Melinda Richter, Executive Director
Melinda Richter is the founder and CEO of Prescience International, a firm dedicated to the commercialization of science through starting and managing research centers, incubators, foundations and institutes.

Prescience International is dedicated to fostering innovation through entrepreneurship so that the best of science and technology can reach the people who need it.  As part of Prescience International, Ms. Richter started and currently directs the San Jose BioCenter, co-founded and directs the University of California at Berkeley’s BioExec Program, co-founded and directs the California Center for Healthcare and BioMedical Technology Research Foundation.  Ms. Richter has also provided consultation services to commercialization centers such as the US Market Access Center and international agencies such as JETRO, the Canadian Consulate General, and the Finnish agency Global Connexus. Prior to Prescience International, Ms. Richter created and directed the ASTIA Life Science Incubator (formerly the Women’s Technology Cluster).   

Prior to ASTIA, Ms. Richter spent eight years at Nortel Networks throughout North America, the U.K., Europe, Central and Latin America, and Asia. Ms. Richter worked in acquisitions, strategic planning, marketing, contract negotiations, engineering and manufacturing optimization, world trade market development, and general management of an IT business unit.   One of Ms. Richter’s key accomplishments was the successful implementation of a new technology across Nortel Networks’ seven international regions including Nortel Africa, Nortel Asia South Pacific, Nortel CALA (Caribbean and Latin America), Nortel China, Nortel Europe, Nortel Japan, and Nortel U.K. Ms. Richter won several Nortel awards including the highest level CEO Award for People / Emerging Market Development in China. In China, Ms. Richter was responsible for creating joint ventures with locally owned telecommunications companies and, post agreement, she was responsible for developing the management for each joint enterprise.  She also was responsible for general management development for Nortel Asia Pacific, which encompassed the regions of Nortel China, Nortel Japan, and Nortel Asia South Pacific.  Ms. Richter left Nortel to start eTreasurer, a European online financial and accounting hub for CFOs, which operated across London, Paris and Barcelona.

Following, Ms. Richter led business development for high technology companies in Silicon Valley before entering the field of incubation for science and technology. Ms. Richter currently sits on the governing board of the National Business Incubation Association and the boards of University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business BioExecutive Institute and San Jose State University’s Masters of Biotechnology Program.  Ms. Richter holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France.
melinda@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (408) 960-3807

Scott Korney, COO
Scott Korney brings nearly 30 years of extensive experience at both creating strategic plans and optimizing facility operations. His areas of expertise include real estate transaction and occupancy/TI execution of over 1 million sq. ft. of life science R&D laboratory, GMP production and release facilities. Scott is well recognized in the Bay Area Life Science industry as an accomplished leader with expertise in Facilities Development, Operations, Environmental Health & Safety, Security, Site Services, Utilities/Sustainability Management, Asset Management, Regulatory Compliance and Capital Project Management. Scott has provided these outstanding services to leading worldwide pharmaceutical and research corporations as well as start-up ventures.

In the early 1980's, Scott developed the R&D facilities (laboratories and greenhouses) for Atlantic Richfield's venture into biotech genetic engineering. In the early 1990's, he co-founded Plant Research Technologies, a Contract Research Organization, conducting EPA and FDA regulated environmental fate and risk assessment studies for a variety of large pharma and ag-chemical companies (clients including Smith-Kline Beecham, Zeneca, Proctor & Gamble, Solvay, Isagro s.r.l. Italy, Pfizer Animal Health, Pitman-Moore, Mallinckrodt, Uniroyal Chemical, and Chevron). In 1997, Scott joined Scios Inc, where he led the renovation and validation of GMP manufacturing facility and subsequent sale of campus, build out of new labs and offices and business relocations. In 2004, Scios was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and Scott led the design and development of a 300K sq. ft. state-of-the-art R&D campus. He also led the master strategic plan to acquire adjacent greenfield properties to support over 1 millions sq. ft. of new research and support facilities. In 2008, Scott was recruited to join the Pfizer, Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center (BBC), where he directed a portfolio of R&D facility operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Southern California and SF Bay Area (including the new 100K sq. ft. Mission Bay facility at Mission and 3rd Street). With the Pfizer 2010 acquisition of Wyeth, Scott assisted CRE with the assessment and development of playbooks for the properties within his BBC portfolio.
scott@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (408) 960-3807

