OKLAHOMA’S ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
WINTER 2013
Innovators & Entrepreneurs
MEDENCENTIVE:
THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS U.S.
LAND OF OPPORTUNITY
Ardmore Development Authority uses location as key marketing element
SPINOUTS WANTED
Proof of Concept Center to help move technologies from lab to marketplace
INSIDE 4-7 i&E Up & Coming Profiles
We’re Proud to Help
Check out eight of Oklahoma’s emerging companies that are bringing innovative new products to the marketplace.
The Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s major economic development support organization. We are a collaborative non-profit organization whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development – through business recruitment, business expansion, start-up and quality improvement activities. Comprised of over 170 top Oklahoma corporations and business organizations, the Roundtable assists our state’s business and government leaders, Department of Commerce, and key economic development groups. Roundtable members also network with key business prospects and site location consultants.
We invite you to join us in our efforts! Contact us today.
Bryan Gonterman Roundtable Chairman AT&T – Oklahoma
During the past 21 years, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state and national business promotion activities resulting in millions of dollars of corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. The group also funds efforts to enhance our workforce and entrepreneur pipeline – such as sponsorship of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition, The Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation, the Oklahoma Bio Association and more. Oklahoma is a great state for business. Our members are committed to growth and diversification of our state’s economy. We believe that the best is yet to come.
8-11 Cover Story
MedEncentive aims to make health care affordable for America with its innovative, evidence-based cost containment platform.
12-14 Outreach
It’s location, location, location for Ardmore Development Authority in its recruiting of new businesses to the area.
15-16 Proof of Concept Center
An innovative cross-state collaboration promises to hasten the pace of new technologies spinning out of university labs.
17-19 Success Story
Selexys Pharmaceuticals takes a giant step forward when it closed a $25 million investment round that will carry its sickle cell drug through Phase 2 clinical trials.
20 New Leadership
Scott Meacham is bringing a vision for i2E that draws on his experience in the banking industry to connect more Oklahoma entrepreneurs to our services and funding sources.
24 Partners
Oklahoma Business Roundtable 900 N. Stiles Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 405-235-3787
www.okbusinessroundtable.com
innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 800-337-6822. © Copyright 2013 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.
INSIDE 4-7 i&E Up & Coming Profiles
We’re Proud to Help
Check out eight of Oklahoma’s emerging companies that are bringing innovative new products to the marketplace.
The Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s major economic development support organization. We are a collaborative non-profit organization whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development – through business recruitment, business expansion, start-up and quality improvement activities. Comprised of over 170 top Oklahoma corporations and business organizations, the Roundtable assists our state’s business and government leaders, Department of Commerce, and key economic development groups. Roundtable members also network with key business prospects and site location consultants.
We invite you to join us in our efforts! Contact us today.
Bryan Gonterman Roundtable Chairman AT&T – Oklahoma
During the past 21 years, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state and national business promotion activities resulting in millions of dollars of corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. The group also funds efforts to enhance our workforce and entrepreneur pipeline – such as sponsorship of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition, The Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation, the Oklahoma Bio Association and more. Oklahoma is a great state for business. Our members are committed to growth and diversification of our state’s economy. We believe that the best is yet to come.
8-11 Cover Story
MedEncentive aims to make health care affordable for America with its innovative, evidence-based cost containment platform.
12-14 Outreach
It’s location, location, location for Ardmore Development Authority in its recruiting of new businesses to the area.
15-16 Proof of Concept Center
An innovative cross-state collaboration promises to hasten the pace of new technologies spinning out of university labs.
17-19 Success Story
Selexys Pharmaceuticals takes a giant step forward when it closed a $25 million investment round that will carry its sickle cell drug through Phase 2 clinical trials.
20 New Leadership
Scott Meacham is bringing a vision for i2E that draws on his experience in the banking industry to connect more Oklahoma entrepreneurs to our services and funding sources.
24 Partners
Oklahoma Business Roundtable 900 N. Stiles Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 405-235-3787
www.okbusinessroundtable.com
innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 800-337-6822. © Copyright 2013 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.
ABOUT i2E Walk through the doors at i2E’s Oklahoma City and Tulsa offices and among the first things you notice are the large colorful posters lining the walls. The posters showcase a broad spectrum of companies that i2E has helped bring innovative new products to the marketplace over the years. i2E, Inc., grows successful Oklahoma companies that add jobs and create wealth for all of Oklahoma. Some of the i2E clients contribute to the success of other businesses through Internet-based software; some add convenience to life for consumers with the development of an easy to use smart phone app; still others are world changing new medical devices or drug therapies for genetic diseases. i2E’s relationships with Oklahoma innovators often begin when a concept is nothing more than an idea in the mind of an entrepreneur. i2E’s venture advisors help entrepreneurs research the market to see what competitors they may face and who their potential customers are. They work with them to create compelling business plans, develop marketing and financing plans and, when necessary, help them locate executives such as a CEO, CFO or a Marketing Director to round out the senior staffing for their new organization. The relationships often continue long after client companies have generated millions of dollars in revenue and hired hundreds of people. i2E administers various investment funds that make critical early stage and start-up investments in dozens of small businesses each year. The not-for-profit company manages five state- and federally- appropriated investment funds as well as the SeedStep Angel group, which provides angel investments for new ventures and has grown to more than 30 members in just three years of existence. i2E’s commitment to building Oklahoma’s economy through successful small businesses also includes an entrepreneurial development program that annually reaches hundreds of Oklahoma college students. Each year, nearly 200 aspiring entrepreneurs from college campuses across the state compete for more than $200,000 in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. They learn to research the market, write a business plan, create a presentation and then pitch it before a panel of Oklahoma business and civic leaders. Many go on to work at Oklahoma entrepreneurial businesses or start up their own companies. i2E also contributes to the ongoing education of Oklahoma students with its i2E Fellows program, which pays Oklahoma college students a stipend for 10 weeks of working on exciting projects specifically designed for their skill sets at an Oklahoma City or Tulsa area startup company. Walk through the doors at i2E’s Oklahoma City or Tulsa offices and introduce yourself to the team. Take a long look at the posters lining the walls, consult with the venture advisors and then change the world with your own idea for a new company.
i2E TEAM The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Roy Williams, Chairman Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Howard Barnett, Jr. OSU-Tulsa and OSU-CHS
Leslie Batchelor The Center for Economic Development Law David Thomison Robert Brearton Vice President, Investments American Fidelity Assurance Company Rex Smitherman C. James Bode Vice President, Operations Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. Sarah Seagraves Bill W. Burgess Vice President, Marketing Vortex, Inc. Tom Francis Michael Carolina Director, Investment Funds OCAST Josh O’Brien Bob Craine Director of Entrepreneurial TSF Capital, LLC Development Steve Cropper David Daviee Director, Finance Carl Edwards Price Edward & Company Elaine Hamm Venture Advisor Philip Eller Eller Detrich, P.C. Shintaro Kaido Venture Advisor Jim Fram Tulsa Regional Chamber Mark Lauinger Venture Advisor Suzette Hatfield Crawley Ventures Richard Rainey Venture Advisor Philip Kurtz Benefit Informatics Sonja Wilson CFO-In-Residence Hershel Lamirand III Casey Harness Oklahoma Health Center Foundation Business Analyst Scott Meacham President and CEO
Kenneth Knoll Manager, Concept Investments
Merl Lindstrom Phillip 66
Scott Meacham Scott Thomas Crowe & Dunlevy IT Manager Fred Morgan Grady Epperly The State Chamber Marketing Manager David Myers Michael Kindrat-Pratt Ponca City Development Authority Coordinator, SeedStep Angels David Pitts Jay Sheldon Stillwater National Bank eMedia Specialist Mark Poole Jim Stafford Summit Bank Communications Specialist Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist Cindy Williams Investment Assistant Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant Kate Nelson Administrative Assistant
Stephen Prescott OMRF Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing Darryl Schmidt BancFirst
Wes Stucky Ardmore Industrial Development Authority Richard Williamson TD Williamson, Inc. Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC
www.i2E.org facebook.com/OKGOVCUP twitter.com/i2E_Inc
Don Wood Norman Economic Development Coalition
Welcome Letter from the President Longtime readers of this publication no doubt have noticed a leadership change in this edition by the photo and name at the bottom of this welcome letter. i2E has been making a difference for Oklahoma small businesses since 1998, and I am excited to join the team as of January 1. In a few short weeks, I have already seen some exciting new concepts and met several of the entrepreneurs who are working to create jobs and wealth for Oklahoma. Let me highlight several that are featured in this magazine. One of those is Oklahoma City’s MedEncentive. The company recently launched its patented, Web-based medical cost containment platform nationwide and signed its first large preferred provider organization as a client in Seattlebased First Choice Health. I invite you to turn to page 8 and learn why MedEncentive founder and CEO Jeff Greene says his company has the answer to the nation’s dilemma of runaway health care costs. Another company that has made big news in the past few months was Oklahoma City-based Selexys Pharmaceuticals. The company announced in September that it had closed on a $25 million investment round and a $665 million acquisition of the company pending successful Phase 2 trial of its therapeutic for Sickle Cell Disease. Read more on page 17 about how Selexys has advanced this groundbreaking drug over the past decade. This edition of i&E magazine also contains a special Up-and-Coming section on some of Oklahoma’s most promising startups. Beginning on page 4, we take a brief peek at 12 of tomorrow’s success stories while they are still in the early stages of their development. Oklahoma entrepreneurs are building businesses around everything from smart phone apps to nanomedicine to water filtering, and this is an early look at some of them. Another recent development: the launch of the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center, which is a multi-partner collaboration created to increase the number of spinouts from technology breakthroughs on the campuses of Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. Find out what the collaborators envision for the Center beginning on page 15.
Without question, another Oklahoma success story is that of the Ardmore Development Authority and the city that benefits from its innovative economic development efforts. Led by long-time President Wes Stucky, the Ardmore Development Authority has helped recruit and maintain businesses large and small to Ardmore. Successes include the Michelin North America tire manufacturing plant, as well as Amethyst Research Inc., which is an R&D company that’s developed new and more efficient ways to manufacture low light equipment used by military and law enforcement officials. Beginning on Page 12, Stucky talks about how the Development Authority has built successful marketing efforts around Ardmore’s strategic location midway between Oklahoma City and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Finally, this edition of i&E magazine contains a short feature that speaks to why I chose to join the i2E team and my goals for the company as an economic development force for Oklahoma. You will find the story on page 20. i2E is not standing still. It has implemented new programs, expanded old ones and added to the team. The best is still to come. – Scott Meacham
ABOUT i2E Walk through the doors at i2E’s Oklahoma City and Tulsa offices and among the first things you notice are the large colorful posters lining the walls. The posters showcase a broad spectrum of companies that i2E has helped bring innovative new products to the marketplace over the years. i2E, Inc., grows successful Oklahoma companies that add jobs and create wealth for all of Oklahoma. Some of the i2E clients contribute to the success of other businesses through Internet-based software; some add convenience to life for consumers with the development of an easy to use smart phone app; still others are world changing new medical devices or drug therapies for genetic diseases. i2E’s relationships with Oklahoma innovators often begin when a concept is nothing more than an idea in the mind of an entrepreneur. i2E’s venture advisors help entrepreneurs research the market to see what competitors they may face and who their potential customers are. They work with them to create compelling business plans, develop marketing and financing plans and, when necessary, help them locate executives such as a CEO, CFO or a Marketing Director to round out the senior staffing for their new organization. The relationships often continue long after client companies have generated millions of dollars in revenue and hired hundreds of people. i2E administers various investment funds that make critical early stage and start-up investments in dozens of small businesses each year. The not-for-profit company manages five state- and federally- appropriated investment funds as well as the SeedStep Angel group, which provides angel investments for new ventures and has grown to more than 30 members in just three years of existence. i2E’s commitment to building Oklahoma’s economy through successful small businesses also includes an entrepreneurial development program that annually reaches hundreds of Oklahoma college students. Each year, nearly 200 aspiring entrepreneurs from college campuses across the state compete for more than $200,000 in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. They learn to research the market, write a business plan, create a presentation and then pitch it before a panel of Oklahoma business and civic leaders. Many go on to work at Oklahoma entrepreneurial businesses or start up their own companies. i2E also contributes to the ongoing education of Oklahoma students with its i2E Fellows program, which pays Oklahoma college students a stipend for 10 weeks of working on exciting projects specifically designed for their skill sets at an Oklahoma City or Tulsa area startup company. Walk through the doors at i2E’s Oklahoma City or Tulsa offices and introduce yourself to the team. Take a long look at the posters lining the walls, consult with the venture advisors and then change the world with your own idea for a new company.
