Bo Varga - Managing Director

Bo has 30 years business development, funding, strategic consulting, and team building experience. His primary focus is to bring money to companies via angel, corporate, private equity, VC investment, strategic alliances, development partnerships, or OEM sales. Bo has operations, sales, and marketing management experience in computer software and peripherals and in leading edge reconfigurable computing systems. He has worked with clean energy, ecommerce, image processing, nanotechnology, reconfigurable computing, information technology, and wireless companies as well as consulting to government agencies and economic development initiatives. Bo's focus is on "right message to the right people at the right time." He has staged 60+ nanotechnology or clean energy conferences and forums since 2000, primarily through the nanoSIG. He networks at two or three technology commercialization or investing events each month, mostly in Silicon Valley.

Ken Epstein - Principal, NewCap Partners

Ken is a principal with NewCap Partners and brings 20+years of investment banking and venture management experience, including P&L responsibility for both major business units and startups. His diverse client base includes private and family-owned businesses, strategic equity investors, large corporate venture funds, and material, high-tech and life science firms. Ken's transaction experience encompasses selling and buying companies, negotiating global marketing and production alliances and joint ventures (JVs), as well as providing advisory services for strategic planning, acquisition and valuation. With an extensive background in materials (ceramics, chemicals, metals, nanotechnology, plastics), Ken also advises clients aggressively seeking expansion opportunities into new material markets (e.g. pharmaceutical, aerospace, semiconductor, energy, etc.) on acquisition candidates as well as small companies seeking larger global partners or exit strategies. Ken started his global, multi-functional career with the Dow Chemical Company. He spent the majority of his Dow career (US, Singapore, Brazil) in Dow's Corporate Venture Group working with high tech and materials global companies and technologies. He also started businesses, bought and sold small companies, and negotiated a variety of JVs and strategic alliances in North America, Europe, and Asia. Ken has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA in International Finance from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Carol Cherkis

Dr. Cherkis has a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan Medical School and is an expert in the field of life sciences. She specializes in helping clients identify partner companies for M&A and corporate equity investments. With 20+ years experience in business management and consulting, her diverse global client base includes startups, established companies, and Fortune 100 firms. Her work encompasses a wide variety of health and biotechnology-related areas, including drug discovery, bioinstrumentation, medical devices, diagnostics, agriculture, food preservation, and bioremediation. Carol's areas of business expertise include: strategic alliance formation, business development, competitive intelligence and strategic planning, organizational development, technology assessment and licensing, project management, and product development. During the last few years, her efforts have focused on formation of alliances with companies in China and Japan. Carol is the President of BioInfoStrategies, a biotech/medical consulting firm that she founded after a twenty-year multi-functional career with The Dow Chemical Company. Her advisory services focus on assisting small and medium-sized, fast growing companies in the genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, biodetection /instrumentation, and biochemical reagents arenas with assessing the commercial feasibility of their technologies, developing and implementing business strategies, obtaining working capital, and establishing marketing and distribution alliances. During 1997-98, she served as the Director of Healthcare at Frost & Sullivan, one of the largest market research firms in Silicon Valley, and implemented a successful turnaround for that division. Carol started her career with The Dow Chemical Company as a scientist and research manager for several years. She then spent the remainder of her Dow career leading customer-focused product development efforts, establishing marketing and distribution alliances, and launching new products. In her last position at Dow, she was the Biotechnology Program Director in the Corporate Ventures Group and had global responsibility for identifying small and medium-sized companies as sources of new technology as well as corporate partners to expedite market penetration of existing and future products. In that role, she worked on critical business and technology strategies in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, specialty chemicals, food packaging, medical device, and environmental industries.

Dr. Lerwen Liu

Dr Liu has PhD in Physics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, specializing in semiconductor nanostructures and conducted research in Australia, Japan, the USA, and Italy. Lerwen has worked in nanotechnology consulting for 8+ years, including builing the first Nanotechnology Information Program at a Tokyo-based US science & technology information company, focusing on Nanotechnology policy, R&D activities, and trends in industry and research centers in the Asia Pacific region. Dr Liu is a frequently invited speaker on global trends in policy, business and investment in Nanotechnology to audiences across the globe. She consults world wide with high-level policy makers on government and industry Nanotechnology programs and R&D planning. Since 2001, Dr Liu has organized a number of Nanotechnology events across Asia focusing on global cooperation in Nanotechnology policy, business & investment strategy, and R & D. Dr Liu built and coordinated the Asia Nano Forum (ANF) network sponsored by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan and is supported by 13 Asia Pacific economies including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. She is the author of the Nanotechnology information portal Asia Pacific Nanotech Weekly (APNW, www.nanoworld.jp/apnw) sponsored by the NRI. The APNW is the only updated web-based comprehensive information source covering nanotech development in Asia Pacific region freely available to the public. Dr. Liu founded NanoGlobe Pte Ltd to provide services needed to facilitate and accelerate nanotechnology businesses in Asia. Based in Singapore, NanoGlobe has been operating in Japan since 2003 serving clients including the Japan National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI), Japan New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) and Doshisha University.

Rocky Rawstern - Founder bir consulting & Access

Rocky Rawstern is a knowledge management, presentation, and research consultant as well as founder of bir consulting (bir-consulting.com) and Access (access-nanotechnology.com). Rocky served as Editor of Nanotechnology Now (nanotech-now.com) for over 5 years, and was instrumental in the creation of and updates to the NN website, products, and services. During that time he collected, categorized, reviewed and posted over 20,000 nanotechnology and nanotech-related news articles and press releases, and interviewed hundreds of stakeholders. For "outstanding journalistic or other communication endeavors that lead to a better public understanding of molecular nanotechnology and its high social and environmental impact," Rocky was awarded the 2005 Foresight Prize in Communication. Since 1998 he has been a lead search engine optimization analyst and has a deep understanding of world wide web search and search rankings.

Michael Ede - Manager Corporate and Government Projects

Michael has 17 years of experience in the technology industry in early-stage and multinational companies in the hardware, software solutions and communications infrastructure sectors. He has proven skills in business development, negotiating and managing technology partnerships, developing reference account relationships, positioning businesses for acquisition and investment, in business planning, project management, business communications and creating strategic plans for market entry and growth. His current consulting practice provides business development services to international technology companies that are entering the American market and want a presence in Silicon Valley . His clients include the Government of Alberta. Prior engagements include Packeteer; Apple Computer - Manager of Technology Policy in Washington DC ; and Apple Canada - Director of Corporate Development. Michael has an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau , France , an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University , and an BA (Honors) from McGill University, Montreal.

Sandra Kay Helsel, Ph.D. - Senior Consultant Marketing and Marketing Communications

Sandra is the Founder and Managing Director of SK Helsel & Associates, and a successful technology writer, editor, and conference organizer for 15+ years. Her clients have included Internet.com, Mecklermedia (Internet World), Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), PennWell, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Sony Film Institute, Fraunhofer Institute, Getty Institute, and Intellimation. In addition to her PR and superior relationship-building skills, Sandra Kay's doctorate in Educational Media gives you an edge in getting your story across to your target audience - while staying on message. This is especially true in Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Energy, Optics, Photonics, or Image Processing - Visualization - Simulation. Sandra is equally at home promoting the latest high-performance chip or successful end-user application. Her team at SK Helsel & Associates includes emerging technology PR specialists in key fields: Internet infrastructure, start-up/early stage business development, conference and exhibition management, and information design and display.