Board of Advisors
Bob Casey
Associate Dean,
C.T. Bauer College of Business,
University of Houston
Bob is the Associate Dean for External Relations and
currently serves on the Dean’s Executive Advisory
Board. As the Associate Dean, he is responsible for
advancing the Bauer College of Business and
positioning it to be the premier, urban college of
business through Image Building, Communications,
Fundraising, Relationship Building and Community
Outreach.
Mr. Casey is actively engaged in alumni and corporate
relations, development, advancement, special events
and public relations. Under Bob’s leadership,
the Bauer College of Business’s reputation has been
creatively and consistently advanced as being one of
the nation’s premier colleges of business. His
guidance has included event planning and programs of
special interest to alumni and business partners
that actively involves the participation of the
Dean’s Advisory Board. Over a period of eight
years, he has raised more than $100 million in cash
and in-kind contributions. Bob received his
M.B.A from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. David S. Birsa
retired, ChevronTexaco Corporation
With
over 30 years experience in the worldwide petroleum
industry, Dr. Birsa began his oil and gas industry
career with Texaco, Inc. in Bellaire, Texas in 1972.
Later joining Chevron, Inc. in Denver, Colorado, he
held a series of positions that expanded his role
and responsibilities, including Division Research
Manager for Chevron Oilfield Research Company in La
Habra, California; General Manager Exploration for
Chevron UK, Ltd. in London, England; Chief Geologist
for Chevron Overseas Petroleum, Inc. in San Ramon,
California; and Vice President of Technical Planning
and New Ventures in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Dr.
Birsa has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of
Science degree from Ohio State University and a
Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He has
served on Advisory Boards for both universities
(College of Natural Sciences at Ohio State
University and Geology Foundation Advisory Council
at the University of Texas). He has been a
member of numerous professional societies around the
world throughout his career.
Paul Frison
President and CEO, Houston Technology Center
Paul is President and CEO of the Houston Technology Center (HTC),
a business accelerator for Houston-based emerging
technology companies. A non-profit
corporation, HTC seeks to enhance Houston's position
as a leading city for starting and growing companies
in energy, information technology, life sciences and
NASA originated technologies.
Paul has been President and/or CEO of three public companies
(LifeMark (1975 - 1984), NYSE; ComputerCraft (1984 -
1986), NASDAQ; and Life Cell (1986 - 1999), NASDAQ).
Each was technology focused. He has been involved in
four other start-ups serving on their Board of
Directors. He has raised multiple rounds of venture
capital, executed two IPOs and raised more than a
dozen public financings.
Paul received his B.A. from Occidental College in Los
Angeles, California. He currently serves on the
Board of Directors of The Institute of Research and
Rehabilitation (TIRR), The Entrepreneurship
Institute, The Houston Entrepreneurs Foundation, The
Lions Eye Foundation - Houston, Boy Scouts of
America - Houston, Texas Council of AEA, Texchange,
and is Chairman of the Advisory Council of the
University of Houston - College of Technology.
Dr. Randall
Goldsmith
President and CEO, San Antonio Technology
Accelerator Initiative
Randy is an expert in technology commercialization and local
capital formation and has made numerous
presentations on growing technology based economies
in national and international venues. Prior to
joining SATAI, he served as President and CEO of the
Oklahoma Technology Development Corporation. He was
responsible for developing state, national, and
international resources to assist in launching
technology start up companies. His team was
responsible for assisting 60 new companies and has
secured more than $280 million of investment capital
over a three year period.
Randy has also served as the President of the Oklahoma
Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, an
organization that received national recognition as a
Manufacturing Technology Resource Center. He was
the Director of the University of Houston Clear
Lake’s Technology Center, a subcontractor to NASA’s
Johnson Space Center, where he was responsible for
commercializing space and energy related
technologies.
Dr. Bernard
Harris
President and CEO, Vesalius Ventures
Bernard is the President and CEO of Vesalius Ventures, a
venture firm which funds telemedicine companies with
technologies that help medical professionals
diagnose and care for patients remotely. The fund
makes investments with rounds of $250,000 to $5
million each.
After completing his residency training in 1985 at the Mayo
Clinic, Dr. Harris then completed a National
Research Council Fellowship at NASA Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, California. While at Ames he
conducted research in the field of musculoskeletal
physiology, and disuse osteoporosis, completing his
fellowship in 1987. He then joined NASA
Johnson Space Center as a clinical scientist and
flight surgeon. His duties included clinical
investigations of space adaptation and the
development of countermeasures for extended duration
space flight. Assigned to the Medical Science
Division, he held the title of Project Manager,
Exercise Countermeasure Project. Dr. Harris
holds several faculty appointments. He is an
associate professor in internal medicine at the
University of Texas Medical Branch; an assistant
professor at the Baylor College of Medicine; a
clinical professor at the University of Texas School
of Medicine; and is an adjunct professor at the
University of Texas School of Public Health. He is a
member, Board of Regents for the Texas Tech
University Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas
and a Fellow, American College of Physicians.
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Harris became an
astronaut in July 1991. He is qualified for
assignment as a mission specialist on future Space
Shuttle flight crews. He served as the crew
representative for Shuttle Software in the Astronaut
Office Operations Development Branch. A
veteran of two space flights, Dr. Harris has logged
more than 438 hours in space. He was a mission
specialist on STS-55 (April 26 to May 6, 1993), and
was the Payload Commander on STS-63 (February 2-11,
1995).
Dan Loague
Executive Director of the National Association of
Seed and Venture Funds
Mr. Loague is Executive Director of the National Association
of Seed and Venture Funds (www.nasvf.org).
In this position he is responsible for tracking seed
and venture capital funds and programs throughout
the United States, and managing all member services
including the Association's newsletter, annual
conference and coordinating the delivery of Seed
Capital Investing Seminars.
