Executive Director
Chester J. Straub, Jr.

Chester J. Straub, Jr. is the executive director of the TRDA, where he oversees TRDA’s $6 million budget and supervises a staff of 10 employees. He has more than 16 years of experience in administering agencies and fostering economic development at all levels, including local, state and federal. Prior to joining the TRDA, he worked for five years as president of the Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) in Kingston, N.Y., the county’s leading economic development and business attraction entity. At UCDC, he co-founded the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, the region’s first-ever business incubator focused on technology start-up companies. He also administered the "Development 21Initiative," which provides grants to municipalities for infrastructure development, as well as low-cost loans to businesses for fuller utilization of telecommunications and e-commerce technologies. During his tenure, these agencies assisted more than 140 projects in a variety of industries, resulting in $295 million in capital investment, 2,300 retained jobs and potential creation of 4,000 additional jobs. He also spent eight years with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. During this time, he served in various positions, including acting assistant secretary for economic development. In this role, he supervised 300 employees and played integral role in securing a $450 million, single-year appropriation -- the highest level of funding in the agency’s history. He also was the principal EDA point of contact with The White House, Congress and the Office of Management and Budget on any agency legislative and budget issue. Chester began his economic development career with the Battery Park City Authority in New York, serving as corporate secretary and later as director of legal services.

Richard Fox

Richard Fox is widely known for his skills in identifying new market opportunities. He specializes in creating new companies from well-funded defense and aerospace technologies. His first company, a spin-out of a Westinghouse operation, produced a machine-vision system derived from a military target recognition system. Based on that success, he pioneered innovative concepts for nurturing and growing entrepreneurial high-tech businesses. As president of the Central Florida Innovation Corporation, Richard guided the launch of several high-visibility companies based on military technologies. Richard was also the co-founder of MetaTech Ventures, LLC, which works with existing corporations to identify core competencies, adjacent market opportunities and potential spin-outs. Client companies have included Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Agere Systems and high-growth-potential entrepreneurial companies. Richard also served on the senior management team of ENDOlap, Inc., a medical products company that designs and markets products used in minimally invasive surgery. Six years after its founding, ENDOlap was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Florida, and three years later, it was acquired by Cardinal Health, Inc., a Fortune 100 company. Presently, Richard is a board member of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. He has also served on the Florida Seed Capital Board and has been a member of several Florida task forces on venture capital and seed capital investing.

Scott Faris

Scott Faris is the founder and president of Astralis Group, LLC. He is also managing director of Corporate IP Ventures, a specialized investment company that starts and invests in companies created from corporate research activities. Previously, Scott served as the chairman and CEO of Waveguide Solutions, Inc., a leading developer of planar lightwave circuits and microsystem products. Scott has been involved in the start-up of more than 20 technology companies and brings a background in finance, technology commercialization and operations to emerging growth technology companies. As founding director and COO of Ocean Optics, a precision optical component and fiber-optic instrument company, he led acquisitions and established the company's precision optical components division. Prior to Ocean Optics, Scott was the founder and CEO of Enterprise Corporation, a technology accelerator organization that raised more than $50 million in capital for new and existing technology firms through a private investment forum. Other professional experience includes serving as director of the State Venture Capital Fund in Florida and the director of technology commercialization at the Center for Microelectronics Research.

SATOP - SBIR
Bonnie  O'Regan

Bonnie O'Regan is the Program Manager for the SATOP SBIR Workshop Training Program. Previously, she had more than 8 years of incubator management experience with TRDA and was involved in the creation of the Florida Business Incubation Association, serving as its first Program Manager from 1998-2001. Prior to the TRDA, Ms. O’Regan was the Education Coordinator for The Astronauts Memorial Foundation and Project Coordinator for the Astronauts Memorial National Design Competition. Bonnie has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Management from Warner Southern College. She is a member of the Brevard Small Business Assistance Council, National Business Incubation Association, Florida Business Incubation Association. Ms. O’Regan was selected as an NBIA 2007 Incubation Award Judge for the 21st International Conference on Business Incubation.