Regional and Deputy Regional Coordinators

Michelle Gonzalez is the manager of business development, technology transfer, and economic development for Sandia National Laboratories’ California site. She leads initiatives within the Energy and Homeland Security Portfolio and the Sandia Partnerships Organization. Michelle previously served as the business development lead for the Homeland Security Portfolio where she advanced Sandia’s Chem Bio Rad Nuc Defense and Homeland Infrastructure Security Resilience programs. Prior to that, she served in the Chief Research Office working to align and integrate Sandia’s University Partnership strategy and stand up the Academic Alliance program. A graduate of the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, Michelle joined Sandia in 2013 in Sandia’s Economic Development where she served as the program lead for the Sandia Science and Technology Park. Prior to her time at Sandia, she was a Lockheed Martin employee working for Technology Ventures Corporation whose mission was to commercialize technologies across the Department of Energy Complex.

As of August 2023, Jennifer Stewart is a Technology Transfer Specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), supporting the NOAA mission through fostering innovation, partnerships, and economic growth. Previously, Jennifer spent 20 years as a civil servant within the Department of Navy, and 12 years within the field of technology transfer. In the role as a tech transfer specialist, Jennifer essentially is a dot connector, brokering connections between technologies, inventors, academic partners, industry of all sizes, state, local and federal government partners. Supporitng the mission first, she utilized complimentary technology transfer mechanisms such as knowledge management, innovation discovery, technology road mapping, IP mining, IP portfolio management, patent licensing, cooperative research and development agreements and other mechanisms to maximize the impact of taxpayer investments in R&D.

Jennifer is an award winning technology transfer specialist who has supported a variety of economic development-based organizations within California's Inland Empire and beyond. In 2014, she was elected to serve on the FLC Board and continues to do so today. Jennifer is a graduate of California Baptist University, Riverside, California where she obtained a BA in business administration. 

Vladimir Popov is the Director of the Partnership Development Office (PDO) at the Frederick National Laboratory, National Cancer Institute (NCI). He is responsible for providing comprehensive project management oversight of partnership project objectives, as well as developing and maintaining relationships between, client organizations, and local business communities in Maryland.

Prior to this role, Vladimir worked as a business development manager for the PDO. Before joining the Frederick National Laboratory, he worked as a manager in the healthcare industry, entrepreneur, and licensing manager. He completed two postdoctoral fellowships at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Pennsylvania and holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a BS in Biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson University. He is currently pursuing his MBA at Johns Hopkins University – Carey Business School.

Dr. Claudia Haywood serves as the Director of Intellectual Property and Strategic Agreements. In this role, Dr. Claudia Haywood is responsible for managing the intellectual property portfolio at Leidos Biomedical and providing management oversight for intellectual property, research administration and research compliance issues that occur as a part of operations and the ongoing research.

Claudia has more than 20 years of experience in research administration, technology transfer and legal services. Her prior positions include Assistant General Counsel, J. Craig Venter Institute/The Institute for Genomic Research, Regional Research Administrator, Providence Health System-Oregon and Assistant Vice President at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). Claudia earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She also earned a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law and a Doctor of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore.

David Kistin is the Manager of Technology and Economic Development at Sandia National Laboratories, where he leads technical assistance programs for industry partners in partnership with the State of New Mexico. He also serves as the Associate Director of Quantum Information Science (QIS) Ecosystem for the DOE Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA), and as Director of the Sandia Science & Technology Park. 

Andy Myers is the Technology Transfer Lead at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) operated by Honeywell. In this role, he supports scientists and engineers through the invention disclosure and patenting process, works to commercialize or transfer appropriate technologies outside the campus, and coordinates efforts between the federal space and industrial/academic partners.

Myers has over twenty years’ experience directing research in academic and industrial environments, cultivating and managing partnerships, securing external funding, and coordinating intellectual property. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the Kansas Polymer Research Center, the Business and Technology Institute, and the PSU Research Foundation at Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS).

He is an inventor on three patents and received funding from DOE, NASA, NSF, DOD, and EPA. Andy earned a BS from Purdue University, a PhD from the University of Rochester (both in chemistry), and has an M.B.A. from Pittsburg State.

Annie E. Bullock-Yoder is a member of the Technology Transfer Office at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division, where she serves as the intellectual property (IP) and licensing specialist. She is the point person for all NSWC Crane invention disclosures and leads efforts to market and commercialize the IP portfolio.

