David A. Gurwin is an attorney with the Pittsburgh law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC. David is also an Adjunct Professor of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

Christa Humphrey Ross, of MoGoes, is President and Chief Operating Officer. With more than 22 years of experience in the video production industry, Christa serves as the catalyst behind the growth and evolution of MoGoes. Along with the other founders, Christa developed the idea of creating, distributing and marketing high-quality informational, educational and entertainment audio and video tours and programs created specifically for mobile devices such as iPods and mobile phones.

Jerry Connelly, President and CEO of medSage Technologies. medSage provides software and services utilizing proprietary voice recognition technology to enable providers in the rapidly growing Home Medical Equipment (HME) industry to improve patient care while significantly increasing revenue. Jerry Connelly is a private investor with a particular interest in early stage technology companies.

Ed Engler is a General Partner of the Pittsburgh Equity Partners fund, a venture capital fund focusing on early-stage companies in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He is also Founder and Chairman of Summa Technologies, which brings innovative solutions to business problems using advanced technology. Summa has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Pittsburgh over several years and was recognized as one of the best places to work in our region in 2007. He has been involved in the funding, direction or management of eight start-ups and serves on the boards of 5 companies.

Robert Wohlford, Vice President, Product Development of Ericsson. Ericsson is a leading provider of communications networks, related services and handset technology platforms. Their experience building networks in more than 175 countries gives unique customer and consumer insights, and their extensive portfolio of telecommunication solutions and intellectual property offer a true business advantage. Their vision is to be the prime driver in an all-communicating world, in which all people can use voice, data, images and video to share ideas and information whenever and wherever they want.

The moderator for the evening will be John Rodney. Mr. Rodney is a partner with Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP's Business Practice Group. He has a broad tax and corporate practice with a particular focus in the tax, technology, and venture capital area. Mr. Rodney has over 25 years experience representing an array of both companies and investors in sophisticated transactions. Mr. Rodney has represented many business owners, partnerships and other entities (including numerous investment funds), and individuals in multiple acquisitions and divestures, private debt and equity financings and restructurings, contract matters, tax-oriented transactions, franchise matters, and real estate acquisitions and financings. Mr. Rodney has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995.

Timothy J. Hammer, CPA, is a shareholder of Schneider Downs. Tim began his public accounting career in 1984 joining Schneider Downs in 1986. He is a shareholder in the accounting, assurance and advisory services department with primary responsibilities including the management and coordination of selected audit, review and tax engagements. Tim is a member of the firm’s Manufacturing Industry Group, is the chair of the firm’s ERISA Reporting Group and a member of the firm's Board of Directors. He provides accounting, auditing, tax and business advisory services to clients in many different industries, including manufacturing, automotive, retail, construction, wholesale, service and employee benefit reporting. Tim is a graduate of Robert Morris College and is a member of The American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified and Public Accountants.

Thomas K. Lynch, CFA, Senior Managing Director, Wilshire Private Markets Group. Mr. Lynch is a member of the WPMG Investment Committee. He has 25 years of investment experience and has headed the WPMG since 1991. He began his career in 1981 with New York Life Insurance Company where he made direct private market investments in debt and equities. He serves on the advisory boards of several partnerships. He is also on the Board of Directors of Wilshire Associates. Mr. Lynch received his BS in Finance from Boston College, his JD from Duquesne University School of Law and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Robbin F. Steif, CEO, LunaMetrics, LLC. LunaMetrics founder Robbin Steif is an analytic marketer. LunaMetrics has helped dozens of companies use their web analytics to increase their web conversion rate and to more effectively market online. Prior to LunaMetrics, Robbin was CFO of MAYA, a high-tech firm that specializes in usability for complex technical issues. She is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Business School, and is a PA Best 50 Women in Business winner and is a frequent speaker on the topic of conversion rate and web analytics.

Alan C. Veeck, Principal, Meakem Becker Venture Capital. Alan joined Meakem Becker as a Principal in 2006 and brings academic depth and over ten years of industry and executive experience to our team. In his role, Alan focuses on identifying, performing diligence on, and investing in new companies. He also spends a significant amount of time coaching, mentoring, and sitting on the boards of portfolio companies.

