Our Team

Yogesh Abichandani

Yogesh Abichandani conducts technology and market assessments, scouts technology, and oversees voice of customer studies for our clients. He has a track record managing and leading diverse teams to

• conduct opportunity assessments,
• evaluate emerging markets, and i
• identify global technology trends across the pharmaceutical and medical device market.

With his engineering background combined with technology commercialization and market research experience, Yogesh is uniquely positioned to deliver data-driven insights.

Yogesh traded India’s heat and rain for Texas’ sun and eventually Massachusetts’ cooler temperatures and abundant snow before settling in North Carolina. Yogesh received his M.S. in Business of Bioscience from Texas A&M University and B.E. in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Lawrence Blume, Ph.D.

Lawrence Blume, PhD., is passionate about collaborative partnerships that bring innovative solutions to challenging research and development roadblocks. A lead advisor for our food science and biotechnology innovation, Lawrence brings extensive experience leading technology-focused opportunity forecasts in support of competitive advantage, product differentiation, and commercialization strategies for C-level executives at companies ranging from early startups to Fortune 500s. He’s helped life science, food & beverage and consumer goods companies develop technical insights and business models that unlock and yield disruptive innovation in core products and markets

Over the last decade, Dr. Blume has applied his background in cannabis physiology and pharmacology towards novel commercial applications in the medical, CPG, and food and beverage spaces. Previously Lawrence worked in academic technology transfer and early-stage life science investment funding to support commercialization and growth of emerging technologies and companies. He received a Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology from Wake Forest School of Medicine and a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Biochemistry from Duquesne University.

Kang Chang

Kang Chang leads innovation service offerings including technology landscaping, market adjacency search, user insights, technology partner search, and value proposition refresh.  He brings more than six years of innovation management experience developing Fortune 500 clients’ innovation processes and capabilities through innovation assessments; intrapreneurship, design thinking, rapid prototyping, business model workshops, and megatrend reporting. Kang’s industry experience includes water and sanitation, environmental and urban sustainability, biomimicry, and international development.  He earned his B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.S. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jeff Cope

Jeff Cope helps shape the growth and development of the business and identifies new markets and new ways to delight our corporate clients. He leads innovation work focused on technology landscaping and partnership development activities among our Fortune 500 clients. He helps optimize the efficiency of technology transfer practices and economic development activities for universities, and works with different regions and states to help identify innovation assets and build targeted economic development strategies. A frequent speaker, Jeff enjoys sharing his insights related to open innovation, technology scouting, and commercialization. He has a love/hate relationship with a 1937 Chevy. Jeff received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S.M. in Business Management from North Carolina State University.

Kristina Cooley

With extensive experience in technology-centric communication, Kristina Cooley plays a central role in the team’s success. She oversees quality control, template and graphic development, training, and document creation. She manages the quality and distribution of project-related communication and is adept at document control, project management, and website support.

Tom Culver

Tom Culver brings two decades of experience delivering technology and innovation management solutions to global corporations and federal agencies. Increasingly, he’s working with legacy organizations that want to transform digitally. An optical engineer by training, Tom has developed optical and photonic innovations for both large OEMs and startups. He uses this expertise to assess technologies, author custom market analyses, and develop new technology innovation programs.

A prolific speaker, topics about which he is most passionate are:

• making the leap to Industry 4.0,
• building learning teams for innovating,
• incorporating megatrend analysis into organizations,
• managing break-through innovations, and
• developing open innovation as a core organizational capability.

Tom has a B.S. in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Molly Dix

Molly Dix advises and supports clients in technology-driven market intelligence, commercialization, and partnerships; she also manages work for Fortune 100 companies globally, universities, and government agencies, focusing on understanding client need, building project plans and teams, and delivering results. In addition to her background in commercial opportunity analyses and marketing strategy development, Molly has identified and secured more than 25 licenses and won six awards for exceptional performance in technology commercialization. She speaks on topics including innovation management and commercialization. Molly played college soccer winning back-to-back national titles at the University of Rochester. She still plays today and helps the next generation of players love the game as a volunteer in coaching and management for her local travel soccer club. Molly received a Master of Intellectual Property, Commerce, and Technology from the University of New Hampshire School of Law and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Andrew Helminger

With an extensive background in water quality and environmental science, Andy leads our water practice and positions our water-tech clients to successfully move innovative products to market. Andy has over 20 years of industry and technology space experience, ranging from consumer products to aerospace. He’s passionate about empowering researchers and their organizations to move technologies from the lab to the real world. And it’s this passion that helps our clients convert good ideas into valuable commercial products.

Andy’s technical areas of expertise are water quality and environmental science. He leverages this expertise to help clients – including major consumer products companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and NASA – with innovation challenges related to water treatment and analysis. Prior to joining our group, Andy worked in environmental compliance for the N.C. Division of Water Quality. He received his M.E.M. in Environmental Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College.

Arpit Jain

Arpit Jain provides technology and market assessments, scouts technology and conducts partnership landscaping for our commercial and foundation clients. He develops insights and business models that could yield disruptive innovation in products and emerging markets. Based in New Delhi, India, Arpit brings to our clients experience in supply chain analysis, forecasting, data analytics, and market research projects across industries. With his technical background and analytics experience, he is ideally positioned to deliver data-driven insights. Arpit enjoys playing cricket and hiking in his free time. He received his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University in India and a post graduate diploma in management from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research in Mumbai, India.

Adam Klich

Adam Klich is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was recognized in 2016 by Military Transition News as a Top 40 under 40 for his career achievements. Adam leads our startup training programs and focuses on technology commercialization and business model strategy. He’s worked in sectors that range from energy to wearables, software, optics, manufacturing, medical, and consumer goods. Adam is a certified human-centered design practitioner through Luma Institute, and a certified New Product Development Professional by the Product Development and Management Association. Previously, he co-founded a startup with technology licensed from the Air Force Research Laboratory, which aimed to play at the intersection of artificial intelligence and metal additive manufacturing. Adam received an M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Marie Maguire

A mission-driven marketing communicator, Marie Maguire’s passionate about sharing our clients’ successes – and their resulting innovative products and services. She also enjoys promoting our work to organizations that want to innovate more quickly and better.  Having worked in France and Switzerland, she brings to our clients and our group cultural sensitivity and experience across industries. These include consumer packaged goods, organic retail, financial services, education, and local government, and within a United Nations organization.

A lover of learning, Marie’s picked up degrees in French, international business and human resources – one of which was completed during her commute on Geneva’s TPG  while taking in the breath-taking beauty of lac Léman and the Mont Blanc.

Susan Mayer, CFS

Susan Mayer is our technical food industry lead, with great problem-solving, strategic, and communication skills. Our clients rely on her experience in product development, product lifecycle management, and public-private food industry partnerships to understand how technology, research, and the right suppliers can create innovation opportunities. How does her work with us benefit food companies? Susan believes that our human-centered design perspective makes all the difference. ‘Product developers always believe they are thinking about the consumer. However, our human-centered design approach to considering technology brings an entirely different perspective.’ Susan applies her love of food science to her hobbies; she and her husband formulate and brew beer, much to the delight of their friends and neighbors. Susan has an M.S. in Food Science and a B.S. in Foods from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a Certified Food Scientist.

Steve McManus

Steve McManus works primarily with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers by scoping, proposing, and managing technology scouting and technology-driven market intelligence (TDMI) projects and providing training in TDMI and Technology Scouting. He also supports technology commercialization, scouting and landscaping projects for other clients. His experience includes medical device manufacturing, business development in fabrics and fibers, and commercialization of composites and magnetorheological fluids. He has an M.S. in Management and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Matt Mecray

Matt Mecray brings to clients  – corporations, universities and research institutes, and government agencies – critical insights into the intersection of technology innovation and markets to help them plan for and understand techno-commercial opportunities.   With a B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Penn State University, Matt’s expertise spans materials, processes and market applications across industry sectors.  Matt has led and participated in hundreds of projects, providing techno-market analyses to inform and build innovation, partnerships and business strategy. He’s also organized successful techno-market conferences for senior technologists and executives on new technologies of emerging commercial significance. Prior to joining our group  – we’re fortunate Matt’s been with us for 20 years –  he worked at Battelle Memorial Institute, Gorham Advanced Materials Institute, and Diamonex – a venture-funded spin-out from Air Products and Chemicals.

Michael Osbourne

Michael supports technology acceleration and growth work with small and medium-sized businesses as part of our work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. He joined us from Sedona International, an engineering services and product development company that he co-founded, and where he was CEO. He has also worked in a variety of R&D, manufacturing and management roles for large and mid-sized technology-driven companies. Michael has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine.

Jason Norman, Ph.D.

With over 20 years in industry, Jason Norman brings an extensive background in defining and implementing corporate strategy, corporate restructuring, product development and commercialization, and research and development.  He has delivered innovative and profitable solutions across the energy, specialty chemicals, oil and gas, metals, minerals, pharmaceutical, and food industries.

Dr. Norman has extensive experience using advanced computing and data modeling approaches to better understand and solve some of the toughest innovation and business growth challenges.  His expertise lies in delivering impactful solutions by identifying and magnifying the value that data solutions can bring to the process of understanding and ultimately solving critical problems.

Dr. Norman is widely recognized as a visionary, strategist, tactician, and an outstanding corporate ambassador to customers, industry groups, stakeholders, and board members.

Tyler Ovington

Tyler Ovington brings experience designing and commercializing medical devices for developed and resource-constrained markets. He has established and managed domestic and international supply chains, working with contract manufacturers to resolve technical challenges and reduce costs. His diverse expertise – spanning manufacturing, supply chain management, marketing, licensing, intellectual property, and regulatory challenges – allows him to identify, understand and solve the challenges related to product launches. Previously based in Hanoi, Vietnam, he’s traveled across India, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. to vet manufacturing partners and conduct stakeholder interviews with government and private buyers, end-users, and distributors. Prior to joining our team, Tyler summited the highest peaks in Vietnam and Malaysia. He received a B.S. in Bioengineering from Clemson University.

Moline Pandiyan

Moline Pandiyan’s role speaks to her practical nature and her desire to transform great ideas and inventions into impactful, real-life applications. She works with individuals and organizations who want to bring their valuable inventions and capabilities to market. As a dot connector, she matches user needs with emerging and established technology solutions and enjoys helping clients identify the right partners, expertise, and innovations to successfully move their ideas forward. Moline is passionate about healthcare, medical innovation, and prematurity prevention causes, and has worked across various industries and markets for government, commercial, and university clients worldwide. Moline received a Master in Engineering Management from Duke University and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Akron

Jamie Pero Parker, Ph.D.

Jamie Pero Parker focuses on open innovation and technology commercialization and has experience in green, bioanalytical, and biophysical chemistry. She leads technology and business intelligence scouting initiatives, strategic technology and market analysis, commercialization assessments, partnership identification and development, and technology scouting training. Jamie also works with clients to create, augment, and manage new product ideas from various technology platforms. She is most interested in using open innovation to create more sustainable technologies and products and strives to incorporate a green element into her work. Jamie has a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S in Chemistry of the University of Utah.

Jim Redden

Jim Redden works with clients to improve their innovation processes and outcomes. An expert at facilitating innovation, he understands the complexities of organizational initiatives and applies best practices to help teams solve new challenges. Jim has helped establish innovation programs in the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, and in companies across the United States.

He brings diverse perspectives to our clients, having worked as an engineer in oil and gas and a teacher. A podcast connoisseur, whitewater rafting enthusiast, and Cincinnati native, Jim has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Deborah Retzlaff

Deborah Retzlaff is the glue that holds our group together, the force that keeps our wheels turning. She coordinates our travel, organizes our meetings and conferences, coordinates our catering, manages our expense reports, schedules interviews, and many other responsibilities that keep our advisory group humming along. When we arrive safely at our client meetings, host well-run client workshops and meetings, have functioning equipment for our seminars and conferences and rooms for our meetings – and more – we have Deborah to thank. We’re fortunate that she’s been helping us and our clients succeed for over 35 years.

Kirsten Rieth

Kirsten Rieth advises federal laboratories and governments, economic development organizations, universities, and nonprofit foundations. This includes developing and rolling out large-scale services and training programs and determining technologies’ value proposition and market opportunity. In addition, she provides

• technology and market trends analysis,
• commercialization program evaluation,
• partnership development, and
• technology commercialization training.

For economic development organizations, Kirsten conducts strategic planning and technology cluster analysis and implementation services; she also develops and delivers training programs that build organizational capacity in technology transfer, technology scouting, and market intelligence. She received an MBA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Amy Rydeen, Ph.D.

