33 Mentors

Spring 2012 Chicago

The Founder Institute carefully recruits approximately 25 Mentors per Semester, who are normally the CEO or founder of a successful startup. The Mentors are selected based on their ability to convey lessons learned on a topic in the curriculum and help participating Founders by sharing their relevant experiences. Mentors are accessible to Founders in the program during the sessions and through email. The shared equity upside of each Semester encourages supportive and collaborative relationships with the Mentors.

The Institute recruits some of the Mentors after a Semester has launched to match the needs of Founders with the skills of Mentors.

Adeo Ressi

CEO, TheFunded.com

Adeo Ressi is Founding Member of TheFunded.com, an online community of 17,000 CEOs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide. Adeo also runs the Founder Institute, a mentoring program that helps entrepreneurs launch hundreds of world-class companies each year. The Institute is the eighth start-up that Adeo has founded or built, four of which were acquired and three of which are still operating.

Aditya Nath

CEO, Nexvu APM

Aditya (Eddie) Nath is CEO of Nexvu APM, LLC - a company focused on delivering innovative and breakthrough technology solutions for the Retail industry helping them deliver amazing in-store customer experiences. He is a serial entrepreneur with several successful global startups in Technology, Healthcare and Professional Services industries over the last 15+ years. He received his MS in EE from University of Michigan and the Kellogg Management Institute certification from the prestigious Kellogg Business School of Northwestern University. He is passionate about social capital, globalization and entrepreneurship.

Ajay Goel

Founder and CEO, JangoMail

Ajay Goel is the founder and CEO of JangoMail, a web-based email marketing platform. Prior to JangoMail, he launched several businesses, including a web development firm, an online jewelry store, and an ezine reviewing television episodes. He has a BA in computer science from Case Western University and lives in downtown Chicago, where he spends time running JangoMail, playing tennis, writing, watching indy films, and playing the guitar and didgeridoo.

Alex Bratton

CEO & Founder, Lextech Global Services

Alex Bratton is the CEO and Founder of Lextech Global Services, Lextech Labs and Serious Apps. He is a technology visionary and entrepreneur who has helped 100+ organizations identify opportunities and execute technology based revenue generation. Currently leading the way as part of the mobile revolution delivering 'serious apps' for mobile platforms.

Art Roldan

Former CEO & Chairman, ISD Corporation

Art is a seasoned technology entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the software industry. Most recently Art was CEO and Chairman of ISD Corporation, a leading provider of electronic payments management software, before its acquisition by ACI Worldwide. Prior to joining ISD, Art was the CEO of SecurePipe before to its acquisition by TrustWave in December 2006. Prior to joining SecurePipe, Art was the president and CEO of Novarra, a wireless software company and raised $30,000,000 in venture capital within an 18-month period. Drawing on his experience and leadership, Novarra grew from a seed start up of three to a mature team of sixty professionals that developed cutting-edge products and acquired blue chip customers and strategic partners. Novarra was acquired by Nokia. Art’s considerable experience with growing other start-up companies has resulted in their acquisition by public companies. Art is a board member of the Illinois Technology Association and has been recognized in Crain’s Internet 100 Executives.

Brett Holland

Co-Founder, Akoya

Brett Holland is currently a Partner in Old Willow Partners and serves as the VP of Product Development and Operations for Rainbo Sports. Brett is an experienced entrepreneur, executive and product strategist who founded and ran Akoya, a purchasing analytics software company, and BoxDirect an online transaction network for the packaging industry. In addition to his software background, Brett has helped develop and manage companies in manufacturing, consumer services and retail. Brett holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, is an active mentor in the Chicago entrepreneurial community and is the founder of the Big Idea Forum, a group of seasoned entrepreneurs who have helped hundreds of young companies over the past decade.

Dan Ushman

Co-Founder & CMO, SingleHop, Inc.

My name is Dan Ushman and I am one of the co-founders of SingleHop; my official title is CMO but I wear many hats in the company -- including the 'head of marketing' one. Before SingleHop, I co-founded midPhase hosting from my college dorm room at SIUC -- which grew to be one of the largest and fastest growing shared hosting providers. At the end of 2007, we sold midPhase to a UK firm. I've been honored with the CJ Horizon Award for marketing innovation, and my company (SingleHop) has been a two-time Inc 500 winner (#58 in 2010 and #25 in 2011). I live with my long time girlfriend, Patti, and our two beloved, but spoiled cats, Logan & Shorty.

David Culver

Co-Founder, Forward Momentum

David Culver is the Co-Founder and CEO of Extraordinary Success, which hosts the Funding Feeding Frenzy event series that connects entrepreneurs with Angel Investors, VCs and other Private Capital sources (www.FundingFeedingFrenzy.com). David is also the Co-Founder of Forward Momentum (ForwardMomentumLLC.com), UEO Ventures (MyHealthyPuppy.com) and Adventerra, (Adventerra.net). He is responsible for the Vision, Business Strategy and Strategic Marketing aspects of these companies. David has a degree in Economics and enjoys helping entrepreneurs launch new companies with a focus on revenue generation and encouraging seasoned entrepreneurs to re-energize their businesses and grow them rapidly.

