Georgia Centers of Innovation-Life Science Names Researcher-Entrepreneur New Director
Stacy Williams has been named the director of the Georgia Centers of Innovation-Life Sciences, which has offices at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and at the Georgia Department of Economic Development in Atlanta. The centers provide strategic industry expertise and other services, with the goal of accelerating growth among Georgia life sciences companies.
Williams launched DaBrain Science Toys, Inc., and invented a crystal growing kit for children. She received a patent on the kit in 2004 and marketed it via children’s websites and Wal-Mart.
Williams earned a BSci degree in chemistry from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in inorganic chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University.
UMBI President Among Candidates for University of Tennessee Chancellor Position
Jennie Hunter-Cevera, president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, is one of five chancellor candidates being considered by the University of Tennessee, the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported.
During a public interview forum last week at UT Knoxville, Hunter-Cevera called herself an “unusual” candidate because of her background, which includes positions at businesses and public agencies in addition to her tenure at UMBI.
That varied background, she told the newspaper, is relevant to the job she wants because universities have stepped up their parting with businesses and government agencies: “It’s not just an isolated little ivory tower. It's moving in new directions, and you have to take all that and transform that into curriculum and experience for this work force that the university is training.”
During the forum, Hunter-Cevera said UMBI was "sort of a broken institution" with great potential but no "connectivity” between faculty and students when she arrived there in October 1999, the News Sentinel reported: “People need to know that they can speak freely and not hold back, that there won't be retribution.”
She listed her priorities as accessibility to education, diversity at all levels of the university, faculty recognition, sustainable construction and other eco-friendly initiatives, and helping students discover their talents. Hunter-Cevera lauded UT for its fundraising and diversity initiatives, but added that internal communication among managers could be improved. Audience members asked how she would bring UT to the forefront of academics, and sought more information about her background in science and economic development.
UT is seeking a successor to Loren Crabtree, who resigned as chancellor earlier this year following differences on campus governance with UT President John Petersen.
Before joining UMBI, Hunter-Cevera was director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a collaborative effort with the University of California at Berkeley. Earlier, she was co-founder of two small companies that carried out contract work for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the Biotic Network and Blue Sky Research; and also consulted for five years in a variety of biotechnology fields.
For 10 years, Hunter-Cevera served as director of fermentation research and development at Cetus, and before that was a research scientist at ER Squibb and Sons, a predecessor to Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Melissa Browne Joins NAIOP Massachusetts as Chief Operating Officer
Melissa Browne has been appointed chief operating officer of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.
Browne will oversee all chapter operations including membership, marketing, and programming, as well as chapter administration. She will succeed Fran Shifman, who will retire at year’s end.
Browne formerly served as a senior vice president, partner, and director of marketing and research at Colliers Meredith & Grew, directing an eight-person team responsible for all marketing, advertising, communications, public relations and research.
Before joining CMG in 2004, Browne was chief marketing officer and managing director for Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP. She joined HFF from its parent, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, where she was a principal and head of the client services group. Prior to joining Lend Lease, Melissa was a vice president of client service at AEW Capital Management, and director of client service and regional vice president for the Boston Company Real Estate Counsel.
A longtime member of NAIOP Massachusetts, and co-chair of the chapter’s 2006 Bus Tour, Browne graduated from Milton Academy and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and was awarded a CPM designation in 1985 from the Institute of Real Estate Management in Chicago. She is a director of Pilgrim Bank, the Hingham Group, and the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, as well as president of the Cohasset Golf Club.
Lab Supply Company VWR International Hires Eddy Wu to Lead Asia/Pacific Region
Eddy Wu has joined the global laboratory supply company VWR International as senior vice president and president of the company’s Asia-Pacific region. He will lead and manage VWR’s business in India, China, and Singapore, as well as its global sourcing and services organizations operating in the region.
VWR said in a statement the appointment “signifies the company’s commitment to growing in the region” as customers expand into Asia and the Pacific, “and thereby strengthening its global presence.”
Wu will lead the construction and start-up of a regional warehouse in Singapore; manage all acquisition activities in the Asia-Pacific region; and coordinate the activities of global and local suppliers to meet the requirements of VWR customers in Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.
Wu most recently served as president and CEO of Tokio-based Momentive Performance Materials, Asia-Pacific. Prior to the acquisition of Momentive by a private equity firm, Wu was president and CEO of GE Toshiba Silicone. During Wu’s 18 years with GE, he held various general management, sales and marketing roles in North America and Asia.
Wu has a BSci in chemistry from the University of Hong Kong, and an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Tenant-Oriented Real Estate Firm Promotes Jodi Goldman to National Director of Communications
Jodi Goldman has been promoted to national director of communications at Boston-based CresaPartners. Goldman previously served as national public relations and advertising manager with the corporate real estate advisory firm, which specializes in tenant representation.
Goldman was previously the public relations manager for publisher Houghton Mifflin in Boston, area director of communications for the American Cancer Society of Southeastern Massachusetts, director of communications for the American Heart Association’s Northeast affiliate, and morning anchor and reporter for WVNY-TV in Burlington, Vt. She also worked for two syndicated news magazines and was a productions coordinator for Kingworld Productions in NYC.
Goldman received a BA degree from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.