Meet the Mentors

This is a sampling of some of MERLIN's mentors and is not inclusive.

Terry Sivesind
Director
Terry Sivesind has been active as an entrepreneur and angel investor in the Madison area biotechnology industry since starting as one of the early employees at Promega Corporation in 1985. Since that time, Terry has been involved with the creation of several companies including PanVera, Mirus, Metabiologics, Renovar and Cellectar. He is also the co-founder of Wisconsin Investment Partners, Wisconsin's first angel investor network. Sivesind is also the founder of the Silver Lining Foundation. Along with serving on the Board of various companies, Terry is also a member of the UW School of Business Dean's Advisory Committee, the UW-CALS Dean's Life Science Committee, the Badger Angel Capital Network, and the Board of the Cambridge State Bank. He holds a B.S. and a MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Toni Sikes
Chair, Governance and Membership Committee
Toni Sikes, founder, is the visionary behind The Guild. She started the company in 1985 as a publisher of sourcebooks for design trade professionals to help artists find greater markets for their work. In 1998, she founded the GUILD.com website and catalog as a way of bringing artists' work directly to consumers. For 22 years, Sikes served as CEO of The Guild. She continues to serve on the company's Board of Directors, as well as the boards of Craft Emergency Relief Fund (an organization committed to supporting the careers of craft artists throughout the United States), Aid To Artisans (an international craft organization focused on economic development), the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, the Wisconsin Technology Council, and the Chazen Museum of Art. Sikes is also active in Wisconsin economic development organizations and has authored several books in addition to The Artful Home. Today, Sikes serves as Senior Advisor to Gruppo, Levey & Co., a New York investment bank providing M&A, financial and strategic advisory services to the direct marketing and e-commerce industries. Sikes heads the Gruppo, Levey initiative to help young Internet companies raise venture capital. She holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Alabama and an M.S. in Market Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

C. Basil Mundy, II
Co-Chair, Review Committee
Basil Mundy is a professional sales, marketing, business development and government affairs executive with extensive senior management experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He also has over 20 years of experience in the Transplantation and Dialysis marketplaces. Basil was a member of the original team that formed one of the newest Johnson and Johnson companies, Ortho Biotech Inc. He managed marketing and business development for The National Kidney Foundation, Schein Pharmaceutical, Inc., MGI Pharma, Celltech (Medeva) Pharmaceuticals and Bone Care International.

Laura Strong
Co-Chair, Review Committee
Dr. Laura Strong is the President and C.O.O. at Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. She was the first employee of Quintessence and wrote the business plan for commercialization of five proprietary technologies licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The plan was instrumental in raising initial capital from angel investors in 2001. After recruiting a President and CEO in 2002, Dr. Strong has supported additional fundraising campaigns for a total of more than $13 million. Dr. Strong's primary responsibility is the development and execution of strategies to advance the company's proprietary cancer therapies through human clinical trials to the marketplace. Dr. Strong manages the company's Scientific Advisory Board as well as the intellectual property portfolio. As a National Institutes of Health pre-doctoral fellow, Dr. Strong earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Strong is co-author of twelve publications and co-inventor on three issued patents and multiple patent applications. She has completed Executive Education coursework at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School in Financial Management, Project Management, and Business Planning.

Laurie Benson
Laurie Benson is the CEO of Inacom Information Systems. Founded in 1984, Inacom has grown to over $80,000,000 in revenue and 150 employees who live and work throughout the state of Wisconsin. Inacom Information Systems is a statewide women owned business specializing in technology consulting, education and procurement. Laurie serves on the following advisory boards: Hewlett Packard l, Wisconsin and National Girls Collaborative, STEM Pipeline Champions, ITAWi (Wisconsin's IT Association), the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Henry Vilas Zoo, and Visicom board. She was selected as Sales and Marketing Executive of the Year 2004, CRN's "top 25 Most Influential IT Executives," November 2004, and VAR Business "Power 50 of the Channel," 2006-2008. Laurie was inducted into the Ingram Micro North America VentureTech Network Hall of Fame in 2006. Laurie's philosophy is centered on the Golden Rule, living our core values, enabling others to realize their potential, and giving back to our communities.

Tim Burland
Tim Burland has 25 years experience in biotech management, product development, marketing, and life science research. From 1997-2002 he was VP & General Manager of DNASTAR, and from 2003-2010 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of GWC Technologies. At GWC, Tim was responsible for raising capital and developing and implementing the overall business strategy. In total, he raised over $1MM for GWC in the form of debt, equity and SBIR grants. Tim has extensive direct marketing and selling experience, achieving over $2MM in product sales since joining GWC. He is currently President of his consulting company, ParagraphLab. He has been a member of MERLIN Mentors since its inception.

