Wellspring Announces Addition of Joe Granda As EVP of Marketing

CHICAGO, Aug. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellspring, the leader in enterprise software to manage research and innovation, is pleased to announce the addition of Joe Granda as the Executive Vice President of Marketing.

Mr. Granda comes from SAP, with more than 20 years of experience in computer and software marketing.  Mr. Granda was Senior Director of Product Marketing responsible for mobile applications as well as marketing innovations in augmented reality and "Internet of Things."  Prior to SAP, Mr. Granda was the Executive Vice President of Marketing at Syclo, and transitioned to SAP when it was purchased. Syclo was a Chicago technology success story that quickly grew and became a leader in the enterprise mobile market.

"I was attracted to Wellspring by its unique value proposition and tremendous market opportunity," said Mr. Granda.  "R&D requires tools to more effectively manage knowledge assets in their enterprise and network.  In my opinion, Wellspring is poised to capture this huge market with the world's first enterprise software for navigating innovation.  My charter will be to build our brand and positioning Wellspring to exploit the untapped opportunity."

"The opportunity is immense.  With R&D spending over a trillion annually, organizations must look for ways to manage their knowledge assets to out innovate the competition," said Wellspring CEO Dr. Robert Lowe.  "Joe's role will be to educate the community about the burgeoning Knowledge Supply Chain market.  He has an excellent track record promoting then capturing leadership positions in new arenas.  We're thrilled to have him join the Wellspring team."

Mr. Granda holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA in Marketing and Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

The Chicago-based Open Innovation software company was founded in 2003 as a spin-out of Carnegie Mellon University, initially providing technology transfer software solutions to universities and hospitals. Today, Wellspring's Sophia software platform is used in universities across the world, in hospitals such as University Hospitals/Case Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, and by corporations such as Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, as well as within government departments including the US Department of Veterans Affairs.   Wellspring recently closed $5 million in capital from MK Capital, with plans to strengthen its existing products and provide new technologies in Open Innovation for all sectors of R&D. 

Unlike other Open Innovation platforms, Wellspring's Sophia software enables organizations to innovate faster by accessing knowledge quickly and optimizing investments in research and innovation, all by managing and harnessing the organization's Knowledge Supply Chain. By managing the Knowledge Supply Chain, an organization's network of connections and knowledge assets, companies, universities, and hospitals optimize their research programs to effectively spur new innovations.  In addition to the Sophia platform, Wellspring also acquired Flintbox in 2010, an intellectual property exchange originally founded by the University of British Columbia.

About Wellspring Wellspring is the leading provider of software systems to unify the processes of open innovation, from technology scouting to corporate venturing to in/out-licensing to intellectual property management. The company's Sophia Knowledge Supply Chain Software enables companies, foundations, government agencies, and universities to identify and capture value from knowledge assets and their network of collaborators. For more information, please contact Sara Kronenberg at (312) 643-5100 or visit http://www.wellspring.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140811/135079

SOURCE Wellspring