Annie has earned a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws in intellectual property from Western Michigan University and a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She has several professional licenses including membership in the Indiana State Bar and as a patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Deborah Davis-Brutchen, Esq. is the Intellectual Property Manager for the Air Force Technology Transfer and Transition Office. She is responsible for assisting in the development of the Defense Technology Information System (DTTIS). She also is responsible for managing contracts to train the Air Force workforce on the importance of protecting intellectual property.  Furthermore, she is responsible for linking technology and the Air Force mission with the marketplace by ensuring that Air Force science and engineering activities are transferred or shared with state and local governments, academia and industry. 

Deborah earned her BS in Biomedical Engineering and her Master of Engineering Management from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. She earned her Juris Doctorate, as well as a Master of Laws (LLM), Intellectual Property Law, from the University of Dayton School of Law, Dayton, OH in 2016.  She was admitted to the Bar in the District of Columbia. 

David Lee is a Technology Transfer Associate in the Technology Transfer (T2) Office within the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM AC) headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.

As a part of the DEVCOM AC T2 Team, David is responsible for all aspects of DEVCOM AC’s technology transfer practice including executing cooperative research agreements (with domestic, international, academic and industry partners), overseeing the DEVCOM AC patent portfolio, developing intellectual property licensing and marketing strategies, and facilitating and executing strategic partnerships, and agreements with other Federal and State partners.

David began his career with the Army as a Presidential Management Fellow working in labor relations and management employee relations. David received an AB in Government from Dartmouth College, a JD from Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington, and a BS in Biochemistry from Arizona State University. David is admitted to practice law in New Jersey.

Laurie Bagley leads the Technology Transfer office for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) directing efforts to accelerate the commercialization and transfer of laboratory technologies to the marketplace, including developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem for lab scientists and implementing commercialization programs funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and other federal programs.

She is also a member of the DOE National Laboratory Technology Transfer (NLTT) working group, an executive board member of the DOE Technology Transfer Working Group (TTWG), and a member of AUTM.

Laurie's previous experience includes research and marketing technologies for Princeton University's Office of Technology Licensing, IP consulting, and R&D and manufacturing experience in the medical device, semiconductor, and building products industries. Laurie holds a BS in Chemistry from Millersville University, Millersville, PA.

Joe DiRenzo is a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer who spent nine years in the Navy, serving both in the submarine and surface warfare communities. In 1991, he transitioned to the Coast Guard and was assigned to several cutters including command of USCG Cutter Jefferson Island, and had 14 years of sea duty upon his retirement.

In October 2015, he assumed his current position at the USCG Research and Development Center, where he facilitates collaborative research with other national labs & research facilities.

Joe is one of the most published authors in Coast Guard history. A five-time winner of the service’s prestigious JOC Alex Haley award, he has published more than 300 articles on maritime terrorism and port security. He is a 2013 co-recipient of the INFORMS Wagner Prize. He is the co-editor of the first ever book on Maritime Cyber Security – Issues in Maritime Cyber Security, published in 2017.

Joe is a 1982 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, holds MBA from California Coast University, and is a graduate of both the Naval War College and Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He completed his PhD in Business Administration (Homeland Security Specialization) at Northcentral University in Prescott, AZ.

Madhavi Sriram has been working as a Technology Transfer Specialist at the Centers for ‎Disease Control and Prevention – Technology Transfer Office, Atlanta, GA, since October 2019. ‎She is responsible for evaluating CDC inventions and discoveries for novelty and ‎market potential, negotiate agreements, and educate CDC researchers in ‎matters related to federal intellectual property (IP) policies and procedures. ‎ Prior to the CDC, she held various positions at Emory University, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, ‎ Foresight Science and Technology, and as a Patent Science Advisor at Smith Gambrell & ‎Russell, LLP.

Madhavi earned a Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences from India, and a PhD in Chemistry from Baylor ‎University, TX.

Sharon Soucek directs the Office of Technology Transfer at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), based out of North Carolina. Her office supports NIEHS researchers to partner with their counterparts in academia, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector to deliver innovations that will benefit human health. Sharon earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Northeastern University and her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Emory University. Her career in technology transfer began with a licensing internship in Emory University’s office of technology transfer. After graduating, she worked as a technology transfer specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she negotiated agreements for establishing research collaborations and transferring research materials, performed invention assessments, and devised marketing strategies for technologies developed in the Center for Global Health. She was awarded the FLC 2016 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for supporting the commercialization of a Candida infection diagnostic.