Began formally serving as President/CEO of SCBIO (South Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization) in Spring 2017 -- focused on leading the relatively young and innovative statewide organization to its next level of development. SCBIO is committed to advancing, expanding, and accelerating the growth of the life sciences industry in South Carolina, working closely with strategic partners from industry, academia, and the public/private sector -- including complementary local, regional, and state economic development agencies such as the SC Department of Commerce.

Concurrently serve as Founder of SK Strategies, LLC - a Greenville, SC-based consulting firm that has specialized in economic development, public-private partnerships, integrated marketing and business development strategies, vision- mission-brand development, and the creation and implementation of 'strategic road maps' for an extraordinary roster of clients since 2004 (including CU-ICAR, Clemson University, Greenville Health System, KENTWOOL, Greenville Chamber of Commerce, and others).
Formerly served as Executive Director of the Greenville Health Research Development Corporation (RDC) -- a 501(c)3 supporting organization of Greenville Health System.

 Also currently serve as board member and past chair of the Cancer Society of Greenville County, SC BIO Board of Directors, South State Bank Greenville Advisory Board, Palmetto Conservation Foundation Board, Konduros Fishermen Fund, former executive committee/board member of the SC Chamber of Commerce.

Erin Ford is director of sales at Poly-Med, Inc., a global innovation company developing leading edge bioresorbable polymers and constructs for the medical device industry.  Prior to her role at Poly-Med, Inc. Erin was a business recruitment officer at the Upstate SC Alliance.  She served as the main point of contact for life sciences companies interested in expanding or locating in South Carolina. 

She formerly served as an ex-officio SCBIO board member from 2013 to 2015 and led a regional biosciences task force comprised of industry executives from the Upstate region of South Carolina. Erin also has extensive television experience, as a documentary producer and sportscaster.  She received her B.A. in Communication from La Salle University in Philadelphia.

As a CEO/Founding Partner with VidiStar, Craig Walker helps lead the company’s operations, business development, software development, regulatory affairs, and strategic growth initiatives. Walker started VidiStar in 2004.

Walker has experience in hospital administration where he has served as Chief Executive Officer of Chester Regional Medical Center, Interim CEO for Livingston Medical Center and VP of Business Development for Memorial Health System of East Texas.  Walker served as Assistant Vice President and Associate Administrator of Tenet HealthCare Corporation’s Park Plaza Hospital and Medical Center in Houston.  During his tenure he was the administrator over radiology, pharmacy, rehabilitation, and facility operations. 

Walker also has served as Vice President of Public Policy and Development for Healthcare Computer Corporation, worked as a lobbyist for the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, and was Chairman of the American Telemedicine Association’s Industry Advisory Board.   Walker has served as the Chief of Staff to State Representative Patricia Gray in the Texas Legislature where he helped draft and pass legislation and implement law on telemedicine and telehealth.  Walker has also worked for US Senator Lloyd Bentsen.

Walker obtained his Masters in Health Administration from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Rusnak has more than 25 years of life science experience, most recently holding the position of Director of New Ventures and Technology Development within the technology transfer office at the University of Rochester Medical Center. In his six- year tenure at Rochester, he led the office in life science licensing and directed the University’s Technology Development Fund and the award process. Rusnak also played a lead role in additional fund raising, including SBIRs and STTRs, for the Fund’s applicants, pre and post award. Rusnak additionally established numerous collaborations to foster commercialization, further investments, and advance drug discovery including agreements with the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research at Temple University, the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom, Califia Bio, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson.

Previous to Rochester, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence with BCM Technologies, Inc. the venture subsidiary of Baylor College of Medicine. He was involved in starting and incubating more than five spinout companies from the medical school.  Rusnak has held senior positions in biotechnology business development with Ceros Pharmaceuticals, CombiChem and Lexicon Genetics, among others.

Rusnak received his Master’s Degree in Clinical Science/Lab Management from San Francisco State University and has a B.S. in Microbiology from St. Bonaventure University.

 Kathryn Cole Becker established Charleston, SC-based Translational Science Solutions to facilitate the commercialization of innovative life science and healthcare products at all stages of development.  Kathryn utilizes her expertise and in-depth knowledge of science, regulatory affairs, business planning, and product management to develop, coordinate, and execute strategies related to FDA marketing authorization for medical devices and other FDA-regulated products.

