Mark Smith

Mark has developed broad experience in working with the global academic research community and Fortune 500 hardware and software companies. Early in his career, Mark helped launch several software companies and has gone through the full start-up experience, including raising investor capital and producing, selling, and supporting commercial developer tools and 3-D modeling software. He is a non-technical founder of Geomagic, a 3D modeling software company that was acquired by 3D Systems Corporation.

In 2002 Mark joined the University of Illinois where he led a global software consortium called the Gelato Federation. He worked with Federation members from all around the world and industrial partners fostering collaborative relationships to advance the Linux Itanium platform. This position turned into two program management positions for industry-sponsored research centers at the University of Illinois. Both centers specialized in parallelizing client and mobile computing applications.

Mark currently teaches classes in entrepreneurship through acquisition, financial markets, and corporate finance at the University of Illinois. His teaching areas aligns well with his personal interests in Entrepreneurship and Finance.

Mark is a Serra Ventures limited partner, an angel investor, and consults with Build Equinox, a technology company that focuses on indoor air quality measurement and control. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Illinois.

Thesis title: Analysis and Optimization of a Dual-Load Vapor Compression Cycle Using Non-Azeotropic Refrigerant Mixtures