Professional Experience

1/1/10–present Founder & CEO Playrific, Inc., Bedford, MA

• Playrific allows parents to create a safe, interactive environment in which children 1 to 8 years old can play media, communicate with family members, and learn. Parents set limits, kids explore! With Playrific it’s all about making the user experience simple and fun. Parents use a web dashboard to decide the content and time allotment that is appropriate for their children, and the child uses the console to interact with content, family members, and web sites: whether it is solving riddles to progress in a game or singing along to learn a new language, they participate in the media activities at the level and pace that is right for each child. For parents it’s easy as 1-2-3 to set up, they can select pre-saved profiles that match their child’s age, language choices. and interests, and be up and running in minutes.
• Dr. Marcus raised the seed capital which enabled Playrific to get up and running and is orchestrating its emergence into the market.

4/1/05–4/1/2009 Founder Zeemote, Inc., Chelmsford, MA

• Zeemote Inc. is the recognized leader in designing, manufacturing, marketing and licensing wireless controller technology and products for mobile devices. The company’s debut product is the Zeemote JS1 Controller, which creates the world’s best mobile gaming experience. The award-winning Bluetooth JS1 Controller is marketed and sold globally through partnerships with top handset manufacturers and mobile operators. The world’s leading videogame publishers also actively develop Zeemote Ready™ titles to take advantage of the exciting and immersive mobile game play the JS1 Controller delivers.
• Dr. Marcus founded the company in 2005, recruited the team and ran the organization(as CEO). After launching the product in September 2008 and building revenue to $1.25MM in the three months following launch she became CTO to enable her to focus on the technology and the growing intellectual property portfolio.

3/02–3/05 & 4/96–11/97 Founder & President, Marcus Enterprises, Ltd. Bedford, MA

• Marcus Enterprises, Ltd.(MEL) is a strategic, technology and business consulting firm specializing in early stage companies and strategic partnering. In 1996&7 MELtd. did technology, management consulting, and fundraising for several companies. For HBN Shoe, LLC the assignment was as founding President including raising $1.2MM in seed capital; for HT Medical (sold to Immersion (IMMR)) the product development plans were revised resulting in a product which successfully reached the market for medical training devices; and for Explore Technologies (sold to Leap Frog (LF)) the work was related to strategic partnering.
  
  MELtd clients included, Fish & Richardson, Medtronic, and Yantric. Current projects include; technology expert for patent litigation, development of a new business strategy for a start-up including coaching the founder, recruitment of management for technology development.

9/2004–12/2004 Instructor Mechanical Engineering Design (2.009) MIT Cambridge, MA

• Invited to teach senior level mechanical engineering “capstone project” class. Supervised two groups of 8 students and co-supervised two groups of 16 students (later in the semester) to select energy conservation-related projects, and engineer them to an Alpha prototype. Gave a lecture to the overall class on product development economics and worked with a team of faculty members and staff to mentor and advise students. Projects involved mechanical, electrical. and some software elements. http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/.

9/97–12/01 Founder and President Glow Dog, Inc., Bedford, MA

• Glow Dog. Inc was a company which manufactured and marketed a fashionable line of safetywear exclusive for people and pets. Glow Dog capitalized on the niche in pets to get started and broadened the product offerings to serve the evolving customer base. Glow Dog products were sold through direct channels (including the internet), print catalogs, and retailers. It was sold to Reflec PLC a ~$7.5MM public company on the UK exchange manufacturing the reflective fabrics Glow Dog used. During its approximate 4 years of operation $3.5MM in investment capital was raised and a web site, back end processing technology, and a catalog were created. Numerous trademarks were developed, and distribution to the Japanese fashion market was established.

