Cleveland Clinic Innovations - About Us

About Us : Team

	Chris Coburn Executive Director coburnc @ ccf.org 216-445-4008
Commercialization
	Alan Bentley Director, Commercialization bentlea @ ccf.org 216-444-6752	Jeff Combs Commercialization Associate combsj2 @ ccf.org 216-444-5622
	Mary Kander Senior Commercialization Officer kanderm @ ccf.org 216-445-0827	Peter O’Neill Senior Commercialization Officer oneillp2 @ ccf.org 216-445-0814
	Neil Veloso Sr. Commercialization Officer veloson @ ccf.org 216-444-0386	Michael Villalobos Commercialization Officer villalm @ ccf.org 216-445-0812
New Ventures and Business Development
	Sam Kiderman Director, New Ventures kiderms @ ccf.org 216-444-6898	Jennifer Boland Commercialization Officer bolandj @ ccf.org 216-445-1014
	Lou Walcer Senior Commercialization Officer walcerl @ ccf.org 216-445-1943	Irina Tsing Operations Analyst tsingi3 @ ccf.org 216-445-0619
	Shannon Schuetz Commercialization Officer schuets @ ccf.org 216-445-1594
Business Operations
	Susan Bernat Director, Operations and Finance bernats @ ccf.org 216-444-5538	Caryn Cua License Analyst cuac @ ccf.org 216-445-0829
	Debra Cunningham Department Coordinator cunnind @ ccf.org 216-444-5757	David Figueroa Marketing Associate figured @ ccf.org 216-444-1847
	Kimberley Gilyard Innovation Center Coordinator gilyark @ ccf.org 216-444-1080	Laura Konczos Program Coordinator Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center konczol @ ccf.org 216-445-7006
	Doug Meislahn Commercialization Analyst meislad @ ccf.org 216-444-0906	Linda Rudolph Administrative Secretary rudolpl @ ccf.org 216-445-1917
	Kimberly Woods Administrative Secretary woodsk @ ccf.org 216-445-3728
Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center
	Mark Low Managing Director, GCIC lowm @ ccf.org 216-445-6920	Susan Bernat Director, Operations and Finance bernats @ ccf.org 216-444-5538
	Joseph Barone Program Coordinator, GCIC baronej2 @ ccf.org 216-445-8392	Thomas Sudow Director, Company Attraction tsudow @ teamneo.org 216-363-5421
	Peter O’Neill Senior Commercialization Officer oneillp2 @ ccf.org 216-445-0814	Judy McAnally Administrative Secretary mcanalj @ ccf.org 216-445-8922
Third Frontier Project Directors
	Alan Bentley Executive Director, AFIC bentlea @ ccf.org 216-444-6752	Neema Mayhugh Executive Director, AMD Center of Excellence mayhugn @ ccf.org 216-445-7176
	Charles Steiner Manager, Brain Neuromodulation Center (BNMC) steinec @ ccf.org 216-444-9298	Elizabeth Sump Executive Director, Clinical Tissue Engineering Center (CTEC) sumpe @ ccf.org 216-445-4145
Affiliated Staff
	Jamie Belkin Medical Innovation Summit Coordinator jamie @ jamiebelkinevents.com 216-932-3448	Karen Shanahan Associate General Counsel shanahk @ ccf.org 216-297-7046
	Rich Wesorick Patent Counsel rwesorick @ tarolli.com 216-621-2234 ext. 110
Executive in Residence
	George Trutza Executive in Residence gtrutza @ cox.net 401-884-3460	Doug Redding reddind @ ccf.org 617-797-1989

Chris Coburn, Executive Director. Mr. Coburn has been Executive Director of Innovations since its establishment in 2000 and is responsible for all activities and outcomes of the department. He is a recognized authority of technology commercialization and has consulted and spoken on the subject throughout North America and in 20 countries. He leads a team of a dozen industry veterans. Mr. Coburn serves on the board of directors of CleveX, Merlot Therapeutics, PeriTec, PrognostiX, and BioEnterprise. He is a trustee of Hathaway Brown School, Northeast Ohio Council of Higher Education, and Town Hall of Cleveland. He is a former director of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation ( NYSE:USU) and author of numerous articles and book chapters on technology commercialization. He was editor and co-author of Partnerships, a key reference book on technology commercialization. His Master’s Degree is from George Washington University.

Commercialization

Alan Bentley, Director, Commercialization. Alan is part of a team licensing professionals dedicated to the commercialization of medical device technologies resulting from CCF research. His specific focus is in cardiovascular devices and products. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Alan was the Associate Director of the UVA Patent Foundation, where he played a principal role in overseeing the daily operations of their licensing operation. Alan has been a registered Patent Agent since 1999. Alan received his masters degree in physics from the University of Virginia, and received separate bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and in physics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jeff Combs, Ph.D., Commercialization Associate. Jeff’s primary focus is the commercialization of technologies originating from the Clinical Tissue Engineering Center. Prior to joining CCI, he earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin with a research focus in Immunology. While finishing his graduate work, he interned at the University of Texas Office of Technology Commercialization where he participated in the marketing and negotiation of many license agreements. Jeff earned a bachelor of science in Biology from the University of Akron.

