Chris Fortune recently retired as the CEO of Saris in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1989, Chris and his wife, Sara, purchased the company formerly known as Graber Products. The company evolved into a multi-faceted organization manufacturing and globally distributing a wide array of products used by cyclists for pleasure and training.
Chris is passionate about giving back the community and founded the Saris Bike Parks for Kids Foundation in 2020, dedicated to giving underserved youth a safe and energizing place to ride their bike. Chris has also served on the board of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and helped fund their organization by raising over 1M through the annual Saris Gala. He served as chair of the Governor’s Bicycle Coordinating Council for over 10 years and served on the board for Dreambikes, a non-profit, used bicycle store which provides young people work experience as they refurbish used bicycles and re-cycle them into the community. Chris also served on the national board for the Boys & Girls Club of America and served as President of the national coalition, People for Bikes. Chris had sat on many additional boards including Pizza Hut of Southern Wisconsin, Lucigen, and the Edgewood College Board of Trustees.
Chris and his wife, Sara, have four children, Heather, Kelly, Emma and Will and 10 grandchildren. In addition, they have been licensed through Catholic Charities and Dane County Department of Human Services to serve as foster parents for infants. Chris earned his Bachelors of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin – Lacrosse.
Doug Hollett is currently President of Melroy-Hollett Technology Partners, a technology and strategy consultancy in the energy and aerospace sectors. He is a member of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Energy Advisory Committee in Australia; Technical Advisor to FERVO, a California geothermal company; and Senior Consultant-Energy with Nova Systems in Adelaide, Australia. Doug is also a member of the Sandia National Laboratory Energy and Homeland Security External Advisory Board. Doug served in a series of leadership positions in the U.S. Department of Energy from 2011-2017, including Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Power. Prior to DOE, Doug had more than 29 years of experience with Marathon Oil, including as Manager and Director for Unconventional New Ventures, Manager International New Ventures, and VP and General Manager of Atlantic Canada. Doug holds a BA in Geology, music minor from Williams College, and a MS in Geology from the University of Utah.
Keith Lobo is a 22-year veteran of the Semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley, having helped build LSI Logic (VP/GM) now part of Broadcom, Chips & Technologies (Exec VP and COO) now part of Intel, and Quickturn Design Systems (President & CEO) now part of Cadence. During that time, he was directly involved in two IPOs with Morgan Stanley, five M&A transactions, and played an instrumental role in the creation of over $3 Billion of public shareholder value. Keith was educated at Stevens Institute of Technology - New Jersey (ME - Electrical Engineering) and the University of Wisconsin - Madison (MBA), where he has previously served a four-year term on the Advisory Board of the UW Business School, a nine-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), and a ten-year term helping establish the WARF Accelerator at UW-Madison as an industry catalyst. In addition to private and early-stage VC investing, Keith has served on numerous company boards, and been an advisor to various US and European Private Equity and VC firms. The most fun thing he has ever done was a tour at sea observing flight operations for F/A-18 Super Hornet jets on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz “somewhere in the Pacific Ocean”, as a guest of the US Naval Post-Graduate School.
Dr. Mackie is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wisconsin in the departments of Medical Physics, Human Oncology and Engineering Physics. At the end of his academic career he joined the Morgridge Institute as its founding Medical Engineering director and developed its Fab Lab, which pioneered 3D printing and a medical device design program at the UW. He was a founder of the Pinnacle 3D treatment planning system which is now commercialized by Philips Medical. He co-founded TomoTherapy which became a public company in 2007 and was sold to Accuray in 2011. He is also a co-founder of HealthMyne, OnLume and Asto CT and on the board of directors of Shine Medical Technologies, BioIonix and Nano-X. He is an author of 180 peer-reviewed publications and an inventor in 45 issued US patents.
Tom Tefft was the Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic’s $2B Neuromodulation business from 2009 to 2016 where he oversaw the research and development, operations, and sales and marketing for products used in the treatment of chronic pain, movement disorders, overactive bladder and urinary retention, and gastroparesis. Prior to this role Tefft held numerous finance leadership roles at Medtronic including Corporate Controller, Vice President Finance for the Cardiac Rhythm Management business and Vice President and Controller for Europe, Africa and Middle East based in Belgium and Switzerland. Tefft spent 10 years at Price Waterhouse prior to joining Medtronic in 1992. Tefft currently serves on the board of directors of three private companies, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, the American Nurses Foundation and the Deans Advisory Board at the University of Wisconsin- Madison School of Business. He received his Bachelors of Arts degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tefft and his wife Julie live outside St. Paul, MN and are the parents of three adult children.
Win Warren currently serves as Advisor/Investor in a number of early-stage companies focused on the energy transition. He has over 40 years’ experience in the international energy sector, with broad-based commercial/transactional management and corporate development expertise. His experience base ranges from major multinational corporations to independents and start-ups and encompasses every region of the world – with responsibilities including strategic planning, business development, investment evaluation, corporate/project financing, portfolio management, commercial negotiations, acquisitions and divestitures (including major M&A transactions), and government relations. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Rhode Island School of Oceanography.
Vigor Yang is the William R. T. Oakes Professor and Chair of the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has received several publication and technical awards from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), including the Air-Breathing Propulsion Award (2005), the Pendray Aerospace Literature Award (2008), the Propellants and Combustion Award (2009), the Worcester Reed Warner Medal (2014), JANNAF Interagency Propulsion Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), and most recently the AIAA von Kármán Lecture in Astronautics (2016). Dr. Yang was the editor-in-chief of the AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power (2001-2009) and the JANNAF Journal of Propulsion and Energetics (2009-2012). He is currently an editor of the Aerospace Book Series of the Cambridge University Press (2010-). A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Yang is a fellow of the AIAA, ASME, and Royal Aeronautic Society (RAeS).
