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John Howard, Ph.D.
John Howard has 30 years
experience in directing biotechnology groups in research,
regulatory, production, intellectual property, and business
development for two Fortune 500 companies and two Start-up
Companies. In addition to directing a number of technology
innovations, he also directed the commercial introduction of the
first plant biotechnology products for crop improvement and the
first industrial and human health products produced from
transgenic plants. He is an author on over 100 publications and
patents in biotechnology. Currently, Dr. Howard is the Founder
and President of Applied Biotechnology Institute, a company
focused on providing research and consulting services that help
bring plant biotechnology products to various markets with
minimal risk.
Prior to ABI, Dr. Howard founded
ProdiGene, a biotechnology company focused on biopharmaceuticals
and industrial products from plants. Before forming ProdiGene,
Dr. Howard was director of Protein Products at Pioneer Hi-Bred
International, Inc., where he initiated and developed a program to develop and
produce recombinant protein products from plants. From 1987 to
1994, he was director of the Biotechnology Research Department
at Pioneer which included developing new traits and technology
for a variety of crops. He began his career at Stauffer Chemical
Company in Richmond, California in 1978 to1987, where he
initiated and directed a biotechnology research program focused
mainly on corn and sunflower. Dr. Howard received his Ph.D. in
Biochemistry from the University of California at Riverside.
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John Hintze, Esq.
John Hintze is a corporate
attorney with over 30 years of experience. He is currently in
private practice with a law firm in Des Moines, Iowa where he
chairs the Business Law and Transactions Department. He assists
clients with the selection of the most appropriate entity for
the business or transaction; drafts and reviews documentation
for the establishment and operation of the entity selected; and
negotiates and drafts transactional documents including the
purchase and sale of businesses and/or their assets. Mr. Hintze
was formerly the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. from 1984 to 1994. He was
responsible for Pioneer's worldwide legal, regulatory and
government affairs and business operations. He was also
responsible for new business development, human resources,
corporate communications, investor relations, community
relations, internal audit, and property planning and
development.
Mr. Hintze received his B.A. in accounting
from the University of Iowa and his J.D. with distinction from
the University of Iowa, College of Law, in 1973. He was admitted
to the Iowa Bar in 1973. He is also a Certified Public
Accountant. He serves on various boards and has held various
community leadership positions.
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Patricia A. Sweeney, Esq. Pat
Sweeney is an intellectual property attorney, specializing in
biotechnology, with over 20 years of experience. Prior to having
her own practice, she was the Chief Patent Counsel at Pioneer
Hi-Bred International, Inc. Before working for Pioneer, she
practiced with a private intellectual property law firm focusing
on patent prosecution and litigation. Currently she advises
start-ups and established companies on intellectual property
matters, including development of intellectual property
strategy; development of in-house systems; integration of
international intellectual property issues; freedom to operate
analysis; reviewing, monitoring and analyzing competitors’
intellectual property positions; coordinating research planning
with intellectual property issues; review opportunities for
patent protection; intellectual property portfolio planning;
reviewing contracts; training, as well as providing patent
prosecution of national and international biotechnology
inventions.
Ms. Sweeney received her J.D. with honors
in 1984 from Drake Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. She was
admitted to the Iowa Bar in1984 and the Patent Bar in 1987. She
is admitted to practice in the Northern and Southern Federal
District Courts of Iowa and before the Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals. Ms. Sweeney has a B.S. from Iowa State University with
a double major in Botany and Journalism/Mass Communications.
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Hector
Quemada, Ph.D.
Dr. Hector Quemada is the
founder and principal consultant for Crop Technology Consulting,
Inc., an agricultural biotechnology consulting firm offering
services in technical assessment, product development, project
management, and regulatory affairs. He is also an Adjunct
Professor of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is the manager of the Biotechnology
and Biodiversity Interface grant program, a component of the
Program for Biosafety Systems, led by IFPRI and funded by USAID.
Dr. Quemada has conducted biotechnology
risk assessment research funded by the US Department of
Agriculture and under contract to private companies. Dr.
Quemada’s consultancies have included technical and biosafety
assessments for national biotechnology programs in India,
Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, and Indonesia, as well
as working with the government of Egypt to develop food and
environmental safety testing guidelines and regulations for the
commercialization of transgenic crops.
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Cynthia Wagner Weick, Ph.D.
Cynthia Wagner Weick has
over 20 years of experience in the commercialization of new
technology, focusing on market analysis, business development
and strategic planning. She is currently Professor of Management
at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where she
teaches courses in Strategic Management and Policy, Management
of Technology and Innovation, New Product Development and Global
Competition. As an independent consultant she also performs
market analyses of technology-based products and facilitates
strategic planning sessions for clients. Weick has written many
articles on the international development of commercial
biotechnology as well as strategic management. Her book, “Out of
Context: A Creative Approach to Strategic Management,” was
published in 2004. In 2001 she was named to the Food
Biotechnology Advisory Committee of the State of California,
which advised the state legislature on biotechnology related
issues. She served as a consultant to the United Nations
Development Program, where she evaluated the biotechnology
research activities within the Consultative Group on
International Agriculture (CGIAR). She was a corporate planner
at Pioneer Hi-Bred International for four years and worked
closely with the company’s executives and research scientists to
set strategic directions in biotechnology in the late 1980s.
Dr. Weick received her B.S. and M.S. in
Crop Physiology from the Ohio State University, focusing on
plant chemotaxonomy. Her doctorate in Business Administration is
from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where her
dissertation regarded the use of international joint ventures in
the agricultural biotechnology industry.
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Atta
Ahmad, Ph.D.
Dr.
Ahmad
has 13 years experience in laboratory research prior to running
a protein chemistry program at ABI. Before coming to ABI, Dr.
Ahmad has worked at MIT, Tufts University and UC Santa Cruz
where he investigated protein folding and misfolding involved in
neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
He received his PhD from the Central Drug Research Institute in
India.
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Erin
Egelkrout, Ph.D.
Dr. Egelkrout has 15 years
experience in laboratory research prior to running a molecular
biology program at ABI. Before coming to ABI she worked at the
Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle Washington where
she studied the mechanism by which human papillomavirus (HPV)
causes degradation of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor
protein (pRb). She also participated in projects evaluating HPV
proteins for use in potential vaccines and the mechanism of HPV
induction of telomerase expression. She received her PhD in
Biochemistry from North Carolina State University.
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