Speakers
JAMES BURKE
Keynote speaker
Burke, who has been hailed by The Washington Post as “one of the most intriguing minds of the Western World,” will present his unique and entertaining perspective on how people and institutions change. With a career spanning 40 years, Burke's influence in the field of public understanding of science and technology is acknowledged by such authoritative sources as 
the Smithsonian Institution and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. He has had a hand in several award-winning television series, which have been featured on BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. Burke's many book titles are read throughout the world, and he has presented frequently to audiences at NASA, MIT, IBM, Microsoft, numerous U.S. government agencies and the World Affairs Council. He is currently working on a new book, American Connections, as well as an interactive online knowledge system, both due out in 2006.
Ram May-Ron
Mr. May-Ron is a partner in the FreeMind Consulting Group (www.freemindconsultants.com), a consultancy specializing in assisting both Academic and Industry life science organizations to secure govt. funding, with an emphasize on NIH funding. Mr. May-Ron serves as Vice President at FreeMind, leading FreeMind's activity with universities, medical centers, companies and life science foundations, both in the US and internationally, and assists in funding early stage life science research and business activities.
He has more than 10 years experience as a leading strategist both in the business and political sectors, including dozens of life science companies that have developed from Academia. He has led a strategic consultancy firm and has served as a top strategy advisor to several international organizations and elected political figures.
Mr. May-Ron serves on the board of directors for several companies and has a wide range of experience in marketing and business development.
Mr. May-Ron holds an MEI (Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, International Business Management) from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology. He also holds a Masters from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in International Relations, in which he focused on strategic decision-making processes.
Elizabeth G. Posillico, Ph.D.
President and CEO Elusys Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr. Posillico joined Elusys in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development
and since then moved to take on more management responsibilities of the
Company as Sr. Vice President of Operations. In January 2005, she was
promoted to President & CEO. Dr. Posillico has 20 years of experience
in the biopharmaceutical industry and held senior positions in general
management, business development, marketing and operations. Prior to joining
Elusys, she was Executive Director of Business Development and Marketing
at Physiome Sciences where she implemented marketing and business strategies
for partnering the company's unique biosimulation technology. Previously,
Dr. Posillico was senior vice president of Business Development at Apoptogen,
Inc., a Canadian biotech company developing novel therapies for the treatment
of apoptosis-related diseases. Dr. Posillico also served on the management
committee of the Canadian Medical Discovery Fund, providing insight and
recommendations for funding early-stage Canadian biotech firms.
Prior to this, Dr. Posillico spent 8 years at Genzyme Corporation in several positions including program manager for Therapeutics, director of sales and marketing for immunoBiological Products and most recently as General manager and senior vice president in the Diagnostics Division. Earlier in her career, Dr. Posillico held various positions at Damon Biotech as Director of Antibody Production and Marketing Director for Antibody Therapeutics. Dr. Posillico received a B.A. degree from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a Ph.D. from Duke University.
Paul Dennis Connuck
Partner Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Mr. Connuck’s practice focuses on intellectual property transactions,
including IP discovery, development, licensing, outsourcing and transfer.
Mr. Connuck brings broad experience in intellectual property, contract, antitrust and advertising matters to his representation of clients in the negotiation of intellectual property-driven business transactions ranging from pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, software and technology discovery, development, collaboration, licensing and outsourcing agreements, to Internet publishing contracts, to designer label licenses.
Mr. Connuck regularly counsels clients on intellectual property transfer and licensing issues, and draws upon an extensive background in antitrust and competition law in advising intellectual property owners as to the restraints that may be placed upon the transfer and use of their properties.
Honored with a listing in Marquis Who's Who in American Law, Mr. Connuck has been retained as an expert consultant to the IRS in a number of intellectual property valuation, licensing and transfer matters, and has published and spoken frequently on intellectual property issues.
Roberto Mazzoleni, Ph.D.
Dr. Roberto Mazzoleni is a Professor at the Department of Economics & Geography at Hofstra University. He is a Senior Science and Technology Expert at UNIDO and also teaches at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Dr. Mazzoleni has published extensively in the Journal of Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Journal of Economics and Business History, Industrial and Corporate Change, Management Science, and Journal of Economics Issues, and Research Policy.
