Mentors

During the iQ workshops take advantage of our network of professional mentors looking to hear about your ideas and help you develop them. These professional mentors range from current and former entrepreneurs to experienced angel investors. The mentors will attend all of the workshops, network with all of the teams, evaluate final applications, and participate in the judging process. They are here for your success! Please contact the iQ team to be in touch with any of our mentors outside of the workshops. If you are interested in becoming a mentor in the iQ program, please contact Kevin Gardiner at kevin.gardiner@uconn.edu


Mentor Name
Area of Expertise

Analouie, Mostafa

Biotech, Medical Devices

Aune, Dave

Startups, Mentoring, Customer Experience

Bienemann, Robin

Operations, Manufacturing

Behandish, Morad

Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science

Bouley, Kevin

Business Generalist

Bruno, Christopher

Consulting, Human Resources, Healthcare Industry, Investment Management, Survey Research, Databases

Chen, Carson

Innovation Quest – Managing Partner, Business Strategy, Business Development, Technology, Team Building, Product Development, Keen ability to listen

Chen, Nelson

Sales

Cremins, Matt

Engineering, Business Startups

Daneshmandi, Leila

Biotech, Healthcare, Engineering, Technology, Idea Generation, Product-Market Fit

Dino, Rich

Former Director, UConn Innovation Quest Program, Creativity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Dvoskin, Dan

Finance, Software

Evans, Annette

Biology, Science/STEM Fields, Small Business Startups in CT

Feeney, Margaret

Management, Operations

Fox, Keith

Innovation Quest – Managing Partner, Brand Strategy, Product Development and Positioning, Marketing, Management, Finance

Gangemi, Tony

Law – Patent and other areas of IP Law

Gardiner, Kevin

Director, UConn Innovation Quest Program, Operations, Customer Service, Retail, SaaS

Gilson, Paul

Entrepreneurial Finance

Hughes, Paul

Law and Emerging Growth Companies

Kolb, Gloria

Medical Devices

Longo, Parker

Venture Capital

Maguire, Steve

Medical products, Product developments, Manufacturing, Management

Menard, Dave

Law

Minkara, Abe

Startups, Venture Capital, eCommerce Strategy, Technology, Consumer Packaged Goods

Noble, David

Business model development, Digital Innovation

O’Neil, Brooks

Healthcare, Consumer packaged goods, Financial Services

Parker, Paul

Business Start-ups

Roeck, Guenter

Computer Science, Focus on operating systems and embedded system development

Schloss, Gary

Manufacturing, Design, Prototyping, International Business

Shannon, Tim

Healthcare with a focus on biopharmaceuticals

Smith, Mark R.

Technical: Scientific Imaging and Geoscientific Research
Operations: Accounting, Product Development, Small Business Management, Sales & Marketing, Capital Growth & Cashflow Strategies

Souder, David

Strategy

Stalf, Andrea

Marketing & Strategy

Tansey, Hugh

General Management, Product Development & Launch, Sales & Service

Tirea, Don

User Experience & User Interface Design, Digital Product Development Process, Agile Development, Waterfall Development, User Acceptance Testing, Lean Methodology

Ullman, Nadav

Technology, B2B, SaaS, Sales, Startups

Yakaitis, Larry

Software Development and Commercialization, Business Startups

Yakaitis, Mackie

Marketing

Zehner, Andrew

Business and legal affairs