Meet the Executive Team
George is the President of New England Invents. George’s most successful venture to date has been helping to co-found KettlePizza in 2010. KettlePizza turns charcoal and gas grills into pizza ovens. KettlePizza products have been sold to people in more than 70 countries. KettlePizza has been a prize on The Price Is Right, showcased on the Today show, Boston’s Channel 5 segment Made in Massachusetts, National Hardware Show Best New Product. In 2019, Peters and Contarino were invited to the White House to represent Massachusetts and showcase KettlePizza as one of the country’s best ‘Made in America’ products.
Some of George’s other notable inventions include the What Now??? Evacuation Training Aid and the Mosquito Mitt. WHAT NOW??? is used to block doorways, stairwells, and hallways during evacuation drills. The product was a must have educational training innovation, and is used by GE, Raytheon, Fidelity Investment, schools, hospitals, and hundreds of other businesses around the world. The reusable MITT allows for the user to spray repellant on the MITT, not directly onto yourself or someone else, therefore controlling where and how much repellant is applied. George secured multiple licensing agreements for the product.
George resides in Haverhill, Massachusetts with his wife, two children, and their three grandchildren.
Lexa is the Executive Director of New England Invents.
Her passion for inventing and helping other inventors is fueled by lessons learned with her own product invention, Cargo Caddie, which is a stowable trunk shelf that nearly doubles usable trunk space for most SUV/CUVs in the market. She licensed Cargo Caddie in May of 2023, and has begun development on several other consumer products.
Prior to her launching the above efforts, Lexa was Principal of 3210 Consulting, a website design and software development company she founded in 2002. She oversaw all business development and acted as the company’s chief business analyst for the company’s 65+ small business clients and over $500,000 in annual revenue. She sold the company after 11 years.
Lexa received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and resides in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and their three children.
Chris Donovan oversees strategic development for New England Invents. Chris was a Business Development Executive for One Digital up until July 2022. One Digital is one of the largest insurance, financial services and HR consulting companies in the U.S. Before One Digital, Chris headed up business development for Amplified Insurance Partners until its acquisition by One Digital. Chris is a former director and a co-founder of the Startup Coalition, one of the most influential entrepreneurial resource groups in New England. Members of The Startup Coalition represent a variety of service industries, and collectively cover virtually all of the key services that startup entrepreneurs and companies need to scale and grow profitably.
Finally, Chris headed up a global business development group for Raytheon for 14 years and has worked with inventors and entrepreneurs for 40 years and has served as a longtime advisor to MassChallenge, a global network for innovators who are working to solve massive challenges.
Chris received his undergraduate degree at UMass-Amherst and his graduate degree at UConn Storrs. He resides in Holliston, MA with his wife, Susan. They have two children and one grandchild.