Author name: researchpark24

MARK MORAN Visiting Director of Strategic InnovationEmail : markdm2@illinois.edu Dr. Mark Moran is an accomplished innovation and engineering executive who is passionate about leadership, systems, innovation, technology, enterprise transformation, and learning. Dr. Moran spent much of his professional career at John Deere, retiring in June 2024 after 26 years of service. In his time at Deere, he held operating and strategic roles of increasing responsibility within Research & Development, Advanced Marketing, Advanced Manufacturing, Enterprise Architecture, and Global IT. Among his many roles with Deere, he enjoyed the most his time as the Director of the John Deere Technology Innovation Center (JDTIC) at University of Illinois Research Park. There, he led a highly diverse group comprised of students and full-time staff focused on making customer solutions smarter using Autonomy, AI, Mobile, Cloud, and IoT to move toward plant-level agronomy, unlocking new business value for customers and new business models for Deere. Dr. Moran’s career at John Deere started by building Deere’s Internet and Web infrastructure to enable more efficient processes for employees, dealers, and customers. As enterprise-scale Information & Communication Technology has become pervasive, he’s worked globally, spending time at engineering centers, factories, dealers, and customer locations on four continents.   Dr. Moran has led technology groups working across the entire lifecycle of processes, products, and systems, and has experience in a broad range of operating domains including airport infrastructure, corporate data centers, enterprise processes, factories and their associated supply chains, innovation groups, and agricultural systems. Dr. Moran holds a BS in General Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1992), an MBA from the University of Iowa (2003), an SM in System Design & Management from MIT (2011), and a PhD in Informatics from Illinois (2024). He obtained his graduate degrees while working full-time in industry. Dr. Moran enjoys working at the boundary of industry and the academy. While leading JDTIC, he developed and taught a graduate-level class on IoT Analytics for the School of Information Sciences. He has served on advisory boards for the National Academies, the National Science Foundation, and the U. of I. He has recruited and hired 100+ students, and sponsored 20+ capstone projects. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at Illinois and other universities.Mark, his wife Lori, and their two dogs live in Urbana. They are Fighting Illini men’s basketball fans. They have two adult daughters (both Illinois grads), a son-in-law (also an Illinois grad), two grand dogs, and a granddaughter.

KALEB MEDINA Marketing and Communications SpecialistEmail :kmedin22@illinois.eduPhone : (217) 300-7501Kaleb Medina develops content for the Research Park’s digital, and print communications. In his role, he captures stories of events, programming, innovation, and workforce excellence. Through strategic communications, he helps execute The Research Park’s position as a community of talent development and entrepreneurial cultivation. Kaleb is an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, graduating with a dual B.S. in Marketing and Strategic Business Development. His experience covers entrepreneurship, education, technology manufacturing, and the nonprofit sectors. In these roles, he applied his skills in data analytics, marketing, and communication strategy to strengthen brands. Kaleb is a Danville, Illinois native. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and puppy Kash, collecting vinyl records, studying meteorology, and taking care of his plants.

SHERI WILSON Administrative AideEmail : Swilsn@Illinois.EduPhone : 217-300-2580 Sheri is often the first person people meet when they come to the Research Park, as you walk into EnterpriseWorks.  She also assists all staff, tenants, and student interns at EnterpriseWorks. She is also the first point of contact for Laura Appenzeller, Executive Director of Research Park. Sheri Wilson joined the EnterpriseWorks team as the Receptionist in the fall of 2014.   Prior to coming to EnterpriseWorks, she had more than 25 years of customer service experience in the manufacturing and wireless phone industry.  Sheri is a Central Illinois native with one daughter and three sons. She’s a fan of Illini sports, the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears and Cubs.  She enjoys shopping, antiquing, spoiling her grandchildren, and vacationing with her husband.

SHELLEY MAVES FAST Center ManagerEmail : Smaves@Illinois.EduPhone : 217-244-1502 Shelley Maves is the manager of the FAST Center at the University of Illinois Research Park.  She coordinates outreach, training, and individual assistance to entrepreneurs throughout the state of Illinois looking to secure funding through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Shelley joins the EnterpriseWorks team with a background in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry serving as a technical consultant to both start-up health-care  and large pharmaceutical companies.  Prior to that, Shelley was an entrepreneur herself when she co-founded a startup company with technology spun out of Baxter Healthcare, where she had started her career in exploratory research.  Under Shelley’s leadership as Director of Research, the startup was successfully awarded an SBIR grant from the  NIH, which sparked her passion for assisting other entrepreneurs to become successful in obtaining this flavor of funding.  Shelley received her bachelors and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois in Biochemistry.

