Mentors are an essential component of startup success. Participating companies benefit from the varied experiences, networks and insights of our dedicated (and growing list of) mentors.
James Altucher, Managing Director, Formula Capital. James has started and sold 3 businesses, wrote 8 books, has written 300 blog posts, invests in companies, and is brutally honest to his detriment.
Marvin Avilez, Chief Operating Officer, Social Amp. Marvin contributes 15+ years of software, strategy, operations and new media expertise to Social Amp from a host of roles at companies including Macromedia, Apple, Oracle and RespondTV. Marvin has logged 14 years in the Marine Corps Reserve and served around the globe as a counterintelligence (CI) specialist.
Dawn Barber, co-founder of NY Tech Meetup & Apprenticeship Director for the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. She is a Pipeline Fund angel, on the board of InSITE as well as the Astia NYC Advisory Board, and is a New York City trustee of The Awesome Foundation.
Elmira Bayrasli, Writer. Elmira writes and works on global development issues. That's why she's all about start-ups and entrepreneurs. Entreventures is her branded blog on Forbes.
Leah Belsky, VP of Strategy & Associate General Counsel, Kaltura. Kaltura is an Intel Capital funded company launching the world's first open source media platform. Prior to Kaltura Leah worked in international development and tech policy at the World Bank and National Institutes of Health. She is an expert in educational technology and was an early advisor to 'Startl', an edtech incubator and accelerator in NYC.
Lauren Maillian Bias, Founder & CEO of Luxury Market Branding and Founding Partner & Director of Operations at Gen Y Capital Partners. A serial entrepreneur, Lauren was the Chief Operating Officer of Sugarleaf Vineyards (an award-winning and nationally recognized brand that Lauren created at 19 years old, making her the youngest self-made winery owner in the country). In 2011 she was recognized at The White House by the Kauffman Foundation as an Empact100 Award honoree.
Megan Berry, Founder, LiftFive. Megan was formerly the Senior Marketing Manager at Klout, where she built the community and brand behind Klout from early 2010, when she joined as their fourth employee. She’s spoken about influence and community at numerous conferences (Lucky’s FABB conference, Socialize, Social Media Camp, Wappow Emerging Media, Columbia School of Journalism and, soon, SXSW). Megan founded LiftFive to help startups grow communities and gain momentum. LifeFive's current clients include Klout, RebelMouse and Newsle.
Peter Bordes, Founder & Executive Chairman of MediaTrust. MediaTrust a leader in performance marketing and creators of the PerformanceExchange. He is also a founder in Internet Media Labs . Peter is a founding board member & Board President of the PMA Performance Marketing Association, mentor in the 20 under 20 Thiel foundation program, angel investor, advisor and board member to digital media, advertising & technology companies.
Faith Brewitt, President, Have Faith. Faith is a senior branding executive with 17 years international experience managing global public relations programs for leading brands in the United States, China and Asia Pacific. She sits on the advisory board of Girls in Tech China. Faith has held positions as general manager of Fleishman Hillard in China, APJ practice director of Hill & Knowlton and global communications executive director for Dell Consumer, Small & Medium Business. In 2010, Faith created the Dell Women Entrepreneur Network.
Libby Brittain, Associate, Hearst Ventures. At Hearst Ventures, the early-stage venture capital arm of Hearst Corp., Libby invests in companies that are changing how we think about digital media. Formerly, she was a student at Columbia and intern at The New York Times, drop.io (sold to Facebook), and outside.in (sold to AOL Patch).
Tara Tiger Brown, Co-Founder Teach Me Stuff. Tara Co-founded NOOT, an interactive sports prediction game for the iPhone. She has worked as a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, Topspin Media, and Shazam. She is a Co-Organizer for Transmedia LA and runs LAdy Tacos, a hacker group in LA for women.
Jennifer Byrne, VP, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development for American Express’ new Online & Mobile Business unit, Serve. Prior to joining American Express, she was Executive Director, Business Development & Partnership Management at Verizon Wireless. Jennifer has held executive positions at a mobile games start-up, Hands-On Mobile, as well as CBS Broadcast Television in the distribution division. Jennifer began her career in television in Rome, Italy where she managed content acquisition & business affairs at Orbit Satellite & Cable TV Network.
Mike Chambers, Managing Director, Have Faith. Mike is a senior-level communications professional and has provided strategic council and account management while at Newell PR in Hong Kong and Globalfluency in Silicon Valley. Most recently, Mike was the communications and community affairs manager for Microsoft in Singapore.
Sara Chipps, JavaScript Developer, co-founder of Girl Develop It & an interim CTO for early stage startups. Her message to all is that software development is fun and glamourous.
Carol Curley, Managing Director, Golden Seeds, and President of The Charian Group, LLC. Carol has over 20 years experience in Investment Banking and Money Management and is currently an active investor in and mentor to early stage companies. Carol also serves on the NY Advisory Board of Astia, Inc.
Anna Curran, Founder of CookbookCreate.com. Anna specializes in product design & digital communications. Her startup, CookbookCreate.com, is a platform for self publishing cookbooks.
Anil Dhawan. Anil is passionate about all things food and mobile. A product guy at heart, he was formerly the founding program manager on the Windows Phone team at Microsoft and has held a variety of management and development roles in the mobile space at Adobe and Sun Microsystems. With a keen eye for end user experience and a handle on business models, he shares his product and market insights to help companies in the mobile space reach their full potential.
Nithya Das, Legal Counsel at AppNexus Inc. (& former Start-up Lawyer). Tech Co Lawyer and Advisor. Entrepreneurial Tendencies. Likes Figuring Out How Things Work. Food Writer and Co-Founder of Half Pint Gourmet. Chair of Goodwin Procter Founders Workbench Advisory Board.
Etienne de Bruin, Partner and CTO, Monk Development, Inc. & founder of San Diego CTO Forum. He is also the founder and Chief Muso Officer of Musolist.com. Etienne loves to create web apps and bass notes. He is also an organizer for the San Diego Ruby Community.
Rob Delman, Managing Director, Golden Seeds. Rob is an active mentor and investor in early stage companies. He is a partner in the ARC Angel Fund and Canrock, as well as serving as an advisor to Columbia University Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and sitting on Astia's NYC Advisory Board.
Carmen DeMatteis, associate, Tech Group, Lowenstein Sandler PC. Carmen focuses on corporate transactions with an emphasis on venture capital, angel investments and mergers and acquisitions involving venture-backed companies.
Patricia Duffy, Managing Director for Golden Seeds Academy. An independent marketing consultant, Patricia’s priority is developing and delivering product(s) that competitively solve problems and exceed customer expectations. As a Managing Director for Golden Seeds Academy, she focuses on promoting and expanding entrepreneur and investor training -- personally conducting training in business/marketing strategy and investor pitching.
Benjamin Dyett, Grind. Benjamin was a mild-mannered lawyer who woke up one day and, together with some partners, decided, Hey, let’s change the future of work. Throughout his career, Benjamin has founded, funded, operated and advised successful start-ups.
Christine Ekman, Founder, Mobile Pulse. Mobile Pulse is a cloud based service that offers performance monitoring of wireless carriers and devices. Christine loves working with creative geeks and the ecosphere that surrounds them.
Phoebe Espiritu, Design analyst, product advisor. Phoebe teaches an MFA Design Entrepreneurship course at Parsons. She also manages the TechStars NYC HackStars. A former AOL Design Director, Phoebe was named one of 25 women driving New York's Tech Scene.
Julie Fajgenbaum, Vice President, Brand and Social Media at American Express OPEN. Named one of BtoB Magazine’s Best Marketers of 2011, Julie leads American Express OPEN’s small business brand strategy, programming, and social media communities in order to build lasting relationships with small business owners and to help them grow their businesses. As well, Julie leads the Small Business Saturday & Shop Small movement to encourage consumers to shop and support their local businesses.
David Famolari, Vice President, Rutberg & Company. David is a founding Partner at Day2 Ventures and co-founder of GoodCompany Ventures, a venture accelerator for social impact startups. Previously, David spent more than 10 years in technology R&D focused on mobile networks and services.
Alexis Finch, User Experience Researcher. Alexis has consulted for Fortune 500 companies on everything from pet food to panty-liners. She's been sent around the globe as a drop-shipment solution to cultural conundrums like the meaning of heath vs wellness, and the individual's relationship with water. She now works with startups to get them from insight to problem and on to solution. When she's not playing with startup puzzles, Alexis creates sketchnotes for GraphiteMind explaining tricky technology topics.
