Fábio Pagani is director of ActMinds, a global Information Technology (IT) services provider led by a Brazilian team of highly qualified and certified professionals (CMMI-5 and PMI). He has 20 years of work experience in the IT sector.
As an entrepreneur, Pagani founded three companies devoted to software development for the private and public sector. Since 1995, he has held several senior positions (i.e. Director and Head of Division) at federal and independent organizations such as SOFTEX Society with the mandate of developing, building excellence, and promoting the Brazilian software sector within the country and abroad.
Fábio Pagani holds a BS in Computer Sciences from UNICAMP in Brazil and has participated in international training at the International Institute for Management Development (Switzerland) and Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
Nelson Massud is currently involved with Oasis Digital.
Previously, Massud worked at GEMCO. He began there as a computer programmer who grew with the company and ended buying it. Massud coordinated GEMCO's sale to one of the largest companies in the area of computer systems for "vendas a varejo", BMatech.
Cristiane Ulbrich is Director of Technology at BCS Tecnologia, a firm devoted to developing medical and hospital equipment being incubated at INCAMP, one of the most prestigious high-tech incubators in Brazil.Ulbrich worked for 14 in the private sector in departments such as product development (CAD/CAM and fast prototyping), quality control, and certification (ISO 9001). She has also participated in several events in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship as invited speaker and lecturer.
Cristiane Ulbrich holds a BS in Mechanical Technology from FATEC-São Paulo, a MS and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UNICAMP and a MBA from IBMEC, all in Brazil.
Adam Farrell founded Silicon Solar when he was 15. It had a single product, a raw solar cell for use in educational kits, and was based in his bedroom. Today there are about 260 products, a busy Web site, sales are growing at about 10 percent annually, and the company is putting a large addition on a building it moved into last year.
Farrell owns 60 percent of the corporation. His older brother, Matt Farrell, a 24-year-old Cornell graduate, serves as vice president and owns the rest.
Adam Farrell expects to graduate in December 2006 with a degree in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.
Lee Henderson, PhD is the Chairman, CEO and founder of Vybion. Vybion is a biopharmaceutical company which works wiht protein engineered technology.
Prior to founding Vybion, he was the Director of Molecular Virology at the Guthrie Research Foundation, a member of the Faculty of Tulane Medical School, and a fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas. He has also served as a director and medical advisor to public and private companies and on the NIH AIDS Drug Development Advisory Board.
Kathleen Mullinix is the CEO and President of WellGen, a company seeking to be the premier expert in nutrigenomics.
Prior to joining WellGen, Mullinix advised investors on biotechnology and pharmaceutical business opportunities with her company Kathleen P. Mullinix & Associates, which she founded in 2002.
Before that, Mullinix served as the founder, chairman, CEO and president of Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corporation. There she led the company from its inception as she developed and implemented the company's strategies for scientific research, business and intellectual property, making it a research-driven public biotechnology company and then an emerging pharmaceutical company.
Before founding Synaptic Pharmaceutical, Mullinix served for six years as vice provost for Columbia University. In this role, she brought Columbia to a leadership position in the commercial development of university intellectual property assets. Additionally, she was instrumental in the development of The Audubon Research Park that has transformed the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center's Washington Heights neighborhood.
From 1972-1981, Mullinix held two positions with the National Institutes of Health, and served the organization by assisting with strategic matters involving the scientific direction of the NIH intramural program and implementing a novel research program in molecular biology.
Mullinix's comments are from a panel entitled "Exploring Business and Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences" and was hosted by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University in April of 2008. Panelists included Lee Henderson, CEO and Chairman of Vybion, Kathleen Mullinix, CEO and President of WellGen and James Sigler, VP of Business Operations at Air Systems Technologies, Inc.
Kathleen Mullinix holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Trinity College, a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Columbia University and was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.
James Sigler, VP of Business Operations at Air Systems Technologies, Inc. Sigler has over 22 years of management experience, including 17 years in the development, manufacturing, and quality management of biological, cell therapy, and small molecule products.
Prior to joining AST, Sigler was Vice President, Manufacturing, at RenaMed Biologics, Inc.; prior to that he was Vice President, Operations and Clinical Supply for Acceleron Pharma, Inc. Sigler was also Vice President, Manufacturing for Curis, Inc., and he was divisional head of manufacturing when Genzyme Corporation sought and received regulatory approval for Carticel, an autologous cell therapy product. He also spent five years on active duty in the U.S. Navy, serving as a nuclear propulsion-trained officer on board USS Enterprise.
James Sigler recieved his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his MBA degree from Harvard Business School.
Fernando Lima is the founder of Florestas, an organic beauty company based in Brazil. The company and its premier beauvty line, Ikove, appear in spas and high-end reail stores.
Prior to founding Florestas, Lima spent 10 years working at itibank and other global banking firms.
Fernando Lima holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo, and MBA from Universidade de Sao Paulo and a PhD in Economics from Universidad de Barcelona.
Michael Hokenson is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Minlam Asset Management. Hokenson has been involved with emerging market entrepreneurial ventures and the microfinance industry since 1997. He has been published on the profitability of microfinance institutions in The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad.
Michael Hokenson graduated from the Erb Institute of Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, earning an M.B.A. at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a M.S. in Environmental Science at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He received his B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy from St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.