Fred Beyerlein
Mr. Beyerlein has extensive experience in early stage enterprise development, early and mid-stage product and market strategy, financial systems and overall business strategy. He currently serves as CEO and Board Member of nanoRETE, Inc., a biosensor development company focused on pathogen and toxin detection within the food safety and supply markets. Mr. Beyerlein received his MBA in Economics and Finance from Fordham University.
Dr. Preetha Biswas
Dr. Preetha Biswas works as a Research Leader of the Pathogen Detection R&D group at Neogen Corporation, Lansing. Her major responsibilities include expanding and strengthening pathogen detection, media development and microbiology product offerings, serving the market needs of food and animal safety industries.
Dr. Biswas has a Ph.D. in Virology from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. With over 15 years of experience working in various academic and private institutions, Dr. Biswas has gained diverse expertise in microbiology, virology, molecular biology and diagnostic product development.
Julia BradsherPreviously, Dr. Bradsher served as CEO of FAAN™ (the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network). Prior to joining FAAN in January 2009, she was the senior director of marketing for Dey, L.P. At Dey, she led the marketing team and strategic planning for all Dey Pharmaceutical products, including EpiPen®.
Julia holds a Ph.D. in medical sociology from the University of Miami, and a master’s in business administration from the Sawyer School of Management at Suffolk University in Boston.
J. Peter Clark
Peter Clark is a consulting process engineer in Oak Park, IL and Contributing Editor of Food Technology, with a monthly column on processing since 2002. He earned his B.S.Ch.E from Notre Dame and his Ph. D. from the University of California – Berkeley. He has published over forty papers and seven books in addition to his columns. He is a registered professional engineer in Illinois and Virginia, and is a Fellow of AIChE and of IFT.
Rob DeWit
Rob DeWit received a BS Degree from Calvin College and a PhD in Toxicology from The University of Michigan. During his 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry Rob served in a wide variety of roles in Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Japan and the UK. Rob is serving currently as the President and CEO of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, a purpose-built wet laboratory incubator/accelerator for life science companies celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2013.
Diane Durance
Diane Durance is the executive director of Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest. GLEQ is a Michigan-based organization offering entrepreneurial education and a technology-focused business plan competition. For 13 years, GLEQ has connected early stage ventures to growth capital and business development resource. It is currently working with 400 startups and has a network of 130 business coaches and 85 investors. Prior to GLEQ, Ms. Durance was president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone. She founded and grew three companies, including a telecommunications engineering firm, a marketing communications publishing company, and an angel-funded, Ann Arbor-based home repair/handyman business. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration, both from Southern Methodist University.
Dale Grogan
Dale is the managing director of the Michigan Accelerator Fund. The fund invests in Michigan-based early stage companies, largely in the life science and plant science vertical. Dale has been in the investment banking business for 25 years and also sits on the boards of the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund Investment Review Board, MIT Enterprise Forum, the Michigan Israeli Business Bridge Advisory Board, is a GLEQ judge, and a board representative for various fund portfolio companies, including Chairman of nanoRETE.
Michael Kurek
Rob DeWit received a BS Degree from Calvin College and a PhD in Toxicology from The University of Michigan. During his 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry Rob served in a wide variety of roles in Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Japan and the UK. Rob is serving currently as the President and CEO of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, a purpose-built wet laboratory incubator/accelerator for life science companies celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2013.
Diane Durance
Diane Durance is the executive director of Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest. GLEQ is a Michigan-based organization offering entrepreneurial education and a technology-focused business plan competition. For 13 years, GLEQ has connected early stage ventures to growth capital and business development resource. It is currently working with 400 startups and has a network of 130 business coaches and 85 investors. Prior to GLEQ, Ms. Durance was president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone. She founded and grew three companies, including a telecommunications engineering firm, a marketing communications publishing company, and an angel-funded, Ann Arbor-based home repair/handyman business. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration, both from Southern Methodist University.
