Board of Directors
The UConn R & D Board consists of eight Board members and several
Advisors. The Board members are:
Board Chair, UConn R & D Corporation
President and CEO
Adtek Information Systems, Inc.
New York, NY
Anthony Esposito is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Adtek
Information Systems, Inc. Founded in 1986 in New York City, Adtek provides
integrated software products and customized software solutions to the
financial services industry. Prior to founding Adtek, Mr. Esposito served as
founder and CEO of Compu Med Systems, Inc., a national medical software
company, which was acquired in 1984 by the Squibb Corporation. For the last
eighteen months of his association with Compu Med, he served as Chairman of
the company, with a major role in corporate strategic and market planning.
The company provided service bureau data processing and turnkey medical
management systems to hospital-based and physician group practices. The
company was national in scope with five major data centers from New Jersey
to California.
Prior to Compu Med, Mr. Esposito was founder and President of
Bionucleonics, Inc., a radiological physics consulting firm which prior to
its sale boasted the largest medical physics group in the U.S. The company
diversified into developing, manufacturing and marketing highly
sophisticated medical electronics to the medical radiology community. He is
a Director of Co-Kinetics Inc., a Greenwich, CT XML-centric thin client
application software developer that is a Deutsche Bank Capital venture. Mr.
Esposito is currently the technical advisor and a founding shareholder of
Norwood Venture Corporation, a mezzanine venture capital SBIC operated until
its acquisition by NVC in early 1988 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of
European American Bank (New York). He was elected to the UConn School of
Business Hall of Fame in 2003, and is a member of the Founders Society,
UConn Campaign Steering Committee, and a Life Member of the UConn Alumni
Association. Mr. Esposito received a BA in Zoology from the University of
Connecticut in 1965 and MS in Radiological Physics from Rutgers University
in 1967.
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Secretary/Treasurer, UConn R & D Corporation
West Hartford, CT
Laura Estes earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the
University of Connecticut's School of Business in 1977. Her professional
career began in 1972 when she joined Aetna as an assistant securities
analyst in the Bond Investment Department. After seven years doing private
placements, she initiated Aetna's entry into the Eurodollar bond market and
managed most of Aetna's offshore portfolios. In 1983, she was promoted to
Assistant Vice President. Five years later she was named Vice President of
the Business Development Department in Aetna's Investment Management Group,
where she assumed responsibility for Aetna's investment management and
investment banking group. In 1991, Ms. Estes was made Head of the Pension's
Strategic Business Unit of Aetna Life Insurance and Annuity Company. Early
in 1996, she took on a different leadership role in Aetna's Retirement
Services Division, responsible for the development and management of all
life and investment products, the division's profit centers, and its
retirement planning services.
In 1997, Ms. Estes left Aetna, and did consulting work and invested in
small start-up businesses. She has been active in various organizations and
has held the following positions: Chair of the YMCA of the Capitol
Region; Trustee of Williams College, Williamstown, MA; Director of the
Hartford Golf Club; Vice Chair, Executive Committee, of Hartford Hospital and
the Institute of Living; Chair of Hartford Education Foundation; and
Director of the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration in Hartford. Ms.
Estes is an Emeritus Member of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors,
having served on the Board from 1992 to September 2001. She served as Chair
of the Board from 2000 to 2001. She also served as Chair of the UConn
R & D Corporation Board of Directors from 2002 to September 2006.
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President and Chief
Executive Officer
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
New Haven, CT
Dr. Susan
Froshauer is President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Under Dr. Froshauer's leadership, Rib-X
has raised more than $123 million in private equity and grown a
pipeline of clinical stage programs and an antibiotic drug discovery
process to sustain the continual pipeline build. Formerly, Dr.
Froshauer created a significant technology investment portfolio for
Pfizer, Inc. as a member of its Strategic Alliance Group. The
portfolio was designed to support Pfizer's global research and
development programs and included partnerships with Arqule, Evotec,
Aurora, Tripos, and Neurogen.