Becker previously worked as Senior Consultant in the Translational and Regulatory Sciences at Bethesda, MD-based Precision for Medicine and as a Research Associate, then Practice Manager, for Washington, DC-based Becker & Associates Consulting (now NSF Health Sciences).  Kathryn received her BS in Neuroscience from Davidson College and her Masters in Biotechnology Enterprise and Entrepreneurship from The Johns Hopkins University

Terrell Mills has a dynamic practice with a mix of entrepreneurs and established, private companies. Mills brings prior experience in the technology sector to serve his clients in medical device and technology-related industries. His practice includes all aspects of corporate formation, mergers and acquisition, debt and equity financing as well as e-commerce, licensing, and software development.

Prior to attending law school and embarking on the practice of law, Mills spent eight years as a management consultant, specializing in software design, development, implementation and integration. The first four years were spent with an international consulting firm. He then left that organization and assisted in the start-up and growth of a software and consulting firm specializing in forecasting software using neural network.

Darralyn Alexander is a proven expert in healthcare policy and medical technology reimbursement. Darralyn has 20 years of experience working in the healthcare delivery field, initially as a registered nurse in a clinical and surgical setting.  Her work also includes 15 years of product and service management experience working on the business development side of health care. She currently works as a consultant on behalf of medical device and digital manufacturers for last eight years. She has a demonstrated history of providing strategic and tactical advocacy, lobbying and consulting services that achieve the goals and advance the priorities of health care organizations in medical devices, diagnostics, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, payer, business, and health service organizations/associations.

Darralyn has worked as a Consultant, Director and Regional Reimbursement Manager for diverse, innovative consulting and medical device companies such as Cryomedical Sciences, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems and Cyberonics, working with sales, marketing, government affairs, field support and clinical trials staff, supporting new technology products in the marketplace and with insurers. She also worked on the hospital side of business, at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, managing policy decisions and reimbursement strategies for oncology drugs, devices, and diagnostic/labs etc. issues at the national and regional level of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid and working across many departments internally to increase continuity of results.

Darralyn maintains a current South Carolina and District of Columbia RN license. Darralyn received her Bachelor of Arts from George Washington University in Education & Human Resource Development and her Master of Science from Towson University in Maryland in Business Administration and Marketing.

Mandy Brawley serves as Deputy Director of Global Business Development division for the South Carolina Department of Commerce. She is active in the recruitment of new business and the expansion of existing businesses in the state. In Mrs. Brawley’s time at the Department of Commerce, she has managed projects that produced over 11,000 jobs and more than $2 billion dollars in capital investments in our state.

Prior to this position, she was a pharmaceutical representative covering South Carolina and parts of Georgia. Mrs. Brawley moved to South Carolina from her hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi, where she began her economic development career at the Biloxi Bay Chamber of Commerce. She is married to William Brawley, II, a native of Irmo, South Carolina. They have two daughters, Stella and Bette.

Mrs. Brawley has earned the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. She has also attended the Basic Economic Development course from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

Jerry Chang has more than 18 years of experience in technology commercialization with key roles in operations, product development, quality assurance and regulatory affairs. His career has included the development and launch of numerous novel surgical implants and sterilization platforms, aseptic formulation and production of biological materials, and quality oversight of manufacturing, validation and testing operations.  

Chang joined BioD, LLC in 2014 and currently serves as the company’s Vice President of Business Development. He is also is a co-founder and managing partner of Vigilant Bioservices, a biorepository and cold chain logistics services company. 

Previously, Chang served as Chief Operating Officer for Transplant Technologies of Texas which was recently acquired by Globus Medical (GMED), and he was a founding member and Director of Operations and Product Development at AxoGen Inc. (AXGN), a biotechnology company providing novel solutions to repair and regenerate peripheral nerves. 

Earlier, he worked for Regeneration Technologies (now RTI Surgical: RTIX) with increasing management responsibility in various important roles within this 400 person biotechnology company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. He began his technical career with Fuji Hunt Chemical Corporation and Abbott Laboratories.  Chang is currently a member of the Upstate Carolina Angel Network and is an Affiliate Faculty Member and an External Advisory Board Member at the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida.

In his current role, Bryan Davis serves as a key management executive for the innovation pillars of Business Development and Technology Transfer on behalf of South Carolina’s largest healthcare system – overseeing and executing numerous strategic initiatives and related business functions. He was a founding member of the small team who launched the initial innovation engine at GHS in early 2014, working side-by-side with renowned economic development and business innovation leaders Sam Konduros and Dr. Chris Przirembel, to establish operational and innovation pillar goals, along with associated implementation strategies.

