Board & Advisory Committee
Board
The fiduciary board for the Marina Technology Cluster is the Marina City Council, as the incubator is an economic development project of the City of Marina's economic development program. As such the board is made up of:
- Mayor Bruce Delgado
- Mayor Pro Tem Frank O'Connelll
- Council Member Jim Ford
- Council Member Nancy Amadeo
- Council Member David Brown
Advisory Committee
The incubator's advisory committee meets quarterly and advises both incubator staff and clients on operational issues, including programs. Many members of the committee also deliver training to clients in workshop or Brown-Bag-Lunch Seminar format. We are grateful for the time spent and the shared knowledge and wisdom of the following advisory committee members:
Lisa Alderson
SVP and GM, 4D Global Partners, LLC
Lisa Alderson has more than 15 years experience building media and technology businesses. She is an advisor, board member, investor and founding partner to early-stage companies with a focus on digital media, consumer Internet and web services. She founded her first company at the age of 19 and has now been involved with six early-stage ventures.
Lisa is the former CEO and President at CrossLoop, Inc., a venture-backed consumer Internet company that connects computer users with trusted, qualified service providers to deliver remote computer support and training. Prior to that, Lisa was the president of Cinema Circle, Inc., a pioneer in subscription based home entertainment for independent filmmakers, where she oversaw content, original production, marketing, distribution, fulfillment, customer service, legal, and finance. Cinema Circle, Inc. was acquired by Gaiam, Inc. (NASDAQ: GAIA). Lisa has managed three other venture backed start-ups through funding and market launch, including Omnilux, Inc. (now Clearmesh Networks), Genomic Health (NASDAQ: GHDX), and iExchange.com (now Placemark Investments). Lisa is a former manager of Strategic Planning at The Walt Disney Company where she developed long-term strategy and new business initiatives for ABC, ESPN and Disney’s other cable assets. She is also a former strategy consultant.
Lisa holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Colorado State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Brad Barbeau
Professor, CSUMB School of Business
& Member, Central Coast Investor's Roundtable
Brad Barbeau's career has spanned a wide variety of activities, including being a faculty member at a top business school, a company executive, founder of several businesses, and consultant. His forte is the development of innovative financial and strategic business models and building organizations to effectively execute those models. He is currently on the faculty of the School of Business at CSU Monterey Bay where he teaches courses in economics, marketing strategy, and entrepreneurship.
Brad's consulting practice includes business model development, strategic planning processes, and organization development. In 2000, Brad founded and ran The Monterey Beverage Company, which became a regional distributor of over 50 brands of beer and soft drinks in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties in California. Prior to Monterey Beverage, Brad was a founding partner in Global Natural Brands, Ltd. Global was formed to undertake investments, acquisitions and mergers in the food and beverage industry, focusing on small-to-medium sized natural and organic manufacturers. During this time he also served as Vice President of Marketing for Organic Food Products, Inc. of Morgan Hill, California.
During his earlier academic career, Brad was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business for twelve years and director of the school's Leadership Exploration and Development (LEAD) Laboratory. Brad holds a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. He also received his MBA and a master's degree in economics from the University of Michigan, and his B.A. in economics and history from Michigan State University.
Brad is a founding member of the Central Coast Investor's Roundtable in Monterey County, California, and a member of the Monterey Rotary.
Jim Bellingham
Chief Technologist, MBARI
As Chief Technologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Dr. Bellingham identifies technical and engineering opportunities for the ocean sciences aligned with MBARI's strategic plan. Prior to serving as Chief Technologist, Jim was Director of Engineering at MBARI from 1999 to 2006, during which time he was responsible for transforming MBARI's Engineering Department to its present leadership position in the development of seafloor observatories. Other professional activity of Dr. Bellingham includes founding and running the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory at MIT from 1988 to 2000. In 1997, Dr. Bellingham co-founded Bluefin Robotics Corporation, a leading manufacturer of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. Jim is presently a member of the Strategic Advisory Group for Battelle Memorial Corporation's National Security Division, a 3000 person enterprise, which purchased Bluefin in 2005.
