Randy Smith is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Smith Travel Research (STR), the leading authority on current trends in occupancy, room rate and supply/demand data for the U.S. and the North American lodging industries.
STR tracks market share performance for virtually every major global hotel chain and most major management companies through its various STAR programs. Clients rely on STR's data quality and absolute data confidentiality to make strategic and operational decisions in the areas of sales and marketing, development, revenue management, reservation forecasting, internal audit and virtually all other departments.
Smith is a member and past co-chairman of the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council (IREFAC) and the 2002 recipient of the prestigious IREFAC C. Everett Johnson Award. He is also vice-chair of the American Hotel Foundation Funding Committee. Mr. Smith is a charter member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants and a former member of the board of directors. He is the recipient of the 1996 Industry Pioneer Award of the ISHC for outstanding contribution to the lodging industry.
Prior to starting STR, Mr. Smith was Director of Research for Laventhol & Horwath and has over twenty-five years experience in lodging industry research.
Paul Wachtler is an independent medical device consultant.
Megan Gray is an attorney in Washington, D.C. Her areas of expertise include litigating trademark and copyright cases, drafting and negotiating Internet contracts, advising clients on privacy concerns, prosecuting trademarks, analyzing trade secret claims, and defending free-speech cases. Specifically, she works with leading apparel companies with brands of worldwide fame, well-known software companies, toy producers, fabric designers, and jewelers, among many others. Megan Gray received her BA, Masters in Public Affairs and her JD from the University of Texas.
H. Christopher Peterson is a professor in Agribusiness Management at Michigan State University. Prior to joining the faculty at MSU, Peterson served on the faculty and as chairperson for the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Juniata College.
Christopher Peterson received his Bachelor's degree from Juniata College, his MBA from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Daniel Stein is President of JDS Capital, an investment firm based in New York that invests in private, public and distressed debt and equity. Stein is CEO of Dimensional Associates, the operating company that manages the private equity investments made by JDS. Dimensional owns a variety of digital media assets including eMusic, The Orchard and a music publishing arm that owns over 10,000 songs.
Stein was President of Javu Technologies from 2000-2001. Javu licenses software and services to corporations and online-rich media service providers that store, manage, deliver or repurpose video assets. Prior to joining Javu, Stein was President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Wedding List Company from 1999-2000, an Internet company with retail outlets specializing in the wedding gift and registry business. The Wedding List was sold to Martha Stewart/Omnimedia in Spring 2001. In 1994, Stein founded Burly Bear Network, a company providing cable programming and online services to college students. From inception to 1999, Burly Bear became the largest college cable television network and online service, servicing 8 million households throughout the country. Burly Bear was sold in 1997 to Lorne Michaels, owner of Broadway Video and creator and producer of Saturday Night Live. From 1992-1993 Stein worked in the executive-training program at retailer Lechters Housewares.
Daniel Stein graduated from Cornell University.
Bob Hall has been the CEO of Upstate Farms Cooperative since 1994. Upstate Farms Cooperative is a farmer owned processor and distributor of fluid milk products.
Prior to his role at Upstate Farms, Hall was CEO of Dairylea Cooperative, Plant Operations Manager at Ocean Spray Cranberries and held various plant operations assignments at Carnation Company.
Bob Clark is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cooperative Business International, Inc. (CBI). In addition to 8 years as President and Chief Executive Officer of CBI, he has over 25 years of extensive experience and success as a Division Manager, Regional Manager, Turnaround Specialist and Vice President of International Operations for a $2.5 billion corporation.
Bob Clark received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and his MBA from the University of Dayton.
Frances Toneguzzo is currently the Director of the Office of Corporate Sponsored Research and Licensing at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Office of Corporate Sponsored Research and Licensing oversees the management and licensing of intellectual property and serves as the entry point for all industrial relationships relating to research, support of research or technology transfer at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Prior to coming to MGH, Toneguzzo served as Director of the Office for Technology and Industry Collaboration at Tufts University/New England Medical Center and as Associate Director, responsible for intellectual property relating to the life sciences at Harvard University. Toneguzzo comes from the biotech industry, having played various roles at big pharma and startup companies.
Frances Toneguzzo holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University in Canada.
Todd Keiller is the Director of the Technology Transfer Office at the University of Vermont, Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center of Boston, Boston Biomedical Research Institute, and Maine Medical Center. Mr. Keiller offers thirty years of experience in licensing, business development, and marketing. His work in the industrial sector includes ten years in the Science and Medical Products divisions of Corning Glass Works and encompassed a variety of sales, marketing, and business development roles. His fourteen years of academic licensing experience includes the position of Vice President for Ventures at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Mr. Keiller is a founder of six companies, most recently CorAutus (formerly Vascular Genetics, Inc.), a publicly traded gene therapy company; and Tolerance Pharmaceuticals, a diagnostic and therapeutic company recently acquired by Roche and focusing in transplantation and immunosuppression.
Todd Keiller received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College.