Driven by her desire to translate scientific innovation beyond laboratory boundaries, Amy Rydeen, Ph.D. brings to our clients a rigorous technical background. With expertise in chemicals, biological materials and engineering – and a passion for leveraging science for a more sustainable and healthier future – Amy advises clients in open innovation, including technology scouting, partner assessment, and strategic development.  Amy received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in chemistry from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Amanda Rose

Amanda Rose co-leads a multi-year, cross-institute initiative to advance systems Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) project for a global philanthropic donor seeking to accelerate country-led agricultural transformation in Africa and Asia. Amanda also provides market intelligence and business model innovation support for our Sanitation Technology Platform.

She brings to our group a generative mindset for envisioning future systems change combined with a unique skillset in facilitation, design, research, and project management. She has dedicated her career to supporting high-level, systems-change initiatives in the global agriculture and sanitation sectors.

Amanda received a B.S. in Chemistry and in Interdisciplinary Studies from North Carolina State University and an M.S. in International Science and Technology Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University.

Rebecca Shute

With a background in laboratory research in domestic and international universities, and transitioning biotechnology to market via startups, Rebecca Shute focuses on technology commercialization and innovation insights for federal and commercial clients. Her role involves developing innovation capacity-building programs for university researchers. She supports the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence, where she develops forensic product landscapes and facilitates the transition of technologies into practice by the forensic community. She enjoys playing tennis, attending concerts, and completing puzzles in her free time. Rebecca has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a master’s degree in Technology Entrepreneurship, both from the University of Notre Dame.

Andrea Stowell

Andrea works with our clients to identify and evaluate new technologies and markets. With a focus on emerging economies, she supports a range of sectors, including water and sanitation, solid waste and agriculture. Andrea leads innovation-based efforts for the Sanitation Technology Platform, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative to bring to market new technologies in the sanitation sector. Andrea received a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University and was previously a professional ballet dancer with American Ballet Theater.

Jacob Smith, Ph.D.

Jacob brings to our group experience in technology transfer, scouting, and commercialization. His track record includes managing the evaluation and marketing of intellectual property and the creation of technology landscapes spanning scientific fields to facilitate innovation and technology transfer between stakeholders at universities, government agencies, and corporations. Outside of work, he volunteers as a puppy service dog trainer with Eyes Ears Nose and Paws, and plays the guitar and soccer – but never at the same time. Jacob received a Ph.D. in chemistry from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in chemistry and Spanish from Austin College.

Cary Strickland

Cary brings to our clients his extensive experience helping product development teams find the right partners, assess technology options, or evaluate their competition for developed and emerging markets. He has expertise in technology scouting, landscaping and evaluation, market opportunity analysis, and technology-inspired ideation and human-centered design. He has managed projects in infrastructure and construction, industrial coatings and chemicals, food, and packaging; his international experience includes Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines. When not musing on innovation excellence he plays guitar and bass. Cary has an M.E.M. in Engineering Management from Duke University, a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and a B.S. in Paper Science Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Alison Sykes, Ph.D.

Alison assesses technologies for commercial potential, performs market research, and creates commercialization strategies for high-potential technologies, and has experience in technology areas including antimicrobials/pesticides, controlled-release technologies, new and emerging coatings and materials. Her background includes organometallic chemistry from her work as a research associate while completing her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry and water disinfection from her postdoctoral associate position, both from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has a B.S. in Chemistry from Washington and Lee University.

Amy Witsil

A former aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, today Amy’s work centers on forming joint partnerships around new technology. She leads our community of practice for commercialization, and helps field new offerings for our clients; provides strategic IP management; assesses new technologies for commercial potential. She runs focused marketing campaigns that bring licensing deals for clients and performs patent valuations to support them. A natural collaborator, Amy develops and implements training to ensure clients have the skills and tools they need to perform their own scouting, assessing, and market research. Amy has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Emily Vernon

With her experience in technology scouting and strategic development, Emily Vernon brings to our group a unique blend of technical knowledge and business acumen. Her technical expertise includes microbial engineering, biomanufacturing, food and agriculture, and forensic science. Emily is driven by her passion to create sustainable biotechnology solutions to problems impacting the human condition. In her free time, Emily enjoys hiking with her dogs, exploring local coffee shops, and traveling. Emily has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a professional science master’s degree in microbial biotechnology, both from North Carolina State University.