Speakers – April 2010
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Robert M. Aiudi
President, Aiudi Consulting International
Robert Aiudi is an International Sales and Marketing Consultant with over 20 years of both international and domestic experience. Mr. Aiudi’s career has been focused on offering the highest quality marketing, sales and business development services to his clients keeping a keen eye on growth, increasing mindshare and building revenues for his clients.
Fluent in several languages (including Mandarin, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch) and traveled extensively world-wide, he spent over seven years as Director of International Business Development at Dragon Systems, a leading speech technology company, expanding Dragon’s markets into Europe, Asia and Australia. In the US, Mr. Aiudi has held positions as VP of Sales and Marketing for Rhetorical Systems, a high-tech voice company from Edinburgh, UK, and CEO of Terrich Industries of Taiwan, ROC, an importer of cutting-edge computer products. He has also worked with French, Chinese and Italian companies bringing their products to the US and expanding their global business.
Mr. Aiudi has had significant experience with leading high tech voice and translation companies as well as some of the world’s largest Fortune 500 companies developing and implementing marketing programs both digital and traditional. He has worked with Microsoft Intel, Acer, Sanyo, Softbank, Sony, GE Real Estate, GE France, JR Roberts, Inc, Judith Ripka Jewelry, as well as small to medium companies such as Spoken Translation, Ripple6 and SayHi.com. His sales activities have included building and implementing both traditional and non-traditional sales strategies; setting up VAR, reseller, distribution and partner channels; and creating and executing on sales plans for a number of his clients all focused on increased market share and maximizing revenue.
A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Mr. Aiudi has attended Yale University for Mandarin language studies and Harvard University for international relations. He resides in New York City and is the Principal of Aiudi Consulting International and is a member of the Global Committee for the New York City Chamber of Commerce.
Murat AktihanogluFounder, Entrepreneurs Roundtable
Murat Aktihanoglu (@muratny) is the founder/CEO of http://centrl.com, a location based social network.
He is also the organizer of Entrepreneurs Roundtable (http://www.ERoundTable.net) events in NYC and the co-author of the upcoming LBS/Mobile book from Manning.
Joe Allegra
General Partner
Joe Allegra, General Partner, directs Edison’s regional investment team in New Jersey. He focuses on investment opportunities in New Jersey, New York and New England.
Joe actively leads Edison’s investments in wireless applications, interactive marketing, enterprise and systems software.
As a board member, Joe contributes marketing, sales, technology and general management expertise from his many years in the software industry and as an entrepreneur.
Joe is a frequent speaker at regional financing, technology, and entrepreneurial events. Joe serves on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Technology Council, and member of the New Jersey Angel Network.
Joe was a co-founder and CEO of Princeton Softech, which he guided to $40M revenue. Princeton Softech was a rapidly growing, profitable company that developed and marketed database products to Fortune 1000 companies. Princeton Softech was named twice to the INC. 500 list of fastest growing companies.
Earlier, he was VP of R&D for Computer Associates, following its acquisition of Applied Data Research. He was product manager, led product support and headed R&D during 12 years with these enterprise software companies. Joe also provided strategic consulting services to several technology companies.
Joe was a finalist as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He received the NJTC Technology Supporter Award in 2003.
Joe co-founded the Software Association of New Jersey and served as Chairman of the New Jersey Technology Council. He led the initial financing for NJTC Venture Fund.
Education:
BA, Economics & Computer Science, Rutgers University MBA, Information Systems, New York University, Stern School of Business
Natalia Allen
Creative Director
N A T A L I A is a fashion designer; a surfer, artist, and entrepreneur who is at home with many cultures in the world. In 2009, Natalia was the youngest women in her class to be honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. Current Young Global Leaders include founders of Google and Wikipedia.
Natalia was awarded the prestigious Designer of the Year title from Parsons, an honor she shares with Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler. Her futuristic work with high-tech textiles and advanced technologies is unique and has brought her much attention.
The BBC, Reuters, WWD and New York Magazine, were among the first to cover her fascinating story. Natalia has exhibited her creations and lectured at international conferences and museums, including: Davos, The Museum of the City of New York, Textiles the Next Horizon, and Wearable Futures.
In 2005 she founded Design Futurist SM, a New York design lab and think-tank that creates beautiful, sustainable and innovative fashion for brands such as Donna Karan and Calvin Klein. Design Futurist adds new dimensions, ideas and real expertise to design teams. “We build products that help our global clients expand and improve their business,” says Natalia who has advised P&G, Dupont, Macy’s, Quiksilver and British Telecom, to name a few.
Many wonder what sustainable fashion is and if it can be made in the developed world. Natalia is hard at work researching, prototyping and building solutions. Her insights will help establish new standards and practices in the industry.
Kate Atwood
Founder, Kate’s Club; Creator, Living by Giving; Author
Kate was 12 years old when her mother passed away after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Twelve years later she founded Kate’s Club, a nationally-acclaimed not-for-profit organization that provides support to children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling. Her journey from motherless child to social entrepreneur sheds inspiration and education on how sometimes one’s own adversity can lead to life’s biggest opportunities.
For her work, Kate has appeared in numerous media including People Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, CNN, and ABC-TV’s The View. Her first book, entitled “A Healing Place: Help Your Child Find Hope and Happiness after the Loss of a Loved One” was released by Penguin Books in November of 2009.
Today, Kate is focused on her new initiative, Living by Giving, through which Kate carries the ultimate goal of creating a new paradigm on measuring personal success. Through media, consultancy, and communications, Living by Giving educates and motivates individuals on how to build giving into their own lifestyle. In Atlanta, Kate also contributes a monthly column, Charity IN the City, where she offers easy, creative ways for her readers to get involved and help others in the community.
Marri AvizaRumors Salon & Spa
Marri K. Aviza, an internationally trained business woman, award-winning hair designer and business owner, is the founding partner of Rumors Salon & Day Spa and Rumors IV Men located in Latham, New York which opened in 1986 and 2002 respectively.
A native of Colonie, New York, Marri graduated from the Albany County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) Cosmetology School, where she began her beauty training at age 14 at Colonie High School. After graduation, Marri traveled to London to be professionally trained at the prestigious Vidal Sassoon Academy. Upon her return from Europe, Marri opened Rumors Salon and Day Spa, a full service salon and day spa, at the age of 22.
As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Rumors, Inc., Marri is an accomplished professional with proven success in all aspects of business. Marri and her business partner, along with their managers and team of professionals, have grown their business from $100,000 a year in sales to over three million dollars annually. Marri has demonstrated a proven leadership record for launching new products and orchestrating successful marketing campaigns.
Throughout the years, Marri has continued her advanced training at professional academies worldwide. Marri has traveled internationally serving as a lecturer and trainer in regards to products and programs relating to the beauty industry. Rumors Salon and Day Spa is the first U.S. Salon to be chosen by 3-6-5 as a member and was featured in the launch of its first US magazines Salon Success and Salon Champion. Rumors has been featured in Vogue magazine “Best Beauty Spots”, Elle “Best Cut & Color Salon” and “Salon Today 200” Americas Fastest Growing Salons and has appeared on MTV.
Rumors, Inc. now employs a team of over 85 internationally trained professionals. Marri believes part of her success is attributed to a strong team and vision.
Leading by example, Marri encourages the team at Rumors to get involved with the community. Not only is Rumors a leader in its industry, but in community service as well. Rumors has donated over $1 million in funds, services, and products, in the past 25 years to a number of health-related causes and charitable organizations.
Marri also serves on local and national boards including; Board of Directors Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, Executive Committee Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, Saint Anne’s Institute Foundation Board, Board of Directors Bellevue Women’s Hospital, Austin Beauty School Advisory Board, Key Bank National Advisory Board and works directly with many local organizations including; AXA Albany Executive Association, Albany Institute of History and Art, Circle of Life, Intercoiffure Membership Committee, Legal Project, March of Dimes, National Cosmetology Association, New York Giants Training Camp, New York State Cosmetology Association, Park Playhouse, Salon Success International/ 365, Senior Services of Albany- Meals on Wheels, The Salon Association/Professional Beauty Association Member, Titanium Member with Goldwell International, United Jewish Federation- Women’s Philanthropy Organization, Women’s Business Council, WAMS- Women Against Multiple Sclerosis, WPO/ Women’s Presidents Organization.
Rumors and Marri have been nominated for, and received many prestigious awards “Best Salon Growth and Practices” Salon Today 200, 2010, “ Distinguished Trailblazer” Woman of Distinction Girls Scouts of America 2010, “Women of the Year Award” Enterprising Women 2009, “Americas Fastest Growing Salons” Salon Today 200, 2009, “Woman of Excellence Award” Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce 2009, “The Best Salon” Metroland 2010, “The Best Salon” Capital Region Living for 2009 and 2007,“Americas Fastest Growing Salons” Salon Today 200, 2008, Success Magazine September 2008, Global Salon Business Award 2008, “Best of the Capital Region” Times Union 2008 and 2007, “#1 Salon & Spa” New York Capital Region Business Review 2007, Milady Text Book 2007, “ Woman of Excellence Award” Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce 2006, “Best Cut & Color Salons” Elle Magazine 2006, “Best Beauty Spots” Vogue Magazine December 2005, Ruth W. White “Trefoil Award” Girl Scouts 2005, “Outstanding Female Executives” The Elite Who’s Who, Noel de Caprio Award nominated by Modern Salon, Nominated for the Small Business Council Award in the category of “Innovative Enterprise” Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce 2002 “The Entrepreneurial Award” Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce 2002, Salon Champions 2001 & 2003.
Marri currently resides in Guilderland, New York, with her husband Robert Hanrahan, a retired Navy Pilot, presently working for the New York State Police and her identical twin girls Simi and Zoe. In her leisure time, Marri enjoys the company of her family, travel, golf, fine wine, and art history.
Marri’s life motto is to “have fun, make money, and be number one,” we want to make a positive difference to our clients, our team and the community we proudly serve.
Analisa Balares
CEO & Founder, Womensphere
Analisa Balares is CEO of the independent media organization and leadership community Womensphere (www.womensphere.org). Analisa chairs the annual Womensphere Global Summit, L.I.V.E. World Summit, and Emerging Leaders Global Summit. She is the executive producer of Womensphere Film Productions, and in 2009, launched the inaugural Womensphere Film Festival.
Analisa was recently elected by the New Leaders Council as 40 Under 40 New Leaders Award winner in its annual 2009 selection process throughout the United States, and recently awarded one of the Top 100 Most Influential Filipinas in the United States. Analisa was recognized by CBS Radio/1010Wins as its Tomorrow’s Newsmaker Award Winner for Business, and by Pan American Concerned Citizens Action League for Women’s History Month 2009’s Women Achievers Award.
Analisa is formerly Global Marketing Manager for Microsoft’s blogging/social networking service, where she managed internal partnerships with MSN Entertainment and XBox, and external partnerships with NGOs (Global Fund for Women, Earth Day Network), media companies (ABC, Sundance Channel), and independent music/film/TV festivals (SXSW, MethodFest, New York TV Festival). She launched her career in the Goldman Sachs High Technology Investment Banking group, where she helped execute $1.5 billion in IPOs, corporate financings, and mergers/acquisitions for high technology companies like Red Hat and Nokia.
Analisa holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and BA in Economics & Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College. While at HBS, Analisa founded the non-profit Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), and served as Co-President of the HBS Entrepreneurship Club and organizer of HBS Entrepreneurship Conferences. In 1999, Analisa founded The Lyons Network, a leadership and career mentoring organization for young women in New England, which she leads to this day.
Kerry Bannigan
CEO of Nolcha
With an extensive background in marketing, events, and brand management Ms. Bannigan envisioned a much needed revolutionary advance of resources in the emerging/independent fashion industry.
By teaming up with her business partner, Arthur Mandel, Nolcha was launched in March 2007. Bannigan has grown Nolcha’s mission to help aspiring and talented designers with the launch of Nolcha.com – an online portal delivering daily fashion business, Nolcha Fashion Week: NYC, Independent Retail Week: NYC & Chicago.
Ms. Bannigan splits her time between New York and London working closely with designers, reputable industry companies and associates to continually grow the Nolcha brand on an international platform.
Ms. Bannigan began her career nine years ago with multiple internships in Public Relations and Marketing while completing her BA English and Communications at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
Scott BelskyFounder, Behance
Scott Belsky believes that the greatest breakthroughs across all industries are a result of creative people and teams that are especially productive. As such, Scott has committed his professional life to help organize creative individuals, teams, and networks. Scott is the founder of Behance, a company that develops products and services for the creative industries. Behance oversees the Behance Network (Behance.net), the world’s leading online platform for creative professionals; The 99% (The99percent.com), Behance’s think tank and annual conference devoted to execution in the creative world, and Action Method (ActionMethod.com), a popular online/mobile productivity application and line of organizational paper products. Scott is also the author of the upcoming book Making Ideas Happen (Portfolio, Penguin Books, April 2010).
Prior to founding Behance, Scott helped grow the Pine Street Leadership Development Initiative at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Scott was especially focused on organizational improvement and strengthening relationships with Goldman Sachs’ key clients. Scott chairs the Board of Reboot, serves on Advisory Board of Cornell University’s Entrepreneurship Program, is a board member for the Art Director’s Club, and is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. He attended Cornell University as an undergraduate and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Phyllis Bergman
President of Mercury Ring Corporation
When Phyllis Bergman married the president of the 64 year-old family-owned-and-operated Mercury Ring Corporation, she had no idea that she would be running the business one day. But since she took over the reins in 1986, Bergman hasn’t looked back.
