Our Team

Pat Dillon is the Founder and President of MNSBIR, Inc., a private, non-profit organization to support startups and small businesses to research, develop and commercialize technologies into novel products and services for domestic and global markets by leveraging federal research and development investments. Dillon has nearly 45 years of experience in government, industry, non-profit and academic organizations. Dillon is a leader in Minnesota’s innovation, investment, and commercialization ecosystem with nearly 30 years of knowledge, experience and relationships in the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

Dillon is a member of the University of Minnesota (U of M), Technology Commercialization, Business Advisory Group; the Chair of the Advisory Board for the U of M, Technological Leadership Institute; a mentor for the Carlson School of Management, STARTUP Course; a frequent contributor to MN-REACH and MIN-CORPS (I-Corps Programs); a former MN-CUP Life Sciences Semi-Finalist Committee Member; a former speaker and moderator at the U of M Medical Devices Conference, Government Funding for Startups; and a frequent speaker at Twin Cities Startup Week, and taught a graduate course at the Mayo Clinic, Office of Entrepreneurship.

A staunch advocate of the SBIR/STTR programs, Dillon has tirelessly led the startup of MNSBIR in 2014 while at MEDA, then transitioning to Minnesota Technology Association (formerly the Minnesota High Technology Association) in 2016. Previously, Dillon served as the Northwest Regional Director for the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network from 2005-2013, a key initiative under Governor’s Doyle’s Grow Wisconsin plan. From 1992-2004, Dillon served in multiple roles at Minnesota Project Innovation, Inc. that culminated into the role of Executive Director in 2004. MPI, Inc. had a successful track record for 20 years before state budget challenges impacted its funding sources.

Dillon is a 1999 recipient of the prestigious Small Business Administration’s Tibbetts Award: a national award for excellence in the SBIR/STTR Programs. Pat is also a 2001 recipient of the City Business’ 25 Most Innovative Woman Award (now the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal). Pat has served as a commercialization plan reviewer for the National Science Foundation (twice) and the United States Department of Agriculture (multiple times) and was the principal investigator of an Office of Naval Research contract for SBIR outreach in a five-state region for the first-ever SWIFT Tour (SBIR/STTR Where Innovation Focuses on Technology) (now called SBIR Road Tours).

Dillon is a retired United States Navy Commander with 40 years of service both active and reserve, and in both aviation and intelligence communities. Pat is a combat veteran having served 10 months in Kabul, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Dillon is a proud recipient of the Vietnam Era GI Bill earning an MBA and BS in Business Administration from Winona State University, Winona, MN.

Taunia Gorka is a financial consultant engaged by MNSBIR, Inc. to help assist and transition the organization to continue to meet the needs of the SBIR/STTR awardees by using her 30-plus years of experience in accounting, human resources, and business analysis.  Taunia helps for-profit and non-profit organizations set up financial management systems and has extensive experience with Uniform Guidance and managing federal and state grants.  Taunia graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Science in Accountancy and is an inductee of Omicron Delta Epsilon (international honor society in economics) and Delta Mu Delta (international honor society in business).  Taunia has held management positions in the arts, social services, engineering, wealth management, and economic development and now focuses exclusively on small emerging businesses.

Susan Henken-Thielen is a senior level product and marketing expert with 40 years of executive experience in a range of industries including educational and medical technology and devices, consumer goods, fitness, and higher education.  Her career has focused on developing and introducing innovative, impactful and beneficial products, services and businesses that uniquely meet the needs of target customers.  As the president of a product launch and marketing consulting business, she provides strategic assistance to entrepreneurial ventures, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions, providing marketing research insights, product optimization, market development and enhancement strategies, and marketing plans that launch new and grow existing businesses.

Previous experience includes leading product strategy, product development and management initiatives for Collegis Education, a higher education consulting company. Prior to joining Collegis Education, she led the product, marketing and project management for the development and implementation of the online Competency-Based Learning initiative at Rasmussen University. As an Adjunct Professor for Rasmussen University, she taught marketing, sales and consumer behavior classes.  Serving as Brand Director on several new ventures at Pearsom Vue, she led product launches and marketing strategies for new higher education assessment software businesses globally, marketed to businesses and consumers, establishing the UExcel® brand as one of the leaders in the competency-based higher education assessment industry. Susan has also held Marketing and Product Management leadership positions at the US subsidiary of Irish medical device company Bio-Medical Research, Ltd., Compex Technologies, and Cigna Behavioral Care.

Susan is an active volunteer, currently serving as Vice President on the Board of Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates, an advocacy group focused on protecting Minnesota waters from pollution, over-development and Aquatic Invasive Species. She also served for 7 years on the select Grinnell College Alumni Council, an alumni leadership organization, where she held the role of President.  Susan earned her Master of Management degree at the Kellogg School, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, with concentrations in Marketing, Strategy, and Industrial Relations. She graduated from Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA with a B.A. in Psychology, with highest honors, and earned membership in the Grinnell and Mortar Board Honor Societies and Phi Beta Kappa. In 2019, she was honored with a Grinnell College Alumni Award for accomplishments and contributions in her career, community and to the College.

Becky Siekmeier (SEEK-meyer) is a versatile graphic designer specializing in type treatments, logo design, traditional page layout, presentations, and annual reports. Her gift is organizing information in an eye-catching and easy-to-read format, and her style is clean and bold. See examples of her work at https://scitechmn.org/about/ – scroll down to the Program Reports section. Becky is a sole proprietor doing business as Grand Calligraphy and Graphics.

