Speaker Bios 

Robert Buderi

Founder and Editor in Chief, Xconomy
Panel Moderator

Bob is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Xconomy, an online news and events company focused on the business of technology and innovation in three key regions: Boston, Seattle, and San Diego. Before launching Xconomy, Bob was a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies. He previously served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, leading the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and overseeing its expansion into three foreign markets, its introduction of electronic newsletters, and its organization of highly successful conferences. Earlier, as BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for "The Quality Imperative," a special issue of the magazine. Bob is also the author of three books about technology and innovation. Guanxi (2006) looks at Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) examines the work of a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and as an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation to many organizations, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.

Carl M. Berke

Associate Director, Partners Innovation Fund and
Co-founder, MA Medical Angels
Panelist

Carl's career has spanned nearly 30 years in the practice and management of innovation to bring new technologies to market.  As a bench scientist and then R&D director, he worked at Polaroid Corporation and Hygeia Sciences in the development of photographic and clinical products for both consumer and professional markets. He moved to Integral/Analysis Group where he became partner and Vice President focusing on the management of innovation and growth strategy for clients in healthcare and consumer products.  Carl has been an active private equity investor as a member of Angel Healthcare Investors and serves as a board member for Quosa Inc. [literature management software for life sciences], Automation Engineering Inc. [factory automation systems], Freedom-2 [skincare] and the Sudanese Education Fund [philanthropy].  He has published extensively in the technical and business literature and holds 6 US patents. Carl served as a licensing officer at MIT specializing in chemical sciences and medical device where he is also an Instructor in the HST Biomedical Enterprise Program.  Recently, he co-founded Mass Medical Angels. Carl Berke holds an AB degree from Cornell University and received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

David Beylin

Program Manager,
SBIR Development Center, National Cancer Institute
Panelist

David Beylin is a Program Manager with the SBIR Development Center at the National Cancer Institute, where he assists small businesses in the medical imaging field in securing government funding for innovative research and development projects with high commercial potential. David has over 10 years of experience in research, development and commercialization of scientific and medical instrumentation and molecular imaging agents. Previously, David was involved with X/Seed Capital Management, LLC, a seed-stage venture capital firm investing in breakthrough technologies. Prior to X/Seed, David worked for Naviscan PET Systems, Inc. in a variety of technical and management roles, including Vice President of Research, concentrating on the design, clinical validation, and regulatory clearance of high resolution Positron Emission Tomography devices and image-guided interventions. Mr. Beylin was trained in experimental nuclear physics at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (Russia) and the KEK-High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (Japan). Mr. Beylin is certified in Nuclear Medicine Physics and Instrumentation by the American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine.

Aaron Sandoski

Managing Director, Norwich Ventures
Panelist

Aaron Sandoski is the Managing Director of Norwich Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in medtech. He is involved in all facets of the investment process and draws from a broad background in healthcare and start-up operations to support portfolio companies.

Prior to founding Norwich Ventures, Aaron worked for DEKA, the engineering think tank of Dean Kamen, where he helped develop partnerships and formulate business plans for emerging technologies. Aaron has also worked in start-up operations where he helped launch a subsidiary of Express Scripts and helped launch a venture-backed payments company. Both companies were acquired in transactions totaling over $500 million. He began his career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he advised healthcare clients ranging from leading medical device companies to a rural hospital system.

Aaron serves as a board member of MedTech IGNITE, an initiative of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) for nurturing early-stage medical device entrepreneurs. He is also co-author of How the Wise Decide, a book on decision-making in business (Crown Business, 2008).

Aaron earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College with a double A.B. in Chemistry and Economics.

David Steinmiller

Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Claros Diagnostics
Panelist

Claros is developing a platform for point-of-care diagnostics that moves in-vitro medical tests out of the laboratory and into the hands of physicians and patients.  Mr. Steinmiller co-founded the company in 2004 and raising grant funding in Europe and the United States and later venture financing in 2006.  Claros is currently located in Woburn, MA.  Previously previously served as Director of Engineering at Eos Biotechnology where he developed instruments for genomics research. Mr. Steinmiller created and patented a high-throughput system for synthesizing nucleic acids and transitioned the technology from concept to prototype to production device. This technology formed the core of WebOligos, which produced and marketed synthetic DNA, and which was acquired by Invitrogen. Mr. Steinmiller holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.