As the president of Mercury Ring Corporation, Phyllis Bergman oversees all aspects of the company, including sales, design, operations, marketing, and client relations. Under her leadership, the company’s customer base has increased more than six-fold. Today, Mercury is one of the oldest and most established bridal jewelry manufacturers in the United States, with more than 1,800 accounts nationwide.
As one of the most respected women in the business, Phyllis is regularly sought out for her fresh perspective, and no-holds barred style of consulting on everything from design and manufacturing to lifestyle trends and relationship branding. In addition to designing and launching her own lifestyle jewelry line as well as managing Mercury Ring Corporation, Phyllis Bergman is a dynamic force in the jewelry industry. In February 2007, Enterprising Women Magazine named her Entrepreneur of the Year and in November, Mercury Ring became the first certified female owned company in the jewelry industry by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
Phyllis Bergman currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewelers Board of Trade, the American Gem Society, the Women’s Jewelry Organization, the 24 Karat Club of New York and the Jewelers Vigilance Committee. She is also a member of the Woman’s Presidents Organization, Independent Jewelers Organization, and a newly appointed member of the Advisory Board for the Diamond Empowerment Fund.
The former president of the Women’s Jewelry Association and of the 24 Karat Club of New York, Ms. Bergman has served on the Board of Directors of the prestigious Plumb Club, Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America, American ORT Federation, and the Central Park Conservancy. She is also a lifetime member of Brandeis University, a recipient of the Women’s Jewelry Association Manufacturer of the Year Award, Women’s Jewelry Association Hall of Fame inductee.
A mother of three, Phyllis credits her husband, Ira, and her children for the growing success of Mercury Ring.
Gil Beyda
Managing Partner at Genacast Ventures
Gil Beyda is a seasoned entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. Gil launched his first company Mind Games in 1982 to develop games for the original Apple II. Gil then started a software consulting firm with Fortune 100 clients in the U.S., Asia and Europe. In 1995, Gil helped pioneer Internet advertising by founding Real Media, the first online ad network and ad server company. After Real Media was acquired in 2001, Gil pioneered the next wave of online advertising as CTO of TACODA, the first behavioral targeting, ad network. Following AOL’s acquisition of TACODA in 2007, Gil founded Genacast Ventures in partnership with Comcast Interactive Capital to invest in seed-stage, technology-centric, Internet start-ups.
Gil has a MBA and BS in Computer Science from California State University. He lives with his wife and four daughters in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Fran Biderman-Gross
CEO & Strategista, Advantages
Fran Biderman-Gross believes that people matter. It’s a belief she has sharpened through dealing with life’s many challenges.
In 1992, Fran and her husband David started Advantages in the basement of their New York home. Fran did whatever was needed to fund the company; from selling Tupperware, cell phones and furniture to tutoring students after school. In 1997, the company was finally doing well enough for them to move from their basement to an actual office.
Then, in June of 1999, David was diagnosed with cancer. When he passed away in 2001,Fran became the sole owner and president of Advantages, and was buoyed by the passion of keeping David’s dream alive and taking care of her two young children. As Advantages grew, Fran found herself working three times as hard. But the general feeling among employees and clients was off — it was work, but not a happy connection.
That’s when Fran realized she needed a purpose — a reason that would inspire her, her employees and her clients. Looking back over her life, Fran discovered that she had a remarkable talent for helping people get noticed. She is energized whenever she guides a client through the process of discovering what makes them stand out from the crowd. In finding her purpose, Fran also found a renewed passion for her company.
Now able to find like-minded employees and clients, she saw the importance of what was happening. Every time she started projects with identifying the client’s purpose, the results were astounding. Soon Fran was choosing to work only with clients who saw the value of purpose. With her passion for guiding others, Fran began expanding her own services to help companies find their purpose, and to show them how to use it to their advantage.
By guiding clients through the process of finding the beliefs and values that set them apart, she connects them with the branding and marketing strategies that help them tell their stories authentically. The results: inspired business processes, happier employees, increased customer loyalty, and brands that are purpose-centered. Oh, yes — and then there’s the resulting spike in client profits.
Today Fran is happily remarried to Broadway producer, Yeeshai Gross, and their family has grown with the addition of a baby daughter, Ariella. Business is also good, with Advantages continuing to grow in a purpose-centered way. The biggest change has been for Fran herself, now a Get Noticed Guru who shares her special talents with other entrepreneurs. Fran is a walking guide to getting good things, an indomitable people connector, and a spirited promoter of the purpose movement. She remains a firm believer that people matter, and it matters to her that she can in fact help them GET NOTICED.
Robert J. Borghese
Principal, Borghese Law Firm LLC; Lecturer in Law and Entrepreneurial Management, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Robert J. Borghese is a corporate and transactional attorney in private practice. His practice focuses on advising emerging growth companies on new venture structuring and formation, corporate strategic planning, private equity and debt financings, and general corporate legal and transactional issues including technology development and licensing, mergers and acquisitions, employment, intellectual property and joint ventures and strategic alliances. Mr. Borghese has represented entrepreneurs from inception through the creation of billion-dollar enterprises across a range of industries including technology, healthcare, biotechnology, and financial services.
Mr. Borghese is a principal of Miro Capital Partners LLC, a private investment firm with interests in companies in telecom, interactive learning, voice recognition software and virtual reality services. Mr. Borghese is also a founder of a real estate merchant bank and related real estate development and investment partnerships.
For the past eighteen years, Mr. Borghese has been a member of the faculty of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches Legal and Transactional Aspects of Entrepreneurship in the Wharton M.B.A., Executive M.B.A., and Executive Masters in Technology Management programs. He is the author of M&A from Planning to Integration: Executing Acquisitions and Increasing Shareholder Value, published by McGraw-Hill in English and Chinese language versions. He has appeared as a guest on CNBC’s Power Lunch and CNNfn’s The Money Gang and has been quoted in Fortune, Forbes, and Inc. Mr. Borghese lectures extensively on entrepreneurship and venture initiation and is currently working on a Wharton Executive seminar entitled, The Opportunity of a Lifetime Comes Along Every Two Weeks: Insights and Strategies for Identifying, Structuring and Capitalizing on Entrepreneurial Opportunity.
Mr. Borghese is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has an M.A. in Economics from King’s College, Cambridge University, England, and a B.S. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Ben L. Bynum, M.D.
Director, Investments at Jalia Ventures
Jalia Ventures provides $100K-$500K of seed and growth capital to businesses with products or services that support the development of disadvantaged communities. Josh Mailman, a prolific international angel investor who co-founded the Social Venture Network, serves as a co-founder and advisor at Jalia Ventures. In 1999, the Mailman family endowed $33 Million to fund the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Ben L. Bynum, M.D. received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Howard University and his MBA-MPH from Columbia University. The W.E.B. DuBois Scholar has performed global market research for Eli Lilly & Co. and currently serves as the Vice President of Sales at SaferMed, a health care information technology start-up. In addition to consulting healthcare ventures, Dr. Bynum volunteers his time with the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and serves as a Columbia Business School Alumni Ambassador where he interviews prospective business school students.
Ray Cao
CEO, EightyTwenty Group
Ray Cao is the Co-Founder and CEO of EightyTwenty Group. EightyTwenty is built on the philosophy that successful businesses are built by exceptional people. EightyTwenty is a family of organizations that consists of a charity and businesses that serve both consumer and enterprises.
Previously, Ray was the president of the Impact Entrepreneurship Group, now Canada’s largest youth-run entrepreneurship organization. In his role as president, he founded the Global Entrepreneurship Week Canada campaign. Ray has dabbled with the mix of working for companies as well, from growing a mobile startup called Polar Mobile to working as a trader on Wall Street at Barclays Capital. He realized, however, that it was much more fun building companies.
When he is not working on EightyTwenty, Ray is involved as a board member for the Impact Entrepreneurship Group and is an advisor to VeloCity a leading technology incubator run by the University of Waterloo. Ray also dedicates his time as an active committee member for the North York General Hospital. He was recently appointed to the DiverseCity Steering Committee which consists of prominent individuals in the Greater Toronto Area who recognize the value and potential of diversity in leadership for the region’s social and economic prosperity. Ray is a past recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 award.
Nathaniel Casey
Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Blazetrak LLC
Nathaniel “Nate” Casey is a former professional tuba player gone tech-geek entrepreneur. His career in business started with a position as the Operations Coordinator for the award winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra which lead to a position as Director of Operations for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Along the way, Nate began to pursue several entrepreneurial tracks in the music industry including working with his business partner (Corey Stanford) to create two businesses focused on music production education.
Nate Is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Clariwebs LLC – a web solutions company based in New York City and also Blazetrak LLC, a company that is changing the way opportunity is created and discovered on the web. His greatest passion is to improve people’s lives with innovative ideas that involve his love for music. Nate holds a Bachelor’s in Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Minor in English from Case Western Reserve. He also holds a Masters Degree in Music from the University of Georgia.
Marc Cenedella
Founder & CEO, TheLadders.com
Marc Cenedella is the Founder of TheLadders.com, the #1 source for $100k+ jobs in the world.
Marc started TheLadders.com in July of 2003 to solve a puzzling gap in the world of online recruitment and high-end employment. As the Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations at HotJobs.com, Marc saw that, while large job boards worked well for entry and mid-level candidates, high-level job searches were not being conducted efficiently online. Job seekers were frustrated, while recruiters often elected not to post their executive opportunities online at all.
Marc’s solution to this dilemma was a reverse business model that catered to the high-end job seeker. After orchestrating the $436 million sale of HotJobs.com to Yahoo!, Marc started SalesLadder.com, the first in the family of industry-focused websites exclusive to the $100k+ job market. The site was immediately embraced and appreciated by job seekers and recruiters alike for its unique approach and laser focus.
Prior to founding TheLadders.com and his role as HotJobs.com, Marc was an Associate Vice President at The Riverside Company, a New York-based private equity firm. Earlier in his career, he founded, grew and then sold an international trading company focused on the export of US-made pet food to Japan. From that experience, he gained a great appreciation for Japan’s emphasis on superior customer service – learning that he’s now applied to TheLadders.com. TheLadders.com has become a model for great service, both online and off.
Marc holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar. He earned his B.A. in political science at Yale.
Brian Cohen
Founder – iFluence/Vice Chairman, New York Angels/Social Entrepreneur
Created iFluence PR a strategic behavioral-based communications consultancy for the new earned influence/social media community. Its focus is on understanding determinant business success factors and using qualitative customer research matched with aggressive communications.
Created Good Cause Communications, the first full-service (501c3 in process) PR firm designed to meet the needs of non-profits. Its newswire, GoodCauseNews.org will be the first free Newswire for Good Causes and PublicRelationsCares.com is the first social responsibility, volunteer program for Public Relations Professionals.
Founded GlobalComm/TSI (Technology Solutions, Inc.) in 1983. TSI was the first science and technology strategic marketing and public relations agency in New York and one of the first such specialists in the United States. In 1996, TSI was recognized as the #1 fastest growing strategic marketing agency in the United States. Nearing 200 employees with 5 offices as a top 10 US PR Firm, he sold the company to The McCann Erickson World Group, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies in 1998.
As a hallmark of TSI’s collaborative work with hundreds companies during its 17-year tenure, it began a 14-year partnership with Sony Corporation of America in 1986. During that time, TSI provided strategic communications counsel to all Sony’s computer, business professional, and consumer products divisions introducing countless numbers of “bleeding-edge” products. In that same year, TSI began a 12-year alliance with the IBM Corporation that grew to represent more than 50 divisions, providing all levels strategic communications/media relations counsel. Brian provided ongoing media training to IBM executive management on how to talk to and develop sustainable relationships with the media and analyst communities. As a testament to the success of this relationship, TSI received the Gold CIPRA award (#1 Public Relations program) in 1998 for the IBM Deep Blue/Gary Kasparov Chess Match concept development and public relations program.
Brian created and instituted the RPM (Rapid Publicity Marketing) model of strategic communications. This smart/fast and tightly integrated approach to publicity gave clients a quick market edge and was designed to discover and leverage a company’s core strengths as well as mitigate their destructive weaknesses.
Before launching TSI, Brian was a founding publisher of Computer Systems News and Publisher of InformationWeek magazine at CMP Publications. As a graduate student, he worked on pioneering computer trade publications including Personal Computing Magazine and Minicomputer News from Benwill Publishing.
Brian received two Honor B.S. degrees from Syracuse University in Biology and Rhetoric/Speech Communications. He also received a Masters Degree in Science & Technology Communications from Boston University’s School of Public Communications in 1978 and currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of Directors. He also sits on the Executive Board of The People for the American Way as well the New York Angels investment group. He also actively judges numerous entrepreneur competitions including the NYU Stern School and Columbia University and sponsors his own competition at the School of Communications at Boston University where he recently received the distinguished alumni award.
Will CorrenteFounding Director, Corrente Consulting International Inc
Will Corrente is the well known connection optimizer and Founding Director of Corrente Consulting International Inc. (CCI). For over 20 years, Will has been creating process based solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs to be connection ready and poised to reach the next level of business success. Will is a regular featured columnist for New York Entrepreneur Week and the Bergen News and blogs at www.willcorrente.com.
For Will, entrepreneurship is a calling, a way of life and a passion. While still in college, Will began his own entrepreneurial journey when he co-founded and ran 2 service oriented small business ventures. On his journey from entrepreneur to employee and back again, Will has held a variety of management and sales positions at well known finance firms including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and New York Life Insurance. After his stint in finance, Will became a partner in a telecommunications consulting firm where he was personally responsible for gross sales in excess of $1 million in his first year of operation.
An ocean enthusiast, Will was inspired to combine his passion for well-run businesses and love of pets while surfing off of Palm Beach and co-founded Very Important Paws, a company which owns and operates multiple upscale pet hotels in south Florida. Under Will’s management, the company exceeded $1million in annual sales in less than 36 months.
