Brett Cornwell
Hidden Star Capital – Chief Development Officer
Brett Cornwell was the Executive Director of Technology Commercialization at The Texas
A&M University System for 10 years before retiring from Texas A&M in 2021. In addition to
leading the licensing and commercialization activities of the Texas A&M System with
hundreds of patents under license, he was responsible for the New Ventures Division
which delivered services offered by the Office of Technology Commercialization in support
of the commercialization of technologies from the Texas A&M University System including
the formation of start-up companies based on Texas A&M technology. The services offered
include screening stage market assessments, business plan development, market
research studies, strategic business planning, and the development of venture pitches,
fundraising, and executive attraction.
Brett has had a very successful track record over her career:
- Has twenty-seven years experience in technology transfer and two-years experience with small companies as sales and marketing manager.
- Track Record of screening and assessing potential investments:
- Screened approx. 225 new opportunities each year
- Signed 400+ license agreements across categories
- Performed and / or reviewed more than 1,500 market assessments
Brett Cornwell was a program coordinator for the NASA Mid- Continent Technology Transfer Center (MCTTC) for ten years and served as the deputy director for three. At the NASA-MCTTC, his experience and knowledge was used to develop the Quicklook market research methodology which was adopted by NASA Johnson Space Center and modified for the Federal Laboratory Consortium. The Quicklook methodology is a technique and methodology used to develop market research and write marketing/business development studies for new patents and technologies. The Quicklook methodology generates direct feedback from market experts that is used to define market opportunities and challenges for new products and ventures.
At both Texas A&M and NASA, Brett Cornwell led programs to connect external businesses that had needs for technical assistance, expert help, and research partnerships with the experts across the research enterprises of Texas A&M System and NASA Johnson Space Center. Through these programs he coordinated hundreds of technical assistant interactions between companies and researchers.
Achievements
- Recognized as the Outstanding Technology Transfer Intermediary in Arkansas in 1997.
- Distinguished Service Award from the Mid-Continent Federal Laboratory Consortium in 2001.
- Designed major portions of the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s Technology Assessment processes for the RIB-IT Program and has been published in R&D Enterprise, Asia Pacific.
- Co-Author of Marketing Scientific Results, published in October 2004.