JUDGING

Nita Akoh is a visionary entrepreneur dedicated to transforming mental health through innovation. As the Founder and CEO of MyAtlas, she is pioneering the use of digital phenotyping to create personalized wellness solutions that empower individuals to take control of their mental well-being. With a background in behavioral neuroscience from Northeastern University, Nita blends science, technology, and empathy to build solutions that resonate with today's digitally connected world. Her work has earned recognition, including the 2024 Young Innovator in Behavioral Health award, and she has secured multiple grants to advance MyAtlas' mission. Nita thrives at the intersection of innovation and impact, driving meaningful change through strategic partnerships and groundbreaking research.

JP Amolat is the co-founder and General Partner at BridgePath Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture fund supporting women and minority-led technology startups in fintech, healthcare, supply chain, CPG, and AI/ML. With a diverse background, JP has founded multiple startups in luxury goods, healthcare, and media, and held corporate roles with top VCs like IDC/IDG, Accenture, and as Head of Innovation at C Space/Omnicom, where he led AI research for Fortune 200 clients. A seasoned entrepreneur and investor, JP is committed to fostering innovation, supporting underrepresented founders, and driving change through strategic investments and mentorship.

Laurie Bishop is a ‘connector and builder’ when it comes to entrepreneurship. She works at the Harvard Business School (HBS) Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship focused on programming for HBS alumni founders, builders, and investors involved with high growth ventures.  Previously, she worked at Northeastern University assisting entrepreneurs first by leading the Health Sciences Entrepreneurs program supporting healthcare and life sciences ventures, then in Alumni Relations as the global conduit between alumni and the free resources to help them start, grow and scale their businesses. Laurie has been a Judge for the Massachusetts Innovation Network since 2020 and joined the Board in 2022. She is proud of her education roots, earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and an MBA from Babson College.

Sonali is an entrepreneur who is passionate about innovation in healthcare and aspires to build products that improve people's lives. Sonali is the CEO of 20/20 Onsite, a healthcare services company expanding access to vision care by bringing primary eye care and clinical trials directly to patients at home, work, and school. Her background in product strategy, operations, and marketing roles spans industries from healthcare to consumer products to fashion. Sonali holds a BS in Physics from Yale University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Patrick Brown is the Founder of Stronger Trees, a medical device company specializing in enteral feeding. His journey began when he identified a need for better feeding pump solutions for his daughter, which led him to start Stronger Trees, Inc. With a background in industrial design, and the need to help pump-fed individuals, he brings a unique perspective to the medical device industry. His company focuses on innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for patients requiring enteral feeding, and wish to enjoy life and the great outdoors to the fullest.

Evan Butler is an engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Etiometry in 2010. Previously, he worked at Boston Children's Hospital in the Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering Laboratory designing, building, and testing novel surgical robots and tools. Evan was also a NASA GSFP Fellow with Dryden Flight Research Center, and created intelligent flight control systems. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Physics and Aerospace Engineering, and his Master's Degree in Dynamics and Control Engineering from Boston University. Evan has published conference papers, journal articles and a book chapter in the fields of medical predictive analytics, concentric tube robots and tools for minimally-invasive beating heart surgery, and intelligent flight control systems. Evan has received multiple awards, including the 2010 IEEE Transactions on Robotics Best Paper Award.

Dimitri Chernyak is a seasoned medical device executive with extensive experience in both large corporations, such as Johnson and Johnson and Abbott, and smaller companies like VISX, AMO, and Intelon Optics. His expertise spans across various areas including New Product Development, Intellectual Property portfolio management, Business Development, Quality and Design Control, as well as Technical and Operational Leadership. Currently serving as the COO of Intelon Optics Inc. in Woburn, MA, Dimitri holds impressive academic qualifications including a PhD in Vision Science from UC Berkeley, an MA in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University, and a BA in Mathematics and Biology from Brandeis University. Noteworthy achievements include authoring 20 peer-reviewed papers, delivering numerous conference presentations, and holding a portfolio of 13 issued patents.

Kelly McInnis is a human resource thought leader with extensive experience across industries such as software, manufacturing, finance, life sciences, and nonprofits. She specializes in talent management, professional development, change management, and organizational development, excelling at connecting founders, investors, and business leaders with opportunities. With an expansive network throughout New England, Kelly has served organizations of all sizes and stages. Her lifelong connection to innovation began in childhood, attending pitch meetings at Babson College and the MIT Forum with her father, Robert J. Crowley, Sr., co-founder of The Eddies. Since 2009, she has been a Judge, witnessing over 200 companies win since 1986. Previously, Kelly served as Director of Business Development at AIM HR Solutions.

