Board of Directors

Robert Ashley
Mr. Ashley is chairman of Larta. He is an independent investor, has been a member of numerous boards and has undertaken a number of consulting projects, both domestic and international. He retired from TRW where he was Group VP and General Manager for all non-defense electronic equipment, software and services, worldwide. He served on the Board of Directors of fifteen TRW owned or affiliated companies in ten countries and helped found and manage many joint ventures with partners such as: Olivetti (Italy); Matra (France); Fujitsu (U.S.); Canadian Development Corporation (U.K.); and Mitsumi (Japan). Prior to joining TRW, he was president and a founder of Silicon Transistor Corporation.

Rohit Shukla
Mr. Shukla is an established thought leader and respected practitioner on innovation, commercialization, and enterprise and technology-led economic development.  He has advised governments, multilateral organizations, communities and enterprises throughout the world, creating initiatives that expand entrepreneurship, promote commercialization and enhance the competitiveness of regions across many parts of the globe. In founding and growing Larta Institute to institutionalize the work he has pioneered, he has developed a reputation and expertise in the commercialization of innovations emerging from government-funded initiatives, research institutes, universities and larger companies in the private sector.

His role in authoring and creating the commercialization assistance program initiatives at major U.S. federal agencies has led to a well-documented increase in sustainable, market-based innovations in the U.S. and has led to his being sought after as an adviser and confidant of governments and private institutions.  These include most recently, Malaysia, in addition to Israel, the Middle East, New Zealand, Australia and other countries scattered in Europe and Asia.

Early in his 20 year career devoted to envisioning and creating innovation policy and initiatives, he was tapped by the State of California to author and develop its innovation and entrepreneurship initiative, the California Technology Investment Partnership (CalTIP), and helped to write the legislation that brought the program into being in California, years before the technology-led boom in Silicon Valley.  Since then, he has expanded the scope and scale of his work, writing on venture capital, sector-led innovation in wireless, telecom and the life sciences and on entrepreneurship, research-based enterprises, commercialization and government policy. As an advisor to the OECD, he recently led a multi-country study project on intellectual property as it affects the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, focused on harmonization of IP policies and practices. As an advisor to the Government of Malaysia, he helped to influence policy on incentives and initiatives focused on agriculture- and biotech-led entrepreneurship. In technology transfer, he was one of the first thought leaders to promote policies oriented toward the development of “bundled” IP between research institutions and universities.  The latter led to Larta Institute’s collaboration with the Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) on approaches to problem-resolution for industry needs through a wide-ranging examination of university-derived IP from multiple institutions. He has also taught entrepreneurship to managers and startup companies, and developed and taught the first course on Startup Management for Pepperdine University’s MBA program at the Graziadio School of Business and Management in Malibu, California.

His grasp and command of key issues and concerns in several industries has led to a unique and varied career.  He directed a prominent group of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the defense electronics and aerospace industries in the U.S., counting among his associates the great Peter Drucker, Bill Perry (who later became the U.S. Secretary of Defense), Malcolm Currie, CEO of Hughes and other luminaries. He created and managed the first “defense adjustment” program derived from policy advice he provided to the Clinton Administration in the early 1990s.  He was an entrepreneur himself, founding two companies in the information technology and information processing industries prior to the Internet boom.

He has a Master’s in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University, England, and a Master’s in Communications Arts and Sciences from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He speaks to audiences around the world on subjects ranging from commercialization and innovation to globalization and entrepreneurship.

Timothy J. Cooley
Timothy Cooley is a Fellow and member of the Board of Directors of Larta Institute. He is a strategic business advisor and an expert in issues related to regional economic competitiveness.  Tim is also the current Director of Capital Development at The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Previously, he was Director of the Economic Development Division for the City of Madison, WI where he lead a professional staff of 20 in the offices of Real Estate, Business Resources, and Economic Revitalization.

Mr. Cooley is the former Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for the Orange County Business Council and President of the Southern California Technology Innovation Council. These related roles were an outgrowth of his position as President and CEO of Partnership 2010, an economic think tank of Southern California business, government, and education leaders credited with a number of major initiatives including the crafting of the first economic growth plan for Southern California's Tech Coast.

Mr. Cooley has over 40 years of investment, management, and strategic planning experience with companies ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. His career includes positions with IBM, E.F. Hutton, the Pacific Stock Exchange, Regis McKenna Inc., and Ernst & Young. He has been involved with founding a number of companies and is a frequent speaker on topics dealing with entrepreneurship and management of fast-growing companies, leadership, technology commercialization, and regional economic sustainability and competitiveness.  

In addition to his corporate affiliations, Mr. Cooley has served on the Boards of Directors and Executive Committees of a number of leading professional and planning organizations including the American Electronics Association, the Life Sciences Industry Council, the Forum for Corporate Directors, the CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum, the ACCELERATE Program at UCI, the CONNECT Program at UCSD, the Orange Coast Venture Group, the Southern California Regional Economic Strategies Consortium, the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance, VenturePoint-Technology Business Development Center, and the University of California, Irvine's Medical Center.