Dr. Bellingham's research program focuses on the development and application of distributed teams of mobile robotic vehicles for observing the ocean. His goal is to greatly improve the ability to observe and predict the physical, chemical and biological ocean. Jim's early work on ocean observing systems was as the lead for the multi-institutional Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN) program. AOSN, funded by the Office of Naval Research, created a range of AUV and glider technology now widely used by the ocean science community. Today Jim is developing a new generation observation systems tailored to the observation of chemical and biological processes in the coastal and open ocean.
Rock Clapper
Member, Band of Angels
Rock left his professorship at Brown University and came to Silicon Valley in 1994. The move coincided with his first look at an Internet application called a 'browser'. His doctorate in applied social psychology was a perfect background for creating web-based consumer and business environments. At the time, Rock had done years of research, published many papers on persuasive communication and was a sought-after speaker in the U.S. and internationally.
Rock holds a B.S. in Psychology from Arizona State University, a Masters and Doctorate in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Houston, and is an alumnus of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Executive Education Program. Rock has been the CEO of several successful Internet and software companies in Silicon Valley. He is a veteran of company acquisitions, having negotiated such for each company he led, as well as having led a company to the position of a public offering.
As a member of the Band of Angels, the oldest formal private investor group in the U.S., he actively participates in company screening, due diligence and investment decisions.
Erik Cushman
Publisher, Monterey County Weekly
Erik Cushman's kids love him. As for the rest of the world, the jury is still out. Cushman imagines that his kids see him as a renaissance newspaper executive. His first newspaper job was with the Washington Post in 1973--he was the paperboy on the Bethesda route.
Today he's publisher at Monterey County Coast Weekly, the largest circulation newspaper in one of the nicest places on the planet. In between those two gigs he was a founding partner in the first alternative weekly in Montana -- the Missoula Independent -- in 1990. Cushman sold that paper in 1996, was promptly fired by the new owner, moved to Colorado to work as General Manager at Colorado Springs Independent and then made his way to California in 1999.
In previous lives Cushman worked as a rock 'n' roll promoter and commercial fisherman, he has had work published in Rolling Stone and Worth magazines, he holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Montana. These days in addition to pitching ad contracts and criticizing the editorial staff he's also become, somewhat to his chagrin, an authority on boring stuff like workplace law and employee benefits. He and his wife Kristin and two young daughters live in Pacific Grove.
Chuck Erickson
President & Founder, CECO Consulting
Chuck Erickson is a business consultant, coach and mentor specializing in assisting start up companies in Silicon Valley and the Monterey Bay Area. During his 10-year tenure as Executive Director of the Environmental and Software Business Clusters in San Jose, he advised more than 15 companies in successful market entry. In those 10 years client companies raised over $750 Million USD in growth capital.
Chuck’s 25 years of management experience focused in the areas of innovative software and hardware development, international business and corporate operations. He has extensive international experience in software and hardware development, marketing, and manufacturing. In 2006, Chuck added the role of CEO and Executive Director for the US Market Access Center, developing an effective program to assist foreign companies in their quest to open channels of business in the United States. He assisted a number of those clients in raising $160 million of US investment capital. Chuck is also a consultant to foreign governments for the creation of effective programs for technical commerce export. Previously Chuck was a business consultant specializing in start-up or start-over operations and activities involving interim CEO positioning or CEO coaching. He has held positions as Corporate Founder, President and CEO, Managing Director, and Technical Director of entrepreneurial management teams in start-up and turnaround companies.
Chuck holds a BSEE from Illinois Institute of Technology, has done post-graduate studies at The University of Chicago, and has been a frequent guest lecturer at Illinois Institute of Technology, Penn State
University and San Jose State University.
Chuck Fishel
Chairman, the Hoffman Row Group, Inc.
CEO, Abundant Biofuels Corporation
Dr. Fishel is CEO of Abundant Biofuels Corporation, an integrated producer of biodiesel throughout the Western Hemisphere (www.abundantbiofuels.com). Until recently, he was founding CEO of Gold Star Biodiesel Ltd. in West Africa. He serves on the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausaane Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (Environmental Impacts Working Group and Social Impacts Working Group).