Professor Mazzoleni has also published book chapters on a variety of topics related to Science, Technology and Innovation issues analyzed from a historical and development perspective. Dr. Mazzoleni got a Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University and a M.A. in international economics at the University of Sussex.
Yehezkel Bernholtz, Ph.D.
Dr. Yehezkel Bernholtz is a professor of biochemistry and Daniel G. Miller Professor in Cancer Research, and head of Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research, at the The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He published more than 300 scientific articles and is holding 25 approved U.S. patents. He is the executive editor of Progress in Lipid Research. He has earned B.S., M.S. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry, all from the Hebrew University
Ora Horovitz, Ph.D.
Dr. Horovitz is currently the vice-president for Business Development at B.G. Negev Technologies and Applications Ltd., Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Dr. Horovitz has extensive experience as a scientist and as a business person. She served as scientific and marketing manager of B.G. Negev Technologies, and before that as scientific product manager at Healthcare Technologies Israel and Diatech Inc. in Boston. Dr. Horovitz holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel and was a visiting Scientist at Cornell University.
Gonzalo Rivas
Mr. Gonzalo Rivas is senior advisor in the Education, Science and Technology department at the Inter-American Development Bank. He is an economist from Universidad de Chile, and has a Master'ss degree in economics from Univesite Catolique de Louvain ( Belgium). He was Head of CORFO (Chilean Development Agency) for 6 years. Mr. Rivas has been consultant for ECLAC, World Bank and ILO among others and has published various articles on technological innovation policies.
Michael Edmondson, PhD
President and Co-Founder of MEAPA, LLC
Dr. Edmondson co-founded MEAPA, LLC, the biotechnology commercialization company, with his colleague and long-time associate Peter Abramo, PhD. MEAPA partners with biotechnology companies and creates sophisticated commercialization and marketing plans for their products. MEAPA also works with biotech incubators and helps them better understand the significance and value of conducting strategic market assessments for their client companies. Dr. Edmondson will be conducting a one-day workshop later this month for biotech incubators at the National Business Incubator Association’s Fall Workshop in San Diego entitled: "How To Tell More Savvy Stories About Your Biotechnology Product: A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting Strategic Market Assessments."
Dr. Edmondson’s contribution to the Technology Transfer without Borders seminar will be a presentation entitled: "The Missing Link: Market Assessments and Your Product’s Value Proposition." He will explain the value and utility of creating marketing assessments early in your product’s development and how that is directly tied to your product’s value proposition and positioning statement; two ingredients vital for a technology product's competitive advantage.
Judith A. Sheft, Ph.D.
Judith A. Sheft is the assistant vice president Technology Development at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She is responsible for managing the university’s Office of Technology Transfer and Development and develops programs and policies focusing on patent creation, intellectual property valuation, strategic use and protection of IP assets. Previously, she had been a founding member of Licenz Group, an IP consulting firm that focuses on assisting companies to maximize the value of their IP portfolio. Prior to that she had worked as the Intellectual Property and Compliance Vice President for Agere Systems, the semiconductor subsidiary of Lucent Technologies. In that capacity she had profit and loss responsibility for Agere’s patent and technology licensing business. She was involved in the allocation of intellectual property assets during the AT&T trivestiture and is experienced in assessing patent portfolios. Ms. Sheft has provided IP guidance to many of the high technology M&A and divestiture activities at AT&T and Lucent.
Ms. Sheft has extensive business development experience outside the U.S. She played a lead role in negotiating a long-term alliance between Lucent/Agere and NEC in the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology. The alliance has lasted over a decade and is a prime example of collaboration between competitors.
Ms. Sheft has a BS and MS in Mathematics from the University of Illinois and an MBA in International Business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of intellectual property and strategic alliances and is an active member of the Licensing Executive’s Society.
Randy Harmon
Randy Harmon is co-founder of Foundations Business development Group, LLC. Foundations is a consulting firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs launch, finance, grow, and revitalize small businesses. Within Foundations, Randy focuses on assisting science and technology entrepreneurs in commercializing their new technologies, and in financing and building their businesses. Randy helps entrepreneurs compete for federal SBIR and STTR research and development grants and then move their technology out of the lab and into the marketplace.
