John Hartnett - Managing Director & Founder, Irish Technology Capital; CEO, G24 Innovations

John Hartnett is Managing Director and Founder at Irish Technology Capital;  President and Chief Executive Officer at G24 Innovations, and is Chairman of the Irish Technology Leadership Group. G24i utilises the latest breakthroughs in material science and technology to create a new class of advanced solar cells. These convert light energy into electrical energy, even under low light conditions and so generate electric energy even in the absence of direct sunlight. 

Irish America magazine has honoured the Limerick native several times as one of the top 100 Irish-American business executives in the US. His role as G24i’s Chief Executive Officer sees him divide his time between the company’s offices in Cardiff in Wales, and Silicon Valley in California. 

Prior to joining G24i, John Hartnett was senior vice president of global markets at Palm, Inc. where he was responsible for worldwide sales, service and support. Before that, he was executive vice president of worldwide operations, service, support and eCommerce at Handspring, Inc. He was an integral member of the executive leadership team that led to the 2003 merger of Handspring and palmOne to form what is known today as Palm, Inc. 

John Hartnett has over 20 years of senior management experience across sales, marketing, and operations in the US and Ireland. His career in high tech boasts some of the industry’s leading companies. 

John is a member of the Wireless Advisory Board in the U.S. for Enterprise Ireland and is the President and Chairman, as well as a founding member, of the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) in the U.S. 

John earned a marketing degree through the Marketing Institute of Ireland, a post-graduate diploma in finance through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and completed the executive management program at Stanford University. He is on the board of the University of Limerick Foundation. John is a member of the American Ireland Fund and the US-Ireland Alliance.

Miguel Valls - Managing Partner & Founder, MED-SV Fund; VP Corporate Development, Vlex Networks

Established in Silicon Valley and Barcelona, Spain, Miguel Valls is Managing Partner and Founder of MED-SV, a Cleantech Fund based in Barcelona. He is also VP of International Operations and Corporate Development of Vlex Networks.

Miguel serves as Technology Advisor to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Board member and Founder of Barcelona Sharing Projects and sits on the Advisory Board of Melodis Corp. 

He has extensive experience in the derivatives industry (Siaga A.V.B) and Money Management (Barclays Private Banking, BNP-Paribas Private Banking). 

Miguel is a member of the CEFIE Angel Network (IESE Business School), the CEEI Angel Network (ESADE Business School) and the Keiretsu Spanish Chapter. 

He is a European Financial Advisor (EFPA), European Financial Analyst (EFA), Derivates Broker-Dealer (MEFF), and Technical and Chartist Analyst (IEF). Miguel holds a law degree from UB, Barcelona, Spain and recently finished an Executive Program in Cleantech in the Cleantech Institute at the Haas School of Business, Berkeley.

Joerg Sperling - Partner, WHEB Ventures

Jörg joined WHEB Ventures in 2008 as it’s 5th partner when he opened the new WHEB office in Munich. Before that he has been active in the clean technology investment area for almost two years as a Venture Partner with Munich based VC firm Target Partners. Prior to that he was one of four partners at the US-based power and energy fund Ridgewood Capital. George has also been active in operational roles for semiconductor companies in Europe and the US, his most recent role being Global VP Sales for Dresden-based ZMD. ZMD provides silicon components for sensor systems in automotive, industrial and medical markets. 

George’s VC track record includes 18 investments with 11 board positions and successful exits via NASDAQ IPOs and LSE listings plus numerous trade sales. 

He is an electrical engineer with a Masters in Electrical Engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany. George has also conducted research on epitaxial growth (wafers to be used for laser and solar applications for example) at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He has been an advisor to the Fraunhofer Institute on Spin-Offs and is an active judge and coach for Munich, Swiss and Saxony Business Plan Competitions.

John McIntyre - Senior Vice President, Enterprise Ireland - Silicon Valley

John McIntyre is Senior Vice President, Software & Services, based in Enterprise Ireland’s (EI) Silicon Valley office. McIntyre leads the EI team chartered with driving market momentum for Irish software, services, and technology companies in the North American marketplace. 