Chuck remains Chairman of the Hoffman Row Group, Inc. (www.hoffmanrowgroup.com) and serves as a director on the boards of several public and private for-profit companies, and the Brownfields Foundation, Inc. (www.brownfieldsfoundation.org/). Recent consulting involved strategic business planning, corporate finance, acquisitions and merger, international technology transfer, and restoration / development of contaminated "brownfield" properties.
Dr. Fishel has held senior management, finance, and legal roles with FORTUNE 100 multinational (Intel, Teledyne, Carnation Company, Peter Kiewit Sons' and Williams Companies) and start-up companies. His industry experience includes "high tech" (electronics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology), insurance, construction, mining, publishing, broadcasting, food processing, energy, manufacturing, public utility, and consulting about technology evaluation and commercialization.
As a consultant, Chuck worked with hundreds of small, emerging companies. Representative clients have included high-tech companies (e.g., computer hardware / software, robotics, Internet, printed circuit boards, microwave, equipment manufacturing, etc.), retailing, health care, banking, as well as development agencies and not-for-profit organizations (e.g., United Nations Development Programme, Bank Pembangunan Malaysia, and the Northern California Manufacturing Technology Center).
As Dr. Fishel, Chuck is a Lecturer at San Jose State University, Distinguished Executive Lecturer at California State University, Monterey Bay (student-nominated Great Lecturer for 2003/2004), and Visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. Previously he was Director of the Center for International Business Planning and Senior Lecturer in Global Business Strategy and Industrial Competition at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Other teaching experience has included Santa Clara University, and the University of California, Berkeley. His teaching emphases are global business strategy, entrepreneurship, global dimensions of business, international industrial competition, technology transfer, technology management, and law. He is the author of Global Business Strategies (CyclopsMedia: 2004) and is working on a text on entrepreneurship.
When he left Intel in 1980, Dr. Fishel worked with universities and community organizations in the United States and overseas to develop innovation centers ("business incubators") to enable commercialization of laboratory-developed technology. Genexus developed innovation centers in cooperation with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and at universities in Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York.
In 1986, Chuck became Executive Director of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Institute (Massachusetts' Center of Excellence in Biotechnology) where he planned for and initiated development of the Commonwealth Bioventures, the first biotech-focused innovation center/venture capital fund.
Dr. Fishel has been recognized by Marquis' Who's Who in Finance and Industry and Academic Keys' Who's Who in Business Higher Education.
Chris Hasegawa, CSUMB
Dr. Chris Hasegawa, Vice President
Dean, Extended Education & International Programs
California State University, Monterey Bay
Chris Hasegawa is the Dean of Extended Education and International Programs at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). A CSUMB Founding Faculty member, Chris has served as the Department Chair for the Teacher Education, Technology and Science Departments. Prior to arriving at CSUMB, Chris taught in the School of Education at CSU Sacramento and the Division of Teacher Education at the University of Oregon , where he received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in 1989. Prior to receiving his doctorate, Dr. Hasegawa taught and served as an administrator at public schools in California, Oregon and Arizona.
Ted Lewis
Director, Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Naval Postgraduate School
Ted Lewis is currently executive director or the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School. He has held various other positions in academia and industry: Senior Vice President of Eastman Kodak, CEO of Daimlerchrysler Research & Technology North America, Chair of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Research Director of the Oregon Advanced Computing Institute, and Professor of Computer Science Oregon State Univeristy. He has served various positions in the IEEE Computer Society including Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Computer magazine, IEEE Software magazine, and member of the Board of Director, IEEE Computer Society. Lewis has published over 100 papers in technical journals, and written over 30 books spanning the past 30 years. His latest book, Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security: Defending a Networked Nation, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2006, is the standard university textbook in its field.
Mark Peterson
Principal,
Peterson Communications
Mark Peterson is a marketing, public relations and strategy consultant who has worked with more than 40 companies, organizations and charities ranging in size from start-up, venture-backed technology companies to industry stalwarts Microsoft, Seagate and Micron.
