Directors Principals

Kathleen (Kathy) Huber: Ms. Huber, Executive Vice President, brings over 20 years’ experience in leading-edge technology companies. For the past six years, Huber has also been an active mentor with MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service (MIT VMS) which reports directly to the Provost Office of MIT. MIT VMS, with its 135 mentors, supports innovation and entrepreneurial activity within the MIT community. She is co-founder and was the CEO of Pico Innovations, an energy utilities network services start-up that leverages Smart Grid and Smart Home technologies by providing energy management through a secure information exchange. Huber was also founding CEO of Silver Beech Networks, focused on the efficient transport of content services over high speed data networks. Prior to Silver Beech Networks, Huber was co-founder and Vice President of Business Development for IronBridge Networks' carrier-class terabit routers where she helped raise over $130 million in venture funding.

Chris Dippel: Mr. Dippel, Director of Operations, is a self-employed strategy and business development consultant to technology-based companies and not-for-profit organizations that are developing innovative products for the U.S. and global healthcare markets. He applies his more than 20 years of experience in biotech business development and academic technology licensing to a wide range of projects and clients. He also serves pro bono as a mentor in MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service and as an advisor to Seeding Labs, LLC, a Cambridge-based nonprofit with a mission of providing high-quality research equipment to scientists in the developing world. Mr. Dippel is also an associate director for an MIT/Harvard graduate course on innovation in global health.

Martha M. (Marty) Ragones: Ms. Ragones, Treasurer, brings extensive experience in the public and private sectors. She currently co-chairs the Budget Review Task Force for the Town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, and previously was Vice Chair of the town Finance Committee. She has been Treasurer of the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture since 2003, and has been President and Treasurer of the $1.8-million Lincoln-Sudbury Scholarship Fund. Earlier, Ms. Ragones was a loan officer with the Information Technology Division at BankBoston, maintaining a portfolio of 38 corporate credit relationships ranging up to $40 billion in sales.

Jerry Ackerman: Mr. Ackerman, a founding director of First Founders Ltd., is currently affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Venture Mentoring Service. During a 31-year career with The Boston Globe he was lead writer for the Globe’s Emerging Business section, helped develop its Technology section, and was a line editor. He has written extensively on technology, venture development, investment, and other business and industry issues, including in-depth analyses of emerging companies and factors driving their success. A member of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the Globe, he also has received numerous other journalism awards and was a Professional Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

Edward Ahn: Dr. Ahn was founder, Chief Technology Officer, and finally Chief Executive Officer of Angstrom Medica, Inc., developer of nanostructured synthetic, bone-based orthopedic devices based on technology he developed while earning his Ph.D. at MIT. As CEO at Angstrom he oversaw sale of the company in 2007 to Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc., where he is now Vice President for product development and manages biologics product development and marketing and commercialization activities. He has published extensively in scientific journals and presented widely at scientific and professional meetings.

Howard L. Bilow: Mr. Bilow has spent more than 25 years in the health care industry as a successful entrepreneur and as a senior corporate executive. He was a co-founder and a board member and Executive Vice President of American Renal Associates, Inc., a major provider of dialysis treatment, and previously was Vice President of corporate marketing and managed care for Fresenius Medical Care North America, a publicly traded provider of kidney dialysis services, equipment and supplies. Mr. Bilow was a founder and former Secretary and board member of Renaissance Health Care, a specialty disease management company, and was with W. R. Grace & Co., where he was a member of the corporate worldwide strategy planning committee.

Donna Cowan: Ms. Cowan was Vice President for sales and business development at NewStep Networks, Inc., a leading provider of IMS-based, fixed-mobile convergence solutions for carriers and enterprises. She previously was Vice President for strategic carrier sales at Sonus Networks, Inc., and held senior sales and business development positions with Newbridge Networks Corp. She earlier was a sales executive with several companies including BBN Communications Corp., an early developer of the Arpanet. Ms. Cowan began her career as a systems developer and consultant.

Alain Hanover: Alain Hanover: Mr. Hanover has more than 30 years of experience in venture capital, executive management, software development, and engineering. He is the Senior Managing Director and CEO of Navigator Technology Ventures, and was a co-founder of two software companies, InCert and Viewlogic, where he served as CEO and President. He has been an early stage investor or advisor in more than 20 private companies, and was a co-founder of CommonAngels, Boston's leading angel investor group. Mr. Hanover serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards of directors, including the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and is active in the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.

James (Jim) N. Little: Dr. Little is an expert in instrumentation, life science, and chemistry. He has started two scientific instrumentation companies, Waters Corp. and Zymark Corp. (now Caliper Life Sciences), and a biotechnology company, Cetek Corp. He currently consults to and/or sits on boards of several life sciences companies, and is active in MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service and Deshpande Center. Dr. Little holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT.

John “Jay” J. Schwartz, PhD.: Dr. Schwartz has more than 17 years accumulated expertise in life sciences business and technology development, including the formation and growth of companies. As a private consultant he assists medical imaging, life sciences, and medical device companies with business strategy, business development, market development, finance, and corporate governance. He is also director of assay development at BioTell, Inc., was co-founder at engeneOS, Inc. (later renamed ADNEXUS Pharmaceuticals), a bio-nanotechnology company, and has lengthy experience as a research scientist. Dr. Schwartz is active in the investor group Boston Harbor Angels, has participated in private equity fundraising, has secured multiple U.S. government grants, and for his last company raised over $7 million in venture capital. He is a mentor to startup ventures at the MIT Venture Mentoring Service and the Deshpande Center at MIT, and speaks frequently to professional groups about early-stage and angel investment.

David H. Staelin: Dr. Staelin is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, a co-founder of the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, a former Assistant Director of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, and a past member of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee. He co-founded PictureTel Corp. and was its Chairman from 1984-87. He also was a director of Environmental Research and Technology Corp. (1969-79) and of EMPower Corp. (1994-99). As a member of the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity, he contributed to Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge. His teaching and research involve signal processing, estimation, and electromagnetics.

J. Mark Waxman: Mr. Waxman is a Partner with Foley & Lardner LLP , chair of the firm’s Health Care Industry Team, and a member of the White Collar Defense Practice. His practice focuses on health care issues for for-profit and not-for-profit providers and payers. His experience includes issues related to research and technology, integrated delivery systems, governance, strategic business counseling and antitrust matters. He previously was President and General Counsel of CareGroup, Inc., a nonprofit healthcare system affiliated with the Harvard Medical School. Mr. Waxman is also Chairman of the Picker Institute, a foundation focused on patient-centered care; a former board member of MedVentive, a managed care data and contract management company; and a volunteer mentor with the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.

John K. (Jack) Whiting, IV: Mr. Whiting has more than 20 years of experience as a corporate lawyer, including as Associate General Counsel at Thermo Electron Corporation (now ThermoFisher Scientific) and Vice President and General Counsel at American Renal Associates. His experience includes handling transactions for private and public companies and supporting the development and commercialization of businesses including acquisitions, joint ventures, collaboration and licensing agreements, and clinical trial and sponsored research agreements. He also has regulatory and compliance experience, including FDA matters, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, healthcare fraud and abuse and anti-kickback analyses, HIPAA and other privacy law issues, antitrust matters, and SEC compliance and disclosure.