Prior to launching Foundations in January 2005, Randy served as the Director of Technology Commercialization for the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers (NJSBDC) of Rutgers Business School where he worked for 12 years. As part of his responsibilities, he managed the Rutgers Technology Business Incubator in New Brunswick from 1995 until 2001.
Randy holds a BS degree from Cornell University and a MBA degree from Rutgers. He is active within New Jersey’s entrepreneur community and sits on the board of the New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network. Randy makes frequent presentations on launching, financing and growing science and technology-based businesses, and business incubation. He has also written several articles on various aspects of technology commercialization.
Brian Kelly, Ph.D.
Brian Kelly is the Director of Technology Development at the Weill Medical College (WMC) of Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise & Commercialization (CCTEC).
Brian has more than ten years experience in technology licensing both in the United States and Europe. He has successfully negotiated more than 200 license agreements and has been involved in the formation of approximately twenty start-up companies.
Prior to joining the Weill Medical College, Brian was a technology licensing associate at the University of Minnesota and more recently, the Director of Intellectual Property for New York University’s Office of Industrial Liaison.
Brian is a native of Liverpool, England and received a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Leicester. From 1988-1990 Brian was a Smith Kline and French postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. Upon completion of his fellowship Brian returned to London to work for a patent law firm earning a M.S. in Intellectual Property from the University of London.
Debbie Hart
President
Biotechnology Council of New Jersey
Debbie Hart, president of the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey,
worked alongside NJ's leading biotechnology industry CEOs to establish
BCNJ in 1994. Debbie served as a member of the Prosperity New Jersey
Research and Development Committee and the Steering Committee for the
Prosperity New Jersey Pharmaceutical and iotechnology Cluster study
conducted by Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School.
She was appointed by Governor James E. McGreevey to the Jobs Growth and
Economic Development Commission. She is an advisory Board member of
NJIT's Biomedical Engineering Program, the Monmouth County Biotechnology
High School Advisory Committee and Monmouth University's School of
Science, Technology and Engineering. She is the Vice Chair of the NJEDA
Technology Centre Advisory Committee and is a member of the NJ
Commission on Higher Education Task Force on Higher Education Quality.
Ms. Hart holds a master's degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse
University and a bachelor's degree from the College of NJ. Debbie and
the BCNJ have been honored with numerous awards including being inducted
into the NJIT New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame award.
Lior Hessel
Lior Hessel, founder and CEO of OrganiTech. He is a graduate of the agricultural engineering faculty of Technion, The Israel Institute of Technology, and holds a B.Sc degree in mechanical engineering and a M.Sc. in business management from New York Polytechnic University. Mr. Hessel has more than 15 years of experience in the technology development sector with a strong background in robotics and automation. The first years of experience are at the semiconductor equipment industry at Kulicke & Soffa and Jordan valley Applied Radiation. In the following years: innovation work with hi-tech companies and start ups. His work involved robots and automation design and patents implementation to commercial equipment.
Virginia S. Bauer
CEO & Secretary
New Jersey Commerce, Economic
Growth & Tourism Commission
Virginia S. Bauer was appointed CEO and Secretary of the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth & Tourism Commission on July 16, 2004. She was confirmed by the Senate Oct. 25 and sworn in by Acting Governor Richard J. Codey on December 8, 2004.
In her role as Commerce Secretary, Ms. Bauer is the state's lead advocate for business - from strengthening New Jersey’s business attraction and retention programs to managing the Urban Enterprise Zone Program and maintaining the Garden State's standing in the global marketplace to promoting the state as a premier vacation destination.
She works with fellow Cabinet officers to resolve businesses regulatory disputes, identify appropriate job creation incentives, and obtain financing. In particular, she has formed a job creation partnership, "New Jersey Works for You," with the Economic Development Authority and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"I look forward to working closely with the business community and will focus my organization's commitment to providing top-notch customer service to our clients."
In August 2003, Ms. Bauer was appointed by former Governor James E. McGreevey as Director of the New Jersey Lottery. Under her leadership, the agency achieved a $2.2 billion sales year in Fiscal 2004, the Lottery's best sales year ever. It was also during her tenure that the world's first Internet lottery game, Cyber Slingo, was created and implemented. In addition, the first lottery retailer at Newark International Airport was established and a revamped Jersey Cash 5 produced an 85 percent growth in sales.
