Meet the Team

Karinne Bredberg, Director

Karinne Bredberg

Director

Contact Karinne Bredberg.

Karinne is a double NIU alumna having received her bachelor’s in biology and her master’s in public administration. As the director of innovation, Karinne promotes strategic university-wide innovation relationships and entrepreneurship for students, staff, and faculty and the commercialization of their efforts. Her responsibilities include oversight and development of partnerships internal to the University and externally with other academic institutions, industry, investors, non-profits, and government entities for the University’s 71 North Partnership Studio, the NIU Opportunity Zones, the Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability (NICCS), and the Northern Illinois Research Foundation (NIRF). In recent years, Karinne has been involved in facilitating innovative student programs like the IDEAL INDUSTRIES Intrapreneurship Program and Discover Campus Innovator Program and recently served as chair for the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation’s Target Industry subcommittee and Secretary to the NIRF Board of Directors.

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Mark Hankins

Assistant Director for Technology Transfer
Contact Mark Hankins.

Mark has over 25 years of experience in the health care industry, including positions with start-up companies, large pharmaceutical companies, emerging pharmaceutical companies, and government/non-profit organizations. Mark currently serves as the Assistant Director for Technology Transfer at Northern Illinois University. Immediately prior to this position, he was an executive consultant to early stage and start-up companies focused primarily on therapeutic products and medical devices. Prior to his consulting work, he was the Director of Licensing at Medical University of South Carolina and the CEO of Codevax - a vaccine start-up in Rochester, NY. He has held Vice President of Business Development positions for CIMA Labs and Cardinal Health. Mark has also held senior business development and licensing positions with Sanofi Pasteur in both the US and Canada. Mark began his career in health care as a Technology Licensing Specialist for the National Institutes of Health.

Mark is a patent attorney, member of the Georgia State Bar, and a Certified Licensing Professional. He holds a Juris Doctor from University of Georgia School of Law, a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from Emory University. He also holds a Financial Decision-Making certificate from the University of Chicago. Mark currently serves as the Chair of the Licensing Executives Society Chicago Chapter.

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Bryan Flower

Assistant Director for Food Systems Innovation
Contact Bryan Flower.

Born in England and raised in South Africa, Chef Bryan started working in the hospitality industry in the mid-nineties. Over the past 30 years, his talents have taken him from South Africa to Europe, the Middle East, and finally to the United States. Chef Bryan has worked at several renowned resorts, clubs, restaurants, and hotels, before moving into education. Chef Bryan loves to share his passion and knowledge of all things pertaining to the food service industry and has taught culinary and hospitality in higher education for over 15 years. He is now the Asst. Director of Food Systems Innovation at Northern Illinois. His desire to work with quality ingredients led him and his wife to buy the property now called “The Red Home Farm”, where they raise grass fed beef and operate a food trailer.