Since 2014, Davis has had direct involvement in the triage and commercialization strategies of 200 unique life science innovation opportunities spanning Tech Transfer, Business Development, and Economic Development. Davis is a Greenville, South Carolina native licensed real estate professional, and graduate of Clemson University with a degree in Business Management (2009, magna cum laude).

Tressa Gardner is the Associate VP of the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SIMT) at Florence-Darlington Technical College. Ms. Gardner connects business, industry, inventors and entrepreneurs with the advanced technological resources of the SiMT to increase innovation, expand capabilities, and improve efficiency and time to market. The SiMT’s extensive resources and capabilities support medical device development, aerospace, automotive, advanced manufacturing, and R&D. She also represents FDTC as Co-Principal Investigator on the CA2VES project, an initiative of Clemson University’s Center for Workforce Development.

Ms. Gardner received a BS in Economics from Francis Marion University and a Master of Arts in Economics from Clemson University. She served as Co-PI and Project Manager on numerous National Science Foundation grants to Florence-Darlington Technical College from 2003-2013 before joining the SiMT as Director of Business Development in 2013, and was named Associate VP in 2016. Prior to joining the college, she was Quality Assurance and Safety Coordinator Director for S & W Manufacturing. She was recently chosen as a 2017 Woman of Distinction by Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, was FDTC’s Administrator of the Year in 2008 and was honored as a YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) recipient in 2009. She also serves on the boards of the Florence Regional Arts Alliance and Pee Dee Speech and Hearing Center. 

Michael J. Graney leads the CRDA's comprehensive, strategic global business development efforts focused on five industry clusters - Aerospace, Automotive, Information Technology, Life Sciences and Advanced Logistics. Mike joined the CRDA after successfully managing the Business Development program at the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts for more than eight years. Mike’s focus is on inward investment to Charleston, with a particular emphasis on European FDI. Mike is active with our Investor Relations program, engaging public and private sector investors and allies to support our business attraction strategy.

Mike has had an eclectic career, working in industries as varied as economic development, commercial development, and sports and entertainment. Mike has spent his entire career on the East Coast, primarily in New England.

Mike was born in upstate New York and received his B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He currently resides in Charleston and enjoys living 5 minutes from the beach.

Chad Hardaway is Associate Director of the University of South Carolina (USC) Office of Economic Engagement and the Director of the Technology Commercialization Office.  As Associate Director of the USC Office of Economic Engagement, Chad works to align USC assets with outside corporate and government partners.  As Director of the USC Office of Technology Commercialization, Chad oversees a portfolio of over 500 university technologies and is responsible for moving those technologies out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. 

Chad also works with University Technology Startups and South Carolina Technology Companies to form partnerships, find capital, explore research opportunities, develop new markets, and ultimately move products into the hands of consumers.  Prior to joining the University of South Carolina in 2005, Chad was a Process Engineer with Eastman Chemical Company.  These past positions and experiences provide a broad understanding of the early stage technology development cycle and how it can connect with existing corporate market and technology development.  Chad has a BS in Chemical Engineering, MBA, and a Juris Doctor all from the University of South Carolina.

Lou Kennedy is President, Chief Executive Officer and Owner of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation. She joined Nephron Pharmaceuticals in 2001, and accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2007. Having held a variety of marketing and operational roles during her career; one notable achievement at Nephron was creating a national sales force, a rarity in the pharmaceutical industry. In the years following, this helped Nephron Pharmaceuticals grow by 300% and increased shipped product to one billion doses each of the last seven years.

Nephron recently built a state of the art manufacturing facility in West Columbia, South Carolina. Mrs. Kennedy was at the forefront of this expansion, which opened in June 2014. Lou is always seeking to enhance and grow her business. She started a 503B Outsourcing division of Nephron in 2016. Production for that division began in January 2017 and is rapidly increasing.

Along with her husband Bill, Mrs. Kennedy helped establish the Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center in conjunction with the USC School of Pharmacy. She serves on a variety of business and civic boards, including but not limited to, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the National Bank of South Carolina Board, a division of Synovus, Columbia College Board of Trustees, South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance as well as the USC Athletic Department Board. Lou and Bill Kennedy were named Ambassadors of the Year by the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce in 2013. They also received the Lexington County Ambassador for Economic Development award in 2014. A graduate of the University of South Carolina’s College of Journalism with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Mrs. Kennedy never shies from the opportunity to cheer on the Gamecocks!

