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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Thomas G. Ference, resides in Essex Junction, VT. Dr. Ference is currently the vice president and a co-founder of Interphase Technologies, Inc. a start-up optical instrumentation company. He is also a registered patent agent. In prior employment he worked for another startup company TeraComm Research, Inc. and also as a materials engineer at IBM for 10 years. He has recently licensed and is co-developing several of his inventions. Dr. Ference is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in Materials Science. He has over 40 US patents issued or pending and 13 technical publications. Dr. Ference has extensive experience in taking technologies from laboratory scale experiments to manufactured products. His interest in InventVermont is to develop a mechanism within Vermont that will better network inventors with the resources they need to commercialize their ideas.
Kathleen Liang is the lead faculty in the Community Entrepreneurship major at the University of Vermont. Kathleen joined the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at UVM in 1998, teaching Entrepreneurship related courses such as Strategic Planning, Risk Analysis and Forecasting and Introduction to Community Entrepreneurship. Kathleen's research and teaching topics include Individual Entrepreneurs (personality, traits and characteristics), Decision Making and New Venture Creation, Pre-Venture Assessment and Research, Family/Couple Issues in Entrepreneurship, Tourism Impact in Vermont Economy, and Rural Development and Agricultural Industry in general. Kathleen is a certified instructor by Rural Entrepreneurship Through Action Learning, FastTrak programs and Babson Entrepreneurship Educator program. She works with local youth group and nascent entrepreneurs frequently, and provides her service to the pre-venture preparation and start-up phase for most of the businesses. Kathleen has received numerous teaching and research awards in Entrepreneurship Education, and has published over 60 referred articles.
Jeffrey Mannion, resides in South Burlington, VT. Jeffrey is a consultant who specializes in bringing patents and products to market. His company, MANNION | Brand Wrangling focuses on launching new product concepts through patent positioning, design, marketing, and sales leadership. This multiphase process helps spot, capture, and guide new ideas to market in a cohesive manner. It is an approach structured for companies and inventors wanting to define or command product categories with their innovations. Originally from the Boston area, Jeff moved to California and graduated from Art Center College of Design in Advertising. After working in ad agencies on both coasts, he moved to Burlington, Vermont in 2000. Jeff has several of his own patents pending worldwide for use in the packaging industry. He collaborates with companies nationwide. Jeffrey sees Invent Vermont continuing to become an innovative resource center that addresses all of the facets required to bring an idea to market.
Increasing corporate sponsorships, and communicating Invent Vermont's mission will help to drive this growth.
Christa Shute, resides in Shelburne VT. Christa is the President and co-Founder of Caldera Corporation, a company specializing in electronically controlled cooking appliances. She is also the Managing Director and President of CompuValve LLC, a company holding patented and patent pending technology surrounding an electronically controlled valve. Christa believes that InventVermont is an important resource to Vermont's innovative community, providing networking, support, information and resources. Her interest is in promoting, supporting and growing such an organization.
Peter Woodson, resides in St. George, VT. Peter believes InventVermont provides a valuable mechanism for innovators to leverage local knowledge and skills to successfully bring new concepts to market. Peter focuses his energies on further developing the value-added services for the membership, and securing the external resources necessary to support the organization. Peter is a Program Manager at General Dynamics where he provides business development, strategic planning and program management for a broad range of advanced development projects. Peter frequently works with small companies to apply their advanced technologies to address major government programs. Prior to joining General Dynamics, Peter co-founded a non-profit, worked briefly for a VC and a venture-backed start-up, and developed business intelligence systems for Fortune 500 clients. Peter has an MEM and MBA from Duke University and an AB from Dartmouth College.
OFFICERS
President: Thomas G. Ference
Vice President: Christa Shute
Treasurer: Peter Woodson
Secretary: Kathleen Liang
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