Neema Mayhugh and Matt McBride named Notable Leaders in Accounting & Consulting

Wave Strategy is excited to share that Managing Partner Neema Mayhugh and Operating Partner Matt McBride have been named Notable Leaders in Accounting & Consulting by Crain’s Cleveland Business. This award recognizes leaders who are spearheading innovation and making Cleveland a better place.

To qualify for this list, nominees must be based in Northeast Ohio. They must be employed full-time in a senior-level role, practicing in the profession for a minimum of five years - accountants as a CPA at a public accounting firm, consultants at firms providing professional services to middle-market and large clients. They must be active in the community and/or philanthropic activities, mentoring programs and/or diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace.

Wave Strategy recognized among 2022 Weatherhead 100 Companies

Wave Strategy is honored to be selected as a 2022 Weatherhead 100 Upstarts winner. The Weatherhead 100 awards were established to celebrate Northeast Ohio's spirit of entrepreneurship and to reward companies that serve as a beacon to all the region's businesses. This year, the 34th annual Weatherhead 100 awards ceremony recognized the region's fastest-growing companies based on revenue from 2017 to 2021.

Companies are recognized in one of three categories, Weatherhead 100 Upstarts, Weatherhead 100 Winners, and Weatherhead 100 Centurions.

• Upstarts are fast-growing companies with 15 or fewer employees OR net sales of less than$5M last year.

• Weatherhead 100 Winners are celebrated for big growth in net sales over the past five years – from at least $100K to at least $1M.

• Weatherhead Centurions are fast-growing companies with at least $100M net sales last year and help drive the region.

We look forward to continuing Wave Strategy’s growth in 2023. Congratulations to our fellow honorees!

Disruptive companies invited to Murata's 2022 Open Innovation Event

Murata is teaming up with nonprofit technology incubator, EvoNexus, to engage with emerging companies for their MarketLink™ Open Innovation Event. Engagement opportunities include technology development, product and channel partnerships, IP licensing, and potential equity investment. Startups developing disruptive technologies in DeepTech, CleanTech, and MedTech are encouraged to apply to the program starting today through June 20.

More information about the MarketLink program, including how to apply, background details, and the participating executive teams, can be found here.

Wave Strategy Announces Clinical Advisory Board

Cleveland, OH, November 4, 2021 – Wave Strategy has appointed six founding members to its Clinical Advisory Board. Members of the Advisory Board bring experience from across many aspects of healthcare and will provide Wave with critical insights as it continues working toward its mission of “Accelerating Innovation in Healthcare.”

Members of the Clinical Advisory Board include:

· Frank Papay, MD – Chairman, Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Institute at Cleveland Clinic

· Michael Vogelbaum, MD, PhD – Program Leader, NeuroOncology at Moffitt Cancer Center

· Rishi Singh, MD – President, Cleveland Clinic Martin North and South Hospitals 

· Amresh Raina, MD – Associate Medical Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program, Allegheny Health Network

· Bela Anand-Apte, MD, PhD, MBA – Chairman, Ophthalmic Research at Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic 

· Ali Khademhosseini, PhD – CEO, Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation

“We are thrilled to have these remarkable leaders join our Clinical Advisory Board. They offer a unique perspective on how to best provide care for patients and also have strong backgrounds in innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Wave Strategy Founder and Managing Partner Neema Mayhugh. 

Wave Strategy Partner Matt McBride shared, “Too often we see technologies that are a ‘hammer looking for a nail.’ We believe that every great innovation stems from an underlying unmet need. By including the clinical end-user into the evaluation of early-stage technologies, we are able to get ‘use case’ validation and a sense of the likelihood of adoption.”

ScaleHealth and Wave Strategy Announce Strategic Partnership

Cleveland, OH, June 24, 2021 -- ScaleHealth (Scale), a global health innovation ecosystem, announced today it has entered into a partnership with Wave Strategy, a strategic consulting firm in the healthcare space, to expand into Ohio. ScaleHealth Ohio, will allow the Ohio health innovation ecosystem to tap into Scale’s community of 300+ startups, 300+ investors, partners and strategic relationships. Additionally, it will provide the Scale community with a gateway to a large number of payors, providers and corporate partners in Ohio.

