Neven Karlovac is also a Principal Advisor for Larta's National Institutes of Health Commercialization Assistance Program (NIH-CAP) and the President of Palitek Consulting, a firm providing strategic business advice and management services to emerging growth companies. Neven is the immediate past Vice President, Technology Commercialization Programs at Larta Institute, in which capacity he help to build and lead the NIH-CAP in its first three years. He has over thirty years of experience in technology and business management for companies ranging from early-stage startups to Global 500 corporations.

Neven started his career designing instrumentation for nuclear radiation measurement and life sciences at EG&G ORTEC, an early developer of electrophoresis systems and PET imaging equipment. Recognizing early the potential of optical fibers, he switched to this new field, and led the commercialization of fiber optic and optoelectronics technologies in positions of increasing responsibility, reaching the position of Executive Vice President of Alcatel Network Systems. At Alcatel he managed over 3,000 employees and a $515 million budget.
Neven came to California in 1994 as the CEO of Accuwave Corporation, an early-stage venture-funded startup, where he commercialized a new technology for volume holography and launched in the market a pioneering laser frequency control product. Accuwave also achieved success in obtaining many research grants including SBIR, BAA, and ATP. Since then, he has been involved with a number of startups (including Authentix, Fiberspace, Aprisa, Litropy, and LuxN Corporation,) as a co-founder, executive, or consultant. His consulting activity has focused on technology commercialization and product development management.

Neven holds BS & MS degrees from the University of Zagreb in Croatia, a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has attended executive courses at Stanford and Oxford Universities.