Speakers
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. AiudiPresident, 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.
Joe AllegraGeneral 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 AllenCreative 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.
Aaron ArnoldCEO, MusicIsMyBusiness
Aaron Arnold is CEO of MusicIsMyBusiness, one of “America’s Smartest New Companies led by people under 30,” according to Inc Magazine. Recently, CBS played MusicIsMyBusiness’ first single “Run-it-Back” during the SuperBowl during pre-game. You can view the “UnOfficial” video@ www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EamAsTWEF8 and download on iTunes @ http://bit.ly/90eWhs . This song has already debuted on two AOL Radio stations, Music Choice, Miami Heat’s American Airline’s arena, Tallahassee’s 90.5 etc . CBS sports producers praised it for it’s “commerical cross-over appeal”. You can listen|download for free @ http://www.zshare.net/audio/673475311b085f65/.
Aaron Arnold, a former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ has held former executive positions at four of the top-five global PR- Marketing firms including: Hill & Knowlton in New York and Edelman and Ketchum in Chicago. Upon a decision to pursue his passion for music, Aaron left the corporate world for an internship at Bad Boy Records. Within six months, he became a valued member of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ executive team as an assistant.
After a year’s time, Aaron moved forward to launch his own music company with the goal to change the way business is done in the music industry.
Recently:
- He appeared on CNN (Cable News Network) for a live interview as the network recognized him for being a “Young Person Who Rocks”, which honors people under the age of 30 who impact and inspire the world
- He was also nominated for work with United Nations World Food Program by GQ Magazine’s, “The Gentleman’s Fund”
- He appeared on VH1’s new show “I Want to Work for Diddy.” The Vh1 special highlighted some of Diddy’s past assistants and how they used the experience to transcend in their careers
- He’s also appeared in Inc Magazine as a case study consultant and featured as the CEO of one of “America’s Smartest New Companies led by people under 30”
- CNN has deemed Aaron “Diddy 2.0″
MUSIC IS MY BUSINESS (MIMB) is a multi-faceted and fully integrated music company creating a new space in the music
and business industries.
Based in Atlanta, MIMB houses several divisions including:
- MIMB Music (houses artists, producers & writers and DJs)
- MIMB TV & Film & Animation
- MIMB Marketing & Brand Development
In addition to working with their in-house artists, writers and producers…Music Is My Business has also consulted for brands such as ESPN, Heineken, McDonalds, The United Nations’ World Food Organization, Grammy Winner Bryan-Michael Cox and MTV’s Making The Band, Platinum Selling Artists, Danity Kane.
MusicIsMyBusiness is supported by a team of young and innovative individuals who believe that music is the soundtrack to life as illustrated through music’s immense historical and modern influence in the world. These young stars include: Chief Music-Technology Officer & Music Director, Jason Murdock, Director of New Media Marketing, Michael McConnell and Charles “Chizzy” Stephens, Director of Music.
Kate AtwoodFounder, 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.
Safi R. BahcallPresident & Chief Executive Officer of Synta Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Bahcall co-founded Synta and has been Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since July 2001, and President since December 2003. Dr. Bahcall has led Synta from inception through multiple acquisitions, financings, an initial public offering, and the establishment of integrated, multi-product drug discovery and development organization.
Prior to founding Synta, Dr. Bahcall was a consultant at McKinsey & Company advising investment banks and pharmaceutical companies on strategy, technology, and operations. Dr. Bahcall also co-founded a drug discovery company focused on novel ion channel research, now part of Synta.
In 2008, Dr. Bahcall was named Ernst & Young New England Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur of the Year
Dr. Bahcall received his B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard University, was awarded his Ph.D. from Stanford University in theoretical physics, and was a Miller postdoctoral fellow at U.C. Berkeley.
Analisa BalaresCEO & 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 BanniganCEO 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 & CEO of 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.