Mary Kander, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, she held general management and senior marketing positions at Invacare Corporation. She was involved in valuing, negotiating and integrating acquisitions and new technologies. Prior to Invacare, Mary progressed through a variety of assignments with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, concluding as a group manager in the Food Technologies Division. Mary's MBA is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her primary focus is licensing.

Shannon Schuetz, Commercialization Associate. Shannon’s primary focus is on Cleveland Clinic's neurostimulation portfolio. She is also the initial point of contact for inventors, and coordinates the intake and tracking of invention disclosures. Prior to joining CCI, Shannon enjoyed a three-year stint as an entrepreneur in addition to working for Merck & Co., and as a Research Associate in the Cleveland Clinic department of Anesthesiology Research. Shannon has a B.S. in Biology from John Carroll University.

Neil Veloso, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, Mr. Veloso was with the technology transfer office at Case Western Reserve University. He has transactional experience with a wide range of companies including pharmaceutical firms, medical device and biotechnology companies, as well as early stage entities. Mr. Veloso previously held research and development positions at two start-up biotechnology companies. He has a B.A. in biology from The Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. in environmental health (cancer biology) from Case, and an M.B.A. from the Weatherhead School of Management.

Michael Villalobos, Ph.D., Commercialization Officer. At Innovations, Mike’s primary focus is the commercialization of medical technologies from the Urological, Gynecological, and Gastrointestinal disciplines. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Michael was a Technology Manager at Purdue Research Foundation, where he managed the evaluation and licensing of Life Science technologies to startup, small, and large companies. Additionally, he aided in founding multiple successful startup companies. Prior to his career in licensing, Dr. Villalobos was a Senior Process Scientist at Abbott Laboratories where he oversaw the manufacturing of multiple human diagnostic assays. Michael brings an extensive background in the Life Sciences to his position, which includes a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Illinois – Urbana and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Loyola University Chicago. His work is published in multiple peer-reviewed journals.

New Ventures and Business Development

Sam Kiderman, Ph.D., Director, New Ventures. Dr. Kiderman’s main focus is the administration, development and growth of new ventures/spin offs. Prior to joining CCI, he was responsible for Clinic Care, a subsidiary of the Cleveland Clinic, which provides multifunctional support for the Clinic and CCI spin-offs. Sam has extensive experience in business development and has been involved in the organization and start-up of a number of financially successful companies. He serves as a treasurer for PrognostiX and OrthoMEMS and serves on the board of directors of New Generation Technology and Foundation for Humanitarian Aid. Prior to the Cleveland Clinic, Sam had started-up and developed financially successful business enterprise and held executive financial positions with several organizations. He also served as a business Advisor/Consultant for several Foreign Embassies. Other industries of expertise include bio-tech, commercial real estate investments and financial services. His B.S. in Accounting, MBA and Ph.D. in Economics are from Moscow State University.

Jennifer Boland, Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, Ms. Boland was responsible for the financial planning and analysis of several business operations within LeapFrog, a nationally recognized venture-backed technology company. Her experience also includes roles with a start-up venture within Hewlett-Packard and with an All-American ranked equity research team at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Ms. Boland received her MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Lou Walcer, Senior Commercialization Officer. Lou Walcer is a senior health care industry executive with thirty years of experience in general management, business development/strategic planning, sales, marketing, and marketing communications. Prior to joining CCI, He served as President of Medimop USA, a company which developed and manufactured medical devices for drug delivery, through to its acquisition by West Pharmaceutical Services. Before his service with Medimop, Walcer founded and led the biomedical consulting and implementation services company Mediconcepts. Clients included a variety of academic institutions, startups and multinational drug and medical device companies. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Copernicus Gene Systems, Inc., and served as Vice President, Business Development and Marketing for Gliatech. Prior to his arrival in Cleveland, Walcer served in a series of increasingly responsible marketing, new product development and business development positions with Wyeth’s International, USA, and Global operations. Earlier, he served as a Product Manager at Schering-Plough, and consulted in product management for Merck & Co. He earned his BA from Cornell University, and his MBA from NYU.

