Rus Howard, Principal
Mr. Howard has over 25 years of experience in technology and hi-growth business development and has served on many boards and advisory councils in business and charitable organizations. He earned his MBA from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, where he focused his studies on Entrepreneurship, and managing innovation and technology. Mr. Howard interned with SROne the venture capital arm of SmithKline Beckman. Mr. Howard founded Phyton, Inc., a Biotech company that manufacturers high-value phyto molecules, and served as its CEO and Chairman. Phyton produced paclitaxel the active ingredient of Taxol, a multi-billion dollar anticancer drug sold by Bristol Myers.
Mr. Howard is a co-owner and officer of Silver Bullet Technology, a software company manufacturing and selling software for the banking and payment processing industry, where he has been primarily responsible for corporate and financial oversight as well as strategic planning. Prior to Silver Bullet, Howard served as president and CEO of BioWorks Inc., a biotechnology company he founded to develop, produce, and sell products that replace chemical pesticides.
His entrepreneurial endeavors led Mr. Howard to being named a finalist in Ernst and Young's 1996 New York Entrepreneur of the Year award sponsored by NASDAQ and USA Today. Mr. Howard has been a speaker and guest lecturer at Cornell and other educational institutions, and a featured symposium speaker presenting case studies on Capital Raising.
Howard was a member of the New York Biotechnology Association where he served as the federal liaison for the government affairs committee of the New York Biotechnology Association and Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). He serves on several boards including the Belmont Art Center, the Pensacola Opera, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northwest Florida.
Robert Kelley, Associate
During his tenure at the University of West Florida, Mr. Kelley was President of Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society, President and Founder of Omicron Delta Epsilon economics honor society, President of the Economics Club, a Student Ambassador, President of the Student Alumni Association and a Presidential Advisor to John Cavanaugh, President of UWF. Mr. Kelley was also a committee member and captain for the UWF Relay for Life team. He is currently a member of the High Growth Business Club, the Pensacola Young Professional, an active member in PYP's Economic Development Committee and on the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce's Entrepreneurial Development Council.
Advisory Board
Dr. Kris Venkat, Advisor
Dr. Venkat is an experienced entrepreneur, manager and teacher with more than 30 years of broad experience with both large corporations - including Merck & Co. and H. J. Heinz Co. and entrepreneurial companies. At Heinz and its subsidiaries he held several senior executive positions.
Dr. Venkat served as Chairman and CEO of Phyton, Inc. a highly successful Biotechnology company whose technology platform is based on plant cell culture production of high value compounds including Taxol®, one of the best selling oncology drugs in the world, marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb.
Dr. Venkat has been an integral part of the growth and development of numerous high technology companies including Sequenom, Celsion, Eleos, Morphochem, Transvivo, Genscope, Strand Life Sciences and Goosecross Cellars (Napa Valley Winery). He is also a senior investment advisor to Techno Ventures Management (TVM), Munich, one of Europe's largest venture capital funds. He also served as an advisor to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for over a decade.
Dr. Venkat is a visiting professor of biochemical engineering at Rutgers University. He has held visiting faculty positions at Yale University, Dartmouth College, Anna University, India, and University College, Galway, Ireland. He received his undergraduate education at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He is the recipient of many awards.
J. Mort O'Sullivan, Advisor
Mr. O'Sullivan is managing partner of O'Sullivan Creel, LLP, a regional accounting firm with offices in Pensacola, FL, Fort Walton Beach, FL, Destin, FL, and Foley, AL. He has served as the Firm's managing partner since its inception. His current focus is consulting and management advisory services to clients, while continuing to offer his expertise in mergers and acquisitions, litigation support, and business valuations. Mr. O'Sullivan also assists clients to obtain growth capital, arranging creative combination of loans and equity capital.
Mr. O'Sullivan has served on the Board of Directors of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on the Board of Governors. He was a member of Leadership Florida Class of 2001-2002 and received the 2002 PACE Award for Business Leader of the Year in the Pensacola Bay Area. He is active in Pensacola Rotary and serves or has served on various boards and/or committees of the following organizations: Baptist Health Care, Pensacola Sports Association Foundation, Whitney Bank, Greater Escambia Community Foundation, Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, Florida Chamber of Commerce, Pensacola Pelicans, FSU College of Medicine/West Florida, and University of West Florida Small Business Advisory Center.
Mr. O'Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting from the University of West Florida.
Chad A. McDaniel, Advisor
Mr. McDaniel is a corporate attorney at Clark, Partington, Hart, Larry, Bond & Stackhouse with a broad based business practice that includes business formation (including corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships), general corporate governance, debt and equity financings, licensing, securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual strategies and protection, and business tax planning. Mr. McDaniel began his legal practice in Boston, Massachusetts, where it principally involved representation of companies in the high-technology and bio-technology industries, venture capital fund formation and investment execution, institutional debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, securities law compliance, start-up company formation and general corporate and tax maintenance.
In his community, Mr. McDaniel is a founding member and chairperson-elect for the newly formed Pensacola Young Professionals. He is also a member of the Entrepreneurial Development Council of the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, a member of the High Growth Business Club and is on the board of Pensacola Venture Forum. Mr. McDaniel received his B.A. from Southern Connecticut State University in 1997 and his Juris Doctorate degree, with honors, from University of Connecticut in 2001. He is admitted to the bar in Florida, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Prior to attending law school, Mr. McDaniel was a Nuclear Weapons Specialist in the United States Air Force and a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard.