Jessica Finkelstein, General Counsel of Admeld (recently acquired by Google). Jessica focuses on legal and privacy matters related to mobile digital technology and digital advertising. Jessica sits on the advisory board of The Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank focused on data practices and internet privacy.
Ben Fisher, interaction designer + hacker & co-founder of Lean Startup Machine. Ben has more than a decade of experience working with award-winning companies including Volkswagen, Burger King, Disney, and the innovation design leaders at IDEO. Ben helps companies identify their best ideas and bring them to fruition. His entrepreneurial work has been featured in Forbes, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, Harvard's Nieman Lab, and on ABC World News.
Guillaume Gauthereau, Co-Founder & CEO, TOTSY.COM. Guillaume is also the founder and Chairman of G&G Advisors / Sequoia Lab, a strategy advisory firm where his clients include top CEO of the retail & luxury industry, the CEO of Lactalis (3rd largest World Dairy Company), Portofino, Alicia Keys & Alicia Keys Worldwide, Mintbox.com, Gustorganics, Faithanne, The Barber’s Daughters, Scott Lazerson, Wave Management Group, etc.
Caroline Ghosn, CEO and Co-Founder of The Levo League. Stanford Grad and New Yorker, Caroline is passionate about d.School methodology and encouraging fellow entrepreneurs on their paths. Her first startup, The Levo League is the first professional community for Gen Y women that is applying technology to solve age-old problems.
August (Augie) Grasis III, Founder & Chairman, Handmark. Named the 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award Winner in the Central Midwest Technology category, Augie is an established entrepreneur known for his savvy business approach and industry-changing ideas. Since founding Handmark in 2000, Grasis has played an important role in defining the mobile content industry and changing the way people use their mobile phones.
Sheila Gulati, Managing Director, Tola Capital. A second-generation software entrepreneur, Sheila was a General Manager at Microsoft Corporation within the Server and Tools division. She is on the Board of Opera Solutions and Aurigo Software.
Stacey Gutman, Director, OPEN Forum at American Express OPEN. Stacey leads the award-winning OPEN Forum platform, an online community that helps small business owners run and grow their businesses through expert insights, actionable advice and opportunities to gain exposure and make valuable business connections. Stacey launched OPEN Forum Crash Courses in collaboration with NY tech start-up Veri, providing the Forum audience with fun, easy and addictive ways to learn about topics in-depth, ranging from “Facebook for Your Business” to “Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch”.
SE Hayes, Stanford. SE specializes in human-centered innovation and customer development. She is a guest lecturer at Stanford’s d.school, and is currently a Stanford Startx fellow.
Richie Hecker, Exec Chair, inSparq & Honorary Chair, Women in Wireless. Richie builds and buys companies.
Jennifer Hill, Venture Lawyer. International Venture Lawyer. MSNBC & CBSi commentator and Huffington Post Small Business Board of Directors. Advisory Board member of Women In Wireless, Astia and numerous tech start-ups.
David Hose, Managing Director, Ideas & Plans, LLC. David is MD of Ideas & Plans, focusing on very early to mid-stage mobile companies. He does a lot of things first, sometimes too early.
Susie Huang, Founder, Searchgency. She provides clients with digital strategy consulting and is an expert in SEO, SEM, and web analytics, with specific knowledge in the B2B lead generation sector. Susie also serves as a mentor at Women in Wireless, NYC.
Tara Hunt, CEO, Buyosphere. Named as one of the most influential women in tech, Tara is a startup founder, author and speaker and lives in Montreal with her pug, Ridley, and her boyfriend, Carlos.
Einas Ibrahim, entrepreneur & strategic consultant. Einas is an electrical engineer and a veteran technology expert with over 15 year experience working with web/database development. She combines her engineering and technology background with a strong finance and business acumen (Wharton MBA) coupled with Fortune 500 experience in operations, planning, sales and marketing.
Izzy Johnston, Lead Developer, Public Stuff. Izzy has over eight years of instructional experience in software and languages and over 14 years of programming experience. Currently, her work focuses on Android and iPhone applications, database structure and back end website optimization and API creation. Izzy is a professor of Information Science at Pratt Institute, teaches with Girl Develop It and is involved with Developers for Good.
Stephen Johnston, Founder & CEO, Fordcastle. Stephen worked for Nokia for 6 years in various roles, based in Helsinki and London before coming to New York. He is the Editor of the blog Aging2.0 that identifies new companies and innovators in the aging space, and is the co-author of a new Wiley business book on ways to deliver sustainable, organic growth, called Growth Champions.