Dale Grogan
Dale is the managing director of the Michigan Accelerator Fund. The fund invests in Michigan-based early stage companies, largely in the life science and plant science vertical. Dale has been in the investment banking business for 25 years and also sits on the boards of the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund Investment Review Board, MIT Enterprise Forum, the Michigan Israeli Business Bridge Advisory Board, is a GLEQ judge, and a board representative for various fund portfolio companies, including Chairman of nanoRETE.
Michael Kurek
Michael P. Kurek, Ph.D., MBA, Partner, has held senior management positions in marketing, sales and business development for a number of life science companies—two of which completed successful initial public stock offerings on the NASDAQ exchange. He was also Vice President of Business Development for the Michigan Center for High Technology, where he was responsible for the business incubator program that served over 50 start-up technology companies. Over his 30-year career, Michael has demonstrated success on an international scale in defining new product opportunities, developing sales and marketing strategies, and recruiting and managing teams to deliver growth. He holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Florida State University and an M.B.A. from Boston University. He joined BBC in 2001 as a Principal Consultant. michael@bbcetc.com
Houng-Yau Mei
Dr. Mei currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at nanoRETE, Inc, a Michigan-based company developing novel biosensor technologies for real-time detection of pathogens and toxins. Previously, he was CEO of Neural Intervention Technologies, VP of Operations at Rubicon Genomics, and Director of Discovery Technologies of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Mei received his PhD degree from Columbia University and MBA degree from Michigan State University. He has over 60 abstracts, publications and co-edits a book in Drug Discovery Technologies
Ronald L. Meeusen
Ron has over 30 years of experience in bringing new technologies and products to market. He has led R&D for major corporations in agricultural chemicals, field crop and vegetable genetics and breeding, animal health, and novel foods. Ron has been a frequent speaker at conferences, a consultant to Federal policy on biotechnology regulatory issues, and active in industry trade groups. Prior to forming Cultivian Ron led biotechnology R&D at Dow AgroSciences, and founded a successful biopharmaceutical company. Ron holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in plant cell biology, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in plant physiology.
Pat Morand
Pat is the President of Open Prairie Ventures and Managing Director of the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund. Pat is responsible for sourcing all potential investments, leading due diligence, and overseeing the fund's portfolio company management teams. Pat’s expertise is in complex regulated industries, with special strength in turnaround management, investor relations and accountability standards and performance. Prior to joining Open Prairie, Pat was a three-time chief executive officer in the biologics industry; vice president of Commercial Operations for Genesis Therapeutics; executive vice president of Sequitor Medical Technologies; and Executive in Residence of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse.
Harry Norris
Norris has 30 years’ experience developing and launching products at Johnson and Johnson, Sanofi, and Medtronic, Inc. His experience spans product development, sales, marketing, and manufacturing. He began his career at Johnson and Johnson company. At Sanofi's diagnostic division, he was one of three executives hired to conceptualize and commercialize the Access Immunoassay System – the business was acquired by Beckman Coulter. At Medtronic, Harry led the development and manufacturing group that delivered the break-through of getting implanted medical devices on the internet via wireless communications.
Stephen Rapundalo
Pat is the President of Open Prairie Ventures and Managing Director of the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund. Pat is responsible for sourcing all potential investments, leading due diligence, and overseeing the fund's portfolio company management teams.
Harry Norris
Norris has 30 years’ experience developing and launching products at Johnson and Johnson, Sanofi, and Medtronic, Inc. His experience spans product development, sales, marketing, and manufacturing. He began his career at Johnson and Johnson company. At Sanofi's diagnostic division, he was one of three executives hired to conceptualize and commercialize the Access Immunoassay System – the business was acquired by Beckman Coulter. At Medtronic, Harry led the development and manufacturing group that delivered the break-through of getting implanted medical devices on the internet via wireless communications.
Stephen Rapundalo
Dr. Rapundalo, has broad experience in the life sciences with an extensive background in pharmaceutical research and development. Prior to joining MichBio, he spent 20 years as a senior research scientist, project manager, and group leader with Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research and then Pfizer, Inc., primarily in cardiovascular drug discovery. Dr. Rapundalo also led a global interdisciplinary team that developed a strategic, operational and organizational change management program to improve Pfizer's worldwide R&D business processes.
Additional speakers and bios coming soon!
