Our Faculty

Arthur A. Boni (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
boni@andrew.cmu.edu
Arthur A. Boni is the director and John R. Thorne Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Jones Center. He had served as a managing director of Saturn Life Science Partners before coming to Carnegie Mellon. Saturn Life is a venture capital fund that addresses life science market segments using emerging technologies with high-growth potential.

Boni joined the University of Pittsburgh as director of technology management in March 1996. He immediately founded the university's Office of Technology Management. As its director he was responsible for managing and developing the intellectual property portfolio of the university and its medical school. He directed all aspects of intellectual property protection, marketing and licensing of technology, formation of industrial partnerships, selection and development of spin-offs companies and joint ventures with industrial and financial partners.

From February 1995 through September 1997 Boni was affiliated with Pharm-Eco Laboratories, Inc., a drug development and contract manufacturer. As vice president for new ventures he was responsible for forming, developing and managing new businesses. Boni was the founding CEO of SynAx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug development-stage company specializing in central nervous system drugs. SynAx formed a joint venture with Allelix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., of Toronto, Canada, to move two drugs through the FDA Phase I/II process prior to partnership with major pharmaceutical companies. He also was managing director and CEO of SciVision, a joint venture company that developed and marketed molecular modeling and associated applications software and Internet-based information technology for the pharmaceutical and materials industries.

Boni was a corporate officer at Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) in Andover, MA from 1983 through 1994. He founded PSI Technology Company in 1986 as an early-stage technology commercialization and business incubator, and served as its president through 1991. He was also founding CEO and chairman of two investor-backed firms formed by PSI Technology Company.

From 1974 to 1983 Boni served in a number of executive managerial roles with Science Applications International Corporation in Lajolla, CA. His academic background includes degrees from Carnegie Mellon University (B.S. in mechanical engineering), the University of Southern California (M.S. in mechanical engineering), and the University of California, San Diego (Ph.D. in engineering science and engineering physics). Boni was also an assistant professor of engineering and applied science at Yale University from 1968-1972.
Courses taught by Arthur A. Boni:
Technology Commercialization (45-880)
Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (45-881)
Technology Commercialization & Business Development Workshop (45-888)
Designing and Leading a Business (45-885)
Biotechnology Industry Structure and Strategy (45-886)

Babs Carryer (B.A., M.P.M.)
bcarryer@andrew.cmu.edu
Babs Carryer is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Tepper and the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon. Carryer is also president of Carryer Consulting, which provides strategic marketing and business planning services to technology companies and organizations in the software and life science sectors. Carryer is also currently the director of deal flow for Blue Tree Allied Angels as well as the embedded entrepreneur for Carnegie Mellon's Project Olympus (which was founded within the university's computer science department to stimulate new technology commercialization).

Carryer co-founded, served as president and still serves as a consultant and board director for LaunchCyte LLC, a development company that creates, seeds and harvests life science innovations from leading research universities across the United States. LaunchCyte currently has six life science portfolio companies that have collectively raised approximately $65 million and have a combined value of $200 million.
In the fall of 2008 Carryer was the Bishoff Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Penn State University. She has earned a master's in public management (M.P.M.) from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. Carryer's undergraduate degree is from Mills College in California.
Courses taught by Babs Carryer:
Venture Capital Investing (70-397)
Technology-Based Entrepreneurship for CIT (70-414)
Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures (70-418)
Entrepreneurship for Scientists (70-420)

 

Robert F. Culbertson (B.S., M.S., MBA)
rfc@eidoserve.com
Robert F. Culbertson III is an adjunct professor at Tepper. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon he was co-founder and executive vice-president of technical development for LeaseTek,Inc. (now CFS Americas,Inc.). LeaseTek, a Pittsburgh-based company founded in 1983 that develops fixed asset-based management and accounting software, is the leading software provider for IBM PC and PC-based LANs in the world.

Culbertson earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and an M.S. in process engineering from Carnegie Mellon, and he also earned an MBA from Tepper (1974). He teaches the undergraduate course, Technology-Based Entrepreneurship, and co-teaches the graduate course, Introduction to Entrepreneurship with Emphasis on E-commerce.
Courses taught by Bob Culbertson:
Introduction to Entrepreneurship (70-415)
New Venture Creation (70-416)
Topics in Entrepreneurship (70-417)



Chris Cynkar (B.S., MBA, CPA)
ccynkar@andrew.cmu.edu
Chris Cynkar is the founder and president of Swisshlem Park Investors, LLC, which specializes in business acquisitions. He has acquired a series of small businesses in a variety of different industries as diverse as printing, medical equipment, warehousing and staffing. Cynkar's focus has been on acquiring micro-cap businesses whose principals have lost their drive to grow the business. When he acquires companies, Cynkar becomes the primary executive and personally directs the company's growth and expansion. Cynkar teaches the graduate Entrepreneurial Business Planning course as well as the Entrepreneurship Through Business Acquisition Forum (non-credit entrepreneurial education program).Cynkar earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Tepper School.
Courses taught by Chris Cynkar:
Entrepreneurial Business Planning (45-882)
Entrepreneurship Through Business Acquisition Forum (Non-credit entrepreneurial education program)

 

Frank Demmler (B.A., MBA)
Fd0n@andrew.cmu.edu
fdemmler@innovationworks.org
Frank Demmler is an adjunct professor at Tepper and the director of portfolio services at Innovation Works (local business support organization). He was the president and CEO of Future Fund, Inc. He was vice president of venture development at The Enterprise Corporation of Pittsburgh and a general partner of Pittsburgh Seed Fund. Demmler previously held an executive position with McGraw-Edison Company, and he also worked in key positions with several entrepreneurial firms.

Demmler earned an undergraduate degree at Princeton and an MBA from UCLA's Graduate School of Management. Demmler draws upon his extensive experience in assisting early-stage businesses when he teaches entrepreneurship courses. He has also taught courses on the undergraduate level during his time (since 1987) as an adjunct professor at Tepper.
Courses taught by Frank Demmler:
Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (45-881)
Funding Early-Stage Ventures (45-884)