McIntyre’s two-decade career involves a blend of entrepreneurial and executive experience with companies ranging from established industry leaders to emerging players in the software space. Before Enterprise Ireland, he co-founded InnerWorkings, a software company that raised over $10 million round of venture financing. He also spent time at SmartForce (now Skillsoft) as Director of Business Development and Strategic Relations. 

Before SmartForce McIntyre spent 13 years at Intel Corp. where, as Director of Business Market Development, he partnered closely with Intel Capital to fund emerging technology and software companies.

Jean (John) Rauscher - CEO, Yseop

John (Jean) Rauscher is a French serial entrepreneur, and the current CEO of Yseop, a software vendor of a unique solution based on Artificial Intelligence that can automatically dialogue with the user in English and write intelligent, coherent and multilingual texts just like a human being but at a rate of thousands pages per second.

Before joining Yseop, Jean was the CEO of Sunopsis SA, a Lyons-based software vendor with international operations. Sunopsis’ success was based on the efficiency of the five international subsidiaries including the US headquarters in Boston, MA, the three European subsidiaries in London, Frankfurt and Rome, and the Asian operations in Singapore. From start up, the international software revenues at Sunopsis reached 70% in four years. John sold Sunopsis to Oracle Corp. in October 2006 and the Sunopsis flagship product is now known as Oracle Data Integrator.

Mr. Rauscher was previously the CEO of the US subsidiary of Cyrano, a public company specializing in RDBMS testing tools. John lived in San Francisco and Boston for a period of ten years during his tenure at Cyrano and Sunopsis. He has also traveled extensively in Asia. He was previously VP Sales for Sybase in France. John Rauscher is 47 years old, and the author of two published business books: “A la conquête de la Silicon Valley” – Editions Organisation (1999), on innovative marketing for the high tech industry, and: “PME: Réussir à l’international” – Groupe l’Express (2008), on the power of innovation for succeeding in international business. Christine Lagarde, the current Finance and Economy Minister of France has written the foreword of John’s last book. He is also a French Government Advisor on international business.

Andrew Parish - CEO, Wavebob Ltd.

Andrew Parish, Chief Executive Officer of Wavebob, is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, the Irish Management Institute and Henley Management College, London. Prior to joining Wavebob, he was Irish Practice Leader for Pera International - a commercial R&D consultancy and previously held management positions in Sustainable Energy Ireland and GE Water and Process Technology. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management and Institute of Engineering and Technology.

Laurent Bochereau - Counselor and Head, Science, Technology & Education Section, European Commission, Washington DC

Laurent Bochereau is responsible for the "Science, Technology and Education" section at the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington DC. He earned a Laureate from the Ecole Polytechnique and ENGREF in Paris, a Master's degree from the University of California and a PhD from the University of Paris VI. 

After spending several years working as a research project leader at CEMAGREF, he served two years in the French Ministry for Research. He joined the European Commission in 1995 where he worked several years as assistant to the Director for Life Sciences and then as Head of Unit with responsibilities for agriculture, forestry, agro-industry and food safety research.

Stephane Barbier - Development Director, OnlyLyon/Aderly (The Lyon Area Economic Development Agency)

Since 2006, Mr Barbier is Development Director of the Investment & Promotion Agency of Lyon and General Secretary of the World Trade Center Lyon, member of the World Trade Centers Association in NYC. He launched the “Boosting Talents” offer which aims at helping entrepreneurs start a tech venture in France, focusing on Life Sciences, Clean Technologies and Information Technology. 

From 2003 to 2006, Mr Barbier managed the innovation team of the Lyon Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining the Chamber, Mr Barbier co-founded Partners Consulting in 1996. Partners Consulting specializes in consulting for leading worldwide companies seeking for new products development with world-class innovations. As CEO, he focused on strategic and business developments for the company and initiated joint-ventures in Europe and North-America. 

From 1995 to 1996, Mr Barbier was Marketing Director for OTIO France, a French high-tech startup. He set promotional and marketing actions and launched several products on the market. Mr Barbier holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the University of Lyon.

Priit Vimberg - CEO and Founder, Yoga LLC

Priit Vimberg is CEO, a Founder and a Member of the Board at Yoga LLC, and is steering the development of Yoga's intelligent building system. Priit is a serial entrepreneur since 1997 and has extensive experience and knowledge in Estonian and international business affairs. 