This announcement comes at a point where Wave has made a commitment to building their team from two to ten employees and expanding their footprint from the Midwest/East Coast, to more than 10 states and 4 countries. This intentional growth has proved to yield invaluable results, as the increased exposure to new technologies and partners has benefitted both regional and global clients through increased pilot, adoption, and joint development opportunities. 

“If you’ve had a conversation about healthcare innovation in Ohio during the last decade plus, two words have not so subtlety continued to persist as gaps: talent and capital. We feel that relationships with groups like Scale, aren’t necessarily the magic bullet to close these gaps, but instead a tool that provides access and exposure to new opportunities that might have otherwise not meaningfully reached the region,” said Matt McBride, Partner at Wave Strategy LLC.

ScaleHealth’s Director of Growth, Trevor Wilkins mentioned, “As a global healthcare ecosystem, ScaleHealth sees Ohio as a critical piece to the American healthcare innovation puzzle. With a vast roster of payers, providers and other strategic partners, we see an opportunity to create a sustainable ecosystem that bridges the gap between founders and the institutions that adopt and drive innovation. Partnering with the Wave team has and will be instrumental in getting this ecosystem off the ground given their knowledge and experience in the Ohio healthcare innovation ecosystem. We're excited to get Ohio going!”  

Wave Strategy Founder and Managing Partner, Neema Mayhugh shared, “We are really excited to be working with Scale to bring additional resources to our start-up community and to showcase all of the amazing work that is being done in early-stage healthcare in Ohio.”

Ohio joins a growing list of ScaleHealth hubs around the world including Los Angeles, Detroit, Irvine, and Ho Chi Minh City that have helped innovative health companies raise more than $600M in capital over the past two years with several being successfully acquired. With content from healthcare leaders in Ohio such as CityBlock, Olive and others coming to the ScaleHealth architect, ScaleHealth Ohio is primed to be one of the strongest locations yet. 

About ScaleHealth

ScaleHealth is a technology-driven ecosystem that accelerates the impact of health innovation on a global scale. Through a combination of real time programming and a proprietary technology tool called the "ScaleHealth Architect" we connect the dots between hundreds of innovators, investment funds, payers, providers, corporations, and subject matter experts from around the world, driving health innovation forward and insuring that the challenges and heartache of events such as COVID-19 are never repeated. 

About Wave Strategy

Wave Strategy, a dynamic healthcare innovation consulting firm that was established in 2015 by Neema Mayhugh, PhD, was initially formed to accelerate the technological advancements of premier academic medical centers and universities with roots in Northeast Ohio.

Disruptive companies invited to Murata's 2021 Open Innovation event

Smyrna, GA, May 25, 2021 – Building on last year’s success, Murata Electronics and pSemi, a Murata company, announced they are teaming up again with nonprofit technology incubator, EvoNexus, to engage with emerging companies. Opportunities include technology development, product and channel partnerships, IP licensing, and potential equity investment. Organizations and entities developing disruptive 5G, IoT, Energy, Digital Healthcare, Industry 4.0, and Mobility technologies are encouraged to apply to the MarketLink™ Program from May 25 through June 20. Companies selected will then meet virtually with Murata and pSemi global executive teams July 26-29. 

The inaugural event held in August 2020 drew more than 100 applicants. After an extensive vetting process, 12 companies were selected as finalists. Those organizations went on to present to key executives from Murata’s and pSemi’s corporate management teams. Many of those finalists are now engaged with the companies’ various business units and actively working on strategic collaboration initiatives.   

“For 75 years, innovation has been the bedrock of everything we do – not only in our proprietary technologies, processes, and products, but in building our collaborations. Last year’s event produced exceptional results, and we aim to replicate that success again this year,” stated Mehul Udani, Vice President, Corporate Technology & Innovation, Murata Americas. 

