Dr. John DeFord serves as EVP and CTO at BD. He joined BD in December 2017 with its acquisition of CR Bard, and served as SVP, R&D for BD Interventional. He was promoted to EVP & CTO in June 2018. John joined Bard as VP, Science and Technology in 2004; promoted to SVP, Science, Technology and Clinical Affairs in 2007. Previously, John was Managing Director of Early Stage Partners, a Midwest VC fund. Previously, he was President/CEO of Cook Incorporated, a private medical device manufacturer. John graduated from Purdue University (BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, PhD in Electrical/Biomedical Engineering).

Pramod Raheja is the Co-Founder & CEO of Airgility, Inc.  He is an Aerospace Engineering graduate from the University of Maryland and an entrepreneur of 20+ years with 30 years of aviation operations experience. He is a graduate/mentor of the Founder’s Institute, A member of Mindshare, current President of the Washington DC Chapter of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) and currently enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Master’s Program at MIT.   Pramod thinks of himself as half geek and half sales guy and believes Airgility is at the forefront of an aeronautics revolution.

Shira Kramer is the Founder and CEO of Sterilex. Sterilex specializes in proprietary antimicrobial and antibiofilm products for food protection, with a focus on the food processing and animal health markets. The company has experienced rapid revenue and profitability growth over the past 7 years (CAGR>35%), with global distribution through a network of 50+ distributors. Shira holds a BA in Natural Sciences, MHS in Human Genetics, and PhD in Epidemiology, all from the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Kapil Bharti obtained his Ph.D. from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, graduating summa cum laude. His Ph.D. work involved research in the areas of heat stress, chaperones, and epigenetics. He did his postdoc at the NIH, where he published numerous papers in the areas of transcription regulation, pigment cell biology, and developmental biology of the eye. He has won several awards, including, most recently, being selected as an Earl Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigator at NIH. His lab was recently awarded two prestigious grants: 1) the only Intramural Common Fund grant to develop a phase I Investigational New Drug (IND) for Autologous induced pluripotent stem cell derived retinal pigment epithelium tissue; and 2) a DoD grant to develop a 3D-retina tissue to model retinal diseases in vitro. He is currently the head of the Unit on Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research at the National Eye Institute, NIH

My focus is on patent prosecution, strategic patent counseling, IP due diligence, drug and medical device FDA regulatory counseling, invalidity and non-infringement opinions, life-cycle management, Supreme Court and Federal Circuit amicus briefs, and related business matters. I have drafted and prosecuted patents covering three FDA approved drugs. I have represented a client at a U.S. Senate HELP Committee full hearing on electronic health records and was part of a team that defended a generic pharmaceutical manufacturer in an Actavis reverse payment enquiry at the Federal Trade Commission. In addition, I have authored and reviewed numerous freedom-to-operate, invalidity, and non-infringement opinions, including opinions supporting Paragraph IV certification for ANDA filers under the Hatch-Waxman Act. I have advised companies on the use of post-grant U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proceedings to achieve IP goals.

Kristen is the Founder and CEO of b.well Connected Health – a platform that puts the consumer at the center of their healthcare. Most recently, Kristen was the VP of Government Claims and XLHealth at United Healthcare. Prior to her role at United, Kristen ran Operations and Technology for one of the first private Medicare plans in our country focused on the chronically ill. In her role, Kristen helped to standup operations and technology and scaled the plan to 12 states prior to its acquisition by UnitedHealth Group for $2.4 billion.

Piotr works at the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at the University of Maryland (UMD) College Park. With over 1,800 active cases and 500 patents under management, OTC safeguards UMD’s portfolio of intellectual property and facilitates transfer of UMD’s research and technologies for commercialization.

Prior to joining OTC, Piotr was a VP at Quantum4D, a software startup. Piotr also held various positions at McKinsey and Company, a leading global management consulting firm, in its European, North American, and Asian offices.

From Indianapolis, Kerwin Rent is the founder of EliteGamingLIVE. A platform that fuses technological education with interscholastic video game competition.

Beth, a grad of TU and Northwestern, is a language and literacy expert who discovered a unique way to significantly speed up the process of deeply learning vocabulary words. That’s a must for the 65% of K12 students who struggle with comprehension. She and co-founder Deena Seifert, with financial help from TEDCO, built InferCabulary, a web-based K12 tool that is being used in every type of school from students who struggle to college prep schools. As a member of TU Incubator and TEDCO CEO Roundtable, Beth enjoys sharing all the amazing business lessons she’s gleaned over the last several years.

Anne is the Co-Founder of HoneIn, an early stage startup that gives businesses the insight they need to execute their strategic plans. We leverage existing data to give insights into real-time strategic progress. Then we drive engagement by showing your entire team how their goals and activities impact business performance. Plus, we analyze data to identify what’s working and what isn’t. Finally, we offer strategic consulting services to ensure your success.

Michael is a building and sustainability geek. Driven to discover and implement sustainability within the built environment, he’s spent decades guiding iconic organizations towards increased sustainable building construction and operations.

For the last 3 years, he has been obsessed with building GOEFER, a technology company that unplugs the wasted energy and plugs in control, insight, and savings of the electronics we use every day. Building a company has stressed every aspect of his life. But as he’ll tell you, “When you awaken with an idea that can help so many, it’s your responsibility to act and GOEFERit.”