Speakers

Erika Swift, MBA, MHA, serves as a Professor of Practice with a joint appointment at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Harrisburg. She is also the director of the Center for Medical Innovation at Penn State College of Medicine, where she leads efforts to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem. The Center provides essential education and resources to drive medical innovation, ultimately generating both economic and social impact.

With over 25 years of experience in economic development, technology commercialization, and new business development across various industries-including medical devices, consumer goods, and dental equipment-Erika joined Penn State College of Medicine in 2015 to spearhead technology development initiatives. She was pivotal in establishing the Center for Medical Innovation, officially launched in February 2017, aligning with the College of Medicine's broader mission of cultivating a culture of innovation.

Beyond her role at Penn State, Erika served as President of BioStrategy Partners, Inc., a nonprofit consortium dedicated to advancing academic research into the marketplace, from 2018 to 2024. She continues to contribute as an officer and board member.

Erika holds a Bachelor of Science in business with a concentration in international business from Bloomsburg University, an MBA from York College of Pennsylvania, and an MHA from Penn State University.

Jen Gilburg joined the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in September 2023 as Deputy Secretary of Technology and Entrepreneurship. She has decades long experience in technology and advanced manufacturing in the private sector. She has been on the forefront of such high growth technologies as data security and artificial intelligence, and has worked in advanced technologies for automotive, medical and robotics industries.

As Deputy Secretary of Technology and Entrepreneurship, she focuses on implementing the Shapiro Administration's and DCED's vision of attracting, fostering, and investing in people and companies focused on technology and innovation across multiple sectors, and throughout the state.

A neuroscientist by training, Dr. Eric Hall harnesses scientific and technical knowledge with business acumen to operationalize transformational outcomes, including novel therapeutic development, pioneering data analytics solutions, licensing and acquisition agreements. 

He has held increasing levels of responsibility across medical affairs, market access, alliance management, and business development in the biopharmaceutical industry with Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, and Voyager Therapeutics.

Dr. Hall has led and contributed to the development and launching of medicines for neurological and hematological conditions along with several licensing and acquisition transactions for therapeutics, data and technology platforms to transform lives. 

He is currently the Vice-President of Corporate & Business Development for Voyager Therapeutics where he leads the full cycle of business development activities to enable development of neurological medicines and create value for stakeholders.

Dr. Hall currently serves on the Penn State Research Foundation Board. He is a former board member of Penn State College Medicine Alumni Society Board and of Penn State Graduate Alumni Society Board. In 2018, he received the Penn State Alumni Achievement Award.

Dr. Hall holds a PhD in neuroscience from Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, an executive MBA from Penn State Smeal College of Business, and a BS in biology from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Elizabeth (Liz) Hodgson is the Vice Chair of the firm's Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group and represents companies and their founders and investors in every stage of a company's lifecycle from formation to exit. Liz works closely with clients to help them start, grow, invest in, purchase and sell businesses and advises on day to day matters to help align their business objectives with their legal needs. Her experience includes: choice of entity; corporate governance; corporate finance; private equity and venture capital transactions; securities offerings; commercial contract preparation and review; intellectual property protection, licensing, and commercialization; mergers and acquisitions; restrictions on foreign investment and acquisition of U.S. companies and the review process conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS); and day-to-day general corporate matters.

Liz has vast experience working with companies and closely held businesses in the life sciences, biotechnology, technology, health care, software and information technology sectors, and is particularly passionate about working with female founders, investors, executives and entrepreneurs. She combines her legal skills and own entrepreneurial spirit to identify with and deliver for her clients.

Liz received a B.A. in English with a minor in Spanish from The Pennsylvania State University. She received a J.D. from The Pennsylvania State University, The Dickinson School of Law. While in law school, she was a member of The Woolsack Society and was Editor-in-Chief of the Penn State Law Review.

Laurie Actman serves as the chief marketing, communications and program officer at the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) at the University of Pennsylvania. As part of the executive team, Laurie oversees the strategic implementation of PCI's programs and partnerships, marketing, and communications and helped to plan and launch the Pennovation Center, Penn's new startup incubator where she actively managed programs and partnerships. 

