Dr. Richard Bruno serves as the CEO of Beyond If Corporation. After twenty-five years as an entrepreneur, he now focuses his energy on mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, managing technology investments and defining innovation policies for governments-industry. He also plays an active role on the boards of McGill University Innovation, OMGsignal Inc., Univalor Inc., the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies and Walter Surface Technologies.

Between 2004-14, he played key roles as the founder and former chairperson of Quebec Angels, a two term member of the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program advisory board, a member of the CVT Corporation advisory board, a two term board member of the Foundation of the Mayor (Montreal Inc.), a board member of Toon Boom Inc. as well as having been a board member of the SAT, Stromatec Medical Devices Inc. and Medical Intelligence Inc. and, an advisory board member of Hexagram Inc., PassWordBox Inc. and Wajam Corp.. During this time period he also served as a venture partner at Cycle Capital Management, Cycle-C3E Capital, iNovia Capital, and MSBi Capital. Between 2004 and 2006 he was the director of McGill University’s Office of Technology Transfer and Industry Funded Research.

In 1989 he launched his first multimillion-dollar startup in the Karaoke space and, from then on, became a successful six-time repeat entrepreneur in the multimedia production, computer games, digital video & audio chipsets, video-conferencing and information security market spaces. Prior to that, he served as a research group manager and chief technology officer for over sixteen years at N.V. Philips Germany.

Richard began his career in 1971 as a university professor in solid state physics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the C.H. Ludwig Maximillian Universitaet.

Education:

Richard earned a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from McMaster University, an honors B.S. in Physics from McGill University, and an Executive Program MBA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Richard has authored over a hundred and fifty publications, patents and books in fields as varied as solid state physics, epidemiology, clean-tech, software engineering, multimedia, cryptology, optical systems and chip set development.

Samantha Trottman Burman brings over 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions and board leadership with an emphasis on creating transformational strategic change.

Ms.  Burman is currently a member of Beth Israel Deaconess- Needham Hospital’s Board of Advisors and serves on the Patient Care Assessment Committee. Ms. Burman was a member of the Hospital’s Board of Trustees from 2010-2019. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) and currently serves on the Investment sub-committee.

Ms. Burman served as a Director and a member of the Audit Committee of MedAssets, Inc., a publicly traded healthcare performance improvement company based in Alpharetta, GA from 1999-2012.  From 1998 to 2003, Ms. Burman worked as a Principal and then Partner at Parthenon Capital, a Boston-based private equity investment firm. From 1996 to 1998, Ms. Burman served as Chief Financial Officer of Physicians Quality Care, a physician practice management firm. From 1993-1996, she served as an Associate at Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm.

Education:

Ms. Burman holds a M. Eng. and BA from Cambridge University in England, as well as an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. She lives in Dover, MA with her husband, Mitchell Burman, and their four children. She enjoys travel, fitness, nutrition and reading.

In 2016, Rick Ekstein established Phaze 3 Associates, an Asset Management/Investment team that primarily engaged in managing various industrial and commercial real estate properties, investing in residential and commercial green-field and redevelopment projects, as well as private companies in both the Venture Capital and Private Equity spaces.

Along with the Phaze 3 Philanthropy team, Mr. Ekstein and his wife, Lillian, co-founded the Together We Stand Military Families Foundation to honour and thank Canadian military families for their service.

Prior to 2016, Mr. Ekstein was President and CEO of Weston Forest Products, and the Weston Forest Group of Companies.

Currently he is an Equity Partner and Board Member of Elevate Financial, Weston Wood Solutions, Brookside Capital Partners, Element 5 Co., Awz Ventures, Weston Forest Products, and The Logic, an online publication covering the Canadian innovation economy.

He also sits on the International Economic Policy and National Policy Councils of the C.D. Howe Institute, where he is a Board Member. Mr. Ekstein sits on the Boards of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Regimental Council of The Queen’s York Rangers, and the Association for Lumber Remanufacturers of Ontario, which he also founded.

Mr. Ekstein is a past Board Member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, a former Chair of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association, and founder and former Chairman of the Canadian Lumber Remanufacturers Association.

Rick is married to his high school sweetheart Lillian, has two daughters, two wonderful granddaughters and a grandson.

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Deb Coller is a highly respected Communications and Marketing executive with an extensive record of leadership in multi-billion dollar global enterprises. Coller was most recently the Vice President of Communications for Johnson Controls, a $42B global industrial company serving customers in 150 countries. As an executive with the company’s Building Efficiency Division, she was a global, strategic business partner responsible for communications strategy and execution.   She managed a $40 million budget for the Division, which included 170,000 employees worldwide.  Her experience helped the organization become the fastest growing enterprise within the Corporation.