Behance, a company that develops products and services to organize the creative world recently launched its first product, the Behance Network, which has become the leading online platform for creative professionals. The Network receives over 1.3 million visitors every month and has become one of the most efficient platforms for creative professionals to broadcast their work to top agencies, fans, peers, and recruiters.
In 2008, Behance launched Action Method, a revolutionary “action management” system that has replaced traditional project management practices throughout the creative professional world and beyond. Behance also developed the Action Method product line – a series of organizational products that are sold around the world and in Behance’s online store.
Through Behance, Scott has interviewed hundreds of creative professionals and teams, always asking the question “how do you make ideas happen?” He has consulted for leading media companies and has traveled as far as the Kaospilots School in Aarhus, Denmark to talk about his findings. He has also shared Behance’s research in segments on ABC News and MSNBC. Scott is featured as a small business expert on American Express’ Open Forum and is also the Editor of Behance’s online magazine, featuring interviews and tips on productivity for the creative community.
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 is also the founder and Chair of an international leadership development network and serves on the Board of Cornell University’s Entrepreneurship Program. From his years working with leaders and entrepreneurs, Scott became fascinated with the specific challenges that creative professionals face.
Scott’s education is in design, environmental economics, and business. He attended Cornell University as an undergraduate and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Scott also hopes to increase “productive creativity” in the nonprofit world through his involvement on various nonprofit and foundation boards. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Reboot and is a Director for the Kaplan Foundation. Scott lives and works in New York City.
Phyllis BergmanPresident 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 BeydaManaging 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-GrossCEO & 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.
Derek BrandBusiness Development Manager, New York Academy of Sciences
Derek is responsible for the expansion of corporate partnerships and generation of new business channels at New York Academy of Sciences, an independent nonprofit organization with more than 25,000 members in 140 countries. In addition to new business development, Derek is directly involved in forming the Academy’s new “Science Meets Business” program. Derek has been involved with early stage businesses and technologies for nearly a decade, and is also a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship in Columbia University’s biomedical engineering’s undergraduate “senior design” course.
His previous endeavors include both scientific and business development roles in early-stage venture backed startup medical device companies and turning around a technology platform at General Electric’s Sensing & Inspection Technologies division. At GE, Derek turned around a product based on Ion-mobility spectrometry, targeted to pharmaceutical companies for ‘cleaning validation’ and was responsible for parallel efforts in early business development, targeted marketing, and R&D.
Derek’s startup roles have centered around the diabetes space and include a scientific role as the first employee of Argose, a company focused on developing a non-invasive glucose monitor, and as Vice President of Business Development at Hypermed Inc., a start-up company using hyperspectral imaging technology (optical) for early diagnosis of diabetic foot ulcers.
Derek remains active at the intersection between early-stage medical science and the business community in New York, leveraging the network of the Academy to efficiently form connections between innovators and capital providers. He received his undergraduate degree in biology (with a minor in math) from Hamilton College and an MBA from Babson College’s F.W. Olin School of Business with magna cum laude distinction.
Chris CapraDirector at Lotus Public Relations
As Director, Chris works hand-in-hand with each client, from formulating a communications strategy to executing its implementation. To each client engagement he brings more than 13 years of experience in sales, marketing, operations, and business development, as well as a solid track record for developing high growth ventures in the telecom, consulting and technology industries.
“Nothing is more exhilarating than taking a client to the next level of recognition and success in its market. Having worked in sales and business development at both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies, I help each client to focus its public relations activities to increase visibility, generate leads, drive shareholder value and rise to a thought leadership position in its industry. There is no cookie cutter formula for this, which is why we take a highly personalized approach to getting our clients’ PR program right from day one.”
Prior to joining Lotus, Chris was a senior account manager at CIBER where he successfully targeted new markets for clients in publishing, media, entertainment, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Previously, Chris served as business development manager at digitalESP, an e-Business integration and software development services firm selling to Fortune 1000 companies in the insurance and financial services industries.
