• Michael Kurek, PhD, MBA - President
  Partner, Biotechnology Business Consultants
• Christina DeHayes - Secretary
  General Counsel, Asterand
• Matthew L. McColl - Treasurer
  Partner, Ernst & Young LLP
• Ryan Noel - Assistant Treasurer
  Division Administrator, Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, University of Michigan

Gregory Aronin – Johnson & Johnson

Gregory Aronin is currently the Director of State Government Affairs for Johnson & Johnson. In this position Mr. Aronin directs all State Government Affairs activities for Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois serving as a liaison to State Legislatures, State Governors and State Agencies. He is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to accomplish legislative and state government objectives. Prior to Johnson &Johnson, he served as a Regional Account Manager for MedPoint Pharmaceuticals focusing on managed healthcare and medical sales. Mr. Aronin was also Director of Government Relations for the MI State Medical Society.

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Dan Calvo - Assay Designs, Inc.

Mr. Calvo was CEO of Cellomics, the leader of the HCS technology and product market, before his recent appointment as President and CEO at Assay Designs, Inc. He was also associated with PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, a leading global provider of instruments, reagents, software and services for the life sciences, drug discovery and diagnostics markets, as VP, Worldwide Sales and Service. In that role, Mr. Calvo led the integration and expansion of PerkinElmer’s life science business, growing from $200 million to $500 million. Mr. Calvo was Senior VP, Global Sales and Marketing for NEN Life Sciences, where he drove a significant turnaround of the company prior to the acquisition by PerkinElmer. He spent more than 15 years at DuPont in various sales, marketing and operational assignments in their Medical Products business. Mr. Calvo received an AB degree in Biochemistry from Princeton University, an MHS in Environmental Health Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Bellarmine College.

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Linda Chamberlain, Ph.D. – West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative

Dr. Chamberlain is Commercialization Director and Interim Executive Director, West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative, in Grand Rapids, MI.
Dr. Chamberlain received both her BS and Doctorate degrees with honors from Purdue University. She was also awarded a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Chamberlain joined Shell Development Company in 1987 as a Futures Research Chemist and later moved into management of scientific and technical teams. During her eight years at Shell, she had 19 patents issued for work in catalyst, polymer, and product/process development. Dr. Chamberlain next served as Director of Research and Technology, Engineering Plastics for AlliedSignal where she was involved in development of resins for a variety of consumer products. Dr. Chamberlain joined Johnson Controls, Inc. in 1997 as Director of Advanced Manufacturing and was later appointed JCI's Executive Director of New Product and Business Development. Dr. Chamberlain has also worked for Holland Community Hospital and the law firm of Butzel Long. During her tenure at Butzel Long, she was employed in the public sector, serving at the pleasure of the Governor of Michigan as an Executive on Loan. In addition to her work at WMSTI, Dr. Chamberlain is the owner and principle of InnoValuations, LLC, a company that focuses on ensuring companies have the processes and tools to extract the full value of their best innovations.

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David Felten, M.D., PhD - Beaumont Hospitals

Dr. David L. Felten, is the Vice President, Research, and Medical Director of the Research Institute at Beaumont Hospitals, Royal Oak, MI. He oversees the hospital’s research portfolio and actively participates in the development and commercialization of Beaumont’s intellectual property. Dr. Felton received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1973, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Prize Fellowship. In addition, he has received two distinct NIH 10-year MERIT awards.

Previously, Dr. Felten was Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Rochester School of Medicine; founding director of the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine; Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine; and also served as Dean of the School of Graduate Medical Education at Seton Hall University. Dr. Felton’s research provided the foundation upon which the field of neuroimmunology emerged. He is the author of over 210 peer-reviewed publications and reviews, the majority of which focus on links between the nervous system and immune system, and the role these connections play in health and disease. Dr. Felten has served as the Chairman of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board for Australian Cancer Technology (Avantogen), The Medingen Group, Medingen Services, and The Clerisy Corp, and is active in identification, evaluation, and commercialization of IP in medical and biological sciences and biotechnology.

