Prescience International is a dynamic team that is passionate about creating change through innovative solutions. With a collective expertise that penetrates a wide variety of sectors and issues, we will get you there. Additionally, the Prescience Management Model allows for our team to work more closely on a project by actually becoming part of the team that is on the ground at a designated site.
Melinda Richter - Founder & CEO
Melinda Richter is the founder and CEO of Prescience International, a firm dedicated to the commercialization of science and technology through starting and managing research centers, incubators, foundations and institutes such as the San Jose BioCenter, Environmental Business Cluster (EBC), UC Berkeley BioExec Institute and Cleantech Institute. With over 15 years of global experience managing and operating incubators and research centers, Ms. Richter specializes in the practices that expedite the path to commercialization.
Ms. Richter started her career within a small elite leadership group of 8-10 people who were selected and developed to be one of the leaders of the Nortel Networks. Ms. Richter worked for eight years in 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. In her final position, she was responsible for integrating and managing a software business unit which was an acquisition of a 1500 person firm.
Ms. Richter left Nortel to start eTreasurer, a European online financial and accounting hub for CFOs, where she raised $11M and executed operations in 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 by co-leading the life science and technology incubator, ASTIA (formerly known as the Women’s Technology Cluster).
Currently Ms. Richter’s firm oversees the direction of centers of commercialization including the San Jose BioCenter, a science and technology incubator that provides specialized facilities, capital equipment, laboratory support and business development services to life science and cleantech companies and the Environmental Business Cluster (EBC), the largest private technology commercialization program for clean energy start-ups in the United States. Prescience International also directs the University of California at Berkeley’s BioExec Institute and Cleantech Institute which Ms. Richter co-founded. Prescience also co-founded and currently directs the California Center for Healthcare and BioMedical Technology Research Foundation, InnovateMD. Additionally, Prescience International consults on other 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, and provides business development services to their respective companies in the fields of 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 BioExec Institute and San Jose State University’s Masters of Biotechnology Program. Ms. Richter holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France.
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 Environmental Business Cluster and the San Jose BioCenter. Ms. Hewitt is also responsible for the marketing and co-organization of the BioExec Institute 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@prescienceintl.com
Tel: (415) 405-6385
Evan Goldman, Strategic Business Counsel
Evan Goldman serves as in-house Strategic Business Counsel for Prescience International. In addition, Mr. Goldman is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Environmental Business Cluster (EBC) where he coaches and provides strategic counsel to its resident and affiliate member companies. Mr. Goldman is both a California and Israeli attorney who has held numerous legal and business positions for U.S. and Israeli based technology companies and law firms. Prior to joining the EBC and Prescience, Mr. Goldman led the legal department of BrightSource Energy (utility-scale solar thermal power plants), where he negotiated preferred stock financings totaling over $160 million, processed a $1.4 billion DOE loan guarantee application, and was responsible for all strategic and commercial agreements. Before that, he served in corporate development and legal roles for InsureWorx (insurance claims and policy management systems), Virtual Ports (laproscopy systems), Magnolia Broadband (fabless semiconductor wireless solutions), Rainfinity/EMC (firewall and storage software solutions), Heller Ehrman (San Francisco and Silicon Valley based law firm), ViryaNet (mobile field service solutions), Shraga Biran & Co. (Israeli based law firm), Elop/Elbit Systems (electro-optics products and systems), Fried Frank (New York and Washington D.C. based law firm), and Bezeq (Israeli national telecommunications service provider). Mr. Goldman received his Masters in International Business Law from the American University (Washington, D.C.) and his Bachelor of Law from the Hebrew University (Jerusalem).
evan@prescienceintl.com
Tel: (650) 799-4246
Erika Kula - Business Development Director
Ms. Kula is responsible for the Business Development needs for Prescience International, San Jose BioCenter, and Environmental Business Cluster. 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@prescienceintl.com
Tel: (415) 828-1498
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
Anthony Gonzalez, Facilities Operations Manager
Mr. Gonzalez manages all aspects of facilities operations at the San Jose BioCenter to ensure the physical property (building/grounds), utilities infrastructure, lab and office equipment, IT services, and general maintenance remain fully operational, compliant with all health and safety standards, and deliver highest quality of service at all times. In his role, Mr. Gonzalez develops all facilities processes and procedures, trains and advises clients on facility use, conducts property inspections, and oversees maintenance staff to assure full compliance of all service providers with property specifications and standards. Prior to joining the San Jose BioCenter, Mr. Gonzalez managed a variety of business and facilities operations for companies such as Philips Semiconductors, Philips Components, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Tessera, Hitachi SemiConductors and Renesas Technology America and is fluent in Spanish.anthony@sjbiocenter.com
Tel (408) 960-3807