The Mentors

Wade Brooksby, has held senior management positions in various companies ranging in size from small closely held companies to multi-billion dollar Fortune 100 NYSE firms. Mr. Brooksby has been involved in the development of licensing agreements of products and services in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, England, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands. For the past two years, Mr. Brooksby has been the CFO for a NASDAQ utility energy company. Previously he led the redesign, supervision and implementation of equipment, labor, customer relations and product development of a manufacturing plant for a NASDAQ pharmaceutical company. He has also been involved in the corporate governance for audit, compensation and executive committees for other public companies. Mr. Brooksby has served as an energy-marketing advisor to the Governor of Kentucky and on the Board of Directors of nine public and private companies and two not-for-profit organizations. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies in Accounting, Finance and Business Administration at Brigham Young University, located in Provo, Utah.

Darren Cummings is the founder & CEO of Cummings Engineering Consultants, Inc. In his role as CEO, he is responcible for guiding the strategic direction for the firm. Under his leadership, Cummings Engineering has grown significantly since its inception; including the establishment of its technology incubation operations in addition to the professional services available at the firm. Mr. Cummings holds Masters of Science, Software Engineering from Walden University and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University. Mr. Cummings has also completed a two year executive business program and is an active member of an ongoing business leadership discourse. Mr. Cummings’ expertise as an engineer and innovator is exemplified by the several patents that are pending in his name. Each one of the patents are focused on advanced telecommunications technologies and advanced cryptographic applications; the core of what Cummings Engineering was constituted to do. Prior to his role at Cummings Engineering, Mr. Cummings tempered his engineering and leadership skills at Motorola, General Dynamics, and Viasat. 

Greg Garcia is an attorney with Polsinelli Shughart, P.C., a national law firm. He is an experienced litigator, with trial and appellate experience. He attended Arizona State University, where he received his B.A., M.B.A. and Juris Doctorate degrees. He is also pursuing a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Biotechnology and Genomics. Mr. Garcia is published on the subject of genetic testing or genetic diagnostics. He also focuses on environmental, regulatory and liability issues associated with the bioscences and the use of nanotechnology in manufacturing. In 2009, the Governor of Arizona re-appointed Mr. Garcia for a three-year term as a Commissioner on the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission, which supports translational medical research and the State of Arizona's investment in the biosciences. He participates in the Biotechnology Committee of the Section of Science and Technology Law of the American Bar Association. Mr. Garcia also devotes a significant amount of time promoting access to justice through his service with the Volunteer Lawyers Program and Community Legal Services. He is a Judge Pro Tem in Maricopa County. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. He is an alumni of the Valley Leadership program.

Thomas Kindt, Ph.D. was most recently Director of Intramural Research, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD and Chief of Laboratory of Immunogenetics, NIAID, NIH and spent a year as Visiting Scientist, Analytical Immunochemistry Laboratory at the Institute Pasteur, Paris. Prior this he was with the Rockefeller University in New York and the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA. Dr. Kindt has served on Advisory Boards and Committees of the Institute Pasteur, Tunis, Tunisia; Hematech LLC, Massachusetts; Institute for Medical Sciences, University of Tokyo; REDI Center, Singapore; NIH Facilities Working Group and Blue Ribbon Panel on Bioterrorism and implications for biomedical research. He has authored and co-authored 225 publications, two books and three patents; currently he is an active biomedical consultant, immunology textbook author and adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico’s Department of Biology.

Derek Kirkland has over 21 years of construction industry experience working as an Owner, Construction Manager and General Contractor. Over the past 13 years he has specialized in the Life Science Market Sector and has managed projects across the United States and in the United Kingdom ranging in value from under $1M to $200M+. He has been with DPR Construction for 8 years and is a member of the Phoenix Regional Management Team and an owner in the company. He is also the Life Science Market Sector Leader for the Phoenix / Arizona region and is a member of DPR’s National Life Science Group. His project experience includes a wide variety of Life Science projects ranging from cGMP Manufacturing Facilities and Pilot Plants to R&D Labs and Vivariums. Local key project involvement includes Covance Laboratories, sanofi-aventis, Ventana Medical Devices and Caris Life Sciences. 

Kevin Lange is a Director in the Office and Life Science Division of Arizona’s Cushman & Wakefield office. After spending 5 years at Colliers International's Phoenix office as Senior Associate, where he was named Rookie of the Year in 2007, Kevin decided to take his expertise to Cushman & Wakefield where his diverse and exceptional knowledge base of the Central Phoenix office and life science market will continue to lead to successful and tailored real estate transactions with his clients for years to come. Kevin's focus within the office and life science industry is on "life of the asset" landlord representation, tenant representation, site selection, corporate solutions, acquisitions and dispositions. Kevin has been in the commercial real estate business since graduating in 2003 from the University of Arizona, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Regional and Economic Development. As a native Phoenician born and raised, Kevin continues to live in North Central Phoenix, and applies his extensive history of the community to his business and relationship building far beyond a single successful transaction. Kevin has participated in the leasing, selling and acquisition of over 15 million square feet of transactions since entering the business, representing such clients as Phoenix The Suns, OmniNet Capital, TD2, VisionGate, Dedicated Phase 1, Xcelience Biotech, Kemeta, General Growth Partners, DIRTT and R&R Partners.