Steven S. Clark
Dr. Clark is an accomplished bioscientist with over 16 years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. He has a total of 30 plus years of experience in immunology research and vaccine development, basic and translational cancer research and novel drug development. Dr. Clark regularly consults for investors and biotechnology companies that appreciate clear and objective understanding of emerging biotechnology and biotech markets. He earned a BS in Biology at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and a PhD in Immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Postdoctoral research was in molecular oncology at the UCLA Molecular Biology Institute. He has authored several dozen professional papers and for fun writes a column, BioTech Takes, for the Wisconsin Technology Network News and blogs on biotech issues at BioScience Biz.

Roy Elkins
Roy Elkins is a well-known music technology entrepreneur who has been leading industry innovations for over twenty years. Roy is the Founder and CEO of Broadjam Inc., serving independent musicians and industry giants such as the Academy of Country Music, Warner/Chappell, Peavey and others. Broadjam.com, the company's popular independent website now hosts over 70,000 artists and 350,000 songs. The site is known for its musician-friendly services, including website hosting, artist profiles, reviews, contests, transmit mechanism, charts, download sales and deliveries to radio, film, tv and advertisers. Before founding Broadjam, Roy was the Vice President-Sales and Marketing for Sonic Foundry and held several Director-level positions with Ensoniq Corporation. He maintains a database of over 5,000 music industry contacts including executives at virtually every company in the music industry and past and/or present clients such as Les Paul, D.J. Jazzy Jeff, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers, BoyzIIMen, Joe Walsh, ELP, Yes, Journey, Skid Row, Randy Jackson, Will Smith and many others. He is a musician and songwriter who thoroughly understands the musician's world.

David Guinther
David Guinther is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and executive who is pleased to be joining Madison's business community. He brings with him a long history of building growth companies and of turning around distressed ones. His industry expertise includes high technology, natural medicine, renewable energy, consumer goods, and philanthropy. He is experienced in raising capital, with M&A, and with IPO. In addition to his work with early stage ventures, he has held executive positions with billion dollar companies such as Harris, Sybase and BEA Systems. Most recently, David transformed EcoNugenics into a rapidly growing, profitable and respected player in the nutraceuticals industry; founded and raised seed capital for AguaSoleil, a company focused on local generation of clean, renewable energy; and founded and launched Our Kids Sake, a charity focused on homeless children in America. David has earned an MS in Business and a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Peggy Hedberg
Peggy Hedberg serves as the CEO of Renovar, Inc. In 2006, Peggy joined Renovar to lead the development and commercialization of its Biomarkers for kidney disease. She raised $1.3 million to fund additional clinical research and the development of a strategic plan to move the clinical research into clinical use. Peggy managed clinical studies to provide additional data that correlated the use of the biomarkers to the detection of acute kidney rejection. With that research and the approval of several Renovar patents. Peggy completed a licensing deal with Invitrogen to manufacture, distribute and market part of its IP to the transplantation market. Renovar continues to research other clinical uses of its well-protected IP portfolio. Prior to Renovar, Peggy was CEO of Lab Safety Supply of Janesville, WI. She graduated from Carthage College.

Barbara Israel
Dr. Israel is an experienced entrepreneur with many years of experience in technology management and administration. In 2000, she co-founded Platypus Technologies, a bio-nanotechnology company developing liquid crystal based diagnostics and chemical sensors. As CEO until 2007, she successfully brought products to market, raised $3.2 million in private equity investment and approximately $17 million in Federal SBIR awards and DOD contracts. Dr. Israel serves on the Board of Directors of Platypus Technologies and as a consultant to the company. Dr Israel holds a PhD in Medical Microbiology and was a senior scientist in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 14 years. She has a significant record of publications and grant awards and is an inventor on 5 patents. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Dept of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a frequent lecturer in both science and business classes. Dr. Israel is also a member of the Wisconsin Regional Economic Development Committee and frequently serves on NIH SBIR review panels.

Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson has a variety of engineering, sales and marketing experience in the software and electronics industries. Pete is VP of Business Development at Atomm, Inc., founder of 5Elements, Inc. and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sonoplot, Inc. Previously, he was the Director of Worldwide Marketing for Xpedion, acquired by Agilent Technologies. Prior to Xpedion, Pete was in marketing for Sarvega, an XML router company, which was acquired by Intel and was an associate with TeleSoft Partners, a venture capital firm in the software and communications space. He also held various engineering, marketing, applications and sales roles at Escalade Corporation up to its acquisition by Mentor Graphics and LSI Logic. Pete received his MBA from the University of Chicago and holds a BSEE from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lawrence Landweber
Dr. Landweber is the John P. Morgridge Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He has been President of the Internet Society and a member of the boards of Internet2 and the Computer Research Association. He is a Fellow of the ACM and in 2005 received the IEEE Award on International Communication. Since 1979 he has been a leader in the development of the international Internet. He has worked with startup companies since the late 1990s. In 1998 he co-founded Early Stage Research, the first angel investment group in Madison, Wisconsin that focused on information technology. He currently advises two Wisconsin investment funds and has served on the Board of Directors or Advisory Boards of a number of for-profit and non-profit companies.