Previously, she served as PCI's chief operating officer from launch in 2014 to December 2016. Before PCI, she has worked for notable organizations in the private, non-profit, and public sectors in Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C., including as chief policy officer for the CEO Council for Growth, consultant to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on his administration's sustainability and ARRA initiatives, director of strategic partnerships at Viridity Energy, and deputy and interim director for the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation, a $150 million public private project capitalized by the U.S. Department of Energy and based at Philadelphia's Navy Yard. 

She received her undergraduate degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in urban planning and real estate from UNC-Chapel Hill. Laurie lives in Bala Cynwyd with her husband and three children and spends a lot of time, when not working, on the soccer sidelines and walking her dog.

Steve Carpenter serves as Director, Research Startups at Penn State University's Office of Research Ventures providing guidance and support to scientists pursuing commercialization of their technology from the invention disclosure stage to commercial revenue. Thanks to generous philanthropic support, Mr. Carpenter manages the new Momentum Fund providing initial investments in promising startups utilizing Penn State intellectual property. Mr. Carpenter also serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Penn State's Smeal College of Business teaching Entrepreneurial Finance and as the Program Administrator for the Garber Fund providing venture investment experiences for Smeal graduate students. Mr. Carpenter has served as a director or board observer on more than ten company boards since 2008. Mr. Carpenter has 19 years of experience with Life Sciences Greenhouse Investments providing seed- and early-stage investments in promising life sciences companies in Pennsylvania.  In his most recent role as Senior Vice President, Mr. Carpenter provided guidance and support to portfolio companies, evaluated early-stage companies for prospective investments, and managed the organization's accounting and finances. Prior to joining LSG Investments, Mr. Carpenter served more than 20 years in a variety of management and engineering positions, primarily leading operation start-ups and new product launches. Mr. Carpenter earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from Penn State University where his academic concentration was on venture capital, entrepreneurship, and finance.

Saima Farooq, MBA, is the Innovation Manager for the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) at Penn State College of Medicine. She leads CMI's collaborations across the broader Penn State community, connecting College of Medicine innovators with faculty and student teams across campuses to advance the development and commercialization of new technologies. She also coordinates relationships with regional accelerators, research institutions, and other partners to expand the resources and expertise available to College of Medicine projects. 

Saima works directly with faculty innovators, providing hands-on project management, pitch development, customer discovery, and competitive landscape analysis. She also strengthens CMI's internal operations and leads its communications efforts, including the monthly newsletter, which highlights CMI's impact and connects the research community with relevant programs, resources, and opportunities. 

Before joining Penn State, Saima spent several years at Pfizer, where she served as the Digital Innovation Lab Partnerships and Innovation Challenges Lead. She led the end-to-end design and delivery of Pfizer's Innovation Challenge service, engaging the external innovation ecosystem to identify startups with solutions to challenges affecting patients. This work resulted in strategic digital health partnerships for Pfizer. She also produced the company's first official TEDxPfizer events, creating a global platform to showcase innovation from within and beyond the organization. 

Saima is a Penn State alumna with bachelor's degrees in psychology and information sciences and technology. She earned her MBA in Innovation Management from Temple University.

Dr. Christian E. Herrera is a life scientist, entrepreneur, and commercialization strategist whose career spans biomedical research, technology commercialization, business strategy, and entrepreneurship. He currently serves as Technology Scout Lead for the NSF I-Corps Mid-Atlantic Hub at Penn State, where he identifies promising university-connected technologies, engages researchers and startup teams, assesses commercialization readiness, and connects innovators with resources to help move technologies from research toward the marketplace. 

Prior to joining the I-Corps Hub, Dr. Herrera spent nearly eight years at Penn State conducting interdisciplinary infectious disease and global health research. His doctoral work integrated microbial genomics, epidemiology, field research, and quantitative risk modeling to investigate pathogen exposure within the Nigerian bushmeat trade. Earlier, he worked in cancer immunotherapy at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and supported a U.S. Department of Defense-funded research program at the Naval Medical Research Unit in San Antonio focused on developing novel approaches to snake antivenom. 

