Fearless Founders: Women Entrepreneurs Inventing, Innovating, Inspiring

The Asper Center for Global Business Leadership is proud to present the 2011 Asper Award to Helen Greiner, CEO of CyPhy Works. In honor of Ms. Greiner's extensive work in robotics, the panel discussion will focus on women entrepreneurs in technology roles. Three successful women entrepreneurs will discuss the challenges and evolving roles of women in science and technology.

The Asper Award honors outstanding entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exemplary citizenship, creativity, innovation, and business success in the global marketplace.

Click here to view a slideshow of photos from the event.

Click here to read about the event in BrandeisNOW!

Moderated by:

Irene Abrams, Associate Provost for Innovation, Brandeis University

Irene Abrams is the Associate Provost for Innovation and the Executive Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Brandeis University. In her role as Associate Provost for Innovation, Irene is focused building Brandeis' connections between academia and industry. She is responsible for expanding Brandeis' interactions with industry in the sciences in order to attract sponsored research. Irene is launching the Brandeis Virtual Incubator, a program to help foster entrepreneurial students and faculty in the sciences by providing mentorship, education and small seed grants to help them move inventions from the lab to the marketplace. In addition, Irene is responsible for managing Brandeis' intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, license agreements and the intellectual property aspects of industrially sponsored research agreements. Irene joined Brandeis in 2006. Prior to joining Brandeis Irene was a Senior Technology Licensing Officer at M.I.T., where she focused on licensing biotech inventions for M.I.T., the Whitehead Institute and the Broad Institute. Irene did her undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and her graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University and at M.I.T. Irene is the current President of the Massachusetts Association of Technology Transfer Offices and the founder of T3, a networking organization for technology licensing offices from small New England research institutions.

Featured Panelists:

Helen Greiner, Co-founder, iRobot; Co-founder and CEO, CyPhy Works

Helen Greiner's forward-looking instincts have helped transform iRobot into a global leader of practical robots. A robot industry specialist with more than two decades of experience, Greiner has helped to enhance public acceptance of robots as one of today's most important emerging technologies. Greiner's visionary contributions in technology innovation and business leadership have been recognized with numerous professional awards. She has been named New England Entrepreneur of the year by Ernst and Young with iRobot co-founder Colin Angle. She is Chair of the national Robotic Technology Consortium. Greiner holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in computer science, both from MIT. She recently founded, and is the CEO, of a stealth robotics company, CyPhy Works.

Una Ryan, President and CEO, Diagnostics For All

Dr. Una Ryan has an extensive background in leading biotech companies and was formerly the President and CEO of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing vaccines. Dr. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Cambridge University and BS degrees in Zoology, Microbiology and Chemistry from Bristol University. She received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Bristol University in 2009. She was a Howard Hughes Investigator, NIH MERIT Awardee and an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. In 2007, she received the Albert Einstein Award for outstanding achievement in the life sciences and was the recipient of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Award in 2009. In 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the research, development and promotion of biotechnology. She has written more than 500 original papers and 11 books.

Daphne Zohar, Founder and Managing Partner, PureTech Ventures

Daphne Zohar is the founder and managing partner of PureTech Ventures, a Boston-based venture creation firm specializing in translating breakthrough research from top tier academic institutions into therapies that will impact human health and well-being.  PureTech’s senior partners include entrepreneurs and leaders from the highest echelon of pharma, biotech and academia. In 2010, Ms. Zohar was recognized by BioWorld as one of 28 leaders predicted to be the "movers and shakers" of the biotechnology industry over the next twenty years and by Fierce Biotech as one of the “Top 10 Women in Biotech.” Previously she was named one of the world's leading young innovators by MIT's Technology Review magazine and one of the top "40 under 40" by the Boston Business Journal.