Laura has a broad background between media, service and administration, and offers a fresh perspective on the complexities of the current SBIR/STTR atmosphere.

Running a small business is hard. But finding a partner to help you develop and execute a killer marketing strategy shouldn’t be. If you’re a small business owner who doesn’t have a background in marketing, it is hard to know what you should be doing to promote your business, let alone grow it. I started junebird creative because I can’t stomach watching  good companies throw away marketing dollars on well-intentioned marketing before spending the time developing their brand identity.

I love helping small and start-up businesses develop a clear understanding of who they are so they can effectively connect with their customers. When you’re intentional about the content you put into the world, you’ll be proud of your brand. And when you’re proud of your brand, your business will thrive.

With 15 years of digital marketing experience, an MBA from St. Thomas University and a plethora of cross-industry experience, I’m confident that I can help you develop the killer marketing strategy that will connect with your customers and make them wish they’d found you sooner.

Margaret Owen Thorpe created Venture Catalyst in 1990 to work with companies in need of market-based business development strategies. She specializes in work with companies pursuing new technologies through SBIR/STTR grants, as well as other funding sources. She has worked with several successful Minnesota SBIR applicants on both Phase I and Phase II submissions. She has also been a Professional Business Consultant with the Small Business Development Center at the University of St. Thomas since 1995.

Previously, she was part of the original market development team of United HealthCare Corporation that took it from $30,000,000 to over $400,000,000 in sales in three years.  Earlier, she held executive positions with the State of Wisconsin and Ramsey County. She speaks fluent bureaucrat.

She was a regular columnist for Ventures magazine and has written over three dozen published articles on business and historical topics. In her spare time, she herds cats and hunts ancestors.

She holds a B.A., University of Southern California (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.A., University of Wisconsin (Woodrow Wilson Fellow).

Anja Metzger, PhD has 30 years of medical device experience with the most recent 20 years focused on cardiovascular medical devices and obtaining over 20MM dollars in non-diluted small business grant funding from the NIH and DoD SBIR and CDMRP programs to explore innovative technologies and bring them to market. She has written and served as PI or a co-investigator in over 30 Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 2+ grant applications to support product development, pre-clinical and clinical trials with an 80% original submission success rate. In addition to her experience in cardiovascular medical devices she has assisted several companies focused on devices for orthopedics, cancer, and other disease states. In 2012, during her tenure at Advanced Circulatory Systems, she received the SBA’s SBIR Tibbets award and was recognized as being in the top 25 NIH Grant Recipients in 2013.  She has extensive knowledge of pre-clinical, clinical, and product development strategies, the ability to bring theory into practice, and is recognized as a named inventor on over 30 U.S. patent applications. Work with multiple firms including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and several start-up medical device companies has provided Anja an in-depth understanding of clinical, regulatory and quality aspects of the medical device business including risk assessment, the development of requirements and product specifications, design assurance, and pre-clinical and clinical design and execution. Anja has a Biomedical Engineering PhD from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the College of St. Catherine. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Minnesota’s Emergency Medicine Department and is an author of over 40 publications. In her role as Founder and CEO of Innovative MN Medical Solutions, she provides consulting services for non-dilutive funding opportunities, focusing on NIH and DoD SBIR/STTR grant proposals for novel medical device technologies. Services include identification of specific grant opportunities, professional review and critique of proposals and applications, proposal editing, proposal writing and submission, pre-clinical and clinical study design/procurement assistance, proposal brainstorming and research strategy outline, and complete proposal preparation.

Jim Stice, currently a principal with MedCelleration, a Minnesota consulting firm providing medical device IP scouting, project assessment and management services, including non-dilutive SBIR funding assistance with preparation of grant submissions, which involves advising multiple medical device customers on NIH SBIR Phase I and II strategy, IP scouting focused on medical device specialties identifying and assessing inventions fitting a search profile. Management services cover SBIR grant submissions and award execution. Over the last year, MedCelleration clients have obtained a total of $12M in NIH SBIR/STTR awards.

Prior to MedCelleration, Jim led Twin Star Medical, a medical device company providing drug delivery and acute trauma products to researchers and physicians that pioneered the use of porous device platform for multiple indications with non-dilutive funding, leveraging private equity ten times with over $20 million in Federal R&D grants during 10 years, securing four 510K clearances and two IDE approvals, implementing four IRB approved pilot clinical studies, and obtained ten patents for porous medical device platform. During his career, Jim also helped launch other medical device and healthcare startups as founder and/or Board member in addition to serving as Chairman of Medical Alley.

Tamara Bratland expertise is commercializing medical devices globally.  She works with medical device startups on creating strong strategies, executable marketing plans, relevant value propositions with a path to product commercialization.  Currently, she is working with numerous start-up companies as consultant, founder, marketing leader or mentor, defining product concepts and commercialization approaches.  Recent projects have been with the University of Minnesota, Technology Commercialization Office, and the National Institute of Health, Technical and Business Assistance programs. She brings over 30 years of experience in medical devices and high tech, with leadership roles in marketing and product development at Medtronic and Honeywell.  She has an MBA and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, is a certified Project Management Professional and holds 7 US Patents.