Founder of The Aris InstituteTM and Senior Advisor for Technology Enterprise Development to the President of Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Melissaratos served as Secretary of Business and Economic Development for the State of Maryland from 2003 to 2007.
He worked for Westinghouse Electric Corporation for 32 years, retiring as Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Science and Technology, responsible for research and development. Before that he was Chief Operations Officer for the company's Defense Electronics Group, responsible for $3.2 billion dollars in sales.
He also founded Armel Scientifics, LLC, which has invested in over 30 start-up companies in advanced technology.
Aris has co-authored with N.J. Slabbert the book, INNOVATION: THE KEY TO PROSPERITY which is a survey of the role of technological innovation in American and global history.
Showing how technological innovation and scientific advance have been the world's great engines of transformation, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, the authors point out that the innovative spirit does not arise spontaneously to bestow its benefits on societies, but rather has to be nurtured carefully by cultural conditions that favor and welcome innovation.
They call for a renewal of America's commitment to technological innovation, believing that this will enable the United States to transform the present economic climate into a new age of plenty which will include effective responses to problems of environmental challenge and energy resources.
America's greatest wealth, the authors contend, lies in its intellectual capital, which, wisely used, can make the 21st century a golden age of prosperity for the world.
