MIT Enterprise Forum Board
2008-2009

Rich Kivel, Chair
Rich Kivel is a seasoned life science and technology executive. Since the successful acquisition of MolecularWare, an MIT spin out which he led as CEO from 2001 to 2004, Rich has launched four new companies in the life science/healthcare space and has served as founding CEO or President of each. Rich presently serves as CEO of TheraGenetics, a London, England-based company focused on the development and commercialization of pharmacogenetic diagnostic tests to help guide and improve the treatment of disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer's. Rich is a frequent guest lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and has been a judge for the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition since 1998. He speaks internationally and works on behalf of many organizations to promote entrepreneurship in the United States, Canada and Europe. He also serves as a Lead Catalyst for the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation and is a founding board member of Biolink USA-Ireland.

 

Laurie Dean Baird SM '92
Laurie Dean Baird is Director of Technology Partnerships for Turner Broadcasting. She is responsible for global research and development partnership activities in new media, covering the areas of emerging advertising technologies, advanced video applications, wireless and mobile technologies, gaming and virtual worlds, and content aggregation. Laurie supports all of Turner's properties, including CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TNT, TBS, truTV, GameTap, NASCAR.com, Super Deluxe and others. She launched Turner's university research program and is a member of Turner's corporate investment board. Laurie began her career at Aerodyne Research Inc., a science and engineering institute outside of Boston, where she built strategic alliances with aerospace and instrumentation companies and raised funding through government and private sector (resulting in 15 SBIR/STTR Phase II grants). While at MIT, Laurie co-chaired the 100K Competition (then called the 10K contest). As a member of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta Executive Committee, she launched the Run It By The Pros start-up clinics. Laurie is President of the Sloan Club of Atlanta and recently completed her term on the MIT National Selection Committee. Her board appointments include: USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, Stanford University Media X, and UGA Mobile Media Consortium. Laurie is a patent holder and recognized by the National Science Foundation and NASA for her development of innovative technologies. She received an SM (MBA) from the MIT Sloan School and a BS in Physics and a BA in Sociology from St Lawrence University.

 

Jim Brown SM '70
Jim Brown is Principal at J. L. Brown & Co., a strategic advisory and venture development consulting practice in Los Angeles. The firm provides research, counsel and venture acceleration services to entrepreneurs and corporate and private investors. Over the past 20 years Jim has brought forth new ventures for Kodak Corporation, NCR Corporation and Xerox Corporation and guided the development of over 100 private ventures through public workshops, private counsel, and direct management. Previously, Jim was Director of Strategy at Teradata Corporation; Director of Analyst Relations at Pyramid Technology Corporation; and held marketing, sales and corporate MIS positions with Xerox Corporation, TRW, and several software ventures. Jim was a founder of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum in 1984 and most recently served as Chairman of its Executive Committee. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an SM from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He earned the Bronze Star as First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Signal Corps, and was a defense policy analyst for several years thereafter.

 

Joost Bonsen '90, SM '06
Joost Bonsen is a Researcher and Lecturer at MIT.  He is interested in entrepreneurial startups, cluster crafting, and innovation ecosystems generally. His opinions can be read on his blog, Maximizing Progress. Among his many MIT roles, he is Lead Organizer Emeritus of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and co-founder of several clubs including TechLink, the Innovation Club, and the TinyTechnology Club. Joost also ran the MIT Founders Project which quantified the economic impact of MIT-related entrepreneurs, findings ultimately published by BankBoston as "MIT: Impact of Innovation".  Every week he hosts the live TV show, High Tech Fever, interviewing inventors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other key players in the greater Cambridge technology venture zone.  Along with partner Saul Griffith and artist Nick Dragotta, Joost founded Howtoons, an educational media venture publishing inspiring, fun cartoons which show creative kids "How To" build things.  Joost has his Bachelor's in Bio-Electrical Engineering from MIT and a Master's in the Management of Technology from the MIT Sloan School.

 

David Coombs '91
David Coombs is an attorney practicing out of the Boston office of Goulston & Storrs. His practice includes representation of emerging companies across a spectrum of technology and services industries, as well as representation of venture capital and private equity investors. Prior to law school, he spent several years as a software consultant and product development manager. David graduated from MIT in 1991 with a BS in mathematics with computer science and received his law degree from Harvard in 1998.

