About Us

Mike possesses over 23 years’ experience in higher education as an administrator and researcher with several universities. Including University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Maryland System, University of South Carolina, Troy University and South Carolina State University.  Mike was previously founding research director of the IIFRE at the University of South Carolina, where he was a principal investigator involved with several USDA and NSF projects along with several state agency research proposals.  Mike has worked with numerous industry organizations as a university administrator, partnering in several outreach initiatives.

Mike earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of South Carolina and his doctorate from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech.

Melissa, our events coordinator, has over four years of event planning experience and provides support to plan and coordinate numerous conferences, workshops, and other events throughout the US, internationally, and virtually every year. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications. Prior to joining UIDP Melissa worked for a land conservation non-profit as their marketing and communications coordinator.

Denise has been providing operational and administrative support to Tony and the UIDP since 2008. She holds a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Fredonia and a Master of Arts in Communication from Ohio University. Prior to relocating to Columbia, South Carolina, Denise worked for the Rochester City School District in Rochester, NY for 15 years where she was an analyst in the Department of Research, Testing and Records. Denise and her husband, Paul, are now based in Columbia, South Carolina.

As UIDP’s membership services intern, Alex supports member retention and assists in data and contact management. He is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in advertising at the University of South Carolina. In his free time, Alex enjoys creative personal projects in both photography and graphic design.

Melissa has worked for more than a decade in nonprofit organizations, most recently serving as the director of education for United Way of the Midlands. In this role, she led efforts to advance the organization’s strategic goals by developing, overseeing, and implementing the organization’s education and youth initiatives. She previously served in project management and coordination roles, and has overseen grant acquisition and management programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and secondary education from the University of South Carolina and earned a certificate in nonprofit management from Winthrop University. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Central Carolina, a member of the Young Leaders Society and a graduate of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Class of 2018.

Natoshia has 15 years of meeting professional experience planning and managing small- and large-scale meetings and conferences. Prior to joining UIDP, Natoshia worked as a meeting professional for a large corporation, a consulting firm, a university, and a nonprofit. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of South Carolina and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in executive leadership at Liberty University. In her spare time, Natoshia loves volunteering in the community through various local initiatives.

Theresa S. Mayer is the executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University, where she oversees the $670 million research enterprise of the university and supports holistic engagements with federal, industry, and global strategic partners.  Prior to this role, she was the vice president for research and innovation at Virginia Tech. During her 23-years at Penn State University, she served as the associate dean for research and innovation in engineering, the site director of the NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, and a distinguished professor of electrical engineering and materials science.  She is widely recognized for her work in advanced manufacturing of nanoscale electronic, optical, and biomedical devices, which has been supported by the DoD, NSF, DOE, NIH, and industry.  Mayer has over 200 technical publications, invited presentations and tutorials, and holds ten patents in these areas. Several of her inventions have been transitioned into commercial and military systems.  She is actively engaged in service to her profession and the nation, including past service on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, PCAST.  Mayer earned a bachelor’s degree. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, and master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University.

Dr. Wendi Yajnik is the Global Head of Academic Partnerships and External Innovation at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the innovation and research engine of Novartis. At NIBR, Dr. Yajnik leads a team focused on accessing innovative, breakthrough therapies through scientific partnerships and collaborations with global academic partners as well as leading educational training programs, including the NIBR summer internship, post-doctoral and post-baccalaureate programs.  Dr. Yajnik also oversees all NIBR donations, grants and sponsorships.

Dr. Yajnik joined NIBR from Sanofi where she was the Head of R&D Transactions in the Global Business Development and Licensing group. In that role she led a team responsible for negotiating early discovery research and licensing agreements with academic institutions and biotechnology partners. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Yajnik was the Executive Director of Innovation for Partners Healthcare directing a team responsible for negotiating research collaborations, out-licensing intellectual property to Pharma and biotechnology companies as well as start-up formation working in collaboration with the Partners Innovation Fund and venture capitalists. Before transitioning to the business sector, Dr. Yajnik was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pathology at New York University School of Medicine focusing on HIV-1 research.

Chris Ramming is a technology strategist and research manager with a passion for working at the intersection of theory and practice. At VMware, he is a senior director of research and innovation, with responsibility for the VMware academic research program as well as an incubator that explores disruptive technologies to generate new lines of business for the company. Chris has a background in computer science with degrees from Yale and UNC Chapel Hill. He previously worked at Intel’s University Collaboration Office and has also held roles at DARPA and AT&T/Bell Labs Research. Chris previously chaired DARPA’s Information Science and Technology (ISAT) study group and currently is on the board of the Computing Research Association.

Nerissa Draeger is Director of Global University Engagements at Lam Research, a position she has held since 2017. She oversees Lam’s academic partnerships and strategic research collaborations in pursuit of disruptive and enabling technologies to advance the semiconductor industry. Her leadership is focused on creating diversity in both our technology and talent pipelines to drive innovative solutions for our customers. Dr. Draeger has led various programs since joining the company in 2000; including feasibility of emerging materials and processes, new product development, and strategic business and intellectual property development.

Dr. Draeger’s background is in thin film deposition and she earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her B.S.E. degree from the University of Michigan. She has authored over 30 patents and numerous technical publications.

Manjula Donepudi is an Alliance Management professional with 15 years of experience managing innovation at the crossroads of industry and academia. Prior to joining Pfizer CTI as the Alliance Lead, for CTI’s academic network of collaborators, Manjula spent 12 years in academic technology transfer engaged in a range of activities including intellectual property portfolio management, contract negotiations to support a range of industry-academia relationships and managing alliances for clinical stage programs being advanced through public-private partnerships.

As a post-doctoral fellow at MSKCC, Manjula was motivated to join the field of technology transfer for the purpose of moving academic discoveries into industry hands where they would be advanced for patient benefit. She continues to remain committed to continue strengthening industry-academia collaborations for this purpose.

Sophia Herbert-Peterson is director of industry contracting for Georgia Tech Research Corporation, the contracting entity for sponsored research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is responsible for managing all contracting activities, developing and implementing policies and procedures that support the research collaboration process, and developing and deploying strategic initiatives for industry engagement. She is also an active supporter of diversity leadership initiatives on campus, such as Georgia Tech’s Inclusive Leaders Academy and the Leading Women@Tech Program. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Sophia served as a law clerk for the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam in the Southern District of California, as in-house counsel for two Fortune 500 companies, and practiced  at an Atlanta law firm. Sophia earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies and Spanish literature from Manhattan College and her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

As Senior Executive Director of Development, Corporate Relations at UC San Diego since January 2017, Anne leads a new Central Corporate Relations Office to develop holistic relationships with corporations to support UC San Diego’s strategic plan and fundraising objectives.  Anne served over 17 years at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering building corporate engagement programs, first launching the Director of the Corporate Affiliates Program (CAP) with 75+ high technology and life science member companies for custom access to faculty, research, students. More recently, Anne continued to build new corporate engagement models as the Executive Director, Corporate Research Partnerships where she built the first seven of the Dean’s Agile Centers of Excellence–multidisciplinary faculty teams focused on technologies that are highly relevant to industry.  Under Anne, CAP ran the Team Internship Program and started Executive Education Engineering degree programs.  An alumna of Mount Holyoke College, Anne went on to Harvard University earning a Master’s in Public Policy and a Master’s in Theology.  Anne is an active member of UIDP Membership Committee and co-led the Collaboration Metrics Project. As a NACRO member, Anne served as Benchmarking Chair and past Conference Planning Co-Chair.  As faculty for Academic Impressions, Anne has taught the Holistic Corporate Engagement course for the past five years and has a webinar in building corporate affiliate programs. Anne serves on Board of Catholic Charities of San Diego and is an ICF certified professional leadership coach.  Anne is married and a mother of five great kids ages 15-27.