Mentors-in-Residence

Jim Jindrick

Jim Jindrick has 30+ years management experience encompassing strategic planning, business development, product engineering, international marketing, and manufacturing operations. He was responsible for the creation of some 30 products and business ventures that generated over $750 million lifetime sales. He received seven U.S. utility and more than 50 international patents for innovations in automotive test and diagnostic equipment, electric power distribution controls, and data acquisition and instrumentation systems.

Jim was a co-founder and vice-president of Intelligent Instrumentation, Inc., Galtronics USA, and Ridgetop Group, Inc. He was also an engineering manager at Snap-on Tools Corporation, McGraw-Edison Company, and Burr-Brown Corporation. At Wencil Research, LLC, Jim provided venture planning and development consulting services for a variety of technology companies, from start-up ventures to well-established corporations.

Jim is a Mentor-in-Residence in the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He is an Eller Honors and Entrepreneurial Fellow and was inducted into the Karl Eller Center Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame. Jim has also served as a MOOT CORP Fellow at the University of Texas and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Oregon. He received his engineering and business education at the University of Wisconsin.

Robert Morrison

Mr. Morrison has had a strong interest in entrepreneurship throughout his career. With degrees in electrical engineering, his early career was involved in all phases of technology business development including product design, marketing, and general corporate management. Using these experiences, he founded Sunquest Information Systems which became the world’s largest vendor of hospital laboratory information automation products. This Tucson based company grew to over 800 local employees and its product offerings expanded to meet the data management requirements of hospital radiology and pharmacy departments before its acquisition by a British software conglomerate.

Since leaving Sunquest, Mr. Morrison has spent a number of years consulting with emerging companies in all phases of their business development. Today he is Executive Director of Tucson’s Desert Angels which is a group of local investors that focus on early stage companies.

Mr. Morrison, a Tucson native, has a strong interest in his community and serves on the boards of numerous professional and civic organizations. These include the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology, Arizona Center for Innovation, and Arizona Theatre Company. In addition, he contributes his technical and management skills to Las Familias center for sexually abused children.

Don Piper

Don Piper has over 25 years of experience helping emerging growth companies navigate the hazardous path from infancy through adolescence, with a special focus on the areas of organizational development, performance management, structured finance, acquisition integration, and fundraising. He was formerly Chairman of ntouchresearch Corporation, a site management organization serving the pharmaceutical, biotech, and clinical research organization industries; a founding member of TriState Investment Group II and IV, two angel-backed venture capital funds; and Chairman of the Board of The Phoenix, a research management company. He was also founder and managing director of VisionTech Partners, a holding company specializing in venture management.

He has been part of the founding management team or advisor to more than a dozen other start-up companies, including an oil production company, a retail franchise, an investment banking business, and an Internet-based performance management company. Don has led more than two-dozen acquisitions and participated in over one-hundred other M&A transactions. He has closely analyzed more than 2,000 companies, closed down three operations, and helped effectuate change in many other organizations. He has helped more than 300 “would-be” entrepreneurs through the early stages of developing and launching their business concepts.

Mr. Piper is an Eller Technology Transfer Fellow at The University of Arizona. He has contributed to two publications on mergers and acquisitions, Acquisitions in the USA and How to Sell Your Company. He has been a member of Duke University’s continuing education faculty on careers, and delivered keynotes or presentations to the Entrepreneurship Institute, the Snider Entrepreneurial Center of the Wharton School, the Montgomery County Bar Association, and the Northern Illinois Industrial Association. Mr. Piper received a B.S. from Duke University and an M.S. in Management from Texas A&M University.