Entrepreneurship has been a significant part of Dr. Herrera's career. He has founded, co-owned, and advised businesses across e-commerce, consumer products, jewelry, collectibles, luxury watches, and precious metals, gaining firsthand experience in customer discovery, marketing, operations, business development, and scaling commercial opportunities. 
Dr. Herrera earned his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences with a concentration in Infectious Diseases and Immunology from Penn State, where he also earned an in-residence MBA from the Smeal College of Business. He holds an M.S. in Biotechnology from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and a B.S. in Biology from Angelo State University. 

His work is driven by a commitment to helping scientists and entrepreneurs translate strong technical ideas into viable products, companies, and real-world impact. 

Tomás Isakowitz serves as the program director for Penn I-Corps and the PCI Fellows program at the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) at the University of Pennsylvania. PCI facilitates innovation throughout the institution by connecting academic research with entrepreneurial and licensing opportunities. Since 2005, Tomás has led Penn I-Corps, developing customer discovery courses that transform research into commercially viable technologies and guiding over 200 teams that have secured funding and grown into successful companies. He also created the PCI Fellows program, offering competitive internships that immerse participants in patenting, licensing, and marketing while nurturing entrepreneurial skills. 

Tomás earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania and holds mathematics degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Outside his professional pursuits, he values time with his family and enjoys meditation, yoga, travel, hiking, and pickleball. Tomás is a native of Argentina.

Dr. Matthew C. McKinney is an entrepreneurship educator, program leader, and entrepreneur whose career spans higher education, startup development, outdoor recreation, and experiential learning. As of August 2026, he serves as Assistant Director of Research Startups at Penn State, where he manages the Startup Leadership Network, Penn State Alumni Entrepreneurs Network, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. In this role, he strengthens Penn State's entrepreneurial ecosystem by connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, alumni, and experienced business leaders with the resources and relationships needed to advance new ventures.

Previously, Dr. McKinney served as Entrepreneurship Program Manager in Penn State's Office of Entrepreneurship and Commercialization, where he developed and managed student-focused entrepreneurship and economic development initiatives. His work included leading Penn State Startup Week, developing the Penn State Alumni Entrepreneurs Network, supporting university startup initiatives, and serving as an NSF I-Corps trainer for Penn State and the Mid-Atlantic region.
Dr. McKinney also serves as part-time faculty in the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management, facilitating graduate-level entrepreneurship courses through the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship. Previously, he was a faculty member in the Department of Entrepreneurship at the Bullis School, where he developed and taught courses in entrepreneurship, business model design, leadership, finance, and global trade and coached student venture teams from ideation through launch.

From 2015 to 2019, Dr. McKinney served on the faculty at Gallaudet University, teaching courses in entrepreneurship, adventure recreation, event planning, and recreation management. He also served as Faculty Fellows Coordinator for Gallaudet's Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, leading a multidisciplinary cohort of faculty working to integrate entrepreneurial thinking across the curriculum. During his time at Gallaudet, he helped develop entrepreneurship courses, student pitch competitions, business partnerships, and experiential learning opportunities.

Dr. McKinney earned his Ph.D. in Recreation, Park and Tourism Management and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment from Penn State, where he also earned an M.S. in Recreation, Park and Tourism Management and a B.S. in Recreation and Park Management. He is currently pursuing an additional M.S. in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn State.

