Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program EIR consulting meetings are available both in-person and virtually. The Research Park Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program provides free consulting to new startup ventures and prospective technology entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur-in-Residence team features experienced entrepreneurs that have faced challenges in commercializing research/early stage technology. They provide advice on a wide variety of business topics like successfully attracting investment, building a team and communicating value proposition. The EIRs are available via appointment for any Research Park client or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty, staff, student or community technology entrepreneur to receive business consulting, strategy assistance, marketing and communication help, investor preparedness, or other startup consultation needed. Entrepreneurs may select an EIR or have one assigned by the EnterpriseWorks staff based on the subject matter and availability of the team. The EIR program also has monthly training events for technology entrepreneurs covering basic fundamentals most entrepreneurs face such as intellectual property basics, business development and sales, SBIR/STTR grant writing, and investor options and negotiations. For assistance, submit an online request form. Magnus Andersson | Ops, Execution Planning Dr. H. Magnus Andersson is an advisor, coach, and mentor to tech startups in the University of Illinois Research Park ecosystem. He currently advises Iridescent Sensors Inc., an NSF-funded startup developing chemical detection technology for first responders, and FrostDefense Envirotech Inc., which creates sustainable frost mitigation solutions for agriculture. He also serves as Co-Founder and CEO of a stealth-mode professional development technology startup in Champaign. Previously, Dr. Andersson was Co-Founder and VP of Business Development at Autonomic Materials, where he led strategic planning, market engagement, and secured over $15M in funding. His earlier career includes research positions at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at UIUC, where he managed multiple collaborative projects on self-healing materials. With over 20 years of experience in advanced materials research, Dr. Andersson has authored more than 50 publications and holds a patent. He earned his MSc in Engineering Physics and PhD in Fluid Mechanics from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden, an MBA from UIUC, and completed studies at CERN in Switzerland and École Polytechnique in Canada. Experience: Technology Entrepreneurship | Advanced Materials Science | Startup Mentorship | Capital Acquisition | Research Commercialization Dennis Beard | AgTech, Finance, Raising Capital Dennis is Managing Partner of Serra Ventures and also serves as a Partner and CFO for Open Prairie Ventures, both early-stage venture capital firm. Champaign-based Serra Ventures invests in technology companies and specializes in agriculture technologies. Serra has invested in over 70 companies, including many from the Research Park, and its partners also have worked with EnterpriseWorks and the Research Park as EIRs for more than a decade, including CEO Tim Hoerr. Dennis, a CPA, has been involved throughout his career with businesses of all sizes as a Manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Controller for SLM Aminco, CFO for Segno Communications, CFO and CEO for the Home Recovery Group of Companies, and Partner with Blakeman and Beard, LLC, CPA’s. Dennis is an adjunct faculty member in the Gies College of Business and lecturer for an entrepreneurial finance course. Experience: Finance | Healthcare | AgTech | Raising Capital | Investor Reporting | Exit Transactions | Investment Opportunities Chris Harbourt | AgTech, Sustainability Chris Harbourt is a serial entrepreneur involved in a number of businesses and investments. His focus today is in helping faculty and students grow successful businesses from great ideas. Chris is currently involved in startup consulting, building new software businesses in agriculture, and building traditional businesses like aircraft flight services and building custom classic cars. Chris was the founding CEO of Agrible, where he led fundraising efforts (seed, Series A, bridge, and Series B) and assembled a great team who built valuable software for agriculture. Those efforts led to an exit that created wealth for investors and founders. Chris is investing as a Partner at Anther Group, an early stage consulting and investing firm. His expertise includes startup business operations, fundraising, software product development, physical product development, sustainability, and R&D data collection. Chris has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Agricultural Engineering and teaches there in the Technology Entrepreneurship Center and the Department of Crop Sciences sharing experiences with students. Experience: Agriculture | Fundraising | Software | Business Operations | Sustainability | Product Development | Data Collection Matthew Meltzer | Immigration Law Matt co-founded Meltzer Hellrung in 2014 with his business partner, Matthew Hellrung. Their vision was to combine exceptional, strategic, and programmatic legal guidance with best-in-class technology to provide a service that makes immigration management easier for companies and more transparent, intuitive, and reassuring for foreign national employees. In addition, Matt continues to strive to build a workplace that treats employees with dignity and invests in their long-term success. Experience: Employee Hiring | Immigration Policy | Mergers | Global Expansion | Government Inspections | Reorganizations | I-9 Compliance Paul Miller | Founder, Operations, Software Paul S. Miller, PhD, has been creating science-based, intelligent systems since 2005. In 2014, he founded Agrible, Inc building the world’s first predictive analytics system that put critical knowledge into the hands of growers to manage their operations. With Agrible, he and his team launched the largest agriculture sustainability platform enabled by intelligent systems, which has characterized millions of acres of farmland across the US. Agrible was acquired in 2018 by Nutrien Ag Solutions for $63M and was a top 5 global Ag Tech acquisition at the time. Paul co-founded Flats or Spikes in 2020, where he is building a business using conversational, generative intelligent systems fine-tuned with domain experts to create quality of life for everyone. Paul has a background in ML/AI and data science including publications and patents. Has led the development of ag tech platforms, mobile apps, data science, ML/AI systems, infrastructure, and ETL pipelines for science-based products. He also has led design and product development teams to build products using agile, user-focused methodologies. Paul also has a personal love of DIY music and playing drums and guitar. Experience: Agile Methodologies | AgTech Platforms | Product Development | Product Engineering | Startup Ideation | Business Development | Startup Acquisition Edwin Moore |
