Fifteen leaders of business, industry, and education — including a former Virginia Tech president — have been named to serve on the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute’s advisory board.

Advisory board members support research and academic programs, foster ties with philanthropists and business executives, and communicate the institute’s mission and international reputation for innovative research to potential partners.

“Our advisory board members bring comprehensive business, academic, technological, and scientific expertise as well as passion for biomedical research to the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute,” said Michael J. Friedlander, executive director of the research institute and Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology. “They are highly accomplished executives with proven abilities to serve as ambassadors for our institute and provide ongoing, meaningful guidance. They are very busy people and I am grateful for the commitment of their time and organizational leadership.”

Support for the research programs at the VTCRI comes from the federal government — primarily from the National Institutes of Health — the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Carilion Clinic, foundations, and private philanthropy. Advisory board members will provide a consistent means for the institute to interact with the professional, philanthropic, and investment communities.

“I can think of no place in the world quite like the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, where teams of highly innovative researchers with perspectives and expertise in biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, engineering, mathematics, medicine, physics, policy and psychology work together every day to address the nation’s most challenging health issues affecting children and adults,” Friedlander said.

“Many of these investigators are very accomplished at working in highly interdisciplinary teams and are also committed to and successful at making fundamental discoveries and bringing them to the patient and society.  It’s a very entrepreneurial group,” Friedlander added. “With these very successful business, academic and scientific executives and philanthropists in our corner, I am confident that the VTC Research Institute will continue to impact the health of all people in dramatic ways.” 

Virginia Tech  Carilion Research  Institute advisory board members include:

  • David Bernd of Virginia Beach, Virginia, is the CEO Emeritus of Sentara Health – a 5.2 billion integrated health system headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia comprised of 12 acute-care hospitals; a health plan that covers over 450,000 lives; and more than 950 provider medical groups and medical staffs of approximately 3,700 physicians. Bernd spent 42 years at Sentara Healthcare, 21 of those as CEO.
  • George Cartledge III of Roanoke, Virginia, is the president of Grand Home Furnishings – a successful furniture company headquartered in Roanoke with store locations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. He and his family also operate the Cartledge Charitable Foundation, which supports the arts, culture, higher education, health associations, and youth programs.
  • Maria Clarke of Vienna, Virginia, is a senior vice president and private client adviser for U.S. Trust – a private bank providing comprehensive wealth and investment management services to individuals, families and institutions through 91 offices in 31 states across the country.
  • Callie Dalton of Roanoke, Virginia, is the owner and founder of Callie Dalton & Associates, a Long & Foster Realtors Company, the leading real estate firm in the Roanoke Valley.  Callie Dalton & Associates is consistently ranked in the top 1 percent of realtors in North America. She has served her alma mater, Radford University, in various capacities and is currently serving on the Athletic Foundation Board. She just completed her term as a member of the University Foundation Board and the Radford University Board of Visitors. As part of the Board of Visitors, Dalton was recently involved in the selection of the university’s new president, Brian Hemphill. 
  • Phil J. Duke of Middleburg, Virginia, is a managing director of financial risk advisory services at KPMG LLP. Previously, he worked for Lockheed Martin, and predecessor companies, for 38 years, becoming corporate CFO before retiring as executive vice president.
  • Shelley Duke of Middleburg, Virginia, is the owner and managing partner of Rallywood Farm – an exceptional equestrian facility located in Middleburg, Virginia. She is also a former member of the Board of Visitors at Virginia Tech, and in 2013 received the university’s highest honor – the William H. Ruffner Medal.
  • Gunther Hoyt of Roanoke, Virginia, is the president and CEO of Gunther Hoyt Associates – a global business consulting firm that specializes in plastics equipment and machine components. He has played important leadership roles in the internationalization of the plastics industry, and in the progress of SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association.
  • Paul F. Jackson of San Diego, California, is part of the research team for Janssen Pharmaceuticals – the research and development sector of Johnson & Johnson. He has held numerous positions within the company and is currently the Head of Chemistry for Emerging Sciences. He has designed and established a group focusing on applying medicinal chemistry to nontraditional areas, including nanotechnology, bioconjugation, and chemically modified antibodies.
  • S. Wayne Kay of San Diego, California, is the president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County. He was previously the president and CEO of OncoGenesis Inc. – a company which provides women worldwide with access to point-of-care screening for cervical cancer.
  • Venetia Kontogouris is a managing founder of a family office which invests in venture funds focusing in breakthrough business models in IT and big data technologies. She has been a pioneer in identifying New Business models with over 20 board experiences. Prior to the family office she was a co-managing director of Trident Capital, a business to business venture fund of $1.3 billion. Her skills are to identify early entrepreneurs and support them to build their business.
  • David Lyerly of Blacksburg, Virginia, is a founder, board member, and Chief Scientific Officer for TechLab Inc. – an innovative medical diagnostics company, with research and development located in Blacksburg, Virginia, and manufacturing in Radford, Virginia. TechLab focuses on enteric diseases and the microbiology of the intestinal tract. Lyerly founded the company in 1989 with Tracy Wilkins based on their discoveries from research on Clostridium difficile, the major cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea and colitis.
  • Marty Muscatello of Blacksburg, Virginia, is the President and CEO of FoxGuard Solutions, which develops innovative technology solutions – cyber security and industrial computing – to protect critical infrastructure.  He is also an owner of Qualtrax Inc. – a compliance software company.  Both companies grew from the original holding company, CCS Inc.
  • Jim Rutt of McDowell, Virginia, is the past Chairman for the Santa Fe Institute, and was a researcher in residence from 2002 to 2004, studying the application of complexity science to financial markets and evolutionary artificial intelligence. Rutt was previously the CEO of Network Solutions, which operated the .com, .net, and .org domain namespaces until its acquisition by Verisign in 2000.
  • Charles W. Steger of Blacksburg, Virginia, is president emeritus of Virginia Tech and executive director of the university’s Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience. As executive director of the Global Forum, he continues to lead Virginia Tech and partner organizations in developing an expanded knowledge base on infrastructural resilience. Steger is credited with conceiving and creating the VTCRI, and hiring Friedlander as its inaugural director.
  • J. David Wine of Roanoke, Virginia, is the founder of Advanced Health-Care Services – a successful company selling in-home medical equipment. He sold his company in 1998, and has since been an avid community supporter, working with numerous local organizations for the advancement of the Roanoke, Virginia, area.
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