In addition to being educated in NC and CNC programmable fully automatic machines for the metal industry, Priit has studied international business at Concordia University, and through the Executive MBA program at the Estonian Business School.

Tapio Koivu - Executive Vice President, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

As Executive Vice President, Tapio Koivu is responsible for managing VTT's IP business, including a portfolio of over 1,000 patents and 17 technology start-up companies. He also oversees licensing and sales of intellectual property at VTT.

Prior to his current position, Tapio established VTT's Silicon Valley operations, and served as a research fellow at Stanford University's Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. Earlier in his career, he headed the Strategic Technology Development Division within the VTT Building and Transport group, with responsibilities covering industry collaboration and technology strategies for partnership level customers.

Tapio holds a Ph.D. in construction management from the Tampere University of Technology in Finland.

Andrus Viirg - Director, Enterprise Estonia - Silicon Valley

Andrus Viirg is the Director of Enterprise Estonia, Silicon Valley (from 2007), which is the representative office of Enterprise Estonia - a state foundation for business, trade as well as technology support and development. Mr. Viirg has also served as the Director of the Estonian Investment Agency (2001-2003). 

During the 1990s Andrus followed an international career with the World Bank Group (IBRD and IFC) heading the Bank Group Office in Tallinn, Estonia (1995-2001); and with the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, as an Assistant to the Executive Director (1992-1994). Mr. Viirg has also worked for the Bank of Estonia (the Central Bank) on relations with international financial institutions. 

Andrus holds a diploma of engineering from the Tallinn University of Technology (1983) in the areas of automation and software engineering. He has also graduated from the Estonian School of Diplomacy (1992) in foreign trade relations. Mr. Viirg combines technical and economics knowledge with hands on experience in software development and electronics.

As the Director of Enterprise Estonia, Silicon Valley, Andrus is responsible for building up the network of contacts enabling Estonian tech companies to access the US market, as well as promoting Estonia for foreign direct investment.

Bernardo Hernandez - Director, Google; Business Angel

Bernardo Hernandez is a leading Spanish Business Angel. He graduated from ICADE, a top Business School in Madrid, Spain in 1993. He has a Masters in Finance from Boston College and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

At the age of 29, after 5 years as an analyst and portfolio manager in the asset management industry with companies like Fidelity and Putnam, he started his first internet venture idealista.com, now the leading real estate online portal in Spain. Since then he has participated in other online start-ups as a Business Angel, like floresfrescas.com, planetaki.com, 11870.com or the leading social network in Spain, tuenti.com. 

His latest venture is StepOne.com, a company that helps Spanish business to get established in the US. 

Bernardo joined Google in 2005 and is currently the Global head of marketing for consumer products based in Mountain View, California.

Javier Hernández - CEO and Founder, INCIDE S.A.

Dr. Javier Hernández’s fifteen-year career in the technology start-up industry has spanned a wide range of activities in research, technology development and corporate entrepreneurship and management. Javier is today CEO and founder of INCIDE S.A., a semiconductor fabless house for chip manufacturing. He is also co-founder and board member of Donewtech Solutions SL / Addonia Team SL (two ERP software companies), Ekicells Energy SL (a solar cell manufacturing company using laser treatments) and Bidetec Consulting SL (a strategy consultancy firm for startups).

Some years ago, he also co-founded e-Signus SL (tokens for internet security) and Ocean Semiconductor GmbH (silicon optical links), among others. At this moment, Javier is helping Innobasque (the Basque Innovation Agency) to promote Hazitek, an open acceleration platform and fund for supporting fast-growing startups.

Prior to that, he was electronic design engineer at Fraunhofer Institute in Erlangen, Germany, and a research scientist at CEIT in San Sebastian, Spain. Dr. Javier Hernández received his Ph.D. in Eletrical Engineering from the University of Navarre – Tecnun and holds an Executive MBA from IESE.