Prior to Johnson Controls, Coller was Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications for ADT, a division of Tyco International. As the world’s largest electronic security company, ADT achieved revenue of more than $8B with 60,000 employees and operations in 40 countries. Coller’s successful career has been distinguished with notable accomplishments in: vision and strategic planning, innovative public relations and employee communications campaigns, operational leadership and diverse cross-functional assignments.

Coller’s commitment to excellence and personal integrity combined with her skills in business planning and operations management have helped her achieve a highly successful career. Recent career highlights include responsibility for brand management for the ADT trademark, one of the world’s most recognizable brands for electronic security with registrations in over 70 countries; global oversight for more than 50 websites; and public relations and crisis communications for global brands. As part of her unique ability to lead global operations teams in addition to her communications and marketing functions, Coller has managed a $90 million global account sales and operations channel, worldwide business continuity teams, and an award-winning customer service transformation program.

Prior to joining ADT and its parent, Tyco International, Coller served as Vice President of Corporate Communications for Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, the global leader in anti-theft systems serving 80 percent of the world’s top 100 retailers.  She developed marketing and communications programs that ranged from Olympic Sponsorships to crisis responses resulting from legacy SEC, FTC and FDA issues.

Before Sensormatic, Coller was Vice President and a founding member of Advanced Promotion Technologies (APT) for eight years.  APT was a joint venture of Procter & Gamble, Dun & Bradstreet and Schlumberger Technologies.  Often credited with the first consumer chip-card program, APT pioneered technologies to help consumer goods manufacturers identify and market to target households based on specific purchases and demographics.

Education:

Graduating with High Honors from the University of Florida, Coller has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and a concentration in Computer Science.  She was voted by faculty as the “Student of the Year” at graduation.  In her free time, Coller enjoys boating, traveling with her family and the endless task of renovating her home.

Herbert Cordt is the Chairman and President of Cordt & Partner, an international corporate finance boutique in Vienna, Austria. He is presently also serving as Chairman of RHI AG, the Vienna stock market listed world market leader in refractories (Reuters: RHI VI, Bloomberg: RHI AV), and Chairman of Ebner Furnaces, the privately owned world market leader in industrial heating systems.

After an executive banking career with two of Austria’s leading banks- Austrian Postal Savings Bank and Osterreichische Landerbank- Herbert has been associated with Citigroup as a member of Citi’s Advisory Board in Germany.

Mr. Cordt has recently been invited to join the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service for its MSFS Program.

Mr. Cordt also actively supports a variety of non-profit organizations in Europe, including the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, where he has been awarded membership to the Hall of Fame, the Josefstadt Theater, where he is a benefactor patron, and the Vienna State Opera. In addition, Herbert is a founding investor of Respekt.net, the leading Austrian crowd funding platform for NGO’s and other social projects. Just last year, he was an associate producer of “A Shtetl in the Caribbean,” a documentary about two European Jewish families surviving the holocaust and seeking refuge in the Caribbean.

Doug Robinson was most recently the CEO and Director of West Marine the leading retailer of boating supplies with over 250 locations nationally. He was President of International Operations and Development for Lowe’s Companies until his retirement from Lowe’s in 2016. While reporting to Lowe’s Chairman and CEO, Mr. Robinson created new growth outside the U.S. including building Canadian, Mexican, and Australian subsidiaries to combined revenues of $5 billion.

Prior to joining Lowe’s, Mr. Robinson was Chief Executive Officer, President and as a Member of the Board of Directors of ARXX ICF – an innovative specialty building products company in Ontario, Canada. He improved the company’s cost structure, reorganized the supply chain, tested new distribution formats, and assembled a new management team.

Mr. Robinson was also CEO and President of Beaver Lumber Company in Ontario – a $1 billion 90-year old building supply retailer with 3,000 employees and 167 stores. He was recruited to transform the company from a B2C retailer to a B2B supplier and to lead the divestiture of the company by its parent (Molson). He turned around the business from an operating loss to a gain and completed the sale of the company in 2000.

Mr. Robinson began his career with 12 years at 84 Lumber Company – a $2 billion family-owned building materials supplier in Pittsburgh with over 250 locations and 5,000 employees across 35 states. He began as a management trainee and worked in a variety of store management roles including oversight of the 72-store central region where he transformed this group of stores from a historically break-even situation to one of the company’s most profitable regions. In 1992, Mr. Robinson was named a Member of the company’s Board of Directors and assumed the position of Corporate VP of Purchasing. He helped transition the company’s business model from B2C to B2B and helped deliver the highest net profit in the company’s 34 year history during a period of significant industry change.

