Crafting out-of-school learning apps
to engage and guide kids of all ages
with the deepest wonders of life sciences
Crafting out-of-school learning apps to engage and guide kids of all ages with the deepest wonders of life sciences
BioDreams™ Games
Meet Axo™ & Lotl™
InukshukBio Team	InukshukBio-CJE	2017-06-19T21:20:08+00:00
Founders, Directors & Key Operational Team
…with our Co-Lead Beta Tester.
Christophe J. Echeverri, PhD: CEO/CSO, Lead Founder
As one half of our bioscientist founder couple, Chris has spearheaded the establishment of our company. Originally trained as a cell biologist, he spent the first part of his career enjoying the thrills of academic life science research in his native Canada, the US, and Germany. Chris then spent the next 15 years as founder/CEO/CSO of a 40-staff biotech company based in Germany, Belgium and the US, overseeing groundbreaking research that applied Nobel prize-winning tools toward discovering new treatments for a wide range of diseases from cancers to malaria. Now, leveraging this combination of scientific and business experience, Chris is building InukshukBio as the crystallization of countless ideas accumulated over two decades with Karen (see below), all aimed at improving how their shared love of life sciences might best be communicated to the next generation, including their kids, Xavier, 9, and Murielle, 6.
…with our other Co-Lead Beta Tester
Karen Echeverri, PhD: co-Founder, Scientific Advisor
As the other half of our bioscientist founding couple, Karen further broadens InukshukBio's life science expertise through her own training in developmental biology. This has led her from her native Ireland through Switzerland and Germany to her ongoing active research program at the University of Minnesota, where she is now a faculty member and principal investigator focusing on regenerative biology. Over the years, as Karen's repeated participation in educational outreach events allowed her to share her passion with kids of all ages, she came to recognize one key observation that shaped her and Chris' eventual founding concepts for InukshukBio: that axolotl salamanders, with their exotic appearance and amazing biology (the subject of most of Karen's research through the years) are an incredibly effective way of getting kids excited about life sciences.
Allan "Chip" Pedersen: Co-Founder, Senior Advisor, Game Development
After starting his career in software development at Apple, Chip joined the Microsoft Game Studio as one of its first 50 staff. As the studio grew so did his career. Working on several release titles for the original Xbox group, he discovered his life-long love for managing the development of top-quality video games, and never looked back. In the 20 years since, he has overseen the development and shipment of over 100 titles for major game studios and publishers including Microsoft Game Studio and Activision, spanning a wide range of genres across all major platforms. Along the way, he has built a well-earned reputation as a 'straight shooter' who not only sees projects completed on time and within budget, but also shows a deep dedication toward educating newcomers to his beloved field. His extensive experience, which also covers high profile game licensing, brand management, and outsourced development, has made him a widely recognized leader and veteran of the game development industry.
Robert P. Elde, PhD: Chairman of the Board of Directors (non-executive)
While Bob's distinguished research career as a neurobiologist further broadens our scope of bioscientist expertise, it's actually his deep dedication to improving STEM education that led to his joining the InukshukBio team. His universally lauded tenure -the longest ever- as Dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences has been celebrated for, among other things, his transformative impact on the College's educational programs. During those years, his promotion of STEM education programs also included his service as Treasurer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum of Minnesota. Since his retirement from UMN in 2014, Bob and his wife have successfully converted an unused Texas mill into an innovative center for K-12 STEM learning. As the Science Director and Co-Founder of The Science Mill, Bob is also certified by the PEAR Institute as a DoS Observer for assessing the quality of out-of-school STEM education programs.
Kenneth Lammers: Game Design, 3D Art, Animation, Programming
After earning his degree in Computer Animation at the Art Institute of Seattle, Kenny's life-long passion for all aspects of 3D animation and game development led him to first join Microsoft Game Studio's Xbox group, where he spent 5 years contributing to that console's inaugural set of game titles. Since leaving Microsoft, his outstanding, award-nominated game development work continued within teams of all sizes, from freelancing to small startups to Activision, adding further depth to his original "core passions" of 3D art and animation, while also broadening his skill sets into the programming side. Along the way, as he led and/or contributed to the development of over 15 major shipped titles on all key platforms, Kenny also developed a strong interest in teaching newcomers to his field, producing training content for his website gametutor.com, and authoring the "Shader and Effects" book for unity. Games he has contributed to include: Kinect Star Wars, Call of Duty 3, Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, Madagascar 2, Tony Hawk 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, NFL Fever, NHL Rivals and Never Alone.
Support Team, Advisors
Sébastien Lavier: Senior Advisor on 3D Animation & Game Development
3D animation pioneer, co-developer of MotionBuilder (motion-capture package used for many major films, eg Avatar, Lord of The Rings, King Kong…)
Repeat entrepreneur in animation, gaming & business productivity software sectors
ex-Ubisoft, ex-Autodesk
Ryan Brauer, JD
(Fredrikson & Byron)
Legal-Corporate/Business
Stéphane E. Caron, JD
(Gowling WLG)
Legal-Intellectual Property
Bob Georges, Amy Rollins CPA
(Wilkerson Guthmann)
Interested in helping
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know-how to our team?
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with us as we develop our products
and continuously refine
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