Will founded CCI in 2005 to pay his knowledge forward by helping other entrepreneurs market and run their businesses more effectively, as well as manage and leverage relationships to grow their businesses. Committed to using his business skills to build better communities, William is active in community affairs and volunteer organizations and even made two unsuccessful runs for city council while living in New Jersey. He currently resides in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Will’s areas of expertise and strategic resources include: business start up, structuring/organization, sales/marketing strategy, management best practices, operations, customer/client development, growth planning, connection optimization, and entrepreneur advisory.
Owen Davis
Managing Director at NYC Seed
Owen has worked in all aspects of the online world. He created one of the first 200 web sites on-line, and founded Thinking Media in the summer of 1995, an online marketing firm which pioneered client-side tracking of pages and advertisements, which has become the standard method for online measurement. He co-founded Sonata in 1999, a wireless company that provided location-based services and marketing to cell phones. Owen also co-founded, Petal Computing, a firm that developed software which allowed large numbers of commodity PCs to act like a single unit, useful in industries ranging from image rendering to pharmaceuticals. He was also an original member of the Board setting online advertising and media specifications and has served as Managing Director of the Wireless Advertising Association. Owen was named various times as one of the 100 Top Internet Executives in New York by The Silicon Alley Reporter. Owen currently runs NYC Seed, the first true seed fund in NYC in partnership with the City of New York.
Sanford Dickert
Partner at Financial Summit Ventures
Sanford Dickert is with Financial Summit Ventures, a strategic and tactical consulting firm providing financial, technological, product and sales services for startups and SMEs. Sanford has worked with Fortune 500 firms, leading venture funds and promising start-ups in a number of markets through their product marketing and development needs – from conception to launch to ongoing delivery.
Sanford is part of the New York Tech community, working with businesses, investors and government to strengthen the connections between them and the NY Tech community though his work in coworking, startup mentoring and supporting various networking efforts.
Additionally, Sanford has a diverse background including stints as an Adjunct Professor at Cooper Union and NYU Polytechnic, teaching on Web 2.0 concepts and product development, roles on various Democratic campaigns in roles such as Chief Technology Officer for the John Kerry for President Campaign, and been part of numerous startup companies focused on social software and online community services including eGroups (acquired by Yahoo!), gigabeat (acquired by Napster), hotrecruit (acquired by Trinity Mirror Group in London) and Interoute (largest telecoms provider in Western Europe).
Stefan Doering
Founder of BEST Coaches
Stefan Doering is the creator of BEST Coaches’ groundbreaking 90-day “UnReasonable” program which brings to the table his almost 30 years of hard-earned business savvy and 4-plus decades of pure heart.
Stefan started his first company at the age of 17. His later companies included the leaders of major companies and institutions as well as multi-millionaires and billionaires as investors, board members and mentors, and had household names among their clients.
In 2002, Stefan was nearly killed in an assault. After a brush with death and an extraordinary recovery, Stefan decided to dedicate his life to helping others achieve the unreasonable. Today, he helps other entrepreneurs achieve ambitious and outrageous goals in their businesses and lives.
He and his coaching team have worked with thousands of entrepreneurs of all types worldwide since 2003, and his passion is working with environmental and sustainable businesses. He has been a true innovator for decades, demonstrating his sustainable business acumen.
Stefan has been featured in media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, The CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, The Daily News, The New York Post, The New York Times Magazine, NPR, Business Of Success Radio and WBAI, among others.
He holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from James Madison University and an MBA in Information Systems from Pace University.Stefan currently lives with his wife in the best borough in New York City: Brooklyn.
Stuart EllmanManaging Partner, RRE Ventures
Stuart Ellman is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been immersed in information technology since the early 1980’s when he taught himself computer programming.
Since co-founding RRE in 1994, Mr. Ellman has been responsible for over forty technology investments, ranging from incubation-stage to post-revenue companies. He has invested in sectors across information technology,from security to green IT, from consumer-facing web companies to enterprise software. He currently serves as a Board Director of AdmitOne Security, BetaWorks, drop.io, Ember Corporation, Kashless, Payfone, Rave Mobile Safety and RecycleBank.
Mr. Ellman began his career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in Australia. Later, he was a Financial Analyst at Dillon, Read& Co. where he focused on leveraged buyouts and restructurings and an Associate at Morgan Stanley & Co., specializing in fixed income capital markets. After graduating from business school in the early 1990s, Mr. Ellman was a co-founder and Vice President at Advisory Capital Partners, a principal investment and advisory firm.
In addition to his work as a venture investor, Mr. Ellman has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia Business School since 2002,where he teaches a popular Venture Capital Seminar to MBA students. In2009, he taught a graduate seminar at the CDTM in Munich, Germany, a joint program with Technical University and Ludwig Maximillians University. He is the Treasurer/Chairman of the Finance Committee of the 92nd St. Y where he has been on the board since 2001. He is also a member of the New York City Investment Fund’s Clean Tech Sector Group and is a member of the VC Advisory Group of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. He is also a member of the Economic Club of New York.
Mr. Ellman holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University where he was a Gilbert Clee Scholar and a Horace White Fellow.
Randy Joy Epstein, CPA
founder & CEO
Randy Joy builds extraordinary companies for exceptional people.
Ms. Epstein is a business expert who writes and speaks at conferences and events on entrepreneurship, business planning, and building financial independence. She is a sophisticated investor, a business owner and has successfully built many businesses that systematically run themselves.
In 2001, Ms. Epstein founded her first consulting company helping startups convert value to cash. In addition, she co-founded and built a real estate company which grew 50% annually since its inception.
Prior to starting her own companies Ms. Epstein worked as a business development associate at Sixdegrees.com. Sixdegrees was one of the original social networking websites and was bought out for $125 million.
Ms. Epstein career began at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she worked with entrepreneurial, real estate, and technology companies ranging from Fortune 500 clients to startups. Key clients included Earthweb, which was one of the first technology startup IPOs in 1998, AIG, and Prudential Real Estate.
Ms. Epstein’s prior boards and affiliations include WNED’s PBS/NPR stations, IREM, CCIM, Steinhardt Heritage Center, NAWBO and the Wharton Club.
Ms. Epstein holds her CPA in New York State; graduated from the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Buffalo; and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business.
Jim Estill
CEO – Canrock Ventures
Jim Estill started a technology distribution company from the trunk of his car while in university. He grew that to $350,000,000 in sales, took it public and sold to SYNNEX in 2004. He then ran SYNNEX Canada from $800,000,000 to $2 Billion in sales.
He is an active early stage tech investor, board member and advisor. He has sat on the board of RIM (Blackberry) since before they were public.
Scott Ferber
Founder & CEO, TidalTV
Ferber has spent his career utilizing mathematics and data analysis to build profitable businesses and products. His most notable success was founding Advertising.com in 1998, which was eventually sold to AOL in 2004 for nearly half a billion dollars. In his role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ferber was responsible for the company’s stellar operating performance, strategic vision and continued development of its award-winning, proprietary optimization technology.
Prior to Advertising.com, Ferber held roles at Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble, where he developed computer systems and mathematical models to create business practices for plant production and raw material procurement, and Capital One Financial Corporation, where he leveraged statistical approaches to marketing and financial risk management to develop new businesses outside of the credit card industry.
Due to his outstanding accomplishments, Ferber has received numerous awards including Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000, CEO of the Year by Blue Chip Venture Company, the American Business Award’s “Stevie” for Best Executive in 2005, the Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate Award 2006 from the University of Virginia, and was named an Influential Marylander by The Daily Record in 2009.
Ferber graduate summa cum laude with a B.S. degree from the University of Virginia, Dept of Systems Engineering in 1991, and a M.S. from the Stanford University, Dept of Engineering-Economic Systems in 1992.
Sergio Fernandez de CordovaFounder of Fuel Outdoor
Started in 2003, Fuel Outdoor has grown into a multi-million dollar company with six offices in nine cities nationwide, and is now a portfolio company of Och-Ziff, a global institutional asset management firm with over $21 billion in capital. With more than 4,000 outdoor advertising locations, a growing portfolio of clients, and a very active philanthropic program. Sergio is more than just a sharp businessman; he’s a young entrepreneur with an incredible ability to turn opportunity to success seemingly overnight.
Today, as a shareholder and founder of Fuel, Sergio heads the Real Estate, Government Affairs, and Legal Divisions at the 3rd largest privately owned outdoor advertising company in the country. He manages all of Fuel’s real estate operations, as well as all legislative affairs and legal initiatives. Sergio continues to change the landscapes by bringing innovation and private public partnerships to new levels. He works with cities such as Miami, New York and Dallas; helping these cities to rewrite their sign ordinance in order to create new income streams to municipalities otherwise not being utilized.
Sergio continues to be lauded for his work at Fuel and outside. The New York Enterprise Report nominated Sergio for several awards: Sales and Marketing in 2006, Leadership in 2007 and Mergers and acquisitions in 2008. In 2007, Sergio was nominated as New York’s Best Up and Coming CEO by the NYC Executive Council and in 2008 as New York’s Best Up and Coming Executive. Sergio was selected as one of thirty-five top entrepreneurs and innovators in America under the age of 40, brought together by an organization called The Summit Series, at the White House to discuss the economy with Obama senior administration officials. In addition, he was also invited to attend the G8 Young Business Summit with four other Entrepreneurs from Entrepreneurs Organization in Italy this past July.
Marsha Firestone, Ph.D.
President & Founder
Dr. Marsha Firestone is the Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), which began in 1997 as a peer advisory organization for women who own multi million dollar businesses. She is also the Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization, dedicated to increasing access to business opportunities for women’s business enterprises (WBEs).
Dr. Firestone previously served as Vice President of Women Incorporated and as Vice President of Training and Counseling at the American Woman’s Economic Development Corporation (AWED). Her career also includes positions as President of a for-profit educational institution; National Executive Director of Women’s American ORT, a volunteer organization; and a faculty member at the American Management Association Competency-Based Management Development Program, at City University of New York, and at Adelphi University.
In 1998, Dr. Firestone was the Executive Director of The Women’s Economic Summit. She led the development of a master plan for accelerating the growth of women’s businesses, which was presented to Congress and the public in March 1999. In 2003, Dr. Firestone was appointed to a term on the National Women’s Business Council representing the Women Presidents’ Organization.
Dr. Firestone is the author of The Busy Woman’s Guide to Successful Self-Employment and has published research in business and educational journals on adult learning theory, nonverbal communication, and managerial competency. She also serves the worldwide women’s business community as a frequent guest speaker, with recent speaking engagements at Tulane University, Women’s Leadership Network of APEC, Syracuse University, The Center for Women’s Business Research Roundtable, and Unicul International in Tokyo, Japan. She was an official U.S. representative to OECD in 2003 in Turkey and to APEC Women’s Network in Viet Nam in 2006.
Dr. Firestone has been honored with a special achievement award from Woman Inc. of Jamaica; the Applause Award for breaking down barriers for women in business from Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); The Hall of Fame Award from Enterprising Women; 2004 WMBE Outreach Award from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; the Outstanding Alumna Award 2003 from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, and as one of three finalists for Entrepreneurial Supporter by Ernst and Young.
Dr. Firestone shares her professional knowledge by serving on numerous boards and advisory councils including: Women’s Leadership Initiative at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Enterprising Women Advisory Board, Forbes Executive Women’s Board, Newcomb College Institute Director’s Advisory Council, the International Women’s Forum, and The Women’s Jewelry Association. She also sits on Mayor Bloomberg’s Commission on MWBEs for New York City.
Dr. Firestone earned a Master’s degree in Communication from Teacher’s College of New York and a Ph.D. in Communication from Columbia University, where Margaret Mead sat on her dissertation committee.
Jennifer Carter Fleiss
President & Co-Founder, Rent the Runway
Jennifer Fleiss co-founded Rent the Runway with Jennifer Hyman after obtaining seed money from Bain Capital Ventures and recently closing a second round of financing with Bain and Highland Capital. The company applied a Netflix model to women’s dresses, allowing women to rent dresses by contemporary designers at 10% of retail price. RenttheRunway.com launched November 9, 2009 and since then has signed up more than 200,000 members to its site, shipped over 3,000 orders and raked in over $300,000 in revenue. Jennifer is responsible for the cost side of Rent the Runway including operations, technology, legal, investor relations and administration. Jennifer previously worked as a strategy consultant at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. In 2008, Jennifer founded Carter Admissions, an online essay-editing and coaching service for college applicants. Other entrepreneurial initiatives include Carter Admissions Online Essay Editing, Juice Generation and Yoga Earth. Jennifer holds a BA from Yale and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Cozy Friedman
Founder & CEO
Before becoming a licensed barber or having kids of her own, Cozy Friedman was struck by a revolutionary idea: create a salon where kids are a priority, not a nuisance. Inspired by a friend’s tale of her little nephew’s tearful visit to an intimidating—and unwelcoming—grownup salon, Cozy investigated the market and discovered that parents were clamoring for a salon dedicated to junior cuts.
After earning her barber’s license, Cozy opened the doors to her first salon on Madison Avenue in New York City. Staffed with stylists attuned to the unique needs of children and stocked with the latest, greatest toys, Cozy’s Cuts for Kids was an instant success. Instead of dreading their next trim, kids actually looked forward to haircuts like a visit to Serendipity or FAO Schwartz. Parents were thrilled to put their children’s precious hair in the hands of experts equally trained in handling kids and their hair.