He was a member of the technical advisory panel for the State of California Strategic Economic Planning Commission and a member of the State's Capital Formation and Business Investment Committee. He also has served on the California Business and Higher Education Forum, the County of Orange Overall Economic Development Planning Commission, the O.C. Defense Conversion Steering Committee, Orange County Government Practices Oversight Committee and the County of Orange Strategic Planning Commission.

Mr. Cooley graduated from the University of Wisconsin and resides in Irvine, California.

Elliot Gordon
At the end of 2010 Mr. Gordon retired from Korn/Ferry International, the world’s leading executive search firm.  He worked at the firm for 29 years and served as a Senior Client Partner.  Mr. Gordon’s responsibilities at Korn/Ferry included serving as office manager of the Orange County office and regional partner for the firm’s Emerging Business, Private Equity and Financial Officers Practices. He conducted search assignments for CEO’s, Board Members and C level executives in all functional areas for companies of all sizes including global multi-billion dollar corporations and entrepreneurial and start up companies.  

Mr. Gordon is active in not-for-profits endeavors.  He serves on the boards of          directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.   Mr. Gordon is active with South Central Scholars, which works with disadvantaged, highly motivated, inner city high school students to help them be successful in college and graduate school.  He serves as a mentor and a conference speaker and helps set up internship programs at corporations for the students.

Mr. Gordon’s community involvement has also included serving as regional board member of the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruiters, chairman of the membership committee of Town Hall of California, treasurer and member of the board of directors of Woodbridge, chairman of the civil rights committee of the Anti-Defamation League of Orange County, member of the Technology Dinner Committee for the City of Hope, executive committee member of Tech Coast Angels and president of the UCLA Executive MBA Alumni Association.

Mr. Gordon has published articles and given presentations on numerous business topics.

Mr. Gordon received a master’s of business administration from the University of California at Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Cornell University.

Shezad Rokerya
Shezad Rokerya is currently Chairman of The Interlink Group a 20 year-old merchant bank with over $45 billion in transactional experience and also Vice Chairman of DF Holding Ltd. whose shareholders include DF AG & MM Warburg Bank, Germany. DF is a German based global trade finance institution with operations in 11 countries and an annual turnover of $1.7 billion. He is also a Senior Advisor of Carver Cross Securities, Inc. a NY based cross border M&A firm. Mr. Rokerya joined Interlink in 1992 and has grown the group into diversified areas including, infrastructure, financial services & banking, oil & gas, power, telecom, media and IT.

He has worked directly with the Chairmen of international conglomerates whose combined revenues exceed $50 billion from the media, telecom and financial services industries in North America, Asia and Europe and advised several Forbes listed families and sovereign wealth funds, royal families and governments in the Middle East and Asia as a trusted advisor spanning two decades. In 1997 was appointed by the Indian Federal Power Minister as special envoy to negotiate a  cross border power purchase with Pakistan of 3,750 MW’s valued at nearly $4 billion. He serves on the boards of Interlink Asia Ltd, Interlink Power Company, Interlink Energy Holdings and of Interlink Equity Capital L.P. He is Chairman of Interlink Equity Partners, which has been an advisor and JV partner to Asia’s largest domestic investor with $12 billion in assets. Member of the advisory boards of Quartics a US based Media Chip company, Euromax a UK/India based investment bank, Pacific Group a US based $6 billion Real Estate group and Discovery Bank, Los Angeles. Founding Board Member of Crescent Group Inc. and its Asia and Mid East asset management subsidiaries. Board Member of Platinum Acquisition Group and ECP Funds, a US based family office fund of funds with investments in 29 global private equity funds since 1992.

Before Interlink, Advisor at Shearson Lehman Brothers and later with Merrill Lynch & Co in the US, London and Geneva where he advised and managed substantial private client assets for ultra high net worth merchant and royal families and their private investment offices. Mr. Rokerya is a native of Montreal, Canada where he attended McGill University and Western State Law School. He is a graduate of the Global Leadership and Public Policy program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

His philanthropic and civic activities include, SOS Villages for orphan children. Chairman of The Interlink Foundation committed to the people’s empowerment in South Asia by developing human capital utilizing education and technology. He is a board member of LARTA and Chairman of the LARTA Global Advisory Council. He is a supporter of the World Affairs Council, Asia Society and Young Arab Leaders. He is on the Board of Governors of Saba Trust; pioneering female education with orphans and upliftment in South Asia for over 40 years. He is on the Board of Trustees of the KG IT Institute, India.  In 2005, he was elected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, a forum chaired by Queen Rania of Jordan. He co chairs a multi stakeholder taskforce with Newscorp Digital Chairman on outreach to the Arab world. He is also a founding member of the US India FICCI innovation task force launched by former US Ambassador to India Richard Celeste, Sabeer Bhatia, Bill Draper and Azim Premji. He is also Chair of the Sovereign Wealth Fund YGL Taskforce in the World Economic Forum.