Guest Speakers

Wendy Kennedy is a seasoned technology industry executive, award winning professor, and author who has spent more than 20 years helping science and technology inventors bring their ideas from “lab to life”. Wendy’s methodology and book, So what? who cares? why you?™: The Inventor’s Commercialization Toolkit, have been adopted internationally by government research labs, innovation centers, university commercialization offices and private sector corporations.   Wendy’s career spans executive roles in several venture backed startup companies, two of which were acquired by Microsoft and Harman Kardon.   She is very familiar with campus entrepreneurship, having spent 12 years as a business school professor at Algonquin College in Canada.  It was during this time Wendy developed So what? who cares? why you?®, a methodology for communicating the business value proposition of scientific and technical innovations. In 1999, Wendy left academia to create her own venture through wendykennedy.com inc.  Today, So what? who cares? why you? is at work globally by organizations including: Pennsylvania State University, The National Research Council of Canada, The University of Central Florida, Tech Fort Worth, The University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Purdue University, Springboard Atlantic, Mississippi State University, West Virginia University and others.

Wendy is a frequent speaker at commercialization and entrepreneurship forums including:  Pennsylvania State University, the Federal Laboratory Consortium, Springboard West Innovations, Innoventure2007 and Enterprise Ireland.

Wendy holds a Masters Degree in Business from Queen’s University and is a recipient of the Dr. Laurent Isabelle Award for innovation and excellence in education.  She lives in the heart of Canada’s innovation capital, Ottawa, Canada.  Please visit www.wendykennedy.com to learn more about Wendy and So what? who cares? why you?.

 

Ellen Dunnigan founded Accent On Business in 1998. Today, her company employs four professionals and specializes in public speaking and communication skills development for people in business. She has 20 years of experience with professional, amateur, celebrity, and executive speakers in media, politics, business, sales and other industries. Ellen’s coaching in speaking skills gives business professionals greater confidence and credibility in the sales room, the boardroom, the conference hall, and the war room. Her advanced English programs give foreign nationals a better command of the language of business and much more confidence for promotions.

Ellen is known locally and nationally for her public speaking programs, Presenter’s Platform™ and Vocal Charisma™. She holds a master’s degree in speech-language pathology with specific training in voice, presentations, neurogenic communication, foreign-accent modification and executive communication coaching.

Ellen and her husband Patrick are native Buckeyes and have lived the past 15 years in Carmel, Indiana.  She is active in numerous civic and community groups including Rainmakers, the Indiana Ballet Company, NAWBO, and the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.  Ellen has a passion for families dealing with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, and she has been instrumental in the development of more than 150 Alzheimer’s care centers; Joy’s House, an adult day care community in Broad Ripple; the Indianapolis Discovery Network for Dementia; and the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

 

Internet Marketing Coaching Services:

Sollé Coaching focuses on Marketing Strategy and Internet Marketing
needs of businesses. The rules of business are changing. Consumers are tuning out the costly and traditional marketing methods; instead, they want to communicate & be heard. No longer are brands managed merely through glossy ads, but through online interaction with a demanding community. We help businesses embrace these changes to empower their brand, their consumers, their employees and their markets. Sollé Coaching tailors your online marketing strategy to fit your needs and industry and integrates it with your overall marketing and corporate goals. If hunting for customers is a challenge, online marketing will help get you found. Internet
jungle? Not for us! We empower you to make you be seen, known and heard. Welcome to Sollé Coaching. How may we help you?

Management:
Günes Yilmaztuerk, Founder and CMO of Sollé Coaching, focuses on Internet Marketing Strategy needs of businesses and helps companies leverage online marketing to build a community around their brands. As a former Sales Coordinator for the Central European Region for Johnson Controls, Forecast Analyst for Levi Strauss, and Director of Product
Management & Marketing for Syndicate Sales, Günes has extensive marketing experience – both nationally and internationally. Having lived and worked in 3 continents, she has led marketing communication efforts, sales teams, and strategy planning across borders. Günes received her Masters of International Business Administration from the University of
Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden, Germany and her undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

 

Griffin Analytical Technologies, LLC
An ICx Technologies, Inc. Company

Dr. Barket co-founded Griffin Analytical in November of 2001 with aspirations to bring lab-quality analysis to field applications. He has led the analytical instrumentation company from its inception through its merger into ICx Technologies, Inc. In November 2007, ICx completed an Initial Public Offering and is now publically traded on the NASDAQ. 

Since its beginning in 2001, Griffin has been awarded numerous contracts from the United States government, including awards from the United States Army, Air Force, and Marines, as well as the National Science Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2006, Griffin achieved national recognition by winning the TIBBETTS Award for excellence in Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR). Griffin is currently focused on delivering environmental monitoring and chemical detection equipment to the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

Dr. Barket obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University where his graduate work was funded by a NASA Graduate Research Fellowship Award. His Ph.D. research in the area of applied mass spectrometry focused on environmental chemistry. While concluding his Ph.D. work, Dennis also completed the Applied Management Principles Program through Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, which provides scientists and engineers with a "mini-MBA" experience.

Dr. Barket earned his undergraduate degree at Indiana University with a double major in Biology and Chemistry. Subsequent to his undergraduate work, he joined Procter and Gamble as a Senior Research Associate where he worked as a member of an upstream product development team.

 

Gregory W. Deason
Purdue Research Foundation

Greg Deason, Vice President and Executive Director - Purdue Research Park, leads the Purdue University-affiliated team that has transformed the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette into an engine for Indiana's economic development initiatives. As Vice President, Mr. Deason has overall responsibilities for Purdue Research Park programs and facilities as well as development activities related to a diverse portfolio of real estate. Within the Purdue Research Park, Mr. Deason has been instrumental in the creation of the Purdue Technology Centers Complex – the largest university-affiliated business incubator complex in the country.

The park in West Lafayette was founded in 1961 and was transformed during Mr. Deason’s tenure beginning in 1995.  During the past six years, Mr. Deason has led efforts to establish research parks throughout the state of Indiana.  At present there are also parks in Merrillville (a Chicago suburb), New Albany (a Louisville suburb) and Indianapolis.  In total the Purdue Research Parks account for over 1,200 acres, 64 buildings, over 2M square feet of space and nearly 4,000 workers.

In recent years the Purdue Research Park has received many awards. Included in these accolades are the Outstanding Science/Research Park by the Association of University Research Parks and Indiana's first Certified Technology Park. On two separate occasions companies in the park have been awarded prestigious "Graduate of the Year" honors by the National Business Incubation Association. In addition, the Purdue Research Foundation, owner and manager of the Purdue Research Park, has received TechPoint's MIRA Award for outstanding professional service to high-tech firms. Most recently the park was honored with four international Excellence in Economic Development awards for Technology-based Economic Development; Entrepreneurship; Partnerships with Educational Institutions; and Regionalism and Cross-Border Collaboration by the International Economic Development Council.

Mr. Deason has also served the Purdue Research Foundation as its Director of Research Park Development, Associate Director of Real Estate and Assistant Director of Real Estate. In those capacities, he was heavily involved in the Purdue Research Park and Purdue Technology Centers Complex as well as handling responsibilities for residential and commercial properties. Mr. Deason is on the Board of Directors for the Association of University Research Parks where he is a past President.  He is also a member of the Purdue University Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Agriculture and was awarded the Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award in 2010. Deason has earned an international reputation as a speaker and educator on research park operations and development, incubation of high-tech businesses and strategies for leveraging university assets to grow high-tech companies. Before joining the Purdue Research Foundation, Mr. Deason served his alma mater, Purdue University, in business administration and sponsored program management. He also has experience in banking.