He is also the organizer of Entrepreneurs Roundtable events in NYC and the co-author of the LBS/Mobile book from Manning.
As one of the founders of INVISIBLE CHILDREN, Bobby, along with his co-founders, oversaw the vision for IC, web 2.0 and viral marketing tactics, print, ad, and product development.
Bobby attended the University of Southern California film school and as a filmmaker and an activist, he directed and edited forty 3-minute pieces and five 30-minute pieces.
Together with Invisible Children, Bobby orchestrated 2,000 college and high school chapters, nine National tours and three worldwide events. 67 million people saw the latest event called THE RESCUE. In total, the three advocacy events have brought out 250,000 people, all who sacrifice days of their life for the cause.
Bobby recently made films with the UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION (When The Night Comes, 60 min) and FALLING WHISTLES (Peace is the New Frontier, 7 min).
Featured on Larry King Live and The Oprah Show, his influence and inspiration to the millennial generation is mobilizing young adults for multiple causes around the world.
Currently he is working as Campaign Manager with the GLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT, an advocacy based non profit, with the strategy to end extreme poverty, he is based in New York.
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.
When it comes to helping startups succeed, Steve Blank is where entrepreneurs often start up. A prolific educator, thought leader and writer on Customer Development for Startups, the retired serial entrepreneur teaches, refines, writes and blogs on “Customer Development,” a rigorous methodology he developed to bring the “scientific method” to the typically chaotic, seemingly disorganized startup process.
Now teaching Entrepreneurship at three major Universities, Blank co-founded his first of eight startups after several years repairing fighter plane electronics in Thailand during the Vietnam War, followed by several years of defense electronics work for U.S.intelligence agencies in “undisclosed locations.” Four Steps to the Epiphany, Blank’s fast-selling book, details the Customer Development process and is increasingly a “must read” among entrepreneurs, investors, and established companies alike, when the focus is optimizing a startup’s chances for scalability and success.
After 21 years driving 8 high technology startups, today Steve teaches entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Stanford University’s School of Engineering and the Columbia /Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. His “Customer Development” teaching and writing coalesce and codify his experiences and observations of entrepreneurs in action, including his own and those he advises. “Once removed from the day-to-day intensity of founding a startup, I was able to observe a pattern that distinguishes successful startups from failures,” Blank says. In 2009, he earned the Stanford University Undergraduate Teaching Award in Management Science and Engineering. The San Jose Mercury News listed him as one of the 10 Influencers in Silicon Valley. In 2010, he was earned the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award at U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business. Despite these accolades, Steve says he might well have been voted “least likely to succeed” in his New York City high school class.
Steve Blank arrived in Silicon Valley in 1978, as boom times began. His early startups include two semiconductor companies, Zilog and MIPS Computers; Convergent Technologies; a consulting stint for Pixar; a supercomputer firm, Ardent;peripheral supplier, SuperMac; a military intelligence systems supplier, ESL; Rocket Science Games. Steve co-founded startup number eight, E.piphany, in his living room in 1996. In sum: two significant implosions, one massive “dot-com bubble” home run, several “base hits,” and immense learning leading to The Four Steps.
An avid reader in history, technology, and entrepreneurship who seldom cracks a novel, Steve has followed his curiosity about why entrepreneurship blossomed in Silicon Valley while stillborn elsewhere. It has made him an unofficial expert and frequent speaker on "The Secret History of Silicon Valley."
Steve’s interest in combining conservation with best business practices had Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appoint him a Commissioner of the California Coastal Commission, the public body which regulates land use and public access on the California coast. He also serves on the Expert Advisory Panel for the California Ocean Protection Council. Steve serves on the board of Audubon California, was its past chair, and spent several years on the Audubon National Board. A board member of Peninsula Open Space Land Trust (POST), Blank recently became a trustee of U.C. Santa Cruz and a Director of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV).Steve’s proudest startups are daughters Katie and Sara, co-developed with wife Alison Elliott. The Blanks live in Silicon Valley.
Adam Coomes was recently selected in Ingram's Magazine's "20 in their Twenties" and BusinessWeek's "America's Best Young Entrepreneurs 2010"
Will Corrente is the well known connection optimizer and Founding Director of Corrente Consulting International Inc. (CCI). For over 20 years, Will has been creating process based solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs to be connection ready and poised to reach the next level of business success. Will is a regular featured columnist for New York Entrepreneur Week and the Bergen News.
For Will, entrepreneurship is a calling, a way of life and a passion. While still in college, Will began his own entrepreneurial journey when he co-founded and ran 2 service oriented small business ventures. On his journey from entrepreneur to employee and back again, Will has held a variety of management and sales positions at well known finance firms including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and New York Life Insurance. After his stint in finance, Will became a partner in a telecommunications consulting firm where he was personally responsible for gross sales in excess of $1M in his first year of operation.
