Board of Managers
Don Long, J.D. – Chairman, Executive Operating Committee
Mr. Long received his J.D. from Wake Forest University and his B.A. from Davidson College. He is a corporate attorney, with emphasis on legal audits, contracts, licensing and corporate structuring. Mr. Long and Mr. Deininger have been friends and associates for over 30 years. He is a co-founder of RATA, C³’s predecessor, traveling to Russia with Mr. Deininger in 1994. As Chairman of the Board of C³, Mr. Long gives oversight to strategic planning and all operational legal issues. He resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife and has two grown children.
John Akitt – Manager
Mr. Akitt is retired from the position of Executive Vice President with Exxon Chemical Company, a division of Exxon Corporation. He has held many positions with leading chemical industry associations in Canada, Europe, and the United States and has been a consultant to the Chemical Manufacturers Association (the predecessor to the American Chemistry Council) and a Director of the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. Mr. Akitt currently serves as a Director at Georgia Gulf Corp. and he previously served as a Director of Cytec Industries Inc. and Dofasco Inc. Mr. Akitt holds a BASc degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto and resides in Bonita Springs, Florida.
Richard Bergman – Manager, Finance Committee
Mr. Bergman is a senior finance executive with more than 30 years experience in both Finance and Operations. Currently a controller for strategic accounts with UPS in Atlanta, Mr. Bergman is responsible for managing the finance relationship with UPS’s largest customers. He is responsible for decisions on pricing, credit terms, and resolving billing issues. Mr. Bergman also coordinates account strategy and pricing for all government accounts. During his 18 years with UPS, he has also served as a District Controller, Cost and Reporting Controller, and International Finance Controller. Mr. Bergman has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Missouri, St. Louis with a minor in Economics.
Mark Deininger, J.D. – Manager, Executive Operating Committee
Mr. Deininger is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of C³. Admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1976, and with a degree in Economics from Davidson College in 1973, Mark Deininger has 30 years of experience serving as both attorney and business consultant. Mr. Deininger assisted early stage technology companies by combining material science expertise with economic and transactional analysis, as well as strategic planning for new and expanding ventures, with emphasis on the legal packaging of new technologies for licensing, tech transfer and capital formation.
Over the last 10 years, he expanded his basic understanding of material science and became co-inventor of C³’s applications in regard to treating die cast tools, refractory ceramics, catalysis and electrolytes, and is co-inventor of more than half of C³’s patented and patent pending technology. He has served as project manager of several technology incubators at ORNL since 2002, and was invited to sit in and help formulate policy in 2005 for the High Temperature Materials Lab (HTML) division of ORNL.
William Phinney – Manager, Executive Operating Committee, Finance Committee
Mr. Phinney is a general executive with 40 years experience in domestic and foreign business development and operations. He was employed from 1960 to 1988 with IBM Corp in Atlanta and New York with involvement in strategic and near term planning for revenue, profit and resources. From 1989 to 2005 Mr. Phinney was employed with Equifax Inc. as a general executive in the credit reporting industry, responsible for Latin America Strategic planning and management–corporate business development. Mr. Phinney received his undergraduate degree at American University and participated in advanced management programs at The Pennsylvania State University and Emory University.
James H. Ray, CPA/PFS, CFP – Manager, Finance Committee
Mr. Ray is a Certified Public Accountant with over 30 years of public and private accounting experience. Mr. Ray holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University. His public accounting experiences include auditing, business consulting as well as a tax background. Private experience includes that of V.P. Finance of a Florida publishing company and Controller of a start-up company in the 1980s. He formed his own accounting practice in 1989, practiced in partnership others and his practice ultimately culminated in the Atlanta firm Ray & Associates, P.C. which was sold in 2005. In 2006 he accepted the management position of Controller and served briefly as Assistant Secretary to C³’s Board of Managers.
He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Georgia Society of CPAs, Financial Planning Association of Georgia, and is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
