Our Team
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jim Wunderman
President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a CEO-led public policy and advocacy organization formed in 1945 that works to shape the future of the Bay Area and keep it as the most innovative, globally competitive, and sustainable region in the world.
As the leading steward of the Bay Area, the Council has grown under Jim’s tenure to include more than 325 member companies across a wide range of industries. He has positioned the Council as a leading voice for business and the economy on a wide range of issues. Jim opened the Council’s office in Sacramento, where he regularly appears on the list of the state’s Top 100 political movers and shakers. Governors, mayors, legislators, foreign leaders and top business executives regularly seek Jim’s input and guidance on key issues, and he makes regular appearances and provides commentary across a wide range of news media.
Jim has served on numerous boards and commissions. He currently serves as a gubernatorial appointee as Chair of the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA, which develops and operates the region’s ferry system), the Blue-Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force, Too Small to Fail Advisory Council, California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, California Stewardship Network, California-China Trade and Investment Advisory Board, Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, Sierra Energy, and TMG Partners.
Prior to his work at the Bay Area Council, Jim’s career from 1984 to 2004 was split between both the private and public sectors. He served as Chief of Staff to San Francisco Mayor Frank M. Jordan from 1992-95, following five years of work for Mayor Dianne Feinstein. From 1997 to 2004 he served as Senior Vice President for external affairs at Providian Financial Corporation.
Nandini Tandon, PhD
Dr. Tandon is presently focusing on investments in critical and emerging Healthcare/IT/Life Sciences technologies’ application to unmet clinical needs in USA and India. In 2015, in Gandhinagar, on 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from S. Africa, Dr. Tandon received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians by the Indian President, for her contribution in healthcare and business. In 2016 she won the UP Ratna award in India and in 2017 Women of Excellence Award in USA.
Nandini participates on a global basis on entrepreneurship, venture capital, healthcare, and gender empowerment. She is very engaged in building partnership between USA and India. She was a USA delegate for Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hague and Hyderabad under President Trump and was delegate to Turkey and Dubai, under President Obama’s leadership. She has been on 14 for-profit boards and 15 not-for-profit boards. A White House Intern, Nandini received Ph.D. in biochemistry, Phi Lambda Upsilon from Duke University, North Carolina and B.A. cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Hollins University, Virginia.
A Silicon Valley venture capitalist for the past 15 years, Dr. Tandon was Managing Director, Lumira/MDS Capital in Palo Alto with $1.2B USD under management, and previously was a Partner, RBC Capital Partners. Nandini was Managing Director, MDS-Lumira Capital, with $1.2B under management. Prior to that she was Partner in RBC Capital Partners and launched their venture capital presence in San Francisco. Dr. Tandon made 12 investments in lifesaving, breakthrough technologies with 11 exits, 9 being acquired by market leaders such as Pfizer, Gilead, Amgen, General Electric and 2 companies following the IPO route.
Dr. Tandon brings successful investment track-record, entrepreneurial experience, deep domain knowledge and rich operational background from pharma, biotech, MedTech and semi-conductors to her investments. She was the Chief Business Officer of a VC backed start-up Zyomyx Inc., VP of Business Development, Hyseq Inc., and held various positions at Chiron Corporation, GlaxoWellcome and Microelectronics Center of North Carolina where she received a patent in semiconductor.
Nandini has supported companies, from start-ups to commercialization, in developing products for unmet medical needs. She has been on board of dozen plus high-tech companies.
Jay Bayne, PhD
Jay has over 30 years of academic and commercial experience and expertise in distributed time-critical systems, cognitive computing (e.g., artificial intelligence, computer learning algorithms), service systems, command and control systems, cyberphysical systems, and cybernetics. He is a senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a Distinguished Engineer of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Dr. Bayne has functioned as a Senior Consultant to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration. He has been CTO for two global industrial automation companies, each with annual revenues exceeding $20B. He has substantial experience with hiring, promotion and retention of senior research and development personnel in R&D laboratories located in European, North American and Asia-Pacific regions. He has led collaborations between US and Indian engineering teams.
