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Site Miners & Entrepreneurs in Residence

The UM Ventures program includes the Site Miners Initiative:  Senior faculty from each institution are appointed to 'mine" and advance promising collaborative commercial ideas and opportunities than otherwise may be overlooked.  They work along-side the tech transfer officer to assemble inter-disciplinary teams to rapidly move ideas with strong commercial potential forward.  They are actively engaged in bringing MII proposals forward.

Working jointly on the Baltimore and College Park Campuses, Site Miners and Entrepreneurs in Residence:

  • Bring those with practical problems that need solving together with those who can find solutions,
  • Seek out a "diamond in the rough" suitable for commercialization,
  • Have familiarity with the university research and the entrepreneurial communities,
  • Assist in finding the resources needed to bring projects to fruition.

Site Miners

  • Mark Komisky
  • Dan Nadash

 

Entrepreneurs in Residence

UMB - Jahan Ali

UMB - Jahan Ali

UMB - Steven Capolarello

UMB - Steven Capolarello

UMB - Darryl L. Carter, M.D.

UMB - Darryl L. Carter, M.D.

Entrepreneur-in-Resident at UM Baltimore, is a co-founder and Vice President of Research at Nora Therapeutics. Prior to joining Nora Therapeutics, Dr. Carter was a member of the faculty in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, as well as an attending physician in Diagnostic Immunology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital where he specialized in diseases of the immune system. Dr. Carter received his M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where he also completed his residency in Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Carter also completed post-graduate fellowships at Johns Hopkins and NIH.

UMB - J. Richard Hughen

UMB - J. Richard Hughen

Richard Hughen’s thirty years of professional experience in the medical device industry span three start-ups, a mid-cap and three Fortune 500 companies. His background crosses diverse clinical fronts including interventional pulmonology, thoracic surgery, interventional cardiology, gastroenterology, ENT, oncology, orthopedics, gynecology, wound care, molecular diagnostics and health-IT. He is the founder of Life Science Planning, a strategic consultancy for life science companies with focus on start-up, early stage and emerging growth companies. Ric was a member of the executive team that led start-up CSA Medical from a technology license (Navy), through product development, clinical trials, five FDA clearances, CE mark, four rounds of funding ($50M) and into a profitable commercial business. Before CSA Medical, he directed the marketing efforts for the $210 M molecular diagnostics business of Becton, Dickinson (BD). Prior to BD, Ric was Managing Director of an e-learning start-up, LearnWare, which was successfully built and sold to a private equity fund. Ric also led various management, marketing, training and sales teams for Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Diagnostics and Cordis Cardiology. Ric holds MBA and BS degrees from The Pennsylvania State University. When not working, he is typically outside training for triathlon competition or umpiring little league baseball.

UMB - Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., M.B.A.

UMB - Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., M.B.A.

Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., M.B.A., Entrepreneur in Residence at UM Baltimore, recently took on the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Vaccine Business Division at Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. Dr. Singhvi graduated as the top ranked chemical engineer from IIT, Kanpur, India and obtained both his M.S. and Sc.D. degrees in chemical engineering from MIT. He also received an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Singhvi is a former Merck vaccine executive and the former CEO of Maryland-based Novavax.

UMB - Bob Storey

UMB - Bob Storey

UMB Medical Device EIR Bob Storey, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UM Baltimore, has deep industry expertise in medical devices. Mr. Storey runs the Maryland office of VIC Technology Venture Development, a firm based in the Midwest that is focused on licensing technology from universities and forming/staffing the resultant startups. The group has 14 companies under management, and Mr. Storey serves as Chairman and CEO of two of the portfolio companies: an orthopedics development company and a cardiopulmonary monitoring firm. He also sits on the Board of Directors of four other domestic and international businesses, in both the medical device and luxury products markets. Previously, Mr. Storey served as President & CEO and Executive Director of the highly successful Maryland-based Vapotherm, Inc., for over a decade, and led the company through its first FDA clearances in late 2000. Prior to that, he was Clariant’s Business Unit Vice President for their Performance Plastics Division and served in a variety of roles at Exxon Corporation. Mr. Storey holds degrees in Chemistry and in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas.

UMB - Patsy Trisler

UMB - Patsy Trisler

UMCP - Harry Geller

UMCP - Harry Geller

Harry Geller is an entrepreneur whose career has spanned a broad range of successful startup companies. Geller has started, owned and managed fourteen multi-million dollar businesses, primarily focused in the logistics, food services and real estate fields. Four of his companies have been named to the INC. 500 list of fastest growing companies, the most recent one in 2009. He was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 1992.

Mr. Geller’s earliest venture, Global Mail, LTD, founded in 1987, was twice named to INC. 500 list of fastest growing companies. Global Mail was acquired in 1999 by the Deutsche Post and Geller was appointed CEO of the America’s from 1999 - 2004. The company continues to thrive operating under the DHL/Global Mail brand. Mr. Geller was also the founder and owner of SoDel Concepts, a successful restaurant development company focusing on upscale, relaxed resort dining. SoDel Concepts has opened and operates five fine and casual dining seafood restaurants, all located at the Delaware Seashore. They were named to INC. 500 list as the nations fastest growing restaurant company in 2009.

For the past few years Mr. Geller has focused his love of entrepreneurship towards mentoring and educating others and serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence and member of the Board of Advisors at the University of Maryland’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.

Geller grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1981 with BS in Business. He serves on advisory boards of various businesses in the Washington, DC area. He has held various volunteer positions including Chairman of his Logistics Trade Association and Treasurer of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Geller is married to a successful entrepreneur Nicole, and they have two children, residing in McLean, Virginia.

UMCP - Doug Humphrey

UMCP - Doug Humphrey

Doug Humphrey is a serial entrepreneur who has started many internet, communications and other technology-based companies. His background includes internet, satellite, cryptographic, data security and physics, but he also stresses the "human" factors in starting, funding and surviving the startup stage of a company. Currently he is advising companies of all sizes, from one person with an idea, to multi-nationals.

Doug started his first company in the 9th grade, building model rocket tracking transmitters, and it can be said that it was a profitable operation. Since then he has started nearly ten companies, resulting in spectacular success like Digex (IPO in 1997 (nasdaq: DIGX)) and Core Location in 1999 (the largest data center in the world—350 East Cermak Chicago).

Currently Doug is focused on advising and mentoring in the startup world, and is active in a number of education initiatives looking to bring change to the way that entrepreneurship is taught.

Doug grew up in the Laurel, Maryland area where he lives today with his two kids, and his wife Lisa Losito, with whom he jointly operated the "Phase One" technology incubator, one of the first to be opened in Maryland.