Our moderator for the program is Tim Cunningham, Vice President of Development for Daedalus Excel and the current Chairperson for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Pittsburgh. Tim brings a wide range of experience to product development programs. Prior to establishing Daedalus Design in 1979, Tim was vice president of Bally Design, Inc., where he contributed to the design of industrial products and medical equipment for clients in the United States and Europe. Before joining Bally Design, Tim spent six years as an industrial designer with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation working on everything from coffee makers to mass transit vehicles. Tim is a graduate of UCLA (BA, MA), and has taught at Carnegie Mellon University and The Ohio State University. He is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the study of design history and has written articles on the subject for several design publications. He has consulted or lectured on design in Korea, Ukraine, and Taiwan, and was elected a Fellow of the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) in 1999. Tim has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Design Firms and the IDSA.

Babs Carryer, Chief Executive Officer and President, KB3MTN Ms. Carryer was founder and President of Carryer Consulting, providing leadership, strategic marketing and business planning services to technology companies and organizations primarily in the software and life sciences sectors. Previously, Ms. Carryer founded and was President of LaunchCyte LLC, a development company that created a life sciences portfolio of six startup companies from leading research universities across the U.S. Ms. Carryer has a Masters in Management from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). She teaches Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University and at the University of Pittsburgh's Office of Enterprise Development. Ms. Carryer is FEMA certified in ICS and NIMS, and is a licensed Technician Class Amateur Radio operator.

Rabi Chatterjee, Professor of Business Administration and Katz Faculty Fellow in Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business Dr. Chatterjee’s teaching, research, and consulting interests are in the areas of customer-focused marketing and product/service strategies, particularly in high-tech and/or engineered products and services. He currently teaches courses in Marketing Management and Product Development in MBA and executive education programs in Pittsburgh and around the world. His research has focused on models of market response to new products and services, with applications in forecasting, product design, and pricing, and in methods for measuring and representing customers’ perceptions of and preferences for competing products. He has also consulted with and offered custom executive training sessions to various companies, primarily on product development and management issues.

Tom Emerson, David T. and Lindsay J. Morgenthaler Chair in Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business.
An experienced technology entrepreneur, he founded and built three information technology companies, two of which became NASDAQ National Market companies. In the process, he and his employees created more than $600 million is shareholder value. Dr. Emerson holds five U. S. patents and has taught entrepreneurship on five continents. He has served on the Boards of Directors of companies listed on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ stock exchanges and of numerous private and not-for-profit companies and is a board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

Virginia (Ginny) Flavin Pribanic - President and CEO of MedRespond, LLC. Ginny is a founder of MedRespond LLC, an online healthcare communications provider leveraging advanced Web-based interactive video and content management technology to inform and educate healthcare providers and patients. The company has developed, and is now actively marketing, a next-generation online service that allows pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and nonprofit health and disease associations to establish and nurture deeper, more robust bonds with their various constituencies, by simulating conversations online. The service is built on patented technology – originally called "synthetic interview" and now termed "Custom Conversations™" – that is exclusively licensed by MedRespond from Carnegie Mellon University for use in the healthcare arena. Custom Conversations gives MedRespond clients the opportunity to offer an engaging, compelling Web presence, featuring user-driven video interaction with experts relevant to the informational needs of targeted users.

Ginny is a serial entrepreneur who has been a part of five technology start-up teams with innovative solutions to healthcare and communication challenges. Ginny has an MBA from CMU’s Tepper School and is a board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

John Hockenberry is a veteran journalist who has excelled in every facet of the profession, from broadcast radio to news magazine television to print as well as being a pioneer in online content. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the MIT Media Lab.

Hockenberry is also a tireless and internationally known advocate and spokesman for the rights of the disabled. He was one of the founding inductees to the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame in 2005. He wrote and appeared in a cover story for Parade Magazine on the 15 year anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and is a contributing editor for WIRED Magazine and METROPOLIS. He was a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and has been a stage presenter for national and international design conferences for more than a decade.

Hockenberry joined NBC as a correspondent for "Dateline NBC" in January 1996 after a fifteen-year career in broadcast news at both National Public Radio and ABC News. Hockenberry is a four-time Peabody Award winner, four-time Emmy award winner, and has won an Edward R. Murrow award and a Casey Medal.

He is the author of the novel A River Out Of Eden, and Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence, a memoir of life with a disability.  In 1996, Hockenberry performed a successful limited run of "Spokeman," a one-man, off-Broadway show he wrote.