Mr. Robinson is currently a Director of; Tradesmen International, a workforce recruiting company serving the construction industry, Conner Industries, Inc.,  a privately-held national lumber processor and provider of integrated packaging solutions, Merchants Metals the second largest fencing manufacturer and distributor in the US.

Doug and his wife Kristine currently live in South Carolina.

John Goodman currently serves as a Director for Proto Labs, a position he has held for over 14 years during which time the company has grown from start up to over $200 million in sales and gone public. John chairs the Nominating and Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee.

Mr. Goodman held several leadership positions with Entegris, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ENTG) from 1982 until October of 2010, most recently serving as Senior VP and CTO. John was a key part of the leadership team that grew Entegris from $10 to over $600 million in revenue. Goodman supported Entegris to IPO in 2000, drove several acquisitions and participated in two large mergers. Goodman led the integration of Poco Graphite into Entegris after it was acquired in 2008 and he served as the President of this key supplier of specialty materials. Throughout his tenure at Entegris, John led the R&D groups that developed the materials and products serving customers in the semiconductor and other demanding markets. In addition John has had full P&L responsibility at the business unit and division level and has led sales and marketing.

While at Entegris, Goodman started and served as President of the Fuel Cell business, a leading supplier of components and subsystems to fuel cell developers. Goodman served as Policy Chairman and then President of the US Fuel Cell Council in 2004 and 2005.

Goodman was a gubernatorial appointee to the Clean Energy Technology Collaborative which developed an R&D roadmap for the State of Minnesota and he lead the hydrogen and fuel cell work group for the project. John served as the first Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board of the NSF funded Fuel Cell R&D Center at the University of South Carolina. He has also served on advisory boards for the University of Minnesota Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment and for the Minnesota Hydrogen Initiative.

Goodman is a past President of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (IEST) and has chaired the International Confederation of Contamination Control Societies (ICCCS).

Education:

John earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics and an MBA, both from the University of Minnesota.

Peter Grady is an independent consultant, leveraging his extensive background in the automotive industry. Prior to joining Watermill Group portfolio company QMC’s Board of Advisors, he had completed a 30+ year career with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, most recently as a member of the Management Team from June 2009 until retirement in April 2015. He served as Head of Dealer Network Development for the company since 2009, as well as President and CEO of Maserati North America from 2013 to 2015. Mr. Grady led Global Fleet Operations from 2009 to 2013, as well as developing and launching Chrysler Capital, the company’s retail financing arm of which he maintained oversight until retirement. His other leadership roles within FCA included regional sales and after sales positions in the US and internationally. He served as President of Chrysler Taiwan Ltd from 1997 to 2000.

Mr. Grady has served on many industry Boards and task forces, and has been a frequent speaker at industry events. In particular, he is recognized for his experience in the fields of franchise distribution, auto finance operations, and leadership development. He has been active in the United Way of Southeast Michigan, a strong supporter of Forgotten Harvest, engaged other charitable agencies across the US, and served on the Walter P. Chrysler Museum Board of Directors.

Education:

Mr. Grady holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. A long-suffering Cleveland sports fan, his hobbies include boating, watersports, bird hunting, fly-fishing, and travel. He and his wife, Clare, reside in Rochester, Michigan and are blessed with three terrific children and a wonderful daughter-in-law.

Charles Kalmbach is a professional corporate director. He serves as a member of the board and Audit Committee of Lincoln Educational Systems,, Inc. He has served as a director and Audit Committee member of Midwest Airlines and Resources for the Future, Inc. and has been Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University Medical Center of Princeton. He has also served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.

Charles has a rare blend of both global operating experience and strategic consulting background. He has spent a substantial portion of his career in the boardroom, as a director of both public and private companies, a CEO and a director of a multi-national company, an advisor to boards and as an active member of non-profit boards. He is a financial expert and has helped boards and senior management teams in the areas of strategy, leadership, governance, compensation, and risk management. He has a strong background working with complex organizations that are grappling with growth opportunities – particularly outside of North America.

