Jones Center Entrepreneurship 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.
 

S. Thomas Emerson (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
emerson@andrew.cmu.edu
S. Thomas Emerson is the David T. and Lindsay J. Morgenthaler Professor of Entrepreneurship. He was president and CEO of Arizona Technology Incubator (public -private partnership that mentors promising young technology companies) before joining Carnegie Mellon.

Emerson co-founded Periphonics Corporation (voice processing systems) in 1969 and served the company in various executive capacities for 14 years. Emerson was the president and CEO of Periphonics from 1980-1983.

Emerson founded Syntellect, Inc. (interactive voice response technology company) in 1984 and worked as the chairman, president, and CEO until 1992. Syntellect grew to more than $36 million in revenues in six years and was one of only seven U.S. companies to go public in 1990 with a valuation above $100 million. In 1992 Emerson founded Xantel Corporation (software products for computer telephone integration fields) and served as chairman, president and CEO from 1992-1998.

Emerson has been honored for his accomplishments in business, technology development and innovation. He holds four U.S. patents and a number of foreign patents, and he has authored more than 20 technical and scientific publications and numerous business articles. Emerson was named "Inventor of the Year" by the U.S. Patent Office in 1973, and he was honored as Arizona's "High-Technology Entrepreneur of the Year" in 1989 by Inc. magazine and Arthur Young & Company.

He holds an S.B. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.A. and Ph.D. in physics from Rice University.
 

Babs Carryer (B.A., M.P.M.)
bcarryer@andrew.cmu.edu
Babs Bailey Carryer is an adjunct professor at Tepper who teaches entrepreneurship in the Jones Center's undergraduate program. Carryer is also founder and president of Carryer Consulting, which provides strategic business planning and development for start-up and existing companies that are focusing on growth and new markets.

Before running her own company, Carryer was involved in the theatrical arts. She was founder and managing director of the Theatre Club Funambules (now known as NADA) in New York City before coming to Carnegie Mellon in 1989 to teach physical acting in the College of Fine Arts. Carryer also pursued graduate work at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and earned a master's in public management (M.P.M.) from the Heinz School in May 1995. She also has a bachelor of arts in theatre and communications from Mills College in California.
 

Robert F. Culbertson (B.S., M.S., MSIA)
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 MSIA 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.
 

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.