Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program

A highly effective and experience mentor, Gerry Barañano personally guided 40+ companies to raise over $100 million in equity and grants. Gerry brings a comprehensive understanding of all elements necessary to start a successful technology company. Gerry prepares tech startups for equity and grant fund raising, helps them craft successful go-to-market strategies and guides them to get their first paying customers. Gerry served as a mentor to an NSF I-Corps team from UC Berkeley and also an entrepreneurial team from LLNL in the DOE Energy I-Corps program. Gerry holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from Yale University.

Adam Jay Harrison is an entrepreneur, inventor, and senior executive who has worked extensively with the US Department of Defense and national security community on topics related to technological innovation and competitiveness. He has founded and led multiple technology startups in the aerospace and defense sector and currently manages a boutique venture capital fund, Dead Run Ventures. Jay is the John R. Boyd National Security Innovation Fellow at New York University, where he researches the efficacy of national innovation policies that capitalize on collaboration between the Federal government, universities, and the private sector.

Brian is a tech entrepreneur, founder, board member and advisor.  He is listed on the Nashville Business Journal’s 2020 and 2021 Power 100 list of most influential business leaders in Nashville and ranked #5 on the @RiseGlobal Top 100 Thought Leaders in IT.    Brian studied Economics and Engineering Management at the Missouri University of Science and Technology before leaving to launch his first startup.  He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems and is a HIMSS Fellow. 

Mr. Rousos is currently a founder of The Innovation Studio, a venture studio is an enterprise that founds, operates, manages, and sells startup companies. The Studio partners with large companies to identify pressing industry-wide problems that can be solved using industrial artificial intelligence. Prior to that, he was the Director, Economic and New Venture Development, in the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization. That group launches and supports new companies in which Vanderbilt holds equity resulting from a license or a direct investment. Mr. Rousos is also an investor, an entrepreneur, and has served on a number of for-profit, non-profit, and trade association boards of directors. Prior to that, Mr. Rousos served in senior-level business and legal positions with large companies and startups and practiced law. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh.