Business Advisory Board

Greg Abbott has been a business executive and attorney in the life sciences industry for almost 30 years, including serving as president and CEO and a board member of a number of biotechnology companies. Currently, Greg provides business strategy advice and is a consulting expert on licensing and intellectual property matters in the biotech industry. Greg was previously president and CEO and a board member of Synergen, Inc., in Boulder, Colorado and led the acquisition of that company by Amgen, Inc. in 1995. He subsequently served as president and CEO and a board member of Darwin Molecular Corporation, in Bothell, Washington, and has been CEO of several other privately held biotechnology companies. He also served as a director of the biotech companies Xencor, diaDexus and Selectide through much of their early development. In addition, Greg has been a life sciences partner at the prominent technology law firm Cooley Godward (now Cooley Godward Kronish LLP) in Kirkland, Washington, and of the large corporate law firm Holme Roberts & Owen in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. Greg is licensed as an attorney in the State of Washington. He received his J.D. with honors from the University of Denver College of Law and holds a B.A in economics from Yale University.

Dr. Patrick Gardner received a B.S. from the University of Florida and a M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is a retired Colonel, U.S. Air Force, with 25 years of active-duty service where he led research, development, acquisition and test of aircraft control systems, munitions guidance, electro-optical sensors, directed energy systems and chemical, biological, radiological, and explosives detectors. From 1999-2003 Dr. Gardner was assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command. He represented 10 Air Force labs and 14 National labs, providing rapid response technology solutions to meet urgent needs for Special Operations. He served on multiple defense decision panels, including the Joint Science & Technology Panel for Chemical & Biological Defense and the DOD/DOE Munitions Panel. In 2003 Dr. Gardner joined General Dynamics Corporation as Chief Scientist for Detection and Countermeasures. He led a team of program managers, engineers and scientists in the research, development and manufacture of chemical, biological and explosives detection, countermeasures, and decontaminaton systems. In 2007 Dr. Gardner joined Western Carolina University, Center for Rapid Product Realization, where he leads the development, productization, and commercialization of intellectual property for a diverse set of technologies and markets.

Dr. William Marshall received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado, Boulder where his research focused on developing chemical synthesis methods and determining the biological properties of oligonucleotide analogs including phorphorodithioates. Until recently William Marshall served as Site Director and Executive Vice President of Research and Operations at Dharmacon. In this capacity, Dr. Marshall oversaw Dharmacon's daily operations and directed the company's research and development programs. Dr. Marshall was instrumental in leading the chemistry, biology, and bioinformatics research, which led to the development of the industry's most effective siRNA design algorithm and novel chemical modifications to enhance siRNA specificity and stability. Prior to joining Dharmacon, Dr. Marshall held several senior scientific positions at Amgen from 1992 through 2002, most recently as associate director of research and head of the Nucleic Acid and Peptide Technology department. Dr. Marshall also led the development of peptide library approaches for lead discovery and development via carrier protein fusion and peptidomimetics. Dr. Marshall is author and co-author of 30 research papers and 10 patents.

Mr. John Pawlowski has been a leader in the global business, finance, and technology communities for more than four decades. A former Western Region Executive and Finance and Operations Director for IBM, John founded and leads Colorado-based Omni Ventures, a private equity company focused on high tech, biotechnology and other opportunities. Currently, he is a Chairman of the Board of Blue Sky Investment Group and a president of JPI Investments Inc. John provided advisory services to new and existing high technology and biotechnology firms engaged in mergers and acquisitions. He is also chairman of PolyTek Colorado, which manufactures cutting-edge prototype and quick-turn printed circuit boards. John’s background extends to electronic commerce and information technology storage. His business community service includes participation in boards of directors for a variety of organizations including Colorado Capital Bank, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, the Boulder Technology Incubator, and the University of North Carolina Graduate School of Business Board of Advisors. John holds an M.B.A. from Pace University and a B.S. B.A. from Bucknell University.

Mr. Ralph "Bud" Sorenson is a former president of Babson College. Dr. Sorenson was chief executive officer of the Barry Wright Corporation, a NYSE firm, for 8 years, and taught management for 13 years at the Harvard Business School. He is general partner of the Sorenson Limited Partnership, which provides "angel" investing to start-up companies along the Colorado Front Range. Dr. Sorenson also currently serves as a board member of Whole Foods Market, Inc, Gold Systems, and Boulder Securities. His past board memberships include EMC Corporation, Polaroid, Exabyte, Houghton Mifflin Company, Eaton Vance Corporation, The Boston Globe, Foxboro, Springs Industry, ColorLink, netLibrary, and several others. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, where he served as dean of the School of Business and Administration. He also is a Trustee of the Colorado Nature Conservancy and is a past Chairman of the Board of the Boston Museum of Science. He is a graduate of Amherst College with an MBA and doctorate degree from the Harvard Business School.