Each final-round team will be provided a mentor. The mentor offers his/her entrepreneurial and venture capitalist experience to the team. Mentors will not be part of the judging panel. The mentor will meet with the team 2-3 times before the final round to provide guidance to strengthen the team's business plans.
The following individuals served as mentors for the 2007-08 competition:
Dr. Jim Stefansic (Founder and CTO of Pathfinder Therapeutics)
Dr. Joel Peek (CEO, Microarrays, Inc.)
Dr. Zahra MirAfzali (Founder and President, Encapsula Nanosciences)
Mr. Stephen Smith (CEO, LifeGenX LLC)
The following individuals will form the judging panel for the First Annual Biotechnology Business Plan Competition on April 12th 2008.
Keith Gregg
- Mr. Gregg is the President and CEO of JRG Ventures, LLC which assists clients ranging from start-ups to multinational firms with business development and licensing, valuations, corporate strategy, regulatory and manufacturing challenges, reimbursement, interim management, access to capital, and the negotiation/execution of growth avenues. His 22 years of industry experience has included key positions at multiple biotechnology and high growth pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Gregg also serves as the Chairman of the Partnership 2010 Entrepreneurship Task Force: Strategy Development Committee for Middle Tennessee.
Christopher Rand
- Mr. Rand is a Senior Associate for Enterprise Development at Vanderbilt Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development (OTTED). He works primarily with faculty members and entrepreneurs aspiring to start a company based on Vanderbilt technology. Prior to joining OTTED, Christopher completed his MBA at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in its Corporate Valuation Consulting group, which provides business and intellectual property valuation and consulting services.
Terry MacIlvain
- Mr. MacIlvain is the Regional Product Line Leader for PerkinElmer, a top 10 Worldwide Provider of advanced instrumentation and technologies. He is involved with the South Eastern Biotechnology Investors Organization (SEBIO) reviewing Biotechnology Company Business Plans and Proposals, and has served on various SBIR / STTR Grant Review Panels during the past six years. He is a member of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association since its inception and member of the Commercialization Committee since 2002, along with member of Society of Industry Leaders.
Barbara MacIlvain
- Ms. MacIlvain has served on the NSF SBIR / STTR Grant Review Panel and was a judge for 2005 Southeast Regional BioGENEius Challenge. She has also assisted local Biotechnology start-up companies in writing their business plans. She is the Founder and President of American Dance League of Tenessee, Inc. (ADLT), author and lobbyist for the 1992 & 1993 State of Tennessee enabling legislation to Fund and Establish The Office of Traumatic Brian Injury, and a member of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association.
Conan Young
- Dr. Young is the Associate Director for Preclinical Biology at BioMimetic Therapeutics, Inc. located in Franklin, TN and has been with BMTI for 2 years. His responsibilities include the management and execution of preclinical product development activities for orthopaedic indications involving combinations of protein growth factors with biodegradable materials. Prior to this, he worked as a staff scientist in Boston for 5 years at the Forsyth Institute/Harvard School of Dental Medicine on research focused on the tissue engineering of whole teeth. Dr. Young performed post-doctoral work at Arizona State University, and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.