Hockenberry attended both the University of Chicago and the University of Oregon. He and his wife Alison live in Brooklyn with their two sets of twins.

James Geshwiler GM '00 is co-founder and chairman of the Angel Capital Association, fostering best practices and forming new angel groups across the country. He is also Managing Director of CommonAngels, and has participated in funding 18 companies through over 55 rounds of financing totaling over $100 million since 1999. Geshwiler is a contributing author to Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing, and has published papers through the Kauffman Foundation. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin, received a master's in political science from UCLA, and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School.

Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur and a tireless advocate for science and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined -- his own passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal determination to spread the word about technology's virtues and by so doing to change the culture of the United States. His vast knowledge of the physical sciences, combined with his ability to integrate the fundamental laws of physics with the most modern technologies, has led to the development of breakthrough processes and products.

As an inventor, he holds more than 440 US and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical specialties as chemotherapy, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. At age 30, he sold that company to Baxter International Corporation. By then, he had added a number of other infusion devices, including the first insulin pump for diabetics. Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop internally generated inventions as well as to provide R&D for major corporate clients.

Among Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.

Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton in 2000 for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. He was also awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.

David J. Baker, SPHR, Director of Talent, Adams Capital Management. He joined Adams Capital Management in July of 2001 and is responsible for assisting portfolio companies in hiring strategic positions and developing human resource (HR) plans. Prior to joining Adams Capital, David was the Director of Human Resources and Recruitment for the billion-dollar BATG Division of ADC Telecommunications, Inc., a service provider of voice, video and data systems for telephone, Internet, cable television and wireless companies. At ADC, David was responsible for eight domestic and three international locations. David also served as Director of Human Resources for TCI Cable and QED Communications.

David began his career with the Carborundum Company, and later joined the Swiss aerospace firm Contraves Goerz Corporation, where he was a Human Resource Manager. He is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resource Management (SPHR) and is a frequent speaker on the topics of recruitment and retention.

Currie Crookston, CEO of PetsDx. Currie has been immersed in diagnostic imaging technologies for the last 7 years.  He is a founder and current CEO of PetsDx.  A veterinary diagnostic imaging company.  He was previously a Director of Marketing with one of the nations leading MRI equipment manufacturers and recent recipient of the Malcolm Baldridge Award.  In this capacity, Currie has led the development of new products, overseen the marketing of MRI products and been directly involved with sales.  He has helped developed intellectual property and has been awarded a patent in diagnostic imaging technology.  Prior to this current position, Currie worked as a consultant with A.T. Kearney and served as a Task Unit Commander during his 8 years in the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams.  He earned his MBA from the University of Virginia and an engineering degree from the U. S. Naval Academy.

Holly Maurer-Klein, President, HMK Associates. Holly has been working as a consultant to the Pittsburgh corporate community since 1988. Her prior experience included directing the HR function at American Auto-Matrix, Inc., and holding the position of Managing Director for the Human Resource Management Group, a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Ms. Maurer-Klein formed HMK Associates, Inc. in 1993 to provide full-spectrum human resources services to growing organizations.

Ms. Maurer-Klein has given numerous presentations on a wide variety of human resources topics to diverse audiences and has written many articles for regional business publications. She served for 10 years on the board of Beginning with Books, a non-profit organization with the mission of turning children into lifelong readers, and has also served on advisory boards for Power Link, a local non-profit organization dedicated to assisting women-owned businesses. In May 2001, Ms. Maurer-Klein was named one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Women in Business for 2001 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development, in association with the business journals of Pennsylvania. Ms. Maurer-Klein holds a Bachelors degree from Penn State University.

J. Patrick McGregor, Ph.D., President, CEO and a founder of BitArmor Systems. Since 2003, he has led financing, operations, business development, and technical initiatives at BitArmor. Dr. McGregor holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University in computer engineering, an M.A. from Princeton University in computer engineering, and both an M.S. and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University in electrical and computer engineering. He is an expert in computer security and computer architecture, and he has authored and presented many research papers for refereed conference and journal publications. Dr. McGregor has also filed for several pending patents involving cryptography and security software. His experience includes technical positions at Hewlett Packard Laboratories and several other software companies, and he has been quoted regarding his security research in national publications including The New York Times.