He has more than fifteen years of marketing experience working as both an outside agency and on “the client side,” guiding marketing and communications programs at a number of leading companies and headed the marketing of technology industry initiatives, including his responsibility for global corporate communications and events at Brio Software and numerous marketing positions at Seagate.
His passion includes inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship and is part of the planning team for the 2011 Monterey Bay Regional Business Plan Competition, a tri-county program with the support of 30+ local city and regional organizations that received more than 60 applications in 2010. He also worked on a project, Monterey County Federal Business Opportunities, to help regional businesses become qualified as registered government contractors. He is a board member of Leadership Monterey Peninsula, on the board of advisors for the Marina Technology Cluster, chairman of the Shugart Scholarship Fund and serves on the Stevenson School Alumni Council, the MPC Foundation President's Club and volunteers on the Hospice Foundation Golf Scramble Committee.
Peterson holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA in Communications from Oregon State University and currently is a lecturing professor in the School of Business at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Pat Reilly
Founder, IP Society
Patrick Reilly is an intellectual property attorney, an IP rights marketing consultant and the founder of the Intellectual Property Society (www.ipsociety.net), an association focused on enriching the public discourse regarding intellectual property rights or "IP rights." Patrick believes that IP rights are fundamentally necessary to attract the financial resources needed to most effectively provide the benefits of technology and artistic energy for the common good. He argues that the public should be more actively involved in defining and limiting the scope and nature of intellectual property protection. Patrick is a member of the California State Bar and the United States Federal Patent Bar.
Jim Robbins
Principal, Business Cluster Development
Jim Robbins is a principal in Business Cluster Development (BCD) and has significant experience in incubation strategy, development and management; corporate innovation and incubation; technology transfer and commercialization; and entrepreneurial programs and new business formation. Jim has 30 years experience in the fields of new business formation, organizational design, technology development and management, business operations and law. In addition to starting his own business to assist communities in the development of sector-focused incubators, he worked for Digital Equipment Corporation and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jim is co-founder of the Software Business Cluster, the first software incubator in California, and the Environmental Business Cluster, winner of the National Business Incubation Association’s 2008 Incubator-of-the-Year Award. Other incubators that BCD has helped to create include the Women's Technology Cluster, the Communications Technology Cluster and the Foundation Incubator. Jim is also past executive director of the Panasonic Incubator and is a principal in Panasonic Ventures, a $100 Million dollar investment fund.
Jim is a frequent speaker on new business formation, early stage venture funding and sector-focused incubation. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Week, Red Herring Online, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Business Journals, and the San Jose Mercury News.
Denise Ryan
President, Blue Marble Marketing
"Working with conscious leadership motivates me everyday. Vision, combined with high ideals and a passionate drive to bring a solution to market, is a joy to work with."
As Founder of Santa Cruz, CA -based Blue Marble Marketing, Denise is widely recognized for her ability to successfully launch new ventures. Denise's strength is her capacity to quickly understand a new venture's formidable goals and to partner with CEO's in developing effective market strategies.
Denise's background includes VP Worldwide Marketing, Director of Channel Marketing, International Major Accounts Marketing and Line of Business Product Marketing for several companies including Oracle, MicroPro International, The Santa Cruz Operation and Stallion Technology. Prior to that, Denise served as Executive Director of Entrepreneurial Services, for The Enterprise Network, one of Silicon Valley's most successful non-profit entrepreneurial advisory and incubator services.
Denise serves on the Board of Advisors for Women in Technology International (WITI), where she contributed to the establishment of the WITI Invent Center at Smith College. Denise also serves on the Board of Directors for Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE), the Marketing Committee of MIT/Stanford VLAB and the Advisory Board of the Marina Small Business Incubator in Monterey, CA. Denise is a frequent speaker and moderator on topics including: Marketing, PR, Strategies for Start-Ups, Building Strategic Partnerships, and Investor Relations. Denise has also had several articles on effective marketing strategies and programs published.
Denise enjoys all things related to the outdoors including, surfing, hiking, yoga, skiing, and learning new things everyday.
Anita Salem
President, SalemSystems Inc.