H. Shields Day, Jr., CFA has been a professional investor and business advisor for over 25 years. He began his career as an investment banker at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs in leveraged finance and equities. He then spent the next 15 years as an activist hedge fund investor working with small companies providing capital and business advise for growing, acquiring, restructuring, recapitalizing, and turning around businesses. Currently he is working as an angel investor with Launchpad Venture Group. He has also served as the co-President and Treasurer for Loon Freestyle, Inc. for the past 7 years.

Dave DeFronzo is an Associate Vice President in the valuation and advisory services practice at Teknos. He has several years of experience in valuation and capital markets. Prior to joining Teknos, Dave worked at Grant Thornton LP as an Associate in Strategy & Transactions where he performed hundreds of valuation reports of businesses, assets/liabilities, and complex financial instruments in accordance with ASC 718, IRC 409A, ASC 820, ASC 805, and ASC 350. Dave’s experience also includes positions at Priority Capital, Wolfe Research, Eaton Vance Management, and State Street Corporation. Dave received a BS in Management with a Finance Concentration (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Massachusetts. He is a CFA Charterholder, and member of the CFA Society of Boston.

Alicia is a scientist turned innovation supporter and connector.  Since her PhD training in molecular medicine, Alicia has worked in various roles to bring innovations from the lab to the market, including as a tech transfer associate at the NIH, an innovation consultant for various Fortune 500 companies and NASA and as Head of Innovation at the Swiss science and technology consulate (Swissnex) in Boston.  Currently, Alicia manages Novartis' Genesis Labs, an innovative environment that supports multidisciplinary teams to validate disruptive concepts which may revolutionize drug discovery and development.

Robert Fletcher is a scientific researcher and entrepreneur in cleantech, holding a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of New Hampshire. With experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Robert has advanced research in viral vector purification and oligo therapeutics for rare diseases. Since late 2023, he has served as co-founder and interim CEO of Nanolyx, an early-stage life science company developing eco-friendly antimicrobials to combat resistant microorganisms. Driven by a passion for sustainability and market innovation, Robert blends scientific expertise with entrepreneurial vision to drive impactful change.

Marcella Garcia specializes in medical devices and Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), with expertise in FDA regulations, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, risk management, cybersecurity, and HIPAA. Certified in HCISPP and LQMS, she offers fractional C-level advisory in Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, Information Security, and Operations. With over ten years of executive experience in Class II/III medical devices, digital therapeutics, AI/ML, and IVD, and 15+ years working with complex technologies, Marcella excels in building design history files, regulatory submissions, and leading audits and certifications.

Lynne Garone is an expert in materials science, analytical technology, and sustainability, with over three decades of experience. She joined E Ink in 2001, establishing and leading the Analytical Technology group globally until 2020, ensuring advanced methodologies for assessing product quality, performance, and reliability. Since 2020, she has focused on employee education, social justice, and sustainability initiatives. Previously, she held leadership roles at Polaroid Corporation, overseeing the Microscopy and Analytical Chemistry departments, and at Mobil Tyco Solar Energy Corporation, researching amorphous silicon for solar cells. She holds an M.S. in Materials Science from MIT and a B.S. in Chemistry from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Ian is the CEO and Technical Cofounder of rStream Recycling an award-winning robotic installation that improves sustainable waste collection. His innovation is based on the development of AuditPRO, an AI program that uses thousands of images of trash to train the robot to sort waste more efficiently than humans. Ian has a diverse background in scientific research, electromechanical design, business systems, and project management. He has a passion for climate activism and is interested in addressing global-scale problems through advanced technology to improve quality of life.

Ray graduated from UMass Lowell with a degree in electrical engineering. His background mainly consists of hardware design, system applications and mobile app development. Currently, Rayis the CTO & Co-founder of invisaWear which creates discreet devices disguised as jewelry and stylish accessories that are equipped with advance safety technology. Ray is passionate about helping others and committing with the best effort to make a difference in society.

Bettina Hein is the co-founder and CEO of juli Health, an app for managing chronic health conditions, and an investor on the Swiss Shark Tank, Höhle der Löwen. She also co-founded START Global during her time at HSG, as well as Svox and Pixability. At HSG, she helped launch START, now the world’s largest student-led entrepreneurship conference, which connected her with collaborators who founded btov ventures and led her to co-found Svox, a text-to-speech technology company. Bettina later earned a mid-career master’s at MIT, where she built Pixability, a video advertising software company she led for 12 years before relocating to Switzerland. In 2020, she co-founded juli Health, which focuses on addressing inefficiencies in the U.S. healthcare system through innovative chronic condition management.

As Director of Technology Ventures and Talent Network at Northeastern University's Center for Research Innovation (CRI), Katie leads the development of a pipeline that encourages the discovery, formation, launch and growth of new ventures. In addition to managing the various venture programs at CRI, she continues to cultivate a team of executive talent who mentor and support spinouts as they launch and scale. Katie plays a pivotal role in enhancing Northeastern’s thriving entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem by partnering with existing internal and external stakeholders. In her free time, Katie helps organize operations at SamScribbler, a charitable corporation.