Ms. Bauer, a widow of a New Jersey victim of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, is a mother of three from Red Bank, NJ. She has been a key activist on behalf of the families of the 9/11 victims, after her husband David, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, was killed in the World Trade Center.
In her role as advocate for the 9/11 victims, Ms. Bauer worked closely with Congressional leaders and the White House toward the successful enactment of 9/11 victim legislation in 2002. She spearheaded efforts to enact federal tax relief legislation for surviving family members and is assisting in the creation of a new development plan for the WTC site in lower Manhattan.
Ms. Bauer is a former financial planning and account management executive with Merrill Lynch.
Ms. Bauer serves as board member for the Family and Children’s Services, the largest and oldest social service agency in Monmouth County. Ms. Bauer also is a board member of the Children’s Cultural Center of Monmouth and is an advisory council member of the “2nd Floor” which is a help line for youths of Monmouth County. “2nd Floor” is a program of 180 Turning Lives Around, Inc. of Monmouth County. She is also a member of the New Jersey Department of Human Services Safe Child Consortium and is a board member of The College of New Jersey.
Ms. Bauer graduated from Rosemont College, PA and is listed in Who’s Who Among Executives for 2002.
Eric B. Shuffler
Counselor to the Governor
Eric Shuffler serves as Counselor to Acting Governor Richard J. Codey overseeing policy and strategic planning and is the Governor’s principal speechwriter. He previously served as the Coordinator of the Governor’s Office of Recovery and Victim Assistance. He also served as Chief of Staff to the NJ Department of Transportation and Counselor to Governor James E. McGreevey. He is currently serving as Chairman of New Jersey Family Advocate Management, Inc. and is a Board Member of The Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey.
Mr. Shuffler worked for U.S. Senator Robert G. Torricelli for 10 years in Washington, D.C. During that time, he worked as Legislative Director until he was named Chief of Staff in 1999.
Mr. Shuffler was born on March 10, 1970 in Passaic County, New Jersey. He attended Ramsey High School and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1992. He graduated Cum Laude from Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Shuffler and his wife Amy Bressler were married in 2001. They have one son, Madden Preston, born in July 2004.
William Lee
Senior Counsel Patents, Schering Plough Corporation
Mr. Lee is presently employed at Schering-Plough Corporation as a Senior Counsel - Patents.
Mr. Lee's practice focuses on chemical and pharmaceutical patent prosecution, including both U.S. and foreign patents, due diligence work and clearance opinions.
Education
J.D., Rutgers University School of Law (Camden), 1996
B.A., Pharmacy, Rutgers University, 1991
Bar Admissions
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Bar, 2000
New Jersey, 1997
Marc Siegel
Program Director
US - Israel Science & Technology Foundation
Dr. Siegel is the Program Director of the U.S.-Israel Science and
Technology Foundation (USISTF) responsible for design and
implementation
of all major USISTF projects. The USISTF is a Washington D.C.-based
501
(C)(3) non-profit foundation established by the U.S.-Israel Science
and
Technology Commission, a bi-lateral program funded by the governments
of
the United States and Israel. It was created in 1994 to strengthen
scientific and technological collaboration between the U.S. and
Israel.
He developed the concept for a security management standard, drafted
the standard and guidelines that are currently being pilot tested by the
USISTF. This standard is serving as the model for an Israeli National
Security Management Standard, as well as for International Organization
of Standards (ISO) security management standards.
Dr. Siegel is also Director of the International Technology and Trade
Network (ITTN), a San Diego State University (SDSU) Academic Institute;
and is an Adjunct Professor in the SDSU College of Business
Administration. The ITTN is a virtual international business
assistance
organization promoting business ties and economic development between
nations in regions of conflict. He also serves as Technical Consultant
for the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network in U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Region IX.
He earned his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in chemical engineering, with a
specialization in biochemical and environmental engineering, from the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel. He has received
several
awards and honors for research and academic achievement including the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
International Fellowship for research at the University of Waterloo in
Ontario, Canada. He has taught Chemical Engineering at University of
California, San Diego and University of California, Riverside.
