Chemical Angel Network Members

  Bill Byers has been a member of Chemical Angel Network since 2017 and also serves as Venture Principal for Willamette Valley Capital https://willamette.vc/.  He has been an angel investor for more than 10 years. He also provides business and engineering consulting services, primarily for small and medium sized chemistry-based businesses.

Bill worked for nearly 35 years for CH2M HILL (now Jacobs), a global engineering and professional services company. At the time of his retirement in 2005, he was serving as VP and Technology Fellow. In that role, he evaluated new technologies for readiness to be used to benefit the company’s clients. 

He earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University and an MBA from the University of Oregon. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Oregon and has been active throughout his career with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE.) He was elected to AIChE Fellow in 2002 and served as President of AIChE in 2004.

Damoder Reddy is Chairman of Chemical Angels and an investor with TCA Venture Group. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded companies based on novel materials including new energy efficient materials for smart windows (Argil), nanocrystal based thin film solar cells (Solexant) and mixed signal ICs for OLED displays (Neulight). He was COO of Opsys, an OLED materials developer acquired by Cambridge Display Technology. He held technical management roles at Raychem on Polymer dispersed liquid crystals, Rockwell on optical thin films, and Dow Chemical on polymeric membranes. He obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Osmania University (India) and conducted postdoctoral research at University of Denver and Princeton University.

Frank L. Slejko holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the Univ.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After working in the chemical industry for 12 years as a research chemist, first in acrylates process development, then in commercial development, marketing and sales of ion-exchange resins. 

In 1984 he started a publishing company aimed at educating industry users of high-purity water on the latest treatment technologies. In 2014 the business was sold to a UK-based publishing firm. 

Recently he has been a member of the Chemical Angel Network and other angel groups. He has made numerous investments in start-ups since 2013. 

Ryan Smith is a patent attorney who practices in the areas of chemistry and biotechnology.  Ryan works with clients ranging from universities, entrepreneurs, and Fortune 500 companies to grown and manage their IP portfolios in both the U.S. and internationally.  In addition, he has experience in matters directed to non-infringement, invalidity, and freedom-to-operate analyses, as well as experience in intellectual property due diligence associated with mergers/acquisitions, public offerings and private equity investments.  Prior to entering the practice of law, Ryan was a research scientist at multiple biotechnology companies, including GE Healthcare and Illumina, where he invented a large number of patents fundamental to modern DNA sequencing methods.  Ryan was a Postdoctoral Fellow at both Stanford University and IBM-Almaden Research Center.  Ryan is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego.

Mark Vreeke is the Managing Member of TransAtlantic Science (TAS).   TAS is a consulting firm providing clients with a unique blend of strategic vision creation with project execution capabilities.  TAS specializes in Hard Science based companies that span Medical Devices and Materials to Sustainable Energy and Green Chemistry.  TAS can provide companies with expert leadership while they execute to their new vision.

Previously, Dr Vreeke was a Senior Partner at Rational Systems where he was a member of the core team that reimagined natural gas transportation enterprise systems.  The Rational ERP system is used to deliver 15% of the entire US natural gas market.  Concurrently, Dr. Vreeke served as Vice President of R&D for Rational Biotechnology where he identified a novel route to the delivery of personalized therapy for cardiovascular health.  

Earlier in his career, Dr. Vreeke held research positions at TheraSense where he contributed to the successful commercialization of glucose sensor technology from the University of Texas. TheraSense is the origin of the Abbott FreeStyle and Libre glucose monitoring lines.

Dr. Sidney White did his undergraduate work at Louisiana State University and his graduate work at Texas Christian University, where he obtained a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry. Sid worked for 7 years in the specialty chemical division of Cincinnati Milacron and over 30 years in the medical device company Essilor International, the world leader in eyewear. After retirement from his position as Director of Research and Development and Manager Partnerships, Sid volunteered in the ACS at the local and national levels. In 2012 Sid co-founded the Chemical Angel Network, the only Nation-wide angel investing network for early stage chemical businesses and in 2020 Sid was selected as an ACS Fellow.