Core Consulting Team

Russ Yelton, President/CEO

Russ Yelton received his Bachelor’s in Management from Appalachian State University and his MBA from Western Carolina University where he has also completed coursework towards his doctorate. Russ is a serial entrepreneur who, besides starting various companies, has been in incubation management for more than five years. In his previous career he worked with a community college to convert an abandoned 141,000 sq ft manufacturing facility into a mixed use incubator consisting of an FDA approved commercial food kitchen, biotechnology research labs, light manufacturing and executive offices. The program also developed agreements with seven incubators in six foreign countries which lead to its recognition by the National Business Incubation Association as the second most innovative program in the world in 2008. Yelton has served as both President and Vice-President of the North Carolina Business Incubation Association, Chair of the Mountain South Incubator Alliance and currently serves on the board of directors of the National Business Incubation Association as well as several others.

Dr. Al Poskanzer, Senior Technology Commercialization Advisor

Dr. Al Poskanzer, President of Poskanzer & Associates, brings over three decades of experience to NACET. He has led research groups at the Dynachem Division of Morton-Thiokol, served as the Chief Operating Officer of a small start-up company, and spent 20 years as a technology assessment consultant. During his 11 years in academia (University of California and Arizona State University), he managed a broad portfolio of technologies and negotiated complex licensing deals. He has licensed patented technologies as varied as rechargeable lithium battery technology and anti-cancer pharmaceuticals. Under his watch, ASU became tenth in the nation for new inventions and seventh for new start-ups. Most recently, Dr. Poskanzer served as Director of Technology Licensing at Boeing. Dr. Poskanzer has authored over 120 papers and publications and has received a “Gold Medal Award” from the American Electroplaters Society. He also earned the 1999 Chairman’s Award from the Arizona Governor’s Strategic Partnership for Economic Development for his work in creating and implementing the Intellectual Property Policy of the Arizona Board of Regents — one of the most progressive in the nation.