Jesús Sainz - CEO, PromoMadrid

Jesús Sainz’s broad experience spans from the corporate arena to the Spanish Public Administration, with a strong international focus having worked in countries like Spain, U.K., Germany, U.S.A. and Argentina. Jesús held several positions within the Spanish Public Administration (1969-83) in the international arena (Commercial Counselor in Germany, Director of Exchange Control Office, Director of Economic Cooperation with Latin America). One of his achievements was the granting of the 1992 Seville World Fair by the Bureau of International Exhibitions (Paris) in 1982.

As Executive Vice Chairman of a private holding company (1984-93), he acted as business and political senior advisor to foreign corporations interested in investing or developing new businesses in Spain, Latam or EMEA. In several occasions Jesús had the privilege to act as joint advisor with Kissinger Associates. During his tenure as Board Member and Executive VP of OGDEN Corp., NYSE (1994-2002), he was responsible for Ogden’s investment projects in Europe and Latam in airport services and the leisure industry. His experience in the leisure industry helped him execute a successful turn-around at a WARNER BROS. theme park in Madrid which in 2 years registered over €100M losses following a €385M investment. Jesús was called in 2004 to serve as Executive Chairman, and completed the sale of the company 3 years later with a transaction value of over €315M. 

Since 2003 Jesús is Chairman of ADARA (www.adaravp.com), a €50M venture capital fund specializing in ICT technology; since 2007 he has also served as Chairman of PROMOMADRID (www.promomadrid.com), a company established by the Madrid Regional Government to promote the internationalization of its economy. During his professional career, he has been Board Member of ENASA (trucks), AVIACO (airlines), FOCOEX (foreign trade), RENAULT V.I. (industrial vehicles), FILO (real estate) and EDS Spain (ICT). 

Jesús is also actively involved in high profile non-profit institutions, serving as Vice Chairman of “New York University King Juan Carlos I Center Foundation”, and of “Club Empresarial ICADE”. After 15 years of close collaboration with N.Y.U., Jesús was distinguished in 2007 with its Presidential Medal.

Jesús graduated in Law and Business Administration from ICADE (1966) and also became a member of the prestigious State Economist Body (1969).

Gaizka Zulaika - Director of Investment, Innobasque

Gaizka Zulaika has held directorships and advisory positions in companies and business start-up foundations, venture capital firms, technology centres and multi-institutional bodies including BEAZ, Seed Capital Bizkaia, BAI, CTA, CIC Biogune, and the Basque Council for Economic Promotion, among others. 

The early years of his professional life were spent in companies like Medtronic and Cikautxo S. Coop, where he developed a profound understanding of Basque industry while working for customers from all over Europe mainly from the automotive industry. During 2000-2001, he continued his professional career while studying for an Executive MBA at Deusto University to complement his training in business management. From then on his professional career began to combine technical knowledge with business management, particularly when he set up his own engineering firm, BOSDEM, specialising in SME internationalization projects. 

From September 2005 to 2007, he worked as general manager at the Vizcaya Provincial Council’s Department of Innovation & Economic Promotion. While in the provincial administration he led, among other things, the process to set up Vizcaya innovation agency BAI and worked actively in innovation, R&D and entrepreneurship, seeking at all times to cooperate with the network’s peer institutions and players. 

An industrial Engineer from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering of the University of Navarre (San Sebastian campus), Zulaika completed his studies at the Higher National School of Engineers in Grenoble.

Mario Orasche - Managing Partner & Founder, Eagle Ventures

Mario Orasche founded Eagle Ventures, the first ICT and Greentech focused venture capital firm dedicated to Central and Southeastern Europe (CSE) in 2008. Ranked amongst the most experienced tech VC professionals in the CSE region, he presently serves as the Chairman of the Board at LiveCLIQ, a globally leading startup in live mobile video streaming, comprising a unique 2‐way, 3‐screen media platform. Besides being a member of the Seedcamp selection panel (a pan‐European seed financing initiative comprising leading VCs), Mario is an advisor and mentor to up‐and‐coming startups in CSE. 

Prior to founding Eagle Ventures, Mario was a founding team member at gamma capital partners, Austria’s leading tech VC, where he was heading the business development for Central and Eastern Europe, and concluding over a dozen of investments, including regional and global leaders in Software and Electronics. Previous experience includes iLab24, Austria’s first ICT incubator, Invest Mezzanine, Austria’s first mezzanine fund, Hewlett Packard, and Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC). He’s a regular speaker at international conferences on innovation and VC in Eastern Europe. 

