Advisory Board

Werth Institute Advisory Board

The Werth Institute Advisory Board is a distinguished group of business leaders selected by the Provost and Werth Institute Director to insure the continued elevation of inclusive entrepreneurship at UConn by serving as ambassadors, advisors and advocates in our business communities and beyond.

Werth Institute Advisory Board

The Werth Institute Advisory Board is a distinguished group of business leaders selected by the Provost and Werth Institute Director to insure the continued elevation of inclusive entrepreneurship at UConn by serving as ambassadors, advisors and advocates in our business communities and beyond.

Executive Committee

Peter Werth Jr.

Peter J. Werth Jr. (HON, 2015)

Founder, CEO, President and Chairman, ChemWerth, Inc.

Life Member

Peter Werth is the Founder, CEO, President and Chairman of ChemWerth, Inc., a private full-service generic drug development and supply company. Since inception, the company has successfully introduced more than 100 generic active pharmaceutical ingredients. Working from a room above the garage in his Woodbridge, Connecticut home, Peter established ChemWerth Inc. in 1982. His vision was to produce U.S. FDA-quality active pharmaceutical ingredients in China, which would make generic drugs more accessible and affordable. He is an active entrepreneur involved in several startup companies as an Angel investor. Two of these companies are developing generic drugs for companion animals. Another, Alopexx Vaccine, LLC/ Alopexx Enterprises, LLC licensed technology from Harvard to develop a vaccine to kill multiple types of bacteria.

Peter is a longtime UConn supporter. The UConn Basketball Champions Center is named after Peter and his family, along with the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower. He previously served on the Board of UConn Ventures and has been an Alumni Traveler. The Peter J. Werth Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation was established in 2017 thanks to a historic gift that provides exceptional opportunities for students, faculty, and alumni.

Education: BS, Chemistry & Mathematics, Fort Hays State University (formerly Fort Hays Kansas College), 1959; MS, Organic Chemistry, Stanford University, 1962; Honorary Degree, Southern Connecticut State University, 2014; Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Connecticut, 2015.

Rich Vogel

Richard Vogel (BUS, ‘87)

Founding Partner, CFO and COO, Loeb Enterprises

Committee Chair

Richard Vogel is a founding partner and CFO/COO of Loeb.nyc where he is responsible for the company’s operations and overall financial management. Drawing on a wealth of experience as a marketing executive, professional manager, and startup advisor, Rich has a hand in every aspect of guiding the brilliant ideas and entrepreneurs in the Loeb.nyc Venture Collective. With Michael Loeb, Rich’s long-time partner, Rich has framed the trajectory of Loeb.nyc’s investment strategy and has overseen the rapid growth and execution of the Loeb.nyc assets.

Rich began his career working for E.F. Hutton on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and was previously President of MDSC Corp where he ran the company’s operating units and was responsible for its marketing partnerships with U.S. credit card issuers, major publishers, international airlines, and e-commerce companies.

Rich has been a member of the Werth Institute Advisory Board since 2018. As a UConn undergraduate, he was member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and the John F. Kennedy Institute for International Relations.

Education: BS, Honors Scholar, Magna Cum Laude, Finance, School of Business, University of Connecticut, 1987; MBA, Finance, Stern School of Business, New York University, 1990.

sarah broderick

Sarah K. Broderick (BUS 2000, 2002)

CEO and Founder, FEAT Capital & Advisory

Sarah Broderick is the CEO and Founder of FEAT Capital & Advisory, a company that harnesses the talents of those who have left the corporate world for more flexible environments. Prior to founding FEAT Capital & Advisory, Sarah served as a director, senior executive and financial expert across a range of organizations. She has over 20 years of experience working with both large cap companies and emerging tech and founder-led ventures. Most recently, Sarah served as the COO, CFO and member of the Board of Directors of VICE Media. Prior to her role at VICE Media, Sarah oversaw SEC Reporting and the global accounting operations for General Electric, and held senior financial leadership positions at Endeavor, NBCUniversal and Deloitte.

Sarah is the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s first Executive-in-Residence, where she plans to develop tomorrow’s entrepreneurs through the Institute. During her time at UConn, Sarah was a four-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Big East Conference Scholar Athlete on the UConn women’s softball team.