John C. Rodney a partner at Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP. John has a broad ranging business and tax practice with a particular focus on emerging companies.

Robert Kopf, Jr. - Mr. Kopf is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Smithfield Trust Company, an independent trust company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with approximately $670,000,000 in assets under administration. As a state bank with trust powers only, Smithfield received its charter from the Pennsylvania Department of Banking ten years ago.

He is a 1966 graduate of Princeton University and received his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1969. A practicing attorney in the estates-and-trust area for more years than he wishes to acknowledge, Mr. Kopf was a shareholder in the law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll, where he previously served as the Chairman of its Tax Section and its Compensation Committee, as well as a member of its Board of Directors.

Mr. Kopf is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a past officer of the Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh. Throughout his career he has served on many charitable and civic boards and is the past president of the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Club of Pittsburgh and the Edgeworth Club of Sewickley, Pennsylvania.

Stephen G. Robinson - Stephen G. Robinson is active in both business and non-profit sectors in the Pittsburgh area. He is Managing General Partner of Robinson Venture Partners, a Pittsburgh area family venture capital partnership. Mr. Robinson is also Managing General Partner of Robinson Properties, L.P., a real estate investment and development partnership.  Mr. Robinson is Vice President/Director of Gateway Travel Management (GTM), the largest independent travel management and meeting planning company in Western Pennsylvania. He is also an investor and current or former director of numerous early-stage venture capital backed technology-oriented companies in Western Pennsylvania, including Webmedx, Precision Therapeutics, Bit Armor, mSpoke, True Commerce and Bethany Hospice.

His current and past non-profit Board positions include the I Have A Dream FoundationÒ of Pittsburgh (Past-President), Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association (Past-President), the Advisory Committee of the Donald Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at The Tepper School, Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners (founding Partner, Treasurer), Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Winchester Thurston School and Family Tyes.

Mr. Robinson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975 with a BA degree in Political Science.

Jonathan Berman who has formed JBC, A Marketing and Business Development Firm which focuses on assisting clients with the creation and execution of efficient growth strategies. His work has reached across multiple industries, including packaged goods (food and beauty), software, real estate, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, media, e-commerce, promotional products, and healthcare.

Jonathan has significant experience in all aspects of launching new initiatives. These include direct management of new product development; establishing senior-level co-marketing, distribution, and production relationships; creation and fielding of marketing programs; and design of organizational structures and business processes.

As a consultant and on the operating side Jonathan has worked with leading local companies such as Leeds, Robicon, Vocollect, and Nova Chemicals as well as nationally and internationally known organizations such as Bestfoods, Kelloggs, The Grammy Awards, Rhino Records, The Sporting News, NFL Films, Lucas Arts, and the NBA. Jonathan earned his MBA at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and a BA in Economics at Vassar College.

Suresh Vishnubhatla is the Chief Technology Officer for Millennium Pharmacy Systems, a medication management service provider for the long term care industry. In his role as the CTO, he oversees the development of the software products and the operation of the network that connects all the facilities.

He joined MPS from BodyMedia Inc., where he was the Senior Vice President, Products and responsible for product development (hardware, software and informatics), clinical research and regulatory affairs. At BodyMedia he was also a key driver in the development of strategic partnerships and distribution networks for the suite of health and disease management applications. Prior to BodyMedia Mr. Vishnubhatla was responsible for Product Development at Emerson Electric Corporation’s Power and Water Solutions business.

His work during his career was primarily in the fields of real-time systems, software system development, networking, distributed computing and strategic partnership development. He has over 15 years experience building integrated systems that bring hardware, software and algorithmic components together to perform complex tasks.

As vice president of strategic design firm ThoughtForm, Tim Scanlon is passionate about understanding clients’ business challenges and the design magic that occurs when a diverse and talented team collaborates to creatively solve these challenges. Tim is often involved in formulating tailored project strategy with clients and coworkers to address business objectives for large and small companies in a wide range of industries. He is responsible for management, strategic marketing, and business development at ThoughtForm.

A strategic marketing and business development professional, Tim has 22 years of leadership experience in international marketing, user experience design, and strategic planning. He has effectively introduced new software and technology solutions for industry leaders Rockwell Automation, General Electric, Westinghouse Electric, and Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC). Tim was responsible for designing, staffing, and leading four user-experience design and marketing consulting teams to support the profitable growth of each of these businesses.

