TEAM Coaches

George Anstadt is the Medical Director of an occupational medicine practice in Rochester, N.Y. Dr. Anstadt has a track record of successful innovation. He directed clinical studies at Lucid, helping commercialize a non-invasive laser skin biopsy system. He is a co-founder of the Health and Productivity Corporation of America, which Matria acquired, and Myotech, a cardiac assist device company acquired by Biophan. Dr. Anstadt served Eastman Kodak in diverse roles including Medical Director of Eastman Pharmaceuticals, Director of Health Plans, Director of Clinical Toxicology, and Medical Director of the Apparatus Division and the Health Group. He holds US Patents in Nanotechnology assigned to Kodak. Dr. Anstadt trained at the Penn State-Jefferson BS/MD program, the U.S. Navy submarine medicine school, the University of Cincinnati Occupational Medicine Residency, and the Kellogg School of Business. He currently teaches students of the Simon Graduate School of Business, the School of Medicine, and the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Rochester.

As Chairman and CEO of SweetWater Energy, based in Rochester, N.Y., Mr. Baron has his sights set on nothing less than transforming the energy industry. SweetWater is focused on the production of cellulosic ethanol with the mission of “bringing about a true revolution by reinventing the production of ethanol and other bio-fuels in a way that benefits farmers, refiners, and the world.” Recently the company was awarded a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant allowing it to scale up its processes and to undertake more comprehensive material and nutritional testing. Mr. Baron has over 25 years of management experience, most recently as Co-founder, President and Chief Marketing Officer of PAETEC Communications, a public, Fortune 1000 company with over $1.6 billion in revenue in 2008. While at PAETEC, he also acquired and ran the energy company, PAETEC Energy. At the University of Rochester, Mr. Baron is a member of the Arts, Sciences, and Engineering National Council, and also serves on the Visiting Committee of the Hajim School of Engineering.

John Bruning received a bachelor's degree from Penn State University and a master's and doctorate from the University of Illinois, in electrical engineering. Upon graduation, John started at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill as a member of the technical staff in the optical group. From 1973-1979 he supervised several groups involved in developing mask inspection systems for photolithography and the exploration of new packaging techniques for integrated circuits and reliability testing methods. From 1979 to 1984, he directed several activities within the New Lithographic Systems Group including the mechanical design of EBES-IV, an advanced e-beam mask pattern generator. In 1984, Bruning left Bell Laboratories to become vice president and general manager of Tropel, a division of GCA Corporation. In 1986, he became the executive vice president and chief technical officer of GCA. In 1994, Bruning led a management buyout of Tropel by Corning Inc. John is currently the President and CEO of Corning Tropel where he remains involved in developing technical strategy.

With 35 years of management experience in the dynamic industries of telecommunications and software development, Terry is an expert change agent. As an executive with one of the world's leading telecommunications equipment providers, he excelled at managing organizational growth. Terry’s background encompasses project and product line management, research and development, operations, marketing, purchasing, customer service and personnel management. Terry devised and implemented strategies for cost reduction and process improvement, and, as General Manager, built a division that generated $250 million in revenue. Terry now applies his experience and industry expertise to his work with leaders of high technology start-up companies. As a High Technology Rochester Entrepreneur-in-Residence he provides management consulting to entrepreneurs.

Peter Hessney is an accomplished international business executive with over 25 years of management and consulting experience. Peter has worked alongside many Fortune 500 global product development clients advising them on how to commercialize the latest developed technologies into new products. Throughout Peter’s career he has held many senior leadership positions and was a former Vice President of Motorola where he managed a worldwide technical sales and application engineering team within the semiconductor organization. Over the last 15 years, Peter has helped mature and develop several entrepreneur start up ideas, into rapidly growing and successful businesses. Currently, Peter is supporting High Tech Rochester in an Entrepreneur-in-Residence role, where he provides management consulting and support to entrepreneurs looking to license and commercialize university developed intellectual property into a real business opportunity. Peter Hessney holds a bachelor’s degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester.

Ronald B. Knight is the Group President and retired Chief of Staff for Harris Interactive Inc., the global leader in online market research. He is the former Chief Operating Officer for The Sutherland Group. Prior to that time, Mr. Knight was Vice President and Chief of Staff of Business Operations for Xerox Corporation’s Production Systems Group (PSG), where he worked for 30 years. Mr. Knight holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Rochester, and an Master of Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island. Within the community, Mr. Knight is a member and former Chairman of the University of Rochester Medical Center Board. He is a Life Trustee of the University of Rochester, serves on the Simon School Executive Advisory Committee, and was the 1991 recipient of the James S. Armstrong Alumni Service Award.

After graduating from the University of Rochester in 1985 with a BS degree in Optics, Mr. Palvino spent 14 years in the high technology fields of fiber optics, laser research, metrology and semiconductor manufacturing in which he resided for most of that time in northern California. Then in 1999, he returned to Rochester to launch MPX - a company dedicated to the engineering and integration of fixed wireless communication systems. MPX designed and managed wide area network infrastructure projects for the likes of General Electric, NASA, Thales, Siemens and SONY. In 2008, PAETEC acquired MPX which initiated the launch of PAETEC Wireless where Mr. Palvino served as its General Manager. Today, he serves as Vice President and manages Corporate Business Development and National Account Sales. He is a recipient of the Rochester Business Journal’s “Top 40 under 40” business award.

Mr. Pyszczek is a co-founder and Vice President of Balan Biomedical, a company focused on consumer health and medical device intelligence. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and a Master of Science degree in business management. Mike has been granted 12 U.S. patents and has published over 20 papers in the fields of electrochemistry and power source design. He has served the corporate research and development departments of Honeywell, Inc. and Greatbatch, Inc. He has also held leadership positions in product development, engineering, and chemical operations.

Michael is the founder and president of Technology Sales and Licensing Services, and currently serves as the Director of the Rochester BioVenture Center. Technology Sales and Licensing Services was founded in 2002 and specializes in business development programs for organizations that seek new sources of revenue from licensing or selling their technical innovations. The company also provides consulting services to support economic development and public/private technology commercialization activities in the Upstate New York region. Michael also served as the president of NaturalNano, Inc. NaturalNano, Inc., founded in 2004, is a publicly traded nanomaterials company developing proprietary technologies and processes for providing novel properties for a wide range of applications. These include industrial polymers, plastics and composites; and additives to cosmetics, agricultural, and household products.

Jim joined High Technology Rochester as President in February 2009, where he manages all aspects of the organization in supporting innovators, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers in the nine-county Rochester/Finger Lakes Region. Jim also serves as Director of the Rochester Angel Network, a group of 30 accredited investors interested in seed and early stage opportunities. Jim holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester. Prior to joining HTR, Jim was Managing Director of Business Development at Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE). His achievements included formation of the Rochester Angel Network, the RENEW NY virtual business incubator, annual regional business plan contests, and several other initiatives. Jim also led efforts at GRE to identify emerging industry sectors for regional growth, with particular focus on the Clean Tech sector. He developed and implemented a strategic plan focused on wind, solar, biofuel, and fuel cell opportunities, which included local cluster development, business attraction, and matchmaking activities.