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Hosted*
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2005 Conference
Speaker Profiles
Sheraton Bloomington Hotel
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Speakers (To Date) |
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Lane Brostrom,
Co-Founder & Managing Director,
TechStar (WI).
TechStar is a corporate formation and private equity organization
associated with five academic research institutions in Southeast
Wisconsin. TechStar begins year 4 in 2005 – to date, 14 companies have
been launched and over $20 million raised. Lane has been active in the
private equity and venture capital industry since 1997, having served as
a general partner in the venture capital and incubation group with Rare
Medium and as an associate with Crescendo Ventures. Prior to his work
in private equity, Lane spent 5 years as a systems engineer for Hughes
building commercial communication satellites and working in a corporate
technology transfer group there. Lane was a Fulbright Scholar in
Germany, has a PhD in Physics from Utah State University and an MBA from
UCLA’s Anderson School. He currently serves on the Board of Directors
for TechStar Holdings, Prodesse, Neurognostics, Cytometix, and NovaScan. |
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John Dinusson,
Director,
Initiative Ventures
(MN)
began his business career in operations and then
grew into the position of Director at Blumberg Capital. (www.blumbergcapital.com)
As the firm morphed from an advisory firm with a strong focus on
early-stage IT companies into a classic venture capital firm, John
continued to be chiefly responsible for working with the portfolio
of clients. This work involved creating early stage beta
partnerships, generating additional revenue though alliances and
continuing to grow the companies though further strategic
relationships including outside investment. |
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Ron Eibenstiener,
Chairman,
Wyncrest Capital &
MN-GOP
(MN) is one of Minnesota's most
renowned and respected angel investors as well as Chairman of the
MN Republican Party. He is either a current or past board
member of Stellent, OneLink Communicaitons, Diametrics, OnHealth
Network, BigCharts (sold to CBS MarketWatch), Prodea Software and
Arden Medical Systems. His public policy interests include
the Center for the American Experiment (director) and KidsFirst
Scholarship Fund (Chairman). |
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Bruce Gjovig,
Director,
UND Center for Innovation
(ND)
founded the University of
North Dakota Center for Innovation and Business Development in
1984. Since then, Gjovig has become known as a champion for
innovators, entrepreneurs, small manufacturers and seed capital
causes in the Upper Great Plains. Since it’s inception, the Center
for Innovation has assisted over 300 business start-ups or product
introductions. The Center has received national attention for its
manufacturing start-up programs and its success in technology
commercialization, especially in rural areas. In 1992, Gjovig
helped secure funding for the Rural Technology Incubator, the
first University-based business incubator in the region. He has
been involved in founding the Angel Capital Electronic Network,
the 3M Patent & Trademark Depository Library, the North Dakota
Inventors Congress, and the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame
and Business Innovator of the Year Award. Gjovig, a Crosby, ND
native, holds two degrees from the University of North Dakota. |
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Michael Haider,
CEO,
BioE (MN)
joined BioE in October 1998, as Chief Financial Officer and
Director and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer
since April 2001. BioE is a biotechnology company that develops
antibody-based technologies that can be used to create a variety
of leading-edge therapuetic and diagnostic products. BioE's
primary technology platform is its PrepaCyte® Cell Processing
System, which can be used to separate and recover therapeutically
important cells from adult blood sources - such as umbilical cord
blood, circulating peripheral blood or bone marrow. The most
advanced product dervied from this platform is PrepaCyte-CB for
the collection of stem cells and T-cells from ubmilical cord
blood. |
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Lorrie Keating Heinemann,
Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (WI)
since her appointment from Governor Jim Doyle in 2003. In
her capacity as DFI Secretary, Heinemann is responsible for
coordinating the state regulation, licensing and enforcement
activities for over 100,000 financial service providers who do
business in Wisconsin. This includes 232 state-chartered banks;
1,300 mortgage bankers/brokers; 11,000 loan originators; 298
credit unions; 87,000 securities representatives; and a myriad of
other licensed financial service providers. In addition to these
duties, Heinemann has also been given the responsibility for the
administration of the state's corporate filing activity, the
Uniform Commercial Code lien filing activity, and serves as the
Administrator of the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA). Heinemann
has her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and her Masters of Business
Administration (MBA) from UW-Oshkosh. She also is a Series 7
Securities Representative, a Series 24 Principal, and Certified
Cash Manager (CCM). Before joining the Doyle administration,
Heinemann served as the Senior Investment Advisor for Virchow
Krause Wealth Management's Fox Valley Region. Virchow Krause LLP
is the 13th largest accounting firm in the United States and is
based out of Madison, WI.