Bina Kalola, Managing Director & head of Global Strategic Direct Investments for Global Banking and Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Kalola worked at NetProphets, a start-up company that incubates proprietary and client business plans in Australia and India.
Michael Keany, Managing Partner, Grenville Ventures. Michael has spent the vast majority of his 20+ year career at the intersection of entrepreneurship & technology. He has worked for three start-up firms, three rapid growth firms, and for the G1000 across four continents. Most recently he was CEO of digital agency Code and Theory. He has has made several angel investments, including in mobile music recognition service Shazam.
Allison Keisman, Founder, Customer Finders. Allison is an ecommerce marketing veteran/digital marketing specialist with over 16 years providing strategy, leadership and hands-on execution on all aspects of building, marketing and scaling over a dozen ecommerce startups. Allison started her career launching one of the first ecommerce sites for Saks Fifth Avenue and co-founded Shop.org in 1996, joined her first startup in 1997 has been building and launching startups ever since.
Daphne Kis, Project Director of the Markle Foundation's Initiative on Information Technology and Economic Growth and Job Creation. Daphne serves on the board of directors of Applywise, Style for Hire, and iPerceptions. She mentors young women-led companies through Springboard and Golden Seeds. Daphne was President & CEO of EDventure Holdings, publisher of Release 1.0 and executive producer of PC Forum. She has been angel investing since the early 90's.
Jeff Klainberg, Director, Mobile Strategy for American Express OPEN. Jeff manages the holistic OPEN Mobile strategy and focuses on the mobile customer experience for existing and prospective small business Cardmembers. Previously, Jeff developed and launched the OPEN Forum website. Prior to American Express, Jeff held various digital and marketing positions in advertising and PR, including time at J. Walter Thompson in New York.
Nataly Kogan, entrepreneur, early-stage investor & product development executive. Nataly is the Vice President of Consumer Product and Experience at WHERE, the leading location media company, which was acquired by PayPal in May of 2011. At WHERE, Nataly oversees the consumer product and runs the UX team, working to create the most engaging and fun experiences for users.
Jay Krall, Business Development Director, Cision. Jay works on projects and partnerships that result in actionable insights delivered to PR and marketing professionals in real time.
Ramya Krishnamurthy, Director - Research Engineering, Klout. Ramya works on complex data problems to detect patterns in human interactions and quantify them.
Christine Lee, VP & GM, Partner Relations, Tapjoy. Christine has 10+ years of experience working in business development, sales & marketing. At YouTube she led e-commerce partnerships and strategy, creating partnerships with Amazon & Apple to generate new revenue streams. At Tapjoy, Christine helped build the current partner network to include leading companies such as Glu, Zynga, EA, Pocket Gems, DeNA, etc. - a network which now touches 1 out of every 4 apps in the app stores.
Mary Lemmer, entrepreneur & analyst at RPM Ventures. She turns ideas into reality on her path to make a positive impact in the world. Mary shares her ventures at her Venture Gal blog.
Anne Libby, founder & owner, Anne Libby Management Consulting LLC. Anne brings over 20 years experience as a general manager, and advisor on general management to founders, business owners, and senior leaders. She’s a Women in Wireless mentor, serves on the NYC board of CFY, and is a founder and leader of the Wharton Women in Business Alumnae Group.
Patricia Lizarraga, Managing Partner, Hypatia Capital. Hypatia Capital is a merchant bank and private equity transaction sponsor focused on the top female executives of the Fortune 1000. Hypatia Capital focuses on the media, technology, consumer products, retail and service verticals. Patricia is a mentor to recent HBS graduates, and serves on the board of the Harvard Business School Womens Association of Greater New York.
Holly Lynch, Founder & CEO, The Good Girls. Holly is an advertising, strategic planning and brand communications veteran, with 12 years experience at agencies such as Ogilvy, BBH and StrawberryFrog. She led the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Self-Esteem Fund. Holly's long-standing commitment to social progress and women-lead enterprise permeates everything she does and is the lens through which she views brand strategy.
Michael Mace, CEO, Cera Technology. Michael was VP of product planning at Palm, and VP of marketing for Softbook Press, an early ebook startup. He also worked at Apple for ten years, where his roles included director of Mac platform marketing and director of worldwide market intelligence. Michael's consulting clients have included Nokia, Logitech, Yahoo, Symantec, VMware, and Adobe. Michael is a well known business strategist and commentator; and frequent blogger on the tech industry.
