Communicating with Investors
Panelists' Biographies
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Erik Paul Belt
Partner, McCarter & English LLP
Erik concentrates his practice in the area of Intellectual Property/Information Technology. He is a trial attorney specializing in patent, trademark and licensing disputes in federal and state courts, arbitrations and the US Patent and Trademark Office. He has handled a wide range of technology cases involving, for example, x-ray inspection systems, speech recognition software, Internet security software, diagnostic and medical devices, immunoassays, telecommunications electronics and water purification systems. Erik has extensive experience representing national and international clients in patent litigation in federal courts throughout the country. He has successfully enforced patent rights and has also defended companies accused of infringement. Erik also has designed and implemented trademark and copyright protection enforcement strategies for clients in virtually every industry, including business consulting, financial services, life sciences, electronics, communications equipment, computer products and consumer goods.
Robert Adler
President & CEO, WordStream
Rob is a seasoned, hands-on entrepreneurial leader with a track record of success. He recently joined WordStream as President and CEO, just weeks after the company received its Series A financing from Sigma Partners. In 2006, he co-founded 80108 Media (now go2 Media) where he served as the company's CEO until August 2008. go@ is a leading mobile media company that provides users valuable information fine-tuned for their mobile device. Previously, Rob co-founded CCBN and served as its President from the company's inception in 1997 until its sale to Thomson Financial in March 2004. CCBN was a pioneer in enabling direct communications between public companies and the investment community over the Internet. Rob's first entrepreneurial venture, CigiTrace Care Services (today known as SleepMed) is the leading provider of outpatient EEG and sleep disorder monitoring services in the country. Rob received his undergraduate degree from Brown and his MBA from Harbard, where he earned the distinction of being a Baker Scholar. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College.
Graham Brooks
Associate, .406 Ventures
Graham brings seven years of technology-oriented operating, investing and start-up experience to .406 Ventures. Most recently, he was Business Development Manager at Bose Corporation, where he led a team that identified, evaluated and structured strategic investment and acquisition opportunities within the digital media and technology infrastructure market. Prior to Bose, Graham co-founded Accentus, a technology company that developed innovative solutions for the financial trading industry. He bagan his career as a programmer and consultant for ALK Associates, a transportation consulting and software solutions provider. Graham is a Kauffman Fellow, received his MBA from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, where he was a Tuck Scholar. He received his BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University, where he was an All-American Fencer.
William F. Cesare, PhD, CPE
Founding Partner, Angel Health Strategies
Bill Cesare is Founder of Industrial Health Strategies, a Providence venture firm specializing in early stage business development. With over 25 years of experience, Bill has been a principal in multiple start-up companies in New England, ranging from medical devices to retail operations. He was the Co-Founder of ACES Technologies, a pioneering internet-based ASP platform which was acquired by Bridium, Inc. in 2001. He is a Founding Partner of Angel Health Strategies of Providence. Bill received his BS from Boston College and an MS and PhD from Boston University. As an early angel investor, he currently sits on the boards of Albion Special Care, ER-Card, Infusion Resource, JBM Medical, Phara Resource and DijiPOP. He is also on the Board of Advisors for the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI-CIE) and serves as a senior mentor for Betaspring, Rhode Island's newest start-up business accelerator.
Jason Harry, PhD
Founder & CEO, Lucidux Corporation
Jason Harry is Founder and CEO of Lucidux Corporation, an early-stage medical device company developing advanced imaging technologies for cancer detection. Previously, he was Founder and CEO of Afferent Corporation, which focused on neurostimulation technologies to treat chronic dysfunction stemming from stroke, aging and diabetes. Prior to founding Afferent, Jason was VP of Research Engineering at NMT Medical, Inc of Boston, a company in the field of minimally invasive cardiovascular implants. He received his doctorate from Harvard University and was on the Engineering faculty of Brown University for five years, where his research areas were functional neural stimulation and muscle mechanics.
Amy Mendel
Associate General Counsel for IP, Clinical Data
Amy Mendel is Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property for Clinical Data Inc/PGxHealth, LLC, where she develops and implements IP strategy for the company's proprietary research and product development programs in both the biomarker and drug development arenas. Amy joined Clinical Data from Greenberg Traurig, where she represented clients in the biotech and medical device industries and assisted her clients with patent preparation and prosecution, infringement and validity analysis, due diligence, intellectual property litigation and licensing. Prior to joinging Greenberg Traurig, she worked for Wolf Greenfield PC, an intellectual property boutique firm in Boston. Amy participated in Wolf Greenfield's Technology Specialist Program, where she worked as a patent agent and obtained her law degree at Suffolk University Law School's evening program. She studied biomedical engineering at Brown University.
