Speakers
Mr. Doug Lewis
Entrepreneurial Development
Iowa Department of Economic Development
Doug Lewis is a specialist in Entrepreneurial Development for the Innovation and Commercialization Division. Doug is responsible for expanding and improving the entrepreneurial environment in Iowa. Doug coordinates the Venture Network of Iowa and manages the Demonstration fund program. Doug rejoined the department in October 2007. He previously worked in the department in International Marketing and also in Community Resources.
In between working at the department, Doug worked in the private sector in sales, marketing and business development. Doug worked in international sales and business development for Townsend Engineering Company and Microware Systems Corporation both in Des Moines. Doug worked in sales and product development for Inlet, Handera and BitRouter. He also has started two businesses, Strategic Solutions and ITEBS, LLC. Doug is a member of the Rotary Club of Des Moines and is past president of Iowa Council of International Understanding.
Dr. Kris Johansen
SBIR/STTR Program Administrator
Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Iowa State University
Kris Johansen earned her BS in Microbiology and MS in Immunobiology from Iowa State University, and her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Missouri. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, she worked as a Senior Scientist at Xtrana, Inc., in Denver, CO, where she helped develop nucleic acid extraction kits as well as nucleic acid-based assays for the detection of food and environmental pathogens. Kris was also a Senior Scientist at Invenux, Inc. in Denver, CO, where she was involved in the development of drug lead compounds using a proprietary molecular evolution technology. At both Xtrana and Invenux, Kris participated in the preparation of multiple successful Phase I and Phase II SBIR grant applications to the USDA and NIH. She presently serves as the SBIR/STTR Program Administrator in the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Iowa State University.
Dr. Ken Kirkland
Executive Director, Iowa State University Research Foundation
Director, Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer
Dr. Kenneth Kirkland is Executive Director of the Research Foundation (ISURF) and Director of the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer (OIPTT) at Iowa State University. Prior to his appointment at Iowa State University in 1998, Ken directed the Technology Commercialization Office at Northern Illinois University. In addition to his work with universities, Kenneth has many years of corporate experience in international product development and acquisitions and licensing, both in the U.S. and overseas.
Mr. John LaMarche
Current: Partner - VentureNet Iowa, LLC / Vice President - Emerging Growth Group / General Partner - EGG Capital Management, LLC
Board Member - Proplanner, Inc.; Sciengistics,Inc.
Previously: COO, Vice-President of Operations & Board Member - Opticon Medical, Inc. Operations & Financial Management - CIGNA, Equicor, Inc. & Equitable Group & Health
Education: B.S. - University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point / M.S. - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Responsibilities: Market opportunity evaluation, financial & business modeling, business plan development, strategic planning, valuation determination, capitalization strategies, management recruitment and capital formation.
Lisa Lorenzen is the Director of Industry and Government Relations for Iowa State University, focused on technology transfer and economic development. She facilitates visits from industry and economic development professionals, negotiates contracts, and manages grant programs related to economic development. Before joining ISU in March 1999, Lisa worked for five years as a computational biologist in the bioinformatics group at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
Lisa graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. degree in 1989 and Ph.D. in 1994, both in Genetics.
Ms. Maureen Collins-Williams
Maureen Collins-Williams is the Director of Technology Transfer and Business Incubation at the University of Northern Iowa. She is responsible for creating linkages between public sector innovators and private sector firms to create business spin-offs, license university innovations and develop strategic partnerships. She is also responsible for a newly developed 13 suite Innovation Incubator as part of a $5 million dollar public campus facility at UNI.
Since 1997, Collins-Williams has also served as the director of the Regional Business Center/SBDC at UNI. In this capacity, she has been instrumental in raising over $4 million in outside funding to beta test, implement and evaluate a number of rural/urban entrepreneurship initiatives in Iowa, including a successful rural entrepreneurship development system called MyEntreNet, and a downtown service/technology incubator in the distressed Waterloo central business district.
Collins-Williams has been engaged in entrepreneurship development since1982. She opened, managed and sold a retail business while still in college and later served as a program manager for three Main Street downtown development programs in rural Midwestern communities. She is a 1992 graduate of the National Trust Main Street Center Certification Institute (CMSM). Working with the Iowa SBDC system, Collins-Williams spent 12 years as a business consultant in rural parts of Iowa, working with both early stage and growth oriented companies. She is a certified trainer for Fast Trac, NxLevel, and NIFTE. Collins-Williams is the author of a number of small business training curricula on such topics as web development, market research, financial statement analysis, and a secondary education curriculum for youth entrepreneurship. She sits on the board of directors for the Community Vitality Center and has been on faculty at Heartland since 2003.
Maureen is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Public Administration. She lives in a gaily painted, ramshackle 1900's house in Cedar Falls with her husband Dave, a Prairie Biologist, and three teenage children.
Ms. Wendy Marsh
Intellectual Property Attorney
McKee, Voorhees & Sease
Wendy Marsh is an intellectual property attorney with McKee Voorhees & Sease. Her practice focuses primarily on patent prosecution for pharmaceuticals and medical devices and trademarks, including trademark oppositions, cancellations and prosecution. Wendy also heads the MVS international department, and specializes in foreign patent prosecution.
Mr. Jeff Fleenor
Fleenor Manufacturing, Inc.