1988–4/96 Founder, Chairman of the Board and CTO of EXOS, Inc., Woburn, MA

• Activities included developing the basic concepts for the products, assembling the team, setting strategic direction for the corporation, developing relationships and business deals with other companies, and managing the R & D and Product development activities. During the ~7.5 years from the founding of this company to the sale, $3MM in venture and private equity capital was raised and another ~$3MM in SBIR grants supported the development of the core technologies. Numerous patents were applied for and some granted while the company was operating and several have been granted since. In April 1996, EXOS was sold to Microsoft, Inc. a worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The resulting product, SideWinder™ Force Feedback Pro joystick, was the hottest product in the market during Christmas 1997. Several products using this technology have continued to sell well. Currently over 5 million units using this technology have been sold with additional products based on this technology being launched each season by Microsoft to critical acclaim by the marketplace.

1984–1988 Senior Staff Member, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, MA

• Senior member of the Product Engineering Unit of the Engineering Sciences Section of Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL). The major focus of her work was in the design and development of medical products and advanced robotics technologies. She worked with clients to define projects, get them funded, select the team within ADL, and deliver the results to the clients in a timely fashion. She also managed the Medical Products Practice for the ADL Center for Product Development and was a member of the Biotechnology Practice group. The projects she was involved in were varied and included: design of an anthropomorphic robotic hand for use with an extravehicular space suit for NASA, evaluation and demonstration of robotics technologies for hazardous waste site clean-up for the EPA, design of a syringe infusion system for Becton-Dickinson, development of an immunoassay instrument for Baxter, Dade Division, development of surgical stapler products for Ethicon and design and fabrication of commuter roller skates for an inventor. In addition Dr. Marcus was involved as the technical team member on the acquisitions by Mallincrodt of Diamond Sensor Systems.

1983–1984 Asst. Professor of Orthopedics & Physiology, NYU Medical School, NYC, NY

• Responsibilities included setting up a new research laboratory, serving on the Computer Committee, and assisting in the training of the Residents in the Orthopedics Department. Her primary research interest while at N.Y.U. was joint implants.

Education and Awards

• Ph.D. in Biomechanics from the Imperial College of Science and Technology (University of London), in 1983. The subject of her thesis was the influence of shoes and surfaces on performance and injury potential in running. This work included extensive computer modeling of the human leg. The primary support for this work was a Marshall Scholarship.
• S.M. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (awarded Feb. 1980). Her research used scanning electron microscopy to examine red blood cells in an effort to understand the kinetics and thermodynamics of human erythrocyte freeze-thaw damage. This work was conducted in MIT’s Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory.
• The Clapp and Poliak Engineering Design Award was given to Dr. Marcus for her S.B. thesis research at MIT (S.B. awarded Feb. 1979). This research was conducted at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and resulted in the design of a head support for neurosurgical operations done in the sitting position.
• Senior class President, Photography Editor Technique, varsity Swimming, Tennis & Crew. She also received the Scott Paper Company Foundation Award for Leadership at MIT.

Additional Interests and Qualifications

• Board Member — EXOS, Inc., HBN Shoe, LLC (while an active founder and afterwards), Glow Dog, Inc., PowerGrid Fitness (board of advisors pre-formal board)
• Member of Board of Advisors, MIT Enterprise forum, Inc. — past
• Member of Executive Board, MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge — past
• Member of Start-up Committee, MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge — past
• Member of Council for the Arts at MIT — current
• Member corporation Visiting Committee in Mechanical Engineering at MIT — current
• Visiting engineer in Mechanical Engineering at MIT (considered a member of the faculty) — current
• Judge FIRST Robotics Competition — former
• Board member Association of Marshall Scholars — former
• Frequent speaker on Entrepreneurship at MIT, and occasionally at Babson, Dartmouth & Harvard, Invited speaker at numerous other professional societies and organizations in Boston, CA, and New England
• Numerous technical publications, more than 20 patents, trademarks, and patent applications and has also published several articles in more widely read journals (Byte and Technology Review). In addition has been the subject of numerous publications in magazines and newspapers around the country (Forbes, Fortune, NY Times, the Boston Globe, etc.)
• Published Poet and Photographer (several exhibits held)
• Other personal interests include, competitive swimming and bicycling, writing, photography, music (piano and guitar) and hiking.