“We are excited to launch the second MarketLink program with EvoNexus. By partnering with early-stage companies, we hope to further accelerate innovation in next-generation RF semiconductor technologies, advance 3D packaging from sub-6 GHz to THz frequencies, and build disruptive use case applications around 5G,” added Sumit Tomar, CEO, pSemi.

“Our MarketLink program is a tremendous vehicle to pair emerging companies with established market leaders to foster open innovation and accelerate leading-edge solutions. Companies selected will not only have access to the leadership, global scope, and resources that Murata and pSemi bring to the table, but this unapparelled opportunity comes at no cost to applicants,” said Rory Moore, CEO, EvoNexus.

More information about the MarketLink program, including background details and the participating executive teams, can be found here.  

About Murata

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com.

About pSemi 

pSemi Corporation is a Murata company driving semiconductor integration. pSemi builds on Peregrine Semiconductor’s 30-year legacy of technology advancements and strong IP portfolio but with a new mission: to enhance Murata’s world-class capabilities with high-performance RF, analog and mixed-signal solutions. With a strong foundation in RF integration, pSemi’s product portfolio now spans power management, connected sensors, antenna tuning and RF frontends. These intelligent and efficient semiconductors enable advanced modules for smartphones, base stations, personal computers, electric vehicles, data centers, IoT devices and healthcare. From headquarters in San Diego and offices around the world, pSemi’s team explores new ways to make electronics for the connected world smaller, thinner, faster and better. To view pSemi’s semiconductor advancements or to join the pSemi team, visit www.psemi.com.

About EvoNexus 

EvoNexus is California’s leading non-profit technology startup incubator with locations in San Diego, Orange County, Silicon Valley, and a virtual program. EvoNexus has successfully launched 

around 230 technology startups with a survival rate of over 85%. since the incubator’s formation in 2010. EvoNexus Ventures have secured over $2B in venture funding and outcomes, $6B in pre- exit valuation and 28 acquisitions. EvoNexus is supported by corporate investors, including some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. For more information, please visitwww.evonexus.org.

Wave Partner, Matthew McBride named board chairman of national Veteran nonprofit, Challenge America

Matthew McBride has been named board chairman of Challenge America, a national nonprofit dedicated to connecting service members, Veterans and their families to resources and solutions that build community and give purpose to their lives.

Challenge America offers three initiatives that advance this mission. Launched in Cleveland, its Makers For Veteran initiative is a nationally recognized incubator program that develops innovative products for injured Veterans. Also offered in Cleveland, its Music Therapy Program leverages the healing power of music to help Veterans cope with post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury. Also developed in Cleveland, its Military Sisterhood Initiative is a national peer-support network for women Veterans, offering these brave women a safe space to connect with other military sisters and discover resources that may help them in their transition to civilian life. 

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a Veteran, McBride joined the Challenge America Board of Directors in 2020. He is a Partner at Wave Strategy, a BioScience Advisory firm, in Cleveland, where he actively leverages his technology commercialization expertise, to expedite the development of cutting-edge technologies through strategic enterprise partners, healthcare systems, and entrepreneurs. McBride previously served as an advisor to Challenge America for their Veteran Make-a-thons and guided Challenge America in adapting this program to develop innovative products for essential workers on the frontlines of COVID-19. 

“I believe strongly in Challenge America’s mission to connect military Veteran and their families to much-needed resources,” said McBride. “The goal is for Challenge America to serve those who served our country, and provide them with the tools necessary to become an ‘agent of change’ in their battles against physical and/or mental illnesses.”

Recently, Challenge America was selected from a pool of 160 competitors to receive the prestigious Lab-to-Market Inclusive Innovation Ecosystem Prize from the United States Small Business Administration for its timely and effective response to the pandemic environment.  

You can learn more about Challenge America by visitingwww.challengeamerica.com.