Business Operations

Susan Bernat, Director, Operations and Finance. She is responsible for all fiduciary management including fiscal planning and other related financial activities. Susan also assists with establishing and implementing strategic goals and oversees long-range facilities planning. She also serves as the Director of Finance for the GCIC with responsibilities including development and implementation of strategy for ensuring financing of the GCIC consortium operations and management of financial performance and budgets. Prior to joining CCI, she was responsible for budget and contract negotiations within cardiology research at Cleveland Clinic. She received her undergraduate degree in Accounting from Kent State University, and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Caryn Cua, License Analyst. She manages all aspects of license compliance, which includes actively monitoring and maintaining all licenses. She is also responsible for managing royalty audits, payments and reporting related to more than 90 active licenses. Prior to joining CCI in December 2000, she received her B.A. from John Carroll University.

Debra Cunningham, Department Coordinator. Debra manages the Product Development Fund program, facilitates contract review for all consulting agreements and assists with the preparation and development of the department operating budget. She also coordinates special events hosted by the Innovations department, manages the orientation process for new employees and oversees the department internship program. Debra is also responsible for website development and maintenance.

David Figueroa, Marketing Associate

Kimberley Gilyard, Coordinator, Cleveland Clinic Innovation Center. Her primary focus is the property management of the Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Center, which is a 15,000 square foot facility that houses the Clinic's incubator/accelerator program. She is responsible for managing the daily business operations of the Innovation Center, which currently is the home to six early-stage biotech companies. She implements incubator procedures, including establishing, evaluating, and regulating all tenant polices. In addition, she assists with purchasing, relocations, and other administrative tasks.

Laura Konczos, Program Coordinator, Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center. Laura is responsible for managing the day to day operations within the AFIC. Prior to joining CCI Laura worked with several other CCF research areas, including Cardiovascular Medicine, Anesthesia and Vascular.

Doug Meislahn, Commercialization Analyst, is a registered patent agent whose primary role at CCI is to serve as the initial point of contact for researchers and physicians who are considering the commercial prospects of their inventions. In this role, he advises inventors on their options, tracks incoming disclosures, and assembles background information for case managers. Prior to joining CCI, Doug received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. He worked for five years as a patent examiner and has a B.S. in Physics from Davidson College.

Linda Rudolph, Administrative Secretary. Linda manages the scheduling and meeting planning process and provides administrative support to the executive director. She works with the management team on meetings and projects as needed, and assists in the recruitment process for department personnel. Linda’s background is in executive support, having worked at Case Western Reserve University as executive assistant to several vice presidents, managing the medical school dean’s office and planning University level board and committee meetings.

Irina Tsing, Operations Analyst. Prior to joining CCI, Irina was responsible for feasibility studies, financial analysis, industry analysis, and market research for potential business opportunities at Clinic Care (subsidiary of Cleveland Clinic). During her career she was involved in major projects sponsored by the U.S. Government and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Irina holds a degree in psychology from FSU and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Kimberly Woods, Administrative Secretary.

Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center

Mark Low, Managing Director. Mr. Low comes to GCIC with a career of building successful programs to introduce new concepts and new modalities to new markets. He has managed all facets of product and market development spanning diagnostic and interventional cardiology, interventional radiology and neuroradiology, stroke treatment, image-guided surgery, drug delivery and oncology. He has served on the senior management team of TomTec Imaging Systems, Image Guided Technologies, EKOS Corporation, and Sonus Pharmaceuticals. Prior to concentrating his focus on start-up ventures and early stage market development, Mr. Low held progressively more responsible and trailblazing positions in marketing and business development for Hewlett-Packard's Medical Products Group. Specializing in cardiovascular ultrasound, Mr. Low managed high performance cardiac diagnostic systems, introduced products to new market segments including private office and interventional cardiology, and developed new applications including 3D and stress echocardiography, and catheter-based intravascular ultrasound. In conjunction with these programs Mr. Low managed strategic relationships with various corporate partners, investors, universities, inventors, clinical investigators and manufacturers. Mr. Low received a B.A. degree in Natural Science from Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. degree in Physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and an M.S. degree in Technical Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Joseph Barone, Program Coordinator, Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Joe is responsible for managing day to day operations within the GCIC and facilitating communication flow between the Cleveland Clinic and partnering GCIC institutions. Joe holds a bachelors degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Thomas Sudow, Director, Company Attraction. Tom Sudow is Vice President, Attraction for Team NEO and in this role he works with GCIC as Director of Company Attraction. Prior to joining Team NEO and the GCIC, he served as Executive Director of the Beachwood, Ohio Chamber of Commerce. In his role, he coordinated economic development efforts for the City of Beachwood.

Peter O’Neill, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, Mr. O’Neill was Deputy Director of Battelle’s Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, where he facilitated licenses and other technology transfer partnerships with the NASA Glenn Research Center. Previously, he worked as a process engineer for a number of investment casting companies, supplying turbine blades to gas turbine engine manufacturers. Peter received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from MIT. At CCI he is focusing on commercializing MEMS, orthopedic, and other medical device technologies.

