Enterprise Innovation Institute - Management Team
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Stephen Fleming
Chief Commercialization Officer
Director, Commercialization Services
Stephen Fleming has 13 years of private equity experience at the General Partner level. Prior to his venture capital career, he spent 15 years in operations roles at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Nortel Networks, and LICOM (a venture-funded startup).
An Atlanta native and summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech, Stephen returned to his alma mater in mid-2005 as Chief Commercialization Officer. His appointment led a reorganization designed to streamline the handling of intellectual property, accelerate the licensing of technology, and make the Institute’s resources more readily accessible to business and industry.
Stephen is active in the "alternative space" industry; he is an investor in three private aerospace companies and is a founding member of the Space Angels Network. Mr. Fleming also serves on the Boards of Trustees for the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta and for Tech High School, a charter high school emphasizing science, math, and technology in urban Atlanta.
Commercialization Services
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Phone: (404) 385-2360
Fax: (404) 385-7296
E-mail: stephen.fleming@innovate.gatech.edu |
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Chris Downing, P.E.
Director, Industry Services
Chris Downing is director of Industry Services in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. In that capacity, he manages more than 60 professional staff members who provide technical and business growth services to industry throughout the state of Georgia. These services include lean enterprise, quality improvement, technology deployment, product development, energy and environmental services and strategic planning. The Enterprise Innovation Institute is a member of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Before becoming director of Industry Services, Downing served as associate director of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), where he oversaw expansion of the ATDC into the Technology Square campus and helped develop the Georgia Tech Venture Center. While at ATDC, he also served as the chief operating officer of EmTech Bio, a life science incubator operated by Georgia Tech and Emory University.
Downing has more than 20 years of experience in technical and engineering assistance to industry, technology business incubation and economic development services.
He is a registered professional engineer in Georgia and Florida and holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida. He is a founding member of the Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators, and a member of the Georgia Industry Association and the American Small Manufacturer's Coalition. He also serves on the Governor's SBAP Compliance Advisory Board.
Industry Services
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640
Phone: (404) 894-7700
Fax: (404) 894-1192
E-mail: chris.downing@innovate.gatech.edu |
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Robert Lann
Director, Community Policy and Research Services
Robert Lann is director of community policy and research services at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. In that capacity, he manages a broad range of programs designed to help communities, local and state governments, policy-makers, regions and economic developers adopt innovative solutions for quality technology-based economic development, balanced growth and fiscal sustainability.
Lann has more than 30 years of experience conducting research in economic, simulation, public policy, energy and technology transfer areas, including projects for technology-based industries. His research interests include fiscal and economic impact analysis, technology-based economic development, and industry cluster analysis.
Researchers in community policy and research services have developed a number of innovative programs and tools to further the organization’s mission, including (1) the Accelerator ProgramSM which helps communities with strategic planning, (2) the Calibration Program™, which helps economic development organization adopt quality management processes, (3) WebLOCI™, a Web-based version of the local-government fiscal impact tool that assesses the costs and benefits of new and expanding business, (4) TechSmartSM , which helps communities develop and adopt information technology strategies, and (5) WebFIT™, a tool that helps communities manage growth.
Lann joined Georgia Tech in 1980, and holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of California at Davis.
Community Policy and Research Services
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640
Phone: (404) 894-3475
Fax: (404) 894-1447
E-mail: robert.lann@innovate.gatech.edu |
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Paul Lewis
Chief Program Development Officer
Paul Lewis is chief program development officer of the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. In that capacity, he is responsible for conceiving major new organization initiatives and directing proposals to federal and state agencies, foundations and other potential funding entities, including private sector companies.
Lewis has nearly 30 years of experience in business development, marketing and new product development for both private-sector and public-sector organizations. At Georgia Tech, he served as associate director for the former Economic Development Institute (EDI), as general manager of the former Center for New Market Opportunities, and as director of the Southeastern Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
As associate director of EDI, Lewis' primary responsibilities were business development. He identified new funding opportunities for the organization and managed the activities of the statewide regional manager network, the Strategic Initiatives Group and the Marketing Department. As general manager of the Center for New Market Opportunities, he provided overall management oversight for three federally sponsored programs. As director for the Southeastern Trade Adjustment Assistance Center, he provided leadership for this federally sponsored program to assist import-impacted manufacturers in the southeastern United States.
Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he served as senior account executive for the Pratt & Buehl advertising agency, and as marketing coordinator for Seminole Electric Cooperative, a public electric utility serving more than one million customers. As director of marketing for MWM Diesel, a U.S. subsidiary of German Motoren Werke Mannheim, AG., he directed North American marketing and spare parts sales activities.
Lewis holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from the University of Wisconsin. He has also served as vice-chairman of the American Business Council's board of directors.
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 380
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Phone: (404) 894-6789
Fax: (404) 894-1826
E-mail: paul.lewis@innovate.gatech.edu |
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Charles Ross
Director, Entrepreneur Services
General Manager, Advanced Technology Development Center
Charles Ross is director of entrepreneur services in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute and general manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). In that capacity, he manages a comprehensive set of services designed to assist entrepreneurs in the state of Georgia.
These services include: (1) the ATDC, a nationally recognized science and technology incubator, (2) E2e Works, which helps meet the unique needs of technology entrepreneurs located in the rural areas of Georgia, (3) the Georgia Statewide Minority Business Enterprise Center, a federally-supported program that assists minority business owners, and (4) the ATDC Seed Capital Fund, an early-stage technology fund commissioned by the state of Georgia to establish and grow innovative technology-based entrepreneurial companies.
Before becoming director of entrepreneur services, Ross served as a venture catalyst in the ATDC and as manager of the ATDC Seed Capital Fund. Before joining ATDC and Georgia Tech in 2005, Ross was vice president of the Telecommunications Development Fund, where he sourced, structured and managed investments in several early-stage communications companies. He has also served as director of Ameritech’s venture capital division.
Ross holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University and an MBA from Indiana University. He currently serves as a director with the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds, an organization focused on creating and growth innovation capital throughout the United States.
Entrepreneur Services
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 202
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Phone: (404) 385-7193
Fax: (404) 894-4545
E-mail: charles.ross@innovate.gatech.edu |
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John Toon
Manager, Research News & Publications Office
John Toon is manager of the Research News & Publications Office, which provides media relations and other communications support for the Enterprise Innovation Institute and other Georgia Tech units, including the Georgia Tech Research Institute and research activities in the Georgia Tech academic colleges. He has more than 30 years of experience in communications, including media relations, publications, photography, advertising, speech writing and Web design/maintenance.
After receiving a degree from the University of Georgia School of Journalism and Mass Communications, he worked as a reporter for two Athens newspapers, and as a correspondent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In 1982, Toon become one of first employees of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and was responsible for building awareness of the new organization among entrepreneurs, service providers and others stakeholders. In 1985, he joined the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism (now the Georgia Department of Economic Development) to lead that department's industrial advertising program.
In 1987 he returned to Georgia Tech to lead media relations efforts for the rapidly-expanding Georgia Tech research program, and became manager of the Research News & Publications Office in 1997. This organization, which also publishes Georgia Tech's Research Horizons Magazine and a variety of newsletters, has won more than two-dozen awards over the past 15 years from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
He has also served on the advisory board for the Media and Government Relations Division of the American Institute of Physics. He has published and presented on communications topics, and recently contributed a chapter on communicating science for A Field Guide for Science Writers published by the National Association of Science Writers.
Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Phone: (404) 894-6986
Fax: (404) 894-4545
E-mail: john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu |
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