Alex is an Identity Solutions expert and for over 15 years has enabled Governments around the world implement new technologies around secure Government Credentials (National IDs, Driver’s Licenses and Passports).  Alex is President & Managing Director of GET Group North America, which was recently awarded a contract by the US Department of State for the implementation of the Next Generation US Passport. Alex believes that mobile identity is the foundation of any effective digital security strategy and has recently directed the company’s efforts towards the development of its new globally interoperable mobile drivers’ licenses technology. Alex serves on the Board of the Document Security Alliance, an association of government, industry and academia dedicated to securing the production, issuance, and authentication of identity, credentials, and currency.

Currently a Product Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS) specializing in AI/ML, Shankar Krishnan brings over 15 years of experience with companies like IBM, Aptiv, Infosys, Red Hat, and startups such as Lightspeed Commerce. His expertise spans IoT, B2B Enterprise SaaS, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, and more, across industries like Telecom, Healthcare, Utilities, and Payments. At IBM, he led AI/ML initiatives, cloud migrations, and pricing optimization strategies for enterprise clients, building centers of excellence to tackle complex business challenges. With a computer science degree as his foundation, Shankar’s career began as a developer and evolved into a leadership trajectory defined by innovation and impact.

Bob Leonard  is a Principal in BerryDunn's Commercial Practice Group. He provides audit, accounting, tax, and consulting services to clients in a variety of industries, including life sciences, high technology, professional services, and manufacturing. He primarily works with mid-sized, privately held companies with multistate and global operations.  He has over 20 years of experience in both public and private accounting practice. He specializes in accounting and Internal Control over Financial Reporting(ICFR) in accordance with US GAAP, financial statement preparation and analysis, and financial due diligence readiness.

Dr. Livada has been active in the innovation ecosystem for over 35 years. He has advised Global 300 type companies, research universities, regional organizations and startups on commercializing technology. Val is working with MIT's Materials Research and Deshpande Centers to better connect. academia and industry. He is founder of the Corporate Entrepreneurship Network, sits on the Board of Directors of Aphios Corporation, The Built Environment Coalition, AutoHarvest Foundation and Monarch Antenna. He is also advisory board member for Greentown Labs, MassRobotics, MassInnovation Network,  NU's Advanced Manufacturing Group, and Portugal's BGI Incubator.  Dr. Livada holds degrees from MIT and Tufts' Fletcher School and has taught at the Sloan School of Management at MIT and the Questrom School at BU. 

​​As the Executive Director of Women’s Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, Betsy Ludwig leads signature programs that seek to empower female founders, innovators, and changemakers. With 25+ years of international experience as an executive, investor, and management consultant in start-ups and large multinationals, Betsy is passionate about innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship with a particular focus on diversity.

Dr. Margulis has more than 20 years of science and business development experience in the Life Science industry. Trained as a cellular and molecular biologist, his accomplishments include a dozen authored scientific papers and numerous abstracts. In business development, Dr. Margulis increased sales by 200% within two years in the US and Canada, placing the Capital Equipment instruments into world-class academic and biotech/pharma accounts in the Boston area. He is currently building a world-class life science innovation ecosystem in the Southeastern Massachusetts through Mansfield Bio-Incubator serving as a centerpiece. Margulis has served as a Judge for International BioGENEius Challenge for the past three years.

Frank McGillin serves as the CEO of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic. His leadership experience spans more than 20 years of general management, marketing, and innovation roles at Philips, Johnson & Johnson and digital health startups with expertise in launching and scaling innovative, global businesses at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Frank was most recently Chief Commercial Officer at NeuroMetrix, where he led the startup of a new digital health business and established partnerships with GlaxoSmithKline, CVS Health, and Best Buy. Frank is a graduate of Northeastern University and earned an MBA in Finance from Fordham University.

Christopher graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology with multiple Engineering degrees. He holds multiple U.S. and International utility patents focused on AI and Multispectral camera imaging systems for smartphones and IoT devices. His early career in engineering began with United Engineers and Craig Systems in the fields of design and mechanical engineering. He continued his career with Digital Equipment Corporation where he was principal engineer in worldwide environmental field support. Mr. Mutti’s new venture is in the Health and Nutrition monitoring technology field, which he has been involved with, for over 10 years. He is founder and CEO of SmartDiiet the 2019 New England Innovation Award in “Wellness” and the the 2019 InnoStars World Grand Finals competition. He has won numerous pitch competitions .

