Linda Simmons - The President of I~PRISE Communications, Inc. Linda established I~PRISE in 1997 as a woman-owned small business, after a successful career in healthcare management. Her experience includes the establishment of the Thousand Oaks Telecommunity Center under a grant from CalTrans. The Center, located at the Civic Arts Plaza, is a state-of-the-art technology learning center formed via a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Navy. Linda also has extensive experience in the coordination and conduct of business partnering and outreach events such as the Business Outlook Conference for the Ventura County Economic Development Association. Her most recent event was the Ventura County's Technology Assets, which was conducted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

  Bill Simmons - A Principal of I~PRISE Communications Inc. Bill has nearly 30 years of consulting experience in the areas of Engineering and Logistics, Information Technology, and Innovation. He currently supports the Department of the Navy and local Government in the areas of strategy and planning. For the last 15 years, he has been a passionate advocate for innovation both inside the Government as well as the broader community at large. Bill’s strength is providing onsite support and often provides day-to-day innovator coaching, business case feasibility and analysis, and the application of industry best practices technical requirements.
 

  Amy Garcia is the Director of Communications for I~PRISE.  A graduate from Fresno State University with at degree in Business – Marketing, she assists her dad in the conduct and execution of strategic planning for the Navy and with local government while pursuing her own entrepreneuring opportunities in the equestrian field. As Director of Communications, Amy’s firsthand knowledge and experience in social networking has been critical in her role as project manager for the deployment of the Innovation Factory website.    

  David Dragnich - Managing Partner of The Winslow Group, Washington, DC. For the past ten years, David has supported several DOE national laboratories, other government agencies and private firms assisting them in bringing innovative management practices and cutting-edge technology into their business and manufacturing processes. The Winslow Group was selected by the Department of Defense to introduce innovative management practices and integrate major bioterrorism response programs across various levels of government and the military. Prior to forming The Winslow Group nearly 15 years ago, David served in a series of senior management capacities (Associate Laboratory Director ) at multiple DOE National Laboratories with responsibilities for line management, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship development, and business process improvement. His management activities covered all programs within the laboratories and his personal activities covered the fields of energy and the environment, national security, and global climate change ranging from basic research through product and process commercialization. David and his seasoned Associates tend to custom design and adapt unique solutions for the establishment and management of the Incubators and serves as a liaison with relevant government, DOD, industry, academic, private research & development, and funding organizations originating in the Washington DC area.

  Dr. Ray K. Robinson has over four decades of hands-on experience stimulating, identifying, incubating, and integrating ideas and resources into successful and sustainable projects and ventures. Ray began his career as a chemical engineering student at the U. of Texas with novel surface treatments in the aluminum industry, which was followed by his time at Battelle Memorial Institute where he became the leader charged with finding, funding and implementing innovative ideas and customers outside of Battelle’s principal Department of Energy customer. His Innovation Engineering (IE) experience kicked into high gear as a doctoral student at MIT, where he was an early participant and contributor helping MIT “grow a new Route 128,” and was pictured and written up in Business Week (July 22, 1972). Later he was director in Exxon’s “start with a clean sheet of paper” creation of a diversified nuclear fuel cycle company where he also led three international startups that grew to over 2,000 employees. He has since helped federal agencies and local communities implement the innovation process while concurrently founding or co-founding four for-profit companies and two national non-profits. His IE work continued in leadership roles conceiving, starting and growing highly successful incubators, a science and technology park, a land grant state university branch campus, a SE Washington “commercialization partnership” helping over 50 entrepreneurs launch or grow early stage companies, and two federal agency centers of excellence. Dr. Robinson is active as a principal in his 20 year-old management and technology consulting company, serves in a leadership capacity on three boards of directors and Washington State University President’s Academic Advisory Council, and is active in the start-up of a new company.

  Corey McCloud - An IT visionary who has spent his entire 15+ year professional career immersed in technology.  Corey has a broad range of hands-on experience ranging from network and server administration to application configuration and programming.  He possesses a hard to find mixture of both technical and managerial expertise including skills in network administration, application configuration and implementation, project management, strategic planning, business systems analysis, and leadership while remaining personable and articulate.  Through his career, Corey has held positions such as Network Administrator, PC Specialist, Senior Systems Analyst, IT Manager, and most recently Director of Information Technology for small to large companies.  He has led (and participated in!) the creation of multiple enterprise class data centers, planned several "zero downtime" corporate relocations, and has delivered countless application implementations including corporate websites, ecommerce, and web based interfaces.  During this journey, Corey has been a catalyst for positive change within every company in which he has held a position.  He believes there are always improvements to be made, but balances this with the knowledge and temperament that only extensive experience can provide.