An ocean enthusiast, Will was inspired to combine his passion for well-run businesses and love of pets while surfing off of Palm Beach and co-founded Very Important Paws, a company which owns and operates multiple upscale pet hotels in south Florida. Under Will's management, the company exceeded $1M in annual sales in less than 36 months.
Will founded CCI in 2005 to pay his knowledge forward by helping other entrepreneurs market and run their businesses more effectively, as well as manage and leverage relationships to grow their businesses. Committed to using his business skills to build better communities, William is active in community affairs and volunteer organizations and even made two unsuccessful runs for city council while living in New Jersey. He currently resides in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Will's areas of expertise and strategic resources include: business start up, structuring/organization, sales/marketing strategy, management best practices, operations, customer/client development, growth planning, connection optimization, and entrepreneur advisory.
Cosper’s journalism roots began in the tech world, where she cut her teeth as a reporter on assignment in Israel, Norway, Brazil, Luxembourg, Paris and London covering broadband, broadcasting and satellites. Eventually she became publisher/editor-in-chief for Satellite Broadband magazine at Primedia, and later moved on to redesign and direct five ASBPE award-winning financial magazines at WiesnerMedia.
Added to that, Janine knows that entrepreneurship will be one of the biggest drivers of transformation in Africa, which is why she has partnered with NYEW’s own Gary Whitehill to create Africa Entrepreneur Week.
Mike received his B.A. from Boston College and an M.A.R. from the Yale University Divinity School. He is a Sandbox Network member, a Cordes Fellow, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Global Center of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Mike has been featured in a variety of publications, including Fast Company, CNN.com, and Huffington Post. He was also a finalist for 7x7 Magazine's “Hot 20 Under 40” in San Francisco.
When describing Sanford, descriptions include “Product Expeditor” and “Marketing Technologist” – primarily working with Fortune 500 firms, leading venture funds and promising start-ups work through their product marketing and technology development strategies. His work helps teams better understand and execute on customer-focused solutions through the effective use of technology, performance metrics and product development/marketing techniques.
Sanford is known in many technology-enabled entrepreneurial communities across the world. In New York City, Sanford is often found at the juncture of businesses, investors and government to strengthen the connections in the NY Tech community though his work in coworking (cooperBricolage and New Work City), professional organizations (e.g. Coalition of Office Space Providers and the NYC Economic Development Corporation) and various networking organizations.
Past roles include Adjunct Professor at Cooper Union and Polytechnic, teaching on Web 2.0 concepts and product development, various Democratic campaigns in roles such as Chief Technology Officer for the John Kerry for President Campaign, and 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).
Stuart Ellman is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been immersed in information technology since the early 1980's when he taught himself computer programming.
Since co-founding RRE in 1994, Mr. Ellman has been responsible for over forty technology investments, ranging from incubation-stage to post-revenue companies. He has invested in sectors across information technology,from security to green IT, from consumer-facing web companies to enterprise software. He currently serves as a Board Director of AdmitOne Security, BetaWorks, drop.io, Ember Corporation, Kashless, Payfone, Rave Mobile Safety and RecycleBank.
Mr. Ellman began his career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in Australia. Later, he was a Financial Analyst at Dillon, Read& Co. where he focused on leveraged buyouts and restructurings and an Associate at Morgan Stanley & Co., specializing in fixed income capital markets. After graduating from business school in the early 1990s, Mr. Ellman was a co-founder and Vice President at Advisory Capital Partners, a principal investment and advisory firm.
In addition to his work as a venture investor, Mr. Ellman has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia Business School since 2002,where he teaches a popular Venture Capital Seminar to MBA students. In2009, he taught a graduate seminar at the CDTM in Munich, Germany, a joint program with Technical University and Ludwig Maximillians University. He is the Treasurer/Chairman of the Finance Committee of the 92nd St. Y where he has been on the board since 2001. He is also a member of the New York City Investment Fund's Clean Tech Sector Group and is a member of the VC Advisory Group of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. He is also a member of the Economic Club of New York.
Mr. Ellman holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University where he was a Gilbert Clee Scholar and a Horace White Fellow.
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.
Imagine leveraging technology to help the people who need it most. JiNan's company, PFZ Global Inc, is using exclusive patent software to research and analyze patent data in the public domain that can be used to accelerate solutions in a myriad of technology and manufacturing areas in emerging markets. Think open source and Google maps for patents.
