Lou Shuman, DMD, CAGS
Advisor
Dr. Lou Shuman, DMD, CAGS, is the founder and CEO of Cellerant Consulting Group, Dentistry’s leading corporate incubator and accelerator currently serving 34 companies. He is also a venturer-in-residence at the Harvard i-lab. This relationship resulted in launching as co-founder LightForce Orthodontics in May of 2019. LightForce has created the world’s first fully customized ceramic 3-D printed orthodontic bracket. The impact of the technology resulted in winning the Mass Challenge Incubator Award, being one of thirteen winners from four thousand company entries. He currently serves as an advisory board member at Dental Economics, Dentistry Today, Dental Products Report and Inside Dentistry. He is founder and managing editor of Dental Sleep Practice journal. He has monthly national columns in Dental Economics ” Technology in Two Minutes”, Dental Products Report being rebranded in January 2020 “Dentistry Tomorrow”, and Oral Health Canada “The Future of Dentistry”. He serves on the Board of Directors for Apteryx, Inc., Sleep ArchiTx, MMG Fusion, LightForce Orthodontics and is the only dentist to be chosen both as a Top CE Leader and Leader in Dental Consulting by Dentistry Today. Dr. Shuman created the Cellerant Best of Class Technology Awards in 2009 to recognize innovative products that set a standard of quality in their respective categories. It has been acknowledged as the most prestigious and coveted award that a dental manufacturer can receive. It is the only one of its kind and is covered by every major dental journal in North America before being presented at the American Dental Association’s Annual Meeting. Prior to founding Cellerant in February 2016, Dr. Shuman served as president of Pride Institute and as Vice President of clinical education and strategic relations at Align Technology while the company grew to exceed $500M. He created Align’s orthodontic and GP clinical programs and was the professional and clinical lead on highly successful commercial projects, including the creation of Align’s Vivera retainers.
John Kringel, BA, MBA
Advisor
John joined Cellerant in early 2016 shortly after the firm was founded. In addition to working directly with clients, he serves as Cellerant’s Chief Operating Officer. He has nearly 30 years of medical device industry experience and has held progressively responsible positions in marketing, sales, business development and strategic planning. Prior to joining Cellerant, he was Vice President of Marketing for Propel Orthodontics, a late-stage start-up company in the accelerated orthodontics space. Before Propel, John served as Director of Marketing for Dentsply GAC, Dentsply’s orthodontic division. While at GAC he built and developed the company’s first ever professional marketing department. He and his team were recognized with DENTSPLY’s prestigious Global Marketing Award for Creative Leadership for their post-crisis business recovery initiatives following the loss of their Japanese manufacturing facility in the 2011 nuclear disaster. John has served on the board of the AAO Donated Orthodontic Services program (AAODOS) working with AAO board members to provide pro bono orthodontic treatment for low-income children and teens. Before joining the dental industry, John held marketing leadership positions with medical device companies focused on the surgical arena, including Medical Action Industries, a NASDAQ-traded growth company, U.S. Surgical, and Baxter International. As market manager for V. Mueller, Baxter’s surgical instrument division, he was recognized with the Market Manager of the Year Award. John earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with concentrations in corporate strategy and marketing. He received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University in mathematical economics, graduating cum laude.
Scott Pundsack, J.D.
Advisor
Scott Pundsack is a lawyer and patent agent. Scott began his legal career over 20 years ago and is currently a partner in Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, Canada. Scott is licensed to practice before the US and Canadian patent offices. His subject area specialties include green chemistry, healthcare, and bio-based materials. Scott’s work also includes managing litigation and other disputes, and patent licensing. He has been recognized as an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property and is a is a contributing author to Life Sciences and Chemical Patent Practice in Canada: A Practical Guide. Scott is active in various Angel groups in Ontario. He received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1992. He received his J.D. from the University of Toronto in 1995. He was called to the bar in Ontario, Canada in 1997 and is a registered professional engineer.
Gary A. Kendra, JD, LLM
Corporate Counsel
Gary Kendra of the Kendra Law Firm, is a TechTown (Detroit, MI) based attorney who practices in the areas of corporate law and technology licensing and commercialization. Before re-entering private law practice in 2002, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Genomic Solutions Inc., a manufacturer of biotechnology research instruments that he helped take public on the NASDAQ exchange. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in medium sized and large Detroit-based law firms specializing in technology law, corporate and real estate law, university technology transfer, intellectual property transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. Gary has written and lectured extensively on the law and technology, including co-authoring two books for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He is a graduate of Michigan State University where he received a dual major in Economics and James Madison College (public policy). He received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School, where he served on the Law Review, and a Masters of Laws (LLM) in Taxation also from Wayne State University Law School.
Dennis Green
Marketing Advisor
As Celsius’ CEO and Creative Director, Dennis has been instrumental in the development of all of business-to-business marketing strategies for the agency. Celsius Advertising remains on the leading edge of the marketing industry by incorporating progressive tools that allow clients to build, track and monitor the effectiveness of their web-based communications. Dennis has directed many large-scale multi-media branding strategies to help clients as diverse as Whirlpool, Jackson National Life, L&L Products and Dow Chemical reach their objectives and targeted audiences, crafting and delivering messages with pinpoint accuracy and showing tangible results. Dennis spearheaded the use of “Objective Based Strategic Planning” for his clients after finding traditional marketing planning tools lacked the key ingredients required to ensure measurable success on a practical level. Dennis has served on the national board of the American Advertising Federation and as Governor of the AAF 6th District (comprised of Michigan, Illinois and Indiana). Dennis graduated from Michigan State University in 1982 with a degree in Advertising.
Juewen Liu, Ph.D.
Advisor
Dr. Juewen Liu is Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. Juewen is a leading expert in functional DNA research such as aptamers and DNAzymes. His lab performs in vitro selection to isolate DNA sequences that can selectively bind to various metal ions, small molecules, proteins and materials surfaces. He has also developed a number of bio/nano hybrid materials for diagnostic and biomedical applications. His lab has been working with EcoSynthetix since 2011 with the support of NSERC Engage and CRD grants to develop starch nanoparticle based drug delivery systems. He has authored over 160 research papers, receiving nearly ten thousand citations. He has received a Fred Beamish Award (2014) from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) and an Early Researcher Award (2011) from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. Juewen received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 2005 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He cofounded the company Andalyze Inc. to commercialize DNA-based metal sensors and worked there during its start-up phase (2005-2007). Juewen was a postdoctoral fellow at the Sandia National Labs and the University of New Mexico (2007-2009) before joining the University of Waterloo in 2009.
Todd Hoare, Ph.D.
Advisor
Dr. Todd Hoare is an Associate Professor, University Scholar, and Canada Research Chair in Engineered Smart Materials (Tier 2) in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, Ontario joining McMaster in 2008 after a post-doctoral fellowship with Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Todd specializes in engineering hydrogels on all length scales with targeted “smart” properties, with a focus on correlating material properties with biological responses to develop new drug delivery vehicles with “on demand” or environment-specific activity. Todd’s work has been profiled by Popular Science, Wired, and BBC for its potential in solving clinical challenges through innovative biomaterials design. He has published over 65 papers, has three granted patents (including two of which have led to a recent start-up) and six pending patent applications, and won an Innovation Challenge award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada recognizing the novelty and commercializability of his research. Todd received the 2016 Early Investigator Award from the Canadian Biomaterials Society and the 2010 John Charles Polanyi Prize in Chemistry from the Government of Ontario. He is an Associate Editor of Chemical Engineering Journal for materials engineering, a member of the editorial advisory board for Colloid and Polymer Science, and President-Elect of the Canadian Biomaterials Society.