15 years, three salons – Madison Avenue, Upper Westside and East 74th St, and two kids later, Cozy continues to provide stress-free cuts for New York kids. In response to client demand, Cozy has also created So Cozy Hair Care For Children, the first-ever “designer” line of hair care products created exclusively for kids. With Paraben-free formulas specifically designed to gently and naturally treat children’s hair without sodium laurel or laureth sulfate. Available nationwide, the unique formulas are made with gentle, nourishing ingredients and yummy scents for a completely kid-friendly bath time experience. While New York celebs like Kelly Ripa and Matt Lauer have always counted on Cozy’s cuts for their little ones, now parents everywhere can tame their kids’ hair with So Cozy products.
Spencer Fry
CEO of Carbonmade
Spencer Fry is the CEO of Carbonmade since 2007, handling day-to-day operations, accounting, legal matters, customer service, marketing, advertising, and “everything else” that’s not design or code. Carbonmade is the easiest way to display and manage your portfolio online, with over 200,000 members.
During his sophomore year at Yale he co-founded a VoIP company for computer game players called TypeFrag in 2003. TypeFrag grew into a five-person company providing voice communication for hundreds of thousands of gamers world-wide by the time Spencer sold the company in 2007.
In 2006, while working on TypeFrag and finishing up his senior year at Yale, Spencer took first place and $75k for the $100k Innovation Challenge @Case business plan competition for another business he co-founded, Game Communications.
Andrew FultonViking Global Investors L.P.
Andrew Fulton began his career in the Portfolio Advisory Group at Lehman Brothers where he specialized in asset allocation strategies for offshore family offices and institutions. Since 2008 he has worked in business development for a long/short equity hedge fund in New York where he is in charge of managing relationships with investors around the world.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Andrew has developed a passion for international travel and service-oriented entrepreneurship. Andrew is an International Advisory Director for Global LEAD, an international non profit organization hailed as the “Peace Corps for the 21st Century” sending American students overseas for leadership development and service learning opportunities. Andrew has given lectures across Africa centered around raising awareness about the importance of capital markets and investing in developing economies. He has also traveled extensively throughout Brazil where he sources investment and entrepreneurial opportunities alongside the country’s institutional investors.
Stuart R. GoldfarbSenior Associate, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Stuart R. Goldfarb is a senior associate in the Corporate Group in Orrick’s office. Mr. Goldfarb specializes in mergers and acquisitions, private equity/venture capital investments and capital markets transactions. In addition, Mr. Goldfarb provides general corporate and corporate governance advice to both public and privately held entities.
Mr. Goldfarb previously practiced with Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP and Smith Lyons LLP in Toronto, Canada and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York. Mr. Goldfarb resided in the Paris office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP for approximately 18 months and has extensive experience in cross-border M&A transactions.
Garrett Gravesen
Co Founder, Global L.E.A.D. Program
Garrett Gravesen is a social entrepreneur with a passion for Shark Cage Diving in South Africa.
He has criss-crossed 6 continents, spoken to people from more than 100 countries, and was recently named one of the “Ten Outstanding Young People of the World” in New Delhi, India. He has trekked alongside mountain gorillas in Rwanda, based jumped off a building in New Zealand, and been piranha fishing deep in the Amazon in Brazil. While an undergrad at UGA, Garrett became the youngest student body president in school history, did investment banking for Merrill Lynch & Co. in Hong Kong, and worked at an AIDS orphanage in Africa.
Professionally, Garrett Co-founded H.E.R.O. for Children—a non-profit for children with HIV/AIDS and the Global L.E.A.D. Program-an international service, leadership, and adventure non-profit where he has spoken at international conferences in India, Poland, Romania, and Brazil on “Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and the 007 Lifestyle.” Garrett delivers the Global Education curriculum on the “Power of Living/The Power of Giving” where students live off a dollar a day and “The Power of WOW, the Power of Now”—a creative framework for entrepreneurial passion in the 21st century in Cape Town and Greece each year. To learn more visit GlobalLeadProgram.org.
Erica GriggFounder & Chief Tweeter, Carbon Outreach
Erica Grigg is Founder and President of Carbon Outreach LLC—an international social enterprise that creates and executes PR strategies for sustainability-focused companies in USA, the UK and Canada. Since 2007, Carbon Outreach has helped the World Wildlife Fund International and Channel 4 [UK], among others use public relations and especially social media tools like Twitter.
Erica Grigg finished her Master’s in Political Economics at University College London in 2007, and soon thereafter started Carbon Outreach. Since then, Erica and Carbon Outreach have won numerous awards including the British Council Low Carbon Futures Challenge UK Advocate 2008-2009, Green Web Award recepient in 2009 and Fellow at the Royal Society of Manufacturer’s and Arts [UK]. Mashable recommends following Erica (@carbonOutreach) on Twitter.
Divya Gugnani
Founder of Behind The Burner
Divya Gugnani acquired a taste for her future in culinary arts while building a career in finance. In addition to a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, Divya holds a degree from the French Culinary Institute, where she discovered her inner chef. Divya started her career at Goldman Sachs and then worked at Investcorp International and Millennium Technolgy Ventures. Most recently, as a venture capitalist and Principal at FirstMark Capital, Divya provided companies with strategic and operational guidance to achieve their visions. Divya has also catered events and worked in restaurant kitchens while managing her corporate boardroom responsibilities. With the creation of Behind the Burner, Divya blends her long-time passion for culinary arts with her expertise in business.
Divya currently advises several startups and establish brands with board level roles. She appears on MSNBC: Your Business and has been featured in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Deal, Eat.Drink.Better and several other publications.
Tugba GurcanlarPrivate Sector Specialist, World Bank
Tugba is a quintessential intrapreneur – at the World Bank, she specializes in developing novel approaches to stimulating entrepreneurship and generating growth through productivity-driven private sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her current focus is on developing business clusters and enhancing the competitiveness of African companies in global markets.
Recently in her work Tugba co-managed and authored the Investment Climate Diagnostics and Assessments for Madagascar, The Gambia, The Seychelles, and prepared industry competitiveness assessments for Madagascar’s “Growth Poles” and Zambia’s “Jobs and Prosperity” projects. She is currently designing a growth pole in Nampula, Mozambique, managing the Business Environment Reform Program in The Gambia, and working as part of the core team preparing the regional publication: Competitive Africa: Strategies to Leverage the New Global Economy.
Tugba’s background has exposed her to critical policy issues in international trade, international finance and regional integration across a variety of multilateral and governmental institutions and NGOs including the European Union, United Nations, Turkish Prime Ministry and now the World Bank. She received her MPP from Duke University in Global Economic Policy.
Ellen Gustafson
Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of FEED Projects
Ellen Gustafson is an activist for improving the global food system for all eaters. She is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the FEED Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring healthful, nutritious food in school for all children as a first step towards a sustainable global food system.
She is also Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of FEED Projects, LLC, a charitable company that creates good products that help FEED the world. For each FEED Bag sold, a measurable donation is given to support school-feeding programs for hungry children. Sales of the initial “FEED 1 bag”, which provides meals for one child in school for one year, have fed over 40,000 children since April 2007. The FEED 100 bags provided funding for the World Food Program’s entire school-feeding operation in Rwanda for 2008. Working together the FEED Foundation and FEED Projects, LLC have provided close to $6 million to UN World Food Program school-feeding operations since April 2007.
Previously, Ellen was a Public Information Officer and Senior Spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), where she directed the New York Communications office and met WFP Honorary Spokesperson and FEED co-Director, Lauren Bush. At WFP, Ellen managed U.S. media relations, launched the 52-school Universities Fighting World Hunger initiative, and oversaw U.S. celebrity outreach.
Before joining WFP, she was a Researcher and Reporter for the ABC News Investigative Unit, where she wrote and edited pieces on international terrorism for Senior Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross. Ellen also worked at the Council on Foreign Relations, the US foreign policy think-tank, as a Military Research Associate, acting as the sole researcher for four senior military officers, and as a Communications Associate. She serves on the Columbia University Alumni Board of Directors, the founding Board of Directors for a new Bronx charter school within the Success Charter Network, and on the Advisory Board of Doc to Dock, a non-profit that brings needed medical supplies to hospitals in Africa.
Ellen has a BA in Political Science from Columbia University and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Food Studies at New York University.
Joyce HansonContributing Writer, Crain’s New York Business
Joyce Hanson is a contributing writer with Crain’s New York Business. Her areas of coverage include small business, green entrepreneurs and sustainability.
Joyce’s recent stories for Crain’s include an article about the Green Spaces incubator in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn furniture startup Ecosystems Brand’s participation in the green Made in NYC business directory. She is currently working on a story about dirty businesses getting clean and welcomes your ideas, news tips and stories about NYC’s top entrepreneurs in all fields.
With a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern, Joyce recently completed a social media internship with environmental networking group Green Drinks NYC, where she increased the group’s Twitter followers by 300% in just five months. In addition, she is the head of her Brooklyn co-op’s gardening committee and has appointed herself as the building’s Green Queen.
Richard Heitzmann
Managing Director
Rick Heitzmann is a Founder and Managing Director at FirstMark Capital. Mr. Heitzmann joined FirstMark, formerly Pequot Ventures, in 1999, where he focuses on investments in emerging media and advertising and data and information services. Rick has led or co-led many investments in the consumer technology market including StubHub (acquired by ebay; NASDAQ: EBAY) and US Search (NASDAQ: SRCH) / First Advantage (NASDAQ: FADV) (acquired by First American; NYSE: FAF for $1.1 BN). Previously, Rick was a founding member of the senior management team at First Advantage (NASDAQ: FADV). At US Search, Rick, as the Senior Vice President of corporate development and member of the Board of Directors, led the public company turnaround. Mr. Heitzmann graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Business Administration and earned his M.B.A. from The Harvard Business School. Rick sits on the Board of Directors of Clickable, Live Gamer, Riot Games and weplay. Rick is also on the Board of Directors of the New York Venture Capital Association.
Dan HoffmanCEO and President, M5 Networks, Inc.
Dan Hoffman joined M5 in early 2001 with more than 11 years of experience managing service providers. Prior to M5, Hoffman co-founded Global Internet Group where he served as President before selling the company to Asia Online,an ISP holding company based in Hong Kong. As Executive Vice President of Operations, Hoffman grew Asia Online to a major pan-Asian Internet services firm with over 1000 employees. Previously, Hoffman advised management teams at several service providers including Interport Communications. Before that he ran operations at Education Loan Services, Inc. Hoffman graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Masters of International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his work at M5, Hoffman serves as the Board President of Workshop in Business Opporutunities (WIBO), a private non-profit organization that is committed to assisting men and women with the drive to become successful entrepreneurs.
David HorowitzManaging Director, Comcast Interactive Capital
David focuses his efforts in digital media, advertising, consumer Internet, and other relevant sectors. David also works closely with Genacast Ventures, a seed stage venture fund affiliated with Comcast Interactive Capital. David’s responsibilities at CIC include sourcing new investment opportunities and advising and sitting on the board of CIC portfolio companies. Prior to joining CIC in 2000, David worked in the investment banking department at Bear Stearns, advising clients in the Media & Entertainment sector that included cable, broadcasting, publishing, education, advertising/marketing and Internet/new media, among others. David holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with highest honors from the University of Michigan with a concentration in Accounting and Finance. David serves on the Board of Directors of BlackArrow, Invite Media, JiWire, TidalTV, and Visible World and is involved as an advisor or board observer to a number of other CIC portfolio companies. David was previously involved in CIC’s investments in Entropic Communications (NASDAQ: ENTR), Giant Realm (acquired by Burst Media), Intellon Corporation (NASDAQ: ITLN, acquired by Atheros Communications), Linkshare (acquired by Rakuten), Nuera Communications (acquired by AudioCodes), RF Magic (acquired by Entropic Communications), and XOS Technologies (acquired by JumpTV).
Nancy Johnson
Founder & CEO of Optimyze
Optimyze is an internationally recognized, award -winning advisory services firm to leading global brands, retailers and manufacturers focusing on all aspects of developing product. The Optimyze team uses the Optimyze Methodology™ to create value through integrated Business Strategy, Resource Optimization, Productivity Improvement and Enabling Technology initiatives to harmonize the delicate balance between creativity and analytics; and to better manage the complexities of developing products and intricacies of business optimization.
As a knowledge leader, Nancy has built a solid reputation for providing strategic and practical solutions to customers; and Optimyze is highly regarded as one of the best advisory firms in the creative industries for experience, honest assessment, and value to customer. Working with companies from $1M to $1B+ on 100+ PLM-related projects, companies such as Burberry, VF Corp. and Under Armour achieve significant business gains including increased revenue, enhanced innovation, and speed to market.
Prior to launching Optimyze, Nancy began her creative career as designer/tailor of custom suits and eveningwear. She worked for an award winning interior architect before transitioning back into apparel. Her extensive product development and technology background transitioned her from custom bridal to sportswear and athletic apparel with companies such as House of Design, Calvin Klein and Warnaco, with various wholesale and retail experiences in between. She has held director and management level positions relating to product design and development, visual merchandising, sourcing, and technology.
Nancy sits on the Board of Directors of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Global Business Committee. She an author and frequent speaker on topics related to Product Life Management (PLM), Process Improvement and Sourcing and Trade Management. She periodically teaches at area colleges on design and technology related topics and devotes time to mentoring young designers and new businesses on best practices.
Geoff Judge
Venture Partner
Geoff Judge is an investor in early stage companies. He often works directly with his investments on business strategy and business development. Occasionally he works with companies on raising institutional capital. Geoff is also a member of The NY Angels.
