About the Author
Ben Brink has over 30 years of experience in the management of high technology companies and in venture capital—in Silicon Valley, Southern California, and the Midwest, with operations in Europe and Asia. As CEO, he has led startup, early-stage, growth-stage, and mid-sized companies, both private and public in the software, defense electronics, medical electronics, environmental, and biotechnology market spaces. Recruited into the Federal Government in 2006, he turned around a $400M program, bringing the new biometric US passport into production. A Captain in the Navy Reserve, he was recalled to active duty in 2007, deploying to Afghanistan, where he led efforts to increase intelligence sharing and coordinate operations between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and ISAF forces—awarded Bronze Star; following demobilization, Brink took command of Navy Intelligence Reserve Region Southwest, in San Diego. Retiring from the Navy at the beginning of 2011, he has re-established his corporate advisory practice, The McAlester Group, and is a founding partner in Carthage Intellectual Capital Management, a new firm that has developed novel valuation techniques and an investment vehicle to monetize productive intellectual property. Volunteer efforts include: Director Employment Initiative Program for the Missouri ESGR, and mentor and judge for the Washington University Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the St. Louis IT Entrepreneurial Network. Brink holds degrees from: Harvard—MBA; Stanford—MS (Operations Research) and BS (Mathematics); and US Army War College—MS (Strategic Studies). Brink was the Republican nominee for the US House of Representatives for CA-14 in 1994 and 1996.