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Harlan Jacobs, President,
Genesis Business Centers (MN)
is the founder and president of Genesis Business Centers, Ltd., a
diversified high tech, for-profit incubator program. Mr.
Jacobs
is a seasoned CFO with over 20 years experience.
In 1993 he founded one of the most
progressive high-tech business incubator programs in Minnesota, if not in
the U.S., by offering to barter rent and "Acting CFO" services for a
negotiated equity position in its incubatee companies.
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Brian Johnson, COO & Investment
Manager,
Minnesota Investment Network
(MN) joined the firm in July 2004
and has 20 years of successful venture capital investing
experience concentrating on Technology and Healthcare companies. He
has served as General Partner or Principal for Pathfinder Venture
Capital Funds, ArrowHead Capital Management, Capstone Ventures SBIC,
and FBS Venture Capital Funds. He has served on the board of
directors of 17 high technology companies. |
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Tim Keane,
Manager,
Golden Angels Network
(WI) founded
the Golden Angels Network in October 2002 in the College of Business
Administration at Marquette University. The Golden Angel Network was
established to provide early-stage companies access to capital and to
the resources that were available throughout the entire university.
Tim has been teaching MBA courses in new venture formation and venture
growth at Marquette since 2001. He is responsible for overseeing
deal flow. |
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Steve Kelley
(DFL), Majority Whip, State Senate
(MN)
is author of many important bills relating
to technology and equity investing in Minnesota. |
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Matt Noah, Conference Chairman.
Matt started NetSuds
after leaving ADC in Minnetonka, Minnesota where he worked in Business
Development and the Office of Technology until March 2000. Prior to
ADC, Matt held engineering positions at Telogy Networks, ACT Networks,
AT&T Bell Labs, ITT and Rockwell. He holds a BS degree in Electrical
Engineering from North Dakota State University and a MS degree in EE
from Stanford University where he graduated in 1981. |
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John Risdall, CEO+Angel,
Risdall Advertising
(MN)
has been an active angel investor for many years. Since 1972, he
has been Chairman & CEO of Risdall Advertising serving 300+ clients in
14 countries with billings in excess of $110M in 2004. In 1995,
he created RAA Interactive, now the leading web design firm in
Minnesota. He also serves as chairman of RAA Business Incubator,
the largest incubator in Minnesota. |
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Jeff
Stamp,
Assistant Professor and Chair of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
University of North
Dakota (ND).
You will
recognize Dr. Stamp by the products he has created while in
corporate life. He was the inventor, creator, and brand manager of
“Baked Lays”, for PepsiCo’s snack division Frito-Lay, which
achieved $230 Million in 1st year sales and was named
by Ernst and Young as the top brand introduction in the 90’s for
the food sector.
After his corporate life
he built his own successful business, as
a master brand innovator in both consumer goods and technology
arenas, by served for 6 years as the Chief Trained Brain & Vice
President of Technology for Richard Saunders International’s
Eureka! Ranch, a top new product and service creativity think
tank. In recognition of their original R&D efforts, Jeff and his
team were awarded the George Land World-Class Innovator Award from
the Innovation Network and Fast Company Magazine. Products
created by the Eureka! Ranch appear markets worldwide.
Dr. Stamp is also highly sought
as a speaker, giving on average 45 keynotes nationwide each year.
In 2003, he launched with his colleague Doug Hall, their 3rd
book “Meaningful Marketing.” Dr. Stamp has just returned
from spending a year living in India to become the Chair in
Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of North Dakota,
bringing him back in the area to his native home of Minnesota to
help ignite and train the next generation of successful
entrepreneurs. |
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Peter Zaballos,
VP,
Frazier Technology Ventures (WI)
currently serves as a board observer at Control4. Previously Peter
served as Senior Director of Marketing at RealNetworks, a $200M
Seattle-based company that pioneered the deliver of digital audio and
video over the Internet. Peter was VP of Marketing at Vivo
Software, a pioneer and leader of streaming video technology. Before
Vivo, Peter held key executive roles at FTP Software, C-Cube
Microsystems, and LSI Logic. |
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