The holder of two US Patents, Jay is an entrepreneur, having grown and sold his own companies. He was the Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Milwaukee Institute, Inc., an Outside Executive Director of Mason Wells Private Equity, and has played other roles, providing council and board level guidance to global enterprises and new business developments.
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Bayne’s continued interest in teaching technologies, and research into applied cognitive computing, has led to his current focus on AI as a logical and evolutionary next step in the development of learning automata, that it, applied cognitive computing (i.e., the engineering of adaptive automation and control systems). He is actively working with Dr. Brian Scassalleti of Yale University to bring this experience to bear in the current and future development of MCI products.
Richard Thompson, JD
Richard has a remarkably agile intellect, and has been highly successful in whatever area he has decided to apply his talents. Harvard College, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa; Stanford Law School, Order of the Coif. Owner, Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson, Los Angeles. Former COO, The Brodia Group. Past trustee and president of the Los Angeles Copyright Society. Richard has developed significant expertise in entertainment law, new media, technology, licensing, businesses development and corporate law. Since MCI’s inception, he has played a major role advising and actively supporting the company in all these areas. He sees a role for MCI technology in Legal Ethics education, and to other challenging interpersonal and social issues.
Richard was originally Fred Kron’s entertainment attorney and negotiated a deal with an entertainment company that optioned an hour dramatic television project created by Fred Kron and legendary science fiction/ Star Trek writer, Dorothy C. (DC) Fontana.
D. Tom Oakley, MBA
Graduate, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, currently President, CRO and COO of Psychogenics, Inc. Tom is a savvy and highly accomplished senior executive with over 30 years of domestic and international leadership experience in contract research, industrial products and consumer products businesses. Significant experience with mergers and acquisitions, business process redesign, performance improvement, start-ups (including raising investment capital) and turnarounds. Tom is an investor in MCI and supports the company on a wide range of business matters.
CORE TEAM
Fred Kron, MD
The Founder and present CEO of MCI, Dr. Kron is also a cancer survivor who
understands the importance of caring communication from the patient’s perspective. Currently an adjunct Assistant Professor at both Yale School of Medicine and the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Kron has been described as a polymath, who has a unique ability to create value by synthesizing information from a wide variety of disciplines and applying it to tangible solutions that support to the needs of real people with real problems.
Dr. Kron’s career is distinguished by successes in medical academics, medical practice, television and internet writing, and interactive computer game design. Dr. Kron has written for many award-winning animated and live-action television shows, everything from “The Smurfs” to “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and for multiply awarded interactive computer games. He was on staff at Universal Studios and Hanna-Barbera. He is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America West (WGAw) and the Hollywood Animation Guild (TAG) IATSE 839. Board-certified in Family Medicine, he has published several research manuscripts, is the named inventor on 2 published patents, and has given many invited presentations on MPathic-VR and other medical educational topics at prestigious forums such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). He sits on the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Digital Health Council, is a reviewer for Simulation in Healthcare and other journals, has participated on several NIH and US Army scientific review panels.
Brian Scassellati
Brian Scassellati is a Professor of Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and Mechanical Engineering at Yale University and Director of the NSF Expedition on Socially Assistive Robotics. His research focuses on building embodied computational models of human social behavior, especially for studying the developmental progression of early social skills. His other interests include humanoid robots, human-robot interaction, socially assistive robotics, artificial intelligence, machine perception, and social learning. He is chiefly interested in using AI-based technologies to provide people with social and cognitive support, and in strongly championing the fact that AI can be used to solve our most challenging societal problems. This aligns well with our own philosophy of leveraging AI to nurture EI
Dr. Scassellati received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001. His dissertation work (Foundations for a Theory of Mind for a Humanoid Robot) with Rodney Brooks used models drawn from developmental psychology to build a primitive system for allowing robots to understand people. His work at MIT focused mainly on two well-known humanoid robots named Cog and Kismet. He also holds a Master of Engineering in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (1995), and Bachelors degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (1995) and Brain and Cognitive Science (1995), all from MIT.