Scott Little
Scott Little is the Founder and President of Focal Point International LLC, an operations consulting business focused on small and start up instrument companies. Prior to starting Focal Point in 2007, Scott was a leader of high technology analytical and medical instrument companies with over 30 years of experience. With Nicolet Instrument Corporation, Scott led the company's new product development activities for over 15 years. As part of Thermo Electron, he served as President of Spectronic Unicam, successfully merging two UV-Visible Spectrometer companies into one highly integrated business. Most recently he was the President of PIKE Technologies, a world leader in optical sampling accessories for molecular spectroscopy. He currently serves on the Governing Board of Directors for the Coblentz Society. Scott received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Thomas "Rock" Mackie
"Rock" Mackie is a UW faculty member in the Departments of Medical Physics, Human Oncology and Engineering Physics. He has co-founded two UW spin-off companies, Geometrics Corporation and TomoTherapy Inc. Geometrics Corporation is now part of Philips Medical and develops radiation therapy treatment planning products in Fitchburg. TomoTherapy is publically traded (NASDAQ:TOMO). TomoTherapy manufactures and distributes radiation therapy delivery systems worldwide, and Dr. Mackie is the Chairman of the Board. He works part-time for a TomoTherapy spin-off company, the Compact Particle Accelerator Corporation. He is a member of the Wisconsin Investment Partners, a local angel investment firm. He is also a member of the boards of two local companies, Cellectar Inc and BioIonix Inc.

Douglas Malmquist
Douglas Malmquist grew up working within his family's business. He completed his undergraduate degree at Drake University. Later, he completed Stanford University Executive Education. Douglas developed skills in operations, logistics, sales and administration of soft drinks to over 10,000 retail customers located in Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. He held positions at MBC, Inc. that included purchasing, General Manager, Vice President and President. He serves on the advisory boards for US Bank, Wisconsin Distributing and the corporate board for Research Products.

Phil Matthews
Phil Matthews is a founding member of the Badger Alumni Capital Network (BACN), which provides early seed capital to start-up companies that are based on technology developed at the University of Wisconsin. Phil is currently serving as CEO for Nemean Networks, a computer network security system company. Nemean was the first company to receiving funding from BACN. Phil previously spent 30 years with a variety of Wall Street Companies. The last 15 of those years were with one of the world's largest investment management firms, BlackRock Financial Management. He has a B.A.-Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA-Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Terry Maxwell
Terry Maxwell is an instructor at the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focusing on mergers & acquisitions, financing the organization and investment banking. Terry is also involved in private investments in young companies in the Madison area. Previously, Terry was Head of Investment Banking for Robert W. Baird & Co., where he spent 20 years advising companies on equity financings and M & A opportunities. Terry was a member of the Baird Board of Directors as well as a member of the investment committee for several of Baird's private equity funds focused on venture capital, late stage growth capital and leveraged buyouts. Terry graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982 and received his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Deven McGlenn
Deven McGlenn is CEO of NeoClone and has been involved with the company since inception in 1999 and full-time since April of 2002. During his tenure he has grown the business to $4M+ in revenues, 13+ FTEs and raised over $1.4M in equity. Prior to NeoClone, he was a management consultant for Arthur Andersen where he helped Fortune 500 companies develop a strategic view of their risk profiles. Before Andersen, he was the founder and CEO of an environmental remediation firm headquartered in the Midwest. Deven has a B.S. in Political Science with a minor in Business Administration from Marquette University.

Dan Olszewski
Dan Olszewski is the Director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. Prior to joining the UW, he was CEO and Chairman of PNA Holdings where by growing Parts Now! and acquiring Katun Corporation revenues increased from $26M to over $400M during his tenure. With the assistance of Private Equity sponsors, he also led the successful buyout of the founder in 1999. Before joining Parts Now! Olszewski was a consultant at McKinsey and Company. He has also worked for IBM, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance in Tokyo. Olszewski graduated from UW-Madison with a bachelor's degree in economics and computer sciences, and he received an MBA from Harvard. Olszewski serves on the board of directors of World Data Products Inc and Sologear. He is also on the advisory board of Cascade Asset Management and the Henry Vilas Park Zoological Society.