Education:  BS Magna Cum Laude, MS, 2000 and 2002, Accounting from UConn’s School of Business.

Amy Errett

Amy J. Errett (CLAS ‘79)

Founder & CEO, Madison Reed

Amy Errett is the Founder and CEO of Madison Reed, an at-home hair color and hair care product line free of harmful chemicals, delivered directly to the customer. Amy is a self-described Disrupter and has more than 25 years of business and operating expertise as a leading entrepreneur, senior executive and social-mission visionary. Her multifaceted career has ranged from the online Web 2.0 media industry to the offline consumer marketplace to volunteer nonprofit leadership. Amy was honored by the San Francisco Business Times with the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” award in 2015 and 2018, and named one of the Top 100 Female Business Founders by Inc. magazine in 2018.

Amy joined the UConn Foundation Board in 2015, previously serving on the Board of Directors from 1997 to 1998. She was inducted into the School of Business Hall of Fame in May 2014. As a Husky, Amy played on the women’s field hockey team.

Education: BA, Urban & Community Studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Connecticut, 1979; MBA, Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1988.

Kevin J. Kulak (BSE, ENGR, ‘85)

Partner, G Squared

Kevin Kulak is a Partner at G Squared, a mid-to-late stage venture capital fund with a leading track record in private company investing. Prior to this, Kevin was Managing Director with FNEX Capital (formerly known as Applied Capital, LLC), which provides independent financial advisory services to institutions, entrepreneurs, business owners, and family offices to help them grow, capitalize, or monetize their businesses. He has over 25 years of experience in investment banking, brokerage and investing, spending much of his career at J.P. Morgan, specializing in debt and equity capital markets. Kevin has also worked with USB Investment Bank, Amida Capital Management, Beowulf Energy, Illume Capital Management and Houlihan Lokey.

Kevin was inducted into UConn’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers in 2005 and received a Leader of the Pack Award at the Huskies on Wall Street event in 2007 in recognition and appreciation of his investment with the university. He was a panelist for the Husky Tech Talk in in 2018 and was the Keynote Speaker at the UConn Finance Conference in 2016.

Education: BS, Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Connecticut, 1985; MBA, Finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1990.

Advisory Board Members

Rob Andrews

Robby Andrews

EVP, Head of Publishing; Wildlife Studios

Robby Andrews is currently the EVP, Head of Publishing at Wildlife Studios. In this role, he leads product, growth, monetization, community and product marketing.

Prior to joining Wildlife Studios, Robby spent six years at Facebook (FB), where he was recruited to lead growth for Instagram (IG). Under his leadership, the Instagram user base grew nearly 5x, increasing from roughly 250M Monthly Active Users (MAU) to 1.1B MAU. In addition to growing Instagram’s user base, Robby helped scale the product and company from about 100 people in Menlo Park, CA to more than 1,500 globally across four offices. While at Facebook, he also built IG Web, IG Lite and lead growth team(s) across all aspects of Instagram, including IG Stories, IG Direct, IG Business and Advertisers. Most recently, Robby led the effort to unify messaging across FB's core products, and shipped the first major milestone, connecting Instagram and the FB network.

Prior to joining FB, Robby worked at Amazon where he was responsible for growth and consumer marketing.

Education: BS, Cum Laude, Finance, University of Connecticut

Bill Facteau

Bill Facteau

President & CEO, Earlens

Bill Facteau is a medical device executive with 30 years of experience in the industry. He is currently president and CEO, and board director at Earlens, and also serves on the board of Aerin Medical.

Most recently, he was the vice chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator, as well as an Entrepreneur in Residence at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Previously, Bill was at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as worldwide president of their ENT Division. Bill joined J&J via the $800M dollar acquisition of Acclarent where he served as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors since the company’s formation in 2004.

Under Bill’s leadership, the company went from concept to acquisition in five years, raised over $100M and grew revenues to $100M. Prior to joining Acclarent, Bill was the general manager of the Endovascular Division at Abbott Vascular where he created the entry strategy for Abbott to participate in the peripheral vascular space. He joined Abbott Laboratories via the $683 million acquisition of Perclose, a vessel closure company, where he was sales director.

Education: B.A., Political Science, University of Connecticut

Renee Montgomery

Renee Montgomery

President, RM Foundation

Renee Montgomery, a West Virginia native with three Girls State Basketball Championships, graduated from UConn as a two-time All-American in 2009 and played on the undefeated team that went on to win a national championship that year. She was drafted 4th in the WNBA and won two WNBA championships while also being named an All-Star and 6th Woman of the Year in her 11-year professional career.

Renee retired in 2021 after sitting out the 2020 season to focus on social reform and justice. Renee serves as a Sports Analyst for NBA/ESPN, host to numerous media outlets and host of her own weekly podcast “Montgomery & Co.”. She is currently part-owner and vice president of the WNBA Atlanta Dream.

Education: B.A., Communication and Media Studies, University of Connecticut

Nova Lorraine

Nova Lorraine

Fashion Designer, Author, Speaker, Branding Advisor

Nova Lorraine is an award-winning fashion designer, author, speaker, and branding advisor for fashion and lifestyle startups, and most recently, NFT’s and the Metaverse.

Nova founded Raine Magazine in 2007 and has interviewed Mark Cuban, Kendall Jenner, Daymond John, Nicky Hilton and Priyanka Chopra, to name a few. Nova's debut fashion collection earned her Best Haute Couture Designer of the Year, and her designs have been featured on “The View” and in Essence and Vogue Italia magazines. She's a poet and storyteller at heart and has found success in her newly released book and the Unleash Your Supernova podcast. Nova is a two time podcast award nominee, including Podcast of the Year as well as the People’s Choice Podcast Awards for Best Hosted Podcast.

Nova has expanded her creative and fashion pursuits into the Metaverse to include NFTs, DAOs, and digital experiences. She continues to provide platforms for fashion and creative entrepreneurs through the Pink Kangaru Podcast Network the Raine School of Fashion Innovation & Sustainability. Nova spends her free time guest lecturing, writing fiction and cheering at sporting events for her four children.

Education: Bachelors, Psychology, University of Connecticut; Fashion Institute of Technology; Masters, Clinical Psychology, Concentration: Multiculturalism, University of Connecticut

Kaitlin Archambault

Kaitlin Archambault

Founder and Principal, Incendiary Designs

Kaitlin Archambault is a designer, creative director and communications strategist with a decade of experience growing and leading creative teams. She started her career in public media, branding and growing the reach and funding of NPR and PBS programs as a part of The Futuro Media Group. In 2013, she went on to found Brooklyn-based creative studio Incendiary Designs, which has built and grown nonprofit and social good brands on five continents. Kaitlin has worked to advance education policy and grown thought leadership programs for placement in outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Hill.

Kaitlin spends much of her time at the intersection between user experience and behavioral economics to ensure that emerging technologies—like blockchain and artificial intelligence—are thoughtfully constructed for the greater good. She recently founded Open Future Coalition, a global platform for the local exchange of capital, skills and knowledge in service of measurable impact.

Kaitlin’s background is in public art and grassroots movement building: she was part of the initial press push and benefit campaign around the imprisonment of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, and has taught art therapy at the women’s jail on Riker’s Island.

Education: B.F.A., B.A., Studio Art: Illustration, Anthropology, University of Connecticut

Lance Baldo

Dr. Lance Baldo

Chief Medical Officer, Adaptive Biotechnologies

Dr. Lance Baldo is chief medical officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a commercial-stage biotech company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease.

Before joining Adaptive, Lance served in various roles of ascending responsibility with the Roche Group and its affiliates from February 2010 to April 2019, including most recently as senior vice president and head of U.S. Medical Affairs of Genentech. Prior to joining the Roche Group, Lance served as vice president, Global Medical Science and Affairs at The Medicines Company, a public biopharmaceuticals company, from September 2005 to February 2010. Lance also founded a medical software company, MedAptus, which was later acquired by the Volaris Group.

In addition to serving on the Werth Institute Board, Lance also supports Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures by helping assess promising university research, enabling discoveries to move from bench to the bedside.

Education: B.A., Biology, Johns Hopkins University; M.D., University of Connecticut School of Medicine

WerthWatching

We love to celebrate the successes of our alumni as they progress through their entrepreneurial journeys. View our showcased alumni below.

A group of students join 2018's Innovation Expo