January 2014
| Business World Magazine | 11
The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) an-
nounced its inaugural class of industry fel-
lows. Comprised by a broad group of industry
veterans from the life sciences and technol-
ogy sectors, the industry fellows program was
launched last yearwith the intent tohelpmatch
university faculty and entrepreneurs with sea-
soned industry professionals to aid in building
successful startup companies.”There are op-
portunities with strong commercial potential
being developed in the labs of our universi-
ties,” says GRA President/CEO C. Michael
Cassidy. “We see first-hand how instrumental
industry expertise can be in taking a discovery
to market. We developed the industry fellows
program to give faculty access to top industry
minds, right here in Georgia.”
Industry fellows are selected based on their
interest, compatibility with faculty entrepre-
neurs and in-depth experience. Their roles
range from early advisor to interim executive
to launch executive officer. Many of them will
contribute as board members of emerging suc-
cessful companies. The current class of GRA
industry fellows includes several who have
become CEOs of companies formed around
university-based
technologies,
including
Gregg BeVier, CEO of Body Surface Transla-
tions Inc.; L. Edward Cannon, president and
CEO of NovAb; Tom O’Brien, president and
CEO of Axion Biosystems; and Jim Stratigos,
founder and CEO of Sytheros Communica-
tions.
Also serving as advisors to a number of
emerging GRA portfolio companies are Chris
Cashman, previous CEO and president of Sa-
nuwave Health Inc.; Heather Creran, previous
CEO and president of CSI Laboratories; Greg
Duncan, previous executive vice president of
UCB; Blake Patton, previous president and
COO of Interactive Advisory Software; Jona-
than Solomon, previous chief corporate de-
velopment officer of PSA Healthcare; Tom
Stribling, president and CEO, Northampton
Medical, and Michael Zeto, director of corpo-
rate development at M&A, AT&T Mobility.
FOCUSED FELLOWSHIP
