Jay Galbraith has the honor of serving as the president of BRIDG with its mission to create a semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging, and workforce hub to serve America in Osceola County, Florida. He brings more than three decades of administrative leadership and government affairs experience serving Central Florida and the entire state in transformational initiatives to his role leading the organization.

 

Jay has been a partner of BRIDG since its inception more than a decade ago through his work with Valencia College. Jay leverages his strengths to position BRIDG and establish NeoCity as a national hub for semiconductor research, manufacturing, advanced packaging, and workforce attainment. As BRIDG leads programs and federal contract awards critical to national security and domestic self-sufficiency in semiconductor advanced packaging of microelectronic systems, his familiarity with BRIDG drives the vision for the future forward.

 

Prior to joining BRIDG, Jay served as vice president for public affairs at Valencia College. His background also includes corporate leadership roles at United Parks and Resorts and the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, Lees-McRae College in North Carolina, and the Pinellas Education Foundation, in addition to serving in key staff roles for two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Michael Bilirakis and Congressman Bill Grant.

 

Jay is a graduate of Indian River State College, where he earned his associate in arts degree, and Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor’s in political communication. He and his wife, Carrie, an attorney, have four children and reside in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. John Allgair leads the Advanced System Integration and Packaging Program at BRIDG which is focused on providing robust, cost-effective platforms for the heterogeneous integration of silicon, III/V and photonic devices to enable smart sensor integration.  

 

Over his twenty-year career in the semiconductor industry, Dr. Allgair has worked in roles focused on business growth, innovation and bringing new products to market during tenures at GLOBALFOUNDRIES, AMD, SEMATECH, Freescale and Motorola.  His semiconductor engineering background includes advanced packaging integration, secure manufacturing, factory design, FinFET process integration, yield enhancement, lithography, materials characterization and engineering management.

 

Dr. Allgair serves on the SPIE Advanced Lithography program committee, the NDIA Electronics Division DIB Policy committee and has multiple publications in peer reviewed, industry journals.  He received a PhD in electrical engineering with an emphasis in semiconductor physics and processing from Arizona State University.

Linda Cappadona is Vice President of Program Management for BRIDG with extensive experience managing the cost, schedule, performance, and customer relationship of portfolios in both commercial and DoD space.

 

Prior to joining BRIDG, Linda worked for Northrop Grumman Corporation for more than 17 years, where she was responsible for over $1B in delivery orders for Precision Targeting and Infrared Countermeasure systems with the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. Throughout her career she has held roles of increasing technical and leadership responsibility in the areas of engineering, manufacturing, quality, and program management at Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Adaptec.

 

Linda holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. She is also a graduate of both the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business Capture Strategy Executive Program and the Leadership Orlando program.

 

Outside of the office, Linda is passionate about serving others and her community. In addition to her role as an outreach coordinator for the Veteran’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Foundation, her commitment to veteran advocacy extends to the eradication of veteran suicide through support of the Top Gun Fighter Foundation and the No Fallen Heroes project.  She also participates as a volunteer board member for True Health, a private, nonprofit community health center that serves low-income, uninsured, underinsured, and underserved populations in Central Florida.

Russell Foster brings over 35 years of semiconductor industry design, development, and production experience to the BRIDG team. In his role as vice president of test and measurement at BRIDG, a U.S.-based not-for-profit, public-private partnership focused on microelectronics manufacturing and development, Russ is responsible for all test and measurement activities for the organization.

 

Prior to joining BRIDG, Russ was vice president of subsystem engineering at the heterogeneous semiconductor company, Skorpios Technologies, that he cofounded. There, he was responsible for the development of optical communications products developed on the Skorpios Heterogeneous Integration Platform.

 

In addition to his time at Skorpios Technologies, Russ spent over 10 years as member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories in Allentown, Pennsylvania where the first transistor manufacturing plant in the U.S. was located. Russ also cofounded the fabless semiconductor company, AANetcom, during the early days of offshoring chip manufacturing to Taiwan. His career also includes more than 15 years in the Optical Communications industry, on the semiconductor side, where he held roles as co-founder, product engineer, principal engineer, director of engineering, and vice president of engineering.

 

Russ earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Monmouth University and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware.

With more than 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, communications, economic development, and international relations, Gloria has focused her career on advancing the local, national, and global competitive advantage of the Orlando region and the companies where she has worked.

 

Most recently, Gloria’s diverse background positioned her to lead marketing, communications, and community relations efforts for BRIDG, a US-based not-for-profit, public-private partnership for microelectronics manufacturing and development.

