Board of Advisors

Jack H. Britt, Ph.D.

Jack H. Britt retired as Executive Vice President of The University of Tennessee in March 2007. He currently works part-time as a Senior Consultant for Strata-G LLC. He is co-founder and Senior Partner of Blackwell Britt & Associates, a niche search firm focused on higher education and public agencies.

Britt has served in administrative roles at The University of Tennessee (Executive Vice President; Vice President for Agriculture), North Carolina State University (Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in Veterinary Medicine & Assistant Director of the NC Agricultural Research Service) and Michigan State University (Interim Head of Dairy Department).

He has served on several boards including the UT-Battelle LLC Board of Governors, the UT-Battelle Development Corporation Board of Directors, the Tennessee Valley Corridor Board of Directors, the American Society of Animal Science Board of Directors, the American Society of Animal Science Foundation, the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, the Scientific Advisory Board of Embrex Inc. and the Advisory Board of Strata-G LLC.

Britt was reared on a dairy farm in Kentucky and received a BS degree in Agriculture and Biology (double major) from Western Kentucky University and M.S. (Animal Science) and Ph.D. (Physiology and Biochemistry) degrees from North Carolina State University. He and his wife Frances live in Etowah NC and are parents of Heather and Stephanie and grandparents of Maddy, Britt and Henry.

Steven DeCicco

Mr. DeCicco has 30 years experience commercializing technologies, building start-up companies, managing projects and directing engineering departments. He has served the power industry as well as chemical, refining, pharmaceutical and manufacturing. The technologies involve syngas production, fuel reforming, combustion, thermal processing in porous inert media, catalysis and surface chemistry.

In 1995 Mr. DeCicco joined Thermatrix Inc. – a technology startup company in the early stages of commercializing the flameless thermal oxidation (FTO) process.  In his role as Engineering Director he created and grew the company’s plant design and technical service capability.   In 2001 Mr. DeCicco joined EmeraChem LLC – a young technology company in the early stages introducing commercial catalyst products and commercializing the lean NOx trap catalyst technology. He advanced from Director of Operations, to V.P. of Operations, to Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. DeCicco, received a B.S. in Chemical Engineer from New York University and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.  He holds 3 U.S. Patents, has taught professional courses and produced over 40 publications including chapters in two McGraw-Hill handbooks.

David T. Duncan, Ph.D.

David T. Duncan is President and owner of The ConneXions Group, Inc.  He works as a business coach and organization development consultant.  Dave has thirty years of experience in managing technical organizations, facilitating strategic and business planning, and growing successful businesses.

In 1993, he co-founded PrSM Corporation, an engineering and environmental consulting firm recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing privately-held U.S. companies.  In 2005, Dave sold his interest in PrSM Corporation and founded The ConneXions Group, Inc. to apply his experience toward helping other business owners to “connect their vision to business results.”

He served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee and is a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association.  Dave is an experienced facilitator who specializes in business planning and promoting group collaboration and creativity.  Dave holds a masters degree in Air and Industrial Hygiene from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Tennessee. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his wife, Susan.  They have two children.