i2E TEAM The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Roy Williams, Chairman Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Howard Barnett, Jr. OSU-Tulsa and OSU-CHS
Leslie Batchelor The Center for Economic Development Law David Thomison Robert Brearton Vice President, Investments American Fidelity Assurance Company Rex Smitherman C. James Bode Vice President, Operations Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. Sarah Seagraves Bill W. Burgess Vice President, Marketing Vortex, Inc. Tom Francis Michael Carolina Director, Investment Funds OCAST Josh O’Brien Bob Craine Director of Entrepreneurial TSF Capital, LLC Development Steve Cropper David Daviee Director, Finance Carl Edwards Price Edward & Company Elaine Hamm Venture Advisor Philip Eller Eller Detrich, P.C. Shintaro Kaido Venture Advisor Jim Fram Tulsa Regional Chamber Mark Lauinger Venture Advisor Suzette Hatfield Crawley Ventures Richard Rainey Venture Advisor Philip Kurtz Benefit Informatics Sonja Wilson CFO-In-Residence Hershel Lamirand III Casey Harness Oklahoma Health Center Foundation Business Analyst Scott Meacham President and CEO
Kenneth Knoll Manager, Concept Investments
Merl Lindstrom Phillip 66
Scott Meacham Scott Thomas Crowe & Dunlevy IT Manager Fred Morgan Grady Epperly The State Chamber Marketing Manager David Myers Michael Kindrat-Pratt Ponca City Development Authority Coordinator, SeedStep Angels David Pitts Jay Sheldon Stillwater National Bank eMedia Specialist Mark Poole Jim Stafford Summit Bank Communications Specialist Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist Cindy Williams Investment Assistant Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant Kate Nelson Administrative Assistant
Stephen Prescott OMRF Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing Darryl Schmidt BancFirst
Wes Stucky Ardmore Industrial Development Authority Richard Williamson TD Williamson, Inc. Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC
www.i2E.org facebook.com/OKGOVCUP twitter.com/i2E_Inc
Don Wood Norman Economic Development Coalition
Welcome Letter from the President Longtime readers of this publication no doubt have noticed a leadership change in this edition by the photo and name at the bottom of this welcome letter. i2E has been making a difference for Oklahoma small businesses since 1998, and I am excited to join the team as of January 1. In a few short weeks, I have already seen some exciting new concepts and met several of the entrepreneurs who are working to create jobs and wealth for Oklahoma. Let me highlight several that are featured in this magazine. One of those is Oklahoma City’s MedEncentive. The company recently launched its patented, Web-based medical cost containment platform nationwide and signed its first large preferred provider organization as a client in Seattlebased First Choice Health. I invite you to turn to page 8 and learn why MedEncentive founder and CEO Jeff Greene says his company has the answer to the nation’s dilemma of runaway health care costs. Another company that has made big news in the past few months was Oklahoma City-based Selexys Pharmaceuticals. The company announced in September that it had closed on a $25 million investment round and a $665 million acquisition of the company pending successful Phase 2 trial of its therapeutic for Sickle Cell Disease. Read more on page 17 about how Selexys has advanced this groundbreaking drug over the past decade. This edition of i&E magazine also contains a special Up-and-Coming section on some of Oklahoma’s most promising startups. Beginning on page 4, we take a brief peek at 12 of tomorrow’s success stories while they are still in the early stages of their development. Oklahoma entrepreneurs are building businesses around everything from smart phone apps to nanomedicine to water filtering, and this is an early look at some of them. Another recent development: the launch of the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center, which is a multi-partner collaboration created to increase the number of spinouts from technology breakthroughs on the campuses of Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. Find out what the collaborators envision for the Center beginning on page 15.
Without question, another Oklahoma success story is that of the Ardmore Development Authority and the city that benefits from its innovative economic development efforts. Led by long-time President Wes Stucky, the Ardmore Development Authority has helped recruit and maintain businesses large and small to Ardmore. Successes include the Michelin North America tire manufacturing plant, as well as Amethyst Research Inc., which is an R&D company that’s developed new and more efficient ways to manufacture low light equipment used by military and law enforcement officials. Beginning on Page 12, Stucky talks about how the Development Authority has built successful marketing efforts around Ardmore’s strategic location midway between Oklahoma City and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Finally, this edition of i&E magazine contains a short feature that speaks to why I chose to join the i2E team and my goals for the company as an economic development force for Oklahoma. You will find the story on page 20. i2E is not standing still. It has implemented new programs, expanded old ones and added to the team. The best is still to come. – Scott Meacham
Up and Coming
Buzzam
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software Market: Buzzam created a smart phone app that appeals to millions of users who seek a listening experience built around their interests in music, news and the activities of their lives. Buzzam is a personalized radio station – an “ExactCast” as opposed to broadcast – that combines listeners’ music and interests to build a custom listening experience. Users choose from a variety of sources for news, social network feeds, music and personal interests to create the personalized listening experience. www.buzz.am
CleanNG
Location: Tulsa, OK Industry: Energy Market: CleanNG produces high capacity compressed natural gas storage tanks for retrofitters and original manufacturers of CNG-powered vehicles in the United States. With a mission to improve the safety and efficiency of natural gas vehicles, CleanNG has developed a next-generation, high-pressure vessel for storage of natural gas. CleanNG’s novel manufacturing process and design allows the fuel storage container to be operated at 5,800 pounds per square inch, a 50 percent increase over the current industry standard. The added capacity allows natural gas vehicles to travel farther between each fill, while increasing overall fuel economy by reducing the size and weight of tanks. www.gocleanng.com
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Coare Biotech
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Coare Biotech is developing therapeutics to treat certain cancers such as pancreatic cancer, which has a high mortality rate among the 37,000 people diagnosed annually. Despite improvement in surgical strategies and chemotherapy regimens, there continues to be a high mortality rate for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Coare Biotech seeks to improve those mortality statistics using proprietary technology that kills cancer cells by using nano-particles to deliver drugs to the target cell. www.coarebiotechnology.com
Get Charitable
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software/fundraising Market: When users of the almost 500 million Android smart phones around the world install the free Get Charitable app on their phone, they will feed one child in a Third World company every day. The Get Charitable mobile app displays a sponsored advertisement as the Android phone’s wallpaper, with a portion of the revenue generated from participating advertisers feeding hungry children around the world through the Hunger Relief International organization. www.getcharitable.com GETCHARITABLE
Goldfire Studios
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software Market: GoldFire Studios is developing a Web-based social gaming platform that connects gaming players all over the world. Goldfire Studios launched the GoldFire Network in March 2012, advancing its goal of creating a social gaming platform where a community of gamers and true social interactions are the focus. It recently released CasinoRPG, which joins PokerRPG and BC Wars as the company’s flagship games within the GoldFire Studios network and aims to become a platform for other game developers to distribute their games and reach new players.
Great Plains Microbiology
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Bio Pharma Market: Great Plains Microbiology is a food safety laboratory implementing new methodology that will decrease the cost of food safety testing for all food producers. Founder Cyrus Zegrati has taken a molecular protein assessment process originally used in diagnostic testing for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, and developed innovative new tests for food safety. The process allows for detection of multiple pathogens in one test, making food safety testing affordable for even the smallest of manufacturers.
www.goldfirestudios.com
Winter 2013 i&E
5
Up and Coming
Buzzam
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software Market: Buzzam created a smart phone app that appeals to millions of users who seek a listening experience built around their interests in music, news and the activities of their lives. Buzzam is a personalized radio station – an “ExactCast” as opposed to broadcast – that combines listeners’ music and interests to build a custom listening experience. Users choose from a variety of sources for news, social network feeds, music and personal interests to create the personalized listening experience. www.buzz.am
CleanNG
Location: Tulsa, OK Industry: Energy Market: CleanNG produces high capacity compressed natural gas storage tanks for retrofitters and original manufacturers of CNG-powered vehicles in the United States. With a mission to improve the safety and efficiency of natural gas vehicles, CleanNG has developed a next-generation, high-pressure vessel for storage of natural gas. CleanNG’s novel manufacturing process and design allows the fuel storage container to be operated at 5,800 pounds per square inch, a 50 percent increase over the current industry standard. The added capacity allows natural gas vehicles to travel farther between each fill, while increasing overall fuel economy by reducing the size and weight of tanks. www.gocleanng.com
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Coare Biotech
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Coare Biotech is developing therapeutics to treat certain cancers such as pancreatic cancer, which has a high mortality rate among the 37,000 people diagnosed annually. Despite improvement in surgical strategies and chemotherapy regimens, there continues to be a high mortality rate for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Coare Biotech seeks to improve those mortality statistics using proprietary technology that kills cancer cells by using nano-particles to deliver drugs to the target cell. www.coarebiotechnology.com
Get Charitable
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software/fundraising Market: When users of the almost 500 million Android smart phones around the world install the free Get Charitable app on their phone, they will feed one child in a Third World company every day. The Get Charitable mobile app displays a sponsored advertisement as the Android phone’s wallpaper, with a portion of the revenue generated from participating advertisers feeding hungry children around the world through the Hunger Relief International organization. www.getcharitable.com GETCHARITABLE
Goldfire Studios
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software Market: GoldFire Studios is developing a Web-based social gaming platform that connects gaming players all over the world. Goldfire Studios launched the GoldFire Network in March 2012, advancing its goal of creating a social gaming platform where a community of gamers and true social interactions are the focus. It recently released CasinoRPG, which joins PokerRPG and BC Wars as the company’s flagship games within the GoldFire Studios network and aims to become a platform for other game developers to distribute their games and reach new players.
Great Plains Microbiology
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Bio Pharma Market: Great Plains Microbiology is a food safety laboratory implementing new methodology that will decrease the cost of food safety testing for all food producers. Founder Cyrus Zegrati has taken a molecular protein assessment process originally used in diagnostic testing for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, and developed innovative new tests for food safety. The process allows for detection of multiple pathogens in one test, making food safety testing affordable for even the smallest of manufacturers.
www.goldfirestudios.com
Winter 2013 i&E
5
Up and Coming
MesoBio Inc.
Location: Stillwater, OK Industry: Life sciences/ biomedical research Market: MesoBio provides microRNA expression vectors that are used in bio-medical, genetic, immunological and cancer research. MesoBio offers the most comprehensive and accurate microRNA expression vectors. Meso Bio’s products can greatly enhance the efficiency and productivity of therapeutics research across multiple areas, including cancers, stem cell, neuroscience and cardiovascular research. www.mesobio.com
Nanomed Targeting Systems
Location: Edmond, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Nanomed Targeting Systems is developing a drug delivery method using magnetically charged nanoparticles for patients suffering from a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Using propriety technology licensed from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and BBMS, LTD, an Israeli company, Nanomed is developing a way to attach drugs to magnetized nanoparticles and guide them magnetically to targeted tissue inside the human body. www.nanomed-systems.com
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Nantiox
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Nantiox is developing an antioxidant nanotechnology compound for the $20 billion ophthalmic market that will help millions of people suffering from age-related vision loss to regain their sight. Using technology developed at the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Ophthalmology research labs at the Dean McGee Eye Institute, Nantiox takes an innovative approach to treating disease by using nanomedicines to target serious sight-related diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Narrable
Location: Tulsa, OK Industry: Software/Information Technology Market: Narrable has created a social photo sharing platform that allows families, teams or other groups to share their experiences and stories in ways that go beyond mere photos and text. Founder and “chief storyteller” Dustin Curzon envisions Narrable as an online site on which people can easily add depth, context and perspective to their photos. Narrable.com users, along with their family members and friends, can add voice commentary to share the memories behind the photos.
RaiseMore
ScaleReef, LLC
RaiseMore’s smart phone application combines GPS interactive mapping technology and social networking that allows participants in fundraisers such as Race for the Cure to display their progress, post pictures and receive donations in real time from social network followers.
Scalereef markets a proven technology that solves the previously unanswered problem of scale buildup from mineral residue in both industrial and residential water filtration systems. Scale buildup is a major cause of downtime and repair costs for dishwashers, hot water tanks and other equipment.
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software/fundraising Market: RaiseMore empowers organizations, volunteers and fundraisers to socially broadcast their fundraising events with a goal of raising awareness, donations and enhancing the experience.
Location: Stillwater, OK Industry: Manufacturing Market: Scalereef provides hardwater scale prevention and reduction technology to restaurants, sport stadiums and arenas, entertainment parks and thousands of other venues worldwide.
www.raisemore.com
www.narrable.com
Winter 2013 i&E
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Up and Coming
MesoBio Inc.
Location: Stillwater, OK Industry: Life sciences/ biomedical research Market: MesoBio provides microRNA expression vectors that are used in bio-medical, genetic, immunological and cancer research. MesoBio offers the most comprehensive and accurate microRNA expression vectors. Meso Bio’s products can greatly enhance the efficiency and productivity of therapeutics research across multiple areas, including cancers, stem cell, neuroscience and cardiovascular research. www.mesobio.com
Nanomed Targeting Systems
Location: Edmond, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Nanomed Targeting Systems is developing a drug delivery method using magnetically charged nanoparticles for patients suffering from a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Using propriety technology licensed from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and BBMS, LTD, an Israeli company, Nanomed is developing a way to attach drugs to magnetized nanoparticles and guide them magnetically to targeted tissue inside the human body. www.nanomed-systems.com
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Nantiox
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Biotechnology Market: Nantiox is developing an antioxidant nanotechnology compound for the $20 billion ophthalmic market that will help millions of people suffering from age-related vision loss to regain their sight. Using technology developed at the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Ophthalmology research labs at the Dean McGee Eye Institute, Nantiox takes an innovative approach to treating disease by using nanomedicines to target serious sight-related diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Narrable
Location: Tulsa, OK Industry: Software/Information Technology Market: Narrable has created a social photo sharing platform that allows families, teams or other groups to share their experiences and stories in ways that go beyond mere photos and text. Founder and “chief storyteller” Dustin Curzon envisions Narrable as an online site on which people can easily add depth, context and perspective to their photos. Narrable.com users, along with their family members and friends, can add voice commentary to share the memories behind the photos.