Tim is a 1984 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Industrial Design. He has studied Strategic Marketing Management at Harvard Business School and Strategic Marketing of Technology Solutions through California Institute of Technology. He also participated in the Rockwell Leadership Institute through Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and is an active member of several design, marketing, and strategy professional organizations including Leadership Pittsburgh XXIII. In addition, he is on the board of directors for the MIT Enterprise Forum in Pittsburgh and Alucid Solution, Inc.

Babs Carryer, is President and CEO of RemComm, Inc. (www.remcomm-inc.com) , a provider of radio-based emergency communications and data transfer even in the absence of the internet, cellular service and commercial power. Babs has recently been featured in TEQ Magazine and the Pittsburgh Business Time, and RemComm was featured in the November 2006 issue of Popular Communications. Babs is widely experienced in the start-up community, having been involved with hundreds of early-stage companies seeking financing, growth, or acquisition partners. She was President of Carryer Consulting for 13 years providing strategic marketing and business planning services to technology companies, founder and CEO of MIDASBio Inc, a novel early-stage cancer diagnostic platform and founder and president of LaunchCyte LLC, a development company that creates, seeds, and harvests life sciences innovations from leading research universities.

Babs has a Masters in Management from Carnegie Mellon University, and teaches Entrepreneurship there at the Don Jones Center for Entrepreneurship. She also teaches Entrepreneurship at the Heinz School at CMU as part of the Masters of Information Systems (MISM) and the Masters of Medical Management (MMM) programs, and teaches entrepreneurial commercialization of new technologies at the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Enterprise Development.

Norm Goldberg – ThoughtForm Inc – Senior Associate Norm is an experienced designer and part of the management team at the firm ThoughtForm, a design firm based in Pittsburgh whose work includes branding for a wide variety of corporate and non-profit clients. Norm has 25 years of experience developing and expressing brands through a wide variety of channels, including graphic identity programs, naming, designed environments, interactive experiences, and new product development. Norm is an alumni of Carnegie Mellon University in design and completed the Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Most recently, Norm presented a branding and interaction design project developed for the Pitt at the Society for Environmental Graphic Design’s annual design symposium at Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Thomas B. Hotopp – Mine Safety Appliances Company – Director, President and Director 1996 – 2002. Tom joined Mine Safety in 1991 as VP and General Manager of the Safety Products Division. During Tom’s tenure as President and Director, Mine Safety, a global manufacturer of safety and instrumentation products achieved sales of $914 million in 2006 with a net income of $64 million. Tom is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Notre Dame. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Prior to joining MSA he held executive, sales, and marketing positions with the Kingston-Warren Corporation and Corning Incorporated.

Joshua J. Ziff - Bridge Semiconductor Corporation - Founder, President & CEO - Bridge Semiconductor Corporation manufactures thermal imaging sensors and cameras. Prior to founding Bridge, Josh was Vice President, Business Development for Medrad, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of medical equipment and disposables sold to hospitals worldwide. He worked on several, advanced nuclear reactor programs for General Atomic Company, Westinghouse Hanford Company, and Westinghouse Electric as a nuclear engineer and engineering manager. Josh received B.S. in Engineering and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering degrees from Purdue University where he was elected to Tau Beta Pi. He also earned a MBA with Distinction from Carnegie Mellon University. He holds two US patents.

Virginia (Ginny) Flavin Pribanic - President and CEO of MedRespond, LLC. Ginny is a founder of MedRespond, LLC, a technology company created to commercialize a patented artificial intelligence system developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to the healthcare industry.  The technology combines AI and streaming media to simulate conversations online, providing a unique experience for the patient that captures the informatics behind each conversation to deliver 24/7 market intelligence to its customers.  MedRespond has created programs that help cancer patients explore clinical trials, encourage parents to seek early screenings for autism, educate patients about the risks of hospital acquired infections and provide tools needed to manage asthma.  MedRespond’s newest initiative will introduce online lifestyle coaches to help school-aged children improve their nutrition and lifestyle choices.  Ginny is a serial entrepreneur who has been a part of five technology start-up teams with innovative solutions to healthcare and communication challenges.  Ginny has an MBA from CMU’s Tepper School and is a board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum.