EvoNexus, Southern California’s premier technology incubator, today
announced six industry sector executives were elected to its Board of
Directors; three were elected in Q1 and three on May 10. The new
Directors hail from well-established international organizations
including: Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest
asset managers; City National Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of
Canada, one of North America’s leading diversified financial services
companies with offices in Canada, the United States and 33 other
countries; Kawasaki Heavy Industries (USA), a technology
corporate group with about 100 group companies in Japan and overseas
sending diverse products into wide-ranging fields; Nokia Bell Labs,
providing technology, products, services and licensing to connect the
world via 5G and the IoT; Artron Ventures Inc., a subsidiary of
TOA Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. the worldwide electronic parts
distributor; and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
law firm that provides counsel to companies and brands from around the
globe.
“We continue to attract accomplished business leaders and their
companies from diverse sectors to EvoNexus,” said Rory
Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of EvoNexus. “Our new board members bring
varied domain expertise, energy and strategic partnerships to EvoNexus
and our startup portfolio.”
Moore continued, “The convergence of industries and hyper-connectivity
is blurring traditional business boundaries providing opportunities for
new collaboration, innovation and competition. The potential of
technologic applications is widening, which is reflected in our
strategic partnerships, board members and portfolio of disruptive
startups that are expanding into new sectors. Startups typically enter
markets with disruptive innovation. This is occurring within
agriculture, chemicals, healthcare, automotive, consumer electronics,
and industrial equipment to name a few, as well as new technology
acceleration within banking, finance and insurance with a plethora of
emerging FinTech startups.”
About the New Elected EvoNexus Board Directors
Linda Duncombe, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Product
Strategies, City
National Bank, is a member of the company’s Executive
Committee. Prior to joining City National, she was global head of design
for Citibank’s Global Consumer Bank and the chief marketing officer and
head of growth for Citi FinTech. Ms. Duncombe, born in Australia, began
her career with National Australia Bank and later served as the head of
customer franchise with Citi in Australia. She earned her bachelor’s
degree from Western Sydney University. She is a graduate of Harvard
Business School’s Advanced Management Program and completed Citi’s
Women’s Leadership Development Program at the UCLA Anderson School of
Management. Active in community and civic affairs, Ms. Duncombe serves
on the board of the Global Retail Management Association.
Takaki Morihara/Chief Operating Officer, Artron
Ventures Inc., is leading the discovery of new technology and
startups. He has more than 15 years of experience in the hardware
industry with multiple responsibilities in sales, marketing and
engineering for several markets including consumer, automotive,
semiconductor and optical communications. Mr. Morihara began his career
as an acoustic engineer for automotive speakers at Foster Electric
managing sales to SONY, Alpine and Samsung. He has previously held new
business development branch manager positions for TOA Electrical
Industrial in both California and Texas.
Richard Christiansen/Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP,
a multi-practice international law firm, focuses his practice on patent
prosecution and transactional intellectual property for a broad range of
technologies in software, mechanical and electrical spaces for clients
in all lifecycle stages from multinationals to early startups. Mr.
Christiansen has helped clients receive patents for medical devices, AI,
online security and content delivery, FinTech, clean technology,
electromechanical systems and heavy equipment. Prior to his legal
career, Mr. Christiansen was a design engineer at Raytheon Missile
Systems. He has been involved with many startups and new companies,
including as a founder and mentor. Mr. Christiansen obtained a B.S. in
Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University and a J.D. from New
York University School of Law.
Masanori Hamamatsu/Technical Director of Strategic Research
Department, Kawasaki
Heavy Industries (USA), is responsible for Kawasaki R&D
projects. He is currently working on Research & Technology Scouting,
Business Development and Investment deal scouting of IIoT/AI
applications/Robotics/Mobility/Energy related to Kawasaki current and
future businesses. He started his career at Kawasaki Heavy Industries in
1991. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Control Engineering from Osaka
University, Japan.
Joe Boerio/Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Franklin
Templeton (FT) [NYSE:BEN], leads Investment Management
Data Science, FinTech and Rapid Development for Franklin Templeton
Investments. As CTO he is responsible for setting and executing the
firm’s strategic technology direction for Investment Management, Data
Science and Cyber Security including FT’s internal FinTech venture. Mr.
Boerio is a strong visionary leader with 30+ years of proven execution
results in enterprise IT, operational excellence and global business
enablement. He is the Chair of the Investment Company Institute
Technology Committee based in Washington, D.C. and serves on the Board
of the FinTech Sandbox in Boston. He earned his bachelor’s degree in
information systems management from the University of San Francisco.
Nitin Shah, PhD/Principal Innovator, Nokia
Bell Labs, is responsible for leading technology incubation and
commercialization. Based in Silicon Valley, he is an innovator and
inventor with a record of developing technologies and architecture for
mobile networks from concept to commercialization. He has experience
with multi-national corporations, startups and solo consulting in the
mobile communications and digital media industries. His primary focus is
on roadmaps and market disruptions to drive profitable innovation in
mobile networking. Dr. Shah holds a BA and MA in Natural Sciences and a
PhD in Microelectronics from the University of Cambridge in England. He
holds 15 patents in the areas of mobile networks, digital media and
quantum engineering. His past clients/inhouse positions include AT&T,
Lucent Technologies, Ericsson, Nokia and DoCoMo.
About EvoNexus
EvoNexus is Southern California’s leading startup incubator with
locations in San Diego and Irvine. We enable motivated entrepreneurs to
turn their transformative technologies into fundable,
commercially-viable companies. Since 2010, $1.7B in funding and
acquisition outcomes have been achieved by EvoNexus startups. A total of
26 EvoNexus startups have been acquired since 2013. EvoNexus is
supported by strategic corporate sponsors in technology, life science
and leading sector service providers. EvoNexus companies enjoy
incubation of up to two years in Class A offices and dry lab spaces to
create complex products, secure investor funding and launch their
inventions into important markets. For more information, please visit evonexus.org.
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