Melissa Robertson is Associate Director, Professional Development for the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), a division of the National Association of Manufacturers, where she leads the strategy, development, and delivery of professional development programming that helps manufacturing innovation leaders learn, connect, and accelerate innovation. Melissa brings nearly two decades of experience designing leadership development programs, translating …
William J. Clancey (BA, Mathematical Sciences, Rice University 1974; PhD, Computer Science, Stanford University 1979) is an Emeritus Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). A cognitive scientist focusing on the methods and theory of AI programming, he showed in the 1970s–1980s how “expert systems” research had created a symbolic …
Sharlene Williams, Ph.D., PMP is a Growth and Innovation Portfolio Leader at DuPont, where she leads enterprise efforts to strengthen innovation performance and scale a culture of disciplined, evidence-based decision-making. She drives the integration of portfolio and project management with Lean Innovation principles across functions, enabling teams to move from idea to impact with greater …
Lindsey Karpowich is an Innovation Excellence Leader at Qnity Electronics, where she develops the frameworks, practices, and capabilities that bring Qnity’s Innovation-Led Growth algorithm to life: working on the right problems that matter most to customers, working in the right ways to learn fast and adapt to changing needs, and maximizing impact through continuous improvement …
Michael Rauch is Director and Global Portfolio Leader for Industrial and Chemical business at Schrödinger. Michael earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in synthetic organometallic chemistry as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow before pursuing a postdoctoral role in organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science as a Zuckerman Postdoctoral Scholar. Michael is particularly interested …
Eva Tuecke is the co-founder of Altara, an AI company building the scientific intelligence platform for R&D through manufacturing. Prior to founding Altara, Eva studied computer science at Harvard and worked across both scientific research and industry. She conducted high energy particle physics research at Fermilab on a dark matter search, then went on to …
Sariann Reyes serves as the Membership Coordinator at the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI). In her role, she focuses on facilitating strong relationships with member organizations and building positive member experiences. She also assists in the development of outreach strategies and event execution. Additionally, Sariann works closely with the Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC). Sariann holds a …
John Sheets is the Strategic Communities Associate at the Innovation Research Interchange, where he provides backend and logistic support for all IRI events and virtual meetings. In this role, John oversees timelines and speaker details for events as well as assisting in member communications. He previously served operations for various small trade associations to amplify …
Brian Pandya is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Duane Morris LLP. Brian helps clients navigate their most challenging technology, intellectual property, antitrust and complex litigation matters. Brian has first-chaired trials, arbitrations, appeals, and investigations throughout the United States and internationally for clients in the telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, life sciences, transportation, …
Daniel Tarr is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Duane Morris LLP. Dan supports clients in all aspects of domestic and international patent portfolio management and technology transactions. Dan also has assisted clients in patent disputes in federal court, at the ITC, and before the USPTO, including extensive experience for both petitioners and patent …