At Infotech Consulting, Chris was responsible for all sales, marketing and new business generation activities. As the Director of Business Development, he led Infotech to a 70% growth rate year after year by building strategic relationships with key software vendors, top-tier IT consultants and strategic partners across the US. Chris also created innovative sales and marketing messages that enabled both technical and sales professionals to effectively sell Infotech’s solutions and services. Under his leadership, Infotech was ranked among the top fastest growing companies for three consecutive years by the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal.
Chris holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science from Dickinson College.
Nathaniel CaseyCo-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 CenedellaFounder & 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 CohenFounder – 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 CorrenteFounder & CEO of Operation Entrepreneur
Will Corrente is a life long entrepreneur. Over the past 20 years, Will has owned and operated several businesses in the business to business and business to consumer market segments. While still in college, Will started his first 2 businesses: the first a lawn care and landscaping maintenance company, and the second, a residential and commercial cleaning service. After graduation, he began a career in the financial services industry and held various positions in sales, relationship management, investment advisory and employee benefit consulting with such firms as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, New York Life Insurance, CWCA Inc. and CUNA Mutual Group.
In the fall of 2000, Mr. Corrente became a partner in a telecommunications consulting firm in which he was responsible for sales, marketing, and relationship management in the New York and New Jersey markets. William was personally responsible for gross sales in excess of $1 million in his first year with the firm. Throughout his career, he has gained vast experience working and speaking with management teams and employee groups of small, mid and large sized companies.
Will relocated to West Palm Beach in spring 2002 and became a founding partner in Pet Power LLC, a company which owns and operates multiple upscale pet hotels in south Florida and has achieved revenues of over $1 Million. In 2005, he founded Corrente Co Inc.; a management consulting firm focused on helping entrepreneurs market and run their businesses more effectively. In 2008, he launched Corrente Consulting International and Operation Entrepreneur a website dedicated to entrepreneur success. He has written several articles, e-books and consulted both startup and established business entrepreneurs.
Mark DavisAssociate at DFJ Gotham Ventures
In addition to his role as a Venture Capitalist at DFJ Gotham Ventures, Mark is the author of Get Venture, a blog that addresses industry topics and offers guidance to entrepreneurs on how to raise venture capital. Mark is also an occasional contributor to a number of industry news services, including Silicon Alley Insider and CenterNetworks.
Mark is an active supporter of venture community. In addition to organizing events for entrepreneurs through the Blue Venture Community, a group Mark founded to serve Columbia University’s student and alumni entrepreneurs, Mark helps connect NY venture organizations as a member of the NY Tech Meetup’s Community Committee. He is also helping Duke University support its entrepreneurs by serving on Duke’s Global Entrepreneurship Network taskforce.
Before joining DFJ Gotham, Mark was an active entrepreneur and advisor. He was the Founder and CEO Zotspot, an internet search destination, and an advisor to numerous startups. In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Mark consulted to Fortune 1000 and private equity clients on the strategic and financial attractiveness of acquisition targets at both Bain & Company and KPMG.
Mark earned his B.A. in Economics, cum laude, at Duke University and his M.B.A. at Columbia Business School, where he was the Early Stage President of the Private Equity and Venture Capital Club and an InSITE Fellow.
Owen DavisManaging 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 DickertPartner 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 DoeringFounder 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.
Jim EstillCEO – Canrock Ventures
Jim Estill started selling computers from the trunk of his car – grew that business to $350,000,000 in sales, went public and sold to SYNNEX Canada which he then ran from $800,000,000 to $2 Billion.
He also invested in and advised/sat on the board of a number of early stage tech businesses including RIM.
He is a time management guru who blogs at JimEstill.com
Scott FerberFounder & 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 FleissPresident & 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 FriedmanFounder & 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 FryCEO 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.
