Dr. Chad Womack, Founder, President and Chair of TBED21, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering urban centers and underserved communities through science, technology and innovation. As the President and Chair, Dr. Womack works closely with the Board to provide leadership and strategic vision for the organization, while working with executive staff to execute the organizations programmatic efforts. Dr. Womack is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Philadelphia Biotechnology and Life Sciences Institute - a non-profit initiative and project of TBED21, founded to address human capital/workforce development and bio-entrepreneurship issues for the bio-life sciences industry in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Dr. Womack has recently served as Vice President for Educational and Training Initiatives at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. Dr. Womack is also the co-founder of NanoVec, Inc. a nanobiotechnology company and has served as its Chief Scientific Officer since its inception. He is also a co-founder, President and Chair of the National Association for Blacks in BIO (NABB), a non-profit organization dedicated to building diverse community within the biotechnology and life science industry. 

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Armen Orujyan, PhD is Founder and Chairman of the Board of Athgo Corporation, a US nonprofit organization since 1999. For over a decade, Armen has been developing and providing entrepreneurial platforms for young people with leading global institutions. These efforts have included coordination with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; UN NGO Section; UN University; UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States; UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (UN GAID); World Intellectual Property Organization; the World Bank’s External Affairs Department; and a number of Governments both in developed and emerging countries. 

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Ali Byrd brings 15 years of operating and advisory experience within the technology industry spanning sales, marketing, consulting, finance and R&D. In the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers, he coordinated deal team execution and conducted in-depth industry assessments, focused on software, services and communications technology clients. Previously, Mr. Byrd spent over 9 years at Microsoft, where he led due-diligence and post-merger management and launched 3 global product introductions for $12 billion Information Worker business unit. Mr. Byrd is currently Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Lime Wire, a leading Internet software company headquartered in New York City. 

Mr. Byrd holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Duke University.  

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