Charles Masson, CEO, Masson & Co. Charles' views on well-managed companies come from over 30 years of experience working with distressed and financially troubled entities. He is an experienced independent corporate board member having served on the boards of both public and private companies, including Algoma Steel, Maidenform and Players International.
Shauna Mei, Co-Founder & CEO, AHAlife.com. In addition to co-founding AHAlife.com, an innovative global luxury social/e-commerce media company, Shauna is the founder of Mobius Strip llc. Shauna also co-founded Aronsson Group, a luxury fashion investment and advisory firm and served as CEO of Casall International.
Nilofer Merchant. Renowned management strategist, described by her audiences as "cracking open the soul". Nilofer's best-selling book, The New How, characterizes what all organizations face, the "Air Sandwich". Her HBR columns are consistently devoured, and most-read. Having contributed to the success of Apple, Adobe, Autodesk and many others, Nilofer is considered a secret sauce to winning. Nilofer also serves on several corporate boards including publicly traded companies.
Nihal Mehta, CEO, Local Response. Nihal is a noted expert in the emerging adoption of mobile technologies for media properties and consumer brands. Prior to LocalResponse, Nihal founded ipsh!, one of the first full-service mobile marketing agencies in 2001, which he sold to Omnicom (NYSE: OMC) in 2005. Nihal is also a Founding General Partner at the world's first venture fund focused on mobile startups, ENIAC ventures; a Founding Partner of the India Internet Group which incubates and invests in Indian startups; and is an active angel investor including investments/advisories in Admob (sold to Google), Greystripe (sold to Valueclick), Movoxx (sold to Adenyo).
Laura Mignott, Co-Founder/President of DigitalFlashNYC. DigitalFlashNYC provides digital services, event consulting and strategic introductions to brands & startups and their clients have included Klout, Mashable, Pepsico & SMAC. Prior to DigitalFlashNYC, Laura worked at Hipcricket & Gold Mobile developing & selling mobile platforms & marketing programs.
Elisa Miller-Out, CEO, Singlebrook. Elisa has been featured in articles in the New York Times, USA Today and many other publications and has spoken about technology and entrepreneurship at events across the country. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Barnard College of Columbia University. Elisa serves on the Council of Innovation Advisors for ConvergeUS.
Kathryn Minshew, Founder & CEO of The Daily Muse. She is a member of the Y-Combinator Winter 2012 class. Kathryn was recently named to Forbes' 30-Under-30 in Media and Femmeonomic's list of Top 50 Women to Watch in Tech. Prior to founding The Daily Muse, Kathryn led Rwanda’s national strategic plan for HPV vaccine introduction with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Natasha Mooney, Mobile Game Producer, Rivet Games. Natasha manages the mobile gaming division of Rivet Games, which produced the game Puzzle Tales on iOS. She loves working in technology and enjoys writing about the industry and the important role that women have to play within it. Previously, Natasha worked in business development for One Block Off the Grid and email marketing at Playdom.
Brooke Moreland, CEO & co-founder, Fashism.com. An online social fashion advice community and iPhone app, Brooke started Fashism in 2009 after a frustrating dressing room incident led her to seek out a solution for her sartorial indecision. What started as a way of gathering feedback from a small group of fashion-conscious buddies grew into a global fashion community. Brooke has contributed to the Huffington Post, Mediaite.com, and Yahoo’s OMG. She also edits the Fashism blog.
Annie Nazarian, Attorney, Lowenstein Sandler PC. Annie specializes in mergers and acquisitions
Linda Nero, National Account Executive, Princeton One. Linda specializes in placing candidates in sales, marketing, engineering and analytic positions in start-ups and bleeding-edge technologies. She also focuses much of her attention on the digital and mobile media arena.
Mark Newhall, Co-Founder & Managing Director of IdealWave Solutions. Mark is a board advisor to multiple companies, an angel investor, and an entrepreneur who is passionate about helping companies accelerate their growth. He has been in the recruiting world for 17 years and has spent the last 11 years working exclusively in the mobile industry.
Natalia Oberti Noguera, Founder & CEO, Pipeline Fellowship. Through the Pipeline Fellowship program, Natalia trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice. She is also the creator of #womaninnovator, a media campaign to increase the visibility of women changemakers and mainstream their stories.
