OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY - Key Persons
Allen is the CEO of the Alley Group, is widely recognized as one of the leading technology investors in Oregon, and has run for Treasurer and Governor of Oregon.
Brent is widely recognized as a leading practitioner in the areas of corporate and securities law, having served as chair of the Business Law Section of the Oregon State Bar.
Job Titles:
- Associate Vice President of Research Innovation for Economic Impact
Caroline works for Rogue Venture Partners where her primary responsibilities include deal sourcing and screening, due diligence, community engagement, and helping portfolio companies. Caroline also works with various accelerators locally and on behalf of the U.S. Embassy: Xxcelerate, InventOR, TiE Oregon, Portland State Business Accelerator, OSU Advantage Accelerator, Female Founders Alliance, TiE India Global AIRSWEE, and Five One Labs Iraq.
Mr. White is a Social Entrepreneur with extensive international experience funding and building Social Enterprises through innovative models of trade and development. Mr. White was most recently Co-founder and Chief Agriculture Officer at Flavorful Brands, a joint-venture with Bejo Seeds-world's largest hybrid seed producer, and House Foods Group-a multi-billion dollar Japanese CPG conglomerate.
Job Titles:
- Serial Entrepreneur, Although He Has Tried to Retire Numerous Times. Dan Was Named Entrepreneur of the Year for Benton County 2003.
Serial entrepreneur, although he has tried to retire numerous times. Dan was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Benton County 2003.
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Communications Professional
Derek van Bronkhorst is a marketing and communications professional with extensive experience in branding, messaging, crisis management and bringing products to market, working with hardware and software companies in Silicon Valley.
Job Titles:
- Engineering Chief - Testing and Analysis ( NuScale Power, LLC )
- the Engineering Chief
Overall responsibility to provide cross-functional technology leadership and oversight for NuScale nuclear power plant testing and analysis activities. Part of the original team of five people who started NuScale in 2008, which is rapidly approaching a $1B valuation (private). Expertise in technology development, systems engineering, operations management, safety, risk, and testing. Competencies in a wide range of enabling business processes for business-to-business products and services, including international product deployment in highly regulated industries. Loves engaging with startup leaders to bring their ideas to realization. Focuses on discipline, planning, quality, and operational excellence.
Dr. Kent B. Welter is the Engineering Chief - Testing and Analysis at NuScale Power, LLC. Expertise in technology development, systems engineering, operations management, safety, risk, and testing. Competencies in a wide range of enabling business processes for business-to-business products and services, including international product deployment in highly regulated industries
Eduardo Ceballos is an entrepreneur, an investor, and the CEO of Allographix, Inc., a venture development firm focused on seeding, staffing and launching Willamette Valley businesses.
Eduardo brings a wealth of experience and a passion for business development combined with creative problem solving skills to pre-seed stage startups. With decades as a founder, principal, or advisor in startups, Eduardo has expertise in sales, marketing, operations, mergers & acquisitions, and venture & angel funding. His current focus is on technology and products, adding leadership, vision and great instincts to teams.
Eduardo is dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs in the Willamette Valley launch their businesses as well as developing the local business ecosystem through mentorship and advice for the Accelerator Cohorts.
Ernie Bootsma is a shareholder in Buchalter's Portland Office (formerly Ater Wynne LLP), where he represents start-ups and growth stage businesses, in the areas of company formation, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property (copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and licensing).
Jen Akeroyd, PhD, RN co-founded SUTUREGARD Medical in 2015, completed the Accelerate and Launch programs in 2016, and was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 by RAIN. She enjoys mentoring around issues related to customer discovery, broadly, and, more specifically, medical device commercialization including regulatory issues, and medical device sales and marketing.
Job Titles:
- Director of Electronic Films Engineering at Crown Electrokinetics
Jim Abbott is Director of Electronic Films Engineering at Crown Electrokinetics, a small Oregon start-up, where he leads the commercialization of the core microfluidic technology into the smart window market. He is also co-founder of Polynovation, LLC., member of the Willamette Angels, and is graduate faculty at OSU.
Previously, Jim was the Advanced Thin Films and Nanomaterials lead at HP Inc. with responsibility for the thin films commercialization and manufacturing roadmap.
He is author of more than 50 US patent applications and has been granted more than 30 US and international patents to date. He also served as an officer in the United States Navy Nuclear Power Program and received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Oregon State University.