Matt Peterson
Matt Peterson applies information and communications technologies to the needs of media and healthcare enterprises, of engineering and creative professionals, and of consumers. Operating at the nexus of technology and business, he has launched new products, services, and businesses, opened new markets, and created new value within within a wide range of businesses and markets. Matt's perspective is informed by his work ranging from a founder (SWI, MyWeather) to an executive with publicly-traded companies (Computervision, Dynatech, Mediware), by his experiences living and working overseas, and by his commitment to financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable business models. He is currently work on early-stage projects with mobile devices and with clean-tech and on his consulting and transitional executive practices. Matt serves on the MDC Venture Debt Advisory Board and on Board of the Madison Committee on Foreign Relations.

Martin Preizler
Marty Preizler is the Director of Graduate Programs at Edgewood College, School of Business. He has management and development responsibility for the MBA program, the Master's degree in Accounting and the Urban and Rural Economic Development program. Marty has over 38 years of leadership experience in government and private business. He has been the President and CEO/COO of three health insurance companies in Madison, Minneapolis and Portland. From 1998-2008 he was President and CEO of Physicians Plus Health Insurance Corporation in Madison, WI, with revenues of approximately $400 million, serving 110,000 customers in twenty southern Wisconsin counties. He has served on the Boards of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans and the national Health Plan Alliance. From 1977 to 1983 Marty was the Director of the State of Wisconsin's Medicaid program. He is also President of Martin A. Preizler and Associates, a management consulting firm based in Madison. His expertise is in organizational leadership, strategy development, effective management and quality process. He teaches a course entitled "Organizational Effectiveness and Improvement" in Edgewood's Business School. He lectures in Edgewood's Graduate and Professional Studies Program and the UW Madison School of Nursing as well. He has bachelors and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree from the University of Michigan. He serves on several community boards.

Ken Schweitz
Ken Schweitz is the President and owner of Premold Corp. Since purchasing Premold Corporation in 1995, Ken turned it around and positioned it as the North American leader in RIM molding, growing it to a 50+ employee company. He has written numerous articles for trade magazines to promote education of this industry. Ken has also given dozens of seminars on the topic all over North America for professional organizations, universities and societies. Ken has over 15 years experience in engineering, manufacturing, testing and company organization. He is the co-inventor on several patents and has designed industry leading consumer products as recognized by Consumer Reports magazine. Ken has led consumer focus groups, product review committees, design teams and guided teams through government mandated product validation tests. He holds his B.S. in Engineering from the University of Nebraska.

Derrick Van Mell
Derrick Van Mell is the Principal of Van Mell Associates, a business and project planning firm. Derrick developed 3GoodQuestions.com to provide an alternative to traditional "strategic" planning that is built on systematically asking questions and distilling them into a 1-page summary of the year's goals and tasks. He leads all VMA assignments by facilitating the discussions, coordinating the technical work, and presenting the recommendation. Like many executives and directors, he brings different experiences and perspectives to bear on his clients' issues. Local project planning assignments have ranged from Epic Systems and Johnsonville Foods to Group Health Cooperative and Genetics Computer Group. Derrick lectures at home and abroad. He is the author of the books Question-Based Planning and Buildings Matter. He has a B.A. in economics from Tufts University, an MBA from Loyola University and an M.A. from Northwestern University. He Belongs to Rotary, the AIA, and several community groups.

Cheryl Vickroy
Cheryl Vickroy is the owner and principal consultant of the Bachner Vickroy Group, which is engaged in assisting early-stage entrepreneurs with planning, marketing and financing. She has also been directly involved in the formation and operation of four start-ups - three in biotechnology and one in software development. She served as President and CEO of Staff Management Systems, an early stage software development firm, in 2007. Cheryl has a BS in Marketing from the UW-Milwaukee and an MBA in Operations from the UW-Madison Wisconsin School of Business.

Don Wolf
Don Wolf is a product design engineer with 25 years experience designing scientific equipment. Don has designed products for five different companies, and was also one of the founders of a Madison-based scientific instrumentation company. Don has spent extensive time working with customers, and has experience with many aspects of product design and manufacturing. Don received his Bachelors Degree and his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Bob Wood
Bob has been active with Wisconsin Investment Partners (WIP) since its inception in 2000 and serves as a co-manager. WIP is an angel investment group whose 75 members have to date invested in 35 early stage companies. Bob's background includes the start-up through sale of Space-Metrics, LLC, a manufacturing firm specializing in commercial and residential cabinetry, store fixtures, and office furniture. His prior experience includes involvement in the start-up of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. His on-going interests in urban re-development include the mixed-use projects at 'Capitol Point' and 'Nolen Shore' in central Madison. His experience includes managing a medical device start-up company through funding, product development to the start of clinical trials, and recruitment of a permanent CEO. He currently serves on several Boards, entrepreneurial conference committees, and through Wood Investment Services assists start-ups with business development, funding, and project management.