Dr. Froshauer is the
recipient of the Pfizer Central Research Award and the Connecticut
Technology Council's Women of Innovation 2006 Award for
Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. In addition to serving on
the Rib-X board, she serves on the boards of CURE and CBIA. She has
also served on Connecticut's Technology Transfer and
Commercialization Advisory Board of the Governor's Competitiveness
Council. Dr. Froshauer holds a PhD from Harvard University and
performed post-doctoral research at Yale Medical School.
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Venture Capital Advisor
Weston, CT
Ginger More is currently an advisor to several venture capital
firms as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Tengion, an
early stage healthcare company. She retired from Oak Investment
Partners in 2002 where she served as a General Partner of the Oak
Funds. Founded in 1978, Oak manages venture capital funds
capitalized in excess of $5 billion. Oak has invested in over 400
companies to date.
Ms. More joined Oak in 1978 and was responsible for investments in
the telecommunications and healthcare industry. Early stage
investments include Compaq Computer, Stratus, Genzyme, Keravision,
Octel, Network Equipment Technologies, Alkermes, Osteotech,
Pharmacopeia, Dyax, Alexion, OraPharma and Tengion. She also served
on the boards of Psychiatric Solutions, Sopherion and Esperion.
Prior to joining Oak, Ms. More held a number of financially-related
positions over a ten year period at Wright Investors’ Service, a
pension management firm with assets exceeding $4 billion. In
addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Connecticut Venture Group and a Member of the Intellectual Property
Committee of Children’s Hospital in Boston. Ms. More studied
Mathematics at the University of Bridgeport and became a Chartered
Financial Analyst (C.F.A.) in 1978.
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President and CEO
Fairfield Resources International, Inc.
Stamford, CT
Emmett Murtha formed Fairfield Resources International in 1997 after 35
years with the IBM Corporation. The firm serves clients interested in
developing, organizing and leveraging their intellectual assets, as well as
in related strategy development and licensing transactions. At IBM, Mr.
Murtha was named Director of Licensing in 1981, leading a group which
acquired rights from others under patents, copyrights, trademarks and
technology, and also granted licenses under IBM’s intellectual property. He
was responsible as well for worldwide licensing policies and practices.
Between 1987 and 1997, IBM’s annual royalty revenues grew by over seven
thousand percent. From 1993 Mr. Murtha was responsible, as Director of
Business Development, for finding new ways to leverage IBM’s intellectual
property and related strengths. Again, results were dramatic, with
substantial transactions in medical technologies, and a continuous stream of
future revenue opportunities clearly identified.
He has been a member of Licensing Executives Society for many years,
including as an officer and a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Murtha
was President of the Society 1999-2000. He also headed the Intellectual
Property unit of the National Advisory Committee on Semiconductors, is a
frequent speaker on licensing, negotiating, and related topics, and is an
Editorial Board member and a contributor of The Licensing Journal and Patent
Strategy and Management. Mr. Murtha has a degree in Accounting from the
University of Connecticut and has completed executive programs at Columbia
University Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School. He has
also served as a Director of several early stage high tech companies.
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Executive Vice President
First New England Capital LP
Hartford, CT
John Ritter co-founded First New England Capital in
1988. He has over seventeen years of experience in providing mezzanine
and equity capital to small businesses. First New England Capital has
invested in over eighty privately held companies since inception and
currently manages a pool of capital in excess of $75 million. Presently,
John sits on the board of Directors or Managers of eight of his
portfolio companies. Prior to 1988, Mr. Ritter was a practicing
attorney, first as an Associate with Blume & Elbaum and then as in-house
Counsel to Independent Energy Corporation. He has also served as a
member of the West Hartford Town Council and as a Legislator in the
Connecticut State House of Representatives.
Mr. Ritter received his BA with highest honors from
Macalester College. He also earned his MA in Religion from Yale
University and his JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law.