Dr. Scassellati’s research has been widely recognized within the robotics community, the cognitive science community, and the broader scientific community. He was a 2020 AAAS Leshner fellow for public engagement, a 2018 Whitney Humanities Fellow, and is currently a member of the governing board (Councilor) of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He received the 2020 Dylan Hixon ’88 Prize for Teaching Excellence at Yale, a 2007 Alfred P. Sloan fellowship, a 2003 NSF Career award, and 9 best paper awards or nominations. Time Magazine named Abii, which came out of Brian’s lab, one of the 100 Best inventions of 2020. Another of his inventions, named Ommie, designed to support mental health, specifically those with anxiety.
Brian is excited to be working with MCI on its implicit bias work. In collaboration with Dr. Jay Bayne, he is playing a major role in enhancing AI implementation.
Andy Johnson, MS
Senior Software Engineer, QA Lead, Project Manager. Master’s degree in education, communication, and technology (ECT). Andy has 20 years of experience in software engineering and has managed >$100M of government eLearning projects. He currently plays a leading role in the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Enterprise Digital Learning Modernization (EDLM) efforts and holds prominent roles in the Joint Enterprise Standards Committee (JESC) and National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Learning and Development Domain, which are re-engineering how the Government sees learning, training, and experience data. He is involved in developing DoD technology policy and acquisition guidance. Fred and Andy have worked together for 8 years.
Ginger Watson, PhD
Undergraduate degree in business, PhD in Instructional Design & Technology. Currently Director, Cognition, Learning, & Performance Laboratory, ODU Virginia Modeling, Analysis, & Simulation Center (VMASC). Ginger’s focus is on education, training, advanced technologies, and simulation. A former lead on the National Driving Simulator (an $85M project) where she was director of research and co-led development of scenario authoring and human performance measurement. Current work involves natural language processing, machine learning/deep learning, and human sensing systems to support intelligent, adaptive instruction. Ginger and Dr. Kron have worked together for about 8 years.
Karen Kron, CP
Karen Kron has over 21 years of executive experience in NY healthcare advertising, marketing and publishing. A two-time industry award-winner for advertising excellence, Karen is adept at managing large teams, and in client relationship management. In more recent positions, she has developed expertise in contract management, and procurement, along with proficiency in legal guidelines, laws/regulations, and Request for Proposal/Request for Bid procedures. Karen has worked with MCI since its inception, successfully managing all aspects of NIH grant administration, company budgeting, payroll and government reporting. She works with the Madison-based accounting firm KMA Bodilly (which provides external financial controls for MCI) and with the company’s business and IP counsels. Karen recently put another notch in her belt by getting her paralegal certification. She graduated with academic honors and was elected to the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
Eric Neal Young, MFA, PGA
Eric Young is a longtime member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA). He was a Walt Disney Studios Executive for 10 years, and has hands-on experience in a wide range of film, television, documentary, and new media productions. Former Film Production Chair at Chapman University and Founder/Chief Executive for Sparkhill Productions. Eric spearheads all of MCI’s production work.
Kelly Ward
Kelly is an Emmy and Humanitas Prize-winning actor-writer-director (voice, live action). Featured roles in television and movies include Grease, The Big Red One, Zoot Suit, M*A*S*H, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, and more. Kelly currently directs for Disney and teaches musical theatre at the University of Southern California, where he served as John Housman Director. Kelly has collaborated with MCI for many years as writer, voice actor, casting director. He has very robust connections in entertainment.
ADVISORY BOARD
Noah Falstein
Award-winning game designer. One of the first 10 employees at Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts, The 3DO Company (Electronic Arts Subsidiary), and Dreamworks Interactive. Served as Google’s Chief Game Designer.
