Gururaj Deshpande

Distinguished All-Star Alumnus Award

Innovating with ideas and entrepreneurs

THE JOB: Chairman, Sycamore Networks Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded Cascade Communications Corp., which sold for $3.7 billion in 1997; Founded Sycamore Networks Inc. and took it public in 1999, on the day he was awarded his first MHT All-Star Award; Founded the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT with his wife, Jaishree

“When I was a young entrepreneur I had to come up with all the dreams and work hard at them. Now it’s satisfying to help other people pursue their dreams and make them happen.”

BY JAY RIZOLI, Special to Mass High Tech

Back in the last millennium, in the pre-bubble nirvana of 1999, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande was a staggeringly successful entrepreneur: founder of TIE-Atlantic, head of a network communications company on the verge of an explosive public debut — and a Mass High Tech All-Star.

Today, he’s the chairman of that company (Sycamore Networks Inc.) as well as four others — not to mention he’s the spark behind an innovation center at MIT, a self-described coach for other CEOs — and, once again, a Mass High Tech All-Star, this time as our first-ever Distinguished Alumnus.

“I’ve gone from being an entrepreneur and CEO to being a coach,” says Deshpande, who sold frame-relay system developer Cascade Communications Corp. for $3.7 billion in 1997 and went public with Sycamore two years later.

Since then, Deshpande has compiled a résumé worthy of All-Star recognition regardless of what had come before. But eight years down the road, he’s taken a different tack.

“I don’t see myself as a star,” he says. “I’m in the process of helping other people become stars. That gives me enormous leverage, because instead of doing one thing, I can do 10 things. You don’t want to continue doing the same thing just because that’s what you know. So every five years or so I sit down and say, ‘Where do I go from here?’”

Where he’s gone, he says, is mentoring, and nowhere is that more apparent than through the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, launched at the MIT School of Engineering in 2002 with $20 million from Deshpande and his wife, Jaishree, to foster technological innovation.

“In the global economy, what China and India are doing, we can’t do that because the standard of living here is so much higher, so we must rely on technology and innovation to stay ahead,” he says. “What we have created is a very methodical way of developing MIT technology.”

Deshpande says the center has taken more than 300 ideas, funded 60 of them, and turned 11 of them into companies. Several more, he said, are in the works. “MIT spends about $500 million in research, and the center spends about $2.5 million, or about half of a percent,” he said. “My hope is, we will refine this technique and apply it elsewhere.”

But money is immaterial, really. Deshpande says he pursues one for-profit venture and one nonprofit venture per year. Among the latter are the India Institute of Public Health and a lunch program for Indian schoolchildren that has fed 800,000.

His greatest satisfaction, he says, is helping others do what he’s done.

“Really, it’s to see people come up with these ideas and dreams and be part of a team to make it happen,” he said. “When I was a young entrepreneur, I had to come up with all the dreams and work hard at them. Now it’s satisfying to help other people pursue their dreams and make them happen.”

Jeremy Allaire

Internet

Inspired by baseball cards and giving back

THE JOB: Founder and CEO, Brightcove Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded Allaire Corp. with his brother J.J.; Took Allaire Corp. public in 2000, sold it to Macromedia Inc. for $360 million in 2001; Raised $85 million in venture funding for Brightcove Inc.

“I really enjoyed selling and taking something and trying to make a profit. It was the beginning of the entrepreneurial ethos, and it made me comfortable with taking risks, which helped later when I started my first companies.”

BY EFRAIN VISCAROLASAGA, Staff writer

Jeremy Allaire’s first venture was a far cry from his current one — Cambridge-based Brightcove Inc. — yet it has all the earmarks of a successful company: seed investment, a product in demand, constant negotiations and even trade shows.

He started the company when he was 12, and it was called Allaire Sports Cards. It was funded by a $5,000 inheritance originally earmarked for investment in mutual funds to pay for young Allaire’s future college. Instead, it went to baseball cards.

“I managed the whole process, going to events to buy, sell and trade cards,” he said. “I really enjoyed selling, and taking something and trying to make a profit. It was the beginning of the entrepreneurial ethos, and it made me comfortable with taking risks, which helped later when I started my first companies.”

Allaire Sports Cards eventually did turn a profit, and by Allaire’s recollection, he probably doubled his investment, giving him “pocket money” through college.

While the numbers were certainly minor compared with the three companies he would start later — Global Internet Horizons in 1993, Allaire Corp. in 1995 and Brightcove in 2004 — the management skills and drive for success that were developed as a teenager would play a major role in the success of those companies.

Allaire’s success, particularly with Allaire Corp. and its Cold Fusion web development application, are well documented. But behind the scenes, Allaire has helped launch a number of smaller-profile, philanthropic projects, usually based on the cutting-edge technology with which he works in his for-profit endeavors.

In his early days as an Internet consultant, for example, Allaire established NativeNet, an Internet-based collaborative education application aimed at bringing together the youth of geographically distributed Native American tribes. The application allowed young Native Americans to use the distributed nature of the Internet (at the time mostly just e-mail and file servers) to learn about each other’s cultures, languages and customs.

These days, with Brightcove’s focus on Internet video, Allaire is on the board of directors of Soliya, a nonprofit that uses Internet-based video collaboration to connect young Americans with young Muslims in the Middle East. Students are able to communicate face-to-face using video, and cooperate in the creation of electronic media exploring the issues surrounding the relationship of the two regions.

“You might get a Jordanian and a Tufts student developing a video representing an issue that is important to both,” he said. “It’s becoming a really great program and deals with what is probably one of the most important long-term investments that the world needs to be focused on.”

Naturally, Allaire’s main focus is on Brightcove. The company has grown from an idea in 2004 to 120 employees, with $85 million in funding and offices in Cambridge, New York, Seattle and the United Kingdom It has also become a major player in bringing user-generated and corporate video to the Internet, boasting clients such as The Weather Channel, The Washington Post, General Motors and National Geographic.

Thomas Burgess

Interactive Media

Sailing away into media startup stardom

THE JOB: Founder and CEO, Third Screen Media, Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded and sold three companies prior to Third Screen Media; Built the first mobile advertising network; Awarded a patent for mobile marketing through SMS messaging

“The basic plan for Third Screen was actually written on a napkin while we were having lunch at the Tennis Hall of Fame restaurant.”

BY EFRAIN VISCAROLASAGA, Staff writer

To celebrate the sale of Boston-based Third Screen Media Inc. to AOL LLC this past summer, its co-founder and CEO, Thomas Burgess, is going sailing.