Charlie O'Donnell, Partner, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Charlie is working on very early stage investments in the "Greater Brooklyn" area. Charlie teaches entrepreneurship at Fordham University and blogs. In his spare time, he bikes everywhere, plays softball, dodgeball, and kayaks.
Nick O’Neill, Entrepreneur. Nick built a social network in 2002, built a search engine for textbooks in 2004, imported liquor from Brazil to attempt building a new brand in 2005, and finally developed a business that could support himself beginning in 2007. At AllFacebook.com, Nick built a blog attracting over 1.4 million monthly unique visitors and developed data solutions that were valuable to Facebook marketers and developers. After having SocialTimes (and AllFacebook.com) acquired by WebMediaBrands in 2010, Nick sought out a new journey: Holler. Alas, Hollerwas not meant to be. However Nick is also no stranger of persistence and has since moved on to develop the world’s most incredible database of startup information: StartupStats
Ben Ortman, Strategic Accounts, Linkedin. An entrepreneurial-minded executive, Ben has been an early-stage employee and key contributor with several privately-held and pioneering software-as-a-service companies in the Social Media and Corporate Social Networking space including LinkedIn, Mzinga, Passenger (funded by Steamboat, StarVest and Shelter Capital) and SelectMinds (funded by Bessemer Ventures).
Mark Pickett, CEO, Nail Your Mortgage. After serving in Somalia as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mark worked as a product manager with Qwest Communications and Motorola (internet solutions and mobile internet solutions). From there, he entered the software business, working for KPMG Consulting on a wide array of software implementation projects before going on to found OmTelligence. Nail Your Mortgage was founded in 2009 with an initial angel of $3.1 million by PHRM Data.
Nancy Ploeger, President, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. With the MCC focus on small business and economic growth, Nancy oversees many initiatives run by and for member companies including Green & Sustainability, Young Professional, LGBT, IT & Innovation, Healthcare initiatives and more. The MCC represents the voice of 100,000 businesses in Manhattan, and Nancy has been MCC’s leader and spearheaded its growth for 18 years.
Mindy M Posoff, Managing Director, Golden Seeds LLC. Mindy is also a founding partner of Traversent Capital Partners, a consulting firm providing strategic solutions for hedge funds and asset managers. She currently sits on several boards including About One, HighMark Funds, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Fels Foundation and Salus University.
Camille Preston, Founder & CEO, AIM Leadership. Camille is a pioneer in the field of Virtual Effectiveness and the author of Rewired: How to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Be Purposefully Productive in an Overwired World. Camille also as an adjunct faculty member for the MIT Sloan Innovation Period.
David Rangel, COO, Ansca Mobile. David oversees marketing, busdev and operations. He is an experienced technology and startup executive, having started 2 companies and spent time at Microsoft, Groupon and in venture capital.
Brett Safron, Senior Vice President, Global Product Strategy, Cision. Brett forms strategic partnerships and alliances with leading tech cos which shape the digital product offering of a global insights company.
Stephanie Sarka, Entrepreneur, Builder, Investor. Stephanie co-founded Overture (AKA GoTo), the revolutionary company that pioneered “Paid Search” in 1998 and was eventually sold to Yahoo in 2003 for $1.6bn. Prior, Stephanie held leadership roles at Coach Leatherware. She’s deeply engaged with start-ups and turnarounds, including the NYC Dept of Education, where she architected and implemented the transformation of the $500mm, 10,000-person SchoolFood operation. Stephanie is currently working on a new concept here in NYC.
Steve Schlafman, Principal at Lerer Ventures. Steve was previously VP of Business Development at Stickybits Inc. / Turntable.fm and Director of Venture Investments at The Kraft Group. Steve is Tech Obsessed as well as a Boston Sports Fan, Food Lover, Yogi and Outdoors Man.
Rob Spectre, Doer, Twilio. Rob is a punk rock technolologist having a barrel of monkeys on the Internet. Doing just about anything for a good laugh, Rob is an ardent support of open source software and creative commons art, the startup scene in New York and every professional sports club from Boston. Previously working in network and software engineering roles at SugarCRM and Boxee, Rob serves the Twilio developer community as an evangelist and obscenely loud cheerleader.
Diana Stepner, Head of Future Technologies, PLC. A London-based Silicon Valley native, Diana focuses on defining the future, as it relates to Pearson, specifically in the digital realm. Her mobile devices of choice are powered by Android as she likes to have freedom to explore the world, as she sees it.