Third Frontier Project Directors

Alan Bentley, Director, Medical Device Commercialization; Executive Director, AFIC. Alan is part of a team licensing professionals dedicated to the commercialization of medical device technologies resulting from CCF research. His specific focus is in cardiovascular devices and products. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Alan was the Associate Director of the UVA Patent Foundation, where he played a principal role in overseeing the daily operations of their licensing operation. Alan has been a registered Patent Agent since 1999. Alan received his masters degree in physics from the University of Virginia, and received separate bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and in physics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Neema Mayhugh, Ph.D., Dr. Mayhugh’s current focus is on technology commercialization in the ophthalmic therapeutic area. She joins CCI from Pfizer, Inc., where she was responsible for worldwide market analytics in age-related macular degeneration. Her previous experience also includes strategic consulting in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries and research in neurodegenerative disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Mayhugh received her doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Dartmouth College and her undergraduate degree in Human Physiology at Boston University.

Charles Steiner, Manager, Brain Neuromodulation Center (BNMC), started with Cleveland Clinic in the late 1980's developing surgical navigation systems for the fields of neurological and spine surgery. He holds several patents for frameless stereotactic surgery and medical data communication. As director of product development for the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center he developed a multidisciplinary surgical teaching facility replete with surgical simulators, tele-robotic systems and medical informatics resources. As manager for the BNMC he directs a multispeciality team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuroscientists, biomedical engineers and commercial partners to develop next generation neuromodulation technologies. Charles earned degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University.

Elizabeth Sump, Executive Director, Clinical Tissue Engineering Center (CTEC). Prior to joining CCF, Ms. Sump held several senior positions at NetGenics, Inc., including VP of Marketing and Business Development and VP of Component Development, where she successfully completed several corporate collaborations and facilitated venture fundraising. After NetGenics was acquired by LION Bioscience Inc., she was appointed Senior Director, Corporate Development. Elizabeth began her CCF career as a Licensing Manager for CCF Innovations. As Executive Director for CTEC, she directs the activities of a multidisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians at the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Cleveland, NASA, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center to develop new technologies in regenerative medicine. She received her B.S. in Zoology from The Ohio State University.

Affiliated Staff

Jamie Belkin, Medical Innovation Summit Coordinator

Karen Shanahan serves as Associate Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Cleveland Clinic where she is involved in a wide variety of corporate, securities, and transactional work. Immediately prior to joining the Clinic, Mrs. Shanahan served as Executive Vice President for a downstream petroleum industry start up company. Previous to that she was associated for many years with the downstream operations of the British Petroleum Company (now BP Amoco) where she served as Senior Counsel and Corporate Secretary as well as Vice President Logistics; President of BP Pipelines; and Vice President Human Resources. She serves as a trustee of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges. Mrs. Shanahan received a B.A. degree in Asian studies from Manhattanville College and a Masters Degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She holds a law degree, where she was an editor of the Law Review from Georgetown University.

Richard S. Wesorick, Intellectual Property Counsel. Mr. Wesorick helps to set patent strategy, guides inventors and participates in the screening of all invention disclosures. Mr. Wesorick is a partner with a Cleveland intellectual property firm, Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino LLP. Mr. Wesorick is a registered patent attorney, is admitted to the Ohio Bar, and is an active member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and his Juris Doctor from University of Dayton School of Law. Before entering law school, Mr. Wesorick worked for four years as an engineer with G.E. Aircraft Engines, during which time he became an inventor of a U.S. Patent (No. 5,178,003).

Executive in Residence

George Trutza served as President of the Kendall Medical & Surgical Division and President of Tyco Healthcare Group Canada with annual sales of $600M and $150M respectively. He spent 11 years at US Surgical in a number of senior sales and marketing management roles. As Vice President of Marketing, George took over the Suture business driving it to over $200M in sales and successfully laid the foundation for the integration of the acquisition of Davis&Geck suture products. He left Tyco to join Surgicon Inc. a Connecticut based turnaround minimally invasive medical device company. From there he joined Accellent, Inc a medical device contract manufacturing company as EVP & GM of the companies Endo Division, and recently has been evaluating medical device opportunities and serving as an Executive in Residence at the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Center.

Doug Redding. Doug has more than 30 years experience in finance and operations, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of VIMAC Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with investments in information technology and life sciences. In addition to managing firm operations, Doug spent a substantial portion of his time supporting portfolio company management on planning, budgeting, infrastructure and financing.

Prior to VIMAC, Doug spent 20 years as a founder and senior level executive at several early-stage technology firms, including Software Developers' Company, Cortex Corporation, CenterLine Software and edu.com. He started his career with seven years at Price Waterhouse and is a Certified Public Accountant. Doug holds a BA from Stanford University and attended Cornell and UCLA Graduate Schools of Business.