Geoff was an investor in IndustryBrains (sold to Marchex Nasdaq: MCHX), and today works actively with Collective Media, Fetchback, Oggifinogi, Madison Logic, Good Health Media, Pex Card and Chango. He is a Venture Partner at Metamorphic Ventures, and iNovia Capital. He also sits on the board of Global Cash Access (NYSE: GCA)
Mr. Judge was Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Media Division at 24/7 Real Media, and a co-founder of the company. He was formerly the President of Interactive Imaginations, one of three companies that merged to form 24/7 Media in 1997. 24/7 Media went public in August 1998 and was acquired by WPP in 2007 for $649MM. Mr. Judge spent nine years at American Express in the Card Division in several roles including VP and General Manager, Travel & Corporate Insurance Group and VP Marketing, New Cardmember Group.
Mr. Judge received an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University. He is a founding board member of Children for Children and a Trustee for the Sacred Heart School in Manhattan.
Ann Kaplan
CEO and President of iFinance Canada Inc.
Ann Kaplan is the CEO and President of iFinance Canada Inc., the parent company to Medicard, Petcard and Dentalcard – a national consumer finance Company which recognizes over 25M in revenues per annum. Ms Kaplan is the recipient of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the year Award, 2000; the Peak Award of Excellence in Finance, 2001; as well as five times on the Canada’s Profit 100 list for growth; four times placement on the Canadian W100 list for revenue; she was also recognized as one of Canada’s most inspirational women in 2007 and more recently as one of Canada’s top three Female Business Leaders and as Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, 2009; Canada’s Mompreneur of The Year 2009 and is the recipient of A Stevie Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, 2009 award. Ms. Kaplan has a MBA, a Corporate Governance Designation (ICD.d) and is completing her PhD Thesis in Business and MSc and Doctor of Business at Henley University. She has written two books If You Don’t Laugh, You’ll Cry and “Best Practices”. She resides in Toronto.
Kofi KankamFounder of Admit Advantage
MBA/EMBA Visionary
Kofi is a co-founder and director of Admit Advantage, a graduate school and undergraduate advisory and software company focused on admissions for global candidates from five continents. Through its global team of alumni consultants from some of the top MBA programs including Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton, Admit Advantage has worked with MBA candidates in five continents and achieved a 92% success rate. In this role, Kofi develops and manages the company’s alliances, creates the strategic vision, oversees product development, and manages the consultant and product quality control.
Kofi is also a director of a start-up mobile marketing company which uses data mining to construct customer profiles for corporate partners in the Asian market.
Professionally, Kofi’s experiences are within the technology, educational, and consulting spaces. Kofi co-founded and successfully exited an educational software company supporting hiring and training efforts for major universities and corporations after beginning his career as a consultant for Accenture servicing the telecommunications industry. He is a former Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Wharton Club of New York and currently serves as a co-director of the Wharton Alumni Business Plan Competition for WCNY.
Kofi received his Bachelor of Art degree in biology from Harvard College, his Masters in Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and his MBA from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Joseph Wharton Fellow.
He resides in New York City with his wife, Nicole, is an avid soccer player and fan, and sometimes dabbles in stand-up comedy.
Michael Karnjanaprakorn
Co-Founder, All Day Buffet
Michael Karnjanaprakorn is the Co-Founder of All Day Buffet, which incubates, advises, and invests into purpose-driven companies. Some of the portfolio companies he is involved with include The Feast (social innovation conference), TBD (email newsletter for social innovation), and Lovely Day (which consults fortune 500 companies on social innovation). He is also the co-founder of By/Association, which is a network of remarkable people.
Prior to All Day Buffet, Michael was the Director of Business and Brand Development at Behance. He is currently the Product Lead for Hot Potato.
Michael received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and M.S. from the VCU Brandcenter.
Ben Kartzman
CEO of Spongecell
As the CEO of Spongecell, Ben is responsible for driving the company forward through sustained and profitable revenue growth. Prior to co-founding Spongecell, Ben established himself working for global leaders in consulting, banking and technology such as Accenture, Morgan Stanley and Intel. As an executive at Accenture, Ben led the sales and delivery of high-value management consulting engagements. Ben also has formidable experience leading teams in building and generating revenue on highly usable software products as demonstrated for venture backed start ups in New York. Ben graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon with a dual BS in Human Computer Interaction and Information & Decision Systems.
Ben Kaufman
Founder of Quirky Inc.
Ben Kaufman is the entrepreneur-in-chief of Quirky, a social product development company that launches one new community-developed consumer product each week. Part platform, part process, Quirky is rapidly changing the way people think about product development by utilizing a unique approach to harness the power of ideas.
At 23, Ben has become somewhat of a posterboy for aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. He launched mophie, an iPod accessories company, at the tender age of 18, and took home a MacWorld “Best of Show” at 20. Soon after, he began brainstorming ways to engage his customers in the product design and development process. He spent two years building a team and extensively researching, building, and testing technology platforms, and in June 2009, Quirky was born. By enabling a fluid conversation between a global community of influencers and an expert product design team, Quirky is able to accomplish what was once unthinkable: bringing one brand new product concept from sketch to store each week.
Ben lives and works in New York City. He can be reached at ben@quirky.com.
David KistnerFounder and President of Green Apple Cleaners
Green Apple Cleaners – is the tri-states ONLY truly environmentally (and people) friendly cleaner using non-toxic CO2 and Wet cleaning process’. Green Apple was formed when Mr. Kistner’s wife (Effie) was pregnant with their twin boys (Michael and Evan), as first time parents they read many books and articles about pregnancy and infant care. Several guides warned that pregnant women should avoid dry cleaning because of the harmful, often toxic chemicals (including Perchloroethylene or “perc” hydrocarbon and silicone) used by 99% of cleaners.
With three years of research and carful assembly of the startup team, Green Apple Cleaners launched in Oct 2006 to capitalize on the opportunity within the NYC dry cleaning market to offer an “eco-friendly” alternative using clean efficient CO2 and water as opposed to traditional dry cleaning methods which are carcinogenic and ground water contaminants.
After a creative acquisition and retrofit of an existing dry cleaning plant in 2006, Green Apple Cleaners under David’s meticulous branding eye and continuous environmental initiatives and innovations has grown from a single store / plant into a large multi-state operation serving over 10,000 customers in over 800 building in NYC through a combination of a fleet of the most fuel efficient delivery vehicles (including the industries first pedal trike) servicing 7 daily routes, 3 NYC store fronts and 2 NJ store fronts.
This growth has taken place while continually introducing new environmental initiatives in the industry and continually challenging the historically “dirty” industry to change and even being recognized by being selected as an affiliate of Americas Best Cleaners leading Mr. Kistner to coin “Not only are we Green but were Great!”
Over the past three years Green Apple has transformed from a dry cleaning company into a Green Consumer Products Company which currently derives the majority of its revenues from dry cleaning then uplifts those profits into other green ventures including: Green Apple Interiors, Green Apple Consumer Products (Natural Soaps and Detergents), Green Apple Concierge, and most recently the creation of a not-for-profit “The Green Apple Foundation” who mission is to help educate school age children on protecting our environment.
Personally, David Kistner continued to prove leadership even after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in December of 2007. He is often quoted as saying “Cancer saved my life, my relationship with my wife and my company” as it forced him to re-address how the company operates (hiring additional personal – restructuring job duties and committing to be the best) and where and how he spends his time (more time with his now 6 year old twin boys and wife).
Recent press on David Kistner and Green Apple appeared in outlets including: Time, FT, The Discovery Channel, America.gov, Sundance Channel, NBC – First Look, CBS – Organic Lie, Crains, The Green Guide, NY Times and 4 books as well as planting over 100 Apple trees in NYC in 2009 and committing to and additional 500 trees as part of their 3rd year celebration for more information about Green Apple please go to www.GreenAppleCleaners.com.
Lora KolodnyBusiness & Tech Journalist
Lora Kolodny is a business and tech journalist who writes for the New York Times blog You’re the Boss!. Her series there, The Prize, focuses on business competitions and related events. Many of these are designed to inspire and support social entrepreneurs and their nascent companies and causes. She is also a columnist and tech editor for the women’s green news and culture site Ecosalon.com. Previously, she worked on staff at The Hollywood Reporter and Inc. magazine.
Apar Kothari
Founder & CEO, MyNines
Apar is currently founder & CEO of MyNines, a shopping engine that aggregates products from various online sample sale sites. Apar was most recently a Manager in the Corporate Strategy group at Fox Interactive Media, where she was responsible for M&A, joint ventures and commercial deals for FIM’s portfolio of media and entertainment sites. She has also worked as a venture capitalist at both Rustic Canyon Partners and IBM Corporation. Apar holds a BS in Finance & Marketing from NYU and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Rick KushelCEO iLevel Solutions
Prior to his tenure at iLevel Solutions, Mr. Kushel was Co-Founder and Chairman of Archive Systems, Inc., a leading on demand document management company, which he founded in 1991 and where he served as CEO through the summer of 2008. During his tenure as CEO, Archive achieved 14 consecutive years of double digit revenue growth year to year, employing more than 250 employees and raising more than $20MM of venture capital from Carlyle, Edison Ventures and NJTC Venture Fund. In 2006, the company was recognized as “One of the Fastest Growing Technology Companies in NJ” for the Second Year by Deloitte & Touche, the “50 Fastest Growing Companies in New Jersey” for the second year by NJBIZ and the “Top 25 Mortgage Technology Service Providers” list for the second year by Mortgage Banking Magazine. In 2004, Mr. Kushel was named one of New Jersey’s “40 Under 40″ by NJBIZ as someone under the age of 40 who has made a significant impact in business in New Jersey. In addition, Mr.
Kushel was selected as a finalist for New Jersey’s 17th annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) Awards. Mr. Kushel served on the Board of Trustees of The New Jersey Technology Council, the State’s leading organization for the technology and venture capital industry ,with over 900 members.
Mr. Kushel is deeply involved in charitable and community endeavors. Since 2002, he has been a founding Board member (and member of the Executive Committee) of Hoop-A-Paluza, Inc. (www.hoopapaluza.org), a charity focused on children suffering due to health or socioeconomic factors. He and his wife Randi were honored in 2007 by The Chabad of Randolph for community work. Mr. Kushel is an active angel investor and has since 2004 been a member of AngelVineVC, a leading NYC area venture capital and angel investor network. Mr. Kushel was an investor in Franklin Realty; a real estate holding company which he helped found in 2001 and exited in 2008. Mr. Kushel is a frequent public speaker including guest lecturing at Columbia Business School on venture capital and entrepreneurship. He received a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in business from James Madison University.
Holly Landau
CEO of Landau Leadership
Holly Landau is the CEO of Landau Leadership, an innovative consulting firm that designs customized training & employee development solutions, hosts unique experiential learning events, and offers online leadership courses and assessments to boost individual/team productivity, strengthen work relationships, and help organizations reach peak performance.
Holly has motivated thousands of corporate and non-profit employees and executives throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and South America. Prior to launching her own firm, Holly created and facilitated leadership development programs for the multi-billion dollar corporation, Penske. She is a former US Army Officer, spokesperson for the Dept. of Defense, and Media Relations Officer for Defense Logistics Agency. Serving mostly at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, she successfully designed and delivered media training programs for field officers across the United States. She earned a Meritorious Service Medal for her accomplishments while serving in the Public Affairs Office of the Secretary of the Army. Following her service, she became a Territory Manager in the retail industry in Washington, DC where she recruited, hired, trained, and retained a team of thirty. It was in this role that she honed her coaching and mentoring skills while developing innovative sales and customer service training programs.
Holly earned her commission in the US Army through the St. John’s University ROTC program, a BA in Sociology from Thomas Edison State College, and recently completed the Executive Leadership program at Cornell University, and will complete her MA in Positive Psychology. She is a sought-after presenter and facilitator on topics such as leadership, diversity, innovation, and corporate communication. She continually draws from her varied experiences to inspire others to think both creatively and strategically. Ms. Landau is a contributing writer for several business blogs and is often featured on industry panels as a leadership expert, including a forum for the fashion & retail industry during New York’s 2009 Fashion Week and SBA panels. She is the featured Leadership Expert for the 2010 American Express OPEN Book on Leadership. Follow her on Twitter: @LeadershipMuse Contact Holly at hollylandau@landauleadership.com.
Graham LawlorFounder, Ultra Light Startups and BrightMap
Graham is the founder of Ultra Light Startups, a networking community for technology entrepreneurs and the founder and CEO of BrightMap, an online directory that helps companies find professional service providers through verified client references.
Ultra Light Startups runs monthly pitch, panel and networking events in New York and Boston on topics covering monetization, marketing, technology, user engagement & insights, and finance & organizational structures. Ultra Light Startups also provides strategy consulting for online businesses and referrals to professional service providers, partners, and investors. Since 2008, Ultra Light Startups has helped over 900 businesses and entrepreneurs build efficient online businesses. To see upcoming events and sign up for the Ultra Light Startups weekly newsletter and social networking groups visit:
http://ultralightstartups.com/
BrightMap is a B2B directory of companies that helps businesses find professional service providers (lawyers, accountants, web developers, designers, PR firms, office space providers, etc) through verified client references. To browse the directory, find connections, and register your company, visit BrightMap at:
http://brightmap.com/
In addition to Ultra Light Startups and BrightMap, Graham and is a frequent speaker, blogger, and press source on topics related to building online businesses. He has been quoted in publications such as BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and BBC News.
Prior to founding Ultra Light Startups, Graham spent 10 years as an IT project manager at UBS and Deutsche Bank. Graham holds a BS in Philosophy from the University of Illinois and an MA in Economics from New York University.
Lawrence LenihanFounder, CEO, and Managing Director, FirstMark Capital
Lawrence D. Lenihan Jr. is the Founder, CEO and Managing Director of FirstMark Capital. Prior to founding FirstMark, Larry founded Pequot Ventures in 1996. Larry is responsible for investments in the data & analytics and vertical applications & services sectors. He serves as a senior member of FirstMark Capital’s Investment Committee and has been directly involved in the formation of each private equity and venture capital fund established by the firm since its inception.