Entrepreneurship has been a consistent thread throughout Dr. McKinney's career. He co-founded Venture Navigator, a SaaS product designed to guide entrepreneurs through the entrepreneurial journey. He also founded Mt. Nittany Outfitters, an e-commerce outdoor recreation business that grew to more than $500,000 in annual sales. He later founded Happy Valley Trading Cards, which has served more than 10,000 customers. His nonprofit and community work has included serving on the Board of Directors of Global Capacity, consulting with the International Mountain Leadership Institute in the Himalayas of northern India, and founding and co-chairing Bison Adventures. This organization provides recreational experiences for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

An avid outdoorsman, Dr. McKinney completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2005 as a fundraiser for the Memphis Leadership Foundation. His interests include backpacking, boating, cycling, fly-fishing, gardening, travel, entrepreneurship, and spending time with family and friends.

Laura's passion is bringing new innovation to the market, with a focus on business strategy, go-to-market planning and customer discovery. Her current roles include Entrepreneur in Residence at Carnegie Mellon, Adjunct Instructor at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Rehabilitative Medicine and Science, National Science Foundation I-Corps instructor, Board Member and Innovator.

Her entrepreneurship background ranges from co-founding a successful 3D medical imaging company to the 2025 "Innovation in Advocacy Award" for bringing to market a safety geofencing app. She has executed $100M+ industry transformation projects worldwide with international companies such as Euro Disney, DuPont, and Louisville Slugger. She served as elected School board president with a constituency of 27,000, and held numerous other board presidencies with direct accountability for budgets up to $85M+. Nonprofit work includes the opening of a school in Kenya for 300 Maasai youth.

Her career started with her computer science and business education at Carnegie Mellon where her research into the intersection of AI and cognitive psychology with Nobel Prize and National Academy of Science leaders formed not just her technical understanding of many of today's innovations, but also became the foundation of her user entered approach to all problem solving.

As someone who is profoundly deaf with 10% of hearing of the lower tones in her right ear, her communications are primarily through lip reading. Listening is her superpower.

Nuwan Sella Kapu has over 20 years of experience in research and development, early-stage technology commercialization, and academic-industry-government collaboration in biological and life sciences. At the Penn State College of Medicine's Center for Medical Innovation, Nuwan leverages his experience to accelerate the development of Penn State life science discoveries and inventions for future commercialization and transfer to the patient's bedside.

Nuwan's work covers the entire research and development lifecycle from concept to startup-readiness, and he embeds within research and clinical teams to advance early-stage life science technologies.

He also brings in the wider external innovation ecosystem, including industry partners, subject matter experts, and research service providers, to secure funding and catalyze and expedite research and development.

Before joining the Center for Medical Innovation, he led research and development in bioproducts and renewable energy at the University of British Columbia, Canada, partnering with industry and government agencies. At UBC, he also served as the Assistant Director of the Master of Engineering Leadership Green Bioproducts program, developing the curricula, teaching several courses, and coordinating all technical courses. Nuwan also served as the Principal Scientist of a Penn State startup, providing technical leadership to secure nearly $1M in SBIR Phase I and II funding from NSF, DOE, USDA, and EPA.

During his tenure, he led day-to-day research operations, helped build a research facility and team, and partnered with other academic institutions and the National Renewable Energy Lab to expand research capabilities.

Nuwan holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Penn State and an MBA from UBC Sauder School of Business.

Rick is the director of Lehigh University's Office of Technology Transfer. He has been engaged in many aspects of technology development, commercialization, and innovation, and was previously the director of technology commercialization at Ohio State University, Columbia University, and Rutgers University. 

Rick began his technology commercialization career as a consultant for Innovaro, Inc. where he consulted clients on technology transfer with universities and federal labs. He has held engineering design and development positions in the fields of spectrophotometry instrumentation, optical network design, and underwater acoustics. As a corporate financial consultant, he drafted business plans and facilitated the acquisition of growth capital for clients, and was a business analyst for RBC Centura Bank. 

Rick has Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and computer science, a Master of Science in electrical engineering specializing in photonics, an MBA in finance and accounting, and a Master of Science in entrepreneurship in applied technologies. He also has graduate coursework in economics, chemical engineering, and law. Rick received his CLP and RTTP certifications in 2014, and he is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and Licensing Executives Society (LES). Rick also completed the certification in venture capital financing from the UC Berkeley School of Law-VC University.