David Rickerby is a Partner at the law firm of Choate Hall and Stewart in Boston, MA. He heads the Technology Licensing practice area at Choate and has particular areas of focus in intellectual property counseling, emerging companies, university licensing, distribution channel strategy and open source law.
Rickerby has worked in the technology licensing area for more than a decade. Prior to joining the firm, Rickerby was an associate in the Patent and Intellectual Property Group at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, an associate in the Corporate and Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Group at Edwards & Angell, a Contracts Manager in the Technology Management Group at Computer Sciences Corporation, and the Legal Manager for PSI International, Inc.
David Rickerby received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his law degree from the University of Connecticut.
Mark Wilson has over 15 years of experience solving the complex design and process issues involved in launching new products that have generated over $600 million in annual sales. Prior to launching Initiatives Consulting, LLC in 1997, Wilson served in management roles at Bausch & Lomb, Inc, Baxter Healthcare, Inc., and Opkor, Inc, an optics company. His experience includes design, production, quality control, and marketing for a wide range of new health care and optical products for consumers and businesses.
As Principal of Initiatives Consulting, Wilson leads a team of experts that advise clients on the 'fuzzy front end of innovation' - determining whether ideas should move forward and how to move them towards commercialization. Clients include Baxter Healthcare, Xerox, numerous smaller companies, and universities such as Cornell, University of Michigan, and Rochester Institute of Technology.
Mark Wilson received an M.S. and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute.
Robert Frank is a Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson School. In addition, Frank is a monthly contributor to the "Economic Scene" column in The New York Times.
Until 2001, he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. He has also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Nepal, chief economist for the Civil Aeronautics Board, fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and was Professor of American Civilization at l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Frank's books include Choosing the Right Pond, Passions within Reason, Microeconomics and Behavior, Luxury Fever, and What Price the Moral High Ground? The Winner-Take-All Society, co-authored with Philip Cook, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, and was included in Business Week's list of the ten best books for 1995.
Frank holds a BS in mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an MA in statistics from UC Berkeley and a PhD in economics, also from UC Berkeley.
Jeff Parker has an extensive history of success in both entrepreneurship and financial services that he brings to the table as founder and CEO of CCBN. He is also the founder and managing director of Private Equity Investments, a venture capital firm focusing on start-up and early stage companies. As the creator and CEO of several successful financial service companies over the past fifteen years, Jeff brings an operating perspective to the companies in which he invests, as well as a wealth of financial expertise and an extended network of domestic and international business contacts. In 1980, Jeff founded Technical Data Corporation which he subsequently sold in 1986 to Canadian publishing giant Thomson Corporation. In 1982, he became Chairman and CEO of Business Research Corporation, and in 1983 founded First Call Corporation. Under his leadership, Thomson Financial Services (TFS), as the group is now known, became a major provider of proprietary financial information to the investment and corporate communities. TFS currently serves over 75,000 institutional clients worldwide, and has annual revenues in excess of $750 million. Prior to his association with TFS, Jeff served as Vice President and Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at Fidelity Investments in Boston. He has also held management positions at Smith, Barney, Loeb Rhoads, and A.G. Becker. Jeff is a graduate of Cornell University from which he received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1965, a Master of Engineering in 1966 and a Master of Business degree in 1970.
Robert Felton co-founded the San Francisco-based Indus in 1988 as a provider of application software packages for customers in the electric utilities, petrochemical, heavy manufacturing, transportation and packaged goods industries. The company grew rapidly and, in 1993, was ranked third in Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies. As CEO, Felton played a key role in preparing the company's initial public offering, which occurred in February 1996. During this critical period, Felton kept all 450 employees updated on the IPO, sharing with them confidential information. Felton is a firm believer in open lines of communication in all levels of the corporation. To that end, Indus employees regularly post work summaries on an electronic bulletin board where colleagues may read and offer comments on various projects. Felton's belief that open employee communication offers a vital competitive advantage to Indus was the subject of a column in the Jan. 10 issue of The Wall Street Journal. Felton earned a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1961 and a Master's degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Washington in 1971.
Alan Pike teaches management writing and oral communication at the Johnson School. He has taught writing and other communications courses at various schools throughout Cornell, at Syracuse University, and has consulted with corporations on management communications. Professor Pike also directs the outdoor leadership/team development program and has presented papers on communications and leadership issues. Note: Alan Pike, 65, a senior lecturer in communication who taught generations of business leaders at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, died of heart failure Jan. 7, 2006 in his Ithaca home.
Lance Stewart is the Vice President of the BioStructures Group at deCODE genetics, Inc. (formerly Emerald BioStructures, Inc.), where he manages deCODE's protein crystallography services and products businesses. Prior to co-founding Emerald BioStructures, Inc. , he was a Postoctoral Fellow and Research Assistant Professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Biological Structure at the University of Washington. Lance Stewart has received five Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program grants. Lance Stewart received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University, his B.S.in Biology from McMaster University, and an MBA from the University of Washington.
James Jorasch currently heads up the R&D department of Walker Digital, the think tank which launched Priceline.com. Walker Digital, LLC invents business systems which solve problems. Founded in 1994 by Jay S. Walker, Walker Digital's inventors have been granted over 200 U.S. and International Patents for unique business systems. The invention teams, lead by Mr. Walker, currently have a portfolio of more than 500 business solutions. Walker Digital is best known for its role as the invention laboratory that created priceline.com, which was subsequently launched by Mr. Walker in 1998. James Jorasch is a graduate of Cornell University.
Since graduating from college, Steve Banjamin has had three careers and is now inventing his fourth. From 1982 to 1988 he worked in the Air Freight industry, as Vice President Strategic Planning for Burlington Air Express. The best part of that job was designing a hub and spoke system, and buying the cargo airplanes needed to support that system. Much of that original design is still in place including several of the airplanes Steve purchased more than 15 years ago. In 1988 Steve and his wife, Sheri, started The Benjamin Group Inc., a public relations agency working with high technology companies. Initially the company started in Silicon Valley, but eventually spread to Orange County, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon as well. By the time the firm was sold in July 1999 it employed 115 people. Steve moved out of the company in July 2002 after the purchase agreement was complete. Steve's wife still remains with purchasing company (Weber Shandwick) as the head of their technology practice. In 1992, concurrent with being CFO of Benjamin Group, Steve got into the Customer Loyalty consulting business in partnership with Burke Inc., a Cincinnati-based market research firm. Steve was able to develop and manage significant relationships with key high tech companies like Sun Microsystems and Applied Materials. Starting in July 2002 Steve decided he wanted to work less and spend more time with his children (Megan 14.5 and Cody 12.5). He's been busy doing the things most dads wish they could do but often don't have time for. In addition to spending time with his kids, Steve is a trustee for Hillbrook School (a k through 8 school), and is helping the school raise $6.0 million to rebuild the campus. Steve Benjamin holds a Bachelors and Masters of Engineering as well as an MBA from Cornell University.