Board of Advisors

Jon Gelsey

Jon Gelsey is Director of Corporate Development at Microsoft where he handles acquisition and investment opportunities for Microsoft's operating systems, search, content and advertising business groups. Prior to Microsoft, Jon was an investment manager with Intel Capital. He started his career as a processor architect with Convex Computer Corporation, which was subsequently acquired by Hewlett-Packard. Jon simultaneously received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a B.A. in Liberal Arts (minors in German and Philosophy) from the University of Texas at Austin.

Curt Smith

Curt directs the Game Changer program under which each BP business unit annually implements new technologies that change the game in terms of measurably increased service, or reduction in cost, or increased competitiveness. Curt worked as Geologist before moving into the world of Information Technology. Among the notable recent gamechangers are “Intel inside BP” and “Clipboard-to-Computer”. Recent public appearances include the keynote at the Society of Petroleum Engineers "Digital and Communications Technologies for the Oil and Gas Industry”, and at the Computer World Mobility and Wireless Summit. “RFID Technology in BP”. He led the development of the world’s first Location Aware Safety System for positively accounting for people in the event of an emergency evacuation in industrial heavy metal environments and is currently working on a number of location aware systems including Lone Worker tracking, pipeline surveillance with unmanned aerial vehicles, People on Board management for offshore platforms, and asset management using low-power WiFi tags.

Information on BP Gamechangers

Rob Wiltbank, PhD

Dr. Wiltbank is Associate Professor of Strategic Management for the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, and a former Partner with Buerk Dale Victor LLC, a Seattle based venture capital fund.

He has published research covering topics from top management teams to non-predictive control strategies, to formal venture capital practices among angel investors. He is a Batten Institute Research Fellow with the Darden School at the University of Virginia, conducting an in depth study on organic growth in existing corporations, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Venturing. He also works with the Kauffman Foundation and the Angel Capital Education Foundation to expand his angel investor performance research throughout North America. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Washington, and a degree in Finance and Accounting from Oregon State University.

Kauffman Foundation Angel Group ROI Study