Prior to FirstMark, Larry was a Principal at Broadview Associates, L.L.C. (now part of Jefferies & Co.) one of the leading mergers and acquisitions advisory firms focused on the information technology industry. Before joining Broadview, Larry held several operational positions at IBM, and led the development and launch of one of the first transactional multimedia systems for the retail industry.
Larry sits on the boards of Dovetail Insurance, Duck Creek Technologies Europe, Ltd., EagleEye Analytics, SecondMarket, Superior Access Insurance Services, Swingtide, and Tracelink. He serves as Chairman of the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering Devil Fund. Additionally, he is an adjunct professor at New York University.
Larry holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. from Duke University.
In addition, Lawrence has served or been featured in the following:
- Served as Chairman of the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering Devil Fund
- Adjunct professor at New York University Stern School of Business, where he teaches a course on entrepreneurship called “Ready, FIRE, Aim: New Entrepreneurial Strategies for a New Business Environment” (2007 – Present)
- Advisory role for many New York City initiatives such as the NYC Seed Fund and the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s strategy for revitalizing NYC’s financial sector through new business formation.
- Advisory Board for the Wharton School of Business as a “Private Equity Partner”
Lawrence has spoken at the following conferences:
- Speaker at the Emerging Leader Forum (July, 2006)
Ben Lerer
CEO & Co-Founder of Thrillist.com
Thrillist co-founder and CEO Ben Lerer, 27, is a native New Yorker. After graduating from University of Pennsylvania in 2003, he worked with hotelier Andre Balazs on projects in his two Los Angeles Standard Hotels, The Raleigh Hotel in Miami, and Hotel QT in New York’s Time Square.
Lerer launched the first Thrillist e-mail newsletter in 2005 to address the lack of funny, actionable information available to young men in New York City. Currently, Lerer directs Thrillist.com’s business development, advertising sales, and marketing efforts. He has overseen the expansion of Thrillist from a list of 600 friends and family to a national media service with well over one million daily subscriptions.
Lerer has been featured by the New York Daily News and Inc. Magazine in their “30 under 30″ list of successful entrepreneurs, and has been listed in the Silicon Alley Insider 100 two years running. He serves on the board of directors of the East River Development Alliance, a New York non-profit.
Jay LevyPrincipal – Zelkova Ventures
Jay Levy is a co-founder and principal of Zelkova Ventures.
Jay focuses most of his time in working with the current portfolio company and looking at new investments in the software-as-a-service, internet media and green tech space.
Susan LindnerFounder & President of Lotus Public Relations
Susan Lindner is an international public relations expert with more than 10 years of communications experience in the healthcare, non-profit, government, consumer, technology and financial services arenas. Susan has brought together a diverse team of PR and marketing professionals who share her passion for outstanding media relations. Her philosophy in starting the agency has not diverged since its founding.
“We strive for excellence in every interaction: with our clients, the media and our industry contacts. We see our role as fulfilling an intrinsic part of each company’s business plan and holding ourselves to a higher standard of success through uncompromising effort and tangible results. Simply stated, our goal is to become the best boutique PR and marketing firm in NY, hands down. We owe this level of service to our clients.”
Prior to founding Lotus, Susan led numerous account teams with such clients as Akamai Technologies (NSDQ: AKAM), BP (NYSE: BP), National City Corp (NYSE: NCC), as well as several successful technology startups. She has promoted AIDS awareness, family planning and other healthcare issues in Thailand, conducted AIDS research for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the New York City Department of Health, and has worked as a consultant in Thailand, Burma and Laos. Susan speaks four languages and has traveled and worked in 20 different countries, bringing a valuable perspective that help us respond to the ever-changing needs of our clients.
“We pride ourselves on our long term relationships with our clients, constantly offering them fresh ideas and creative perspectives to get their stories told. Our clients know we will be there for them–reliable, responsive and relentless with media. It’s that dedication to our clients and to their business goals that has earned us our sterling reputation.”
Susan earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Anthropology and Religion from Dickinson College.
Brian B. MargolisPartner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Brian Margolis, a partner in the New York office, is a member of the Corporate Group. Mr. Margolis has a broad background in corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance issues and general corporate counseling.
Mr. Margolis’ practice focuses on the representation of both domestic and foreign issuers and underwriters in public offerings of equity securities. He has acted as counsel to issuers and underwriters in more than 40 public offerings, which have raised an aggregate amount in excess of US$3 billion. He has extensive experience representing companies and venture capital funds in connection with equity investments in private companies. His practice also focuses on representing Israeli companies accessing the U.S. public and private capital markets.
Additionally, Mr. Margolis has advised numerous companies in mergers and acquisitions. He has experience representing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in both initial public offerings and acquisition transactions. Mr. Margolis counsels public companies regarding disclosure, compliance and other securities law issues.
Mr. Margolis’ clients have included a wide variety of companies, from start-ups to established publicly-traded companies, and they span various industry sectors, including e-commerce, information technology, life sciences, media, software, telecommunications and wireless communications.
Before joining Orrick, Mr. Margolis was a partner in the Corporate Practice Group at WilmerHale.
Tad MartinFounder/CEO – Cross Commerce Media
Before starting CCM, Mr. Martin was the COO/GMM at Overstock.com. He joined Overstock as one of the company’s early employees through an acquisition the company made of another start-up he was a part of. Mr. Martin reported directly to Patrick Byrne, Overstock’s CEO. During his tenure, Overstock grew from roughly $70m in revenues to over $800m, and went from a privately funded startup to a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: OSTK). Mr. Martin is a frequent speaker, and has been cited for his extensive experience by many publications including The Wall Street Journal, Internet Retailer, and CMO magazine. Mr. Martin earned a Six Sigma Black Belt and applied the methodology to operations at Overstock.
Chris McCann
Co-Founder [Startup Digest]
Chris McCann is an entrepreneur, writer, and general activist in the entrepreneurial community of Silicon Valley and San Luis Obispo. He has led the entrepreneurial programs at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, started Innovation Quest an alumni led incubator at the University, and is the founder of the [Startup Digest], and lead social media strategy for TEDx Silicon Valley.
As the founder of the [Startup Digest], Chris is recognized worldwide for radically new ways about thinking about startup events as an entry point to a life of entrepreneurship and realizing the full potential of the human spirit. If you want to subscribe to the list, check out TheStartupDigest.com.
Dave McClureMaster of 500 hats; 500 Hats
Dave McClure has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years as a software developer, entrepreneur, startup advisor, angel investor, blogger, and internet marketing nerd. Dave currently runs FF Angel, a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund, and ran the 2009 fbFund REV incubator program on behalf of Facebook, Accel Partners, & Founders Fund.
Dave’s passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he has been an advisor or investor for over 50 companies in the past five years including: Mint.com (acquired by Intuit), CreditKarma, KissMetrics, Mashery, Simply Hired, SlideShare, TeachStreet, and Twilio.
Dave is the co-founder of Startup2Startup & Finance4Founders, monthly dinner meetings for Silicon Valley startup entrepreneurs & investors. He leads a travel group called GeeksOnaPlane to promote cultural exchange & education for tech entrepreneurs around the world. Dave also supports the StartupVisa program to reform & improve US immigration policy for entrepreneurs.
Dave has been a conference organizer for many tech and startup events including STARTonomics, Graphing Social Patterns, and Web 2.0 Expo, and has been a guest lecturer on social network platforms & applications at Stanford University. Dave has been a boardmember for microfinance accelerator Unitus, an advisor to microfinance lender Kiva.org, and co-founded the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network.
Previously Dave launched and ran marketing for job search engine Simply Hired, and its evil twin SimplyFired.com. From 2001 to 2004, Dave worked at PayPal (acquired by eBay in 2002) as Director of Marketing, where he started the PayPal Developer Network program. Prior to PayPal, Dave was a database consultant & programmer for several companies, including Microsoft and Intel. In 1994 he founded Aslan Computing, an internet & e-commerce consulting group later acquired by Servinet / Panurgy in 1998.
Before coming to Silicon Valley, Dave barely graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with a BS Engineering in Mathematical Sciences and a minor in frisbee, billiards, & foosball. His interests include microfinance and economic innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital, ultimate frisbee, cartoons and animation, and an ever-growing collection of funny-looking hats.
For more info visit Dave’s LinkedIn profile or his blog: Master of 500 Hats.
Ari Meisel
Founder of LEED Pro
Ari went to primary school and high school at the United Nations International School and then he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He graduated one year early with a BS in Economics and concentrations in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship and minors in Art History and Psychology, honored as an Albert A. Berg Scholar.
When Ari was 6 years old he started doing magic shows for birthday parties, then from the ages of 9-12 he was a child model. When he was 12 years old he started tinkering around with web design when a business associate of his father’s offered to pay him to do his site. Ari formed Liontex and eventually did over 150 websites. When he was 16, he got the idea to start a company called Menus-to-Go.com as a directory of takeout and delivery menus in NYC, which would ultimately be the precursor to Food.com and MenuPages.com. At 17 he started TEK, which was a technology consulting company specializing in home theater, computer networking, and telecommunication installations for homes and businesses.
After graduating from college, Ari went to visit a friend in upstate New York who showed him a group of 1880’s cigar factories, which he bought with the vision of creating luxury lofts. He didn’t have any experience with development or construction so he spent most of the next two years working in every trade that took place on the job. That was Arise Development. He also bought the historic Lackawanna train station that had been converted into an office building as part of my fifth LLC, Railroad Empire.
Once he had finished work upstate, Ari came back down to the city and focused his attention on the Hamptons, building state of the art commercial office and retail spaces, which included affordable housing. He also started building green and became a LEED accredited professional.
Ari created LEED Pro as a green building consulting business and to operate a blog on green building materials which got picked up for a book deal with Princeton Architectural Press and should be released in the beginning of 2010. He is currently focused on green building consulting for various projects around the country including a commercial space at the Visionaire, a LEED Platinum building in Battery Park City.
Five Star Apps, is an Iphone App development company Ari started with four friends to brainstorm, develop, and market applications for the Iphone.
Most recently, Ari has been developing LEED certified, mixed use properties in the Hamptons. His latest project, SylvanHaus a retail and affordable apartment development, is slated to begin construction in Summer 2010.
Ari currently lives in New York City with his wife Anna who works with him and is also a classical clarinetist. They are both avid rock climbers and Ari is an equally avid golfer.
Heidi MesserCO-FOUNDER, CEO, World Evolved Services, LLC
Heidi Messer is the co-founder and CEO of World Evolved, LLC, a start-up headquartered in NYC. Prior to World Evolved, Ms. Messer co-founded LinkShare Corporation, host to one of the largest international affiliate marketing networks. Ms. Messer served as President and COO from the mid-nineties through the company’s 2005 sale to Rakuten for $425 million.
Prior to LinkShare, Ms. Messer practiced corporate law with Baker and Botts, L.L.P. Ms. Messer received a B.A. degree from Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. She obtained her J.D. from Harvard Law School graduating cum laude.
Ms. Messer, an acknowledged authority on online marketing, has been cited in the New York Times, Chief Executive Magazine, the Nikkei, Women’s Wear Daily and Internet Retailer. Ms. Messer has also appeared on national television and radio programs including Business Talk Radio, Fox News, CBS Morning News and the Fox Morning Show.
Cameron Mochan
President and Chief Growth Officer, growStation
As a serial entrepreneur, Cam is always looking for a better way to do business. A veteran of both the real estate and retail trades, Cam knows first hand the challenges and competitive nature of capitalism and has been successful at the game. Business can sometimes be complicated; however, Cam works real hard to keep it simple. “A company doesn’t grow without support from customers and the community. Take care of them and they will take care of you.”
As an innovator in Community Connected Commerce, Cam founded growStation in 2009 as a simple way to connect customers and community by combining his two professional passions of retail and real estate with a personal one, giving back. Empowering customers to create positive growth in their communities by donating 100% of after tax retail profits to customers’ community projects of choice, growStation is a perpetual fundraising source, like a community bake sale that never ends.
In addition to running growStation, Cam still oversees operations of his other two companies, The CRUX Company, a real estate investment development firm and Retail Support Group, a retail management consulting firm.
In his spare time, Cam loves to spend time with his wife Katie and two girls Claire (7) and Quinn (3) and lives in Denver, Colorado. Cam is an avid golfer and skier, and enjoys running and reading. Cam holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University and earned an honorable discharge from the United States Army in 1993.
Allen MurabayashiCEO, PhotoShelter, Inc.
Allen Murabayashi was born and raised in Honolulu, HI. To the great relief of his parents, he matriculated to Yale University where he majored in Music and minored in Geology and Geophysics. When rock music didn’t pan out, he moved to New York City where his first job was for Penthouse magazine. He later became a founding employee of hotjobs.com in 1995. He is the CEO and Founder of PhotoShelter (www.photoshelter.com), an online service that provides website, archive and sales functionality to over 50,000 photographers worldwide. Allen has authored several free online marketing guides for photographers, including The Photographer’s SEO Cookbook and Google Analytics for Photographers. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Eddie Adams Workshop, widely recognized as the leading student and young professionals’ photojournalism workshop.
Jason Olim
Co-Founder of CDNOW.com
Jason Olim experienced just about every aspect of leading and operating a growth company. As the founder and CEO of CDNOW (NASDAQ:CDNW) and as a member of public and private company boards, he raised venture, debt and public capital; he acquired and merged with other companies; and took his company private through a sale to Bertelsmann, the third largest media company in the world. In his various roles, he hired management teams, developed strategic plans and acted as spokesman to the media.
