University of Maryland Entrepreneurship Center Increases Biotechnology and Technology Transfer Resources

College Park, Md. – August 18, 2008 - The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced Steven Roth and Kären Olson joined the school’s nationally recognized Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship as entrepreneurs-in-residence. They will join an already-established roster of six prominent investors and entrepreneurs who donate their time to work in a senior advisory capacity to the emerging firms that the center serves.

Over the past year Dingman’s entrepreneurs-in-residences donated 600 hours to serving more than a dozen portfolio companies such as Hook and Ladder Brewing Company, Goozex, Baby Fans, North Star Games and Mom Made Foods, and played a significant role in Dingman’s Capital Access Network (CAN). CAN is the largest and leading resource connecting entrepreneurs to mentorship and sources of early-stage investment in the D.C. Metro area.

"Karen and Steven significantly deepen the resources for the firms the center serves – particularly those focused on biotechnology and technology transfer," said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. "Our entrepreneurs-in-residence play a vital role as mentors and strategic advisors. There’s nowhere else in the region that entrepreneurs can access this kind of combined years’ of experience and insight. What the group delivers is unparalleled."

Roth is chief operating officer and founder of Onyx Government Services, Inc. (OGS), which is a provider of technical consulting and information technology services to the commercial and public sector marketplaces. Olson is chief executive officer of BioMarker Strategies LLC (BMS), a cancer diagnostics and biomedical device company based at the Johns Hopkins Biotech Park in Baltimore, Md.

Previously, Roth held several key senior management positions in the high technology and government services industry. He was president of WFI Government Services, Inc. (WGS), a $140 million diversified provider of systems engineering, technical consulting, and information technology services to key federal, state, and local government agencies. Roth also served as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Plateau Systems, a provider of enterprise software solutions, and at Riverbed Technologies (now Aether Systems). Prior to that, he was vice president and general manager at 3Com Corporation (now part of Extreme Networks) and vice president of federal systems for Octel Communications Corporation (now part of Lucent Technologies). Roth’s accomplishments include growing 3Com Corporation’s eastern area and federal division annual sales from $5 million to more than $400 million and Sun Microsystems, Inc.’s annual revenue from $2 million to more than $1 billion during his tenure with those organizations.

Prior to BMS, Olson was president and chief executive officer of Adhesives Research Inc. Under her leadership, the 500-person company surpassed a $100 million milestone, amassing 26-fold growth in the diagnostic market. Olson currently sits on several corporate boards including Main Tape, Inc., and Atlas Container, Inc., as well as several non-profit boards including the Board of Sponsors for Loyola College Sellinger School of Business and Young Presidents Organization (YPO). She is active in several organizations including the Governor of Maryland’s Bioscience Board-Entrepreneurial Subcommittee, Healthcare Businesswomen Association, and Women in Bio.

Founded in 1986 as one of the earliest entrepreneurship centers in the country, the Dingman Center has dedicated itself to facilitating, supporting, and encouraging entrepreneurial growth at the University of Maryland and in the Mid-Atlantic region. Forward looking and community focused, the center actively encourages a real-world business culture that innovatively bridges the theoretical with the practical. Programs and services provided by the Center support all stages of enterprise creation – from an entrepreneur’s initial concept to the first $1 million.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 14 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents — North America, Europe and Asia.