SARAH DOHERTY Accounting AssociateEmail : Sarahmd3@Illinois.EduPhone : 217-300-6217 Sarah Doherty joined the EnterpriseWorks team as an Accounting Associate in July 2023, bringing 14 years of experience in accounting including government and real estate knowledge. Sarah completed her master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, her honors certificate in accounting from Parkland College, as well as a graduate of the Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She is an Ohio native and has made Champaign her home with her husband and three daughters.

ROGER WEST Associate Director, Operations and FinanceEmail : Rwest@Illinois.EduPhone : 217-244-7745 Roger oversees the financial aspects of our organization, including accounting, budgets, grant oversight, and contracts for EnterpriseWorks and UIRP LLC. Roger is a CPA with a background that includes a mix of entrepreneurship, technology, construction, and University financial audits. Before joining the Research Park staff in 2011, he worked as the Director of Accounts at Common Ground Publishing, a graduate of the EnterpriseWorks incubator which has its offices in the Research Park. He also worked as a Controller at Broeren Russo Construction and Vogel Bros. Construction learning about the construction business, and began his career as an accountant at two small accounting firms.  Roger and his family live in Savoy.

LAURA BLEILL Director, External EngagementEmail : Lwbleill@Illinois.EduPhone : (217) 244-7744 Laura Weisskopf Bleill manages the community building portfolio of the Research Park at Illinois. She develops strategy behind the Research Park’s events, programming, communications, branding and marketing efforts; and directs its strategy to attract, grow, retain and train its workforce. Bleill and the Research Park team work very intentionally to create a vibrant, dynamic community that drives innovation. She is active with the entrepreneurial ecosystem across campus, as a founding member of the iVenture Accelerator team, a Cozad New Venture Challenge mentor/trainer,  and a former instructor with National Science Foundation I-Corps at Illinois team. She was the co-PI and co-founder of the AWARE entrepreneurship inclusion effort (originally funded by NSF,) which now has been replicated at other universities. An entrepreneur herself, Bleill is CEO and co-founder of a hyperlocal media company, chambanamoms.com. She is very active in the Champaign-Urbana community, and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Experience Champaign-Urbana and the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois. She is also on the board of Leadership Illinois. A native of the Chicago suburbs, she has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

Laura Appenzeller Executive Director at the University of Illinois Research Park and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Laura Appenzeller oversees the University of Illinois Research Park operations and development, manages the entrepreneurship programs at EnterpriseWorks technology incubator, and supports the University’s economic development efforts. She also serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and supports special projects of the Chancellor’s Economic Development Council. She is active in numerous regional organizations including serving as the current board chair of the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition; Hope Chicago board; the board of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation; and she is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. In the past she has been on the boards of the Association of University Research Parks the Illinois Technology Association, and ChicagoNEXT. Laura was named “Woman of the Year” by Central Illinois Business Magazine in 2009; awarded the Entrepreneur Advocacy Award at the Champaign County Innovation Celebration, 2011; presented the 2013 Athena Young Professional Award; and awarded a Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence (CAPE) Award, 2015. Laura is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Media and served as Student Body President at the Urbana-Champaign campus. *formerly Frerichs

Gerald Wilson Director of Entrepreneurship Email : gwilson@illinois.edu     Dr. Gerald Wilson, inaugural Director of Entrepreneurship at EnterpriseWorks and the University of Illinois Research Park. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of a vision and infrastructure to establish and accelerate a cross-campus culture of entrepreneurship that spans research institutes, colleges, and departments. His focus includes anticipating mechanisms to secure and grow entrepreneurship programs and resources to assist ecosystem members with company creation, funding, management, and growth beyond the incubation phase. Dr. Wilson leads the staff in supporting entrepreneurship programming and business development of clients of the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park, which provides technology commercialization support for researchers and entrepreneurs, supports new venture creation, and catalyzes promising startup companies. Prior to joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Wilson was President and CEO of Autonomic Materials, Inc. (AMI), an advanced materials company based in Champaign, IL. AMI commercialized technology developed at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science, and is a graduate of the EnterpriseWorks incubator. As CEO, he led the development of the company’s AMP-UPTM protective coatings product lines aimed at eliminating traditional tradeoffs between high performance corrosion protection and environmental responsibility. The company’s technology platform was recognized as the Materials Performance Corrosion Innovation of the Year by NACE International (now AMPP), the Worldwide Authority on corrosion and as a Solar Impulse Efficient Solution. For over two decades, Dr. Wilson has worked on developing new chemistries for self-healing coating, adhesive, sealant, composite, and biomedical applications. He has authored or co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings and invited lectures in a variety of professional national and international forums and is an inventor on over 30 issued and pending patents. Dr. Wilson is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a leadership coach and workshop facilitator for the Illinois Leadership Center. He earned a BA in Chemistry from Macalester College, a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.