Team Group: Senior Consultant

Lisa Dufresne

Ms. Dufresne has over fifteen years of experience in technology transfer and new product commercialization with broad exposure to medical, environmental, energy, and defense technologies.  After receiving her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lowell, she spent several years working in manufacturing. Upon receiving her M.S. in Civil Engineering, Hazardous Materials Management from Tufts University, she spent 8 years at the Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance providing onsite pollution prevention and regulatory compliance assistance to large and small businesses, universities, state agencies, and municipalities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This included researching new manufacturing methods and materials for reducing a facility’s use of hazardous materials.

Ms. Dufresne owns her own company (L2 Corporation, LLC) in the retail gourmet kitchen supply industry. She is also a team Mentor in a BizGen Entrepreneurial Competition for her local high school team.

Steven Owens

Mr. Owens has over 28 years of experience medical device research and development and pharmaceutical research. Mr. Owens is currently President of his consulting company, and an advisor to Rutgers Center for Innovative Ventures and Emerging Technologies.  He has previously held the positions of: Director of Innovation and Technical Application Services at Forest Research Institute, Chief Information Officer at RadPharm, Head of the Center for Imaging and Innovation at Siemens, and Senior Director of Engineering at Siemens Medical Systems.

In his most recent role as Dir. of Innovation at Forest Research Institute, Mr. Owens was responsible for the technical enhancement and operational excellence of a portfolio of 130+ applications, providing capabilities that support the full range of pharmaceutical research. He was the IT Integration Team Leader following the acquisition of two specialty pharma companies, and led CIO initiatives on enterprise data security and enterprise architecture that established a three year strategic vision based on internal assessments and industry best practices.

During his tenure as Chief Information Officer of RadPharm, The Imaging Core Lab, Mr. Owens provided leadership to IT infrastructure and development projects that enhanced technical capabilities and strengthened business processes critical to delivering outstanding service.  Under his leadership, the IT team deployed a new company-wide workflow engine based on Siebel CRM and enterprise analytics reporting, deployed enhanced data replication strategies to the business continuity solution, and established a test automation initiative throughout the application development team.

Prior to his CIO role, Mr. Owens worked for Siemens Healthcare for over 22 years.  In his last position as Senior Director and Head of R&D at the Center for Imaging and Innovation in Princeton, he provided leadership to product development teams and internal consulting operations that explored product concepts and strengthened the overall patent portfolio of Siemens. Mr. Owens has a passion for innovation and has four patents granted and six patents pending.

Mr. Owens holds a MS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering.  He participates in several professional societies including HIMSS, BioNJ, DIA, and the Technology Council of New Jersey.

Wil Jacques

Wil Jacques is a senior intellectual property subject matter expert with over 25 years of development, patenting, commercialization, and licensing experience in public and private sector engineering, manufacturing, and sales organizations. After stints with Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Prudential, Union Carbide/Praxair, Competitive Technologies, IP Finance, Nerac, CPA Global, and Sun Life Financial, he founded Emanus to provide patenting, innovation development, commercialization, and IP licensing services.

Though providing a broader range of services, his practice has focused on assisting universities, early-stage entrepreneurs and small/medium size companies attract capital investments and out-licensing opportunities with larger more established market players. His specific competencies include patented technology valuation, market due diligence, business opportunity identification, and licensing negotiations.

Mr. Jacques’ past client work has included Florida A&M University, University of Hartford, University of Connecticut, Monsanto, IBM, Lucent, Microvi Biotech, GB Techologies, GeneLabs Technologies, etc.

Chris Ahern

Chris was Team Leader, Assessments for Foresight’s Aerospace, Defense and Transportation group before working part time for Foresight and joining an entrepreneurial venture. He received training in US defense procurement from the US National Defense Industries Association and worked closely with NASA accounts in addition to DoD labs and customers interested in working with DoD. Prior to working for Foresight he was employed in the financial sector in China, where he worked for an american firm.

Christopher J. Gainor

Dr. Chris Gainor is a historian who lead Foresight’s work on the history of the Hubble Space Telescope, a multi-year project creating a digitial archive for use by scholars and the general public. He has taught at the Royal Military College of Canada, University of Victoria, and University of Alberta, Edmonton.He has also worked for the Government of British Columbia in Canada and the Canadian New Democratic Party. Prior to that he was a journalist working for the Vancouver Sun and other publications. He is the International Programs Editor, Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly from 2003 to present and was the Co-winner of the 1980 National Newspaper Award for Enterprise Reporting. He also is the author of several books and scholarly articles.

