DuraFizz Core Team

DuraFizz LLC consists of a core team of senior primary research scientists supported by application scientists.

David Soane, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Soane is a serial entrepreneur and prolific innovator in the fields of polymer chemistry and nanotechnology. At DuraFizz, he spearheads the company's creative problem solving to provide novel answers for difficult industry problems. Applying materials science and chemical engineering to a variety of industries, he has founded a number of successful companies: ACLARA (NASDAQ: ACLA ), a maker of reagents for in the diagnostic testing industry; Nano-tex, a fabricator of textile materials licensed by L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer and many others; 2C Optics, an eyeglass lens manufacturer; ZMS, a contact lens developer; and ICBM, a building materials and wallboard company. In his positions with Soane Labs, Soane Energy, and NanoPaper, he is currently focused on innovations for mature industries, including cosmetics, home and personal care, energy, and paper. Before his commercial ventures, Dr. Soane was a tenured Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley, with hundreds of scientific articles and patents in his resume. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.

Lauren Fortin, M.S., Senior Food Research Scientist
Ms. Fortin has extensive experience in the food science field, with a special interest in developing innovative food technologies. Prior to joining DuraFizz, she was an R&D technologist for Vitasoy-USA, helping to develop a number of soy-based food products that are currently on the market. She also worked at the US Nestlé R&D center where she assisted in several confections and ice cream coating projects. She has experience in omega-3 fatty acid stabilization, snack food texture optimization, food surface adhesion, and food texture optimization. Ms. Fortin received her B.S. in food science and her M.S. in food chemistry from the University of Massachusetts.

M. Sharon Webb, M.D., Ph.D., J.D., Vice President of Intellectual Property
Dr. Webb has been helping companies and investors with IP strategies for over ten years, focusing on investor-side diligence and company-side portfolio development and technology transfer. Before joining Dr. Soane, she was Of Counsel for Vantage Counsel LLC in Honolulu. Previously, Dr. Webb was a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston MA. Before entering the legal field, Dr. Webb was a board-certified surgeon, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, with teaching positions at Harvard, Tufts and the University of Pennsylvania. She received her M.D. degree from Duke, her Ph.D. from Yale, and her J.D. from Harvard.

Martha Groves, Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Groves has more than 25 years of experience in finance and operations, and over the past 10 years has served as the chief financial executive in a number of venture-backed technology startups. Before joining Dr. Soane, she served as CFO for Openera Technologies, a global mobile software company, and as CFO for SnowShore Networks, a VoIP (voice over IP) telecom equipment company. Ms. Groves was also the operations director for CRVelocity, the incubator arm for Charles River Ventures' portfolio companies. Additionally, she served as the vice president of finance for Novera Software, a venture-backed software company. In the early part of her career, Ms. Groves held various positions in finance and management at Analog Devices, Sun Microsystems, and AT&T. She holds an A.B. in chemistry from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.