MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP
Edith Duggan
Meghan Dougherty
Meghan Dougherty
President, Founder
Edith is a seasoned financial expert with over 30 years of experience as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), specializing in accounting, tax strategy, and regulatory compliance for individuals, startups, and small to mid-sized businesses. She began her career as a corporate accountant for a Fortune 500 company and obt
President, Founder
Edith is a seasoned financial expert with over 30 years of experience as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), specializing in accounting, tax strategy, and regulatory compliance for individuals, startups, and small to mid-sized businesses. She began her career as a corporate accountant for a Fortune 500 company and obtained her certification in management accounting before transitioning to a minority-owned accounting firm in Newark, NJ, where she expanded her expertise by conducting financial audits for nonprofit organizations receiving government subsidies. She later co-founded a CPA practice and has successfully represented clients before the IRS and state tax authorities in New Jersey and New York, providing strategic financial guidance and risk management support.
As President of Innovate in America, Edith leverages her extensive experience in financial oversight and business advisory services to facilitate successful cross-sector partnerships between industry, academia, and government entities in the semiconductor and aerospace & defense sectors. She is an active member of the New Jersey Society of CPAs and remains committed to professional excellence through continuous education and adherence to the highest ethical standards.
Meghan Dougherty
Meghan Dougherty
Meghan Dougherty
Director, Program & Business Development
With over a decade of consulting experience crafting strategic growth solutions for global organizations, Meghan has successfully led multi-stakeholder initiatives across industries and geographies, translating complex challenges into actionable solutions for some of the world’s leading brands, in
Director, Program & Business Development
With over a decade of consulting experience crafting strategic growth solutions for global organizations, Meghan has successfully led multi-stakeholder initiatives across industries and geographies, translating complex challenges into actionable solutions for some of the world’s leading brands, including Google, PepsiCo, and Visa.
In her role at Innovate in America, Meghan specializes in building cross-sector partnerships and leveraging data-driven storytelling to secure funding, align stakeholders, and catalyze innovation in the semiconductor and aerospace & defense industries. She is particularly passionate about fostering collaboration to unlock creative solutions to the industry’s workforce challenges, and enabling greater access for underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, and veterans. Meghan holds an MBA in Strategy & Leadership from Indiana University.
CONSULTANTS
Lane Lewis
Pat Antkowiak
Pat Antkowiak
Lane has over 32 years of experience delivering enterprise engineering solutions, used extensively to design, simulate and virtually prototype many of the world’s most complex products, in Semiconductor, Aerospace and Defense, High Tech, and Automotive industries. He has over 20 years of tenure with Cadence and Ansys, where he and global
Lane has over 32 years of experience delivering enterprise engineering solutions, used extensively to design, simulate and virtually prototype many of the world’s most complex products, in Semiconductor, Aerospace and Defense, High Tech, and Automotive industries. He has over 20 years of tenure with Cadence and Ansys, where he and global teams he managed have helped the world’s most innovative companies deliver radically better products to their customers. His work experiences have given him skills in relationship building, communication, revenue generation, and managing complex problems.
Lane presently serves on the Board of Directors for Make-a-Wish, SC as Vice Chair and the Board of GOAL Justice, as Treasurer. He received his BSEE from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Boston University.
Pat Antkowiak
Pat Antkowiak
Pat Antkowiak
Pat’s career spanned over 38 years at Northrop Grumman where he was responsible for R&D strategy and technology generation / business capture - first at the company’s Electronics Systems sector as General Manager of Advanced Concepts and Technologies, and then at the corporate level as Chief Technology and Strategy Office. In that role, h
Pat’s career spanned over 38 years at Northrop Grumman where he was responsible for R&D strategy and technology generation / business capture - first at the company’s Electronics Systems sector as General Manager of Advanced Concepts and Technologies, and then at the corporate level as Chief Technology and Strategy Office. In that role, he built and executed the company’s strategy for organic growth in emerging missions and technologies including hypersonic systems, quantum computing / transformational computing, secure microelectronics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence/machine learning, next generation air dominance, and space. He was the company’s leader in shaping and engaging with government customers, university partners, and industry liaisons on science and technology matters.
Pat presently serves as a member of the Department of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He is a member Board of Directors for the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute. He is a member of The Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering Dean’s advisory board. He received his BSEE from The Johns Hopkins University, and MSEE from the University of Maryland, where he was honored with the ECE department’s Distinguished Alumni award. He also attended the General Manager’s program at Harvard Business School.