Kelly Stickel, Founder & President of Remodista, Director of Vendor Relations, Acquity Group. Kelly has 13 years of experience building teams that execute digital agency and consulting projects. Kelly has also successfully organized and created curriculum for mobile-related educational events including the first Start Up Showcase for Mobile Monday – Chicago in 2009, the first Mobile University event for the Heartland Mobile Council in 2010. Kelly founded Remodista in 2010, and executed the first 2 Bricks and Mobile events in March and October of 2011.
Nathan Suh, Associate at Comcast Ventures. At Comcast Ventures, Nathan invests in both consumer and enterprise startups from early to late stage. Nathan was previously AVP of Risk for GE Capital's Media, Communications & Entertainment group.
Heidi Sullivan, Vice President, Global Media Research, Cision. Heidi oversees Cision’s social media team and manages the enhancement of Cision’s media database of 1 million+ media outlets, journalists and influencers.
Jeanne Sullivan, General Partner, Starvest Partners. Jeanne has over 20 years of venture capital experience and has spent 28 years in the technology sector encompassing both extensive operating and investing experience with technology companies. She has extensive experience creating “go to market” plans for early and expansion stage companies.
Joyce Sullivan, Founder & CEO, SocMediaFin, Inc ; Chief Digital Strategist & board member for the Financial Women's Association. Joyce is creatively disrupting social media strategy use in the financial services industry. She brings over twenty years of business and technology strategic process re-engineering experience with senior roles at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo/First Fidelity.
Alicia Syrett, Founder & CEO, Pantegrion Capital. Alicia was the first employee, CAO and Managing Director of a multi-billion private equity firm. She invests in companies directly via Pantegrion and through the angel networks such as Golden Seeds and NY Angels of which she's a part.
Beth Temple, Digital Business Consultant. A digital native since 1994, Beth helps and empowers companies, both big and small, to grow their digital business through building new products, growing into new markets and identifying strategic opportunities. Her experience includes retail, media and financial services. She was #2 in a start-up with a successful exit and presently serves on two start-up Boards.
Chrysanthe Tenentes, Chrysanthe has worked in community as an early hire in location-based startups since 2006. She oversaw community and support as Community Manager for two years at foursquare during which time the user base grew 1000%. She is co-founder of the North Brooklyn Breakfast Club, a meetup group for entrepreneurs and techy types, and is Partner & Contributing Editor of Brooklyn Based.. She consults on community, product, and scaling of support for early-stage startups.
Raymond P. Thek, Vice Chairman, Lowenstein Sandler's Tech Group. Ray advises tech and life sciences companies in all aspects of corporate finance, including venture financing, acquisitions, divestitures and strategic alliances. He has extensive experience in venture capital investment, mergers and acquisitions and private equity financings including, tech transfer and strategic partnering.
Pemo Theodore, Online Entrepreneur & Startup Coach. Originally from Australia she has been in online business for 7 years and involved in small business for 35 years in Australia, Canada, Ireland & London. Peno video interviews venture capitalists, angel investors and women founders in the US & Europe on the shortfall in funding for women. She recently launched an ebook with 120 short embedded clips & summary of her findings "Why are Women Funded Less than Men? a crowdsourced conversation". She created a virtual program PitchPerfect to prepare entrepreneurs for funding.
Linda Tong, Chief Product Officer, Tapjoy. Linda kicked off her career at Google where she launched Google Chrome. With a passion for mobile, she joined the Android team and focused on launching the OS, multiple Android devices and Android Market. In 2010, she joined Tapjoy’s product team to grow the freemium space on iOS and Android. At Tapjoy, Linda focuses on building great products for developers and advertisers across all major mobile operating systems.
Charles Torres, Lowenstein Sandler's Tech Group. Charles is a venture attorney and lover of all things tech-related. With over 15 years of experience, Charles counsels emerging technology companies throughout all phases of their development: formation, financing, general corporate growth and exit events.
Lexi Torres, webkit engineer & platform architect. Lexi has a passion for scripting robust mobile applications and leading teams of wickedly smart people.
Binh Tran, CTO & Co-Founder, Klout. Coding since 13 years old, Binh is a serial entrepreneur and is crunching data with one hand and lifting a beer with the other as CTO of Klout.
