UMBC Incubator welcomes two new board members

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Tammi L. Thomas
tammi@umbc.edu
410-455-6784

UMBC Incubator Welcomes Two New Board Members

Geritz, Zuga Offer Technology and Funding Expertise

BALTIMORE, Md. (March 5, 2007) – The University of Maryland, Baltimore County's business incubator and accelerator, techcenter@UMBC, recently appointed two new members to its Business Advisory Board (BAB). The techcenter@UMBC's Board represents a distinguished group of education, science, and business leaders.

The new board members are:

Rick Geritz is CEO of BDMetrics and has over 15 years of experience in building profitable technology product companies. Previously, Geritz held senior level executive roles for SafeNet (NASDAQ; SFNT) including president and general manager responsible for overall product strategy and operations for their silicon and enterprise software businesses. He also served as executive vice president and a board member at Rockville-based ICARUS Corporation, an engineering cost modeling software company, in which he led the company's worldwide product strategy and operations, and subsequently led its sale to Aspen Technology (NASDAQ; AZPN). Geritz earned a degree in Economics from St. Mary's College.

Matt Zuga is a founder and managing director of Red Abbey Venture Partners, a life sciences focused investment firm based in Baltimore, Md. Zuga has been responsible for the firm's investment in 12 privately held and 8 publicly traded companies since September 2004, including Alba Therapeutics, Inc., CoGenesys, Inc. and Macrogenics, Inc. Red Abbey invests across the life sciences sector in high-quality companies that are developing novel therapeutics and medical devices based on distinctive technologies. Previously, Zuga was a managing director in the investment banking department of Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc. and the head of the Life Sciences Group. Zuga received an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a degree in Business Administration/Finance from The Ohio State University.

“The new board members underscore techcenter@UMBC's diverse portfolio of high technology companies,” says Thomas Peltier, techcenter@UMBC's Business Advisory Board chair, and Managing Director and Group Head of Aerospace, Defense and IT Services Group of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. “We are thrilled about the level of activity surrounding techcenter@UMBC companies – from multimillion dollar investments by the financial community, to substantial federal grant awards, to sizable contracts with customers. The Board is here to help advise techcenter@UMBC companies with their continued growth and success.”

techcenter@UMBC is home to 18 start-up and 13 emerging high-tech and biomedical companies. The business incubator also operates an Idea Lab to help UMBC students and faculty develop companies.

“Our Incubator and Accelerator programs nurture the development of technology-led companies, helping them survive and thrive during their start-up phase,” says Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park . “We have graduated over 30 companies, including Geritz's company, BDMetrics. We are pleased to have Zuga and Geritz join our strong and experienced Board.”

In recent months techcenter@UMBC managers have graduated two incubator companies, Next Breath, LLC and Fluorometrix, and welcomed two new biotech companies, Tradezyme, LLC and Biomedica Management Corporation.

About techcenter@UMBC: UMBC's technology incubator, founded in 1989, was expanded in 1996 when UMBC purchased the 30-acre five-building Lockheed Martin Research Lab facility site and renamed it techcenter@UMBC . techcenter@UMBC is home to approximately 30 early stage and mature companies. For more information about the techcenter@UMBC visit the website at www.umbc.edu/techcenter.

Phase II is bwtech@UMBC, a 41-acre research and technology community. bwtech@UMBC has a total development capacity of up to 350,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. The park will ultimately comprise five new state-of-the-art buildings occupied by research and technology firms. Both projects combined have over 40 tenants representing diverse technologies ranging from mechanical engineering to pharmaceutical research, from environmental sampling to biotechnology. For more information about the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park visit the website at www.bwtechumbc.com.

###