Francesca Bertone has over 25 years of experience in start-up administration and operations. As founding CEO of PAX Scientific, Inc. in 1997 and COO since 2000, she has overseen the founding and funding of seven PAX subsidiaries, totaling over $25M in investment capital raised and awards of over $10M in state and federal grants. PAX’s clients include Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies seeking solutions to fluid dynamics challenges. PAX products range from the leading solution for municipal water storage mixing in North America, to pumps for shear sensitive biofluids, to an off-grid hydro turbine design that has received NSF SBIR Phase 1 and Phase 2 support. Francesca’s work includes the coordination of the intellectual property portfolio for PAX and its subsidiaries, which currently total over 35 granted patents. She has also supervised the successful exits and mergers of PAX subsidiaries. In addition to her work as COO, she serves on the Boards of Directors of PAX Scientific and its subsidiaries and is the Executive Director of Nature of Hope, a 501c3 organization that promotes biomimicry education.