It’s not an unusual form of decompression after six years of startup building, but Burgess’ plans are not exactly a three-hour cruise either. The plan is to tackle the Pacific Ocean on a trek that could take Burgess and his family up to 18 months and could cover more than 10,000 miles.

It’s not the first time Burgess and his family have hit the high seas for that length of time. After Burgess sold his third company, CollegeLink.com, to Monster Worldwide Inc. in 2001, he sold everything he had — cars, house, furniture — and set sail on a similar 18-month trip with his wife and two children, that time in the Caribbean. It was during that trip, in fact, that Third Screen was born.

“When I said to everyone I was going away on that trip, they all laughed and said, ‘You’ll be bored to death and you’ll be back in three months,’” he said. “But when I finally did take off, some of my colleagues would come down and visit whatever island I was on, and they’d cruise with us for a while — and that’s when we started the ideas for Third Screen.”

When the family returned to Newport, R.I., Burgess almost immediately began building Third Screen Media, first from his boat, then from an office close to the dock.

“The basic plan for Third Screen was actually written on a napkin while we were having lunch at the Tennis Hall of Fame restaurant,” he said. “We ran back to the office and got it up on the whiteboard and must have worked that board for months to finalize our plans.”

While that napkin and resulting discussions eventually yielded Third Screen, the process also yielded another idea for technology surrounding the delivery of product information through SMS messaging, for which Burgess was awarded a patent during the summer. The technology didn’t fit into Third Screen Media’s plans, so Burgess eventually licensed it to a West Coast mobile marketing company called Zoove Corp.

Burgess’ penchant for entrepreneurship started just after college, after working for two small startups.

“I thought, ‘If they can do it, so can I,’” he said.

In 1994 he started his first venture, EchoMedia Inc., one of the first Internet advertising firms. He sold that company to Newport neighbor Zulu-Tek Inc. in 1998 before launching his next venture, 9th Square Inc., which eventually became Providence-based digital marketing firm BlueStreak Inc. BlueStreak was sold to Aegis Group in June, though Burgess was no longer involved with the company.

As Burgess prepares his 48-foot catamaran for his newest adventure, he is focused on sailing, rather than startups. But he knows that won’t last, and is expecting to return from the trip with some new ideas.

“I will absolutely be starting another venture,” he said. “But the deal with my wife was that we would come back from sailing (the first time) and I would start another company, and then we’d go sailing again — and that’s what we’re doing.”

Joe Chung

Web 2.0

The alluring art behind Web 2.0 e-commerce

THE JOB: CEO, Allurent Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Co-founded Art Technology Group, Inc., 1991; Helped take ATG public in 1999; Co-founded Allurent Inc. in 2004

“To me, it’s about enabling talent. It’s about building products that matter and making them easier to use.”

BY CHRISTOPHER CALNAN, Staff writer

Joe Chung recalls that while growing up in Illinois one of his goals was to be his own boss. He’s two for two so far.

He’s worked for just two companies since graduating from MIT in 1991: Art Technology Group Inc. and Allurent Inc., both of which Chung co-founded in his adopted home of Cambridge.

Both companies design websites for retailers. ATG, Chung’s first company, has grown to more than 400 employees and annual revenue topping $160 million. Allurent, which Chung founded two years after stepping down as ATG’s CTO in 2004, now employs 55 workers.

But who’s counting?

For Chung, the numbers aren’t as important as the results from assembling a team of passionate and creative workers in a supportive work environment. That, he said, is the reason for starting a company.

“To me, it’s about enabling talent,” said Chung. “It’s about building products that matter and making them easier to use.”

Chung, 42, said he didn’t exactly plan for a career designing e-commerce websites. His love for technology and music, however, is easily traced. Chung’s mother was an opera singer and his father a neurosurgeon.

Following those passions, Chung spent 10 years at MIT studying computer science. He was working on his doctorate when he launched ATG with an emphasis on the “art” portion of the name. The company was initially a consulting firm that designed computerized lighting and sound systems for live performances.

But Chung shifted the focus to building e-commerce platforms for retailers using rich Internet application technology after hearing strong market demand to apply his interface design to retail websites. Chung co-founded the company with Jeet Singh in 1991, and served as chairman and CTO until 2001.

ATG’s initial public offering in 1999 — and the exhausting three-week roadshow leading to it — were a career highlight, he says.

“At the time, you find yourself saying, ‘OK, I’ve done it.’” he said. “But then reality hits and it’s, ‘Now I have to manage a publicly traded company.’”

Last year, ATG generated $103 million in revenue.

It was at Allurent that Chung took on the CEO position for the first time. Chung said he and his team are now focused on creating the next generation of online shopping technology, or “Shopping 3.0,” to reduce the large number of customers who stop short of making purchases because of confusing website features.

Last year Allurent raised its first round of venture capital (an undisclosed amount) from Polaris Venture Partners, and signed it first major customer, Urban Outfitters Inc., which adopted Allurent’s checkout program.

It’s been 16 years since launching the first venture and Chung said he’s taking lessons learned from ATG and applying them to Allurent. But it’s a trade-off. For instance, he now has to pay closer attention to the financial side of the business.

But it’s still a priority to operate transparently by providing employees with periodic progress updates that include financial information and fostering a sense of inclusion and teamwork.

“It’s important to let a (company’s) culture evolve on its own,” he said, “(and) give people an open, trusted environment.”

Meredith Flynn-Ripley

Telecom

The elements of a soaring career in telecom

THE JOB: CEO, Integra5 Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Held management roles at early cable broadband companies like RoadRunner and MediaOne; Served as CEO of three Hub startups prior to Integra5; Has led Integra5’s products into 8 million homes

“I like the idea of getting in on the ground floor of new emerging technologies and playing a leading role on how it gets delivered to customers.”

BY LLOYD GRAY, Special to Mass High Tech

With interest in her company’s innovative technology at an all-time high, Meredith Flynn-Ripley is one of her industry’s most well-known and celebrated executives. And, if recent events are any indication, that won’t change any time soon.

Flynn-Ripley, 44, lives in Lexington and serves in Burlington as CEO of Integra5 Inc., a small but growing provider of real-time converged telecom services. The company is in the enviable position of having successfully taken to market cross-platform applications — such as caller ID, picture caller ID, voice-mail alerts, call logs and a virtual channel to control settings — that can be delivered to TVs and PCs over cable and IPTV networks.

Integra5 is delivering TV caller ID to more than 13 providers worldwide on networks that offer telecommunications services to more than 8 million homes. The company is also promising to roll out additional services for both the PC and TV early next year.

Before taking over the reins at Integra5, Flynn-Ripley worked first as a consultant and then chief operating officer there. Prior to that, she served as CEO for three other Boston startups: Seaport Software Solutions, Into Networks and Stargus.

Impressive credentials notwithstanding, she takes a modest approach when discussing her ability to shatter the proverbial glass ceiling.

“I did not get into technology to become a CEO of a company, but I worked hard and opportunities came, and that’s what brought me to where I am today,” she said.

Flynn-Ripley has also managed various high-speed data and interactive services for several telecommunications companies, including RoadRunner, MediaOne Broadband Internet Services and U.S. WEST Communications. Early in her career, she worked at Ogilvy & Mather Interactive, devising strategy and providing direction for clients such as American Express, General Foods and AT&T.

“I like the idea of getting in on the ground floor of new emerging technologies and playing a leading role on how it gets delivered to customers,” she said. “It’s been a common theme throughout my career.”

Considering her past accomplishments, it’s no surprise that Flynn-Ripley is popular on speaking circuits. And in 2006 she was named one of the top 50 women in technology by CableWorld magazine, and executive of the year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council.

Perhaps no one is more intimately acquainted with Flynn-Ripley’s abilities than Martin Nisenholtz, who supervised and mentored her for 10 years while he was head of Ogilvy & Mather’s interactive division. Nisenholtz is now working as senior vice president of digital operations at The Times Co.

“When I think of Meredith, I think of her great ability to execute and make things happen,” he said. “She’s one of the most reliable people I’ve ever met in that regard.”

He added, “She’s very honest, sincere, and fun to be around, yet very serious about her work. It’s a unique combination.”

Michael Greeley

Finance

Finding passion, opportunity in tech funding

THE JOB: General partner of IDG Ventures Boston
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Serves as president, New England Venture Capital Association; Founded IDG Ventures Boston in 2001; Helped launch and shape investment of telecom services in Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics

“I talk to passionate, intelligent people every day. It’s a fascinating job, an extraordinary activity.”

BY CHRISTOPHER CALNAN, Staff writer

Michael Greeley didn’t plan to become a venture capitalist. He initially studied chemistry — on a chosen path to the OR as a surgeon.

The influence of his father’s work as an investment banker, however, just may be behind a change of heart while in the Big Apple that helped shape the future founder of IDG Ventures in Boston and president of New England Venture Capital Association.

Greeley said he accepted an offer in the mid-’80s to work on Wall Street for Morgan Stanley. What initially just seemed like nothing more than an attractive one-year respite from the lab at Williams College turned into something much more profound. Greeley describes a “gratifying” Wall Street experience that transcended money and presented challenges and opportunities he just couldn’t turn down.

“It’s better than I hoped,” he says. “I talk to passionate, intelligent people every day. It’s a fascinating job, an extraordinary activity.”

Greeley, 44, was born in New York but grew up in Hong Kong. He returns often, making frequent trips to Asia on behalf of IDG investments.

Before founding IDG Ventures in 2001, he served as a partner with Waltham’s Polaris Venture Partners, where he focused on both early-stage and later-stage financing deals. Before Polaris, he served from 1994 to 2000 as founding partner and senior vice president of private equity firm GCC Investments in Chestnut Hill, managing a $200 million fund.

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Greeley was named vice president at Wasserstein Perella & Co., a New York international merchant bank with a $1 billion private equity fund.

He was also a member of the mergers and acquisitions department of Morgan Stanley & Co. from 1985 to 1987 and worked in the leveraged buyout group of Credit Suisse First Boston in 1988.

Greeley singles out a career highlight in the late 1990s, when he served as a board member of GCC Investments. At the time, GCC was working as lead investor of Virgina-based Global TeleSystems Group Inc., which helped launch and develop a variety of fixed-line and mobile telecommunications services in locations such as Russia, the Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. Greeley describes the work as special because the companies were breaking ground in areas underserved by those types of technological innovations.

“It was an extraordinary time in history to provide those services in those countries,” he said.

Greeley, an International Data Group board member, represents IDG Ventures as a board member of BlueTarp Financial Inc. in Portland, Maine; MicroCHIPS Inc. in Bedford; Predictive Biosciences Inc. in Lexington; Protein Forest Inc. in Waltham; and VidSys Inc. in Marlborough. He is also a member of the executive business advisory council for Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, and a trustee and on the investment committee of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Greeley says he’s rolled through plenty of changes in the venture capital business during the last two decades. One thing that stands out, he says, is its progression as an “industrialized” business — and no longer an insulated network of insiders.

“The VC industry is maturing, and it’s becoming more of a money-management industry,” he said. “It’s not a cottage industry anymore — it’s very competitive.”

Colin Angle

Robotics

Cleaning up at home and on the battlefield

THE JOB: iRobot Corp., Co-founder, CEO
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Co-founded iRobot Corp. in 1990; Introduced the PackBot for use by U.S. Military, and the vacuuming home robot, the Roomba in 2002; Led iRobot through successful IPO in 2005; Sponsored 30 student interns at iRobot in 2006

“We are out to change the world and build an industry. What a great thing to be able to wake up in the morning and drive to work and do.”

BY CATHERINE WILLIAMS, Staff writer

Colin Angle and Helen Greiner charged onto the robotics scene 17 years ago, just months after graduating from MIT, when this dynamic tech duo co-founded iRobot Corp.

Since then, iRobot’s robots have landed on the battlefields of Iraq and zipped along the linoleum floors of homes worldwide, bringing in revenue of $189 million last year. Angle, iRobot’s CEO, and Greiner, the company’s chairman, have led the way — delivering the company from drawing board in 1990 to Wall Street 15 years later.

The success of the company is built on iRobot’s dual focus on two markets: defense and consumer products. The Burlington-based robotics company produces bomb-detecting robots for the U.S. military while selling vacuuming and mopping robots for consumers.

In 1990, Angle and Greiner set out to make robots mainstream. Since then, they have helped launch a fledgling industry — and have made plenty of money doing it. Revenue at iRobot doubled in 2006 to $189 million, up from $95 million in 2004.

Early on, iRobot drew some funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop robots for the military. By 2002 iRobot began winning a multimillion-dollar defense contracts for its PackBot robots, including a $140 million contract with the U.S. Navy in September 2005. In fact, iRobot has been the prime contractor on more than 100 U.S. Department of Defense PackBot-related contracts, including research contracts, delivery-order contracts and purchase orders for robots, parts and repairs, according to the company.

PackBots are designed to do the dirty and dangerous work of detecting and disarming roadside improvised explosive devices by remote control. They run on a pair of tank tracks and come equipped with rugged sensors and cameras. For the home, iRobot produces colorful, home-cleaning robots that vacuum — the Roomba, and mop — the Scooba.

Bringing iRobot’s products to market is the serious and diligent work of the pair and their team of 250 engineers. Angle and Greiner led iRobot through its successful initial public offering in July 2005.

The two met in 1985 on their first day as MIT undergraduate students during a differential calculus class. They both went on to earn undergraduate degrees in engineering and master’s degrees in computer science. But their attraction to technology — and a kindred passion for building cool stuff — began years before.

For Angle, the call came early. Family lore features a story about how Angle, now 40, fixed a broken toilet after his mother read him the instruction book when he was just 3 years old.

For Greiner, 39, her love of engineering began at 11 years old, when her father brought home a Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 computer for the family in 1977. Greiner claimed it for her own after sitting for hours hacking away at it, she said.

“It was the first time I saw engineering and computers as a creative outlet,” said Greiner.

Both Angle and Greiner studied under MIT professor Rodney Brooks, who until recently had served as the director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Brooks is also a iRobot co-founder and serves as iRobot’s CTO.

For all of iRobot’s success, Angle and Greiner say failures taught them to vet plans thoroughly and foster a creative environment while steadfastly protecting the company’s intellectual property. They also describe the Massachusetts robotics industry as healthy and vibrant. Greiner said Massachusetts has outpaced other regions in robotics.

“Massachusetts is a leader, if not the leading center, of robotics in the world,” said Greiner.

And iRobot is working to make sure the industry continues to grow in the region by training young scientists. iRobot established an internship program with local universities including Worcester Polytechnic Institute; last year, the company sponsored 30 interns.

Meanwhile, Angle and Greiner are on to the next project. It will be several years before robots can load laundry, said Angle, but this month iRobot launched two new robots for the commercial market. One, known as the Looj, is designed to clean gutters. A second robot, known as the ConnectR, is built to patrol an empty house and serves as a communications tool. For example, a traveling parent is able to talk with and see their children using the ConnectR, which is equipped with a camera and a microphone.

But Greiner said she is looking forward to displaying a crushed PackBot back from Camp Victory in Iraq at the company’s new offices in Bedford. A proud marine presented the mangled machine to iRobot after the robot had served in the last of its 19 missions detecting and dismantling battlefield bombs.

“We are out to change the world and build an industry. What a great thing to be able to wake up in the morning and drive to work and do,” said Angle.

Helen Greiner

Robotics

Cleaning up at home and on the battlefield

THE JOB: iRobot Corp., Co-founder, chairman
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Co-founded iRobot Corp. in 1990; Introduced the PackBot for use by U.S. Military, and the vacuuming home robot, the Roomba in 2002; Led iRobot through successful IPO in 2005; Sponsored 30 student interns at iRobot in 2006

“Massachusetts is a leader, if not the leading center, or robotics in the world.”

BY CATHERINE WILLIAMS, Staff writer

Colin Angle and Helen Greiner charged onto the robotics scene 17 years ago, just months after graduating from MIT, when this dynamic tech duo co-founded iRobot Corp.

Since then, iRobot’s robots have landed on the battlefields of Iraq and zipped along the linoleum floors of homes worldwide, bringing in revenue of $189 million last year. Angle, iRobot’s CEO, and Greiner, the company’s chairman, have led the way — delivering the company from drawing board in 1990 to Wall Street 15 years later.

The success of the company is built on iRobot’s dual focus on two markets: defense and consumer products. The Burlington-based robotics company produces bomb-detecting robots for the U.S. military while selling vacuuming and mopping robots for consumers.

In 1990, Angle and Greiner set out to make robots mainstream. Since then, they have helped launch a fledgling industry — and have made plenty of money doing it. Revenue at iRobot doubled in 2006 to $189 million, up from $95 million in 2004.

Early on, iRobot drew some funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop robots for the military. By 2002 iRobot began winning a multimillion-dollar defense contracts for its PackBot robots, including a $140 million contract with the U.S. Navy in September 2005. In fact, iRobot has been the prime contractor on more than 100 U.S. Department of Defense PackBot-related contracts, including research contracts, delivery-order contracts and purchase orders for robots, parts and repairs, according to the company.

PackBots are designed to do the dirty and dangerous work of detecting and disarming roadside improvised explosive devices by remote control. They run on a pair of tank tracks and come equipped with rugged sensors and cameras. For the home, iRobot produces colorful, home-cleaning robots that vacuum — the Roomba, and mop — the Scooba.

Bringing iRobot’s products to market is the serious and diligent work of the pair and their team of 250 engineers. Angle and Greiner led iRobot through its successful initial public offering in July 2005.

The two met in 1985 on their first day as MIT undergraduate students during a differential calculus class. They both went on to earn undergraduate degrees in engineering and master’s degrees in computer science. But their attraction to technology — and a kindred passion for building cool stuff — began years before.

For Angle, the call came early. Family lore features a story about how Angle, now 40, fixed a broken toilet after his mother read him the instruction book when he was just 3 years old.

For Greiner, 39, her love of engineering began at 11 years old, when her father brought home a Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 computer for the family in 1977. Greiner claimed it for her own after sitting for hours hacking away at it, she said.

“It was the first time I saw engineering and computers as a creative outlet,” said Greiner.

Both Angle and Greiner studied under MIT professor Rodney Brooks, who until recently had served as the director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Brooks is also a iRobot co-founder and serves as iRobot’s CTO.

For all of iRobot’s success, Angle and Greiner say failures taught them to vet plans thoroughly and foster a creative environment while steadfastly protecting the company’s intellectual property. They also describe the Massachusetts robotics industry as healthy and vibrant. Greiner said Massachusetts has outpaced other regions in robotics.

“Massachusetts is a leader, if not the leading center, of robotics in the world,” said Greiner.

And iRobot is working to make sure the industry continues to grow in the region by training young scientists. iRobot established an internship program with local universities including Worcester Polytechnic Institute; last year, the company sponsored 30 interns.

Meanwhile, Angle and Greiner are on to the next project. It will be several years before robots can load laundry, said Angle, but this month iRobot launched two new robots for the commercial market. One, known as the Looj, is designed to clean gutters. A second robot, known as the ConnectR, is built to patrol an empty house and serves as a communications tool. For example, a traveling parent is able to talk with and see their children using the ConnectR, which is equipped with a camera and a microphone.

But Greiner said she is looking forward to displaying a crushed PackBot back from Camp Victory in Iraq at the company’s new offices in Bedford. A proud marine presented the mangled machine to iRobot after the robot had served in the last of its 19 missions detecting and dismantling battlefield bombs.

“We are out to change the world and build an industry. What a great thing to be able to wake up in the morning and drive to work and do,” said Angle.

Dev Ittycheria

Software

Schooled in software entrepreneurship

THE JOB: President, CEO and director, BladeLogic Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Co-founded Applica Corp., one of the first venture-backed application service providers; Worked as a senior vice-president at Maynard-based Breakaway Solutions Inc.; Co-founded BladeLogic Inc. in 2001, took the company public in July 2007

“Like everyone else, we were shocked at what happened. But we believed we had answers to (data center) problems that IT organizations needed to solve, so we kept going.”

BY LLOYD GRAY, Special to Mass High Tech

As a youngster attending boarding school in the town of Windsor, just outside of London, Dev Ittycheria participated in numerous sports, including soccer, cricket and rugby. Tennis, though, was his passion and he hoped to play it in college.

However, that plan met its demise when his parents strongly suggested that he focus on something they considered more practical — becoming an engineer.

That was many years ago, but the experience remains etched firmly in Ittycheria’s memory: A fact that will undoubtedly be a source of glee for his own children later.

“My parents meant well, but people do well in life when they are passionate about what they are doing,” he said. “If my children show passion for something atypical, I will tell them to go for it.”

Fortunately for Ittycheria, he went on to discover another endeavor that he would become just as passionate about. He became an entrepreneur. Today, Ittycheria, 40, is president and CEO of BladeLogic Inc., a Lexington-based developer of data-center automation software. He co-founded the company six years ago with Vijay Manwani and Vance Loiselle, and together they took it public in July, pricing its initial public offering of 5 million shares of common stock at $17 per share. As of last week, the company’s stock was trading around $29 per share, giving the company a value more than $700 million.

In an interesting twist of fate, just five days after Ittycheria and team received their first round of funding, the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, throwing the United States into chaos and significantly shrinking investor and customer prospects for companies in need of funding — including BladeLogic.

But they forged ahead, resolute in the belief they had a good business model.

“Like everyone else, we were shocked at what happened. But we believed we had answers to (data center) problems that IT organizations needed to solve, so we kept going.”

Steve Walske, former chairman and CEO of Parametric Technology Corp. and a longtime mentor to Ittycheria, said he is not surprised at his success.

“If I had to name one quality that best describes Dev, it is perseverance,” said Walske. “He took BladeLogic from a four-person startup in 2001 to one of the most promising public software companies in the marketplace today, all the while dealing with tough economic conditions, a brutal competitive environment, demanding customers and impatient investors.”

Prior to Bladelogic, Ittycheria worked as a senior vice-president at Maynard-based Breakaway Solutions Inc., where he established the company’s application service provider business. It was there that he got the inspiration for Bladelogic, he said.

Earlier in his career, Ittycheria co-founded and ran Applica Corp., one of the first venture-backed application service providers.

He also previously held senior positions in the data communications businesses of AT&T and Teleport Communications Group.

Ittycheria is married and has two small children. He splits his time between Lexington and Warren, N.J., from where BladeLogic serves the metro New York City area. He has also previously lived in India, Canada, Africa and the United Kingdom. He earned an electrical engineering degree from Rutgers University in 1989.

Yael Maguire

Hardware

Solving problems propels him forward

THE JOB: Co-founder and CTO, ThingMagic Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Received master’s degree and Ph.D. from MIT, where he studied quantum computing; Co-founded ThingMagic with fellow MIT grads; Founded nonprofit ThinkCycle to solve tech problems in developing countries

“The dot-com bubble was bursting. And we were trying to figure out a way to try and get funding for the company, but not suffer from the panic that was going on in the market.”

BY STEPHEN DESANTIS, Special to Mass High Tech

On most days Yael Maguire thinks about the normal things in life: quantum computers, biomolecular nanosensors and saving the world. These days he’s also thinking about ways to grow ThingMagic Inc., a Cambridge-based radio frequency technology company he helped launch.

“If you have him in a room and you are trying to solve a problem, you know your chances of solving it have just increased significantly,” said Tom Grant, CEO of ThingMagic.

Maguire received his undergraduate degree in engineering physics from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. From there he began his academic career at MIT, first earning a master’s degree in media arts and sciences with focus on quantum computing, and later his Ph.D. on the subject of near-field electromagnetic sensing.

Maguire credits the culture and practical experience he took part in at the MIT Media Laboratory with shaping his entrepreneurial character.

“That happened over the course of me being there. Before that I had no significant practical experience to be honest with you,” he said.

The MIT Media Lab has a unique funding model not found in many academic institutions. Much of the research dollars stem from sponsorship companies who have had a long, fruitful and collaborative relationship with the group for many years.

ThingMagic was born in a Somerville garage by the all-MIT troop of Ravi Pappu, Bernd Schoner, Rehmi Post, Matt Reynolds and Maguire — now CTO for the firm.

Starting a technology company in 2000 was a dicey move. It was right about the time of the dot-com crash and getting investors to fund new ideas, brilliant or not, was easier said than done. So, ironically enough, the company began consulting for other companies that needed help taking product ideas from environments like MIT to the marketplace.

“The dot-com bubble was bursting. And we were trying to figure out a way to try and get funding for the company, but not suffer from the panic that was going on in the market. So we actually used that consulting idea as a way to kind of bootstrap the company,” Maguire said.

ThingMagic worked on consulting projects for the first five years of its existence. Maguire said it became a profitable company from day one, which is a rare phenomenon for a small tech startup.

ThingMagic’s first product, Mercury3, was an RFID reader about the size of a pizza box. The company now has a whole slew of new products and components on its menu. Just recently it unveiled the M5e-Compact, an embeddable RFID engine for printers, handheld readers and other applications.

Maguire is also a co-founder of ThinkCycle, an academic, nonprofit organization that pulls together students, researchers and professionals to tackle some of the more challenging technology problems faced in developing nations.

“We were very interested in how to get everyone on the planet to be altruistic and try to help people who have less than them,” said Maguire. “But we wanted to do it in such a way that they could participate in a way that they didn’t feel like they were giving up anything.”

Andy Ory

Networks

Scripting a future for IP telecom

THE JOB: Co-founder, CEO, Acme Packet Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Led Acme Packet’s 2006 IPO, the region’s first since 2000; Raised more than $46 million in private funding prior to IPO; Created the session border controller market

“We thought moving IP communications from domain to domain could be disruptive enough to build a good company, but I don’t think we realized how important it could be until 2001.”

BY EFRAIN VISCAROLASAGA, Staff writer

Acme Packet Inc. co-founder and CEO Andy Ory began working seriously with computers and software in the seventh grade. By the time he entered college at Harvard University, though, he chose a different course of study: film.

Four years later, armed with a bachelor’s degree in visual and environmental studies, as well as almost 10 years of experience with computers, he had a decision to make.

“I could either move to L.A. and be a dishwasher or get a job in computers,” he said.

With that logic, Ory found himself employee No. 28 at a then-small voice-messaging company in Cambridge called Boston Technology Inc.

“They developed user interfaces for voice mail,” said Ory. “I had no idea what voice mail was then, but they said I had to be able to program computers and edit audio files, and I said ‘Hey, I can do that.’”

Fifteen months later, Boston Technology was taking off, but no longer maintained the startup feel that had kept Ory interested. In addition, his time there had introduced him to Hyannis-based Excel Switching Corp. and its founder, Bob Panoff. That introduction sowed the seeds of Ory’s first company.

“I was fascinated by Bob’s programmable switch, and I wanted to use it in a different way, so I started Priority Call Management,” he said.

Ory raised $15 million in venture funding over the next several years and grew Wilmington-based Priority Call Management Ltd., a maker of prepaid calling and messaging technologies, into a multimillion-dollar company. In 1999, the company was sold to Atlanta-based billing and customer-care software maker LHS Cos. for about $200 million.

The seeds of Acme Packet were first planted after the sale of Priority Call Management. At a 2000 meeting at a local Dunkin’ Donuts with former Boston Technology colleague Patrick MeLampy, the pair decided Internet protocol (IP) was the inevitable future of communications and shook hands on a 50-50 split of the company they would form.

“We thought moving IP communications from domain to domain could be disruptive enough to build a good company, but I don’t think we realized how important it could be until 2001, when we realized we were creating a whole new category,” he said.

Acme Packet has gone on to define and popularize the session border controller, a network element that shepherds communications from one network to another, be it carrier-to-carrier or carrier-to-enterprise. Similar types of gear have been adopted and developed by many of the major equipment makers, and Acme’s box lies in more than 420 service networks in 81 countries worldwide.

But the company has also been a vanguard in the local telecommunications industry: In 2006, Acme Packet went public in a $110 million IPO — the first telecom IPO in New England since Avici Systems Inc.’s offering in 2000. Since that time, several local networking companies have followed suit, including Chelmsford’s Airvana Inc., Burlington’s Netezza Corp. and Tewskbury’s Starent Networks Corp.

That contribution to developing the local telecommunications industry is perhaps Ory’s proudest accomplishment.

“I believe enterprise creation is very important to the notion of social responsibility, both with regard to our region and our country, and it makes me really happy to be part of that,” he said.

Amar Sawhney

Medical Devices

Plans for med-tech success have ‘gelled’

THE JOB: Co-founder, president and CEO, I-Therapeutix Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Served as CEO of Confluent Surgical until its $245 million sale to Tyco Healthcare in 2006; Factored in the creation of three medical devices companies sold for a total of more than $340 million; Formed a holding company, Inceipt LLC, that has launched five medical technology firms

“I feel pretty good about (my accomplishments), because we have pretty much pioneered this field of doing chemistry on live tissues within the body.”

BY RYAN MCBRIDE, Staff writer

A true sign that a businessman has become successful is when he spends a lot of time and money doing what is known as “giving back.” Because of a string of wins in the medical devices game, Amar Sawhney has been spending most of his recent time advising newer entrepreneurs and looking to protect wildlife sanctuaries in his native India.

Sawhney has become a role model in medical technology circles most recently for his big exit last summer with Confluent Surgical Inc., the Waltham-based maker of surgical sealants that he co-founded, ran as chief executive, and then helped sell to medical products maker Tyco Healthcare (now called Covidien Ltd., of Mansfield) for $245 million.

Wasting no time after the sale of Confluent, Sawhney and his partners formed a new company in late 2006 called I-Therapeutix Inc. The new company has developed a sealant — similar in concept to Confluent’s gel to seal wounds after brain and spinal surgeries — to apply to the eye after operations, as well as to deliver drugs.

“I feel pretty good about (my accomplishments), because we have pretty much pioneered this field of doing chemistry on live tissues within the body,” said Sawhney, 42. “It has helped patients and created value for shareholders.”

A linchpin of Sawhney’s success has been his hydrogel invention, which has served as the technological backbone for Confluent and I-Therapeutix. He and business partner Fred Khosravi control the patents for hydrogel in a holding company they own called Incept LLC.

With technology from Incept, Sawhney has played a role in the launch I-Therapeutix, Confluent, as well as Campbell, Calif.-based Embolic Protection Inc. (acquired by Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp. for more than $75 million in 2001), and Bay Area startups Access Closure Inc. and Nellix Inc. Sawhney also serves on the board of directors of Access Closure — a maker of hydrogels to seal vascular wounds — and a number of other medical technology firms.

Sawhney is also the scientific founder of a company called Focal Inc., a developer of liquid polymers for surgeries, which Cambridge-based biotechnology giant Genzyme Corp. bought in 2001.

Sawhney’s journey began in India, where he grew up and attended the ultra-selective Indian Institute of Technology. After he graduated from the New Delhi school with a degree in chemical engineering in 1984, he made the first overseas trip of his life to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed both a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering by 1992.

On top of his duties as an executive and director of several companies, Sawhney dedicates his time to volunteer work, such as his role as a mentor to new medical devices entrepreneurs through a program with the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, or MassMEDIC, as well as philanthropic endeavors.

In fact, Sawhney — who fondly remembers riding elephants and spotting rhinoceroses as a boy in India — last year launched a family foundation with more than $1 million of his own money to protect animal habitats in his native country.

Along with his desire to give back, Sawhney also remains committed to his business endeavors.

Jit Saxena

Storage

An ‘exciting’ path to data storage stardom

THE JOB: Chairman and CEO, Netezza Corp.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Launched his first startup, Applix Inc., in 1984; Applix sold to Cognos Inc. this fall for $340 million; Co-founded Netezza Corp. in 2000, providing plug-and-play data warehouse products

“I really enjoy the whole idea of building something where nothing existed, and then growing it and seeing the rewards that come with it. Not just for me but for employees, customers and shareholders.”

BY RYAN MCBRIDE, Staff writer

With a mind for engineering and a keen interest in business, Jit Saxena left India with a steadfast mission: to meld his two great passions into a successful career in the technology industry.

Now at 61, Saxena has built two thriving technology companies and has spent the last 20 years developing novel ideas into viable products. He’s CEO and chairman of Netezza Corp., a data-warehousing and analytics company Saxena took public in July.

“I really enjoy the whole idea of building something where nothing existed, and then growing it and seeing the rewards that come with it. Not just for me but for employees, customers and shareholders. That is very, very gratifying,” said Saxena.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, Saxena came to the United States to continue his education. Saxena earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, but knew he needed to expand his business education. He moved to Massachusetts to pursue his MBA at Boston University. He’s been here ever since.

After a brief tenure at Honeywell, Saxena joined Data General Corp. The move would prove to be a key moment in his career and played a huge part in shaping his entrepreneurial spirit.

In 1984, Saxena started a software company called Applix Inc. He took what he had learned from his years at Data General and combined it with his instincts for the technology market. What he saw was customer freedom.

“In those days, most of the software was written for proprietary environments. We thought open environments, software that would run on all different kinds of hardware, would be the way to go. That was the underlying basis for Applix,” he says.

Although the company transformed itself and its products several times, it eventually found its niche in analytical CRM software. The firm went public in 1994 and last year earned more than $52 million in revenue and grew to more than 200 employees. Applix was acquired by the Burlington-based software company, Cognos Inc., in September for roughly $340 million.

His success with Applix and his interest in business intelligence inspired him to launch Netezza, which he co-founded in 2000 with enterprise systems expert Foster Hinshaw.

Netezza sells high-performance data analytic software, but has opted to operate “inside-the-box” — so to speak. Joining a growing movement, the company now creates specialized appliances that combine software and hardware and can be plugged directly into any enterprise-wide IT system. The appliances can warehouse the data and perform analytics using its own computing power and software.

His company is predicting revenue for 2008 in the range of $114 million to $116 million; however for Saxena, it’s his entrepreneurial spirit and love of the challenges faced in building a company that delight him the most.

“There was nothing; just the idea,” he said. “Now it’s a public company. It’s been very exciting.”

David Vieau

Energy

Powered up by the promise of battery tech

THE JOB: President and CEO, A123Systems Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded and served as president of Poly-Flex Circuits Inc.; Served as VP of marketing at American Power Conversion Corp.; Has led the company into deals with Chevrolet, Black & Decker and Cessna Aircraft Co.

“This is much more game-changing and has more impact overall, both socially and environmentally. And it’s still the middle of the game.”

BY JAY RIZOLI, Special to Mass High Tech

David Vieau is power-hungry. So is his company. And in an overheated world scrambling for clean, renewable energy sources, that’s a good thing.

Vieau is president and CEO of A123Systems Inc., a Watertown developer of lithium-ion batteries based on technology developed at MIT. The six-year-old company set out to make a better battery, says co-founder and chief scientist Yet-Ming Chiang, and now provides a smaller, lighter, higher-power and longer-life power source for a variety of products. With Vieau in the top position, the company’s sights are set on bigger things — automotive and aviation, which weren’t even on the table at the outset of the company.

“The vision was to create an advanced battery for portable applications and transportation, and we said at the time, ‘We’re going to shake up this space,’” said Vieau, who joined A123Systems in 2002.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Vieau graduated from Syracuse University as a mechanical/aerospace engineer and, wanting to work on cryogenic systems in an aerospace environment, went first to Texas Instruments Inc., where he worked on forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems for the military. Later he worked on commercial controls before moving to product marketing and then sales of industrial automation control systems.

Vieau later founded and served as president of Poly-Flex Circuits Inc., a Rhode Island-based designer and producer of flexible circuit assemblies. But his shining moment prior to A123Systems, he says, was at another Ocean State firm, American Power Conversion Corp., which became a $1.5 billion player in power protection for PCs and information systems and employed 6,000 worldwide.

“I’ve been CEO of a couple of startups but had a really good career experience as VP of marketing at American Power Conversion, during which (time) we grew the company from $40 million to $1.5 billion in 10 years,” he said.

Around that time, MIT professor Chiang, business development vice president Ric Fulop and R&D vice president Bart Riley teamed up to build on the MIT research and commercialize the nanophosphate battery technology it employs now. Vieau, whom Riley knew through a friend, came aboard the following year as chief executive.

A123Systems worked initially on batteries for rechargeable power tools. In the ensuing years, A123Systems has put in its chairman’s seat Sycamore Networks Inc. founder Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande — whom Vieau cites as an outstanding influence — and raised $100 million in funding.

It now has signed deals to develop a variety of hybrid electric vehicle batteries and systems, including the battery cell for the Chevy Volt electric car, and with Cessna Aircraft Co. to supply batteries for its Citation fleet of aircraft.

“It’s a big step from portable electronics to power tools, and it’s another big step to automotive applications,” Chiang said.

Vieau says he can’t wait for that next step.

“What we’re doing here, I think socially has a much greater impact (than APC), but I’ll feel better when we have that kind of financial return,” he said. “This is much more game-changing and has more impact overall, both socially and environmentally. And it’s still the middle of the game.”

Bill Warner

Information Systems

Starting again after an Emmy and an Oscar

THE JOB: Founder of Warner Research LLC
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded Avid Technology Inc. in 1987; Received and Emmy for Avid’s film-editing technology in 1993; Received an Oscar for its film-editing technology in 1999

“Early stage is what I’m best at — taking an idea when it’s getting formed and turning it into something real that works.”

BY CHRISTOPHER CALNAN, Staff writer

Bill Warner has been working in the technology industry for more than 30 years — so why does he still consider himself “a starter”?

Warner, the founder of four technology companies and a winner of both an Oscar and an Emmy, says he likes to try new things — and doesn’t stay at any single place for too long. He’s working on a book, starting a new company and helping others start their own companies.

The technologist with decades of experience who is probably best known as the co-founder of Avid Technology Inc. dismisses the importance of experience and prefers to focus on what’s ahead.

“When you have a big success,” he says, “I think you’d be better off if you just forgot about it.”

Sure, general themes and principles can carry over to different situations. But he’s learned that each of his ventures has been different and said it’s foolish to apply one experience to another.

At Avid Technology, the video-editing company where he served as president from the company’s launch in 1987 until 1991. But he had already started two companies: New Jersey-based Bionic Control Corp. in 1975, and New England Handcycles in 1980, which operated in Brookline and Weston.

In 1993, Warner won an Emmy for the use of Avid’s technology in television production and won an Oscar in 1999 — career highlights he acknowledges are “hard to beat.” But the real thrill for Warner was in knowing Avid’s technology was being used on his favorite television programs such as “L.A. Law” and “NOVA.”

In 1991 he stepped down from Avid to start Lexington’s Wildfire Communications Inc., a developer of voice-recognition telephone systems that was sold in 2000. In 1999, he founded FutureBoston Inc., an educational nonprofit that builds tools and technology used in urban planning.

Warner said he likes his ideas to strike before they are technically possible to execute. He then prefers to take some time to let the idea crystallize and let technology catch up to the idea.

“I believe in working on an old idea that’s ready, as opposed to new ideas,” he said. “They need to settle in as far as how you might implement them. Start things just before it’s possible to accomplish the task.”

In 2002, Warner started in Cambridge’s Warner Research LLC, a software development firm that also operates a collaborative workspace for entrepreneurs.

He said the most difficult part of being an entrepreneur is resisting other people’s insistence of staying with one project. His longest period was with Avid, where he remained as a board member until 2005, completing an 18-year tenure that’s unlike any other.

“People kind of want you to stay,” he said. But “if you’re a starter, you start things. If you stay, you’re not starting.”

So Warner, now 52, is looking to launch a software company that is in the “napkin stage” — something he sounds very comfortable with.

“Early stage is what I’m best at,” he said. “Taking an idea when it’s getting formed and turning it into something real that works.”

Christoph Westphal

Information Systems

Thriving on the thrill of life sciences startups

THE JOB: CEO, vice chairman, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded three public biotech companies valued at a total of $2 billion; Finished his Ph.D. in genetics and an M.D. from Harvard in six years; Led Sirtris Pharmaceuticals through a $69 million IPO in May

“I think the most exciting thing is that if we are right, we are going to change health care.”

BY RYAN MCBRIDE, Staff writer

Christoph Westphal is one of the few biotechnology executives who is able to say he has thrown from the pitcher’s mound at Fenway Park.

But Westphal, unlike ace Josh Beckett, was at the home of the Boston Red Sox this summer to throw the opening pitch as the chief executive of Cambridge’s Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. — which he has built from a biotech startup into a sizzling public company in about three years.

Westphal led Sirtris through a $69 million initial public offering in May, and the stock has already traded at about 80 percent more than the opening price since then.

“I think we’re the best performing biotech IPO to date,” he said.

Westphal, 39, has now founded and served as CEO for three Massachusetts biotechs — including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. — that have completed IPOs. He has done all this and more since he launched a career in the life sciences industry nine years ago.

Westphal, who speaks English, German, French and Spanish, learned survival skills during his extensive travels that would eventually prepare him for life as a biotech executive. In fact, he escaped from Ndjamena, the capital of Central African country Chad, the day the city fell to rebels in 1991, he said.

“I think it’s not a bad preparation for raising money from venture capitalists and running a public company,” says a knowing Westphal.

His academic training took place at Ivy League institutions. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science from Columbia University in 1990 and later spent 1992 through 1998 completing his Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School — a speed not equalled by many.

Though trained as a scientist and physician, Westphal knew during his studies at Harvard he wanted to work in biotech.

“I always was very much more excited about science and technology” than practicing medicine, he said. “The more I learned about it, the more interested I was in taking discoveries and turning them into drugs.”

After Harvard, Westphal spent two years at McKinsey & Co. as a life sciences consultant. He then left his consulting gig to work for Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham. While at Polaris between 2000 and 2004, he became the founding CEO of Momenta, Alnylam and Sirtris.

He left Polaris — and has said jokingly that he took a pay cut — three years ago to be the full-time chief executive of Sirtris.

Lately, he is excited about the potential of the small-molecule drugs under development at Sirtris to treat diseases of aging such as diabetes. The firm’s experimental drugs activate enzymes known as sirtuins, which have been found to mimic the benefits of restricted calorie intake without an increase in exercise in change in diet.

“I think the most exciting thing is that if we are right,” he said, “we are going to change health care.”

Elizabeth Wilson

Information Systems

Listening to the challenges in defense tech

THE JOB: Senior engineering fellow, Raytheon Co.
THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Names Raytheon Co. engineering fellow in 2004, Raytheon’s highest technical position; Executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, 2001-2002; Won Third Millennium Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2000

“My epitaph should read ‘She accepts a challenge faster than an invitation.’ When somebody says it can’t be done, I’m all over it.”

BY CATHERINE WILLIAMS, Staff writer

As Elizabeth Wilson huddled with her two sisters on the floor, watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon in 1969, one thought crossed her mind: “Is it easier to go to the moon than to make me a hearing aid?”

At that moment Wilson, who was born with partial hearing loss, decided to become a scientist.

“I’ve had a lot of people in my life tell me I can’t do something. I’ve had a lot more people who said, ‘Sure you can.’ Those are the people I listened to,” said Wilson, who now serves as an engineering fellow at defense giant Raytheon Co..

In Wilson’s 20-year technology career, she has lent her technical expertise to countless projects, including a ballistic missile defense system and a radar system designed to track planes that haul illegal drugs across U.S. borders.

In 2004, Wilson, now 46, was named a research fellow, Raytheon’s highest technical position. There are 250 engineering fellows at Raytheon Integrated Defense System’s Tewksbury site, which employs 6,600 engineers.

Since then, Wilson has worked as a lead on a radar project for the development of the U.S. Navy’s new destroyer, known as the DDG 1000-class, or Zumwalt class. The destoyers — being built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine — are the latest arsenal in the U.S. Navy’s fleet, and are named after Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. Raytheon’s Tewksbury unit, where Wilson is based, won a billion-dollar contract last month for a project to develop acoustic-sensor, network and radar systems for the ships.

For eight months in 2003, Wilson lived on the island of Shemya, at the tip of the Aleutian island chain in Alaska, working on a radar project. It was the most “character building” trip of her life, she said. She flew to the island as human cargo on a C-130 jet. When she arrived she found out quickly the island was cold, isolated and pummeled by winds of up to 60 mph. One of her proudest moments was when that radar system was switched on.

“There is a tremendous amount of satisfaction when something you design comes to fruition,” said Wilson.

Wilson earned three degrees in electrical engineering: a doctoral degree from the University of Rhode Island, a master’s degree from Brown University and a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York, Buffalo.

Giving back to aspiring engineers is also part of Wilson’s routine: She mentors as many as six junior Raytheon engineers at a time.

Wilson also lobbies for causes on behalf of the deaf, including infant-screening programs for hearing loss. What’s more, Wilson recently aided a co-worker who collapsed at work after suffering a Bell’s palsy attack, said Dan Smith, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

“Beth is not only a great engineer, but she is a wonderful human being,” said Smith.

Wilson said her drive to solve problems has propelled her career.

“My epitaph should read, ’She accepts a challenge faster than an invitation,’” said Wilson. “When somebody says it can’t be done, I’m all over it.”