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Donald deBethizy

Michael Lord is Director of the Flow Institute and Associate Professor of Strategy and International Business at Wake Forest University, where he teaches strategy and entrepreneurship in the full-time and executive MBA programs at the Babcock Graduate School of Management. Dr. Lord's research and consulting work focuses on new venture creation, high-tech acquisitions and spinouts, and global venturing. His work on innovation has been featured in a variety of academic and practitioner outlets, including the Harvard Business Review, and he serves as an advisor on innovation strategy to a diverse group of companies, both large and small.

Donald deBethizy is founder, president, and chief executive officer of Targacept, Inc. Using new computational drug discovery technologies and focusing on novel biological targets, Targacept is developing therapies for numerous central nervous system disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimer's, anxiety, depression, and pain. Targacept was spun out of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in 2000, raising record levels of first- and second-round venture financing along the way. For his leadership in founding Targacept, Ernst & Young recognized Dr. deBethizy as an "Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2002.

Jeffrey Wager is founder and managing member of CPP Advisors, an innovation-focused advisory and consulting firm. CPP structures and facilitates strategic transactions to support clients' innovation commercialization needs, including venture investments, licensing deals, partnerships, M&A, and spinouts. Dr. Wager's advisory and consulting practice focuses on the life sciences and spans the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Previously, he led due diligence and investment management activities for leading venture firms in the U.S. and Japan. Dr. Wager continues to serve as an advisor or board member for many of the organizations he has advised or helped found.