Mentors and Coaches

Dana W. Wolcott, Lead Innovation Coach

Dana has been the Lead Innovation Coach for the Simone Center since 2011. His roles and responsibilities include coaching teams of students in the process of customer discovery, design thinking and application of the business model canvas. Whether it occurs in our formal class, Applied Entrepreneurship, or in one of our many programs, i.e. IdeaLab, Saunders Summer Startup, Studio 930, Tiger Tank, Business Model competitions, or the National Science Foundation I-Corps, his role as coach is to inform and guide the students and professors in the innovation and entrepreneurship processes.

In addition, it is his responsibility to recruit, train and lead the many coaches and judges who participate in the Simone Center classes and programs. Having had the role of new product and business development leader at Eastman Kodak and having been the Director of the Innovation Network, Dana has been provided the ideal background and experience to make his position in the Center both exciting and rewarding.

Family, basketball tournaments, motorcycle rides and ideas!!

Rich Notargiacomo - Director, Venture Creations

Rich joined the Simone Center team in 2010. He is the Director of New Ventures and Commercialization at the Venture Creations Incubator and is also an Adjunct Professor at the E. Philip Saunders College of Business. At Venture Creations, Rich works with entrepreneurs and business teams to help develop their businesses. At the Saunders College, Rich has a range of duties including Co-Principal Investigator for the Technology Commercialization Clinic, Co-leader for the Summer Startup program, manager of the Saunders Student Consulting group, and mentor for Executive MBA Capstone Project teams and Applied Entrepreneurship teams.

Prior to joining RIT full time in 2010, Rich was President of Innovation Focus Rochester, LLC, an executive coaching and consulting firm that helped companies grow through innovation and new products. Before starting that firm, Rich was at Eastman Kodak Company working on innovation and new products while holding assignments in many functional areas including product development, marketing, manufacturing and operations, business and product management, strategic planning, and technology management. His experience spans strategy development through commercialization and product discontinuance.

Jeff Arywitz - Senior Innovation and Venture Coach

Jeff has been coaching entrepreneurs since 2010 when he began volunteering for The Entrepreneurs Network. Through this experience, Jeff found a new passion in helping companies develop successful, investable business plans and creating effective, executable growth strategies.

Now, as a Venture Coach at RIT’s Venture Creations Incubator, Jeff is dedicated to helping new technology companies and clean energy startups build strong businesses. With years of extensive experience working at the intersection of marketing, product development, and customer engagement, Jeff is passionate about delivering success for new technology products and services.

Prior to 2010, Jeff held executive roles in technology marketing, sales, product development, and e-commerce management with several multinational companies, most notably the Eastman Kodak Company. In addition to his work at Venture Creations, Jeff coaches student and faculty entrepreneur teams at RIT’s Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and teaches innovation in RIT’s School of Individualized Studies. Jeff is a graduate of RIT, with an MBA from the Saunders College of Business.

Anthony Testa - Senior Innovation Coach

Anthony Testa is RIT’s Program Director for the National Science Foundation's Upstate New York I-Corps Node, helping to develop regional entrepreneurial teams with emerging STEM technologies to advance to the NSF’s National I-Corps Program.

In addition to his UNY I-Corps Node work, Anthony team-teaches a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship curriculum in the Saunders Summer Startup Program, RIT's Summer Seed Accelerator. Anthony coaches teams in RIT’s Applied Entrepreneurship program in the art and science of customer discovery, and he teaches in the Saunders College of Business in the areas of Finance and Entrepreneurship.

Outside of his work at RIT and the Simone Center, Anthony has 25 years of experience in corporate strategy, operations, finance, and data science. He has invested in and worked with more than 20 startups, as well as with large organizations including Deloitte & Touche, Epsilon, General Motors, Ralston Purina, MGM Mirage, and Reebok International. He holds an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology and a BA in economics and psychology from University of Rochester.

Brad Gouldthorpe - Senior Innovation Coach

Brad is a successful business executive with experience commercializing technology and with business performance turnaround through approaches that emphasize building value. During his early tenure at Eastman Kodak and Xerox he gained experience in a range of business areas including engineering, finance, and product development which he leverages in his current activities. Brad led the launch of innovative digital technologies at Kodak that used the internet and other new delivery methods.  At Xerox, he led the strategic planning and marketing efforts that entered the company into a retail-based market with desktop products and introduced a marketing focus in other areas of the company.

Since that time, Mr. Gouldthorpe has led commercialization of innovative offerings through diverse roles in different technology markets including medical, office, nanomaterials, communications, and information technology. His work has included CEO for a materials company, President for startup webconferencing company, and is well versed in the operations of early stage businesses. He is also co-founder of ADispell, a drug development company working on therapeutic compounds to address dementia and drug addiction.

Mr. Gouldthorpe has experience forming companies, optimizing and understanding the potential of new innovations, and creating company value. Brad is recognized for understanding the customer opportunity, the investor/shareholder perspective, and for creating company value.

His roles include Entrepreneur-in-Residence for LaunchNY, a Venture Development Corporation, and for New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) mentoring early stage companies. He is adjunct faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology for the Entrepreneurship program and a mentor for the McGovern Center for Venture Development incubator at Cornell University.

Mr. Gouldthorpe has an MBA from the Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Michigan.

Kevin Dooley - Senior Innovation Coach

Kevin has founded companies and worked in all aspects of startups. He has prior corporate experience in product management, business development and profit analysis / analytics. Kevin has expertise in sales & marketing, creative problem-solving and analytics and leadership. His interests include road trips, hiking, nutrition, hockey, home projects and family.

Jenny Englert, Ph.D. - Adjunct Professor

Jennifer Englert, Ph.D., has been coaching with the Simone Center since Spring 2016. She has led user experience, human factors, and interface design projects for 20 years and is currently a User Experience Researcher at Paychex, and an Adjunct Professor at RIT.  Her work has focused on healthcare, privacy, customer care, production printing, digital packaging, consumer imaging, space shuttle mission control, video and consumer analytics, and the future of work.  

Prior to working at Paychex, Jennifer worked as a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer at The Ohio State University, and was a User Interface Designer and Researcher at Microsoft, Apple, NASA, Kodak, Xerox, PARC, and Conduent Labs. She is the co-author of 18 patents and over 40 book chapters and papers. She also coaches two Odyssey of the Mind teams in the Pittsford School District.

Kathy Ferrara - Innovation Coach

Kathleen has over 20 years' experience leading manufacturing companies to increased revenue growth and improved profitability. Her background is both with medical device and building product industries, and she has managed multiple sites ranging between $14m and $100m in revenue. Kathleen has been an entrepreneurial coach with RIT for several years and spends her spare time working as an adjunct teaching Management Principles. She also provides leadership development coaching to up and coming leaders. In her spare time, Kathleen enjoys her time in the Finger Lakes golfing and boating.

Dale McIntyre - Innovation Coach

Dale has been coaching with the Simone Center since 2013. He has extensive experience in the field of innovation. While at Kodak, he led successful innovation teams crossing the chasm into commercialization. With 160 US patents issued, Dale thrives at the intersection of technology, business & customer experience, and has presented work to four different VCs on the infamous Sandhill Road in Palo Alto.

Dale is the VP|Marketing at Pharos Systems Int., a Rochester-based software & services firm in the print solutions market. He led the retooling of the Pharos brand, introduced a B2B tech sales process, and was responsible for Pharos’ recognition as a Certified B Corp.

Recreationally, Dale enjoys many outdoor pursuits with family and friends that include running, cycling, canoeing and hiking. He is an Adirondack 46R as well as a Saranac Ultra 6er.

Rich Delmerico - Innovation Coach

Rich has over 30 years of experience as a top performing technology and business professional, with extensive and successful leadership expertise from Startup to Fortune 100 companies in global product and systems development, commercialization, operations and manufacturing across consumer, commercial, medical, printing, energy storage and materials products. Recognized success in building a high-performance culture and leading organizations, with a track record of innovation and subsequent delivery of value adding differentiated products and services to the market. Proven results in fundraising, driving efficiency, revenue growth and shareholder value in highly competitive markets.

Rich most recently led an early stage high technology Cornell based materials startup (NOHMs Technologies Inc.) from seed to VC monies while robustly developing and maturing the technology. He also is an Adjunct at the Rochester Institute of Technology’ s Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, LaunchNY and NYSERDA Entrepreneur-in-Residence, plus an Innovation Advisor for NYSERDA. Prior to NOHMs, Rich was a corporate executive at Kodak, including the R&D Director for the $1B revenue Traditional Consumer Businesses, driving innovation to market his entire career. Rich has a MS degree from Clarkson University in Manufacturing Systems, and BS degrees from SUNY Buffalo in both Electrical and Industrial Engineering.

Professionally he has a passion for mentoring diverse and inclusive teams, coaching startups, improving operational efficiency and delivering products and services to the customer and market. Personally, he enjoys volunteering, mentoring and supporting individuals and families with special needs. Recreationally Rich enjoys cycling, running, strength training, photography, traveling and hiking.

Jerry Adamski - Innovation Coach

Jerry joined RIT's Adjunct Faculty in 2016 and serves as an Innovation Coach for RIT's Simone Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Design Coach for Kate Gleason College of Engineering's Multidisciplinary Senior Design (MSD). He previously served as a startup CEO at RIT's Incubator, Venture Creations. Additionally he is a NYS Division of Science Technology & Innovation Executive coach and is a pending NSF I-Corps instructor.

Jerry has 30 years of international leadership experience as a top performing technology and business professional in multiple sectors including consumer, commercial, medical, printing, machine tools, health, energy, utilities, security, IoT and more. Jerry brings extensive experience: service and manufacturing operations, business development, program/project management, business startups, product commercialization, leadership and coaching. His entrepreneurial skills have been developed as a graduate of The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) program, as a CEO for a Venture Creations startup company, coach for over 50 startups with 35 unique technologies and by working for and with multiple size public, private and not for profit companies including Kodak, Gleason, Gerber Scientific, Al Sigl/CP Rochester and a variety of startups. 

Professionally he has a passion for consulting, coaching startups, optimizing operations, delivering products and services that exceed customer expectations. Personally he enjoys parenting, volunteering, mentoring and supporting families with special needs in recreation. 

Ray Lindenmayer - Innovation Coach

Raymond Lindenmayer currently works for Harris Corporation as a Senior Manager running the Communication Systems’ (CS) Strategic Accounts Group. The Strategic Accounts Group creates, manages, and executes goal-based campaigns to advance and protect the position of Harris CS in the market space, ensuring close coordination with CS Business Units, Global Business Development, and Government Relations teams. 

Prior to his strategic accounts assignment, he was the Growth Engineering Manager responsible for the execution of the division wide innovation process (I2) to identify new growth revenue opportunities into the corporate strategic growth plan (SGP). His group also identified, bid, and submitted research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) proposals that are aligned with Harris’ core technology roadmap, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and other government labs programs. He also was the Engineering Manager for the RF-3590 Ruggedized Android Tablet and the RF-325N nanoSAVR ISR receiver.

Ray was the Falcon III MP Radio Software Manager responsible for full life cycle development of the Harris Falcon III Manpack AN/PRC-117G secure tactical radio product and the international equivalent 7800M radio. His team successfully launched the products in 2008 by designing and delivering all the software for the 117G. His team delivered two post-launch hardware and software updates yielding a recurring cost savings of 15%. 

Prior to joining Harris, Ray was a Chief Engineer at Xerox. Some of the highlights of his 16 year career include leading a large engineering organization responsible for full product life cycle development for the new family of high volume digital reprographics systems.  The products have yielded over $3B in revenue from 1999-2005.

Pat Swenton-Wall - Innovation Coach

Patricia has been coaching since January 2017. She is a user experience designer and social scientist with extensive experience conducting socio-technical studies of customers in order to inform design of new technologies. As a researcher and manager in Xerox Research Centers in Webster and Palo Alto, she applied innovative approaches to understand customers and engage them in co-design of products and services. Patricia has experience collaborating with customers in a variety of domains including K-12 and higher education, digital libraries, publishing, healthcare, mobile work and call centers. Patricia earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from North Carolina State University. She has design and technical patents and several publications highlighting the application of ethnographic field methods to guide product design.

Ed Bizari - Innovation Coach

Ed bio coming soon!

Steve Brookstein - Innovation Coach

Steve has over 40 years of marketing and general management experience, having held senior positions with companies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Young and Rubicam, HBO and Comcast. He began his teaching career at FIT ( Fashion Institute of Technology ) in New York City, where he taught both marketing and entrepreneurship.

Upon relocating to Rochester in 2014, he is now an adjunct professor at Nazareth College. Beginning in spring 2017, Steve joined RIT as an adjunct professor in the Entrepreneurship program. This past summer he also coached in the Saunder's Summer Start accelerator.

Steve serves on the Board of Northland Cable and he is an angel investor in two start-ups.

Tom Klein - Innovation Coach

Tom bio coming soon!