About Us
We are your Experienced Partner
NGL is a Virginia limited liability company organized April, 2023. Its principals and advisors combine to offer over 200 years of experience in engineering and science start-ups and operations.
Vision
Our vision is to be valued by our customers as a skilled provider of learning and professional development resources. We are recognized by others as a valuable business. We are the practice to join after a successful career.
Mission
Our mission is to fulfill the needs of individuals and organizations in training and consultative services so that they can achieve their goals in building their dream.
Our Members
Clifford Brechner
Principal
NexGenLab, LLC
- Clifford.brechner@nexgenlab.io
- +1 516 313 2424
Additional Information
Clifford comes to NexGenLab with more than 35 years of experience leading companies with revenues in excess of $10 million. For the past 20 years he has led ventures within the analytical laboratory and quality assurance industry, making him exceptionally suited to help laboratory clients navigate their complicated needs in an ever- changing market.
Clifford is a native of New York, and currently resides in Bryn Mawr, a Philadelpha suburb, with his wife and two children.
Clifford has been at the forefront and growth of multiple companies. As Founder and CEO of Insight Laboratories, a consumer products safety testing lab, Clifford built and managed facilities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canada and California, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. With rapid growth and ISO17025 and Consumer Product Safety Commission approval, Insight was acquired by a strategic partner.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Actus Analytical, Clifford also managed the instrument platform and algorithm development, marketing and sales of instruments for consumer safety compliance screening. Under Clifford’s leadership, Actus Analytical was awarded a research grant from U.S. Department of
Homeland Security and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and partnered with Agilent Technologies to develop a portable analytical instrument for the screening of toxins in consumer products.
Clifford also founded a 501c3 called The Center For Advanced Public Awareness, primarily concerned with issues relating to consumer safety. The group’s current focus is on Proposition 65 violations and Clean Water Act violations where consumers face significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. It was here that Clifford collaborated with the California Attorney General’s office and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to reduce toxic chemicals in consumer products and Pollution in the state’s waterways.
At the beginning of his long entrepreneurial career, Clifford founded SafeMade Pet Products. A company dedicated to producing pet products that are toxin free and safe for pets and their owners – it was sold to a strategic partner. He is also the founder of Canopy Books, a children’s educational book publisher, with a mission of making curriculum based learning fun. Canopy was sold to a large educational content publisher.
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson in Pennsylvania
Richard Higby
Principal
NexGenLab, LLC
- Richard.higby@nexgenlab.io
- +1 804 380 1608
Additional Information
Richard Higby is a chemist by education and training and has led laboratory operations for multi-national and domestic organizations including Eurofins, Covance, and Microbac. His job titles have included President/CEO, Managing Director, Vice President of Operations, National Sales Director, Senior Marketing Manager, and Director of Technical Service and Regulatory Affairs (FDA, EPA, USDA).
Most recently, Richard was a partner in a consulting practice to teach, train, and mentor business development skills to scientists and engineers. He is the founding partner in NexGenBD, a business development consultancy.
Richard is a native Californian having enjoyed career opportunities in Pleasanton CA, Kansas City MO, St. Paul MN, Madison WI, and Richmond VA where he currently resides. He has traveled extensively in his career and conducted business in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Richard is married with two children. He is an Eagle Boy Scout and strives to live by those values in his daily and professional life.
Richard is a serial entrepreneur where he has founded three businesses focused on helping others in technical fields related to business development, organizational management, and laboratory operations. He is the recipient of the prestigious Labcorp Chairman’s Award for inspiration, dedication and unrelenting pursuit of excellence. Seeking to develop new markets through regulatory approval, Richard has authored or significantly contributed to five food additive petitions all of which resulted in new approved uses for novel chemistry in industrial food processing.
Richard holds a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry having conducted research in physical and synthetic organic chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His bachelor’s degree is also in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Richard is a member of the American Chemical Society and has held memberships in the Institute of Food Technology, and the International Association for Food Protection.