Erika Kula, Director, Business Development
Prior to Prescience International Ms. Kula was responsible for sales and management of corporate accounts at Equilar, Inc, the market leader for benchmarking executive and director compensation and providing corporate governance related information to over two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies.  In her capacity she was responsible for the management of over 200 accounts such as Eli Lily, AutoNation, and Capital One. 
Ms. Kula holds a BA in Biological Sciences and Political Science from the University of Southern California and a Certificate from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Center for Executive Education for their 2008 Business Executive Program.
erika@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (415) 828-1498

Richard Fronko, Ph.D, CORE Lab Specialists
Richard Fronko is currently the Operations Director, overseeing facilities and the CORE Laboratory. Richard comes to us with over 15 years experience in the biotech field garnered from two emerging companies, Microcide Pharmaceuticals and Plexxikon, Inc. Richard also was the Manager of the NMR Labs Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has an analytical background with extensive experience managing NMR/HPLC/MS instrumentation in both academia and industry. He has also had lab facility experience, including time spent as a lab safety officer. In his most recent position, he maintained the scientific information infrastructure; deploying databases on the server as well as installing applications on the client end. He has been working part-time while teaching Chemistry at Ohlone College until December 2007, at which point he joined the BioCenter full time.
richard@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (408) 960-3807

Chelsea Hewitt, Marketing Director
Ms. Hewitt is the Marketing Director for Prescience Intl, a firm dedicated to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship for innovation centers in technology and life sciences. As a senior member of Prescience International, Ms. Hewitt is responsible for the marketing strategy of the San Jose BioCenter. Ms. Hewitt is also responsible for the marketing and co-organization of the BioExecutive Program developed by Prescience International and the Haas school of Business at UC Berkeley Center for Executive Development. Ms. Hewitt has over 10 years of international marketing and project management expertise beginning with London-based multi-media incubator and investment firm, Illuminator Plc.; where she was responsible for the market analysis and due diligence to support the funding of prospective client companies. Prior to the San Jose BioCenter, Ms. Hewitt was the Marketing Manager for ASTIA (formerly the WTC), where she managed all marketing communications, oversaw external program development, and project managed the Annual Venture Conference; an emerging company showcase to over 400+ attendees. Ms. Hewitt was also awarded the ASTIA New Business Award for 2005 for her client and sponsor recruitment efforts. Ms. Hewitt has a BA in History from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Certificate from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Center for Executive Education for their 2004 Business Executive Program.
chelsea@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (415) 405-6385

Minh Miran, Business Operations Manager
Ms. Miran manages all aspects of business operations at the San Jose BioCenter  to ensure the staff and office continue to operate at the highest level of efficiency and achieve optimal performance. In her role, Ms. Miran helps to define and continuously improve all business processes and operational flows; oversees executive budgeting and reporting functions; manages the administration of human resources policies, procedures, programs,  and best practices; and provides general support to the Executive Director. Ms. Miran comes to the San Jose BioCenter with over 14 years in Business and Operations management, having worked for such companies as American Capital, Ltd., Pacific Media, Monster Cable, Blanc & Otus Public Relations, and State Farm Insurance. Ms. Miran has a BS in Accounting from Saint Mary's College, Moraga, CA. 
minh@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (408) 960-2319

Mark Eshbaugh, Facilities Manager
Mark Eshbaugh has over fifteen years' experience in corporate facilities management and is applying that expertise at the San Jose BioCenter. His primary focus is on critical facilities operations and providing outstanding customer service. In his role at the BioCenter, Mark is responsible for ensuring all BioCenter clients have a safe and functional facility to perform their work.Prior to working in the Life Sciences Industry, Mark worked as a Senior Mechanical Technician for NASA onboard the Gerard P. Kuiper Airborne Observatory. In the late 1990's, Mark was able pursue his passion for facilities operations while working at Affymax Research Institute and was responsible for overseeing thefacilities department. Mark was the Facilities Manager at Affymetrix and was responsible for day-to-day facilities operations at all San Francisco Bay Area locations. Mark is a Certified Facilities Manager, recognized by the International Facility Management Association and holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.