Mr. Jeff Fleenor is the president of Fleenor Manufacturing, Inc. and the author of the popular Tech Tips column which appears monthly in Waste Handling Equipment News. Fleenor was raised in Northwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a BS degree in Aerospace Engineering. He has 20 years experience in the mobile construction and mining equipment markets as a design engineer, project engineer, and engineering manager. His background in whole machine design has generated a wealth of knowledge on many different topics including, but not limited to, slipform concrete paving, rock drilling, rock trenching, industrial organic grinding, engine systems, cooling systems, transmissions, clutches, torque limiters, hammermills, electrical systems, hydraulic systems, welding, heat treating, track drive systems, axle and wheel systems, bearing design, lawsuit litigation, expert witness testimony, writing standards, etc. Overall, he considers himself a general problem solver. He holds several patents and has published an SAE paper
Mr. Mark Arnold
University of Iowa
ASL Analytical, Inc.
Mark Arnold is the Edwin B. Green Chair Professor in Laser Chemistry and Director of the Optical Science and Technology Center (OSTC) at the University of Iowa. He is a frequently reviewer of SBIR and STTR grant applications for the National Institutions of Health (NIH) and has experience reviewing such applications for other governmental agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and Department of Defense.
Professor Arnold is also a founding member of ASL Analytical, Inc., which is a young startup company, located within the Technology Innovation Center at the University of Iowa. ASL Analytical was recently awarded a Phase I STTR grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to establish the feasibility of a noninvasive nocturnal hypoglycemic alarm.
Dr. Matthew Erdman has greater than twelve years experience working with pathogens of animals and humans. Dr. Erdman obtained his DVM degree from Iowa State University with an emphasis on food animal production. While in veterinary school he completed a concurrent PhD in veterinary microbiology focused on the epidemiology and control of Salmonella in swine. During his studies Dr. Erdman completed a research and epidemiology preceptorship at the Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Infectious Disease, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Erdman returned to Iowa State to complete postdoctoral training focused on development of novel vaccines for viral diseases of swine. His discoveries led to the founding of Sirrah Bios where he serves as Chief Technical Officer.
Mr. Mike Colwell
Executive Director
Business Innovation Zone (The BIZ)
Mike Colwell is Executive Director of the Business Innovation Zone (The BIZ). He seeks to connect entrepreneurial needs with qualified community and state resources, while providing guided professional and business direction. The BIZ helps entrepreneurs maximize their success by assisting them in navigating resources, strengthening knowledge, improving skills, forming strategic alliances, and securing proper capitalization.
Mike brings 20+ years of experience taking new products to market, developing new market niches, and building vertical market solutions to his role at The BIZ.He has an extensive background in Mobile Computing, Wireless Communications and Auto ID technologies including RFID. Mike led the team that created the first multi-mode wireless mobile computer that was the forerunner to devices such as Palm Treo and Motorola Q. Mike began his career with Norand Corp. in Cedar Rapids over twenty years ago holding various positions within Engineering, Field Sales and Marketing. As Vice President of Marketing, he oversaw the growth of the mobile computing segment from $200 million to $500 million per year revenue in a four-year period and overall company revenue in excess of $950 million.
A native of Iowa, Mike recently returned to the state from Seattle, Washington settling in Ankeny, Iowa. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa where he majored in Management Information Systems and minored in Computer Science.
Dr. Mark A. Edelman
Director
Community Vitality Center at Iowa State UniversityMark A. Edelman is currently Professor of Economics, Extension Economist, and Director of the Community Vitality Center located Iowa State University.
The Community Vitality Center has a board of 27 community leaders representing diverse interests. The CVC mission is to identify strategies and serve as a catalyst for innovative demonstration and dialogue projects that enhance the vitality of Iowa's communities and rural areas. The CVC has initiatives in Community Entrepreneurship, Community Philanthropy, and Rural-Urban Policy Studies.
Professor Edelman has received several program and service awards including the ISU Extension Scholarship and Engagement Partnership Award in 2006, Iowa Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence in 2001, and National Public Policy Education Program Awards in 1998, 2000, and 2001.
Edelman's resume includes a wide variety of public and private sector experiences such as serving on the Land O' Lakes Board during the 1980s, Boone City Council during the 1990s, as Campus Coordinator for the Rural Policy Research Institute, and as Chair of the Iowa Rural Development Council. He co-founded SunAM Development, LC, a family-owned business with middle-income housing developments in two Iowa communities. Edelman currently serves on the State Advisory Board for the Iowa SBDCs. He is a founding Board Member for NEK-SEN Energy LLC and Amaizing Energy Holding Company, LLC. He is currently serving as President for the Iowa Foundation for Microenteprise and Community Vitalty.
Edelman received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1981. He is a native of Sabetha, Kansas. Mark has been married for 32 years and he and his wife, Nancy, are parents of three grown children, Adam, Alexandria, and Aaron.
Ms. Sandy Ehrig
Outreach Coordinator
Renew Rural Iowa, Iowa Farm Bureau FederationSandy Ehrig currently works to connect business participants and resource providers with the Renew Rural Iowa program. It is a comprehensive initiative providing education, technical assistance, mentoring and financial resources for growing existing business and entrepreneurs.
Ehrig has nearly 25 years of experience in economic development working most recently as the administrator for community development at the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Prior to this role, she served as the director for business development with five central Iowa rural electric cooperatives.
Ehrig holds a BA degree from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado's Institute of Organization Management and the University of Oklahoma's Economic Development Institute.
