Gail serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Innovation Space, where she brings her vast knowledge and networks of investors, investment philosophy, and financial expertise to help assist our startups. Most recently, in her role as Associate Director, Horn Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware, she is leading the creation of a new Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative. As employee #23 of venture capital industry disruptor Alumni Ventures Group, she was the Founding Managing Partner of Chestnut Street Ventures and the AVG Women’s Fund and AVG Social Impact Fund for which she raised nearly $20MM and invested in over 75 companies across all sectors and stages. In industry, she served as COO of The Bancorp Bank, the innovative banking solution provider for the most recognizable names in digital banking. She also filled executive roles at PNC, Chase, Capital One, and NCO Financial Systems. In addition, Gail headed the Payments Studies Group at the Richmond Fed and served as Board Member and Risk Committee Chair at Kompanion, Inc., one of Central Asia’s largest microfinance institutions. Gail earned her BS in Economics, Finance, and Statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Members Categories: Entrepreneurs in Residence
Jonathan Burbaum
Dr. Jonathan Burbaum currently serves as the sole Principal of Gnosys, Inc., a company based in San Francisco. He is also a venture partner with Innovating Capital, an early-stage venture fund. He formerly held a similar position with Genoa Ventures and was an EIR with Spruce Capital Partners.
Gnosys provides life science business development and technology consulting. The company has had clients that include venture-backed startups, a Fortune 50 company, and venture firms.
Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Jonathan was a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), focusing broadly on transportation energy, from advanced biotechnology applications for biofuels to network optimization applied to personal transportation energy use. He has had a long career as a technology leader, primarily focusing on realizing value from novel technologies, products, and commercial strategies in the life sciences. He founded a San Diego-based company, Azure Therapeutics, and has worked extensively for corporate, venture, and government clients. He has also played seminal roles with two venture-backed startup companies, Pharmacopeia (Princeton, NJ) from inception, through IPO and commercial launch, and as VP of Research for ActivX Biosciences (San Diego, CA). He began his industrial career at the Merck Research Laboratories in 1991.
Jonathan received his B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1981, and his Ph. D. from Harvard University – where he worked for Jeremy R. Knowles on the energetics of enzymatic catalysis – in 1988. From 1988 to 1991, Jonathan conducted post-doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Paul Schimmel, focusing on protein structure, function and folding. He received his M.B.A. from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego in 2009.
Will Cruz
Will Cruz currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Innovation Space. Will is a proven entrepreneur and global investor committed to accelerating innovation returns and venture funding through corporate and institutional capital. He is recognized for building exceptional founder talent and supporting them as they validate their startup concepts. Will’s experience stems from being a 5x entrepreneur with meaningful exits and as an Entrepreneur in Residence to several notable universities around the globe.
Mike Patterson
Mike currently serves as Entrepreneur in Residence for the Innovation Space. Mike is a repeat deep tech entrepreneur who has served as Founder, CEO, and COO for companies in nanotechnology, advanced materials, sensors, and healthcare. Mike has over 20 years of experience across startup companies and multinational corporations leading organizations and teams in Innovation, Business Development, Product Management, Operations, and Change Management. Mike is a TechConnect National Innovation Award winner, holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, an A.B. in History of Science from Princeton University, completed the National Science Foundation I-Corps Technology Commercialization program at Stanford University, and is a Certified Patent Valuation Analyst.
Scott Sill
Scott Sill currently serves as an Entrepreneur In Residence for the Innovation Space. He is an experienced leader in the Mid-Atlantic entrepreneurial community having been part of the founding team of tech company that went public, launched the online division at a major financial institution and as a venture capitalist. In addition to being an EIR with the Innovation Space, Scott leads the Entrepreneurial Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and serves on the Board of four startup companies.
Deb Travers
Deb Travers currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence for the Innovation Space. She is an accomplished strategic healthcare executive and entrepreneur with diverse and progressive product development experience in global pharmaceutical and biomedical companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 500. Deb has bridged the worlds of science and commercialization with a 30+ year track record of success in bringing new products which meet customer needs from concept through technical development, launch and life cycle. For the past five and a half years, she was CEO of PolyAurum, a preclinical stage biotechnology company spun out of the University of Pennsylvania which is developing gold nanoparticles to treat difficult cancers.
Todd Wallach
Todd currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence for the Innovation Space. Todd has over 30 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur, consultant, board member, advisor, and seasoned senior executive in Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Devices/Diagnostics, and Spacecraft/Space Systems. He has started and built innovative companies, including raising over $75M in capital and $2M in grant funding. He has led companies from the “earliest signal” – from development through full worldwide commercialization. Todd is a member of the investment committee of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Editor of the Journal of Translational Medicine, member of The Explorer’s Club, and participated in the NIH I-Corp Program. Todd holds a BSME from Purdue University, MBA from Rider University, Masters of Biotechnology from UPenn, and Masters of Science in Engineering from UPenn School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wharton School of Business.