Christine Mackay has been with the City of Chandler for the past 11 years as a member of the Economic Development team. In 2007, Christine was named the Economic Developer of the Year, Large Community, for the State of Arizona by the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED). Prior to that, in 2005, Chandler’s Economic Development team was named the Arizona “Small Economic Development Organization of the Year” by the same organization. Christine is a member of the Economic Development Director’s Team for Greater Phoenix, which focuses on enhancing the region, and she participates in committees that include Maricopa Association of Government’s “Building a Quality Regional Community”, the Biosciences Roadmap committee through the Flinn Foundation, the Chandler Municipal Airport Master Planning Committee, the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).

Jon Moffitt spent eight years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in global commercial banking, managing debt and equity portfolios valued at $500+ million. Mr. Moffitt managed a portfolio of 135 client relationships delivering a wide range of financial products. He has originated, managed, and underwritten multi-family, industrial flex, office, medical, residential, mergers, acquisitions, aircraft, equipment, and land financing. He has also designed and developed complex underwriting with multiple borrowers, guarantors, and collateral. His transaction types include construction, owner occupied, investment, line of credit, letter of credit, mezzanine, and multiple lender structures.

Jeff Morhet is the President and CEO of InNexus Biotechnology, Inc. Mr. Morhet has vast experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry which includes positions at Baxter Healthcare, Merck and AstraZeneca. His experience with pharmaceutical product development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, product commercialization and working with the FDA for both drug and device applications, is extensive. Multiple times Mr. Morhet has been the corporate sponsor to the FDA for programs under development and has had a focus on cellular and intra-cellular anti-cancer drug development. Prior to InNexus he served as Vice President and General Manager of a NASDAQ-traded pharmaceutical company and refocused their long running cancer research, clinical development and pharmaceutical manufacturing programs. Mr. Morhet has launched multiple companies, including founding and growing Zila Biotechnolgy, Inc., a comprehensive research, development and licensing business. He is highly experienced in the areas of investor relations and corporate finance and has participated in raising over $100 Million in public offerings, venture capital, equities and mergers. Mr. Morhet also founded the life science networking group called ThirdBiotech (www.thirdbiotech.com). He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and attended the Executive MBA program at Arizona State University and other programs from Harvard Business School.

Jur Strobos, has extensive experience as Director of Policy Research in the office of the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a diverse background in drug law, medical product development, and health care. Most recently, he was Vice President of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs for Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE: MRX). His prior medical background and four years of residency training in general surgery training enabled him to engage in policy development across the broad array of FDA activities from foods, devices, drugs, to biological products. His areas of expertise include food and drug law, clinical study design and good manufacturing practices. He has been the successful steward of multiple drugs and devices through the FDA and will be working closely with Dr. Thomas Kindt, InNexus' Chief Scientific Officer and previous Director of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Health. He has numerous publications and awards including the PHS Special Recognition Award, the FDA Award of Merit and two Commissioner Special Citations.

Dr. Frederic Zenhausern has an endowed chair, full professorship, at the Basic Medical SciencesDepartment at the College of Medicine, Phoenix, and he is the founder Director of the Center forApplied Nanobioscience and Medicine (ANBM), both at the University of Arizona (UofA). Priorto join the University of Arizona, Dr. Zenhausern was founder director of the Center for AppliedNanobioscience at the Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, and co-founder and R&Ddirector of the first phase of the Center for Flexible Display and then MacroTechnology Works.Zenhausern was also tenured professor with both the Electrical Department and the School ofMaterials at the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.
Dr. Zenhausern is also Senior Investigator and Associate Director of Molecular Diagnosticsand Target Validation Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). Dr. Zenhausern is also director of the Laboratory for Research in Personalized Medicine atthe Scottsdale Clinical Research Institute at Scottsdale Healthcare. Dr. J. Trent and Dr. F.Zenhausern co-founded Nanobiomics Inc. which merged with the Molecular Profiling Institutethat was acquired by Caris Diagnostics in 2008. Dr. Zenhausern also serves in a wide varietyof advisory capacities to government agencies, corporate scientific boards and internationalresearch consortia.
Dr. Zenhausern received his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Geneva, his M.B.A.in finance from Rutgers University and his Doctorate Es Science in Applied Physics fromthe department of Condensed Physics Matter at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.Zenhausern has co-authored more than 70 scientific publications and published more than adozen of U.S. patents. Dr. Zenhausern has held several corporate research positions, including: Visiting Scientist (IBMT.J. Watson Research Center, NY), Head of Physical Measurements Group (Firmenich Inc.,NJ), Vice President Advanced Technology (Alpha-MOS America, Inc., NJ) and Manager of Microdevice Physics (Motorola Labs, AZ).