With this creative approach, companies in emerging markets can streamline manufacturing, reduce their R&D costs, commercialize products sooner and create new IP assets. Investors benefit from the use of proven IP and solutions, thereby ensuring better ROI. Everybody wins! Using this model, PFZ Global is already supporting breakthroughs in key global issues such as clean water, renewable energy and life-saving medicines.
JiNan is driven by a passion to help people and transform economies through realizing ideas that make this world a better place. To find out more about her vision and work, please visit PatentFreeZone.com.
Prior to co-founding DFJ Gotham Ventures, Ross was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Interactive Imaginations, Inc., one of the East Coast's pioneering Internet companies, and the predecessor company to 24/7 Media, Inc. Ross helped manage Interactive Imaginations through the challenges of the early Internet advertising and eventually toward its successful merger and IPO as 24/7 Media.
Prior to joining Interactive Imaginations, Ross was with Morgan Stanley for 13 years, where he had most recently been a senior banker responsible for equity financings for the firm's technology, telecommunications and media clients.
Ross also serves on the Board of Directors of New York Cares, a non-profit volunteer service organization based in New York City.
Ross received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics-Economics, magna cum laude, from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business
The Fund is the vision of Henry R. Kravis, founding partner of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., who serves as its Founding Chairman. Russell L. Carson, General Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, and Richard M. Cashin, Managing Partner of One Equity Partners, serve as the Fund’s co-chairmen.
Prior to joining the Fund in 1999, Maria was a Managing Director at BT Wolfensohn (now part of Deutsche Bank), providing strategic and financial advice related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and the development of business strategies. Before starting with Wolfensohn, Maria worked at LaSalle Partners in the New York area and for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in New York and London. Maria has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She was also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study international relations at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland.
Maria also serves as the board chair of Reach Out and Read of Greater New York (children’s literacy non-profit) and is on the advisory boards of ProPublica (investigative journalism non-profit) and Wall Street Without Walls (advisory services for community development).
Past clients include CNBC, Microsoft Corporation, Akin Gump Law Firm, the University of Texas, Sweet Leaf Tea and RISE Austin. Past founder interviewees include John Mackey (Whole Foods), John Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell), Hugh Hefner (Playboy), Julie Clark (Baby Einstein), Red McCombs (Clear Channel), Willie G. Davidson (Harley Davidson), Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post), Craig Newmark (Craigslist) and Blake MyCoskie (Tom’s Shoes).
LG co-created, directed and produced the “American Made” TV Series, CNBC’s first primetime series featuring hi-profile entrepreneurs and has produced 35 videos for the Microsoft Small Business Team (including 4 for Microsoft’s COO). He has created 25 videos for SXSW Interactive, 60+ videos for Sweet Leaf Tea and 30+ videos for the RISE Austin entrepreneurship conference. He has also created 3 online TV series including “On the Road with iV”, “CLUB PROs” and “The Pitch”.
LG is also currently co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer for BidModo, an online marketplace for small business services. Previously, he was the founder and President of Programming for the CLUB E Network (a social network for entrepreneurs) and the founder and VP of Marketing for 212 Studios (enterprise customer relationship management software company) helping raise $7M in venture funding & led all marketing efforts. Lyn’s other past work experience include director of sales and marketing for Quadralay Corporation (web publishing software company), process engineer/team leader for HP (formerly Compaq/Digital Equipment) along with marketing and engineering positions with American Airlines SABRE and Hughes Aircraft Corporation.
Lyn received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University and an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to graduate school he taught snow skiing in places such as Heavenly, CA, Keystone, CO and Ski Apache, NM.
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 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 $6M 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.
Brad has created market-changing products and companies in industries from social gaming to entrepreneurial education. He blogs about startups, tech and life at http://www.bhargreaves.com.
Bradley is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with a passion for technology, media, entertainment and lifestyle.
Although his initial career was an Army Officer, Mr. Harrison has a myriad of experiences in roles related to launching new ventures. While attending MIT, Mr. Harrison worked as a partner in a seed stage venture fund, ITU Ventures, and helped launch a joint MIT-Harvard incubator. During this experience, Mr. Harrison worked at the earliest stages with many interesting companies to include Endeca Technologies.
Additionally, Mr. Harrison served for three semesters as the teaching assistant for the entrepreneurial venture course, New Enterprises, taught by Howard Anderson and Todd Dagres. Mr. Harrison worked for AOL in Business Affairs and Development in Dulles, as well as Media Strategy in NY. During his tenure with AOL, Mr. Harrison co-authored 3 patents related to search, geo-tagging, and personalization with his boss, Edmund Fish. Following AOL, Mr. Harrison helped raise $40M in venture funding for a contextual online advertising network.
Prior to launching his business career, Mr. Harrison served for five years in the United States Army, earning both Airborne and Ranger qualifications and retiring as a Captain.