A graduate of Brown University with a degree in computer science, Olim worked for two years at Soft-Switch, designing software systems for multinational corporations. Olim founded CDNOW in February of 1994, and became a highly recognized Internet entrepreneur. He has earned Entrepreneur of the Year awards from various organizations, including the Small Business Association, Arthur Andersen and the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group. Olim consults for startup companies on strategy, fundraising and organizational development.
Jason is a frequent guest lecturer at business schools, an instructor at The Wharton SBDC and needs to take his comprehensives to get his MA in organizational psychology at NYU. His current project is www.freshmanfund.com.
Jeff Keni Pulver
Founder / Casting Director, #140conf
Jeff Pulver: Entrepreneur, Chairman and Founder
Twitter bio: Technology Anthropologist; Entrepreneur; Early-Stage Seed Investor; story teller, Living in Social Media. Producer of #140conf
Jeff Pulver has been called “a habitual entrepreneur who likes to start Internet communications companies.” He is known globally as someone who helped popularize the use of Voice over IP (voip) and as the co-founder of Vonage. In 2009 he created the global #140 Characters Conferences, http://140conf.com/ which explores the emerging real-time Internet.
On February 12, 2004, Mr. Pulver’s petition for clarification declaring Free World Dialup as an unregulated information service was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This landmark decision by the FCC was the first decision it made on IP communications.
Hooman RadfarCEO & Co-Founder, Clearspring Technologies, Inc.
Edward G. ReitlerPartner
Ed is a partner at Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, a 30-attorney boutique law firm servicing the venture community.
Ed handles a wide variety of corporate matters including private equity, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets and joint ventures transactions. While at the firm, Ed has represented dozens of merchant banks and buy out and venture funds and their portfolio companies in these matters including UBS, PaineWebber, American Securities, Wexford Capital, Lightyear Capital, Edison Ventures, Spark Capital, Milestone Ventures, Greenhill SAVP, New Spring Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, SJF Ventures, Innovation Ventures, Cammeby’s Capital, SAS Investors, Hudson Ventures, Walden Capital, Libertyview Capital, Ovation Capital, Carrot Capital, GlobalNet Management, Zon Capital and Himalaya Capital.
Ed is a member of the Board of Directors of Business Financial Services, a credit card accounts receivable factor, gCommerce, Inc., an inventory management and custom order software developer; and Blink Twice, a developer and distributor of assistive technology products for the disabled. Ed also serves on the technology committee of the New York City Investment Fund, a venture fund that co-invests in early stage businesses in New York City. He is on the Board of Advisors of SAS Investors, an early stage venture capital fund investing in paradigm shifting companies and of Acuity Ventures III, LLC, a venture fund investing in early stage software development and bio-technology companies. Ed is a member of the Board of Advisors of X + 1, an online marketing technology solution provider. Ed has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on issues affecting the private equity and venture capital markets and is a regular guest lecturer on venture capital finance at Columbia Business School.
Prior to Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, Ed was at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, after completing a clerkship with the Hon. J. Edward Lumbard (United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit). Ed is a graduate of Harvard Law School.
Ramon RayEditor & Technology Evangelist
Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist and editor of Smallbiztechnology.com and author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses”.
He co-produces the Annual Small Business Summit (since 2006), produces the Taste of Technology Small Business Series and is a speaker (including Inc 500).
Ramon has written thousands of technology articles and news items for Smallbiztechnology.com and other media including: Inc. Magazine, New York Enterprise Report, Black Enterprise Magazine, CNet, Var Business, TechTarget, Entrepreneur.com, Small Business Resources and others. He has also written for technology vendors including Microsoft, FileMaker, and Everest.
He is often quoted in the media, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, WCBS Radio, Crains New York, National Federal of Independent Business, Small Business Advocate Radio Show, Wells Fargo Small Business Roundup, Tech Talk with Craig Peterson and Smart Money.
Ramon has brought his unique dose of humor, technology insight and practical advice to many events, including the Inc 500, Biz Tech Day, NY XPO, HP Business Matchmaking event, Infusion Soft User’s Conference, Capterra Software Marketers Conference, United States Small Business Administration Service Core of Retired Executives’ “Strategies for Succeeding in Business”, PC Expo, Internet World, American Woman’s Economic Development Corporation, Business Development Institute, SMB Nation and more.
Ramon is not “just” a technology writer, but, as a former small business technology consultant, he has years of hands on experience in building networks, installing software, upgrading computers and supporting the technology that small businesses use on a daily basis.
Member, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC), and MCC Technology Committee.
Brain Trust Member, Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Advocate Radio Show
Graduate, Federal Bureau of Investigation Citizens Academy 2009
James D Robinson IV
Co-Founder & managing Partner
Jim Robinson is a Co-Founder & Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been active within the technology community for over twenty years as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and banker.
Since co-founding RRE in late 1994, Jim has been responsible for over thirty technology investments, with a focus on digital consumer, enterprise and financial services technologies. He is currently a Director of AdaptiveBlue (semantic personalization), GoMobo (mobile ordering systems), iCrossing (e-marketing technologies), Mixed Signals (digital broadcast monitoring), m-Via (mobile remittances), OpenPeak (home infotainment platforms), SmartPay Jieyin (mobile top-up & payments in China), and Wisdom Tree (developer of indexes/ETFs).
While earning a dual degree in Computer Science and Business Administration at Antioch College during the early 1980’s, Jim worked as a programmer for state government, and later founded and was President of IV Systems Inc., a firm that created small business applications for unix workstations. In 1986, Jim joined JP Morgan & Company, where he spent four years working on technology-related assignments, first within the group charged with building global risk management systems, and later as an investment banker in corporate finance. Jim earned an MBA from Harvard in 1992, and subsequently joined Hambrecht & Quist Venture Capital in San Francisco. While at H&Q he led investments primarily within the software and communications sectors.
Jim is involved in several non-profit endeavors, with a particular interest in children’s issues and rights. He is a Director of the New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF), and a member of the Advisory Board of the National Association on Drug Abuse Problems (NADAP). Jim has been a member of the Young President’s Organization since 1998.
Ben Relles
Founder, Barely Political
Ben Relles started the online video network Barely Political in June 2007 when he created the internationally known “Obama Girl” series of videos. Since launching the company, videos on his networks have been seen over 400 million times and featured on programs including Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Report. Barely Political was later acquired by Next New Networks and remains one of the most popular online comedy networks today. Prior to working in online video, Ben founded the direct marketing company MarketVision which he ran from 1997 to 2002. Ben received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business in 2004 and subsequently spent time working at various Omnicom marketing agencies including BBDO and TBWA. He currently lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and their twins.
Carley Roney
Cofounder and Editor in Chief of The Knot Inc.
After the nightmare of planning her own wedding, she and husband David Liu, along with two friends, launched The Knot in 1996 to enhance the wedding planning process with the convenience of emerging Internet technology. The site offers stylish ideas, up-to-date advice, and much-needed relief to today’s brides and grooms. Roney has successfully established The Knot as the #1 brand in weddings. To date, the company has helped millions of US couples with the numerous facets of wedding planning.
Building on her years of media experience in magazine publishing and new media, Roney has been an integral force in the extension of the brands and services of The Knot Inc. beyond the wedding day. She lead the launch of The Nest (www.thenest.com) for newlyweds, The Bump (www.thebump.com) for first-time parents, and she directed the integration of registry powerhouse WeddingChannel.com and other brands into the company’s multimedia portfolio.
As an expert on real-world weddings and young married life, Roney is invited to speak at many industry events and frequently appears on national television shows, including Oprah, ABC’s The View, NBC’s The TODAY Show, and CBS’ The Early Show. She is also a regular contributor to leading publications, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Glamour, Vogue, Elle, and Self. Her popular advice column “Ask Carley” is syndicated by the Scripps Howard News Service and appears in more than 70 newspapers nationwide.
Roney is also the author of several popular books, including The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings in the Real World (Broadway Books, 1998), The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner (Broadway Books, 1999), The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions (Broadway Books, 2000), The Knot Book of Lists (Clarkson Potter, 2008), The Nest Newlywed Handbook (Clarkson Potter, 2007), and The Nest Home Design Handbook (Clarkson Potter, 2008).
In 2008, Roney was named one of Crain’s New York Forty Under 40 and is regularly recognized and consulted as a mentor for young female entrepreneurs.
Prior to founding The Knot, Roney was the President of RunTime Inc., where she produced award-winning media products for The Smithsonian and Sotheby’s. Previous to RunTime, she was creative director and editor for clients such as the National Museum of American History, The McGraw-Hill Companies, and Simon & Schuster. Roney holds an MA in cultural studies from New York University and a BFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Institute of Film and Television.
David Rose
Managing Principal at Rose Tech Ventures & Founder of Angelsoft
Described by BusinessWeek as a “world conquering entrepreneur” and by Crain’s New York Business as “the father of angel investing in New York”, David is one of the city’s most active early stage investors.
David is a split-screen legend to the world’s entrepreneurs. He’s been both a mentor to hundreds of startup hopefuls and, sometimes — to the talented and fortunate — a funder. His rapid-fire seminars on pitching to venture capitalists are celebrated and sought-after. He’s helped invest many millions of dollars in startups through New York Angels (companies like Peter Diamandis’ ZERO-G), meanwhile raising tens of millions for his own companies.
Fusing these interests under Rose Tech Ventures, Rose’s mission is to give future movers-and-shakers support and encouragement. His vision and passion for mentoring and supporting entrepreneurs are what drive the world of Rose Tech Ventures. David also connects entrepreneurs to tens of thousands of angel investors in 45 countries through Angelsoft, which helps start-ups and investors communicate more effectively.
Mike RothmanVP, Sales and Business Development (Thrillist)
Mike has led Thrillist’s Sales efforts for the last four years, growing the company from zero to ten million dollars in revenue with a Fortune 500 roster of clients that includes American Express, Proctor & Gamble, Diageo, and hundreds of others. Prior to working at Thrillist, Mike started a custom publishing company focused on the hospitality industry before moving into business development at Hachette Filipacchi Media. In his spare time, Mike volunteers with inner-city youth mentoring programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and the TEAK Fellowship. Mike holds a BA from Brown University.
Clifford J. SchorerProfessor, Columbia Business School
Professor Schorer is a serial entrepreneur who specializes in the start-up acquisition and development of small and mid-sized companies. He focuses on businesses with unique ideas or technologies that are in need of guidance during their initial growth phases. Cliff has been involved with companies in the high tech arena, his last position being CEO of GeoVideo Networks, a Lucent Technologies Venture. Prior to that his career included businesses in the real estate, office-supply and health care industries. During the early 1990’s he spent a considerable amount of time in Russia using his entrepreneurial approach to assist in the privatization process During his extensive professional career, Schorer has lectured in numerous business and academic forums both in the United States and abroad. He has developed financial management software programs for business education through his publishing company Bized.
Daniel (”Danny”) SchultzCo-Founder and Managing Director – DFJ Gotham Ventures
Danny Schultz is a Co-founder and Managing Director of DFJ Gotham Ventures, a leading early-stage venture firm based in New York. For over two decades Mr. Schultz has invested in and financed start-ups and public companies across the technology, media and communications landscape.
Danny currently focuses on investing in technology companies in the financial services, digital media, network infrastructure and mobile technology sectors. He represents DFJ Gotham on the boards of Panvidea, Pivot Solutions, Magnolia Broadband, ViVOtech and Worktopia, and prior to their acquisition, XOsoft (acquired by CA) and Massive (acquired by Microsoft). Mr. Schultz has also invested successfully in SMARTS (acquired by EMC), Insulair (acquired by Georgia Pacific) and Active Impulse Systems (acquired by Phillips).
Danny is also a member of the board of the Venture Industry Association of New York and is an advisor to the NYC Seed Investment Fund and Yissum, the technology transfer unit of The Hebrew University (Jerusalem). Prior to co-founding DFJ Gotham, he was a senior banker with Lehman Brothers in both New York and London, where he ran the firm’s equity private placement business. Danny is a graduate of Columbia University, a native New Yorker and can frequently be found around 10pm somewhere in Westchester playing ice hockey.
Kevin Scott
Director of Global Outreach of Global L.E.A.D. Program
Kevin Scott is a global social entrepreneur on a mission to make a difference and the world is his stage. He has rallied crowds and inspired individuals the world over with his grassroots appeal and southern charm.
As the graduation speaker at his alma mater–the University of Georgia—Kevin received a standing ovation from more than 10,000 people after he challenged the audience to give back to those less fortunate. Since that time Kevin has served on a presidential campaign team, worked as a representative for a U.S. Congressman in Athens, Georgia, spoken to leaders from more than 100 countries, and keynoted international conferences in Brazil, Kenya, and Romania on “Leadership: Vision and Values in the 21st century”.
Recently named one of the 30 Under 30 for his work as the Director of Global Outreach, Kevin has not only expanded the marketing efforts of Global L.E.A.D. across America but also delivers the Leadership curriculum on “Teamwork, Visionary Leadership, Overcoming Obstacles, and Ethical Leadership” at Global LEAD locations in Cape Town and Greece, as well as other conferences around the globe. Kevin’s passions include philanthropy, politics, and people.
Peter Shankman
Founder of Help A Report Out (HARO)
PR Week Magazine has described Peter as “redefining the art of networking,” and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective.” Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you harness the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and make it work to your advantage.
An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service.
Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 100,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,200 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO’s tagline, “Everyone is an Expert at Something,” proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helparepoter.com each week.
In addition to HARO, Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog, which he launched as a website in 1995, (www.shankman.com) both comments on and generates news and conversation.
Peter’s PR and Social Media clients have included the Snapple Beverage Group, NASA, The US Department of Defense, Walt Disney World, The Ad Council, American Express, Discovery Networks, New Frontier Media, Napster, Juno, Dream Catcher Destinations Club, Harrah’s Hotels, and many others, and he sits on the board of the Scott-e-Vest, the world’s first technologically enabled clothing line.