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Ricardo (Richard) Fuentes Jr.- Dow Corporate Venture Capital

Dr. Fuentes is responsible on a global basis for leading the technology due diligence of companies targeted for investment, recognizing emerging technology trends, and identifying suitable venture capital investment opportunities. His primary areas of interest are life science companies involved in drug discovery/development, medical devices and advanced diagnostic technologies. He has led Dow’s investments in DNA Research Innovations, Biolex, Graffinity (now Santhera), Fast Track Systems and Oxford Immunotec and is a board observer at Sorbent Therapeutics, Mirabilis Medica and Veralight. Dr. Fuentes joined Dow in 1977 and held a variety of R&D leadership and technology positions prior to joining Dow’s Corporate Venture Capital group in 1998. As Director of Dow's Advanced Electronic Materials Laboratory Technology he led the development of Cyclotene™ Advanced Electronic Resins. While Technology Manager of Dexco Polymers, a Dow-ExxonMobil joint venture partnership, he led the development and commercial implementation of Vector™ styrene block copolymers. Prior to joining Dow, Dr. Fuentes was a post-doctoral Research Associate at Michigan State University in the Department of Biochemistry. He completed a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Texas in 1975.

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Teri Grieb, Ph.D - University of Michigan Medical School, Office of Research

As Director of Administration for Research, Dr. Grieb partners with the Sr. Associate Research Dean in advocacy for the research mission of the University of Michigan Health System. As the chief business and administrative officer for the research mission, Dr. Grieb is responsible for the operational and fiscal management of the Office of Research and its reporting units. She assists with devising and deploying strategic research initiatives; managing projects; and advising on policy, procedural, and operational issues for the research enterprise. Dr. Grieb holds a Ph.D. from the Genetics Program at George Washington University. After receiving her doctorate, she joined an early-stage, life sciences start-up company. She was the Director of Tissue Biologics and lead scientist responsible for developing the company’s licensed technology for sterilizing allograft tissues. Dr. Grieb then joined MedImmune, Inc., as the first project manager for Research Operations, where she oversaw commercial and university in-licensed technologies. Just prior to her current role at the university, Dr. Grieb joined the Office of Research as the Industry Research Liaison and was responsible for planning and implementing outreach activities to increase participation in technology transfer and foster entrepreneurship.

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Michael Kurek, PhD - Biotechnology Business Consultants (President)

Dr. Kurek has been involved in basic research and commercialization of biotechnologies for thirty years. After completing his doctoral degree in Genetics at Florida State University he spent six years in academic research, specializing in immunology and molecular/cancer biology. During a three-year stint in marketing and product management at Millipore in Boston, Dr. Kurek earned an MBA from Boston University. Thereafter, he held executive positions at two university spin-out companies, RepliGen from MIT and BioPolymers from the University of Connecticut Medical School. Since arriving in Michigan in 1990 he has directed a business incubator program at MCHT in Detroit and Ann Arbor, and managed sales operations at Gene Codes. As Executive VP of Sales and Service at Genomic Solutions in Ann Arbor, he was responsible for customer interactions in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. He has also participated in two successful IPOs. Since joining BBC in 2002, Dr. Kurek has consulted to more than forty entrepreneurs and early-stage life science companies on various aspects of business development.

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Paul Morris - Lumigen, Beckman Coulter

Mr. Morris joined Beckman Coulter at the end of March 2008 as Director of Operations-Lumigen. He was previously a Senior Manager in the Detroit office of Grant Thornton LLP and a member of the firm’s national Life Sciences Steering Committee. With 10 years of industry and management advisory experience, Mr. Morris has worked in a variety of industry settings, primarily life sciences, and led several engagements for biotech and pharmaceutical clients related to operational and process reviews. Other projects revolved around process improvement, both in manufacturing operations and supporting business functions, including research and development (R&D) and quality control. Mr. Morris is just finishing a term as MichBio’s Treasurer, having served two years as Assistant Treasurer. Mr. Morris earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He also earned a BBA with First Class Honors from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

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Stephen Munk, Ph.D. - Ash Stevens Inc.