Mr. Harrison graduated as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1994 with a B.S.E. in Quantitative Economics and a concentration in Systems Engineering, and earned his M.B.A. focused on New Product and Venture Development from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in 2001. Mr. Harrison resides in New York City with his wife, Angie and son, Elvis.
David is a serial entrepreneur presently engaged in launching a software company that provides organizations with better visibility into their operations, while simultaneous empowering individuals to improve the organization at all levels.
He recently served as President of the San Francisco chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), an International network of entrepreneurs who each have businesses with annual revenues in excess of $1M, and has been featured by Forbes as an expert on entrepreneurship.
In 2004, he co-founded Kite Adventures, an adventure travel company offering guided downwind tours and pro-coached kiteboarding camps in northeast Brazil.
He is also co-founder of Endai Worldwide, a NYC-based Internet marketing and services firm founded in 1999, and served as the company's CTO through 2006. Endai has been recognized on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America.
David holds a BSCPE in Computer Engineering from Tufts University, resides in San Francisco, and is an avid kiteboarder and skier. In his spare time, he likes to help entrepreneurs and their executive teams discover their company’s ideal strategy.
Purpose also works with some of the world's biggest companies to mobilize their consumers for social impact, and is currently incubating new consumer movements to help the green economy achieve scale, including a platform to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
In 2007, Jeremy co-founded Avaaz.org, the world’s largest online political community, with six million members. In 2005, he co-founded GetUp.org, an Australian online political movement and internationally recognized social movement phenomenon that today has more members than all of Australia's political parties combined. In 2004, he co-founded an advocacy group in the US presidential elections that ran a highly publicized online and media campaign, raising millions of dollars in small online donations.
The World e-Government Forum has named Jeremy one of the "Top 10 People Who is Changing the World of the Internet and Politics." His work has been recognized in publications like The Economist and the New York Times. Jeremy began his career with the strategy consultants McKinsey and Company. He was educated at Harvard University and the University of Sydney. He is a citizen of Australia and the Netherlands, and lives in New York.
Prior to Founding Availor Group, Mr. Hickey was the Co-Founder and President of Aegis Capital Group LLC through which he raised and managed a number of private equity and venture capital funds making over 50 investments from 2004 through 2010. Prior to Aegis, he was an investment banker at Citigroup Global Markets (fka Salomon Smith Barney) covering insurance and asset management firms where he worked on over $8 billion in completed debt, initial public offering, equity capital raising, and restructuring transactions as well as nearly $20 billion in completed merger and acquisition transactions.
Mr. Hickey is passionate and actively involved with philanthropy and education. He is the Founder & President of Availor Philanthropy (fka Acorn Charities Group where he received the 2008 Pathfinders to Peace Award alongside Morgan Freeman); Chairman of Networks for the New York City Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO); Board member of the Quebec City Conference (QCC) and its Family Office Forum; Board member of the McGill Alumni Association of New York (recipient of the 2006 President of the Year Award); Tri-State Co-Chair of McGill University’s Capital Campaign; Member and former Director of Sponsorships for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) of New York; Advisory Board member of the Redwoods initiative and Legacy Connect, Inc., and on the Board of the Canadian Association of New York (2008 Chairman of the Maple Leaf Ball).
Mr. Hickey received a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from McGill University and attended Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program (three year full HBS alumni status program for distinguished business owners). He is a former Canadian national gold medalist and North American medalist in speed skating.
Jennifer was formerly Astia’s Vice President who led Astia’s East Coast operations, developing Astia’s mission-critical footprint and relationships with the venture capital, angel investor, and entrepreneurial communities across the technology, digital media, and life sciences sectors. Jennifer frequently appears as a business and legal commentator on MSNBC’s Your Business and serves as a member of the AOL Small Business Board of Directors.
Jennifer started her legal career in Silicon Valley at Fenwick & West LLP, a national law firm providing comprehensive legal services to the technology and life science industries. Jennifer represented fast-growing private and publicly held companies in venture finance, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate, and intellectual property and technology licensing matters representing companies in the software and services, hardware, Internet, mobile device, and digital media industries. She frequently served as outside general counsel and also held an interim general counsel role at a mobile technology company during its $100M+ acquisition. She also practiced in London with Linklaters LLP, an international legal advisory firm, where she focused on international capital markets and project finance.
Jennifer’s passion for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development began prior to her career in law, when she joined Trilogy Software, Inc., an Austin-based enterprise software company. As the Director of Strategic Alliances, Jennifer developed and launched revenue-generating strategic alliances with blue-chip global management consulting firms and systems integrators. She returned to Silicon Valley to launch distribution channels for an international publicly traded UK-based e-commerce company, reporting directly to the COO.