"customer-driven product development"
Anita is a product research and design consultant, specializing in user experience design. She works closely with business stakeholders and end users to identify and translate their goals and processes into products that are useful and easy to use.
Anita has a background in experimental psychology, system design, and technical communication. She has worked on projects in mobile computing, ecommerce, telecommunications, and business systems for clients as diversified as GettyImages, Med Data, Cisco Systems, and the City of Seattle. She is also a lecturer at the University of Washington, teaching User Experience Design and Usability.
Dr. Ernest Scalberg
Research Professor & Director of the GLOBE Center
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Ernie Scalberg was Dean of the Fisher Graduate School of International Business and Associate Vice President at the Monterey Institute for International Studies from August 2001 to July 2009. Under Ernie's direction, the Fisher School was ranked 13th best business school in the nation by Entrepreneur Magazine and Princeton Review in 2007.
Ernie is currently director of the GLOBE Center, a federally funded research, consulting and training Center at the Institute that specializes in adapting products and services for foreign markets. Prior to his appointment at the Monterey Institute. Dr. Scalberg spent over 7 years in New York City as Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration and Dean of Faculty of the Schools of Business at Fordham University. While at Fordham, he established the Beijing International MBA program at Peking University as the lead School in a consortium of 26 U.S. universities.
Most of Ernie’s career was spent in Los Angeles as an employee of UCLA. Among various positions there, he was Associate Dean of the Anderson Graduate School of Management, and Coordinator of Campus Planning in the Chancellor’s Office. In 1990 he moved to Hong Kong for three years where, in a partnership agreement between UCLA and the Hong Kong government, he created a new school of business at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Ernie received his Ph.D. from UCLA, an M.A. from the University of Denver, and a B.S. Degree from Southern Oregon University. He is the recipient of six U.S. Government research and project grants and has published on a variety of higher education and business issues. He consults for business schools in the United States, Canada, South America and China, and for the beverage industry, having had his own wine-exporting business. He has served as a director, advisor, or trustee for nine non-profit organizations and is listed in Who’s Who in Hong Kong and Who’s Who in the World. He is currently a Trustee for Select Sector SPDR, an S & P 500 Index Investment Fund, and TDAX Funds, a Lifecycle Index Fund, both of which are listed on the American Stock Exchange. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the International University in Geneva, Switzerland, and of the United States and China Foundation in Beijing.
George Sidman
Founder & CEO, WebLOQ
George Sidman is a proven entrepreneur with a 25 year track record in launching and growing successful Internet and software companies. In 1985, he founded INLEX, a major library automation company which provided solutions over 300 major libraries. Between 1994 and 1997 he developed large-scale enterprise software for web-based multi-media delivery, copyright compliance and intellectual property management, resulting in breakthrough technologies in complex knowledge automation. In 1997 he was a founding participant in raising $5 MM in venture capital for Arista Knowledge Systems, a distance learning start-up, which recently sold to Digital Think. In 1998 he founded the Monterey Network Center which delivers a full range of wired and fixed wireless connectivity and managed Internet services for business, government, and education. He is a recognized authority on complex large-scale object databases, and a public speaker on emerging computer and Internet technologies.
Teresa Thomae
Director, Central Coast SBDC, Central Coast Small Business Development Center
Teresa Thomae has been the Director for the Central Coast Small Business Development Center at Cabrillo College since 1995. In that time, she has directed the counseling given to thousands of businesses, coordinated hundreds of workshops and served on many economic development committees in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Over twenty million dollars of funding has been received by SBDC clients under her leadership. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops. Teresa has been instrumental in the development of business management classes for childcare providers, small farmers and home-based businesses.
Teresa currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula Chambers of Commerce, El Pajaro Community Development Corporation, the Marina Technology Cluster, and is the president of Your Future Is Our Business, a non-profit which links students with employers and strengthens career paths.
Teresa is a graduate of Leadership Santa Cruz County, Class X, and Focus Agriculture. She was recently awarded the "Woman of the Year" by the Aptos Chamber of Commerce and was named a Community Hero for 2003 by the United Way. The SBDC was named “Organization of the Year†in 2005 by the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce.