Colonel Anthony Basile lends his extensive experience from his 31 years of military service, advising on issues related to aviation, safety, crisis management, and media relations. Since retiring, Colonel Basile currently serves as V.P. of Operations for Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance, Inc. (NUAIR), a non-profit corporation leading a coalition of New York and Massachusetts aerospace industry and academic institutions, working together to establish a site for the testing and certification of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the training of their operators.

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Somak Chattopadhyay has been operating and investing in early-stage startups in New York State and other emerging venture regions since 1999. Before launching ASV in 2014, he was a partner at Tribeca Venture Partners (formerly Greenhill SAVP, “Tribeca”), where he was instrumental in nearly every investment of its first fund and helped launch its second fund. As a venture capitalist at Edison Ventures, Somak sourced and evaluated investments in the tech-enabled service sectors, managed deal flow referral networks and identified emerging growth companies in under-venture-invested regions across the Northeast.

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Andrew Carter is the co-founder and CTO of ResilienX, a startup founded to address in-time system-wide safety assurance (ISSA) of complex system of systems. Mr. Carter has been involved with integrating drones into the US NAS since 2007 as the software architect of the US Army’s Ground Based Sense and Avoid system, which was certified by the FAA for routine BVLOS drone operations in 2016. Mr. Carter has led UTM programs in NY and Ohio and was the RTCA SC-228 architecture working group co-lead.

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Craig Marcinkowski is the Director of Strategy for Saab, Inc. Prior to Saab, Marcinkowski worked as the Senior VP of Business Development for Fotokite, a GENIUS NY grand prize winner. Fotokite combines aerial and ground-based robotics with flight control algorithms to create a kite-like tethered aerial camera system that can fly fully autonomously for over 24 hours. Marcinkowski has nearly two decades of experience in the defense and aerospace industry, including software engineering, capture and program management, and domestic and international business development.

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David Montanaro is a leading expert in the telecommunications and data networking industries with extensive knowledge in the convergence of voice, data, video and wireless solutions in managed, hosted and cloud computing environments. He is the Founder and CEO of Strategic Advisory Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in helping companies with progressive growth. And he’s a Founding Member and Angel Investor with the Seed capital Fund of Central New York, as well as an Advisory Board Member of 3Pound Health. David built a career in developing, restructuring and turning around high-growth technology businesses.

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Prior to his 4 years as GENIUS NY Director, Parry worked with a diverse portfolio of renewable energy & sustainable technologies. Beginning his career with a biomass gasification startup, he has implemented distributed energy systems in Europe & North America working as a project manager in Spremberg, Germany & Newry, Ireland. Parry then joined an innovative sustainable materials company, Ecovative Design, in 2013 as business development manager to commercialize Ecovatives mycelium based technology platform in various product markets including packaging, building materials, & insulation.

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Dr. Emad Rahim serves as the Surge Entrepreneurship Manager at The Tech Garden and the Kotouc Family Endowed Professor at Bellevue University. The Syracuse Surge Accelerator is a one-year in-person accelerator to provide direct resources and support for Black-Indigenous-Persons of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs who want to launch and accelerate tech-related and tech-adjacent startups. Dr. Rahim is an Equity Partner at Ztudium (intelligentHQ.com), co-founder of Inclusive 360 LLC and was the former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Oklahoma State University.

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Prior to joining Upstate Capital, Simons was a partner at TD Growth Capital based in Shanghai, China. Her investment work included worldwide technology sourcing, market analysis and diligence on deals both inside and outside of China. Before joining that firm, she was interim CEO at Norton Motorcycles in Portland, Oregon and built and launched the digital archive housed at the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Simons is Co-founder and manager of the Hudson Valley Startup Fund, a member-managed seed capital fund investing in companies with high growth potential.

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Marc Viggiano is the CEO and Founder of Niteopark and a Member of the Board of Directors at SRC Ventures, Inc. Marc has over 35 years of experience in the design and development of advanced sensor and communication systems including ground, air and space-based radar, air traffic control equipment, medical instrumentation, automatic ID equipment and communication-based train control systems, and holds multiple patents in these areas.

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