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 in International Relations from Stanford University with Honors. She has a published article in the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property and is a certified Mediator with the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
Ericsson commercial and worked as an aerial stunt consultant for 2 Chuck Norris’s movies, commercials for Samsung, Pepsi, Billy Mayes and Honda.
His hobbies are reading, adventure sports including scuba diving and motorcycling (he has built his own custom chopper) and anything that goes “boom!”, ie shooting.
His latest project, Xtreme Focus, helps people from all walks of life to become better, faster more efficient at any given task or hobbies using extreme sport psychology techniques. For over 16 years he has used Xtreme Focus to get people to do what they thought they could never do, jump out a of a plane. His own experience as showed him that the same principles and thought processes can be applied to nearly any activity and show significant improvements in a short period of time.
In 2010, he just concluded a year long experiment with competitive golf as a proof of concept, going from novice golfer to winning Player of the Year on The Golf Channel Amateur Tour, Los Angeles and qualified to compete in the National Championship held at TPC Sawgrass. home of the PGA Tour’s Player’s championship tournament.
Xtreme Focus LLC offers one-of-a-kind customized programs for corporate executives and entrepreneurs including: Xtreme Focus adventure retreats, Xtreme Focus seminars and coaching, and Xtreme Focus supplements to achieve peak focus and energy.
His motto for living is “just show me” and his operating procedures are built on integrity and trust as keys to success.
The Executive Council represents members from sectors such as healthcare, media & entertainment, financial services and sustainability. The Executive Council curates full-day conferences as well as private events and also produces white-label, customized events in conjunction with its members.
The Executive Council is widely known for its annual Ten Awards gala, dubbed "The Oscar's of Business" by CNBC, which honors ten extraordinary business leaders each year.
The Executive Council also operates the New York Venture Capital Association (NYVCA), representing 120 top venture capital and private equity firms in the NY, NJ and CT region. The NYVCA is known for its annual INGENUITY Conference, which brings together 500 investors and entrepreneurs every Fall in New York City.
Mr. Johnston regularly participates as a speaker at industry events and is an adviser or director to the following organizations: Business Council for the United Nations (BCUN); Lollipop Theater, which brings the magic of movies to hospitalized children; NYU Stern School's Venture Mentor Program; Columbia Business School's Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE); and Friends of Belfast, a non-profit organization that fosters business relations between Northern Ireland and the US. Mr. Johnston is also an active angel investor and his current investments include Locus Energy, Klout, Profitably and TapAd.
Mr. Johnston is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and earned a law degree at Suffolk Law School in Boston, with a focus on intellectual property and high technology law. Mr. Johnston also completed certificates from The Program on Negotiation and The Program on Advanced Negotiation at Harvard Law School. He resides in New York City and Sherman, CT.
the NYU Sustainability Task Force.
Jay Levy is a co-founder and principal of Zelkova Ventures.
Jay focuses most of his time in working with the current portfolio company and looking at new investments in the software-as-a-service, internet media and green tech space.
Before starting CCM, Mr. Martin was the COO/GMM at Overstock.com. He joined Overstock as one of the company's early employees through an acquisition the company made of another start-up he was a part of. Mr. Martin reported directly to Patrick Byrne, Overstock's CEO. During his tenure, Overstock grew from roughly $70M in revenues to over $800M, and went from a privately funded startup to a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: OSTK).
Mr. Martin is a frequent speaker, and has been cited for his extensive experience by many publications including The Wall Street Journal, Internet Retailer, and CMO magazine. Mr. Martin earned a Six Sigma Black Belt and applied the methodology to operations at Overstock.
From 1996 to 2006, Mr. Messer was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LinkShare Corporation, where he led the company's efforts to create a unique pay for performance network that helps businesses minimize customer acquisition costs and maximize their online revenue-generating potential. 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. LinkShare was also named the Best Affiliate Network Provider in 2002 by ABestWeb, a leading resource for affiliate marketing. Mr. Messer was awarded the Best Service to the Industry award, recognizing his extraordinary achievements and contributions in the creation and development of the affiliate marketing industry. In 2005, Mr. Messer was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Region. One of the few marketing service providers to have weathered the dotcom fallout, Lin!
kShare is today profitable and counts Fortune 500 and other category leaders among its clients.
Prior to founding LinkShare, Mr. Messer was the Assistant Director of the Columbia University Institute of Tele-Information (CITI), where he produced and directed many studies on cyber-communications and telecommunications. He continues to serve as an Affiliated Research Fellow at the Institute. Mr. Messer also worked with the Department of State during the 49th General Assembly of the United Nations in the Sixth Committee and Security Council. 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. He is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.