Noah GlassFounder & CEO of GoMobo.com
Noah N. Glass is Founder and CEO of GoMobo.com, the leading mobile and online food ordering service in the US. GoMobo gives consumers the ability to place and pay for their food orders remotely. GoMobo’s 500 remote ordering and mobile application restaurant clients include Burger King, Subway, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Prior to founding GoMobo, Mr. Glass spent two years in New York and Johannesburg with Endeavor Global, an international nonprofit which helps foment entrepreneurship in emerging markets. He is a graduate of Yale University, with a BA in Political Science.
Garrett GravesenCo-Founder
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.
Divya GugnaniFounder 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.
Ellen GustafsonCo-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.
Richard HeitzmannManaging 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.
Tunch HepgulerExecutive Vice President of SARAR USA
Tunch was always involved in the family textile and clothing business in Turkey since he was in childhood. In 1991 his uncle Mr. SARAR propelled him to Germany to study fashion design. He combined his creative career with apparel engineering and worked at HUGO BOSS. Afterwards he worked at DANIEL HECHTER PARIS; he traveled to many eastern and western European countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Poland, Moldavia and many more to build up his technical career and to structure the foundation of building factories; in addition he was product manager for the complete men’s line. He left Daniel Hechter Paris in 2002 and went to Joop! Women’s clothing in Heidelberg/Germany where he was the Product Manager for the woman’s line as well. He left in 2003 to open family owned SARAR stores in the United States.
In 2003 Tunch and Edina launched their first signature collection of high end suits, shirts, ties, outerwear, and by mid-2007 SARAR had expanded into women’s clothing, handbags, jewelry and accessories. Their high end designs, emphasizing their name as the brand, is considered as high fashion, but Tunch’s and Edina’s marketing savvy put them forward year by year. The company exists now in 6 different States of the USA within 8 stores (2 NY, 2 NJ, 1 Boston, 1 Chicago, 1 Las Vegas, and 1 Dallas) and has revenues of nearly $7 million a year.
Besides SARAR being the leader in the clothing industry worldwide in terms of High-end production of different licensees – They also manufacture for Burberry, Banana Republic, H&M, Express and many more. SARAR is separated in 5 production factories which contains of over 6000 employees – located in Eskisehir/Istanbul/Turkey. Worldwide there are ~300 SARAR boutiques, some franchising as well.
Mark HerschbergCEO of ZepFrog
Educated at MIT (with degrees in physics, EE/CS, and a masters in cryptography) Mark has spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 50’s, and academia.
Mark has worked at and consulted to number startups typically taking on roles in general management, operations, and technology. He has been involved from inception and fundraising through growth and sale of the company. These startup companies have included a wireless application platform, online advertising, lead generation, OLAP, and new language development. Mark was instrumental in launching ServiceLive.com Sear’s online home services labor market; he also helped fix NBC’s online video marketplace (now Hulu.com). In academia Mark spent a year at HBS working with two finance professors to create the upTick system now used to teach finance at many of the top business schools.
At MIT Mark helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program at which he teaches annually. In his spare time Mark works with numerous non-profits and has become one of the top ranked ballroom dancers in the country.
Jennifer HillVice President NYC, Astia
Jennifer Hill is currently the Vice President of Astia New York, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the full participation of women in entrepreneurship by accelerating the funding and growth of their innovative high-growth start-up companies. Ms. Hill launched and oversees Astia’s New York City and East Coast operations, including the development of a rich entrepreneurial and investor community. She is an attorney specializing in venture finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate law and intellectual property licensing, previously at Fenwick & West LLP, a national law firm providing comprehensive legal services to the technology and life science industries. She also practiced with Linklaters – an international legal advisory firm, where she focused on capital markets and project finance.
Prior to pursuing a career in law, Ms. Hill was the Director of Strategic Alliances for an Austin-based enterprise software company and the U.S. Manager of Business Development for an international publicly traded UK-based e-commerce company.
She is fluent in Spanish and holds a JD cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law, an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and an AB with honors in International Relations from Stanford University. She has a published article in the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property and frequently appears as a guest on MSNBC’s Your Business.