 

Vanessa Green MNG '08
Vanessa Green recently received a Masters of Engineering degree from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at MIT, where she was involved in a number of entrepreneurial projects.  With a team of business and engineering students, Vanessa co-founded NanoPur, a venture to commercialize a membrane technology for energy efficient water desalination, that was a finalist in the MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize, a new award affiliated with the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.   Vanessa is also working on a venture in northern Ghana that uses her engineering experience in household water treatment to develop commercially sustainable local enterprises to provide clean water in rural regions.   Currently, Vanessa is based in Dubai where she is working with TECOM Investments to develop a strategic vision for a high-tech design and engineering cluster.  Until 2006, Vanessa was a consultant at Monitor Group, where she focused on regional economic development and cluster driven innovation.  Vanessa is planning to return to MIT in the fall of 2009 to complete her Masters of Business Administration at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

 

Joe Hadzima, Jr. '73, SM '77
Joe Hadzima is Managing Director of Main Street Partners, a venture development and technology commercialization firm located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also President of IPVision, Inc., a Main Street portfolio company, which provides systems, tools and services for the analysis, management, and monetization of intellectual property and patents. Joe is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he has taught entrepreneurship and law since 1984. He has been a judge of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition since its founding. Joe graduated from MIT in 1973, received his Masters of Science in Management from MIT's Sloan School of Management in 1977, and his law degree cum laude from Harvard in 1979. Until 1996, he was a partner in Sullivan & Worcester LLP, a major Boston law firm, where he founded and directed the High Tech/New Ventures Group. Over his career, he has been involved in various capacities (founder, investor, board member, officer, etc.) in the founding of over 100 companies.

 

Elizabeth Frank Jones
Elizabeth Frank Jones is an adjunct faculty member and Executive in Residence at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management, where she teaches Entrepreneurial Finance, Private Equity Finance, and Valuing Innovation in the MBA program. Concurrent with her work with UTD, Elizabeth advises Fortune 1000 and emerging technology companies in intrapreuneuring, strategic financial management, product innovation, business development, and technology licensing. She currently is an advisor to Genesis Campus and Mobility Ventures early-stage venture funds. Her professional career spans more than twenty years and she is an alum of McKinsey & Co, Salomon Smith Barney, RBC Dain Rauscher, International Finance Corporation/World Bank and the Washington State Legislature, having been a prinicipal investor or financial advisor to private and public companies and public sector agencies. Elizabeth has recently begun doctoral research work in technology innovation, finance, and public investment policy.

 

Luda Kopeikina SM '90
Luda Kopeikina is President and CEO of Noventra Corporation, an innovation commercialization and licensing firm. Luda spent six years at General Electric in various senior leadership positions where she had an opportunity to work with Jack Welch and observe his methods in action. Later she was President and CEO of publicly traded Celerity Solutions, Inc., executing a complete turnaround in two years. Interactive Week's 1998 Executive Worth Survey ranked Luda within the top twenty CEOs of US high-tech public companies. Luda has successfully started two companies, is Founder of the MIT Enterprise Forum of South Florida, is a Lead Catalyst at the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation and is a member of Common Angels. She is also author of the book The Right Decision Every Time: How to Reach Clarity on Tough Decisions. Luda holds a Master's degree from MIT's Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow. She also holds a Master's and Ph.D. in Computer Science from St. Petersburg University , Russia.

 

Andrew Macey
Andrew Macey is COO & EVP of the product strategy, design and development firm HLB, located in Boston and Chicago.  Andrew brings over 20 years management experience to his role, with more than 30 acquisitions, mergers, start-ups, turnarounds, or major growth initiatives in his background.  Andrew has particular experience in developing and growing businesses, products, and technologies related to R&D and new product introductions, supply chain and operations, and information technology.

Prior to joining HLB, Andrew served as Vice President at Sapient Corporation where he was responsible for leading the global Business & IT strategy group. Andrew originally began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company, and subsequently in the Strategic Services group of Accenture, where he led US and European teams engaged in go-to-market strategies, operational improvement, M&A, and corporate strategy for several Fortune 100 companies.  Andrew also served as Vice President of Sales, Services, and Solutions for RFID software company OATSystems, originally an outgrowth of the MIT Auto ID Center.

Andrew also serves on the board of The Jericho Road Project of Concord, MA, an umbrella non-profit which bridges communities by matching professionals with the needs of over 65 other non-profit organizations to create economic sustainability and foster community development in more than 175 specific projects. His undergraduate degree is from Harvard, and he received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

 

Linda Plano
Linda Plano is the Associate Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC), an organization dedicated to the commercialization of technologies developed in the state's nonprofit research institutions. The MTTC has a number of programs designed to support entrepreneurs, including the Conference on Clean Energy (which is co-hosted with the Energy Special Interest Group of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge).

Linda is committed to the development of the Clean Energy Cluster in Massachusetts and the region. To that end, she helped co-found the ESIG as well as serving as chair of the Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) Business Presentation Competition for the last two years. She is also a Visiting Scholar at the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment (LFEE) at MIT for her volunteer work in developing materials to communicate clean energy issues to the general public as well as training in entrepreneurship for student inventors.