Mario studied International Business Administration at the University of Vienna, the London School of Economics and ESC Clermont‐Ferrand, after having completed his studies at the Mechanical Engineering College, Klagenfurt. He is fluent in Slovene, German, English, French, Italian and Spanish, and conversant in several Slavic languages.

Michael Shraybman - CEO, Cogniance

Michael Shraybman is CEO & co-founder of Cogniance Inc., a US-Ukrainian software outsourcing company to early-stage, venture-funded companies around the world. Michael's background as a Ukrainian-American technology executive spans management consulting, technology, and outsourcing strategy at companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, CSC, Serena Software, and Sonopia. For the past 10+ years he has been focusing on 'flattening the world' by delivering high-tech solutions for funded start-ups and Fortune 500 clients in Wireless, Financial Services, Entertainment, and other verticals. Michael holds a BA in Business Economics & Computing from UCLA and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School.

Ignacio de la Vega - Chairman, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)

Ignacio de la Vega is Chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). GEM is a not-for-profit academic research consortium that has as its goal making high quality international research data on entrepreneurial activity readily available to as wide an audience as possible. GEM is the largest single study of entrepreneurial activity in the world. Dr. de la Vega also serves as Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management at the Instituto de Empresa (IE), one of Europe's leading business schools. 

Ignacio believes that entrepreneurship’s day is dawning, particularly with the growth of venture capital financing and the emergence of business angels, thought severely affected by actual economic downturn, the future is bright. “There is also a huge improvement in the cultural environment that is benefiting entrepreneurs and their activities, even recession is bringing into the system a growing desire to foster entrepreneurial activities in any government strategy” he says. “And so people, and companies, are getting into the entrepreneurial arena.” Ignacio de la Vega is currently working with large firms, like GE, Siemens, Banesto, iberdrola, Pfizer and others, in the development of corporate entrepreneurship activities. 

What is still missing, he says, is sufficient support - not just financial but also in terms of information and in tax treatment - on entrepreneurship, this is a gap he believes he and his colleagues can help fill. “This used to be a very dark area with little information and support available. We’re trying to bring some light into that,” he says. "let's not forget that entrepreneurship is the major force in creating employment, collective wealth and innovation". This can be found in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) that Instituto de Empresa and De la Vega lead in Spain, and which Global Board he leads as well. 

The fact that he is author of three books on entrepreneurial management gives Prof de la Vega great credibility in this mission, as does his role as director and founder of the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Ventures Development (ICEVED) at IE, developing among other projects the Venture-Lab Caja Madrid BP competition. Also his role as active entrepreneur and investor allows De la Vega to bring back to the classrooms real and exciting examples and cases. Prof. De la Vega is also very active in the communication arena, acting regularly in TV shows, writing in the main papers and magazines and having his own Blog. 

Another exciting new area for Prof de la Vega is the increasingly popular field of social entrepreneurship whereby non-profit and community organisations can become more efficient through the use of entrepreneurship techniques. “We have a competition for technology-based firms that allows non-profit organisations and multisectorial entrepreneurs and SME´s to develop their projects with an entrepreneurial point of view together with Orange and BANESTO, Escuela Banespyme-Orange” he explains. “And we are also working in the development of competition for social projects together with the Sumaq alliance for students at all the member schools”.

Nico Goulet - Managing Partner, Adara Venture Partners

Nico Goulet has been dedicated to venture investment and management since 1999. He is currently Managing Partner & co-founder of Adara Venture Partners, a VC firm with more than $80Mn under management. Adara invests in technology ventures across Europe, with a particular focus on Spain or Spain related companies. With more than 13 investments, covering areas such as enterprise SW, components and semiconductors, mobility and telecoms equipment, Adara has significant experience in the development of companies that combine European technology, entrepreneurs and markets with Silicon Valley exposure. 

Prior to Adara he founded and was CEO of NETfractal, a venture fund where he raised in excess of $18m of equity and limited partnership commitments. During this period, he launched five spanish-based ventures and served on the board of several early-stage companies. From 1992 until 1999 he was a partner at Monitor Company, where he gained experience in consulting for global industrial and service companies; in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, infrastructure, technology and defence sectors. He also worked on some major M&A transactions and led advisory work on several mid-sized acquisition and exit deals. Previously he worked at Andersen Consulting in Paris, where his work included the development of proprietary methodologies for the management of technology-based R&D. 