He serves as a Trustee on several not-for-profit boards including the
Connecticut Housing Investment Fund, the Hebrew Home & Healthcare, Inc.,
and the University of Connecticut School of Law Foundation. Mr. Ritter
is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association, the Hartford County Bar
Association and the National Association of Small Business Investment
Companies.
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Partner
Fairview Capital Partners
Farmington, CT
Matthew Schaefer has been a partner of Fairview Capital Partners
since 1999. Founded in 1994, Fairview manages over $1.7 billion of
institutional capital invested in more than 200 venture capital and
private equity partnerships. From 1994 through 1998, Mr. Schaefer
served as vice president, treasurer and managing director of affiliated
entities of Bigler/Crossroads, an investment management firm similar to
Fairview. Between the two firms, Mr. Schaefer has been involved in the
selection of more than 75 investment partnerships representing
commitments of client capital in excess of $800 million. For nine years
prior to Bigler/Crossroads, he was a consultant in the tax advisory
practice of a national accounting firm, progressing to senior manager.
Mr. Schaefer is a member of the advisory boards of partnerships
sponsored by Domain Associates and Forward Ventures, both of which are
early-stage life science venture firms, as well as Alliance Technology
Ventures and Emergence Capital Partners, which are primarily information
technology oriented, early-stage venture firms. Mr. Schaefer received a B.A. in economics and accounting from The
College of the Holy Cross and holds the certified public accountant
designation. Among his volunteer activities, he is a board member of
the Make A Wish Foundation of CT, Inc.
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Senior Vice President/Investments
A. G. Edwards & Sons
Hartford, CT
Pat
Sheehan is an investment advisor and Senior Vice President with A.G.
Edwards & Sons, serving as manager of the Hartford regional office. He
is responsible for the investment of more than $250 million in publicly
traded equities, debt securities and partnerships for corporate,
foundation, and municipal clients and has been cited by his firm for
national leadership in public sector investment banking opportunities.
As a representative with the National Association of Securities Dealers
(NASD), Mr. Sheehan holds Series 7, 9 and 10 registrations with the New
York, American, Philadelphia, and Pacific Stock Exchanges. He joined
A.G. Edwards in 1988, after a successful career in broadcast
journalism.
Mr.
Sheehan received his BA degree in Political Science from the University
of Connecticut in 1967 and graduated with distinguished high honors from
the U.S. Department of Defense Information School in 1968. He served as
an officer with the Connecticut Army National Guard until 1974. Mr.
Sheehan anchored the evening newscasts on WTNH, WFSB, and WTIC
television from 1974 to 1999, earning lifetime achievement awards from
the Associated Press, the National Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences, and the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. He has
served as chairman of the board for the UConn Foundation, the
Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists, Cheshire Academy, and
the Connecticut Public Affairs Network (CT-N). He serves as chairman of
the UConn Advocates, and as a director of the Manufacturing Alliance of
Connecticut, a governor of The Hartford Club, and a corporator for
Hartford
Hospital.
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Senior Advisor for Life Sciences, UConn R & D Corporation
Director
Oscient Pharmaceuticals
Waltham, MA
Robert Hennessey currently serves as director of Oscient
Pharmaceuticals in Waltham, Mass. He served as president and CEO of the
company, formerly known as Genome Therapeutics Corporation, from 1993
until his retirement in 2000, and then served as its chairman until
2003. During those years, six of the company’s seven major
pharmaceutical alliances were formed.
Mr. Hennessey earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees
at the University of Connecticut. He is a member of the Board of
Directors of Oscient Pharmaceuticals, Penwest Pharmaceuticals and
Repligen Corporation, and a member of Nanotherapeutic’s Science and
Business Advisory Board and StoneBridge Principal Protected Funds’
Advisory Board. Before joining Genome Therapeutics, Mr. Hennessey served
as president of Hennessey and Associate, Ltd., a private consulting firm
in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to that he was
senior vice president of corporate development for Sterling Drug, Inc.
He has also served in various executive positions at Merck & Co., Inc.,
SmithKline Beecham PLC, and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Hennessey lives in
Cheshire and Naples, Florida.
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