Mr. Messer is currently active in the Internet community, serving on the board of the Association for Interactive Media (AIM), a division of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Mr. Messer also sits on the boards of other venture-backed companies, such as Vente (formerly WFSDirect). Mr. Messer is a Limited Partner in many venture capital companies and sits on the advisory board of Industry Ventures, a provider of capital and strategy to early stage companies in the software and services companies. As one of the earliest developers of the Internet as a business application, as well as a vocal advocate of the Internet, Mr. Messer has been quoted in many newspapers and other publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Nikkei, and Internet Retailer Magazine, and he has appeared on national business programs such as CNBC, CNNfn, and the Fox News Channel. Mr. Messer has also spoken at major industry events, such as the DMA, Internet World, and Harvard University CyberSymposium, and appeared as a guest speaker at prestigious business schools such as Columbia Business School, New York University's Stern School of Business, and Wharton. In October of 2005, Mr. Messer sold LinkShare Corporation to Rakuten Corporation for $425 million.
Mr. Meyer has extensive experience and relationships in the real estate, finance, venture capital, healthcare and media sectors. He was a co-founder of the real estate, private equity and venture capital investment affiliates of two leading global investment and finance organizations, Lazard Frères & Co. (in 1994) and Trammell Crow Company (in 1984). Mr. Meyer has also served as the founder of two entrepreneurial, venture capital-backed companies (Extend Health, Inc. and The American Academy, Inc.) as well as the non-executive chairman of several public and private operating businesses.
Mr. Meyer has lectured in real estate, finance and entrepreneurship at Stanford University, New York University and Southern Methodist University and is a past Chairman of the Board of Literacy Instruction for Texas (L.I.F.T.). He has served as a Board member of the Young Leadership Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal and The Educational Alliance and currently serves as a Trustee of, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at, the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. Mr. Meyer is also active as a social entrepreneur, serving as an advisor to several agencies of New York City and to numerous non-for-profit organizations.
Mr. Meyer graduated from Harvard College in 1982 as a John Harvard Scholar and received his MBA from Harvard Business School with honors in 1984. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
Vanity Fair has named Oakes a "Global Citizen," Outside called her one of the "Top Environmental Activists," and CNBC called her one of the “Top 10 Green Entrepreneurs of 2010.” Summer Rayne is a graduate of Cornell University with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology and is a Udall environmental scholar, PERC Environmental Fellow, and National Wildlife Federation Fellow. You can follow her @sroakes or visit source4style.com and summerrayne.net
NYCEDC’s agenda includes an aggressive slate of programs aimed at diversifying the City’s economy, helping legacy industries transition to 21st Century business models, and expanding entrepreneurship to ensure that the City is well-represented in the fields of tomorrow. The more than 60 programs launched during Seth’s tenure focus on industries such as the arts, bioscience, fashion, finance, green services, manufacturing, media, and technology and include: incubator spaces providing hundreds of low-cost work stations and business development services to startup companies; the first city-sponsored investment fund outside the Silicon Valley; and international competitions aimed at spurring innovative ideas through the creation of new business plans and smart-phone applications using long-neglected government data.
Beyond working to overhaul the City’s economy, Seth’s efforts have also included modernizing NYCEDC’s 63-million square-foot property management portfolio; overseeing $2.5 billion in capital investments ranging from basic infrastructure improvements to new parks and streetscapes across the City; and helping to negotiate and structure the City’s involvement in some of the most complex development projects in recent years, including the World Trade Center, Yankee Stadium, and Citifield. Under Seth, NYCEDC has further continued its efforts to implement several of the Administration’s most ambitious area-wide redevelopment projects, bringing new housing, infrastructure, and job opportunities to underserved neighborhoods throughout the Five Boroughs. Examples of these projects include: creation of the City’s first LEED-certified neighborhood in Willets Point, Queens; upgrades to the South Bronx Greenway to improve air quality and recreational opportunities in some of the City’s poorest neighborhoods; revitalization of the 27-acre amusement district and surrounding community in Coney Island, Brooklyn; and projects at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and New York Container Terminal in Staten Island to help revive the City’s working waterfront. Additionally, under Seth’s leadership, the City became the first municipality in the nation to develop selection processes and make allocations for several federal stimulus programs designed to spur employment and encourage development during the recent downturn.
An attorney by training, prior to joining NYCEDC, Seth was an associate at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in the Real Estate practice and a financial analyst at the Mergers & Acquisitions boutique, James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated. Seth is a graduate of Columbia College, where he majored in Ancient History, and Harvard Law School.
