WBT Advisory Board
Steve Mercil | RAIN Source Capital
Steve Mercil serves as President and CEO of Rain Source Capital, and oversees all activities at RAIN Source Capital and is responsible for building its portfolio. Steve is the current Chair of NASVF, and also serves on the board of the Angel Capital Association. He has over 20 years experience in small business finance including structuring and negotiating transactions for manufacturing and technology companies. He served nine months as interim CEO of one of Minnesota Investment Network’s portfolio companies. As the Equity Fund Manager of Minnesota Technology, Inc., Mr. Mercil was responsible for the development and launching of the equity fund. As a result of his eight-year tenure as President of Crookston Jobs, Inc. and Executive Director of Crookston EDA, he has a proven track record with business development and finance for small to medium-size companies in rural Minnesota. Mr. Mercil holds a BS degree in Biology and MS in Education Statistics and Measurement from the University of North Dakota.
Ed Linsenmeyer | Naval Surface Warfare Center
Ed Linsenmeyer is Commanding Officer of the Dahlgren Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Panama City, Florida, and is a past-chair of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Tech Transfer. For the last decade Mr. Linsenmeyer has served as the manager of the Coastal Systems Station Office of Research and Technology Applications. In that capacity, he has held a variety of FLC offices, including Program Chair, Member-at-Large, Southeast Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinator, and his current position as Vice-Chair. The FLC has recognized Mr. Linsenmeyer’s service by awarding him both the regional and national FLC Laboratory Representative of the Year Award (1995). Ed graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology with a B.S. in physics. He then attended the University of Florida, where he was a John C. Slater graduate research fellow on the Quantum Theory Project, a joint program with Uppsala University, Sweden. After obtaining a master’s degree and being admitted to a Ph.D. candidacy, he taught at Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville Fla.
Mike Millard | Austin Ventures
Mike Millard joined Austin Ventures in 2008 as Director of Research. He is responsible for securing and validating timely data to assist in the overall due diligence decision process for potential investments or acquisitions. This includes understanding management, companies and markets as well the technical, legal and financial aspects of potential business opportunities. Previously, Mike commercialized technology for AT&T Knowledge Ventures in Austin Texas. Prior to this, he worked in strategy roles at both HP and Dell, Inc. Mike received his MBA from Western Illinois University and his BS from Illinois State University. He currently serves on the board of Marywood Children and Family Services.
Claudia Milz | Corning Incorporated
Dr. Claudia Milz, MBA, is Manager of Market Assessment at Corning Incorporated, located in Elmira, New York. Corning Incorporated is the world leader in specialty glass and ceramics. Drawing on more than 150 years of materials science and process engineering knowledge, Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications and life sciences. Dr. Milz joined the WBT Advisory Board in the spring of 2010, and has served as a screener and mentor for the WBTshowcase for several years. She is an energetic MBA and seasoned PhD-level mechanical engineer with a specialty in ceramics, with extensive scientific accomplishments in the fields of advanced materials and nanotechnology. She brings expertise in general management, materials engineering, process engineering, project management and university level education/course design. Claudia's MBA is from the University of Florida, and her PhD in mechanical engineering is from Universität Karlsruhe.
Bill Reichert | Garage Technology Ventures
Bill Reichert has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. Since joining Garage in 1998, Bill has focused on early-stage information technology and materials science companies. He sits on the Boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares, and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, Bill was a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company, and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and the World Bank. Bill earned a B.A. at Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He was a founding board member and a Chairman of the Churchill Club, and a Charter Member of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. Currently he is the Chairman of the Small Fund Roundtable of the VC Taskforce and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Michael Wu | Chart Venture Partners
Mr. Wu joined Chart Venture Partners in 2006 after more than 13 years of experience from engineering and product management to venture advisory, angel investing and venture capital. In 2002, he founded Blue Angel Ventures, a Research Triangle Park, NC-based seed funding and venture advisory firm focusing on wireless IT, advanced materials/nanotechnology, and medical devices. He has served in interim/turnaround management and board positions of several technology start-ups and is a founding board member of Long Island Angel Network. From 1994 to 2002, Mr. Wu had held engineering and product management roles in fiber optics, smartphones, public safety and next-generation technologies at Nortel Networks, Ericsson, Siemens, Nextel Communications, and Georgia Tech Research Institute. Mr. Wu earned his M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, and B.S. (magna cum laude and Eta Kappa Nu graduate) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is also fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and German.