Business Association (SBA) on changes to the SBA's Policy Directive. Mike earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso University and his Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University Law School.
Manny Oliver has served as the Director of the SBIR/STTR Programs Office within the Department of Energy since 2010. He manages a portfolio of approximately 800 early stage R&D projects that encompass the diverse mission areas of the Department of Energy. Manny has focused on improving outreach to under-represented groups, streamlining the operation of the programs, working with the DOE National Laboratories, and improving commercialization outcomes. Prior to joining DOE, Manny spent 16 years leading applied R&D and commercialization efforts at Motorola where he received 18 U.S. patents. Manny held positions as an Assistant Professor at MIT and as a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He received both his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science from MIT.
Michelle Shinn received her PhD from Oklahoma State University in 1983. She began her professional career at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (1984 – 1990) in the laser fusion program, then joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr College (BMC) as an Associate Professor of Physics (1990-1995). She left BMC to join the staff at Jefferson Lab (1995-2016), where she led the design, procurement, and installation activities for 3 free-electron laser (FEL) optical systems. The two Upgrade FELs (IR&UV) are still the world's highest power tunable ultrafast lasers. She left her position as a Senior Staff Scientist to join the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Physics (NP) in early 2016 as the Program Manager for Industrial Concepts, responsible for the NP Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program. In 2012 she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for contributions in the applications of lasers in society.
Mark Sojka is one of two Department of Energy, Integrated Support Center – Chicago Office SBIR/STTR Team Leaders, and has been since May 2012. Mark currently manages a team of five specialists who evaluate, negotiate, award and administer over 500 grants annually under the DOE Office of Science's SBIR/STTR Program. Mark has 27 years of Federal Government experience in the procurement field including 9 years with the Department of Veteran Affairs, 4 years with the General Services Administration and 14 years with the Department of Energy.