Peter is the author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons 2006) and a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences, and tradeshows worldwide, including The Public Relations Society of America, The International Association of Business Communicators, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association.
A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, Peter is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, and USA Today.
Peter started his career in Vienna, VA, with America Online as a Senior News Editor, helping found the AOL Newsroom and spearheading coverage of the Democratic and Republican 1996 conventions, which marked the first time an online news service covered any major political event.
Upendra Shardanand
CEO & Founder of Daylife
Upendra Shardanand is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Daylife, which helps news publishers source, and compose content into new forms of storytelling.
He co-founded his first venture, Firefly Network, as a spin-off of his work at the MIT Media Lab. Firefly Network was a pioneer in personalization and several web technologies, and was acquired by Microsoft in 1998.
At Microsoft, Upendra launched Microsoft Passport, and represented Microsoft on industry bodies to further the cause of online privacy. Following Microsoft, Upendra was a founding partner of The Accelerator Group, a venture firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. He went on to serve as the Director of Technology at Time Warner Corporate.
Mr. Shardanand received in 1994 a Masters of Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Shardanand serves on the board of directors for BluMail and the board of advisors for Treehugger, BrandKarma, Help Remedies and Wee-Web. Previously, Mr. Shardanand has served on the board of advisors to the Better Business Bureau Online, PeoplePC (acquired by EarthLink), MediaCode (acquired by Yahoo), RealNames, and InsightFirst (acquired by 24/7 RealMedia).
Scott ShusterBusiness Journalist; Partner, Stratostream Entertainment
Following 9 years as an ABC News foreign correspondent based in Switzerland and reporting mainly from economically less-developed regions (the guy in the safari suit), Scott Shuster obtained an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then joined the BusinessWeek Group of McGraw-Hill, where he led more than 200 BusinessWeek CEO-only, CFO-only, and CIO-only live events, interviewing thousands of executives before their peers. Scott’s private clients in event facilitation (scottshuster.com) include Toyota, Microsoft, the US Dept of State, the Corporate Council on Africa, the Hashemite Royal Court (government of Jordan), the government of Dubai, the 17-nation Committee of Donor Agencies for Enterprise Development, the World Resources Institute and many more. An entrepreneur himself, Scott is the co-founder and the operator of Stratostream Entertainment, a New York City-based movie studio (stratostream.com).
Simon Sinek
Founder of Inspire Action
Simon is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them. He writes, consults and speaks all over the world about the concept of Why – the purpose, cause or belief that drives every one of us. If everyone knew Why they do what they do and if everyone only did the things that inspired them – what an amazing place the world would be.
A trained ethnographer, Simon has a life long curiosity for why people and organizations do the things they do. Studying the leaders and companies that make the greatest impact in the world and achieve a more lasting success than others, he discovered the formula that explains how they do it. The amazingly simple idea, The Golden Circle, is grounded in the biology of human decision-making and is changing how leaders and companies think and act.
Simon’s unconventional and innovative views on business and leadership have attracted international attention and have earned him invitations to meet with an astounding array leaders and organizations, including: Microsoft, Members of Congress, GE Silicones, AOL, New York City Ballet, the Director of HIV/AIDS Policy for the US Department of Health and Human Services. Simon also had the honor of presenting his philosophy to the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq and at the Pentagon to the most senior leaders of the US Air Force.
Simon shares his optimism with all who will listen. He speaks at conventions and
corporate gatherings around the globe including events organized by Forbes Magazine, American Express and PSFK, a leading trending spotting organization. He also comments regularly for local and national press, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, FastCompany, CMO Magazine, BusinessWeek and NPR. He is a regular contributer to The HuffingtonPost and BrandWeek and makes regular guest appearances on MSNBC’s Your Business, among others.
Simon serves on the board of advisors for First 30 Days and sweetriot. Active in the not-for-profit world, Simon works with the EFE Foundation, Count Me In and serves on the Board of Directors for the Harlem School of the Arts.
When not staying in hotels, Simon lives in New York where he also teaches graduate level strategic communications at Columbia University. His first book, Start With Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, will be published by Penguin Books in the fall of 2009.
Jody Steinglass
Founder and President of Empire Edge
Jody Steinglass is the Founder and President of Empire Edge, LLC, a premier academic consulting company located in New York City. He and his staff of over thirty professionals have advised hundreds of students from a wide range of backgrounds including private, charter, and public schools. Leveraging experience with a multitude of learning styles, Jody has expanded Empire Edge’s core business into developing highly adaptive, content-rich learning environments. The most well-known application, Adapster, is currently available for the iPhone.
Jody holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a master’s degree in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University.
Jeff Stewart
Angel Investor & Founder of Mimeo
Jeff Stewart is an entrepreneur and investor. His most recent company, Urgent Career, pioneers the use of linguistic technology to find, screen, and assess sales professionals.
Jeff has founded over a half-dozen companies, which combined employ over 600 people. Immediately prior to founding Urgent Career, Jeff started a technology-based financial intelligence firm that provided real-time analysis of semi-structured text information to hedge funds and other institutional investors. Jeff is also the founder and managing director of Geometric Group LLC and Urgent Ventures LLC, two companies that focus on seed-stage investments.
He is the founder, former CEO, and current chairman of Mimeo.com, a state-of-the-art, Internet-based document production service included in the 2004 and 2005 Inc. 500 lists of the fastest growing companies, the Red Herring 100 list of private companies that drive technology, and Deloitte’s Technology “Fast 500” list.
Mr. Stewart’s entrepreneurial career began with his launch of Square Earth, an Internet technology company whose customers included Citibank, Compaq, UPS, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and AIG. Consistently profitable, Square Earth grew at a rate of over 100% per year, merged with Proxicom in January 1998, and successfully completed an IPO as the combined company. Jeff’s blog can be found at www.urgentspeed.com
Dawn TerrickPresident, DKT Communications
DKT Communications is Dawn Kristin Terrick.
Specializing in branding, marketing communications and custom publishing for a wide range of industries, Dawn contributes to the synergistic messaging of leading global companies, from icons in luxury and innovators in design and development, to heavyweight players in hospitality. As well, she embraces the excitement of steering entrepreneurs in bringing their vision to life.
Revered for her natural talent – writing – story building has been one of her hallmarks throughout her career. It’s the multitude of stories of the people, heritage, quality, ingenuity and originality of the brands she collaborates with that she is passionate about. She finds great pleasure in precisely capturing and conveying each client’s intriguing spirit through written and visual communication to garner and maintain client loyalty.
What’s been said about Dawn? Ulysse Nardin’s president of North America, Patrik Hoffman, regards Dawn as a talented and innovative communications professional. “Dawn not only understands the philosophy of Ulysse Nardin,” Hoffman says, “but also has the true gift to convert our philosophy into her own words ever so eloquently.” John Hardy praises Dawn for her ability to “truly capture the very essence of the brand, product and lifestyle.” Luca Luca cites her work as “masterfully done.” And Cartier states: “Dawn went into great research to discover the history and romance of Cartier and thus produced an extraordinary article for the magazine. We at Cartier were all very pleased!”
Her ability to demonstrate value, execution of exceptional work and an unwavering commitment to her clients is the reason established brands and small businesses alike look to Dawn to lend her expertise to their branding and marketing communications initiatives. Her keen insight into each client’s needs, constant accessibility, passionate and caring approach and sound work ethic are traits her clients embrace.
Landy Ung
Co-founder & CEO, 8coupons
Landy Ung is the Co-founder and CEO of 8coupons, the leading source for location-based deals and mobile coupons for places to eat, drink, shop, and do stuff in your neighborhood. Both a consumer web portal and mobile coupon platform for local retailers, 8coupons offers consumers a network over 150,000 hyperlocal deals nationwide from various sources that range from User-shared deals to coupons from Valpak, Money Mailer, and collective-buying Deals of the Day sites like Groupon. Prior to founding 8coupons, Landy spent 8 years developing and executing interactive product strategies at Verizon and American Express.
Serena WalkerChief Adrenaline Junkie
Serena Walker recently founded a company called Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs, www.SecretsofSE.com for short, which will be launching in the next couple of months. Over the years Walker has given many entrepreneurs advice about various aspects of starting, growing, and running a business. This site came out of her passion to help entrepreneurs around the world. When the site launches, it will feature interviews with successful entrepreneurs who give advice about how to start, grow, and run a successful business and will be geared toward entrepreneurs of all levels. It will be like sitting down with a different mentor each week for one-on-one coaching. The site will be for members only and it will feature strategies, resources, training programs, and step-by-step guides on how to be successful in business.
Walker, who hails from Kodiak, Alaska, also founded Adventure Society as the first company of its kind in NYC. Walker felt trapped in the city and went in search of a multi-sport outdoor adventure company that offered the type of adrenaline infused activities that interested her and that provided transportation from the city. When she couldn’t find such a company, she decided to create a small social club. Within two years, this club grew into a full-time second job, so Walker wrote a business plan and a year later she quit her job to follow her passion and to run Adventure Society full-time. In line with Walker’s vision, every year A.S. strives to improve upon the quality of its trips and is always in search of fun new activities to add to the activity calendar. A.S. has won many awards over the years and strives to continue to be the best company in its field. The key to Adventure Society’s success over the years is that they offer a diverse range of activities that cater to all ability levels. Currently, they run over 67 different activities and offer 150+ trips a year, more than any other company within 5+ hours of NYC. On top of the trips, they host interactive cocktail parties, private members-only dinners, cooking classes, yoga classes, and a host of other city based activities.
Danny Wen
Co-Founder of Harvest
Danny Wen is a co-founder of Harvest, a leading online time tracking and invoicing service for small business. In 2006, Harvest was created to address the lack of a simple and affordable time tracking solution for professional service firms. Today, thousands of companies in over 100 countries depend on Harvest for online invoicing, time tracking, and expense logging needs.
Prior to Harvest, Danny co-founded Iridesco, a New York City-based design and technology consultancy. It was during the three years of operating a consulting practice that Danny identified the lack of efficient and affordable tools for professional service businesses. Utilizing first-hand knowledge from operating a consultancy, Danny and his business partner, Shawn Liu, created Harvest to simplify the life of service professionals. Within a year after launching, the consulting practice was retired as the company focused on supporting the rapid growth of its software-as-a-service product, Harvest.
Prior to these ventures, Danny spent two years at Viant, an Internet consulting firm, helping the professional services team deliver large-scale design and development projects for Fortune 500 clients.
Danny received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Cornell University.
Albert Wenger
Partner at Union Square Ventures
Albert combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology background. As an entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded five companies, including a management consulting firm (in Germany), a hosted data analytics company, a technology subsidiary for Telebanc (now E*Tradebank), an early stage investment firm, and most recently (with his wife), DailyLit, a service for reading books by email or RSS. Albert also served as the president of del.icio.us through the company’s sale to Yahoo. His technology background goes back to winning the German national computer science competition at age 18. Albert graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in economics and computer science and holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology from MIT. He has managed technology projects for organizations as diverse as Tacoda (startup) and Telebanc (leading Internet bank).
Albert currently serves on the boards of Clickable, a platform for managing online advertising; and Maptuit, a provider of realtime navigation; he is a board observer at Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods. Albert is married with three kids and lives in Scarsdale, New York.
Eric Wiesen
Principal
Eric Wiesen is a Principal at RRE Ventures. Mr. Wiesen is a Board Director of Pontiflex and Solvate and is actively involved with RRE’s investments in Adaptive Blue, Betaworks, drop.io, Ember, Hot Potato and Payfone.
Prior to RRE Mr. Wiesen worked for Updata Partners where he focused on growth-stage software investments. He first got interested in computers and everything you can do with them when his dad brought home an Apple II+ and a book on writing programs in 1980 and has been hooked ever since.
More recently, Mr. Wiesen was an attorney in the corporate group at Fenwick & West, a leading Silicon Valley law firm. As an attorney, he represented both startup companies and venture capital funds on a range of issues, including financing and protection of technology. He also represented more mature technology companies in M&A and securities transactions.
Earlier, Mr. Wiesen was a two-time entrepreneur. His first company, launched while he was an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, built and sold hardware and professional services to the 3D Graphics and animation communities. Later, Mr. Wiesen co-founded an enterprise software consulting firm specializing in CRM systems. He has also served as a staff attorney at a non-profit in New York, and worked in the White House during a semester in college.
Mr. Wiesen holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a JD from the University of Michigan and a BA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jennifer S. Wilkov
President, Make It Happen Girl Productions; Lead Consultant & Radio Show Host, “Your Book Is Your Hook!”; Co-Creator, Boys Before Business and more
Jennifer’s passion for communication has led to her being a radio show host, best-selling award-winning author, speaker, an award-winning freelance writer, a successful book business consultant and serial entrepreneur.
She survived being incarcerated in one of New York’s most violent prisons after inappropriately being told to plead guilty to a crime she didn’t commit by an attorney who mishandled her case.
Jennifer continued to succeed as an author, entrepreneur and speaker after enduring this devastating, unimaginable experience. She is currently on a nationwide 18-city U.S. book tour for her fifth book, “Boys Before Business: The Single Girl’s Guide to Having It All!”
Jennifer knows what it takes to live the life you love in the face of any challenge. She works one-on-one with entrepreneurs through her Make It Happen Program and loves to inspire audiences everywhere with the insights, knowledge and wisdom she has gained so participants take action, leap powerfully into their lives and at last live the life they’ve imagined.
Did You Know: In the first half of 2009, only 11% of all NYC-Area based VC funding went to companies within the State? View the Report.
