SD Biotech Association Executive Board of Directors
Eddie J. Sullivan, Ph.D., President
Eddie J Sullivan, Ph.D. is the Chief Operating Officer of Hematech Inc. (Sioux Falls, South Dakota). He worked for several years as a director of a successful human fertility laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona as well as a consultant for an animal diagnostics company in molecular genetics and analytical test development. His research focused on aspects of human and animal embryology and he has worked extensively in the areas of assisted reproductive techniques as well as cloning in animal livestock species with particular interest in applied research. In his current position with Hematech, he has been instrumental in building the company from a small start-up of six employees to a company of over seventy employees that is moving toward preclinical and clinical evaluation of their first genetically engineered animal made human pharmaceutical. He has worked with various committees and discussion groups that have focused on animal biotechnology and has actively participated in the discussions for establishing a regulatory frameworks for this technology. He is currently President and founding member of the South Dakota Biotech Association, a state affiliate of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). He also serves as Chairman of the Animal Biotech Policy Committee and as a member of the Food and Agriculture Section Governing Body at BIO.
John Paulson, Vice President
John Paulson serves as Executive Chief of Staff of Sanford Health. Mr. Paulson has 33 years of health care administration experience, 20 of those years with Sanford, including positions in Regional Health - Senior Vice President; Foundation - Director; Physician Recruitment - Initial Director; Research - Vice President; and Corporate Administration - Vice President. Mr. Paulson also served as CEO of Sanford Vermillion Medical Center on two separate occasions.
Mr. Paulson received his B.A. from Augustana College and his M.A. in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa.
Mr. Paulson is a Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives.
Stephen R. Statz, R.Ph., MBA, Treasurer
STEPHEN R. STATZ, R.Ph., MBA, is Sr. Vice President of Business Development at Avera Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Prior to joining Avera Health, Steve was the Sr. Vice President of Hospital Operations at Avera McKennan where his responsibilities included all facets of Avera McKennan hospital operations.
Previously, Steve was President of Statz Companies, Inc. a family business with five retail pharmacies and six home medical equipment stores as well as President of Tel-Drug, Inc., a mail order pharmacy business, which he sold to Cigna Companies in October of 1993.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Creighton University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Sioux Falls.
Steve is active in a number of professional organizations and currently serves on the following Boards: SD Board of Pharmacy, Southeast Technical Institute Foundation, South Dakota Special Olympics, South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organization Council on Acute Care, South Dakota Biotech Association and First Bank and Trust, NA, as well as serving on several other church and community organizations boards.
Mark Luecke, Secretary
Mark Luecke is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of South Dakota Innovation Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on technology commercialization. Mark has provided executive leadership and business consulting to Fortune 500 and start-up companies throughout his career, managing large teams in the areas of business development, technical operations, and finance. Mark recently served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of an early-stage venture capital firm based in Denver, Colorado, where he started and managed a diversified portfolio of start-up companies and served as a Managing Director of a merger and acquisition advisory services firm. In addition to working with entrepreneurs and investors at Innovation Partners, Mark serves on the board of a number of other organizations.
Teddi Mueller
Teddi Mueller serves as the Legislative and Industry Affairs Director for the South Dakota Corn Growers Association and South Dakota Corn Utilization Council. Mueller joined the organizations in 1999.
She currently represents South Dakota corn producers in state legislative activities and assists with national legislative issues. Mueller oversees the market development arm of the Corn Council. She also directs AgriCap Fund, a value-added investment group. Her diverse career portfolio has included event planning and fundraising for the organizations.
Mueller is a board member of SD Biotech Association, NCGA Ethanol Action Team and the South Dakota Wind Energy Association.