Dr. LaBerge is a professor and chairwoman of the bioengineering department at Clemson University. She is a recipient of the 2009 Governor Award for Scientific Awareness. She received the first Award For Service from the Society For Biomaterials (SFB) for significant service to the Society for Biomaterials in "establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting its objectives." 

LaBerge is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. LaBerge’s research interests include the study of natural and artificial surfaces used in the design of implants for orthopedic and vascular treatment. She has published more than 200 technical articles, many on her research on the friction, lubrication and wear of artificial knee joints. 

She has received the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award from Clemson’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the Murray Stokely Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Mentoring Award in the College of Engineering and Science. LaBerge has served the Society For Biomaterials as its president (2007-2008) and as a board member and council member for more than 15 years. She also was the executive editor of the society's Biomaterials Forum from 2000 to 2005.

Marc Metcalf is a Business Recruitment Officer for the Upstate SC Alliance, providing support to companies that are considering expansion of their business in the U.S.  In his role, Marc works with the Alliance’s public and private sector investors in executing recruitment strategies focused on making the Upstate an ideal location for business expansion opportunities.

Prior to joining the Upstate SC Alliance, Marc was a business developer with a manufacturing focused credit union and was responsible for relationship development and company growth while serving hundreds of South Carolina manufacturers and their employees.  Most recently, Marc was the Employer Services Manager with Greenville Technical College, serving as the college’s liaison to the business community and implementing customized training and workforce development solutions for area manufacturers.  Marc has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from North Greenville University.  Marc currently represents the Alliance on the boards of SCBIO and the SC Automotive Council and is a board member of the City of Greer Recreation Association. 

Jeff Stover’s practice covers the spectrum of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition and related matters for clients operating in a wide range of technologies, including manufacturers, technology companies and startups. He is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and helps his clients secure, protect and defend their intellectual property rights.

Jeff represents clients in litigated matters involving the assertion of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret litigation.  As part of that representation, Jeff handles post-grant patentability matters in front of the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board, such as inter partes review proceedings. Outside of litigation, Jeff assists his clients in securing intellectual property rights, including the preparation and prosecution of patent applications, trademarks and copyrights in a wide range of business areas.

In addition to intellectual property matters, Jeff has litigation experience in a wide range of substantive areas, including general business disputes, shareholder disputes, fraud and misrepresentation claims, fiduciary duty claims, insurance coverage and bad faith disputes and other types of disputes, on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, and draws upon this experience when counseling his clients. Jeff provides counsel in association with the protection of trade secrets and negotiates licenses, assignments and related documents associated with intellectual property rights.

Before beginning his legal career, Jeff worked as an engineer on the development of projects including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Jeff brings the attention to detail needed to succeed as an engineer to the practice of law.

Christine Dixon Thiesing, MBA, is the Director of Academic Programs for SCRA (www.scra.org).  In leading the Academic Programs operations, her focus is to coordinate translational research across South Carolina’s academic institutions to enhance funding opportunities, engage industry, and provide economic benefit to the state. The role also entails developing centers of excellence founded upon expertise and resources located throughout the state. In her previous role as Life Sciences Industry Manager, she supported the life sciences economy by forging relationships between large industry partners, startups, and academia, as well as recruiting new R&D operations to the state. 

In September 2016, Christine launched the PriMed life sciences accelerator in conjunction with the MUSC Foundation for Research Development, SCRA, and Harbor Entrepreneur Center.  Through mentoring, curriculum, and networking, PriMed provides entrepreneurs the foundation needed for long-term success of their life science endeavor.  The inaugural cohort of six startups completed the program in March 2017.

Prior to joining SCRA, Christine was Associate Director, Technology Development, at MUSC Foundation for Research Development.  She founded an initiative in 2015 to support SBIR and STTR funding at MUSC, which culminated in ten companies receiving funding from the program and a funding rate twice that of the national average in 2016.

Christine is a founder of CuRE Innovations, a startup developing advanced dental materials to improve oral health.  CuRE is currently advancing its lead product with a phase I STTR award from the National Institutes of Health.

Through the six years she spent at CyDex, Inc., start-up company founded to commercialize the Captisol® drug delivery system, Christine gained expertise in licensing intellectual property to the pharmaceutical industry and raising capital. 

Christine holds an MBA with a focus in finance from the University of Kansas. She obtained a B.A. in Biology from the University of Kansas Honors Program.