Dan HoffmanPresident & CEO of M5 Networks
Dan 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.
David HorowitzManaging Director
David Horowitz serves as a Managing Director for Comcast Interactive Capital, a venture capital fund, affiliated with Comcast Corporation. 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, 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).
Lis HubertIndependent Consultant
Lis is an independent consultant in the User Experience field who has extensive experience in website strategy design, interaction design and information architecture.
Currently she works in New York City with Critical Mass, defining web experiences for their Fortune 100 clients. Lis also helps start-up ventures create and define their web presence. Before going independent, she worked with industry leader Weight Watchers International to create and enhance their online product. Prior to moving to New York, she spent time in San Antonio, where she worked as a User Experience strategist for the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) a Fortune 200 financial services company focused on serving the United State Military and their families. There she lead a team of information architects and graphic designers in a 4500 page redesign and was also responsible for defining 18 – 24 month strategic visions for the website. Before working in the user experience industry, Lis was a web programmer at national insurance leader The Hartford Financial Services Group based in Hartford, CT. In order to stay active and contribute
Nancy JohnsonFounder & 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.
Bob JohnstonFounder President of the Executive Council
Bob Johnston is founder and president of the Executive Council, which promotes innovation and leadership for senior level business leaders. The Council has over 300 corporate members, hosts events regularly in NYC, Boston and Palo Alto and covers industries such as healthcare, media & entertainment, financial services and cleantech.
Johnston currently sits on the advisory board for the Business Council for the United Nations (BCUN) and is a mentor for the NYU Stern School’s Venture Mentor program as well as the Columbia Business School’s Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs. Johnston is also a director of Cohere Communications, a VoIP telephony company based in New York City. Johnston serves on the advisory board of Lollipop Theater, which brings the magic of movies to hospitalized children. He is a co-chair of the Friends of Belfast, a non-profit organization devoted to fostering business relations between Northern Ireland and the US. Johnston was also a finalist for Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He lives in NYC
Geoff JudgeVenture 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 KaplanCEO 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
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 dating 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.
Ben KartzmanCEO 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 KaufmanFounder 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.
Holly LandauCEO, Landau Leadership
Landau Leadership is an innovative consulting firm that designs customized training & development solutions and hosts unique learning events to boost individual/team productivity, strengthen work relationships, and help organizations reach peak performance.
Ms. Landau has motivated thousands of corporate and non-profit employees and executives in boardrooms and classrooms throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. She is a sought-after presenter and facilitator on topics such as leadership, corporate strategy, diversity, innovation, and corporate communication. She continually draws from her varied experiences – as a US Army Officer at The Pentagon, an art college student in London, an Operations Manager for Aveda, and a successful business owner – to inspire others to think both creatively and strategically. Ms. Landau is currently a Contributing Writer for nolcha.com’s Business Focus blog.
Lawrence D. LenihanCEO & Managing Director of 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, Duck Creek Technologies Europe, Ltd., EagleEye Analytics, Health Plan One, Restricted Stock Partners, Saba Software (NASDAQ: SABA), Superior Access Insurance Services and Swingtide. 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.
Ben LererCEO & 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.
Robert LevinEDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PUBLISHER & FOUNDER OF NEW YORK ENTERPRISE REPORT
Robert Levin founded THE NEW YORK ENTERPRISE REPORT in 2003 to serve the needs of the small business community with which he has worked so closely throughout his professional career. Available both in print and online, THE NEW YORK ENTERPRISE REPORT is the only media that caters exclusively to decision makers in the New York tri-state area’s small business market. Featuring award-winning “how-to” articles written by experts, each issue of NY REPORT provides critical knowledge that makes it a must-read for those looking to grow their businesses. In addition to its print and online properties, NY REPORT also produces events for business owners as well as hosting the annual Small Business Awards.