Christine Hamilton
Christine E. Hamilton is the Managing Partner of Christiansen Land and Cattle, Ltd., a large diversified farming and ranching operation in central South Dakota, and she is a partner in Dakota Packing, Inc., a company based in Las Vegas that provides center-of-the-plate protein products to Las Vegas and the Southwest. In addition, she and her family formed the MHCH Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation established to promote South Dakota and its future in the changing global economy. Ms. Hamilton also serves on the boards of directors of a number of other entities, including Home Federal Bank, Home Federal Financial Corporation, South Dakota Rural Enterprise, SDBio, and represents Hematech on a joint venture board. Christine has her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Northampton, MA, and her MBA from the University of Arizona. Christine is married to Dr. Eddie Hamilton, and they have four daughters who live in Houston, Texas: Corey, Anna, Leah and Edee; and five grandchildren.
Elliot Stevens, DVM, PhD
Elliot Stevens, DVM, PhD, is the Director of Business and Model Development for Rural Technologies, Inc. (RTI) in Brookings, SD, which is a leading animal health and nutrition contract research organization specializing in immunology, virology, bacteriology, and nutrition.
Prior to his employment at RTI, Dr. Stevens served as a researcher and manager of a transplant immunology laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE.
Dr. Stevens received a B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology from South Dakota State University and his D.V.M. and Ph.D. from Kansas State University in Veterinary Medicine and Pathobiology, respectively.
www.ruraltechinc.com
Paul Batcheller
Paul Batcheller is a Partner at PrairieGold Venture Partners and leads the firm’s Greentech investment initiative. He oversees all aspects of thefirm’s investment activities, from sourcing, structuring and negotiating investments to serving as a board member for portfolio companies. Currently Paul serves on the boards of ZeaChem, tenKsolar and Agrivida and oversees the firm’s investment in General Compression. Prior to joining PrairieGold, Paul served as an advisor to Senator Tom Daschle, working on economic policy, science and technology issues. He leverages that experience to provide strategic and policy advice to PrairieGold portfolio companies.
SD Biotech Association Advisors
Kevin Kephart
Kevin Kephart is Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at South Dakota State University. Kephart has led national efforts since 2001 to establish the Sun Grant Initiative and he advocates for research and education programs regarding ag-based renewable energy conducted at land grant colleges and universities. He is a Professor in the Department of Plant Science at South Dakota State University. Kephart received a Ph.D. in crop production and physiology from Iowa State University in 1987. His dissertation research focused on solar control of growth and cell-wall development in perennial grasses. Kephart also conducted research on production and forage quality of alfalfa, switchgrass and other species. Between 1998 and 2005, he served as Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences and Director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.
Sherri Rotert
Sherri Rotert is a partner at Boyce, Greenfield, Pashby & Welk, LLP in Sioux Falls, SD. Sherri and her firm represent companies, inventors and entrepreneurs with matters ranging from corporate and securities laws, licensing and contracts to employment law matters. Sherri graduated from the Unversity of Denver, College of Law in 2000 and has an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of South Dakota.
Shane Sarver, PhD
Dr. Shane Sarver received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 1992 and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric Science, the University of South Carolina and a Visiting Scientist at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington prior to coming to Black Hills State University in 1996 as an Assistant Professor of Biology. Dr. Sarver has served as the Director of the Center for the Conservation of Biological Resources since 2004 and the Chief Research Officer since 2008. Dr. Sarver has served as the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on over $1,000,000 of extramurally funded projects.
Dr. Duane L. Abata
Dr. Duane Abata is the Executive Director of CBERD, the Center for Bioenergy Research and Development. CBERD is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation and 30+ companies and industries involved with bioenergy and bioprocessing. CBERD is composed of six universities: the University of Hawaii, Kansas State University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, North Carolina State University, South Dakota State University, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology serving as the lead institution. Dr. Abata is in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He has held numerous administrative positions in addition to his academic appointment at Michigan Technological University, Northern Arizona University, and SDSMT. Dr. Abata served as program manager at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. in 2001 and was President of the American Society for Engineering Education, ASEE in 2003-04.
Laura J. Jenski, Ph.D.
Ronald White, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology