Dr. Ralph B. Saunders, II SM, Ph.D.
Currently, in addition to running his Corporate IP management business’ (SRG) WNC operations, Dr. Saunders serves as a visiting scholar to WCU’s Chemistry department, co-teaching that university’s Chemistry Department’s developmental Science and Entrepreneurship Program with Dr. Jonathan Snover -- founding director of WCU’s ground breaking Science and Entrepreneurship program.
While further developing the firm’s Western Carolina regional Technology Development Portfolio client consultancy, Dr. Saunders has served on the boards of a university-focused venture capital fund, the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurship Network, and Techcentricity (an information technology start up and emerging ventures membership association in Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. As North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s founding director of that university’s Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. In conjunction with this assignment, having facilitated the university researcher and academic community regarding matters of intellectual property (IP) management, Dr. Saunders also served on the most recently completed University of North Carolina System Intellectual Property Task Force activity that recommended system-wide constituent institutions’ Patent and Copyright Policy guidelines and governance.
Prior to joining that university, Dr. Saunders taught relevant technology innovation management graduate courses in project management, business policy, and commercial venture assessment and development. In addition to having performed defense policy research while at the RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, California), he has published several articles with relevance to technology innovation management. Dr. Saunders received his Ph.D. in Engineering Management (ODU,’98), his S.M. in Management (MIT ’87) and Masters in Urban Planning (UCLA ’83). No complete stranger to the richness of the HBCU environment, he received his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering (energy conversion systems) (Howard University ’68).
Professionally, Dr. Saunders predominately has functioned in the private sector as an entrepreneur and technology consultant. In his primary act of entrepreneurship, he founded and continues to operate as a principal for commercial (as well as public sector) strategic enterprise policy and technology assessment of the management consultancy, Strategic Research Group, Inc. SRG, Inc. operating units where established in Washington, DC as well as Boston, Massachusetts. His more conventional corporate experiences include fully IBM sales and account management trained, new venture analyst for Hewlett-Packard Computer’s voice recognition office products (formerly Compaq/Digital Equipment Corporation) as well as serving as a consultant for the Boston-area Telecommunications technology consultancy, The Yankee Group.
No stranger to the political realities affecting commercial technology research and development, Dr. Saunders served as a major gas utility’s national trade association executive: an executive on loan” from the (District of Columbia) management consultancy, Ferguson Bryan and Associates – performing as a legislative assistant for energy to the 95th United States Congress; as well as a US Air Force Officer – managing aspects of its HQ Space and Missile Systems Organizations’ advanced space-based systems technology development program. His technology consultancy experience include rising to a task manager while at the former TRW’s (currently Northrop Grumman’s) Energy Division as well as at that firm’s Advanced Technology Division in Redondo Beach California. Dr. Saunders originally hails from Hampton Roads’ Virginia Beach, Virginia.
He is the very proud father of an adult daughter and son -- both of whom have blessed him to be the grandfather of 7 wonderful grandchildren.
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