Prior to launching THE NEW YORK ENTERPRISE REPORT, Levin was the CEO of Profile Pursuit, a custom magazine publisher with clients such as Crunch Gym and the ATP. While CEO, he was in charge of revamping the company’s sales process and improving its relationship with partners.
Levin was also the CFO of PenOp, a software developer based in New York and the U.K. Soon after joining PenOp, he became part of a three-man team that raised $4.4 million from venture capital and institutional investors, enabling the company to survive a cash crunch.
He has also served as COO and CFO of NutriPlus, LLC, an international marketer of personal care products. His responsibilities for NutriPlus included building a multi-functional management team, automating operational processes and designing and implementing a strategic planning and budgeting system.
Prior to his tenure at NutriPlus, Levin had his own consulting firm in Los Angeles that specialized in business management and finance.
Levin began his career as a tax consultant in Arthur Andersen LLP’s Enterprise Group, assisting dozens of clients with tax and business issues associated with growing companies. A certified public accountant, Levin was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned his BS from SUNY Albany and his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.
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.
Steve MariottiFounder of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
Considered one of today’s leading experts in education for at-risk youth, Steve Mariotti changed career paths back in 1982 when he decided to move from the corporate sector and become a special education teacher in the New York City school system. Mr. Mariotti’s first assignment was in the East New York section of Brooklyn, and his last was in the Fort Apache section of the South Bronx.
While teaching in this hard-hitting environment for six and a half years, Mr. Mariotti gained insight into how to successfully motivate his tough students – teaching them how to run a business. His perceptions and learnings inspired him to create a program to bring entrepreneurial education to low-income youth. In 1987, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE, formerly The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was formed.
Now, more than twenty years later, NFTE’s mission is to provide entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities. The program has a proven track record of success. It is frequently used as a model for other programs to teach business knowledge and the resulting business formation. NFTE has reached more than 230,000 young people since its founding, and has programs in 22 states and 13 countries.
Mr. Mariotti is the recipient of numerous awards including an Inc. magazine Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the National Director’s Entrepreneurship Award from the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Association of Education Publishers’ Golden Lamp Award, the ACE/Currie Foundation Humanitarian Venture Award, and America’s Top High School Business Teacher. He has been the subject of many national media profiles on programs including ABC Evening News and 20/20. In addition, he is the co-author of eight books on entrepreneurship. NFTE is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Mariotti has attended The World Economic Forum and has been a frequent speaker at Davos as well as other business forums.
A native son of Flint, Michigan, Mr. Mariotti received his B.B.A in business economics and his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has also studied at Harvard University, Stanford University, and Brooklyn College. He started his professional career as a treasury analyst for Ford Motor Company before founding his own company, Mason Import/Export Services.
Tad MartinFounder of Cross Commerce Media and former COO/GMM of Overstock.com
Mr Martin joined Overstock as one of the company’s early employees reporting directly to Patrick Byrne, Overstock’s CEO. During his tenure at Overstock, the company grew from roughly $70MM in revenues to over $800MM, and went from a privately funded startup to a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: OSTK). Mr. Martin is a frequent speaker and has been sited for his extensive experience by many publications include 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. Prior to Overstock Mr. Martin was a member of the nine person team which successfully bid for the right to host the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Mr. Martin earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah.
Chris McCannCo-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.
Christopher G. McCannPresident of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
Chris is responsible for the Company’s overall performance and direction. Under his guidance, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has earned a reputation as one of the leading multi-channel retailers in the country. Additionally, McCann’s role in building 1-800-FLOWERS.COM’s e-commerce channel has helped accelerate the Company’s growth and earned him speaking engagements at numerous interactive conferences and universities around the country.
Since its inception more than 30 years ago, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has been an industry leader in embracing new technologies and developing innovative customer engagement programs. The Company revolutionized the floral marketplace with its 800-number ordering system and the ability to process credit card orders over the phone. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM was also the first in its retail category to target customers utilizing the Internet. And, the Company’s “Freshness Guarantee” has become a benchmark for floral quality assurance, generating customer loyalty and repeat business.
