George Casey earned his B.S. in Chemistry in 1973 from Lebanon Valley College (Annville, PA); attended Iowa State University in the Physical Chemistry graduate program from 1973 to 1975, completing all course work and qualifying examinations; and graduated with an M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1977 from Arizona State University.

He has 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry where his most recent experience was that of Program Manager for AMD in their joint microprocessor technology development partnership with Motorola (now FreeScale). Previous contributions while assigned to SEMATECH include Associate Director of Lithography, where he had technical and operational responsibilities while representing SEMATECH in external activities, Associate Director of Materials and Bulk Processes, and Interconnect Chemical Mechanical Polishing Program Manager.

Prior to joining SEMATECH as AMD’s senior assignee, he was a Lithography Module Manager for AMD, where he led the manufacturing, maintenance, and process engineering sections to achieve their business and manufacturing metric goals. Mr. Casey also held additional managerial positions in various wafer processing disciplines and product engineering during his 15-year tenure with AMD. Previous to AMD, he held positions in device engineering, ion implantation, metallization, and process engineering with Mostek (Dallas) and Motorola (Phoenix).

He is retired and has been active, along with his wife Karen, during the past eight years in various philanthropic and volunteer endeavors. He served on his church's endowment committee and as both a board member and architectural control committee member for his neighborhood homeowners association; was a member of the United Way’s Leadership Giving Committee; and is a board member of the Boys and Girls Club. He is a member of the UTeach Advisory Council and chairs the Brackenridge Field Lab task force.

As CEO and Superintendent of Wayside Schools, Matt works to develop and implement strategies to ensure long-term, mission-aligned academic, financial, and operational excellence. Over the last six school years, Matt has transformed a single-campus, 240-student college preparatory public charter school into a multi-campus charter district serving more than 2,000 students in South and Southeast Austin, and manages a $20 million annual budget. Under Matt's direction, Wayside Schools will continue to grow until it serves 3,500 students, providing a comprehensive college preparatory PreK-12 education program.

As a certified Texas public educator and superintendent, Matt holds a B.B.A. in Business Management from Saint Edward's University and a M.A. in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of York and is working toward his PhD in Education at Texas State University. He sits on the St. Edward's University School of Education Advisory Committee, the Texas Charter Schools Association Board of Directors, is a member of the Texas Association of School Administrators, and is a 2015 graduate of Leadership Austin: Essentials.

Current
Executive Director, Texas & Southeast at TechNet

Previous
Government and Public Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce

Education
The University of Texas at Austin

Executive Director, Texas & Southeast
TechNet

TechNet is the national, bipartisan network of CEOs and senior executives that promotes the growth of the technology industry by building long-term relationships between technology leaders and policymakers and by advocating a targeted policy agenda at the federal and 50-state level. TechNet’s diverse membership includes dynamic startups to the most iconic companies on the planet and represents more than two million employees in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, green tech, e-commerce, venture capital and finance. TechNet has offices in Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, Sacramento, Seattle, Boston, and Austin.

Independent Consultant
Government and Public Affairs

Vice President
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Executive Director, Trade Promotion
U.S. Department of Commerce

Chief of Staff to Deputy Chairman
Republican National Committee

Chief of Staff, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce

Political Coordinator
Republican National Committee

Trip Coordinator
Bush-Cheney 2000

Larry Peterson is Executive Director of the Texas Foundation for Innovative Communities, the state cluster initiative for development of Texas clean tech industry. Mr. Peterson has also been a serial entrepreneur and investor, previously building two of the largest IT companies in west Texas and New Mexico.

Mr. Peterson currently chairs the statewide Texas Lyceum Economic Growth Policy Advisory Group, focused on developing state and local policy in support of entrepreneurial growth companies, impactful tech transfer, and sustainable capital formation, and he was co-chair of the steering committee for the 2006 Texas Economic Growth Summit, the largest economic development conference in Texas history.

He has also served on the TWIG, the Texas Technologies Initiatives Working Group (founded by Dr. George Kozmetsky and co-chaired by Dr. Jane Armstrong), and the New Mexico analogous organization, the New Mexico Technology Research Corridor (now the Technology Research Collaborative).

Mr. Peterson is also a founding and current board member of the statewide Texas Capital Coalition, focused on the development of pre-seed, seed, and early stage capital resources in Texas. Mr. Peterson also chairs the El Paso Lyceum, the City of El Paso economic development advisory council, and chairs the Next Generation Economy Cabinet, one of six cabinets under the Lyceum.

In El Paso, Mr. Peterson has co-founded a number of tech-development organizations, including the Camino Real Angel Network, and the Paso del Norte Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP, now SITO). He has also served on the Steering Committee of the Greater El Paso Chamber Technology Initiatives, and chaired the regional R&D Commercialization Committee. Past projects have also included the White Sands Technology. He has been co-chair of the Texas Software and Wireless Technology Cluster initiative.

Mr. Peterson previously founded and financially supported a technology-focused education foundation, The Education Project. An accomplished software engineer, he also developed the software for the Patriot Missile Training System prototype, and a simulation language used for training Desert Storm rotary-wing aircraft pilots.

He has been active with numerous charitable and civic organizations in the west Texas region, including the boards of the United Way and American Red Cross.