Jim is passionate about building innovation teams, technologies, and strategies to empower people to change the world. He believes that the linkage of science innovation with business innovation is critical to achieving this vision.
Jim is an avid high-tech innovator with a passion for entrepreneurship. He currently works for and advises multiple advanced materials startups with focus on materials commercialization, innovation/IP strategy, technical market analysis, team culture, and investor communications. He has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Oregon State, has been granted more than 30 US and international patents, and is the Co-Founder of Polynovation,LLC.
Job Titles:
- Professor in Mechanical Engineering at OSU
Professor John Parmigiani has long and varied experience in mechanical engineering. Academic training began with metals-machining and vehicle mechanics courses prior to college, B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. Professional experience includes 10 years as a practicing engineer in industry with several Pennsylvania manufacturing firms. His current position is as a research associate professor in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University with a focus on mechanical analysis and mechanical device design. Through his teaching and research, he has been involved in hundreds of mechanical device design-and-build projects.
Through his personal hobbies, education, and professional employment, Prof. Parmigiani has developed a keen expertise for mechanical design and analysis. With skills spanning the practical to the theoretical, he has the proven ability to create mechanical devices that work
John Parmigiani Research Associate Professor in mechanical engineering at OSU with extensive experience in designing and building mechanical devices to solve a wide variety of compelling technical problems. Mary Phillips I work with talented women innovators, scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians and all medical professions (doctors, veterinarians, dentists, nurses) through a program called STEMMbridge to develop skills in leadership and life to become confident, independent, and fully in control of their destinies.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Director OSU Advantage Accelerator
Job Titles:
- Chairman, Board of Advisors
- Securities Partner at Stoel Rives LLP
Mary Hull is a corporate and securities partner at Stoel Rives LLP and is chair of the firm's Technology Ventures Group. Mary represents technology and consumer companies from formation through private financings and mergers and acquisitions. She also represents investors in venture capital financings.
Melissa joined the Advantage team as Innovation Impact Catalyst in August 2022. She was previously the Head of Initiatives and Partnerships for Bloomington, Indiana's center of coworking and entrepreneurship - The Mill, where she built programs linking startup founders, angel investors, remote workers, and the regional tech ecosystem. Her work covered a broad spectrum including launching a code school, administering a new member-managed capital fund, and creating a remote worker attraction program.
Also brining extensive higher education experience to the team, Melissa has worked at multiple Big 10 universities. She tripled student enrollment at Indiana University's School of Global and International Studies in less than three years, led pre-college STEM camps, and she launched a living-learning center and other student life initiates. She holds a MS degree in Rural Sociology from Penn State University and BS in Civil Engineering from Michigan Tech University.
Mike Brown has served in various executive management roles for numerous global corporations (HP, Compaq and W.L. Gore & Associates) all in new business creation. Mike's 34 years of practical experience in leadership, business management, marketing development, and sales has led to him successfully launching and developing over 19 new businesses. Mike's global understanding of the business marketplace is one of the key ingredients to his success.
Mike was the past CEO of e-MSion, VP of Sales and Marketing for ZAPS Technologies, Inc., CEO of Pajaggle, and the President of BTCG, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in new business development.
Mike holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Delaware specializing in advanced aerodynamics (which he's never used!). A student of business Mike completed graduate courses in business strategy, business management, competitive analysis, and marketing from Wharton and Harvard. Mike is a holder of several patents and an advisory board member for three emerging high-tech firms.
Molly joined the Advantage team in August 2021 as innovation impact catalyst, where she works with OSU's researchers and faculty to explore the commercial potential of their work. Molly was the Entrepreneurial Lead for Team Visioglow in the NSF I-Corps Summer 2019 cohort, then spent several years specializing in medical simulation, before joining OSU's Advantage Accelerator. She holds an MS degree in applied social science from Oregon State University.
Nicholas Fowler owns Orion Ventures, LLC and is CEO of Northwest Medical Isotopes, LLC, a startup assuring a domestic supply of critical medical isotopes. Mr. Fowler is a high technology industry veteran, serial entrepreneur, and active seed stage venture investor. Spanning 25 years with the Hewlett-Packard Company, Mr. Fowler led the creation of several major new businesses including notebook computers, personal digital assistants, printing services, and internet sales and support. He developed company strategies, created new business models, and managed large and complex global businesses. Following his HP career, Mr. Fowler established Orion Ventures, LLC, an investment fund providing seed stage investments that continues to make two to four investments per year.