 

Previously, Gloria worked for the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (now Orlando Economic Partnership) in varying roles. Her responsibilities ranged from directing large-scale transformational initiatives and legislative priorities for the region to managing projects focused on digital media, simulation, innovative technologies, international trade, and cultural affairs. Her experience also includes marketing and business development for CHEP, a global provider of pallet and container pooling services, along with publicity and public relations for AAA and Pinecastle Records/American Bluegrass Network, a record label and syndicated radio show.

 

Gloria has actively served the Orlando region through current and past affiliations, including participation on advisory boards and committees for Boy Scouts of America, MicheLee Puppets, Jonathan’s Landing, Florida Photonics Cluster, Orlando Economic Partnership, Orange County Government, Orlando Science Center, Orange County Regional History Center, and Visit Orlando. Gloria also served as a mentor to students in the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media Mentorship Program and is part of the volunteer family at Give Kids the World.

 

Gloria was recently honored as a Community Game Changer by the Osceola Magic NBA G League, inducted into the University of Central Florida (UCF) Nicholson School of Communication & Media Alumni Hall of Fame, selected as a UCF College of Sciences Distinguished Alumni, and chosen as one of Orlando Business Journal’s 2018 Women Who Mean Business. She received her bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Central Florida and is a Thunderbird School of Global Management certified export trade specialist.

Tawny H. Olore currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the NSF Central Florida Semiconductor Innovation Engine. In this role, Ms. Olore is responsible for developing a semiconductor ecosystem in Central Florida that can translate to other regions in the United States. The NSF Engine is a collaboration of private and public entities.

 

Prior to her most recent appointment, Ms. Olore served as Osceola County’s Deputy County Manager, responsible for the oversight and management of the Transportation and Transit, Public Works, Real Estate and Right of Way, and Information Technology departments. In this role, Ms. Olore oversees over 350 employees with a yearly budget of nearly $375 million. During her tenure at the County, Ms. Olore secured and managed nearly $250 million in state and federal grants for critical infrastructure projects.

 

Prior to her promotion, Ms. Olore served as Osceola County’s inaugural Executive Director of Transportation and Transportation. Ms. Olore built and led the team and was responsible for the oversight and management of all transportation and transit projects in Osceola County, from inception, through design and construction, to completion. Under Ms. Olore’s leadership, the Department successfully developed and implemented the largest transportation program in County history. This included the planning, design, and right of way acquisition of more than 800 parcels for seven roadway widening projects costing more than $650 million – all accomplished within a three-year period. The pace established by Ms. Olore set a new standard for the Central Florida region.

 

Prior to joining Osceola County, Ms. Olore served as the Program Manager for the FDOT Rail Transit program for District Five, specifically managing all aspects of SunRail, Central Florida’s Commuter Rail project – a 61-mile system with 12 stations traversing through a multiple of jurisdictions including four counties and 11 cities. In that role, Ms. Olore strategically shepherded SunRail from its virtual inception in 2003 to revenue service – ultimately bringing the $1.2 billion project to Central Florida on time and on budget.

 

Distinguishing qualifications for Ms. Olore include:

 

• Extensive experience with large public and private sector initiatives that forge unity toward a common direction and outcome
• Proven track record to strategically manage large federal & state grants and budgets in excess of $1 billion
• Experienced consensus builder with federal, state, and local jurisdictions/businesses
• Leader in planning and implementing legacy projects in Central Florida, including SunRail and I-4 Ultimate
• Translator of complex engineering concepts and initiatives to core publics that do not live in daily in engineering “lingo”

 

Ms. Olore received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maine and her master’s degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University. She is a registered Professional Engineer in Florida.

As the Grants Administration Manager serving the @The National Science Foundation (NSF) #NSFEngines Central Florida Semiconductor Innovation Engine, Jenn works with coalition partners to ensure grant compliance and success.

 

An attorney and over 20-year member of The Florida Bar, Jenn brings more than a decade of experience in nonprofit programming, grants management, and administration to the team. Most recently, Jenn served as the Executive Director for Clermont Main Street, a nonprofit in Lake County, Florida focused on community building, placemaking, and developing local initiatives to keep Downtown Clermont an economically vibrant and thriving destination location.

 

Jenn is a Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellow (2017) with earned leadership certificates from Rollins College Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy. She has an Executive MBA from the University of Central Florida and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Southern Carolina.