Yousof Naderi, Ph.D., is a visionary entrepreneur and innovation leader who has spent over two decades driving the development of advanced wireless telecommunication and charging systems. As CEO and Co-Founder of DeepCharge, Yousof is leading the intelligent surface revolution and bringing to market infrastructure wireless charging solutions that are transforming the industry. Yousof is at the forefront of exploring the intersection of AI, sustainability, and the future of work. With a proven track record of taking cutting-edge projects from concept research to market, Yousof is a visionary thought leader. His expertise in the industry and ability to build successful teams and partnerships have established him as a key figure in the tech industry. PYousof is dedicated to creating a better world through his work.

Dr. Patel is a professor at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences. In addition, Dr. Patel is Chief Executive Officer of VocaliD, a Belmont, MA, company that custom-builds voices for the speech-impaired; she is dedicated to developing new technologies to assist people with speech difficulties or impairment. Dr. Patel has been the driving force behind other such initiatives such as the Human Voicebank database. Dr. Patel, a speech scientist and technologist with over 15 years of clinical and research experience in assistive technology, is considered the hope of assisted speech. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and is a speaker for TED.  Dr. Patel serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Innovation Network.

Charlie is a founding member of Danaher Corporation’s venture capital group where he has led approximately 20 investments and served as a board member of 10 of those investments.  He has invested in Seed stage through pre-IPO rounds in Life Science Tools, Pharma Services, and AI enabled companies providing strategic, commercial, fund raising, and recruitment support.  Charlie has spent his 30+ year career working across an expanse of biotechnology related businesses – from industrial enzymes, to informatics, to biotech companies developing vaccines, gene therapies and small molecules, to genomic and proteomic tools before joining Danaher in 2010.  At Danaher he has been part of the M&A team, has lead business development and strategy for two operating companies prior to establishing the Danaher Ventures group. 

As a veterinarian scientist, he enjoys working at the intersection of science and business where he can add value to the product, process and the people involved in bringing next generation medicines to patients. In his current role as innovation lead, he mostly works with early stage innovators and entrepreneurs that work in the infectious disease space. He has over 30 scientific journal and patent publications across various fields including infectious diseases, vaccines, feed supplements, drug delivery and agro-biocides. Parthi has a PhD from Virginia Tech and BVSc from Madras Veterinary College.

Tom Ryden is the Executive Director of MassRobotics, a non-profit organization that helps create and grow the next generation of robotics and smart connected device companies.Prior to joining MassRobotics Mr. Ryden was the founder and CEO/COO of VGo Communications, Inc. While at VGo Mr. Ryden oversaw the development and launch of the market leading VGo telepresence robot. Previously, Mr. Ryden was Director of Sales & Marketing at iRobot Corporation. Under his leadership iRobot secured over $300M in contracts and revenue from its government and industrial products increased from $2M to over $80M annually. In addition, Mr. Ryden held roles in program management, overseeing the development of some of iRobot’s most successful products. Mr. Ryden is on the board of directors of AUVSI New England and serves at the co-chairman of the robotics cluster of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.

With over 30 years of commercial experience in digital health and biopharma, Michael Seggev spearheaded the launch of Merck's groundbreaking HIV/AIDS medication, driving peak annual sales of $1.8 billion. Transitioning to Digital Health in 2015, he led Teva Pharmaceuticals' team in developing and launching the pioneering Digihaler portfolio for asthma and COPD. As Chief Commercial Officer at Vocalis Health, he advanced vocal biomarker technology for COVID-19 screening and chronic disease monitoring. At Donisi Health, he oversaw the commercialization of in-home medical-grade monitoring for CHF, CKD, and other conditions. Currently, as SVP Commercial at Juli, Seggev leverages AI for chronic care management, engaging patients with personalized data for better health outcomes while providing healthcare providers with valuable insights.

Joanna is a serial entrepreneur in the consumer health and wellness space. After completing her MBA in Finance at Boston University, she founded a natural skincare company, Refresh Skin Therapy. Over 10 years, Joanna developed and launched 17 products at Refresh, which are sold worldwide at major retailers, including Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, and RiteAid. Currently she is the CEO of FreezeNit, developing a medical device for the fast, non-toxic treatment of head lice. Joanna is the 2024 winner of the Robert J. Crowley Eddie Award. 

Claire is a principal at SpringTide, and has spent her career focused at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and business. Prior to SpringTide, she was an investor at Meridian Street Capital, where she focused on seed-stage health tech, and Anterra Capital, where she focused on the intersection of biotech and agriculture while launching several animal health startups. Previously, she served as the Chief of Staff at Crestovo, a microbiome therapeutics startup acquired by Finch Therapeutics. She began her career at ClearView Healthcare Partners, a boutique life sciences consultancy, where she advised pharma and biotech clients on a variety of growth strategy topics. Claire holds bachelor’s degrees in biological engineering and management science from MIT.