Mary Tran, Business Development Manager, Turnstone. Mary specializes in helping small businesses understand why space matters. She provides ideas, solutions, and services to help create great work environments—at the same time keeping it simple. She believes running a business is already hard enough, having a great place to work in should be easy.
Indira Vaidy, Brand & Channel Strategist. Indira has created innovative programs for clients such as IBM, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, AT&T, TED, and American Red Cross. She cut her teeth at R/GA, co-led the mobile practice at Razorfish, and helped pioneer the digital practice at BBDO. In 2006, she co-founded MobileCamp. She also co-founded the Child Rights & You nonprofit and last year she spoke at SXSW on Clean Technology & the Internet of Things.
Sara Walker-Santana, Co-Founder/President of DigitalFlashNYC. Prior to DigitalFlashNYC, Sara spent over 12 years working in the creative marketing department for Macy's Inc., where she oversaw and executed the creation of large scale marketing campaigns, digital media content, social media, mobile, broadcast commercials and print collateral.
Peggy Wallace, Managing Director, GoldenSeeds. Peggy was one of the first investors to join Golden Seeds in 2005 and has invested in over 30 privately-held companies, either directly or through one of the Golden Seeds funds. Peggy retains board positions with Chromis Fiberoptics, gDiapers and Honestly Now. She also serves as a juror on the International Cartier Women’s Initiative Award.
Ronit Weinberg, Fashion & Digital Consultant. A seasoned lifestyle brand executive, Ronit brings a broad range of experience in all facets of the fashion industry, including: wholesale, direct-to-consumer business, online marketing and strategy business planning. Previously, Ronit was Vice President of E-commerce and Online Marketing for designer Diane von Furstenberg.
Marci Weisler, Digital Executive. Marci focuses on strategy and execution, business development and mobile initiatives for companies and startups, including EachScape, Gilt City, Gigya, CondeNet, Kellogg's , and Tipping Point Partners. Prior to this, Marci led Time Out North America's digital business initiatives. Marci began her career in the cable business.
Matt Wilkerson, Co-Founder & VP of Corporate Development, AHAlife.com. Prior to launching AHAlife.com with Shauna Mei, Matt worked in the Media & Communications Investment Banking division of Morgan Stanley and invested in consumer internet companies at Technology Crossover Ventures, a leading late-stage venture firm with $7.7Bn under management.
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Gilt Groupe Founder & Chief Merchandising Officer. Cares about fashion, education, mentoring and enjoying life with family and friends. Book on entrepreneurship "By Invitation Only" comes out April 2012.
Kat Wood, Creative Manager, Stone Creek Entertainment. Kat co-creates the game concepts, envisions the games, and has created several concepts. Prior to working with Stone Creek, Katya co-created and managed compelling campaigns for companies and brands including DirecTV, MTV’s Virtual Worlds, MTV’s campaign with Gaia Online and American Express.
Sharon Wood, Founder/CEO, Stone Creek Entertainment. Sharon has been at the forefront of marketing for 32 years, spending 15 years creating and executing high profile sponsorships for Burger King, Nabisco, Sears, Miller Brewing Company and Seagrams. She spent the second half of her career in digital entertainment, working with leading game publishers, launching titles such as Grand Theft Auto and working with Pepsi, Frito Lay and MTV. Her company Stone Creek, is a mobile-social games company devoted to teen girls and women.
Gabe Zichermann, CEO Gamification Co & Dopamine Inc. Gabe is the chair of the Gamification Summit, an author (”Gamification by Design“), public speaker and entrepreneur. He is also a board member of StartOut.org, advisor to a number of startups and Facilitator for the Founder Institute in Manhattan.
Cami Zimmer, President, Campaign Touch. Knowing that technology plays an important role in all aspects of business, politics and campaigns, Cami brings her knowledge of digital and mobile communications to assist political consultants & candidates, PACs, non-profit organizations, ad agencies and businesses. Cami began her career working at The White House.
Ed Zimmerman, Chair, Lowenstein Sandler's Tech Group. Ed is angel investor in roughly 30 companies (through www.GrapeArborVC.com), teaches Venture Capital & Angel Investing to MBA candidates at Columbia University Business School, Chairs and co-founded www.firstgrowthvn.com, a formal mentoring program and peer group for a jury-selected group ("vintage") of high potential, seed and early stage start-up tech companies. As his day job, Ed is a lawyer - really, he is.