David McClure

Though he has consulted for publicly traded metals and health benefits companies on intellectual property value creation, Dr. David McClure has focused most of his professional efforts for the past 20 years on developing health-related products regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and cognate foreign regulatory agencies and bringing those products to market. David has led product development, manufacturing, regulatory and business development efforts for firms creating and/or manufacturing drugs, medical devices, medical foods, and cosmetic products. David has also served as chief patent counsel for a pharmaceutical company, director of regulatory affairs for a pharmaceutical and medical device company, and general counsel for human and veterinary healthcare products companies. David is a registered patent attorney, admitted in 1998 to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office in patent matters. David also holds the RAC certificate from the Regulatory Affairs Certification Board and regularly represents companies before FDA in matters related to market access and regulatory compliance. David has served as adjunct professor of pharmacy law and ethics, as an Institutional Review Board member, and as a visiting professor of forensic chemistry. He has co-founded companies that have successfully out-licensed therapeutics and diagnostics for neurologic, infectious disease, cardiovascular, endocrine and oncology indications. While a graduate student, David was a Robert A. Welch Foundation fellow. He is a member of the Food and Drug Law Institute, Licensing Executives Society, and Association of University Technology Managers.

John D. Ruley

John brings over 25 years experience as a technology writer and editor, primarily focusing on personal computing, aviation and space. John’s writing has appeared in Astrobiology, AvWeb.com, Cessna Flyer, HP World, Pilot Journal, Piper Flyer, Plane and Pilot, Windows,Windows IT Pro , and The Scientist. He was principle author of the book Networking Windows NT (John Wiley &Sons, 1994-1996), and a contributor to Space Exploration and Humanity (ABC-CLIO, 2010). Prior to his writing career John worked as a military communications technician, computer operator and programmer, air defense simulation analyst, undergraduate physics teaching assistant, spacecraft thermal control material testing technician, and started a software consulting business. John is an instrument rated private pilot and has participated in overseas medical missions in Mexico, Ghana, Cameroon, and the Philippines. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Mission Doctors Association.

James R. Helbig

Mr. James (Jim) Helbig currently leads a technical team of experts working with NASA Langley Research Center. He has provided strategic business, marketing, and intellectual property consulting services to a wide range of technology companies serving primarily B2B markets including major work for multiple divisions of Raytheon Systems Company; multiple computer and instrumentation technology companies within Teledyne Brown Engineering and Teledyne Electronics Technologies; Whittman-Hart; Forté Software Inc., a Sun Microsystems subsidiary; Datacolor International; the Aerospace/Defense business unit of EDS; Thermo Jarrell Ash; Dynetics, Inc.; and Microchip Technology Inc., as well as many small companies and startups. He had been a principal with Regis McKenna Inc. previously, serving clients such as Motorola, AMD, and Convex Computer. He also was president and partner of the public affairs firm David A. Meeker and Associates. Other technical marketing and public relations management positions have been with Martin Marietta Aerospace, Texas Instruments, and ITT Aerospace/Optical Division and with the counseling firms Burson-Marsteller and Ruder Finn. Jim has created and managed market entry strategies for multiple products and technologies in both new and existing market categories. Beyond his direct familiarity with semiconductors and high-performance computing hardware and software, he has hands-on experience in analytical instruments, IT professional services, electronic systems and components, environmental sciences, aerospace, defense systems, energy, and numerous heavy industries. He is a frequent speaker and writer on technology market and business issues and has taught technology marketing principles and methodology at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as for numerous corporate clients. He is a former chemical engineer and Navy jet fighter pilot.

Steven L. Ludmerer

Mr. Ludmerer brings over 40 years of experience building and consulting with specialty chemical, advanced material, and consumer products businesses to his clients. During his two decades at DuPont and Union Carbide, he launched such well-known products as Teflon finishes for cookware, the Reach toothbrush, and Tychem and Barricade protective apparel. In a four-year assignment in Asia, Mr. Ludmerer led DuPont’s Business Development activities from Japan to New Zealand to Pakistan, establishing that company’s subsidiary in India, securing new investments in Indonesia and Thailand, and upgrading distribution systems. After leaving the large corporate world, Mr. Ludmerer led three technology-based entrepreneurial ventures, an immunoassay diagnostics company, an instrument company, and most recently, as President of Parelec, an electronic materials company. Mr. Ludmerer has established contacts in Asia through his chemicals and materials industry experience and residency in Hong Kong. Mr. Ludmerer has also built businesses that are currently doing over $200 million in revenue and has raised over $30 million in public and private capital for his companies. Mr. Ludmerer was on the Board of the Commercial Development & Marketing Association and is the 2003 recipient of CDMA’s Golden C award for career achievement in commercial development. He is a member of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and the Licensing Executive Society (LES).

Natalia Toth

Dr. Natalia Toth has extensive experience in technology evaluation, market research, and competitive analysis. Her background includes years of scientific research in biomedical field, work in technology transfer environment at major US universities, and recent involvement with a consulting practice advising companies in nutrition and supplement industry