Ramberg is a regular contributor to the TODAY Show on small business and financial issues. She is also msnbc's small business expert and occasional on-air anchor.
Ramberg is passionate about small business and has firsthand experience as an entrepreneur herself. With her brother, she co-founded GoodSearch.com, a search engine that donates 50 percent of revenue to the charities and schools its users designate. Ramberg also spent two years after business school as the director of marketing and one of the first employees at Cooking.com, an Internet-based cookware retailer. In addition, Ramberg has spent her career balancing business with public service, spending considerable time working for microfinance organizations in Uganda and India.
Ramberg graduated cum laude from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and received her MBA from Stanford Business School.
Before joining msnbc, Ramberg was a reporter at CNN, where she covered a wide range of topics, ranging from breaking news to profiles of the country’s top business leaders. Her extensive field experience includes reporting from Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She also hosted the daytime talk program “The Flipside” on CNNfn and was a producer on CNN’s profile program “Pinnacle.” She began her television career at NBC News, where she was an associate producer at Dateline NBC.
Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist and editor of Smallbiztechnology.com and author of "Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses".
He co-produces the Annual Small Business Summit (since 2006), produces the Taste of Technology Small Business Series and is a speaker (including Inc 500).
Ramon has written thousands of technology articles and news items for Smallbiztechnology.com and other media including: Inc. Magazine, New York Enterprise Report, Black Enterprise Magazine, CNet, Var Business, TechTarget, Entrepreneur.com, Small Business Resources and others. He has also written for technology vendors including Microsoft, FileMaker, and Everest.
He is often quoted in the media, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, WCBS Radio, Crains New York, National Federal of Independent Business, Small Business Advocate Radio Show, Wells Fargo Small Business Roundup, Tech Talk with Craig Peterson and Smart Money.
Ramon has brought his unique dose of humor, technology insight and practical advice to many events, including the Inc 500, Biz Tech Day, NY XPO, HP Business Matchmaking event, Infusion Soft User’s Conference, Capterra Software Marketers Conference, United States Small Business Administration Service Core of Retired Executives' "Strategies for Succeeding in Business", PC Expo, Internet World, American Woman's Economic Development Corporation, Business Development Institute, SMB Nation and more.
Ramon is not "just" a technology writer, but, as a former small business technology consultant, he has years of hands on experience in building networks, installing software, upgrading computers and supporting the technology that small businesses use on a daily basis.
for SAI clients, is a registered lobbyist with both NYC and NYS and serves as a confidante of elected officials and their staff.
Due to her reputation as a forward thinker and expert on starting and growing businesses, some of the world's top media outlets rely on Beth for her insights into the latest trends among entrepreneurs and small business. Beth has been featured in outlets including Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Elle Magazine, the Today Show, Pink Magazine, and MSNBC. In 2010, Beth received the14th Annual Distinguished Alumnae Award presented by Columbia Business School and Columbia Women in Business.
After graduating from Texas A&M with a Bachelors Degree in Finance and earning her MBA from Columbia University, Beth developed marketing and sales programs for major international brands including Clinique, ibeauty.com and American Express. She then went on to establish the highly successful learning solutions company FLOinc, which lead to her co-founding Ladies Who Launch (LWL). Beth grew this lifestyle and business-focused media company to over 53 cities and over 50,000 members. Beth left LWL to found Collective-E in 2008.
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.
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 Power 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.Before Stu founded Snow in 2005 he had simultaneous careers as a financial consultant on Wall Street and a professional songwriter/musician. Stu worked on Wall Street at major firms for nearly fifteen years as a VP or Director of Investments specializing in asset allocation and professional money management for high net worth individuals. During that period his band, Channeling Owen (in which he was the primary songwriter, drummer, and business manager) was featured in Rollingstone.com, had a song on the popular television show Dawson’s Creek, and received radio play on hundreds of college radio stations. Stu and Channeling Owen were the subject of a feature article in Forbes in 1999 about how the internet was changing the music business.
Stu is a graduate of Cornell University and the genesis of the idea that led to Snow actually began as a marketing project Stu created while at Cornell in the mid-eighties.
Mr. Subramanian is a technology entrepreneur and innovator who founded ContextWeb, creators of the online advertising exchange ADSDAQ, in 2000. His vision was to develop an easy-to-use ad exchange that brings together advertisers and publishers to enable mutually beneficial advertising transactions. Previously, Mr. Subramanian was the CEO of CONTEXTWEB and directed all the business and operations. This included building and managing a team of technology innovators, sales, marketing, operations, product management and new product development. He also has an extensive background in technology sales and delivery and a proven track record of corporate leadership.