Noah now consults on digital health products (Abbott, Dopavision) and neurogaming companies (MindMaze, Alkali Interactive, Applied VR, StoryUP). Developed ReMission, a game to help children with cancer stay on chemo, published by Hopelab. Proven effective, results published in the journal Pediatrics.
Noah and Dr. Kron have worked together for about 18 years. He is a shareholder and committed to use his vast knowledge to work with MCI on learner engagement.
Erika Rosenberg, PhD
Erika is a world-renowned expert in facial expression, who trains and consults on facial measurement using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) with academic, corporate, digital arts, and entertainment industry clients worldwide. She is the protégé of Paul Ekman, senior author of FACS, and has published widely on this measurement system, including educational materials and original scientific research, and currently is revising the official FACS manual. Dr. Rosenberg is Chief Scientific Officer at Humain, Ltd., a company that create digital humans, fantasy creatures and digital doubles for many of the top entertainment and technology companies around the world.
Dr. Rosenberg is also Founding Faculty at the Compassion Institute, a non-profit devoted to promoting compassion education worldwide. She co-authored the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program with Thupten Jinpa and others in 2009 at Stanford University. In 2010 she presented the CCT program to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Dr. Rosenberg is Faculty at The Nyingma Institute in Berkeley and has offered meditation trainings in such diverse international venues such as: Lerab Ling Monastery, Upaya Zen Center, The Telluride Institute, and Burning Man.
Erika is co-author of the McGraw-Hill textbook, Psychology: Perspectives and Connections (5e is in press), Fundamentals of Psychology: Perspectives and Connections (1e), and What the Face Reveals (with Paul Ekman), now in press in it’s 3rd edition, and numerous scientific articles and chapters on FACS, facial expression, emotion, and meditation.
Erika took over from Paul Ekman, PhD who originally advised MCI circa 2008-2012, and she has collaborated with MCI since then. She consults on improving computer vision, specifically facial expression detection and interpretation.
Brad Hiebert
24 years of experience as a character/facial rigger with Rhythm and Hues (Life of Pi), Industrial Light and Magic, Laika Studios. Expertise in Facial Action Coding System (FACS) rigging and controls. Brad supervises FACS rigging, and supervise their work.
Aaron Marshall, MBA, CPA
Aaron is a Madison, Wisconsin based licensed CPA with over 25 years of experience managing the financial operations of both publicly-traded and privately-held companies. For the last 15 years, Aaron has served in senior finance roles for several start-up companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and high-tech industries, and has participated in $211M in funding raises. MCI has worked with Aaron for 4 years in which time he has assisted with financial modeling and financial projections.
Fazal Khan, MD, JD
Associate Professor, University of Georgia School of Law. Expertise in regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, the effect of globalization on health care and the challenge of regulating emerging biotechnologies, data quality and use, governance of emerging technologies, bioethics, healthcare quality and safety.
Dr. Debra Grega, PhD, MBA
Debra’s extensive biomedical experience has focused on bringing new technologies to market, from both industry and academia, that address customer needs. In addition to B2B and B2Academia partnerships, she has been responsible for new technology development and customer evaluations.
She has been on teams with companies, faculty, and students, analyzing business plans and refining venture presentations. With her Roche Diagnostics experience managing software development, she has followed the movement to digital healthcare and sees MCI as forging an innovative path in digital training. Most recently, she was the Business Development Director for the University of Michigan.
Towanda Underdue, MBA
Towanda is a SAG-AFTRA award winning actress, writer, poet, producer, voiceover artist, standardized patient educator, social activist and mentor. She is known by critics and friends in acting circles as ‘the chameleon’ of stage and screen for her mastery of changing her voice and look to fit the role. Ms. Underdue is a published poet who opened for the likes of Maya Angelou to Sonja Sanchez. She also advocates for actors and performers by serving on the SAG-AFTRA National Board. Towanda is an advisor to the company on research requiring standardized patient training. She also collaborates with MCI on its implicit bias work, assessing scripts and performances for accuracy.