Under McCann’s leadership the Company again led change in the floral industry in 2005 with the launch of its BloomNet Wire Service business which provides a unique value proposition to florists that has very quickly disrupted the status quo and continues to build its market share as a true partner for retail florists.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM continues to optimize the opportunities that come with delivering marketing messages through several channels to multiple audiences. In addition to its industry leading marketing and advertising campaigns – both online and offline – the Company reaches its customers through its growing family of ecommerce gift brands and its focus on the fast emerging social networking channels, including Facebook, Twitter and the expanding blogger community. The Company is also at the forefront of what Chris calls the “next wave” in ecommerce technology with its industry leading applications on the newest generation of mobile devices –such as the Blackberry and the iPhone – literally putting the Company’s messages and the ability to make purchases in the hands of consumers.
Ari MeiselFounder 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 S. MesserCo-Founder & CEO of World Evolved
Ms. Messer currently serves as the CEO of World Evolved. With her brother, Stephen, Ms. Messer co-founded LinkShare Corporation, a pioneer in online advertising and host to one of the largest international affiliate marketing networks. She served as LinkShare’s President and COO from founding until February 2006 following the company’s sale in the fall of 2005 for $425 million. Ms. Messer, an acknowledged authority on online marketing, has been cited in The New York Times, Chief Executive Magazine and The Nikkei. Ms. Messer has also appearing on national television and radio programs such as Business Talk Radio, the Rocco DiSpirito Show, Fox News, CBS Morning News and the Fox Morning Show. Prior to joining LinkShare, Ms. Messer practiced corporate law.
Ms. Messer received a BA from Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. She obtained JD from Harvard Law School graduating cum laude.
Stephen MesserPresident of World Evolved, LLC and Co-Founder of LinkShare
Mr. Messer is the President of World Evolved, LLC. Prior to World Evolved, Mr. Messer served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LinkShare until it was sold to Rakuten for $425m in 2005. As one of the co-founders of LinkShare, he revolutionized the world of online marketing creating one of the first technology platforms to measure and manage advertising relationships. Under Mr. Messer’s leadership, LinkShare was recognized by Deloitte and Touche for two consecutive years as the number one fastest growing technology company in the New York region. In 2005, Mr. Messer was awarded the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Region.
Mr. Messer holds a Juris Doctorate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lafayette University in Pennsylvania.
Cameron MochanPresident 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.
Jason OlimCo-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 PulverFounder / 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 and Co-Founder of Clearspring
As chief executive officer and co-founder, Hooman actively drives platform marketing and strategy initiatives at Clearspring. He was recently named one of Tech’s Best Entrepreneurs in BusinessWeek and was nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. When he is not busy building a better web, you can find him writing his blog Widgify.
Radfar graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Economics and Computer Science. He holds an M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University where he researched Social Networking Theory.
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.
James D Robinson IVCo-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 RellesFounder, 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 RoneyCofounder 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 RoseManaging 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.
Currently, David is shuttling between Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley, where he is the Finance & Entrepreneurship Track Chair of the NASA/Google-sponsored Singularity University.
Mike RothmanDirector of Advertising Sales & Biz Dev at Thrillist
Over the last three and a half years, Mike has overseen the company’s revenue growth from several thousand dollars to nearly $10MM annually, supported by a roster of Fortune 500 clients. Prior to Thrillist, Mike worked with the digital advertising agency Digitas and in business development at Hachette Filipacchi Media. Earlier in his career he launched a custom publishing venture known as Invite Communications that created customer-loyalty publications for the hospitality industry.
In his spare time, Mike manages a high school scholarship for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and volunteers at the TEAK Fellowship, a non-profit dedicated to providing academic opportunities for minority urban students. He holds a B.A. in Modern European History from Brown University.