RaiseMore
ScaleReef, LLC
RaiseMore’s smart phone application combines GPS interactive mapping technology and social networking that allows participants in fundraisers such as Race for the Cure to display their progress, post pictures and receive donations in real time from social network followers.
Scalereef markets a proven technology that solves the previously unanswered problem of scale buildup from mineral residue in both industrial and residential water filtration systems. Scale buildup is a major cause of downtime and repair costs for dishwashers, hot water tanks and other equipment.
Location: Oklahoma City, OK Industry: Software/fundraising Market: RaiseMore empowers organizations, volunteers and fundraisers to socially broadcast their fundraising events with a goal of raising awareness, donations and enhancing the experience.
Location: Stillwater, OK Industry: Manufacturing Market: Scalereef provides hardwater scale prevention and reduction technology to restaurants, sport stadiums and arenas, entertainment parks and thousands of other venues worldwide.
www.raisemore.com
www.narrable.com
Winter 2013 i&E
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TREATING THE NATION’S BROKEN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
T
here is a hint of evangelist in the voice of Jeff Greene as he describes an issue that has stirred a national debate and vexed policy makers, health care providers and insurers. It’s the affordability of health care for Americans. “The facts are that we have a huge problem that threatens to bankrupt our country,” says Greene, founder and CEO of Oklahoma City’s MedEncentive. “And if you look at why employers or small businesses don’t add jobs or why people don’t go out and become entrepreneurs, it’s because they are scared to death that they will go bankrupt over the health care benefit they know they have to have, and that’s a big drag on the economy.” MedEncentive was created eight years ago to provide a solution to what appears to many people to be an overwhelming, unsolvable problem. “We can make health care affordable,” he says. “And the way we make health care affordable is by tapping into the doctor-patient relationship by means of intelligent incentives that inspire both parties to hold the other accountable for their health behaviors and performance.” Once upon a time, Greene was Chief Executive Officer at CompOne Services, an Oklahoma City-based physicians billing and practice management company. From his position at CompOne, Greene saw doctors’ share of the health care revenue stream decline as costs soared for patients and payers. As
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For the past seven years, the MedEncentive “tool” has been tested in several real-world trial installations located in three states – Oklahoma, Kansas and Washington -- covering between 12,000 and 15,000 people. The company has prospects from coast to coast and recently added customers in Pennsylvania. “We have a very focused business strategy,” Greene said. “The company has been in proof-of-concept since inception in 2005. We wanted to first prove to ourselves that our system worked. We knew we then had to get independent validation, and we knew an independent examiner would want years of data, preferably in multiple trial installations. So we realized it was going to take time to aggregate the data. We also wanted to protect our intellectual property, and method patents take time.” Now MedEncentive has the data, the patent and the independent validation. Studies conducted by the University of Kansas School of Medicine on two MedEncentive trials and a separate analysis by The Loomis Group, a Pennsylvania-based health plan administrator, confirmed the effectiveness of MedEncentive’s program. In effect, the findings of these studies were very similar. When MedEncentive is introduced to a population, patients and their doctors participating in the program increase health literacy, improve medication adherence, and reduce hospitalizations. The reduction in hospitalizations and other factors produced enough cost savings to generate significant returns on investment for each of the health plan sponsors over multiple years.
a self-insured business owner, these soaring costs were a real and present threat to his company’s viability and his personal livelihood. Greene conceived MedEncentive as the answer. It is a patented, Web-based cost containment platform that uses evidence-based guidelines for physicians, information therapy for patients and an incentive system that rewards both doctors and patients for holding each other accountable for adhering to the prescribed treatments or for offering an appropriate reason for non-adherence. Greene calls it “doctor-patient mutual accountability.” Doctors follow treatment guidelines. Patients educate themselves about their health and follow the prescribed treatment. And both parties agree to allow the other party to confirm their adherence or reason for non-adherence to the performance standard. When MedEncentive authenticates these activities through its website, it initiates financial rewards funded by the health plan sponsor for one or both parties. In addition to the financial rewards paid by the health plan sponsor, that includes health insurers, employers and governments; plan sponsors also pay a monthly fee to MedEncentive of roughly $3 per enrolled plan member per month. Plan sponsors fund these program costs with the expectation that the program will produce healthcare savings that exceed the cost of the program. Winter 2013 i&E
9
TREATING THE NATION’S BROKEN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
T
here is a hint of evangelist in the voice of Jeff Greene as he describes an issue that has stirred a national debate and vexed policy makers, health care providers and insurers. It’s the affordability of health care for Americans. “The facts are that we have a huge problem that threatens to bankrupt our country,” says Greene, founder and CEO of Oklahoma City’s MedEncentive. “And if you look at why employers or small businesses don’t add jobs or why people don’t go out and become entrepreneurs, it’s because they are scared to death that they will go bankrupt over the health care benefit they know they have to have, and that’s a big drag on the economy.” MedEncentive was created eight years ago to provide a solution to what appears to many people to be an overwhelming, unsolvable problem. “We can make health care affordable,” he says. “And the way we make health care affordable is by tapping into the doctor-patient relationship by means of intelligent incentives that inspire both parties to hold the other accountable for their health behaviors and performance.” Once upon a time, Greene was Chief Executive Officer at CompOne Services, an Oklahoma City-based physicians billing and practice management company. From his position at CompOne, Greene saw doctors’ share of the health care revenue stream decline as costs soared for patients and payers. As
8
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Winter 2013
For the past seven years, the MedEncentive “tool” has been tested in several real-world trial installations located in three states – Oklahoma, Kansas and Washington -- covering between 12,000 and 15,000 people. The company has prospects from coast to coast and recently added customers in Pennsylvania. “We have a very focused business strategy,” Greene said. “The company has been in proof-of-concept since inception in 2005. We wanted to first prove to ourselves that our system worked. We knew we then had to get independent validation, and we knew an independent examiner would want years of data, preferably in multiple trial installations. So we realized it was going to take time to aggregate the data. We also wanted to protect our intellectual property, and method patents take time.” Now MedEncentive has the data, the patent and the independent validation. Studies conducted by the University of Kansas School of Medicine on two MedEncentive trials and a separate analysis by The Loomis Group, a Pennsylvania-based health plan administrator, confirmed the effectiveness of MedEncentive’s program. In effect, the findings of these studies were very similar. When MedEncentive is introduced to a population, patients and their doctors participating in the program increase health literacy, improve medication adherence, and reduce hospitalizations. The reduction in hospitalizations and other factors produced enough cost savings to generate significant returns on investment for each of the health plan sponsors over multiple years.
a self-insured business owner, these soaring costs were a real and present threat to his company’s viability and his personal livelihood. Greene conceived MedEncentive as the answer. It is a patented, Web-based cost containment platform that uses evidence-based guidelines for physicians, information therapy for patients and an incentive system that rewards both doctors and patients for holding each other accountable for adhering to the prescribed treatments or for offering an appropriate reason for non-adherence. Greene calls it “doctor-patient mutual accountability.” Doctors follow treatment guidelines. Patients educate themselves about their health and follow the prescribed treatment. And both parties agree to allow the other party to confirm their adherence or reason for non-adherence to the performance standard. When MedEncentive authenticates these activities through its website, it initiates financial rewards funded by the health plan sponsor for one or both parties. In addition to the financial rewards paid by the health plan sponsor, that includes health insurers, employers and governments; plan sponsors also pay a monthly fee to MedEncentive of roughly $3 per enrolled plan member per month. Plan sponsors fund these program costs with the expectation that the program will produce healthcare savings that exceed the cost of the program. Winter 2013 i&E
9
We believe that this platform, this program, is the basis by which we can provide quality healthcare coverage for everyone while preventing our country from going bankrupt in the process. In the wake of those studies, two of the nation’s top 10 reinsurance providers – IHC Risk Solutions and Chartis (AIG) Insurance – have announced that they will offer discounts on medical stop-loss coverage to self-insured employers that adopt the MedEncentive program. Reinsurers provide “stop loss” insurance coverage for employers who want to protect themselves against catastrophic employee health care costs that could bankrupt the company. Institutionalized stop-loss discounts by the reinsurance industry for a wellness, care management or incentive service like MedEncentive is unprecedented. “Employers that integrate the MedEncentive Program with their employee health benefit plan are taking the right steps to control their health care costs,” said Chip Studer, Zonal Vice President for Chartis Accident & Health Corporate Benefit Sales, now AIG Benefit Solutions. “The Program’s ability to engage both doctors and patients, interactively, reduces an employer’s exposure to high cost claims, which allows us to discount premiums.”
David Kettig, Chief Operating Officer of The IHC Group, echoed his counterpart’s words. “IHC prides itself on finding the most effective cost-containment innovations in the market,” Kettig said. “We believe that employers that integrate the MedEncentive Program into their employee health benefit plans will be taking the right steps to controlling their health care costs.” Momentum continues to build for MedEncentive. Greene anticipates other large reinsurers to offer discounts for adopting the MedEncentive system. Then new customers will climb aboard. 10
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“When the reinsurance industry puts their money where their mouth is and says that ‘we will discount your premium if you adopt this program, and that’s what this program was designed to do, I don’t know what more I could say,” Greene said. “That is the manifestation of seven years of trial and error, of independent studies that now have reached this stage. We are very proud of that, and it is going to manifest itself into big commercialization.” There is more momentum on the development front. The company announced in May that Cecily M. Hall, the former Director of Employee Benefits for the Microsoft Corp., has joined MedEncentive as Executive Vice President. Hall spent 18 years at Microsoft and was responsible for managing more than 65 benefit plans and programs, serving 140,000 employees and family members. “We met at a conference in Washington, D.C.” Greene said. “Sat at the same table. She asked me who I was and I asked her who she was. And I described what I did and she had the ‘a-ha!’ moment. She eventually left Microsoft and was seeking a career change in small startups like ours. She’s quite a talent and highly regarded in lots of places.” In early October, MedEncentive announced that it had signed its first large prefered provider organization, Seattle-based First Choice Health, which is including the MedEncentive program in health coverage for all of its own employees. In January, MedEncentive and one of the nation’s largest re-insurers, Sun Life Financial Inc., announced a deal in which Sun Life’s Employee Benefits Group will offer a discount to its stop-loss customers who use the MedEncentive Program. Greene has taken the MedEncentive story across the nation, recruiting thought leaders and influencers such as academic researchers, economists, corporate executives, trade associations, physicians and physician groups. “We’ve grown in the number of influencers who understand us and what our tool is about,” Greene said. “We’ve spent a good bit of time educating folks who will help us grow the business in places like Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. We have what we call MedEncentive Champions within some of the largest corporation in the United States.” Growth is imminent. Two new senior level executives in sales and operations are being recruited. A large financing round is in the process of closing. Then what? “We have five employees today and envision hundreds, if not many hundreds in the future,” Greene said. “I would say we will achieve success when we are counting percentage of the market that’s covered by our program.” “We like to think that everybody ought to have the MedEncentive benefit attached to their health care coverage,” he said. “Ultimately, we envision that to be the case. We believe that this platform, this program, is the basis by which we can provide quality healthcare coverage for everyone while preventing our country from going bankrupt in the process.” The evangelist in him is rolling now. And so is MedEncentive.
Jeff Greene describes Oklahoma City-based MedEncentive as a patented one-of-a-kind incentive system designed to accomplish what healthcare policy experts are now referring to as Triple Aim – better health, better health care and lower health care costs. MedEncentive has independent validation that its system actually accomplishes the Triple Aim. Here are some questions and answers with the MedEncentive founder and CEO about the company and its patented “evidencebased” approach to achieving the Triple Aim.
Q: How does it all work? A: We contract with
health plans sponsored by employers and health insurers to offer financial rewards to both doctors and patients when they declare or demonstrate adherence to performance standards that we present on our website, provided – and this is the key – that the doctor and the patient agree to allow the other party to confirm or acknowledge their adherence. The types of performance standards that can be adapted to our program are limitless, but begin with “evidence-based medicine” (EBM) treatment guidelines and “information therapy.” Physicians are compensated by our health plan customers when the doctors declare adherence on our website to these EBM guidelines and prescribe information therapy to educate and motivate their patients with each office visit. Patients are financially rewarded for responding to the information therapy prescriptions by accessing our website to learn how to self-manage their health and declare their adherence to what they learn. The kicker is that both doctors and patients must agree to allow the other party to confirm or acknowledge each other’s adherence to the EBM recommendations. This approach creates “checks and balances” between the doctor and the patient that we call “mutual accountability” – and this is what leads to better health, better healthcare and lower costs. In the process, our program aligns or “triangulates” the interests of the patient, the physician and the health plan in a win-win-win arrangement.
Q: And the results show that it works? A: Yes. What we’ve been able
to offer through this platform is a tri-lateral motivation system that encourages adherence to better health and health care while promoting health literacy, all of which translates into significant cost containment and a real return on investment for employers and insurers. More specifically, independent experts such the University of Kansas School of Medicine and The Loomis Company have discovered that by advancing health literacy and tapping into the motivational factors inherent to the doctor-patient relationship, our program produces a fairly significant uptick in medication adherence. This translates into a rather dramatic drop in hospitalizations. Other benefits include such things as a reduction in defensive medicine (doctors ordering unnecessary tests), which accounts for a fairly significant percentage of total dollars spent.
Q: What if a doctor disagrees with a treatment guideline or determines that a guideline doesn’t fit a patient’s particular circumstances? A: Because our program uses
the concept of triangulation to align the interests of doctors, patients and health plans; we are able to offer an “anti-cookbook” medicine feature that not only allows but encourages doctors to deviate from a guideline anytime they determine the guideline is inaccurate, out-of-date or doesn’t fit a patient’s particular circumstances. The triangulation occurs when the health plan, represented through our program, stipulates that the doctor communicate the reason for non-adherence to his/her patient through a convenient menu of reasons offered on our website, and agree to allow the patient to judge with his/her reason for non-adherence. The doctors love this feature because they are compensated for using their clinical judgment regarding best practices. This concept works in the other direction as well in a manner that allows patients to explain reasons for nonadherence to their doctors that can be useful in finding treatment alternatives that will work.
Q: Can you talk about what patents you own on the MedEncentive process? A: Our U.S. patent was ap-
proved last year and we have another U.S. patent pending. Then we have international patents pending in Europe, Canada and Australia. It’s a method patent and involves seven or eight components that are combined in a fashion that procures the elusive Triple Aim outcome. The components include a doctor and a patient and a payer. Then you have an intermediary that manages the three-way contract among these key stakeholders with a database and a set of web-based applications. You have financial rewards and performance standards. And then, last but not least, you have the method that combines these components into a system.
Winter 2013 i&E
11
We believe that this platform, this program, is the basis by which we can provide quality healthcare coverage for everyone while preventing our country from going bankrupt in the process. In the wake of those studies, two of the nation’s top 10 reinsurance providers – IHC Risk Solutions and Chartis (AIG) Insurance – have announced that they will offer discounts on medical stop-loss coverage to self-insured employers that adopt the MedEncentive program. Reinsurers provide “stop loss” insurance coverage for employers who want to protect themselves against catastrophic employee health care costs that could bankrupt the company. Institutionalized stop-loss discounts by the reinsurance industry for a wellness, care management or incentive service like MedEncentive is unprecedented. “Employers that integrate the MedEncentive Program with their employee health benefit plan are taking the right steps to control their health care costs,” said Chip Studer, Zonal Vice President for Chartis Accident & Health Corporate Benefit Sales, now AIG Benefit Solutions. “The Program’s ability to engage both doctors and patients, interactively, reduces an employer’s exposure to high cost claims, which allows us to discount premiums.”
David Kettig, Chief Operating Officer of The IHC Group, echoed his counterpart’s words. “IHC prides itself on finding the most effective cost-containment innovations in the market,” Kettig said. “We believe that employers that integrate the MedEncentive Program into their employee health benefit plans will be taking the right steps to controlling their health care costs.” Momentum continues to build for MedEncentive. Greene anticipates other large reinsurers to offer discounts for adopting the MedEncentive system. Then new customers will climb aboard. 10
i&E
Winter 2013
“When the reinsurance industry puts their money where their mouth is and says that ‘we will discount your premium if you adopt this program, and that’s what this program was designed to do, I don’t know what more I could say,” Greene said. “That is the manifestation of seven years of trial and error, of independent studies that now have reached this stage. We are very proud of that, and it is going to manifest itself into big commercialization.” There is more momentum on the development front. The company announced in May that Cecily M. Hall, the former Director of Employee Benefits for the Microsoft Corp., has joined MedEncentive as Executive Vice President. Hall spent 18 years at Microsoft and was responsible for managing more than 65 benefit plans and programs, serving 140,000 employees and family members. “We met at a conference in Washington, D.C.” Greene said. “Sat at the same table. She asked me who I was and I asked her who she was. And I described what I did and she had the ‘a-ha!’ moment. She eventually left Microsoft and was seeking a career change in small startups like ours. She’s quite a talent and highly regarded in lots of places.” In early October, MedEncentive announced that it had signed its first large prefered provider organization, Seattle-based First Choice Health, which is including the MedEncentive program in health coverage for all of its own employees. In January, MedEncentive and one of the nation’s largest re-insurers, Sun Life Financial Inc., announced a deal in which Sun Life’s Employee Benefits Group will offer a discount to its stop-loss customers who use the MedEncentive Program. Greene has taken the MedEncentive story across the nation, recruiting thought leaders and influencers such as academic researchers, economists, corporate executives, trade associations, physicians and physician groups. “We’ve grown in the number of influencers who understand us and what our tool is about,” Greene said. “We’ve spent a good bit of time educating folks who will help us grow the business in places like Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. We have what we call MedEncentive Champions within some of the largest corporation in the United States.” Growth is imminent. Two new senior level executives in sales and operations are being recruited. A large financing round is in the process of closing. Then what? “We have five employees today and envision hundreds, if not many hundreds in the future,” Greene said. “I would say we will achieve success when we are counting percentage of the market that’s covered by our program.” “We like to think that everybody ought to have the MedEncentive benefit attached to their health care coverage,” he said. “Ultimately, we envision that to be the case. We believe that this platform, this program, is the basis by which we can provide quality healthcare coverage for everyone while preventing our country from going bankrupt in the process.” The evangelist in him is rolling now. And so is MedEncentive.
Jeff Greene describes Oklahoma City-based MedEncentive as a patented one-of-a-kind incentive system designed to accomplish what healthcare policy experts are now referring to as Triple Aim – better health, better health care and lower health care costs. MedEncentive has independent validation that its system actually accomplishes the Triple Aim. Here are some questions and answers with the MedEncentive founder and CEO about the company and its patented “evidencebased” approach to achieving the Triple Aim.
Q: How does it all work? A: We contract with
health plans sponsored by employers and health insurers to offer financial rewards to both doctors and patients when they declare or demonstrate adherence to performance standards that we present on our website, provided – and this is the key – that the doctor and the patient agree to allow the other party to confirm or acknowledge their adherence. The types of performance standards that can be adapted to our program are limitless, but begin with “evidence-based medicine” (EBM) treatment guidelines and “information therapy.” Physicians are compensated by our health plan customers when the doctors declare adherence on our website to these EBM guidelines and prescribe information therapy to educate and motivate their patients with each office visit. Patients are financially rewarded for responding to the information therapy prescriptions by accessing our website to learn how to self-manage their health and declare their adherence to what they learn. The kicker is that both doctors and patients must agree to allow the other party to confirm or acknowledge each other’s adherence to the EBM recommendations. This approach creates “checks and balances” between the doctor and the patient that we call “mutual accountability” – and this is what leads to better health, better healthcare and lower costs. In the process, our program aligns or “triangulates” the interests of the patient, the physician and the health plan in a win-win-win arrangement.
Q: And the results show that it works? A: Yes. What we’ve been able
to offer through this platform is a tri-lateral motivation system that encourages adherence to better health and health care while promoting health literacy, all of which translates into significant cost containment and a real return on investment for employers and insurers. More specifically, independent experts such the University of Kansas School of Medicine and The Loomis Company have discovered that by advancing health literacy and tapping into the motivational factors inherent to the doctor-patient relationship, our program produces a fairly significant uptick in medication adherence. This translates into a rather dramatic drop in hospitalizations. Other benefits include such things as a reduction in defensive medicine (doctors ordering unnecessary tests), which accounts for a fairly significant percentage of total dollars spent.
Q: What if a doctor disagrees with a treatment guideline or determines that a guideline doesn’t fit a patient’s particular circumstances? A: Because our program uses
the concept of triangulation to align the interests of doctors, patients and health plans; we are able to offer an “anti-cookbook” medicine feature that not only allows but encourages doctors to deviate from a guideline anytime they determine the guideline is inaccurate, out-of-date or doesn’t fit a patient’s particular circumstances. The triangulation occurs when the health plan, represented through our program, stipulates that the doctor communicate the reason for non-adherence to his/her patient through a convenient menu of reasons offered on our website, and agree to allow the patient to judge with his/her reason for non-adherence. The doctors love this feature because they are compensated for using their clinical judgment regarding best practices. This concept works in the other direction as well in a manner that allows patients to explain reasons for nonadherence to their doctors that can be useful in finding treatment alternatives that will work.
Q: Can you talk about what patents you own on the MedEncentive process? A: Our U.S. patent was ap-
proved last year and we have another U.S. patent pending. Then we have international patents pending in Europe, Canada and Australia. It’s a method patent and involves seven or eight components that are combined in a fashion that procures the elusive Triple Aim outcome. The components include a doctor and a patient and a payer. Then you have an intermediary that manages the three-way contract among these key stakeholders with a database and a set of web-based applications. You have financial rewards and performance standards. And then, last but not least, you have the method that combines these components into a system.
Winter 2013 i&E
11
Location, Location, Location
Ardmore attracts new businesses with innovative marketing strategy
T
he rattling of paper is unmistakable as a large scroll is unrolled onto a drafting table at the Ardmore Development Authority. The scroll contains plans for an ambitious railroad project the Authority is undertaking near the Ardmore Airport. Wes Stucky, president of the Development Authority and three sister organizations, urges a visitor to step closer to the table to see the drawing as he leans over it and points to an area of the paper. Stucky shows plans for a rail spur and large loading/unloading area along a 360-degree loop. “This is a $20 million rail project we are working on,” Stucky says as his finger makes a large circle above an area of the draft paper. “We will bring the track down here in this area of the park and we have this loop coming around.” It’s obvious that Ardmore’s longtime economic development leader is excited about the economic potential that the rail spur would bring to the area of southern Oklahoma. His finger traces the large circle of the rail loop and then back to where it would connect with the main BNSF rail line. The rail loop will cover 700 acres. An adjacent 490 acres owned by Development Authority makes the whole area ripe for industrial development. “There are only a few places in the country where you can do this, where we are going to have trans-load facilities to ship from truck to rail and rail to truck,” Stucky says. “We are also bringing in pipelines where you will have oil coming down to here and then going into the cars. That’s quite a project.” The rail project is the latest of a long list of projects the Development Authority has developed in Stucky’s 25-year tenure in Ar-
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dmore. A native of Kansas, he worked in economic development in his home state and Baton Rouge, La., before he was recruited to Ardmore a quarter century ago. In addition to his role with the Development Authority, Stucky also is President of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce, the Ardmore Tourism Authority and the Ardmore Community Foundation. Located about 90 miles south of Oklahoma City along I-35 in Carter County, Ardmore boasts a population of 27,000 and a trade area of 85,000. In recent years it has emerged as a choice location for national distribution centers, small technology startups and large manufacturing operations such as the Michelin North America tire product plant located there. Framed and mounted on a wall in Stucky’s office is a USA Today article from a few years ago that hailed Ardmore as a national role model for economic development. “Ardmore is the land of opportunity, laying midway between Dallas and Oklahoma Cty, which has been a great asset for us,” Stucky said. “It’s one that a lot of people have seen as an advantage, and we constantly market to that theme.” Stucky is proud of Ardmore’s big successes like that of the Michelin tire plant, which has expanded while others across the nation have closed. He also highlighted the role that small businesses have played in the area’s development. “We’re doing a lot of work with entrepreneurial companies,” Stucky said. “A recent story in Site Selection magazine talked about Ardmore as a location for technology companies.” A prime example is Amethyst Research Inc. (ARI), which was founded as an Ardmore company to develop technology that improves the chips used in night vision goggles and other low-light equipment. An i2E client company, Winter 2013 i&E
13
Location, Location, Location
Ardmore attracts new businesses with innovative marketing strategy
T
he rattling of paper is unmistakable as a large scroll is unrolled onto a drafting table at the Ardmore Development Authority. The scroll contains plans for an ambitious railroad project the Authority is undertaking near the Ardmore Airport. Wes Stucky, president of the Development Authority and three sister organizations, urges a visitor to step closer to the table to see the drawing as he leans over it and points to an area of the paper. Stucky shows plans for a rail spur and large loading/unloading area along a 360-degree loop. “This is a $20 million rail project we are working on,” Stucky says as his finger makes a large circle above an area of the draft paper. “We will bring the track down here in this area of the park and we have this loop coming around.” It’s obvious that Ardmore’s longtime economic development leader is excited about the economic potential that the rail spur would bring to the area of southern Oklahoma. His finger traces the large circle of the rail loop and then back to where it would connect with the main BNSF rail line. The rail loop will cover 700 acres. An adjacent 490 acres owned by Development Authority makes the whole area ripe for industrial development. “There are only a few places in the country where you can do this, where we are going to have trans-load facilities to ship from truck to rail and rail to truck,” Stucky says. “We are also bringing in pipelines where you will have oil coming down to here and then going into the cars. That’s quite a project.” The rail project is the latest of a long list of projects the Development Authority has developed in Stucky’s 25-year tenure in Ar-
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dmore. A native of Kansas, he worked in economic development in his home state and Baton Rouge, La., before he was recruited to Ardmore a quarter century ago. In addition to his role with the Development Authority, Stucky also is President of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce, the Ardmore Tourism Authority and the Ardmore Community Foundation. Located about 90 miles south of Oklahoma City along I-35 in Carter County, Ardmore boasts a population of 27,000 and a trade area of 85,000. In recent years it has emerged as a choice location for national distribution centers, small technology startups and large manufacturing operations such as the Michelin North America tire product plant located there. Framed and mounted on a wall in Stucky’s office is a USA Today article from a few years ago that hailed Ardmore as a national role model for economic development. “Ardmore is the land of opportunity, laying midway between Dallas and Oklahoma Cty, which has been a great asset for us,” Stucky said. “It’s one that a lot of people have seen as an advantage, and we constantly market to that theme.” Stucky is proud of Ardmore’s big successes like that of the Michelin tire plant, which has expanded while others across the nation have closed. He also highlighted the role that small businesses have played in the area’s development. “We’re doing a lot of work with entrepreneurial companies,” Stucky said. “A recent story in Site Selection magazine talked about Ardmore as a location for technology companies.” A prime example is Amethyst Research Inc. (ARI), which was founded as an Ardmore company to develop technology that improves the chips used in night vision goggles and other low-light equipment. An i2E client company, Winter 2013 i&E
13
Wes Stucky helped organized the Ardmore chapter of the SeedStep Angels, which expanded the group to its first location outside the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas.
ARI has grown to 15 employees, many of them Ph.D.s involved in R&D that has greatly improved the success of the lowlight chip-making process. “It’s very gratifying to see the entrepreneurial growth and spinoffs from that company,” Stucky said. “There are also other companies that were attracted here because of ARI.” Another entrepreneurial company that started in Ardmore before being sold to the 3M Cos. and eventually relocated, was a dental implant business called IMTEC started in 1990 by a pair of local dentists.
The long-time President of the Ardmore Development Authority drew on past experience with Angel investors to help create the local chapter of the SeedStep Angels. “I started an Angel group 27 years ago in Baton Rouge, La., and saw what it could do” he said. “I’ve been impressed with what i2E has done with the Angel groups. Ardmore obviously has a small base and limited deal flow, but we do have investors here. Many of those are from the energy industry, but they are looking at different kinds of investments through the SeedStep Angels.” Formed in January 2012 with six charter members, the SeedStep Angels group already has been presented with six opportunities, which brought investment in two companies by Ardmore Angels. Stucky also has enjoyed a long tenure on the i2E Board of Directors, providing him with an insider’s view of the company’s role in economic development across Oklahoma. “I’ve seen i2E grow over the years significantly,” he said. “It’s a very impressive organization, and it’s an honor for me to be able to serve on the board. I think i2E has great potential for really changing the landscape in Oklahoma for technology companies. We have success and we’ll see more and more success down the road.” 14
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Ardmore is also home to the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, a not-for-profit agriculture institute renowned for its research into plant biology. The Noble Foundation employs 400 people, including more than 100 Ph.D. scientists who represent 22 countries. The Ardmore Development Authority has built four industrial parks and created its own incentive plan to lure new businesses to the community. It offers cash incentive to locate in Ardmore for entrepreneurial companies that have won a federal Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grant and have been asked to apply for larger Phase 2 awards. “Our incentives are geared primarily toward entrepreneurial companies,” Stucky said. “By growing entrepreneurial companies you are really developing good, quality jobs, high paying jobs.” The Development Authority has also invested in expensive, high tech equipment for use by small businesses that need access to the technology but could not afford to buy it. The strategy was developed to expand Ardmore’s economic base from agriculture and energy to include a more
diverse “industry” portion. “Somebody asked me one time what kind of industry do you want?’” Stucky said. “I said ‘one of everything.’ It’s not necessarily a bunch of one thing. I would rather have 10 industries that employ 10 people each than one industry that employs 100 because that broadens your base and protects you against downturns.” At the same time, we want to develop clusters of industry.” Stucky turned back to his drafting table and the ambitious plans for the Ardmore rail spur. He points to lines representing the 9,000 foot-long Ardmore Airport runway capable of handling commercial aircraft as large as Boeing 747s. That leads to discussion of yet another ambitious project. Plans are in the works for a project to fly 747s filled with livestock from Ardmore directly to Eastern Europe Whether it’s a rail spur, planes loaded with beef cattle, a regional cancer center, a convention center, a Best Buy distribution center or cash incentives for entrepreneurial companies, Stucky savors the freedom working in a smaller community provides. “You can’t find many organizations like ours that have done the things that we have done,” Stucky said. “We sat around the table in this office and worked up the figures for Best Buy in a half day. I gave them a guaranteed price for a building that we would build. That is difficult, if not impossible to do in metropolitan communities. ” “That’s why I’ve stayed for 25 years,” he said. “It’s fun.” With that, Wes Stucky turned back to the drafting table one more time and talked about the economic benefits he envisions from the $20 million rail spur. It’s a vision that’s helped grow Ardmore and all of southern Oklahoma.
SPINOUTS WANTED
Proof of Concept Center: Oklahoma’s new innovation ‘team’
T
he next promising technology developed on the campus of an Oklahoma research university faces some big hurdles before making it out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Even after the scientist discloses the invention to the university and the patent process has begun, a daunting series of questions must be answered. Is the concept scalable for production? Is there a market for the technology? How will capital be obtained to build a working prototype that can be put in to the hands of potential customers? A new regional collaboration has been established to answer those questions and more. The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center was created by a Memorandum of Agreement between i2E, the University of Oklahoma’s Office of Technology Development, Oklahoma State University’s Technology Development Center and Cowboy Technologies, LLC. With support from OCAST, the unique regional partnership will draw on expertise from all members to take promising technology’s developed at OU and OSU and put them on a fast track toward commercialization. i2E’s venture advisory and investment teams will work in conjunction with technology commercialization staffs at each
university to assess the best potential market, create a technology road map and determine the amount of funding the project will require to hit the developmental milestones. i2E Venture Advisor Elaine Hamm, Ph.D., will coordinate the project for the partnership. Prior to joining the i2E team, Dr. Hamm was a director at the OU Office of Technology Development and has spent many years helping to commercialize university technologies. “University technology transfer offices have an incredibly difficult job, and the Proof of Concept Center is designed to complement and assist their efforts,” Dr. Hamm said. “The Center will take technologies that the universities have determined to be high priority, early stage inventions and help nurture their commercial development.” For example, an engineer at one of the universities might disclose a prototype for a new medical device. The Proof of Concept Center will help determine key industry-based decision points that would reduce the risk for commercializing the technology. By identifying a well-structured roadmap that is aligned with regulatory, hospital, physician and patient needs, and by leveraging industry experts and access to capital, the Proof of Concept Center can help turn a promising technology into a productive and viable venture. Winter 2013 i&E
15
Wes Stucky helped organized the Ardmore chapter of the SeedStep Angels, which expanded the group to its first location outside the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas.
ARI has grown to 15 employees, many of them Ph.D.s involved in R&D that has greatly improved the success of the lowlight chip-making process. “It’s very gratifying to see the entrepreneurial growth and spinoffs from that company,” Stucky said. “There are also other companies that were attracted here because of ARI.” Another entrepreneurial company that started in Ardmore before being sold to the 3M Cos. and eventually relocated, was a dental implant business called IMTEC started in 1990 by a pair of local dentists.
The long-time President of the Ardmore Development Authority drew on past experience with Angel investors to help create the local chapter of the SeedStep Angels. “I started an Angel group 27 years ago in Baton Rouge, La., and saw what it could do” he said. “I’ve been impressed with what i2E has done with the Angel groups. Ardmore obviously has a small base and limited deal flow, but we do have investors here. Many of those are from the energy industry, but they are looking at different kinds of investments through the SeedStep Angels.” Formed in January 2012 with six charter members, the SeedStep Angels group already has been presented with six opportunities, which brought investment in two companies by Ardmore Angels. Stucky also has enjoyed a long tenure on the i2E Board of Directors, providing him with an insider’s view of the company’s role in economic development across Oklahoma. “I’ve seen i2E grow over the years significantly,” he said. “It’s a very impressive organization, and it’s an honor for me to be able to serve on the board. I think i2E has great potential for really changing the landscape in Oklahoma for technology companies. We have success and we’ll see more and more success down the road.” 14
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Ardmore is also home to the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, a not-for-profit agriculture institute renowned for its research into plant biology. The Noble Foundation employs 400 people, including more than 100 Ph.D. scientists who represent 22 countries. The Ardmore Development Authority has built four industrial parks and created its own incentive plan to lure new businesses to the community. It offers cash incentive to locate in Ardmore for entrepreneurial companies that have won a federal Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grant and have been asked to apply for larger Phase 2 awards. “Our incentives are geared primarily toward entrepreneurial companies,” Stucky said. “By growing entrepreneurial companies you are really developing good, quality jobs, high paying jobs.” The Development Authority has also invested in expensive, high tech equipment for use by small businesses that need access to the technology but could not afford to buy it. The strategy was developed to expand Ardmore’s economic base from agriculture and energy to include a more
diverse “industry” portion. “Somebody asked me one time what kind of industry do you want?’” Stucky said. “I said ‘one of everything.’ It’s not necessarily a bunch of one thing. I would rather have 10 industries that employ 10 people each than one industry that employs 100 because that broadens your base and protects you against downturns.” At the same time, we want to develop clusters of industry.” Stucky turned back to his drafting table and the ambitious plans for the Ardmore rail spur. He points to lines representing the 9,000 foot-long Ardmore Airport runway capable of handling commercial aircraft as large as Boeing 747s. That leads to discussion of yet another ambitious project. Plans are in the works for a project to fly 747s filled with livestock from Ardmore directly to Eastern Europe Whether it’s a rail spur, planes loaded with beef cattle, a regional cancer center, a convention center, a Best Buy distribution center or cash incentives for entrepreneurial companies, Stucky savors the freedom working in a smaller community provides. “You can’t find many organizations like ours that have done the things that we have done,” Stucky said. “We sat around the table in this office and worked up the figures for Best Buy in a half day. I gave them a guaranteed price for a building that we would build. That is difficult, if not impossible to do in metropolitan communities. ” “That’s why I’ve stayed for 25 years,” he said. “It’s fun.” With that, Wes Stucky turned back to the drafting table one more time and talked about the economic benefits he envisions from the $20 million rail spur. It’s a vision that’s helped grow Ardmore and all of southern Oklahoma.
SPINOUTS WANTED
Proof of Concept Center: Oklahoma’s new innovation ‘team’
T
he next promising technology developed on the campus of an Oklahoma research university faces some big hurdles before making it out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Even after the scientist discloses the invention to the university and the patent process has begun, a daunting series of questions must be answered. Is the concept scalable for production? Is there a market for the technology? How will capital be obtained to build a working prototype that can be put in to the hands of potential customers? A new regional collaboration has been established to answer those questions and more. The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center was created by a Memorandum of Agreement between i2E, the University of Oklahoma’s Office of Technology Development, Oklahoma State University’s Technology Development Center and Cowboy Technologies, LLC. With support from OCAST, the unique regional partnership will draw on expertise from all members to take promising technology’s developed at OU and OSU and put them on a fast track toward commercialization. i2E’s venture advisory and investment teams will work in conjunction with technology commercialization staffs at each
university to assess the best potential market, create a technology road map and determine the amount of funding the project will require to hit the developmental milestones. i2E Venture Advisor Elaine Hamm, Ph.D., will coordinate the project for the partnership. Prior to joining the i2E team, Dr. Hamm was a director at the OU Office of Technology Development and has spent many years helping to commercialize university technologies. “University technology transfer offices have an incredibly difficult job, and the Proof of Concept Center is designed to complement and assist their efforts,” Dr. Hamm said. “The Center will take technologies that the universities have determined to be high priority, early stage inventions and help nurture their commercial development.” For example, an engineer at one of the universities might disclose a prototype for a new medical device. The Proof of Concept Center will help determine key industry-based decision points that would reduce the risk for commercializing the technology. By identifying a well-structured roadmap that is aligned with regulatory, hospital, physician and patient needs, and by leveraging industry experts and access to capital, the Proof of Concept Center can help turn a promising technology into a productive and viable venture. Winter 2013 i&E
15
The Proof of Concept Center can be a key link between prototype development and a specific target market that saves time in both product deployment and market development, said Steve Wood, President and CEO at Stillwater’s Cowboy Technologies, LLC. “This, coupled with the savings of precious early stage funding could be the difference in a successful enduring company or a needed technology being relegated to the archives,” Wood said. Collaborators envision the Proof of Concept Center working with five to 10 new technologies at any one time. A formal process will be established for identifying the most promising technologies and for meeting developmental milestones. Inventors will be involved in the process, as well as the universities and i2E’s Venture Advisors and Investment team. After the technology is identified and the Proof of Concept team has taken a long, hard look at its potential, what’s next on the agenda? “It could end up with a number of different results,” Dr. Hamm said. “In the worst case scenario, it might end up as a ‘no’ to commercialization. But that ‘no’ still provides incredible value to the university and the researcher, as it helps save money and resources. Further, the scientist will have gained valuable handson experience in the commercialization process. “The most important outcome is transitioning innovative science to the industry via a license to an established company or a startup company and as a client of i2E.” The process of vetting new technologies also will accelerate the positioning for OARS, SBIR funding or investment through one of i2E’s capital sources. “Because they have gone through the Proof of Concept Center and have hit really important milestones, that makes them an even more attractive technology,” Dr. Hamm said. “The idea is to lower the investment risk with these early stage technologies.” 16
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Winter 2013
While the Proof of Concept Center is a first for Oklahoma, similar efforts have been established at Stanford University, MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Kansas, Rice University and others around the nation. What differentiates the Oklahoma center is that it is a regional partnership involving multiple campuses and multiple state entities. With this cross-state approach, the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center will maximize collaborative opportunities and create a regional strategy for technology commercialization. “Participation in the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center is consistent with OU’s commitment to growing and diversifying Oklahoma’s economy by leveraging the intellectual capital of the university,” said Daniel Pullin, University Vice President for Strategic Planning and Economic Devleopment. “Furthermore, I believe this initiative represents an initial, important step for the state in fulfilling the promise and opportunities outlined in Governor Fallin’s 2012 ‘OneOklahoma’ Science and Technology Plan,” Pullin said. “Working together, OU, OSU, i2E and others have the opportunity to establish a national model for how higher education and state agencies can combine their resources and talents to provide optimum impact on a place and its people.” For Oklahoma State University, the Proof of Concept Center will create important connections that will build on the university’s ongoing economic development activities, said Dr. Steve Price, OSU’s Associate Vice President for Technology Development. “I see the new initiative linking up with our Technology Business Development Program, i2E, Angels, etc., and, where it fits, with OU,” Dr. Price said. “I hope that Dr. Hamm, for example, can help organize opportunities at OSU and the Technology Development Center. So, in this way we make a more synergistic linkage with all of these elements.”
C. Michael Carolina, executive director of OCAST, described the Oklahoma Proof-of-Concept Center as “a natural progression of identifying needs and opportunities to advance our state in technology development and commercialization.” “Challenges occur at each step of the process from basic research to commercialization. We are proactive in finding solutions to these challenges,” Carolina said. “This Center complements the efforts of our team – higher education, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, CareerTech, i2E and OCAST – by helping to position us to meet current and future challenges.” The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center bridges a gap between where a technology is and where it needs to be to fit a business model and for potential customers, Dr. Hamm said. “This center will help lay the foundation for commercial success of an early stage technology,” she said. “It’s helping to solve a problem that universities across the nation have.” There’s no duplication of current efforts or addition of infrastructure to the tech transfer process with the Proof of Concept Center, said Rex Smitherman, i2E’s Vice President of Operations. “We’re sharing and leveraging our individual resources to move innovative technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace to increase deal flow,” Smitherman said. One thing is certain. New technologies will continue to emerge on Oklahoma campuses and questions will demand answers before the innovation can advance beyond the laboratory. The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center is there to deliver the answers. It will result in more new companies, more jobs and increased wealth for all of Oklahoma.
SELEXYS PHARMACEUTICALS
Oklahoma City’s Selexys Pharmaceuticals took
a $25 million step forward in the development of its drug therapy for sickle cell disease with the announcement in September that it had completed Series A investment round led by MPM Capital. The investment will fund a Phase 2 clinical trial with sickle cell patients of the company’s lead asset, the anti-P-selectin antibody SelG1. In addition to the Series A round, Selexys also announced that it had entered into an agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals that included an undisclosed upfront payment and gives Novartis the option to acquire Selexys and the sickle cell drug in a deal that could reach $665 million. “The potential acquisition by Novartis represents the largest deal ever for an Oklahoma-based biopharmaceutical company,” said Dr. Scott Rollins President & CEO of Selexys. The investment and potential acquisition fulfills a vision for the company expressed in 2010 by Rick Alvarez, Selexys cofounder and current vice president of research and operations. “If we keep our eye on completing the key milestones, and the drugs work, then I can assure you that everything will fall into place,” Alvarez said at the time in an interview for a story in this magazine. Founded in 2003 to advance antibody inhibitors against molecules discovered by Drs. Rodger McEver and Rick Cummings, Selexys developed drugs therapies for both sickle cell and Crohn’s diseases. But lack of investment capital and management expertise slowed the company’s development until Dr. Rollins was hired as President and CEO in 2008. An Oklahoma native, Dr. Rollins brought to Selexys the experience he gained in building Connecticut-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals to a successful publicly traded company with a $15 billion market cap. A graduate of the University of Okla-
homa who worked at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as he completed his Ph.D., Dr. Rollins left a post-doctorate position at Yale University in 1992 to co-founded Alexion. Dr. Rollins also brought two Alexion veterans, David Falconer and Dr. Russell Rother, also an Oklahoma native, into the company. Together with Alvarez, they formed a formidable management team that prepared the drugs for clinical trials and raised capital to finance the studies. The September announcement shows how much Dr. Rollins and his team have accomplished. The sickle cell drug successful completed a Phase 1 trial, and investors were drawn to its potential. Selexys continues to prepare its PSGL-1 antibody drug for treatment of Crohn’s Disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases for Phase 1 clinical trial. For i2E, the Series A investment by MPM Capital and potential acquisition by Novartis Pharmaceuticals validates its very early proof of concept and seed investments in Selexys. Through the Technology Business Finance Program and Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, i2E provided $600,000 of financing for Selexys. Along with $500,000 from the Oklahoma Life Science Fund II and $8 million more from other Oklahoma-based private investors, Selexys was well positioned for the current round. Back in 2010, Dr. Rollins described the situation that Selexys faced when he and his team made the transition into the company in 2008. “The science was here, the technology base was in place,” he said. “Selexys was initiating the development of monoclonal antibodies, but there was not significant capital to carry the technology forward into human clinical trials.” With completion of the most recent financing, Selexys is poised to advance the technology into late stage clinical trials and beyond. Winter 2013 i&E
17
The Proof of Concept Center can be a key link between prototype development and a specific target market that saves time in both product deployment and market development, said Steve Wood, President and CEO at Stillwater’s Cowboy Technologies, LLC. “This, coupled with the savings of precious early stage funding could be the difference in a successful enduring company or a needed technology being relegated to the archives,” Wood said. Collaborators envision the Proof of Concept Center working with five to 10 new technologies at any one time. A formal process will be established for identifying the most promising technologies and for meeting developmental milestones. Inventors will be involved in the process, as well as the universities and i2E’s Venture Advisors and Investment team. After the technology is identified and the Proof of Concept team has taken a long, hard look at its potential, what’s next on the agenda? “It could end up with a number of different results,” Dr. Hamm said. “In the worst case scenario, it might end up as a ‘no’ to commercialization. But that ‘no’ still provides incredible value to the university and the researcher, as it helps save money and resources. Further, the scientist will have gained valuable handson experience in the commercialization process. “The most important outcome is transitioning innovative science to the industry via a license to an established company or a startup company and as a client of i2E.” The process of vetting new technologies also will accelerate the positioning for OARS, SBIR funding or investment through one of i2E’s capital sources. “Because they have gone through the Proof of Concept Center and have hit really important milestones, that makes them an even more attractive technology,” Dr. Hamm said. “The idea is to lower the investment risk with these early stage technologies.” 16
i&E
Winter 2013
While the Proof of Concept Center is a first for Oklahoma, similar efforts have been established at Stanford University, MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Kansas, Rice University and others around the nation. What differentiates the Oklahoma center is that it is a regional partnership involving multiple campuses and multiple state entities. With this cross-state approach, the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center will maximize collaborative opportunities and create a regional strategy for technology commercialization. “Participation in the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center is consistent with OU’s commitment to growing and diversifying Oklahoma’s economy by leveraging the intellectual capital of the university,” said Daniel Pullin, University Vice President for Strategic Planning and Economic Devleopment. “Furthermore, I believe this initiative represents an initial, important step for the state in fulfilling the promise and opportunities outlined in Governor Fallin’s 2012 ‘OneOklahoma’ Science and Technology Plan,” Pullin said. “Working together, OU, OSU, i2E and others have the opportunity to establish a national model for how higher education and state agencies can combine their resources and talents to provide optimum impact on a place and its people.” For Oklahoma State University, the Proof of Concept Center will create important connections that will build on the university’s ongoing economic development activities, said Dr. Steve Price, OSU’s Associate Vice President for Technology Development. “I see the new initiative linking up with our Technology Business Development Program, i2E, Angels, etc., and, where it fits, with OU,” Dr. Price said. “I hope that Dr. Hamm, for example, can help organize opportunities at OSU and the Technology Development Center. So, in this way we make a more synergistic linkage with all of these elements.”
C. Michael Carolina, executive director of OCAST, described the Oklahoma Proof-of-Concept Center as “a natural progression of identifying needs and opportunities to advance our state in technology development and commercialization.” “Challenges occur at each step of the process from basic research to commercialization. We are proactive in finding solutions to these challenges,” Carolina said. “This Center complements the efforts of our team – higher education, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, CareerTech, i2E and OCAST – by helping to position us to meet current and future challenges.” The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center bridges a gap between where a technology is and where it needs to be to fit a business model and for potential customers, Dr. Hamm said. “This center will help lay the foundation for commercial success of an early stage technology,” she said. “It’s helping to solve a problem that universities across the nation have.” There’s no duplication of current efforts or addition of infrastructure to the tech transfer process with the Proof of Concept Center, said Rex Smitherman, i2E’s Vice President of Operations. “We’re sharing and leveraging our individual resources to move innovative technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace to increase deal flow,” Smitherman said. One thing is certain. New technologies will continue to emerge on Oklahoma campuses and questions will demand answers before the innovation can advance beyond the laboratory. The Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center is there to deliver the answers. It will result in more new companies, more jobs and increased wealth for all of Oklahoma.
SELEXYS PHARMACEUTICALS
Oklahoma City’s Selexys Pharmaceuticals took
a $25 million step forward in the development of its drug therapy for sickle cell disease with the announcement in September that it had completed Series A investment round led by MPM Capital. The investment will fund a Phase 2 clinical trial with sickle cell patients of the company’s lead asset, the anti-P-selectin antibody SelG1. In addition to the Series A round, Selexys also announced that it had entered into an agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals that included an undisclosed upfront payment and gives Novartis the option to acquire Selexys and the sickle cell drug in a deal that could reach $665 million. “The potential acquisition by Novartis represents the largest deal ever for an Oklahoma-based biopharmaceutical company,” said Dr. Scott Rollins President & CEO of Selexys. The investment and potential acquisition fulfills a vision for the company expressed in 2010 by Rick Alvarez, Selexys cofounder and current vice president of research and operations. “If we keep our eye on completing the key milestones, and the drugs work, then I can assure you that everything will fall into place,” Alvarez said at the time in an interview for a story in this magazine. Founded in 2003 to advance antibody inhibitors against molecules discovered by Drs. Rodger McEver and Rick Cummings, Selexys developed drugs therapies for both sickle cell and Crohn’s diseases. But lack of investment capital and management expertise slowed the company’s development until Dr. Rollins was hired as President and CEO in 2008. An Oklahoma native, Dr. Rollins brought to Selexys the experience he gained in building Connecticut-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals to a successful publicly traded company with a $15 billion market cap. A graduate of the University of Okla-
homa who worked at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as he completed his Ph.D., Dr. Rollins left a post-doctorate position at Yale University in 1992 to co-founded Alexion. Dr. Rollins also brought two Alexion veterans, David Falconer and Dr. Russell Rother, also an Oklahoma native, into the company. Together with Alvarez, they formed a formidable management team that prepared the drugs for clinical trials and raised capital to finance the studies. The September announcement shows how much Dr. Rollins and his team have accomplished. The sickle cell drug successful completed a Phase 1 trial, and investors were drawn to its potential. Selexys continues to prepare its PSGL-1 antibody drug for treatment of Crohn’s Disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases for Phase 1 clinical trial. For i2E, the Series A investment by MPM Capital and potential acquisition by Novartis Pharmaceuticals validates its very early proof of concept and seed investments in Selexys. Through the Technology Business Finance Program and Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, i2E provided $600,000 of financing for Selexys. Along with $500,000 from the Oklahoma Life Science Fund II and $8 million more from other Oklahoma-based private investors, Selexys was well positioned for the current round. Back in 2010, Dr. Rollins described the situation that Selexys faced when he and his team made the transition into the company in 2008. “The science was here, the technology base was in place,” he said. “Selexys was initiating the development of monoclonal antibodies, but there was not significant capital to carry the technology forward into human clinical trials.” With completion of the most recent financing, Selexys is poised to advance the technology into late stage clinical trials and beyond. Winter 2013 i&E
17
2004
Awarded $304,000 Phase 1 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant.
2010
Awarded SBIR Phase 1 grant of $3.1 million to advance development of drug therapy for Crohn’s disease. Raised $5 million seed round from private investors, including $250,000 from i2E.
2003
2011
Company founded by Drs. Rodger McEver, Richard Cummings and Rick Alvarez based on intellectual property developed by McEver and Cummings.
2006 2008
Oklahoma native Dr. Scott Rollins hired as President and CEO; receives orphan-drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration for SelG1, an antibody it is developing for treatment of sickle cell disease.
2009
Receives $300,000 Oklahoma Applied Research Grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology; awarded SBIR Phase 1 grant of $3.3 million, the largest SBIR grant ever to an Oklahoma company; it also secured $3.5 million in seed capital investment from private investors, the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund and the Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund.
18
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Winter 2013
Closes initial seed round from local investors.
Announced it has closed on $25 million Series A equity financing, led by MPM Capital, and potential acquisition by Novartis Pharmaceuticals in deal that could be worth up to $665 million.
Completes Phase I clinical trial of its SelG1 antibody; awarded SBIR Phase 11b grant of $3.1 million.
2012
2013
Selexys will advance its therapeutic for Sickle Cell disease into a Phase II clinical study. The SelG1 antibody will be produced for Selexys by Cytovance Biologics Inc. at its 44,000 square-foot production facility in Oklahoma City.
Winter 2013 i&E
19
2004
Awarded $304,000 Phase 1 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant.
2010
Awarded SBIR Phase 1 grant of $3.1 million to advance development of drug therapy for Crohn’s disease. Raised $5 million seed round from private investors, including $250,000 from i2E.
2003
2011
Company founded by Drs. Rodger McEver, Richard Cummings and Rick Alvarez based on intellectual property developed by McEver and Cummings.
2006 2008
Oklahoma native Dr. Scott Rollins hired as President and CEO; receives orphan-drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration for SelG1, an antibody it is developing for treatment of sickle cell disease.
2009
Receives $300,000 Oklahoma Applied Research Grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology; awarded SBIR Phase 1 grant of $3.3 million, the largest SBIR grant ever to an Oklahoma company; it also secured $3.5 million in seed capital investment from private investors, the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund and the Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund.
18
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Winter 2013
Closes initial seed round from local investors.
Announced it has closed on $25 million Series A equity financing, led by MPM Capital, and potential acquisition by Novartis Pharmaceuticals in deal that could be worth up to $665 million.
Completes Phase I clinical trial of its SelG1 antibody; awarded SBIR Phase 11b grant of $3.1 million.
2012
2013
Selexys will advance its therapeutic for Sickle Cell disease into a Phase II clinical study. The SelG1 antibody will be produced for Selexys by Cytovance Biologics Inc. at its 44,000 square-foot production facility in Oklahoma City.
Winter 2013 i&E
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S
NEW LEADERSHIP Scott Meacham takes role as new President and CEO
20
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Winter 2013
a new venture that receives planning and capitalization assistance cott Meacham began his tenure as President and CEO of has double the chance of surviving five years over a new company i2E, Inc., by outlining a plan to take the company’s access that tries to make it on its own.” to capital and venture advisory services to more small Meacham was practicing law with Crowe & Dunlevy when businesses across Oklahoma. he became interested in the i2E position as the Board of Directors “One of my goals is to increase awareness of i2E and its proembarked on a national search to replace Walker. grams,” Meacham said. “We offer mentoring programs for en While his law practice was busy and successful, he admitted trepreneurs, business planning services and a variety of funds to he missed the professional fulfillment that previous management help a company from concept to startup to profitability. We curroles as a bank executive, State Finance Director and Oklahoma rently have more money available than we have deals to fund. I State Treasurer had provided. want to work to change this.” And he missed the opportunity to make a difference in the A former Oklahoma State Treasurer and a director of the lives of people. Crowe & Dunlevy law firm in Oklahoma City, Meacham was “I missed management, because I had been a professional named by the Board of Directors as i2E’s fourth CEO in late Demanager for over 20 years,” Meacham said. “Everything I had cember. He succeeds Tom Walker, who resigned at the end of July done in my life up to that point I felt like I was helping people and to accept a position with TechColumbus in Ohio. making a difference. When I was at the bank in Elk City it was Meacham, who has served as a member of the i2E Board making a difference in Elk City. I was helping people start new of Directors since 2010, assumed CEO duties on January 1. He businesses, I was helping people purchase new homes.” served as Oklahoma State Treasurer from 2005 to 2011 during Meacham left the bank in 2003 to accept a position as State the administration of Gov. Brad Henry. Finance Director in the administration of Gov. Henry, a close So, how will i2E reach more Oklahoma small businesses with friend and former college classmate. Meacham knew little about advisory services and investment dollars? state government at the time, but saw it as an opportunity to “I have some ideas on how to do that,” Meacham said. “I think make a difference for people on an even bigger scale. we need to be more closely aligned with banks and economic de Now, the opportunity has arisen again to make a difference velopment professionals because they see so many of these deals.” for Oklahoma through helping grow small businesses. Meacham In addition to practicing law, Meacham’s resume includes a long became acquainted with i2E while State Treasurer, and embraced history as director and officer in the Oklahoma banking industry, its mission of building successful companies and nurturing enincluding that of CEO of First National Bank & Trust of Elk City. “We want bankers thinking of us, because bankers really trepreneurs. “I have been a long-time supporter of i2E and its mission,” he don’t like telling people 'no,' ” he said. “They would have liked to said. “I was probably the first person in the Henry administration be able to say 'no, but...' I think I can help with that and move us that bought into the whole concept of i2E and what it means and in some new directions.” its importance to the state of Oklahoma. I spent a lot of time in Meacham said i2E also will continue to work with its stramy role as Secretary of Finance and Revenue figuring out things tegic partners to promote statewide commercialization efforts we could do to help Oklahoma grow from an economic standthrough initiatives such as the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Cenpoint. We wanted to support and diversify our economy to make ter, which includes the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State it more robust and resilient.” University, Cowboy Technologies and OCAST as collaborators. In fact, with the demise of the EDGE fund in 2012, Oklahoma “We really need to work with stakeholders and policy makers small businesses and researchers to plan and foster our economy for have few places to turn for capital the future,” he said. required to help build companies i2E manages five state and fed“My goal everywhere I go is to leave the to take new technologies and conerally appropriated funds that proplace a little better than I found it.” cepts to market. vide capital to companies across a “That's where i2E comes in,” broad spectrum of the business life he said. “i2E is filling a role that no cycle, from concept funding all the one else is willing to fill. There are few venture capital funds that I way to the growth stage. The company also manages the Seedknow of in the state, and startups tend to be risky. Venture funds Step Angels, a private investment group with more than 30 memand banks are unwilling to invest in these companies. i2E fits that bers in three cities across the state. gap perfectly.” As a member of the i2E Board of Directors since 2010, Focused and goal oriented, Meacham quickly began executMeacham served on the Accelerate Oklahoma! committee that ing his strategy to expand i2E’s reach across the state. Before he’s provided oversight for the three investment funds created in a done, the company will be serving more entrepreneurs and helppartnership with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and ing more companies become successful. the U.S. Treasury. “My goal everywhere I go is to leave the place a little better “Over half of new businesses fail in the first four years,” than I found it,” he said. Meacham said. “According to one study, 90 percent of companies receiving assistance survived more than 5 years. That means that The Scott Meacham era at i2E is well under way.
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S
NEW LEADERSHIP Scott Meacham takes role as new President and CEO
20
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Winter 2013
a new venture that receives planning and capitalization assistance cott Meacham began his tenure as President and CEO of has double the chance of surviving five years over a new company i2E, Inc., by outlining a plan to take the company’s access that tries to make it on its own.” to capital and venture advisory services to more small Meacham was practicing law with Crowe & Dunlevy when businesses across Oklahoma. he became interested in the i2E position as the Board of Directors “One of my goals is to increase awareness of i2E and its proembarked on a national search to replace Walker. grams,” Meacham said. “We offer mentoring programs for en While his law practice was busy and successful, he admitted trepreneurs, business planning services and a variety of funds to he missed the professional fulfillment that previous management help a company from concept to startup to profitability. We curroles as a bank executive, State Finance Director and Oklahoma rently have more money available than we have deals to fund. I State Treasurer had provided. want to work to change this.” And he missed the opportunity to make a difference in the A former Oklahoma State Treasurer and a director of the lives of people. Crowe & Dunlevy law firm in Oklahoma City, Meacham was “I missed management, because I had been a professional named by the Board of Directors as i2E’s fourth CEO in late Demanager for over 20 years,” Meacham said. “Everything I had cember. He succeeds Tom Walker, who resigned at the end of July done in my life up to that point I felt like I was helping people and to accept a position with TechColumbus in Ohio. making a difference. When I was at the bank in Elk City it was Meacham, who has served as a member of the i2E Board making a difference in Elk City. I was helping people start new of Directors since 2010, assumed CEO duties on January 1. He businesses, I was helping people purchase new homes.” served as Oklahoma State Treasurer from 2005 to 2011 during Meacham left the bank in 2003 to accept a position as State the administration of Gov. Brad Henry. Finance Director in the administration of Gov. Henry, a close So, how will i2E reach more Oklahoma small businesses with friend and former college classmate. Meacham knew little about advisory services and investment dollars? state government at the time, but saw it as an opportunity to “I have some ideas on how to do that,” Meacham said. “I think make a difference for people on an even bigger scale. we need to be more closely aligned with banks and economic de Now, the opportunity has arisen again to make a difference velopment professionals because they see so many of these deals.” for Oklahoma through helping grow small businesses. Meacham In addition to practicing law, Meacham’s resume includes a long became acquainted with i2E while State Treasurer, and embraced history as director and officer in the Oklahoma banking industry, its mission of building successful companies and nurturing enincluding that of CEO of First National Bank & Trust of Elk City. “We want bankers thinking of us, because bankers really trepreneurs. “I have been a long-time supporter of i2E and its mission,” he don’t like telling people 'no,' ” he said. “They would have liked to said. “I was probably the first person in the Henry administration be able to say 'no, but...' I think I can help with that and move us that bought into the whole concept of i2E and what it means and in some new directions.” its importance to the state of Oklahoma. I spent a lot of time in Meacham said i2E also will continue to work with its stramy role as Secretary of Finance and Revenue figuring out things tegic partners to promote statewide commercialization efforts we could do to help Oklahoma grow from an economic standthrough initiatives such as the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Cenpoint. We wanted to support and diversify our economy to make ter, which includes the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State it more robust and resilient.” University, Cowboy Technologies and OCAST as collaborators. In fact, with the demise of the EDGE fund in 2012, Oklahoma “We really need to work with stakeholders and policy makers small businesses and researchers to plan and foster our economy for have few places to turn for capital the future,” he said. required to help build companies i2E manages five state and fed“My goal everywhere I go is to leave the to take new technologies and conerally appropriated funds that proplace a little better than I found it.” cepts to market. vide capital to companies across a “That's where i2E comes in,” broad spectrum of the business life he said. “i2E is filling a role that no cycle, from concept funding all the one else is willing to fill. There are few venture capital funds that I way to the growth stage. The company also manages the Seedknow of in the state, and startups tend to be risky. Venture funds Step Angels, a private investment group with more than 30 memand banks are unwilling to invest in these companies. i2E fits that bers in three cities across the state. gap perfectly.” As a member of the i2E Board of Directors since 2010, Focused and goal oriented, Meacham quickly began executMeacham served on the Accelerate Oklahoma! committee that ing his strategy to expand i2E’s reach across the state. Before he’s provided oversight for the three investment funds created in a done, the company will be serving more entrepreneurs and helppartnership with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and ing more companies become successful. the U.S. Treasury. “My goal everywhere I go is to leave the place a little better “Over half of new businesses fail in the first four years,” than I found it,” he said. Meacham said. “According to one study, 90 percent of companies receiving assistance survived more than 5 years. That means that The Scott Meacham era at i2E is well under way.
Winter 2013 i&E
21
“When I went to college, all I
wanted to do was be a lawyer because my dad was a lawyer and his dad was a lawyer and his dad was a lawyer,” he said. “I wanted to be the fourth generation of my family to practice law in the Meacham & Meacham law firm in Clinton, Oklahoma.” “However, I was always interested in business and finance so I got an undergraduate degree in finance and a masters of business administration.”
After graduating from law school,
he fulfilled his dream and moved to Clinton and began practicing law with his father. He focused on specialties like bankruptcy, new business formation and estate planning.
Meacham’s family also had owner-
SCOTT MEACHAM’S JOURNEY to i2E as its new President and CEO began at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance, an MBA and, finally, a law degree.
ship interests in a western Oklahoma
Meacham chose a career in banking, finance and law that led him to Clinton, Elk City and the Oklahoma State Capitol and Oklahoma’s oldest law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy, before he joined i2E on January 1, 2013.
bank that pre-dated statehood.
Soon after graduation from law
school, he was elected to the board of directors of the family bank in Elk City and was asked by the bank president to drive to Elk City two afternoons a week to work at the bank in order to learn the industry. In 1991, the bank president died
suddenly. “I was 28 years old,” he said. “My family looked at me and said, ‘you’re the only one we can think of who can step in the run the bank.’ So, I agreed to step into the bank, still believing that I could practice law in Clinton while being a banker in Elk City.”
He soon found that you couldn’t
live in one town in Western Oklahoma while working in another one when the two towns compete in high school sports. For the next decade, Meacham managed the bank, modernizing all of the bank’s systems and remaking its image from that of a bank that was so conservative it would never loan money to that of a full service commercial bank that made good loans to grow and support the communities it
served. His efforts were successful in capturing much of the area’s top tier banking business as he was able to grow the bank from a $70 million dollar bank to the largest bank in its market.
“Today, the bank is probably a
year or so away from being a half billion dollar bank,” he said. “It grew dramatically. We bought a couple of insurance agencies and diversified our business. I thought ‘this is what I will do for the rest of my life.”
Then his close friend and college
classmate, Gov. Brad Henry, asked Meacham to meet with him at halftime of an OU football game. Henry offered him the job of State Finance Director with a task of solving a major budget crisis that the state was facing.
“I said, ‘well, I probably need to
talk to my wife about that,’ “Meacham said. “He said, ‘take all the time you need, but I need your answer by tomorrow.’ Ultimately, my wife and I decided that this was an opportunity to give something back to a state that had blessed us so much.” Eventually, Meacham became State Treasurer and after leaving state government, Crowe & Dunlevy asked him to head up their
We applaud i2E’s commitment to Oklahoma’s business community.
banking and financial institutions practice group.
Six years in state government
provided a new perspective on what Oklahoma needs to grow its economy. He found that, although Oklahomans
We are Phillips 66, and we believe we can make lives better through energy. That’s why we’ve sponsored the Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition.
were producing many good ideas for new businesses, many were either dying on the vine from a lack of funding or going to other states to become new businesses. He worked during his time on office on various solutions to this problem.
“I have found that everything I
have done in my career has prepared me for the next thing,” he said.”
See what else is behind the shield, at www.phillips66.com.
So when i2E sought a new CEO,
Scott Meacham was ready. ®Phillips 66 Company. 2012. All rights reserved.
22
i&E
Winter 2013
Nurturing entrepreneurs and building high-growth companies here in Oklahoma helps communities where we live and work thrive and succeed.
“When I went to college, all I
wanted to do was be a lawyer because my dad was a lawyer and his dad was a lawyer and his dad was a lawyer,” he said. “I wanted to be the fourth generation of my family to practice law in the Meacham & Meacham law firm in Clinton, Oklahoma.” “However, I was always interested in business and finance so I got an undergraduate degree in finance and a masters of business administration.”
After graduating from law school,
he fulfilled his dream and moved to Clinton and began practicing law with his father. He focused on specialties like bankruptcy, new business formation and estate planning.
Meacham’s family also had owner-
SCOTT MEACHAM’S JOURNEY to i2E as its new President and CEO began at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance, an MBA and, finally, a law degree.
ship interests in a western Oklahoma
Meacham chose a career in banking, finance and law that led him to Clinton, Elk City and the Oklahoma State Capitol and Oklahoma’s oldest law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy, before he joined i2E on January 1, 2013.
bank that pre-dated statehood.
Soon after graduation from law
school, he was elected to the board of directors of the family bank in Elk City and was asked by the bank president to drive to Elk City two afternoons a week to work at the bank in order to learn the industry. In 1991, the bank president died
suddenly. “I was 28 years old,” he said. “My family looked at me and said, ‘you’re the only one we can think of who can step in the run the bank.’ So, I agreed to step into the bank, still believing that I could practice law in Clinton while being a banker in Elk City.”
He soon found that you couldn’t
live in one town in Western Oklahoma while working in another one when the two towns compete in high school sports. For the next decade, Meacham managed the bank, modernizing all of the bank’s systems and remaking its image from that of a bank that was so conservative it would never loan money to that of a full service commercial bank that made good loans to grow and support the communities it
served. His efforts were successful in capturing much of the area’s top tier banking business as he was able to grow the bank from a $70 million dollar bank to the largest bank in its market.
“Today, the bank is probably a
year or so away from being a half billion dollar bank,” he said. “It grew dramatically. We bought a couple of insurance agencies and diversified our business. I thought ‘this is what I will do for the rest of my life.”
Then his close friend and college
classmate, Gov. Brad Henry, asked Meacham to meet with him at halftime of an OU football game. Henry offered him the job of State Finance Director with a task of solving a major budget crisis that the state was facing.
“I said, ‘well, I probably need to
talk to my wife about that,’ “Meacham said. “He said, ‘take all the time you need, but I need your answer by tomorrow.’ Ultimately, my wife and I decided that this was an opportunity to give something back to a state that had blessed us so much.” Eventually, Meacham became State Treasurer and after leaving state government, Crowe & Dunlevy asked him to head up their
We applaud i2E’s commitment to Oklahoma’s business community.
banking and financial institutions practice group.
Six years in state government
provided a new perspective on what Oklahoma needs to grow its economy. He found that, although Oklahomans
We are Phillips 66, and we believe we can make lives better through energy. That’s why we’ve sponsored the Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition.
were producing many good ideas for new businesses, many were either dying on the vine from a lack of funding or going to other states to become new businesses. He worked during his time on office on various solutions to this problem.
“I have found that everything I
have done in my career has prepared me for the next thing,” he said.”
See what else is behind the shield, at www.phillips66.com.
So when i2E sought a new CEO,
Scott Meacham was ready. ®Phillips 66 Company. 2012. All rights reserved.
22
i&E
Winter 2013
Nurturing entrepreneurs and building high-growth companies here in Oklahoma helps communities where we live and work thrive and succeed.
PARTNERS
America Fidelity Foundation www.americanfidelityfoundation.org
U.S. Economic Development Administration www.eda.gov
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation www.omrf.org
The American Fidelity Foundation was established as the American Fidelity Founders Fund in 1982 to continue the legacy of C.B. and C.W. Cameron, founders of American Fidelity Assurance Company (AFA). It was renamed and refocused in 2007 to better match community needs, to provide increased financial resources and to complement other civic involvement by American Fidelity companies and employees. The success of AFA and other American Fidelity companies has helped the Foundation’s assets grow to nearly $14 million.
This year, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) marks 45 years of public service, with a mission of leading the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. EDA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that partners with distressed communities throughout the United States to foster job creation, collaboration and innovation.
Founded in 1946, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit biomedical research institutes. Located in Oklahoma City, OMRF fosters a worldwide reputation for excellence by following an innovative cross-disciplinary approach to medical research.
OKLAHOMA EPSCoR The Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research www.okepscor.org Oklahoma EPSCoR’s central goal is to increase the state’s research competitiveness through strategic support of research instruments and facilities, research collaborations and integrated education and research programs. They are funded through a three-year (FY2005-2008) $6 million Science Foundation Research Infra-Structure Improvement Grant matched by an additional $3 million from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
Presbyterian Health Foundation www.phf.com i2E, Inc. www.i2E.org
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber www.okcchamber.com
i2E has been a primary source of concept, seed stage and start-up capital for Oklahoma’s high growth companies for more than a decade. The rigorous approach of our services has built a reputation for producing companies that are well positioned for investment capital. i2E and its partners have developed a series of investment funds that target companies at particular stages of the business lifecycle and also complement Oklahoma angel investors and venture capitalists. We also provide venture advisory and entrepreneurial development services.
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber works to create valueadded membership opportunities and a business climate that attracts new businesses and enhances growth and expansion opportunities for existing business.
The results speak for themselves: Clients enjoy job, revenue and capital growth significantly higher than the state average. The state benefits from new globally competitive businesses, high quality jobs and an enhanced quality of life.
City of Oklahoma City www.okc.gov
OCAST Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology www.ocast.state.ok.us As the state’s only agency whose sole focus is technology, OCAST is a small, high-impact agency funded by state appropriations and governed by a board of directors with members from both the private and public sector. OCAST works in partnership with the private sector, higher education, CareerTech and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
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Winter 2013
The City of Oklahoma City’s mission is to provide leadership, commitment and resources to achieve its vision by offering a clean, safe and affordable City; providing well managed and maintained infrastructure; excellent stewardship of public assets and a variety of cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities, as well as creating and maintaining effective partnerships to promote employment opportunities and individual and business success.
Oklahoma Business Roundtable www.okbusinessroundtable.com The Oklahoma Business Roundtable, formed in 1991, is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporation. The Roundtable’s mission is to encourage and promote Oklahoma’s economic development. The Roundtable accomplishes this by providing critical private funding in support of the economic development efforts of the Governor and Oklahoma Department of Commerce by encouraging business investment and jobs in Oklahoma.
The Presbyterian Health Foundation is a major contributor to medical research and education in Oklahoma. In 1996, it began the PHF Research Park, believing that a science-based company with patented products discovered in the medical research laboratory of the University of Oklahoma ought to be launched here Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance www.okalliance.com The Alliance is a not-for-profit organization providing a variety of support to Oklahoma industry. Through a network of Manufacturing Extension Agents and Applications Engineers, the Alliance provides hands-on resources for improving productivity, increasing sales and reducing costs.
Oklahoma Department of Commerce www.okcommerce.gov The Oklahoma Department of Commerce is the primary economic development entity in the state. Its mission is to increase the quantity and the quality of jobs in Oklahoma. It accomplishes that mission that through the following means: · Business Attraction, Creation and Retention · Community Development · Knowledge-Based Industry Development · Workforce Development, Recruitment and Retention U.S. Department of Treasury www.treasury.gov The Treasury Department is the executive agency responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States. The Department is responsible for a wide range of activities such as advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation www.dwreynolds.org
State Small Business Credit Initiative www.treasury.gov/resource-center
The Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.
The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 created the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which was funded with $1.5 billion to strengthen state programs that support lending to small businesses and small manufacturers. The State Small Business Credit Initiative is expected to help spur up to $15 billion in lending to small businesses. Under the State Small Business Credit Initiative, participating states will use the federal funds for programs that leverage private lending to help finance small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy, but are not getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. Winter 2013 i&E
25
PARTNERS
America Fidelity Foundation www.americanfidelityfoundation.org
U.S. Economic Development Administration www.eda.gov
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation www.omrf.org
The American Fidelity Foundation was established as the American Fidelity Founders Fund in 1982 to continue the legacy of C.B. and C.W. Cameron, founders of American Fidelity Assurance Company (AFA). It was renamed and refocused in 2007 to better match community needs, to provide increased financial resources and to complement other civic involvement by American Fidelity companies and employees. The success of AFA and other American Fidelity companies has helped the Foundation’s assets grow to nearly $14 million.
This year, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) marks 45 years of public service, with a mission of leading the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing American regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. EDA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that partners with distressed communities throughout the United States to foster job creation, collaboration and innovation.
Founded in 1946, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit biomedical research institutes. Located in Oklahoma City, OMRF fosters a worldwide reputation for excellence by following an innovative cross-disciplinary approach to medical research.
OKLAHOMA EPSCoR The Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research www.okepscor.org Oklahoma EPSCoR’s central goal is to increase the state’s research competitiveness through strategic support of research instruments and facilities, research collaborations and integrated education and research programs. They are funded through a three-year (FY2005-2008) $6 million Science Foundation Research Infra-Structure Improvement Grant matched by an additional $3 million from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
Presbyterian Health Foundation www.phf.com i2E, Inc. www.i2E.org
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber www.okcchamber.com
i2E has been a primary source of concept, seed stage and start-up capital for Oklahoma’s high growth companies for more than a decade. The rigorous approach of our services has built a reputation for producing companies that are well positioned for investment capital. i2E and its partners have developed a series of investment funds that target companies at particular stages of the business lifecycle and also complement Oklahoma angel investors and venture capitalists. We also provide venture advisory and entrepreneurial development services.
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber works to create valueadded membership opportunities and a business climate that attracts new businesses and enhances growth and expansion opportunities for existing business.
The results speak for themselves: Clients enjoy job, revenue and capital growth significantly higher than the state average. The state benefits from new globally competitive businesses, high quality jobs and an enhanced quality of life.
City of Oklahoma City www.okc.gov
OCAST Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology www.ocast.state.ok.us As the state’s only agency whose sole focus is technology, OCAST is a small, high-impact agency funded by state appropriations and governed by a board of directors with members from both the private and public sector. OCAST works in partnership with the private sector, higher education, CareerTech and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
24
i&E
Winter 2013
The City of Oklahoma City’s mission is to provide leadership, commitment and resources to achieve its vision by offering a clean, safe and affordable City; providing well managed and maintained infrastructure; excellent stewardship of public assets and a variety of cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities, as well as creating and maintaining effective partnerships to promote employment opportunities and individual and business success.
Oklahoma Business Roundtable www.okbusinessroundtable.com The Oklahoma Business Roundtable, formed in 1991, is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporation. The Roundtable’s mission is to encourage and promote Oklahoma’s economic development. The Roundtable accomplishes this by providing critical private funding in support of the economic development efforts of the Governor and Oklahoma Department of Commerce by encouraging business investment and jobs in Oklahoma.
The Presbyterian Health Foundation is a major contributor to medical research and education in Oklahoma. In 1996, it began the PHF Research Park, believing that a science-based company with patented products discovered in the medical research laboratory of the University of Oklahoma ought to be launched here Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance www.okalliance.com The Alliance is a not-for-profit organization providing a variety of support to Oklahoma industry. Through a network of Manufacturing Extension Agents and Applications Engineers, the Alliance provides hands-on resources for improving productivity, increasing sales and reducing costs.
Oklahoma Department of Commerce www.okcommerce.gov The Oklahoma Department of Commerce is the primary economic development entity in the state. Its mission is to increase the quantity and the quality of jobs in Oklahoma. It accomplishes that mission that through the following means: · Business Attraction, Creation and Retention · Community Development · Knowledge-Based Industry Development · Workforce Development, Recruitment and Retention U.S. Department of Treasury www.treasury.gov The Treasury Department is the executive agency responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States. The Department is responsible for a wide range of activities such as advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation www.dwreynolds.org
State Small Business Credit Initiative www.treasury.gov/resource-center
The Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the 50 largest private foundations in the United States.
The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 created the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which was funded with $1.5 billion to strengthen state programs that support lending to small businesses and small manufacturers. The State Small Business Credit Initiative is expected to help spur up to $15 billion in lending to small businesses. Under the State Small Business Credit Initiative, participating states will use the federal funds for programs that leverage private lending to help finance small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy, but are not getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. Winter 2013 i&E
25
OASIS OF SUCCESS: OKC D OW N TOW N O K L A H O M A C I T Y
OPPORTUNITY:
For generations, it is what has defined America.
Today, it is what Oklahoma City delivers. Whether you’re looking for the best city to build a business, raise a family or find a job, OKC’s your place to be. In Oklahoma City, we make it easy to find your own success. Check us out and see why we say in OKC, it’s a better living and a better life.
For mobile users
26
i&E
Winter 2013
Explore OKC’s new digital magazine and channel at GreaterOKC.tv