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From her first step into Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, where she was among the first class of female students in the 1970s, Martha Connolly has been a trailblazer.

She went on to be the first Johns Hopkins University student to submit her thesis via word processor and later to jump-start Maryland's venture investment program as the state's first biotechnology liaison. But the testament to Connolly's contribution to the business community has never been her own successes, but the successes she helped realize for others.

Connolly, 57, is the director of the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program, a Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute initiative in College Park that combines the expertise and resources at the University of Maryland, College Park, with growing businesses.

MIPS provides annual matching grants to companies involved in university-based research projects. These companies have produced more than $19.5 billion in revenue, including such successes as Hughes Communications, MedImmune and Black & Decker. Every dollar in a MIPS grant generates, on average, a $28 economic impact for the state, Connolly said.

"Not a lot of places offer this type of proof-of-concept funding," Connolly said. "The challenge is to find the next great product. It takes the right combination of company and university members."

Connolly is a stalwart defender of the program and several times fought in the legislature for its budget when it faced drastic cuts this year.

She has watched the flow of business change over the years from manufacturing to biotech and pharmaceuticals, and recently to renewable energy and environmental projects.

"There's not an issue in biotech that she's not well-versed on," said Liz Pettengill, vice president of the Greater Baltimore Committee. "She puts out so much energy to help the industry grow."

The committee honored Connolly in March with the President's Award at its Bioscience Awards program, recognizing her 20-plus years as a leader in the state's bioscience industry. Connolly also received an award from the organization for spearheading the Maryland Drug Discovery Network, which consolidates the bioscience resources throughout the University System of Maryland, plus Johns Hopkins University and several community colleges. It is part of the Maryland Biotechnology Center.

A ‘catalyst' and a ‘connector'

"The best way to describe Martha is she's a catalyst," said Ginette Serrero, CEO of A&G Pharmaceutical, a Columbia biotech that develops personalized medicine and companion diagnostics.

A&G was a MIPS recipient of $184,000 in 2008. The funding supported the company's breast cancer detection trials — to study biomarkers in tissue, which can be identified through drawing blood rather than through mammograms — which later resulted in an $870,000 grant from the Avon Foundation. A&G, which employs 18, was also named Best Graduate Company in the 2009 Maryland Incubator of the Year Awards.

Serrero, now an adviser to MIPS due to Connolly's cajoling, describes Connolly as a "connector" and someone whom young business people are not afraid to go to for guidance, because they know Connolly will not dismiss them.

"She will welcome anyone from the very small company to the very large one," she said, emphasizing how friendly Connolly was when Serrero came to her and MIPS for funding assistance.

When Kenneth C. Carter first approached Connolly in the late '90s with the business plan that would become Avalon Pharmaceuticals of Germantown, he noticed how helpful she was in helping him understand how not only the state but venture capitalists could boost his project. At the time, Connolly was working at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development as the senior biotechnology industry representative.

"She was our point person, shepherding our case," Carter said. "I was pretty glad to have her at that stage as a budding entrepreneur."

Carter has since left his CEO position at Avalon, which was acquired for $10 million last year, and plans to launch Noble Life Sciences within the Shady Grove Innovation Center with partner Alain Cappeluti.

Connolly later approached Carter for advice when she considered returning to the private sector in the early 2000s.

"I was flattered," he said.

Carter and Connolly continue their professional relationship, often lecturing for each other's entrepreneur classes at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, respectively.

Women ‘can do anything'

Connolly's ability to relate to entrepreneurs comes from her comfort and enthusiasm in various arenas, from academia to business to government, Carter said.

"She's someone who really transitions those worlds with great aplomb," he said.

Connolly comes from a long line of engineers. Her mother was a mathematician in World War II and worked on navigational systems that would eventually lead to the commercial global positioning systems.

"I've grown up with the philosophy that a woman can do anything we want to," she said.

Growing up in Nanuet, N.Y., she mostly took after her mother because she liked math's quantifiable answers versus the subjective nature of other subjects, Connolly said. After earning her bachelor's at the Stevens Institute and her doctorate at Hopkins, Connolly held some assistant professorships and then began cardiothoracic research through a National Institutes of Health grant at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. This was at the time when most researchers were switching to genomic research, which soon led to a loss in Connolly's funding.

The switch granted her the opportunity to join the state's Investment Finance Group in its efforts to grow its biotech footprint.

"This was from 1997 to 2001, when Maryland was doing things like mapping the human genome. How could you not get excited about that?" Connolly asked.

Judith A. Britz, executive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, has known Connolly for more than 10 years, having met her during Connolly's time with the Investment Finance Group. Britz was pitching a startup at the time.

"She was able to grasp the value of the business model we had. She's someone who knows the science and can integrate it with business knowledge," Britz said. "She can see the formula for what works."

"Martha really carved out that position. She crafted DBED's legacy in early investment into biotech and engineering companies," said David Entin, senior director of business development at GlycoMimetics in Gaithersburg, adding that his company benefited from this mindset. "She knows everybody. She's introduced me to about a million people."

Entin was also there when Connolly dipped her toes in private-sector waters for a short while as director of business development for EntreMed, a biopharmaceutical in Rockville, after helping launch Clairus Technologies, a proof-of-concept company, also in Rockville, in 2001.

The EntreMed position was especially harrowing because Connolly arrived just as a new management team was taking over, said Entin, who worked with Connolly. To Entin, Connolly's heart was always in academics.

"She has an appreciation for what is required to feed technology into an idea that can be spun out into a possible company," he said. "The dream of every economic development agency is to take university research and commercialize it."

‘Someone who knows industry'

Connolly said her experiences with both EntreMed and Clairus, which was later bought, taught her how publicly traded companies work and how clinical testing is conducted. It is knowledge she now uses in counseling startups applying to MIPS, she said.

She joined MIPS in 2003, impressed by the impact it has had on the business community.

"She's someone who knows the industry and advocates for getting things moving along," said Paul Fischer, CEO of biopharmaceutical GenVec in Gaithersburg, itself a 2003 MIPS recipient. Connolly helped GenVec find an investor for its hearing loss research, he said, a precursor to GenVec's recent partnership with Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

Connolly has also served on the board of MdBio of the Tech Council of Maryland and the Emerging Technology Center business incubator in Baltimore, where she remains a non-voting advisory member.

"It's not something we routinely ask of board members," said Ann Lansinger, executive director and president of the incubator. "I think it's amazing how she keeps up with everything and still has time for us. ... She will meet up with people personally to make sure they understand the MIPS program."

"She's someone known in the biotech business community," she said.

Connolly is also known for her sense of humor and love of having a good time, said A&G's Serrero, whom Connolly also persuaded to join the Bach Concert Series in Baltimore. Other seasons find Connolly singing a different tune as part of the Renaissance-styled Larksong.

"How many people can say they're friends with venture-funders and a sword-swallower?" she joked.

A Baltimore resident, Connolly said she always finds time to spend with her three daughters.

"Maryland is lucky to have her," Serrero said.

Martha Connolly

Position: Director of the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program, a Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute initiative in College Park that combines the expertise and resources at the University of Maryland with growing businesses.

Previous position: Director of business development, EntreMed.

Age: 57.

Education: Doctorate in biomedical engineering, John Hopkins University; master's and bachelor's in chemistry, Stevens Institute of Technology.

Organizations: Mtech Partnerships, Emerging Technology Center, MdBio of the Tech Council, Maryland Manufacturing Partnerships.

Residence: Baltimore.

Family: Single; three daughters, Laura Kalman Bruner, Margaret Bruner, Claire Bruner.

Hobbies: Singing with Bach Concert Series and Larksong; spending time with family.