Staff Profiles
CTP currently has a full-time staff of six, complimented by a variety of on-call industry experts. The team takes a inter-disciplinary approach to projects and assignments are frequently varied to provide the most added value to each potential situation. Scroll down to review all of the CTP staff biographies.Masood Akhtar, Ph.D. - President
Masood's key responsibilities include:
- Managing CTP operations
- Obtaining funding from the State of Wisconsin and other institutions
- Evaluating and introducing new technologies to the Forest Products sector
- Leading CTP out-reach initiatives
- Creating new initiatives
An entrepreneur with experience in technology transfer, Masood founded CTP in June 2002 to improve the competitiveness of Wisconsin businesses by accelerating the adoption of energy efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies. Masood is also Chief Executive Officer of BioPulping International, a University of Wisconsin spin-off, in Madison. He co-founded the company in 1996 to commercialize biopulping after serving as biopulping project leader at the University of Wisconsin Biotechnology Center/USDA Forest Products Laboratory from 1989 to 1996. Prior to joining the Forest Products Laboratory, Masood served as a Post-doctoral fellow in Plant Pathology at Ohio State University.
Dr. Akhtar has Ph.D. and M.Phil. degrees in Microbiology (Botany) as well as a M.S. degree in Botany and B.S. degrees in Botany, Chemistry and Zoology from Aligarh Muslim University in India.
Tim R. Konicek, Ph.D. - Director - Venture Investments
Tim's key responsibilities include:
- Business, product and technical due diligence
- Structuring deals
- Business development, operational, and strategic planning assistance
- Optimizing commercialization strategies
Tim has extensive business management experience in both large multi-national and start-up companies. He was most recently President and CEO of OpGen, Inc., an early stage Madison, WI biotechnology company. Prior to joining OpGen, Tim was a management consultant to start-up and high growth technology companies in California, working on business plan development, strategic planning, technology licensing, joint ventures, market analyses and positioning, and product development planning. Before joining the entrepreneurial world, Tim worked at S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. in Racine, Wisconsin where he held management positions in product development, technology search and acquisition, business development, and strategic marketing. While at S. C. Johnson, Tim built a successful track record creating significant new business by identifying and commercializing new products and technologies. He is skilled in all aspects of corporate operations from product development and design to commercialization. Throughout much of his career, Tim has structured and managed strategic alliances with venture-backed companies.
Dr. Konicek holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Organic Chemistry from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Chemistry from Carthage College. He has also attended the Venture Capital Institute.
Ed Corrigan- Director - Finance and Operations
Eds key responsibilities include:
- Performing financial due diligence on potential clients
- Negotiating deal structures, investment agreements, IP licenses and other legal agreements with clients
- Preparing CTP's strategic plan
- Fund-raising for CTP's investment fund
- Supervising CTP's financial reporting and accounting functions
- Administers and manages the CTP investment portfolio
Previously, Ed served 10 years as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Diachemix, an early stage biotechnology firm developing diagnostic products for the veterinary disease and food safety markets. He was responsible for the company’s organization, strategic planning, equity funding, product development and regulatory approval, intellectual property, collaborative research agreements, grants administration, OEM contract manufacturing, license agreements, and financial management.
Prior, Ed worked as a Vice President and Regional Market President at US Bank. There his responsibilities included small business and commercial lending, retail management, bank acquisition integration, credit analysis, regulatory compliance and risk management. Ed also has worked in the state government strategic planning and executive budgeting areas, and for non-profit organizations supervising program planning and grants allocations activities.
Ed has a Masters Degree in Economics and a Ph.D. in International Studies (Economic Development) from the University of Denver.
Brent English - Senior Technology Analyst
Brent's key responsibilities include:
- Searching for and screening new technologies for potential CTP Investment
- Providing technical due diligence for technologies in the forest products and plastics industry sectors
- Assisting CTP clients in the preparation and submittal of grants that will further their business goals
- Conducting CTP out-reach efforts around the state
Brent English has a broad technical background that gives him a good understanding of technologies used in the forest products, metal working and plastics industry. He has nine patents ranging from packaging design to material processing. While a researcher at a Federal laboratory, Brent won grants from the United States Department of Agriculture, US Department of Energy and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Founder and Technical Director of North Wood Plastics, Inc., a start-up venture producing composite compounds, and a recipient of a large low interest business development loan from the State of Wisconsin, gave Brent first-hand start-up experience. Working as R&D Project Manager at Electronic Theatre Controls and as Engineering Project Manager at Gammex RMI gave him experience with several other technologies.
Brent has a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Industrial/Technology Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Tom Wroblewski - Senior Energy Specialist
Tom's key responsibilities include:
- Helping the pulp and paper cluster identify and implement best energy practices and emerging energy technologies
- Screening new technologies for potential CTP investment or application within industry
- Prividing due diligence for new technologies, including renewable energy
- Assisting industry with the formation and successs of in-plant and corporate-wide energy teams
- Providing advice for industrial energy efficiency, benchmarking and savings goals.
Doug Presny - Emerging Technology Analyst
Doug's key responsibilities include:
- Evaluating energy impacts and implementation aspects of technologies
- Helping established business clusters identify and evaluate emerging energy technologies
Doug Presny has 18 years experience in assessing and implementing both best practice and emerging energy efficiency technologies. This experience has come from serving as a facility energy manager, a utility industrial representative, an energy consultant within the US and abroad, and extensive work with state and national energy efficiency programs. Included in this work are technology validation demonstrations and detailed industrial sector initiatives to identify barriers and create solutions that enable industry to take advantage of energy cost reduction technology.
Doug has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, and is a licensed Professional Engineer