He lives in San Diego, coaches and plays soccer, as well as coaches
local Middle and High School math and science teams.
Andrea Yonah
Executive Director
NJ - Israel Commission
The New Jersey-Israel Commission promotes the development of trade, culture and educational exchanges, and encourages the development of investment between the two states.
Andrea Yonah was born and raised in Cherry Hill, N.J. As an undergraduate student at Columbia University, she worked for former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and received high honors for her research thesis entitled “Project Renewal: A Case Study of a Sister City Partnership between The Hatikva Neighborhood In Tel-Aviv and New York City.”
Following her graduation, Andrea spent eight years living, studying and working in Israel, during which time she received her Teaching Certificate and Masters degree in Foreign Language Education from the prestigious Tel-Aviv University. She went on to hold a variety of teaching positions in Israel.
In 1991, Ms. Yonah was selected for a joint business venture between EduSoft, an Israeli company, and the American company Berlitz International for which she created and marketed multi-media software targeted towards an international marketplace. Her enterprising ideas and innovative solutions earned her a promotion that brought her back to the United States in 1995.
As Internet Manager of Berlitz’s Worldwide Marketing Division in Princeton, N.J., Andrea became increasingly involved in the high-tech end of the business, and specialized in marketing, interactive media, and Internet applications.
Prior to her appointment to the New Jersey-Israel Commission, Ms. Yonah was Manager of Product Development at Princeton eCom, where she was recruited to lead its Internet marketing initiatives.
“Andrea Yonah’s extraordinary blend of cultural, educational, marketing, management, and high-tech experience both in New Jersey and Israel will incomparably benefit the New Jersey-Israel Commission,” Governor McGreevey said.
Andrea Yonah holds a B.A. in Urban Affairs and Political Science from Colombia University, and an M.A. in Foreign Language Education from Tel-Aviv University. She currently resides in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband Yigal, and their two children.
Dr. Sing Keow Hoon-Halbauer
Dr. Sing Keow Hoon-Halbauer, a native of Singapore, worked in various Swedish MNCs from 1979 to 1986 on banking and corporate sales and marketing. In 1986, she initiated her research on Joint Venture Management in China. She was arranged to meet Vice-Minister of the State Economic Commission Zhu Rong Ji, who latter became Premier of China in the 1990s. She began her research by studying nine joint venture companies in China. Later, she concentrated on the classic automobile giants Shanghai Volkswagen and Beijing Jeep Corp. Her book entitled Management of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures published by the Lund University Press in 1994 has been hailed as a must-read item for all European MNCs operating in China. Her PhD research work on the same title was awarded the Best Doctoral Thesis of the Year from the Swedish National Association of Economics.
Since 1994, Dr. Sing Keow has consulted widely and her clients include MNCs such as Ericsson Telecom, ABB Power Generation, Volkswagen Asia pacific, Dow Chemical in Hong Kong, British Oxygen Corp. in Shanghai, etc. She was also guest lecturer at Lund University, Simon Fraser University, Cambridge University, Copenhagen International Institute, INSEAD Euro-Asia Centre and The Swedish Export Council. She was appointed chief lecturer in 2004 by the Swedish Kristianstad Business School. Dr. Sing Keow received her BSc and PhD degrees from Sweden Lund University School of Economics and Management respectively.
Dr. William Rapp
Dr. William Rapp is the first Henry J. Leir Chair in International Trade and Business at The New Jersey Institute Of Technology’s School of Management where he teaches and does research on international business and strategy. He has had an extensive international career in academia, business and government and joined NJIT after completing a year in Japan as a Fulbright Scholar and APSIA Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.
Dr Rapp completed a book on Information Technology Strategies, which Oxford Press published in July 2002. Dr. Rapp has been the Chair in Economic Relations with Japan and International Business at the University of Victoria in Canada, a Senior Research Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Japanese Economy and Business and its East Asian Institute, and the Toyota Visiting Professor of International Business at Columbia. He continues to be a Senior Research Associate at Columbia where he has completed directing a multi-year project under a Sloan Foundation grant that examined US and Japanese firms’ use of information technology to improve competitiveness. Dr. Rapp holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.