Keynote speakers announced for “Bridging the Gap”
The featured speakers for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) second annual Bridging the Gap technology commercialization conference have been announced.
Jeff Smith, Deputy Lab Director for Operations, will serve as keynote speaker during the opening session on Wednesday, March 7. His topic, “Close Encounters with ORNL,” will begin at 1:15 p.m. Knoxville entrepreneur Chuck Witkowski, Acting CEO of Hubble Telemedical, Inc., will speak on “Perspectives of a Serial Entrepreneur” at the 6 p.m. dinner, also on March 7.
At ORNL, Smith coordinates overall operations and support functions including facilities operations, ES&H, business operations, security, human resources, communications, and technology transfer. During his tenure, he has led an overall modernization effort that has transformed ORNL into one of the most modern laboratories in the world. Through partnerships developed with the State of Tennessee, the private sector, and the federal sector, he has overseen more than $300,000 in facilities development.
Witkowski is the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hubble Telemedical, Inc., a start-up using ORNL technology to transform the diagnosis and management of diabetic eye disease. Additionally, he is a partner in 3 Degrees, LLC, a Knoxville firm that provides management consulting services to early and growth stage companies. Witkowski previously was the founder, President and CEO of Protein Discovery, Inc., a life sciences company that developed products for biochemical analysis using mass spectrometry.
The two-day Bridging the Gap event will feature presentations on 10 technologies in three areas – data analytics, advanced materials and clean technologies. For more information or to register, go to: http://www.ornl.gov/adm/partnerships/events/bridging_gap2012/index.shtml.