Nico obtained a BSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Ecole Centrale de Paris, an MSc in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and an MBA from INSEAD. He is a private pilot and an advanced aerobatics competitor.

Michael Neidhoefer - CEO & Co-Founder, Netbiscuits

Michael is CEO and co-founder of Netbiscuits. Established in 2000, Netbiscuits operates the world’s leading B2B web software platform for the creation, operation and monetization of mobile websites. Michael has successfully grown the company into a profitable market leading software company serving 200+ business customers and major brands such as eBay, Yahoo and AOL. Today, he oversees Netbiscuits' global strategy as well as sales and marketing. He is one of the first true Mobile Internet pioneers in Germany and is recognized as one of the most experienced industry leaders in the worldwide mobile market.

Michael started his professional career working for an large UK based company where he was head of IT in Germany and project manager for international software projects in Germany, UK, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. He is active member in mobile market shaping organizations such as Mobile Monday, MMA, CTIA, MEF and inMobile. Michael was nominated for the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Germany in 2008, and holds a degree of Master of Business and Engineering of the University of Kaiserslautern.

John M. Lervik - CEO (Emeritus), FAST Search & Transfer

Dr. Lervik was the co-founder and CEO of Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) through the acquisition by Microsoft in January 2008. Following the acquisition he served as a corporate vice president of enterprise search in Microsoft till January 2009. In 2005, Dr. Lervik was one of technology innovators named to the prestigious Forbes E-Gang. Lervik holds a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he was awarded the Esso prize for the best overall PhD in 1996/97.

Svein-Egil Nielsen - Innovation Norway, San Francisco

Svein-Egil started working for Innovation Norway in January 2007 and in addition to managing the San Francisco office, he is focusing on ICT, Energy and Life-Science companies with ambitions in the US market.

Svein-Egil has a background from strategy consulting and the semiconductor industry. During his time with the Boston Consulting Group he worked on multitude of projects across various industries. Before joining Innovation Norway he worked at Nordic Semiconductor ASA, a Norwegian semiconductor company focusing on wireless components. At Nordic he held the position of Sales and Marketing Director and established a world-wide sales network for the company. He has also held the position as R&D Director at Nordic managing a large portfolio of semiconductor and software development projects. 

Mr. Nielsen is an BSc Honors graduate from University of Strathclyde, Scotland majoring in Computer and Electronic Systems. He also holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

Burton Lee - Lecturer, Stanford School of Engineering

Dr. Burton Lee PhD MBA, Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Lee's professional credentials span over 15 years of senior executive leadership and advisory positions with venture-backed startups, global technology corporations, venture capital and private equity firms, federal S&T agencies, state economic development offices, leading research universities, foreign governments and industry associations. His management and technical experience includes senior executive and research positions with Hewlett Packard, GE Global Research, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan. Burton's research interests include Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), diagnostics, prognostics, maintenance and customer support for complex industrial systems; product design and development, including DfX, design-for-sustainability and -environment methodologies; artificial intelligence (Bayesian networks, ontologies, knowledge representation); aerospace systems; unmanned vehicles, robotics, electric transportation systems; open innovation in mechatronic systems; and innovation policy.

Dr. Lee is Managing Partner of Innovarium Ventures, a strategic, financial and technical advisory services firm based in Silicon Valley. He also served as Principal and co-founder of Space Angels Network, a professionally managed national network of accredited investors focused on seed- and early-stage aerospace-related ventures. 

Dr. Lee's European experience includes 10+ years of professional and academic assignments in Dublin (Member, National Innovation Taskforce, Office of the Prime Minister, Govt of Ireland - 2009/2010), Stuttgart (DaimlerChrysler Research Labs), Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Vienna (Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen), Geneva (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations - IUF), Prague (Univerzita Karlova v Praze), Barcelona and London. 

Burton holds a PhD in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (minor) from Stanford University (2002), and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship (Cornell, 2004). He speaks German and Spanish.