Dr. Munk is experienced in drug discovery, development, and manufacturing both as a scientist and as a manager. Prior to joining Ash Stevens in 1997, he worked at Allergan, Inc. initially as a drug discovery scientist and subsequently as the co-team leader of the adrenergic drug discovery team. Under his leadership, Ash Stevens has received nine FDA approvals to manufacture novel drug substances. Ash Stevens also won over $20MM in government contracts during his tenure as well as numerous commercial contracts. Dr. Munk’s work has been summarized in a number of publications, patents, and in a book covering topics in medicinal chemistry and process development. He has served as a Guest Editor for the Journal “Drug Development Research”. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University. Dr. Munk serves as an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Wayne State University, and is on the Steering Committee of the “Chemistry in Cancer Research Working Group” of the American Association for Cancer Research (CICR-AACR) as well as the Board of Trustees of the Michigan Opera Theatre.

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John J.H. Schwarz, M.D. - Battle Creek Family Health Care Center

Since graduating from Battle Creek Central High School in 1955, U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz has served his nation, his state, and his community. In 1986, Dr. Schwarz won a hotly contested race for the Michigan state senate. He joined the chamber's leadership in 1993 as president pro tempore. He held that office for the next 10 years until term limits compelled his departure from the legislature at the end of 2002.

As the state senate's only physician, and as a member of the Health Policy Committee, Dr. Schwarz was the chamber's resident expert on health-care issues. As chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, Dr. Schwarz was, and remains, a forceful advocate for keeping the avenues of scientific and medical research open to students and scientists. While serving as chairman of the subcommittee, Dr. Schwarz made sure our public colleges and universities received adequate state funding, helping keep education accessible to Michigan residents.

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Eric Stief - Delphi Corporation

Eric Stief is Licensing Manager in Delphi Corporation's Commercialization and Licensing area where his focus is on identifying new business opportunities. Previously he was Licensing Manager for Technology Transfer at Wayne State University where he worked with WSU inventors and commercial partners to identify appropriate technology licensing opportunities for WSU's life science technologies. Mr. Stief has worked in corporate and academic technology-based business development since 1994. His areas of focus have included research and development, mergers and acquisitions and new product and venture development. He was previously the Incubator Liaison for the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative (WSU, MSU, U of M and the Van Andel Research Institute), a business planner for the FMC Corporation in Chicago, IL, where he presided over several acquisitions and new business development projects, and a researcher for the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, MI. He earned a BS in Food Engineering from MSU and an MBA from U of M. He is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers and the Michigan Venture Capital Association, and is a volunteer business screener for the Great Lakes Angles and the Detroit Techtown FAST program.

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Karen Studer-Rabeler - Coy Laboratory Products

Karen Studer-Rabeler re-joined Coy in October 2007 to lead their business development efforts. Previously, she was Associate Director, New Business Development at the University of Michigan's Office of Technology Transfer where she managed the Business Formation Group and personally assisted in the creation of new businesses based on technology invented at U-M. Ms. Studer-Rabeler was educated in microbiology but has a broad base of experience encompassing semiconductor process engineering, product development, project management, marketing and field sales in both large and small companies. While at the Howard Hughes Research Labs in California, Ms. Studer-Rabeler developed submicron lithography for some of the world's fastest FET's and brought that capability to the University of Michigan's Solid State Electronics Laboratory in the late 1980's. Following that, Karen was an integral part of the technical sales, customer service, marketing, and product development functions for Coy Laboratory Products, a small business supplying life science laboratory equipment. Prior to joining U-M Tech Transfer, she provided account and project management as well as consultative technical assistance to a multi-million dollar, three state territory for the BioProcess Division of Millipore Corporation that supplies process-scale filtration to the Pharmaceutical Industry.

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David Zimmerman - Kalexsyn, Inc.

Mr. Zimmermann has worked in the life science industry for over a quarter century. Following a 23-year career at The Upjohn Company, Pharmacia and Upjohn, and Pharmacia he co-founded Kalexsyn, Inc. where he has served as Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Kalexsyn has maintained a steady and rapid growth in a challenging economic environment. Revenue growth for Kalexsyn has far outpaced expectations with the successful partnering of Kalexsyn with pharmaceutical companies in the US, Europe and Asia. Kalexsyn provides IP enabling, early drug discovery hit-to-lead and lead optimization services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners. While at Pharmacia, Zimmermann, a medicinal chemist by training, was responsible for negotiation and management of outsourcing contracts in addition to leadership roles on therapeutic program teams in both the infectious disease and CNS areas.

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