Strategic Participants

Dr. Byron L. Frenz is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and advisor to early-stage companies. Dr. Frenz founded a certified public accounting firm in 1972 to provide tax and financial advisory services. As a CPA, he provided financial planning and business development service for clients active in medical services, import/export, and real estate development. He  financially managed development projects in many countries including Honduras, Vietnam, Israel, Guatemala, Bolivia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Brazil and the United States. Dr. Frenz is the author of Strategic Risk Management for International Business Development… (1996), which focuses on strategic alliances and economic development to improve assessments of international business development projects. He received a Bachelor degree in Business Administration, a Masters degree in Accounting and a Doctorate degree in Development Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Richard N. Bernstein, is a Senior Of Counsel with the international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP and is a member of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Greenberg Traurig is the 3rd largest law firm in the United States and 15th largest law firm in the world with 1800 lawyers in 38 offices.

Mr. Bernstein focuses on corporate finance, technology transfer, private equity, M&A and strategic and venture capital financing. He has represented companies at all stages of development and on four different continents and has served as counsel to issuer, underwriter, buyer or seller, special committees or advisors in more than 350 transactions since 1980. Mr. Bernstein is a University of Wisconsin alumni (BBA 1976, MBA studies 1977), Certified Public Accountant (Florida, 1978), and JD (Florida Bar admission, 1980).

Mr. Bernstein is active in numerous non-profit organizations including United Israel Appeal (Chair of Board), The Jewish Agency for Israel (member of Executive Committee and Board), One Laptop Per Child Association (Chair of Board) and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

Mr. Bernstein is a principal in the international advisor firm of Amber Global Advisors, LLC.

Mr. Bernstein and Dr. Frenz collaborated on multiple projects from 1973 to the present.

For Richard N. Bernstein’s biography on the “Greenberg Traurig” website, see: www.Gtlaw.com/people/richard-n-bernstein

Dr. Richard R. Love is a professor of Medical Oncology in the Department of Medicine and Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin. He is co-author of over 200 scientific publications or book chapters. Dr. Love currently is the principal investigator on research projects funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Love began forming relationships with physicians at international hospitals after recognizing that access to an adequate patient base was an obstacle to his medical research. Dr. Love is the founder of the International Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Through international collaboration Dr. Love secured access to an alternative patient base and was able to successfully perform his world class medical research. Dr. Love has an A.B. degree in biology from Oberlin College, an MD degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and an M.S. degree in Preventive Medicine-Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Benjamin Villanueva was a member of the Board of Advisors of CW Technologies (CWT) and a native of Honduras now residing in the USA. His Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provided a foundation of more than 30 years of professional experiences in public and private administration in Honduras and in Central America.

These experiences included Honduras Minister of Finance for two Governments, Honduras Minister of Economics and Commerce and assistant to the Secretary General of the Central-American Common Market. He was one of the main actors in the stabilization and structural adjustment program undertaken by the Honduran Government in the 1990’s. He has been a Governor of the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. He was the spoke-person for the Latin-American countries, Spain and the Philippines in the 1990 General Assembly of the Inter-American Development Bank. He was the key figure in the negotiation and signing of a US$380.0 million bridge loan from the US Treasury Department with Treasury Secretary the Hon. Nicholas Brady in 1990. Dr. Villanueva has also been very active in the area of privatization of state-owned companies in Honduras. Under his leadership the Honduran Cement Plant, with assets of about US$100.0 million was privatized.

Dr. Villanueva also is active in a private sector professional career as a consultant and owner of businesses. He is a founder and first President of the private university UNITEC (Central-American Technological University) that services 6,000 students at campuses in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Dr. Villanueva was the first Technical Director of the Honduran Foundation for the Grand Project of National Transformation (GPNT). As president of CWT from 1997-1998 Dr. Villanueva participated in the preparation of proposals to the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) for financing feasibility studies for two hydroelectric power plants in Honduras.

Attorney Stephen Honikman specializes in strategic technology-to-business liaison services for international start-ups. Stephen attended Boston University for undergraduate studies in International Relations and Economics. Stephen received a Juris Doctor and Masters of Science in Technology and Human Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis. His legal and graduate studies focused on corporate and intellectual property law, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), strategic resource allocation, technology assessment, and emerging energy technology. Stephen’s early career included business development and technology consulting experience. Stephen has worked with several high-growth start-up companies: raising capital, building and managing interdisciplinary operations and engineering teams, and guiding business unit formation and strategic product development. Prior to joining CWT, Stephen was International Program Manager for Siemens ICN, the telecommunications division of the German multi-national, managing development of a global eBusiness technology solution.

Jerry E. Frenz is a member of CW Technology’s (CWT) Board of Advisors. Mr. Frenz is the CFO of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation, which sponsors the World Stem Cell Summit.

Mr. Frenz received a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and economics in 1970 from the University of Wisconsin. He began his career as a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1970 and accumulated over 25 years of experience in several major corporations with finance and controllership positions responsible for accounting, budgeting, forecasting, public finance, corporate planning, and cash management. Mr. Frenz has over 10 years of international experience with a fortune 100 company in equipment manufacturing and distribution. He diversified his experience with financial positions in electric utilities, other regulated industries such as transportation; banking, health care, and insurance thus acquiring significant computer experience in mainframe network, and PC based systems.

His international experience began as part of a management team of a multi-billion dollar company in the 70’s and early 80’s. He developed a corporate five-year plan involving a joint effort of manufacturing, engineering, and marketing in a program that was successful in returning the company to profitability by implementing a 25% cost reduction/profit improvement goal. As Corporate Planning Manager, Mr. Frenz coordinated a successful acquisition of a $2 billion company and also negotiated and implemented the spin-off of a $28 million division. His international administration responsibilities included a staff of 26 professionals and clerical, including traffic, documentation, pricing and international advertising. He successfully reduced costs and administrative staff by 30%. He streamlined the budgeting process, established goal setting, and conducted over 50 operating budget reviews in all major manufacturing locations which required frequent travel to Brazil, U.K., France, Spain, and South Africa. He spent 3 years in marketing for Latin American operations and conducted distribution studies requiring travel to Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Mr. Frenz relocated to Florida and worked for a diversified holding company consisting of electric utility, insurance, real estate, technical services, and cable television which gave him experience in public finance ($125 million), sale and liquidation responsibilities involved accounting, asset valuation, financial analysis, and internal control procedures. Mr. Frenz developed a Financial Forecast System on Local Area Network (LAN) of PC’s. He instituted alternative forecasting and financing scenarios to plan acquisition and divestitures.

Brian Naughton graduated with a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He continued his studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, obtaining his doctorate in Materials from the College of Engineering. His doctoral research was in magnetic nanomaterials for improved power electronics. In addition to his formal research he participated in the College of Engineering Technology Management Program (TMP) which provides training in entrepreneurial business and management skills focussed on technology. Brian also helped found and grow a student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) while attending graduate school at UCSB. This group, as part of a national network of similar chapters, partners with disadvantaged communities world-wide to implement capacity building sustainable development projects.

L.J. Janowski holds bachelors degrees in Biology and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His background includes research into nanomaterials and environmental chemistry. Mr Janowski has extensive experience with technical writing and international science affairs. He is a Presidential Scholar and National Merit Scholar.

Alex Frenz provides engineering and technical services at CWT. He participated in the solar powered water pump pilot study. His engineering background on risk analysis was applied on CWT’s nutrient recovery from waste streams project. He is currently assisting the conversion of static financial models to dynamic modeling. While working for Nestle’ in Baltimore, MD, Alex experienced a wide variety of tasks. As an Operations Management Trainee, he worked on improving a quality mission to control allergens at an Ice Cream Factory. He became a co-manager implementing new work methods to increase consistency between changing work shifts. Previously, Alex improved the development of night vision goggles at Sensor Technology Systems in Dayton, OH. His tasks included new product design, product validation, and increasing efficiency for the assembly line. He brings a technical background as a mechanical engineer to CWT. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.