Charles is the former Chief Executive Officer of DBM, Inc., one of the largest providers of human capital and career transition services in the world with 230 offices serving 85 countries. As CEO and Director of DBM, he restructured the company’s global operations, introduced new processes, and grew its profits while expanding the company’s footprint in India and China. Just prior to joining DBM, Charles had been asked by the President of Princeton University, his alma mater, to take on a new role at the school as the university’s first Chief Administrative Officer. As a member of the three person “Office of the President”, he supervised over 4,500 non-academic staff and oversaw the school’s physical plant, including leading the dramatically expanded building program. He used his expertise in human capital development and organization strategy to expand the influence and contributions of the human resource function as well as to create a new long term planning process for the university. He has also served as the Director of the School of Christian Vocation and Mission at the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Charles’ seventeen years in strategic consulting with McKinsey, PriceWaterhouse, and Accenture has given him experience and understanding in a broad range of industries including financial services, health care, hospitality, transportation, manufacturing and technology, both domestically and internationally. In addition to leading consulting projects for major clients, he served on Accenture’s Global Management and Global Leadership Councils. He has also been a global practice leader for five different practice areas at Accenture, specializing in human performance, organizational strategy and their link to the enterprises success. He has authored over 25 published articles on engineering, legal and business topics and has written two books.

Education:

He has received several degrees (BSE, MA, and PhD) from Princeton University in engineering and applied mathematics. He also holds a JD degree from the University of Pennsylvania in corporate and international law and a M.Div. from the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Charles and his wife live in Princeton, NJ and have four children.

Mr. Ronald M. Krisanda is the Former President and Chief Operating Officer at Milacron Holdings Corporation.  Prior to that he was Chief Operating Officer and President of the Mold-Masters business and leader of the integration of Mold-Masters into Milacron post the acquisition in May 2013.  Mr. Krisanda is skilled at driving significant operational improvement programs, leading and positioning companies for growth and market share gains and enhancing shareholder value.  As a corporate officer he was part of the team that was responsible for a successful IPO in June 2015 on the NYSE.

Mr. Krisanda served as the Chief Operating Officer of Edwards Group Limited from January 2009 through November 2012, and led the Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering and Technology organizations, and was responsible for its extensive restructuring program that more than doubled the EBITDA performance of the business.  This turn around led to an IPO on the NASDAQ in May of 2012, and an eventual trade sale to Atlas Copoco.

From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Krisanda held senior management positions with Tyco International, including President of $3.5B Tyco Fire & Security Europe, Middle East and Africa, President of Tyco Safety Products and Vice President of Operations for Tyco Plastics.  Prior to Tyco, he was Senior Vice President of Operations of Multilink Technology Corp. from November 2000 to 2002, and Vice President Asia Operations for Motorola’s Broadband Communication Sector (the successor by acquisition of General Instrument Corporation), based out of Taiwan from 1997 to 2000.

Mr Krisanda started his career at the Ford Motor Company in 1984 and worked in both the Electronics Division and the Climate Control Division holding a variety of engineering, operations and supply chain leadership positions.  He is a skilled international business leader experienced with both Private Equity owned and publicly held companies. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Watermill Group portfolio company, Quality Metalcraft, Inc.

EDUCATION:

Mr Krisanda received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University and a Master of Science degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Lehigh University.

After earning his real estate license while still in high school, David Malcolm earned his broker’s license and never looked back. Over four decades, he has built an enviable career, while earning the highest commercial real estate designation (CCIM) and graduating from the Harvard Business School Presidents Program.

Under his leadership Cal West Apartments and its predecessor company have mapped thousands of lots, built thousands of homes and apartments, and provided financing for thousands of home buyers and commercial clients. From 2004 to 2020 alone, David Malcolm handled sales, acquisitions, management and loan renegotiations totaling more than $4 billion.

David Malcolm has served on numerous boards of directors, including several public companies. His extensive public service includes having been a City of Chula Vista Councilmember for 10 years, a Port of San Diego Commissioner for seven years, the longest serving California Coastal Commissioner over a period of 12 years and the first-ever appointee to the California Judicial Performance Commission after its creation pursuant to a state ballot measure in 1994.

For 31 years, he served on the Board of Directors of St. Vincent de Paul Management (part of Father Joe’s Villages), four years as Chairman. David Malcolm also chaired Board 1 of the San Diego County Assessment Appeals Board. He has served on the boards of directors of the American Cancer Society San Diego, Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate at San Diego State University, First International Bank of San Diego, People’s Bank, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., Scripps Institution of Oceanography and South Bay Family YMCA.

David Malcolm is current Chairman of the Lincoln Club of San Diego Political Action Committee and a member of the Board of Directors for San Diego Christian College, as well as a five-year member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego YPO Gold Chapter.

Mr. John McCarter started his career with General Electric, working for GE for more than thirty years, while serving in corporate officer roles in its Energy business and its corporate region management.

In his final position with GE, he was President and Region Executive, GE Power Systems Sales Europe.  He was responsible for consolidating and directing commercial activities across the portfolio of GE’s business units dealing with electrical energy production and management, as well as the oil and gas energy industry.  This included products and services for fossil fueled, nuclear, hydroelectric and wind power generation; compression and power systems for pipeline, refinery, petrochemical process and offshore platform applications; as well as a host of related offerings in the energy management arena.

Earlier positions were with GE Power Systems, working with electric utility and major industrial companies, independent power producers, and cogenerators.  His experience covers the spectrum of power activities, from electrical distribution and transmission to thermal and nuclear power generation, including power project development.  He held General Manager positions for operations in Latin America, North America Sales, and global Customer Service.

From 2010 to 2012, McCarter was a board member of Comverge, Inc., a publicly traded company which provides intelligent energy management solutions to utilities, commercial and industrial electrical users, and residential consumers.

In 2011, he became a member of the Advisory Board for Advanced Power, North America, an independent power project developer, which now has three large gas fired combined cycle power plants in construction or operation.

In 2014, he became an advisor to Columbia Power, a technology startup developing cost effective conversion of ocean wave energy to electric power.

McCarter was also GE’s University Executive liaison for NC State University, a volunteer position he held for more than a decade.  He also served for many years on the North Carolina State Engineering Foundation board, six of those in executive roles, including its President, during an important period of streamlining and restructuring the board, helping guide it through a successful capital campaign and dealing with the transition to a new Dean for the school.  He currently serves on the board of NC State’s Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science.

In prior board roles dealing primarily with trade related discussions and negotiations, he worked with the American Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo; as Vice President of the Washington based Association of American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America; and as Vice Chair of the Council of the Americas in New York City.

In earlier work, McCarter served on boards of United Cerebral Palsy in Schenectady, NY, the Center for the Disabled in Albany, NY (helping merge these two organizations), NCSU’s External Advisory Board for International Programs and the Editorial Advisory Board of “Latin Trade” magazine.  He is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington based think which has also used his consulting help to grow its corporate and private client base.

Education:

Mr. John McCarter graduated with honors from North Carolina State University earning a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering.

Dave Robinson is a private investor with home bases in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont.  He is a member of the QMC-EMI Board of Advisors where he served as Chair upon Watermill Group’s acquisition of Quality Metalcraft in 2015 and until 2020.  Dave earlier served as the Board Chair for “Global Tubes” upon Watermill Group’s 2012 acquisitions of Superior Tube Company and Fine Tubes Ltd. through their successful sale to Ametek in 2015.

Dave spent most of his career in the broadband communications electronics industry with AT&T, General Instrument and Motorola in executive, general management, product management, business development and financial analyst positions.  As President of Motorola Broadband, he led the #1 global supplier of cable television, satellite television, broadband data and internet-based telephone communications systems.  Dave previously played a key role in successful technology transformations including the introduction of fiber optics into the cable industry and digital television.

He later served five years as part of the executive group that turned around the operations of Tyco International, most of it leading services-centric businesses in the electronic security and fire protection industries following a stint as President of Tyco Plastics & Adhesives.  As President of Tyco Fire & Security, Dave led a team of over 80,000 employees doing business in 60 different countries with over $12 billion of annual revenue.

Complementing his core operating management roles with larger companies, Dave was active in portfolio oversight of smaller businesses including venture capital investments, mergers, acquisitions and divestments.  At Motorola Broadband, his oversight responsibilities included a diverse portfolio of over 40 different minority equity investments that included software, semiconductor and satellite/cable program distribution companies.  At Tyco Fire & Security, he divested 30 different companies with combined annual revenues of $1 billion.

Education:

Dave earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bates College and MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Bob has 46 years of experience in heavy manufacturing, primarily in the steel industry. Bob started his career as a trainee at Lukens Steel Company after serving three years as an officer in the USMC. He worked his way up the corporate ladder becoming President of the Company. After leaving Lukens, he served as CEO of two separate steel companies; first, Gulf States Steel in Alabama, followed by Jindal Steel in Texas. Bob is currently COO and part owner of ARTCO Group International, which operates steel service centers and fabrication facilities in Houston, Texas and Hannibal, Ohio.

Education:

Bob has a BS degree from SUNY Oswego, and an MBA degree from Widener University.