He serves on the Boards of portfolio companies, including: Perpetua Power Source Technologies, Inc., a startup commercializing thermoelectric power harvesting technology; ZAPS Technologies, Inc., a startup developing spectrophotometric detection instruments; TryEco, LLC, a startup advancing novel, starch-based super absorbent polymer technology; and Wave Sciences, LLC, a startup innovating signal processing technologies for audiology and security applications.
His public service commitments include Member, Committee of Visitors of the National Science Foundation (NSF); Chairman of Oregon Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN); Planning Commissioner for Benton County, Oregon; Public Safety Commissioner for the City of Albany, Oregon; member of the Oregon State University Executive Commercialization Advisory Council; Trustee of Whitworth University; and Advisor to Oregon Governor Kate Brown's Regional Solutions Center.
Mr. Fowler holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University. He and his wife, Sheila, a teacher at Crescent Valley High School, have three adult children and live in rural Benton County, Oregon.
Rich is co-founder and CEO of Valliscor - a pharma-focused, chemical manufacturing company specializing in fluoroalkylation. Rich is also Faculty Lead for Innovation Excellence and Professor of Chemistry at Oregon State University. He was a graduate of the first class of the OSU Advantage Accelerator
Rita is currently the CEO of Onboard Dynamics, an ARPA-E awardee and startup company resulting from technology originally conceived at Oregon State University - Cascades. Onboard Dynamics seeks to lower fuel costs and carbon emissions by removing barriers to driving natural gas-powered vehicles. Its product line integrates natural gas compression into automotive engines, allowing the ability to refuel from any low pressure natural gas supply line.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Founder, President, and Executive Director of Oregon Nanoscience
- Member of the Oregon Venture Fund Investment Committee
Mr. Rung is a member of the Oregon Venture Fund Investment Committee and the Willamette Angels (WAC 2015 LLC Managing Member).
Robert D. "Skip" Rung is the founder (2003), President, and Executive Director of Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), Oregon's first "Signature Research Center" and an unprecedented collaboration among Oregon's research universities and the private sector. ONAMI's mission is to accelerate research commercialization via startup and spinout companies in order to extend the success of Oregon's world-leading "Silicon Forest" technology cluster. ONAMI's commercialization "gap" fund has made $12.6M in grant disbursements, enabling over 60 portfolio companies to raise over $500M ( 85% of which is private capital) in leveraged funding and revenue.
Sanjai has worked on a series of technical-entrepreneurial ventures as a marketing and management professional. He is also a proud OSU alumnus, having earned Master's degrees in both Microbiology and Business from the university.
Job Titles:
- Innovation Impact Program Manager
Sara joined the Advantage team in May 2023 as innovation impact program manager, where she leads logistical efforts with the Advantage Accelerator's programing. Sara worked with local start-up 2 Towns Ciderhouse for 10 years prior to joining the OSU Advantage Accelerator. Her background in event planning, program management, and the culinary arts is an invaluable asset to the team!
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of the Technology Association of Oregon
Skip Newberry is President and CEO of the Technology Association of Oregon. A former economic development policy advisor, entrepreneur and lawyer, Skip is passionate about working with tech startup founders and helping them to scale their businesses.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Senior Associate
- College of Business Instructor
Tory Campbell is the OSU Alumni Association, Senior Associate Executive Director of Experience. Mr. Campbell is also a College of Business instructor in Innovation X, OSU's Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His wide range of experience includes serving as Director of economic development at Prosper Portland, leading congregations as a pastor, and operating a successful family business, Felton & Mary's Artisan Foods.
With Connected Micro LLC, Valerie is a consultant, coach and mentor for students, entrepreneurs and technology development teams. She specializes in engineering engagement, integration of emerging micro technologies and commercialization. Valerie is currently a member of the Sensors Expo and Conference Advisory Board, a diverse group of industry professionals joined with a common goal to assist and encourage the sensing systems engineering community to thrive.
Valerie has over 15 years experience in microsystems technology development and manufacturing. While a MEMS integration engineer with HP, she was an active member of the MEMS and Sensors Industry Group Technical Advisory Committee.