Shelby ScarbroughFounder & CEO of Conexus Global Services
A popular speaker on building relationships whether across the room or across cultures, entrepreneurship and leadership, Shelby Scarbrough blends protocol with practicality for business and government executives. She has worked with such notable figures as: His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, Presidents Reagan, Bush, Ford, Carter and Nixon, President Walesa of Poland, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. She planned events and meetings from the Vatican to Buckingham Palace to The Kremlin and The White House.
A political appointee in the Reagan and Bush Administrations, she served as a White House Presidential Advance Trip Coordinator, and a Protocol Visits Officer at the State Department. Upon the death of President Reagan, she served as the Washington, DC Deputy Lead for his State Funeral and advisor to the funeral of President Ford.
She recently concluded her service as the elected global board president of the international association of 7000 plus highly motivated entrepreneurs worldwide from 40 countries. As an “EO Ambassador,” she raised the standard of global events and presided over the increased globalization and world stature of the organization. Membership doubled during her three year tenure on the board.
Shelby founded her consulting business Practical Protocol to specialize in international special events management, business protocol training and custom-designed plans addressing the unique needs of very special clients. She recently founded Conexus Global Services with fellow entrepreneur Cindy Boyd to provide relationship leveraging services for incoming immigrants and connecting enterprising entrepreneurs.
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 ScottDirector 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 ShankmanFounder 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.
Simon SinekFounder 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 SteinglassFounder 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 StewartAngel 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
Benjamin SunFounder of Community Connect Inc.
Benjamin Sun is an internet entrepreneur. Mr. Sun’s first venture was Community Connect Inc. where he served as President & CEO for 12 years. Mr. Sun co-founded Community Connect Inc. in 1996 and grew the company to be a leading online publisher targeting various niche markets. According to comScore, Community Connect’s sites – AsianAvenue.com, BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com (pronounced mee-hen-tay), FaithBase.com and GLEE.com collectively generated over 500 million page views each month. This made Community Connect not only the leader in reaching Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Christians and the LGBT community but also positioned their network of sites as one of the Top 50 highest trafficked sites on the Internet based on page views. Mr. Sun started Community Connect in his Manhattan based apartment with a small team of friends and a business plan. He was responsible for growing the company by raising over $20 million from notable investors including Comcast and Sandler Capital and using those resources to build powerful new media brands. In April 2008, Community Connect Inc. was acquired by Radio One, Inc. the fifth largest radio company in the U.S.
Mr. Sun has been recognized as playing a major role in bringing social networking into its modern day popularity while paving the way for advertisers and marketers to reach and engage niche market consumers online. Additionally, he has been responsible for developing the largest online diversity recruiting service in partnership with Monster Worldwide Inc. to allow corporations to source a more diverse candidate pool. Mr. Sun has been profiled by Crain’s New York Business as one of the top under-40 executives to watch.
Prior to helping launch Community Connect, Mr. Sun worked in Merrill Lynch’s Technology Investment Banking Group where he was involved in numerous corporate finance and merger and acquisition transactions in the technology industry. He executed over $500 million in equity financing transactions for Internet, enterprise software, and wire and cable industry companies. Mr. Sun holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Dawn TerrickPresident & Creative Director of DKT Communications, Inc.
DKT Communications, Inc. is a boutique custom publishing and marketing communications firm founded in 2008. Throughout her twelve-year career, Dawn has extended her expertise to a wide range of industries and leading global brands, including Ulysse Nardin, John Hardy and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Armed with a keen ability to fully understand the message businesses want to convey, Dawn proficiently expresses each client’s voice and vision; she provides them with the tools they need to introduce, reinforce and evolve their distinctive presence in their target market. Active in the fashion industry, as well, Dawn is a contributing writer and service provider for Nolcha.
Dawn holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication with a specialization in art history from Ohio University. She is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors and volunteers with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Pittsburgh-based Responsibiliteez, a line of graphic tees with a socially responsible twist.
Landy UngCo-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.
Danny WenCo-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 WengerPartner 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 WiesenPrincipal
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.
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.
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