IWP is pleased to welcome three new members to its Board of Advisors: Russ Johnson, Edita Robinson, and Elias Stamatiades.
Russ Johnson is currently a retired partner with KPLJ Ventures although he continues to work with early-stage companies developing promising new technologies in complex electronic, optical, and semiconductor products. He has been involved in the management and financing of startup companies in a wide variety of technologies and markets. He has served on numerous private and public company boards and is still directly involved with companies in the U.S., Israel, and Australia at the board and investor level. He spent over twenty years with the Hewlett Packard Company in a variety of capacities, including marketing, operations, and international business assignments, before joining JDS Uniphase as the Senior Vice-President of Global Sales and Marketing. Russ is a former chairman of the Lincoln Club of Northern California and serves on the board of the Pacific Research Institute.
Edita Robinson has worked for the White House, United Nations, and Stanford University. At the White House, she served in the Office of Presidential Appointments and Scheduling for President Ronald Reagan. After leaving the White House, she spent a year working for the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Stanford University. She began working for the United Nations in 1990, providing tours in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English during the breakup of the Soviet Union. She earned her undergraduate degree in Languages and Linguistics from Georgetown University.
Elias Stamatiades, a 2015 graduate of IWP’s M.A. program, is currently a Team Lead Contracting Officer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command. He has built his career predominantly with the Navy as a Contracting Officer with contracting and supervising experience in Washington, D.C., and Pearl Harbor, HI, and has also served as the Section Chief, Procurement, Policy, and Oversight for the Coast Guard. His overseas experience includes assignments in Italy, as the Team Lead for the Navy offices in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and as the Acquisition Branch Head at Naval Station Rota, Spain. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) with substantial contract audit experience in the Navy. Elias is fluent in Greek and has received the Department of the Navy Civilian Service Commendation Medal.