Linda did her undergraduate work in Physics at MIT, and earned her PhD at Stanford University in Materials Science and Engineering.

 

Howard (Howie) Rhee '97
Howie Rhee is managing director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. In his role, he develops and maintains the relationship between the center and the entrepreneurial community both locally and globally. Prior to Fuqua, Howie helped over a hundred entrepreneurs develop and grow their companies while at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, based in Research Triangle Park. He has been a part of six startups, three as a co-founder. Howard is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. 

 

Patrick Robinson
Patrick Robinson is associate partner of production for Grip Limited, a Toronto advertising agency. Previously, Patrick was general manager of AmoebaCorp., part of john st. advertising, a creative and strategic advertising agency and the agency of record for brands such as Fujifilm, Tetley, Mens Warehouse, AstraZeneca, and most recently, the Bay, Canada 's oldest retailer.

Throughout his 15 year career, Patrick has been an entrepreneur, team-builder and a consultant for creative and business growth strategies. He is a strong advocate of the benefits of integrating emerging technologies into work flows in all graphic arts services. Hhe has been a volunteer for the Toronto chapter and a key point person in the new branding of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

 

Lori Smith
Lori Smith, a partner in Goodwin Procter's Business Law Department and a member of its Technology Companies Group, specializes in representing foreign and domestic companies in various industries with regard to mergers and acquisitions, financings, and general corporate matters, with an emphasis on emerging technologies. Lori has extensive experience acting as outside counsel for companies at all stages of development, from start-ups to public companies.

Lori has over 20 years experience representing entrepreneurs, venture capital and private equity investors, and public and private companies in the structuring, negotiation, and implementation of equity and debt financings and private equity transactions, private placements, acquisitions, mergers, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and licensing, manufacturing and distribution arrangements (including distribution via the Internet and wireless means). In addition to advising clients on transactional and contract matters, she regularly provides advice and assistance to companies and their investors with respect to general corporate governance and ongoing compliance matters, as well as the various issues that need to be addressed in anticipation of and planning for a public offering, sale, or merger.

Lori is outside general counsel to New York Angels, one of the leading angel investment groups in the Northeast, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

Lori was a Senior Editor of Law and Contemporary Problems at Duke University School of Law.

Before joining Goodwin Procter, she served as a partner in the corporate and technology practice groups in the New York office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. Previously, she was senior counsel at Proskauer Rose LLP, also in New York .

 

Ken Zolot SM '95
Ken Zolot founded MIT's Innovation Teams program, where cross-disciplinary teams of students collaborate with MIT lab directors, evaluating go-to-market strategies for breakthrough discoveries. I-Teams is a partnership with MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. In addition to serving as a Senior Lecturer at MIT, Ken is a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and advises the Foundation on its “Kauffman Labs” project. The mission of Kauffman Labs is to accelerate the number and success of high-growth, scale firms.

Ken's teaching and mentoring have guided numerous MIT-spawned companies, including A123 Systems, Arch Therapeutics, Brontes3D, HubSpot, Myomo, QD Vision, Robopsy, Saaf Water, Semprus Biosciences (fka SteriCoat), Vertica Systems, and Visible Measures. In addition to his work at MIT, Ken has held full-time founding roles in several startups, most recently Heartland Robotics, which Ken co-founded in 2008 with Rod Brooks, former Chief Technology Officer of iRobot.

In 2000, Ken co-founded Egenera with Vern Brownell, Goldman Sachs' Chief Technology Officer. Egenera, the leader in computer server virtualization, was named to Red Herring's list of "100 companies most likely to change the world." Ken's previous startup, Geer Zolot Associates, was a spinoff from MIT Project Athena. Geer Zolot developed network security software for electronic trading and commerce, and designed the Internet security architecture for much of the financial services industry. After the sale of Geer Zolot Associates, Ken was retained by Goldman Sachs to guide its technology strategy. He has also held positions at MIT Project Athena, and Digital Equipment Corporation's Innovative Technology Research Center in Cambridge. Zolot's first start-up was Spectra Communications, specializing in satellite telecommunications.

Ken is a member of the Common Angels investment group. He also served as a director of Yoga301, which focused on advancing the art, science, and practice of the timeless discipline of yoga. Mr. Zolot holds a Master of Science degree from MIT in Management of Technology. His undergraduate work was at Syracuse University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy.

 

The four most recent Chairs of the MIT Enterprise Forum Global Board of Directors: Peter Miller '62, Matt Haggerty '83, Joe Hadzima '73, SM '77, and current Chair, Rich Kivel.