Before joining ContextWeb, Mr. Subramanian was Vice President of Product Development at Gobi, Inc., a provider of accessible home computing and Internet connectivity. From 1996 through 1999, he managed a team of technology consultants and sales staff at iGate Capital, an IT and finance/accounting staffing resource company, with responsibility for major accounts including AT&T, Bellcore and MCI. In the early 1990s, Mr. Subramanian built and ran a successful healthcare software business in Bombay, India. He is a frequent speaker and commentator on technology, digital media and the convergence of the two. He has spoken at "Think Tomorrow~Today," ThinkPanmure's 2008 conference, The Upstream Group's Seller Forum, iMedia Communication, Inc.'s Agency Summit, Red Herring's "Always On" Conference, and he was also a finalist for The Metro New York Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2008 Awards.
He received his Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 1992.
Mr. Sun is a co-founder and partner of LaunchTime, an incubator focused on digital media and e-commerce.
Previously, Mr. Sun’s was at 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 500M 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 $20M 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 $500M 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.
Sam grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, fascinated by the city's musical transition from Motown to Techno. He picked up his first pair of turntables at the age of 15 and founded his company in a dorm room from the University Of Michigan. Today, Ghostly International is a unique force in independent art and culture, balanced carefully between pop culture, experimentation and a visual art tradition.
Serena is the Founder of MyFreedomFormula.com and AdventureSociety.com. My Freedom Formula, which launches winter of 2010, is an online video training program that teaches the 13 steps to creating your own personalized freedom formula. During the training, Walker interviews 26 successful entrepreneurs and shares their stories and views on each of these areas. The program also offers a premium-training package that includes group coaching along with an offline high level mastermind that includes action packed adrenaline adventures like skydiving, hang gliding, waterfall rappelling, and tree-top zip-lining where the lessons are learned through sense memory, the most effective way to learn and to maintain the knowledge.
Walker, who hails from Kodiak, Alaska, also founded Adventure Society as the first company of its kind in NYC. Walker felt trapped in the city and went in search of a multi-sport outdoor adventure company that both offered the type of adrenaline infused activities that she was interested in and that provided transportation from the city. When she couldn't find anything, she decided to create a small social club.
Within two years, this club grew into a full-time second job, so Walker wrote a business plan and a year later quit her job to follow her passion and to run Adventure Society full-time. In line with Walker's vision, every year A.S. strives to improve upon the quality of its trips and is always in search of fun new activities to add to the activity calendar. A.S. has won many awards over the years and strives to continue to be the best company in its field. The key to Adventure Society's success is that they offer a diverse range of activities that cater to all ability levels.
Currently, they run over 67 different activities and offer 150+ trips a year, more than any other company within 5+ hours of NYC. On top of the trips, they host interactive cocktail parties, private members-only dinners, cooking classes, yoga classes, and a host of other city based activities.
Giles has been privileged to work with many companies at the forefront of the development of eCommerce and Internet-based business models, including eBay, Amazon, Reuters and Lastminute.com. Early successes for Concentium include advising a world-leader in Internet and mobile distributions of digital sports media on their plans to IPO and working with a top-tier global Pharmaceutical company on their corporate-wide Privacy compliance programme.
Before Concentium, Giles had a 21 year career in top-tier consulting with Ernst & Young, qualifying as a chartered accountant and auditing numerous UK and international businesses before moving into business and technology risk management and advisory services. Giles founded and led Ernst & Young’s Technology Due Diligence and Post-transaction advisory practice, which became the largest such practice in the world advising on over 500 corporate and private equity transactions. In sitting on the leadership team of EY’s technology practice, Giles oversaw the management measurement of a high growth practice, with 300 staff, 16 Partners and revenues in excess of £24m. Giles also built and led Ernst & Young’s UK Information Privacy assurance and advisory practice.
Giles is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), which for over 250 years has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. The organisation takes a multi-disciplinary, politically independent approach to combining cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.
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.
Daniel was honored in Spring 2009 with the Apex Society’s “Power 30 Under 30” award for his professional accomplishments, as well as his charitable contributions to Parkinson’s Disease research and patient care. He works extensively with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research with multiple fundraising efforts throughout the year, as well the Georgia chapter of the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA) to raise awareness of the disease and encourage education for effective patient support. In 2010, Daniel co-founded the Wilkins Parkinson’s Foundation, which serves to create an alliance between various Parkinson’s related non-profits and offer media and marketing services to those entities pro-bono.
ng for Louis Vuitton North America. She began her career working for three years in investment banking at Merrill Lynch predominately based in London. She subsequently worked as a consultant for retail guru Marvin Traub at Financo Inc. Alexandra holds a B.A. from Harvard College where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Alexandra speaks five languages. She lives in New York City, her hometown, with her husband and young son.
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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