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Leon Sandler
( Executive Director, MIT Deshpande Center )

Bio

Leon Sandler brings to the MIT Deshpande Center more than twenty-five years experience in senior general management, marketing, finance and business development roles at companies such as Boston Consulting Group, Eastman Kodak, Texas Instruments and Digital Equipment. Most recently, he ran his own consulting firm, Monmouth Group, where he transformed more than 20 growing businesses in a variety of technology sectors. Leon has also served as the CEO of several start-ups and has assisted many ventures as an interim executive or advisor. He holds a bachelor of science and masters in science in Chemical Engineering from Natal University in South Africa, and a MBA from the Stanford Business School.


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Daniel Behr
( Director Business Development, Harvard )

Bio

Daniel Behr co-founded 4 technology companies, was a general partner in a seed-stage venture fund, and serves as director/advisor to several start-ups. He is currently a “venture catalyst” at Harvard University where he is Director of Business Development in the Office of Technology Development. Daniel was co-founder of IN USA which became a $10M world leader in ozone instrumentation; Compact Instruments, which developed the world’s first hand-held mass spectrometer and was acquired by MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) in 2000; Arradiance, which is developing an electron-beam source for use in semiconductor lithography (funded by top-tier VC funds in November 2004); and Growth Point Life Sciences, a firm focused on accelerating the commercialization of intellectual property assets. His seed-stage angel fund, Seed Partners, was founded in 1999 and is fully invested in a portfolio of start-up companies. Daniel is a Director of Nutfield Technology (industrial lasers) and an advisor to companies commercializing new medical devices, instruments, nano technologies, and software products. Daniel earned an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School and an engineering degree with Highest Honors from Georgia Tech, and is fluent in Spanish and German.


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Melissa Carrier
( Director of Venture Investments, University of Maryland, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship )

Bio

Melissa Carrier joined the Dingman Center in 2006 after 11 years of leading organizational growth for technology companies ranging from Fortune 500 to early stage start-ups. Ms. Carrier brings broad experience across corporate and product-line positions including acquisitions and divestitures, venture investments, partnerships, new product launches, system implementations and marketing programs. Melissa previously served as Finance Director for AT&T Mergers and Acquisitions. While at AT&T, she also led investments for the company's Strategic Venture fund. In this role, Melissa had lead responsibility for managing the investment pipeline, analyzing financial and market data, performing on-site due diligence, and executing deals. During her tenure at AT&T, she also served as the Product Manager for the MVNO wireless data content offering/platform as well as Manager of Strategy and Business Development for AT&T Consumer Services. Ms. Carrier began her career as a process consultant for Andersen Consulting. During this time, she worked with U.S. and European clients on business process design and ERP system implementations. Subsequently, Ms. Carrier served as a Director at two startup technology companies focused on web-based business-to-business strategies. Immediately prior to obtaining her MBA, Melissa led strategic development of core processes for SAP's Global Solution Center. Ms. Carrier received a BS in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA with Honors in Finance and Strategic Management from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.


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