Don Bora

Principal Technology/Owner and Co-Founder, Eight Bit Studios

My name is Don Bora and I am the technology principal, and co-founder of Eight Bit Studios, an all cylinders digital agency located on the north side of Chicago. In the past, I have founded Kiwi Internet Group and have worked in investment banking (UBS and Bank of America), medical devices (Baxter, now Fenwal), advertising (Frankel/Brandguard, now MarketForward) to name a few. I have software engineering and linguistics degrees from New Mexico State University. My passions are deeply embedded in technology, working with great people to craft ideal experiences. I believe in putting the user first, and technology second. I am an avid and voracious reader, lover of films and will happily geek out on just about any topic.

George Deeb

Founder, iExplore.com

George Deeb is the Founder and Managing Partner of Red Rocket Venture Partners, a consulting and fund raising firm for startups. From 2009-2010, George was the CEO of MediaRecall, a B2B digital video services and technology business. George lead the sale of the business to Deluxe in February 2010 at up to a 10x return on invested capital. Between 1999-2008, George was the Founder and CEO of iExplore.com, the #1 adventure travel website with over 1MM visitors per month (now a division of TUI Travel PLC, the largest seller of leisure travel in the world). iExplore was a venture backed business, including a strategic relationship with National Geographic. Between 1991-1999, George was an Investment Banker with Credit Suisse First Boston, doing mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance in the retailing/consumer industry group. George received his BBA in finance from the University of Michigan in 1991.

Irv Shapiro

CEO/CTO and Head Coach, Ifbyphone, Inc.

As a senior executive with over 35 years of computer technology industry experience and deep technology and management expertise I am passionate about the delivery of technology solutions that improve peoples lives. Currently as the CEO/CTO at Ifbyphone I am working with a very talented team to build the leading company in the delivery of Voice Based Marketing Automation solutions. Prior to Ifbyphone, after spending 10 years learning the computer industry by working for others I have spent the last 25 years creating and selling computer technology companies. To date I have built two companies which I sold to publicly traded entities. Metamor Technologies grew to over 500 employees, was a two time INC 500 award winner and was sold for a substantial multiple to Corestaff Inc. Edventions grew to 50 employee and was sold to Edison Schools.

Jeff Weber

Founder, Technology Resource Center

Jeff Weber, founder of Jeff Weber Ventures LLC, was also the founder of Technology Resource Center (TRC), which grew to be listed on the INC Magazine Top 500 Fastest US Private Companies list in 2001 and 2002. It was sold to a Fortune 100 in 2006. Weber then wrote IDEA to Exit: The Entrepreneurial Journey and has been a sought after speaker and advisor to entrepreneurs. Weber holds a MBA from Loyola University of Chicago and is the founder of High Growth Illinois a grant funded advisory service for high growth potential firms.

Jens Horstmann

Executive Producer, Mgm. Dir., Crestlight Venture Productions, LLC

Jens Horstmann is a serial entrepreneur who after working for several high tech companies including Sun Micro started and managed several startups since 1993. He built up ventures that provided key market changes including Redbox and NCR. He is on several private and public boards, an active angel investor and recently started a venture production company that adopts elements of the Hollywood production model with a new breed of investment instrument.

Joe Bezdek

Co-Founder and Former Brand Director, DivX, Inc.

Joe Bezdek is a co-founder of DivX, Inc., the creator of the popular DivX video format and technology. While there, he filled a variety of roles in product management, marketing, and brand management, most recently as brand director. He left DivX in late 2007 to spend time with his wife and three young daughters, road tripping across the country in a variety of vehicles, including a 38-foot motorhome. He has BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M and The University of Texas - Austin, respectively, but he's terribly mechanically disinclined so don't ask him to fix anything. You might ask him what he's doing now. That's a question he asks himself a lot, though not as often as his wife does. Currently he enjoys reading political blogs and posting the occasional rant on Facebook about the inanity of the US political system. (He really needs to start his own blog.) He also serves on the board of trustees of the Rady Children's Hospital Foundation in San Diego.

Joe Dwyer

Venture Partner, OCA Ventures

My name is Joe Dwyer, and I’m an investor, advisor, and serial entrepreneur. I love to transform businesses through innovation. I am a frequent guest lecturer on topics such as digital innovation, product development, and user experience design at Chicago Booth School of Business and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. I am a mentor for Excelerate, a Charter Member of TIE, and an advisor for Techweek. I have a degree in International Relations that I don’t use as often as I’d like. I also have a law degree and an MBA from Northwestern, both of which I use all the time.

John R Dallas Jr

Founder and Chief Alignment Officer (CAO), Hillview Partners Network LLC

John R. Dallas, Jr., Founder and Chief Alignment Officer, Hillview Partners Network LLC. Since 2005 serving as an executive coach, organizational consultant, public speaker, and author specializing in strategic alignment of people, money, technology, and other mission-critical resources. From lessons over a 40+ year career, including serving as President of five businesses in New York City, suburban Washington, D.C., and Chicago, I bring to clients a vast array of front-line-leader tips and taboos. I was President of ETX Corporation, Group Concepts Capital Corp., Market Access Resources Corp., CreditComm Services Inc. (now Intersections, Inc.), and Chicago Title Credit Services, Inc., then a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Title Corporation. Since 2005 I have led Hillview, and recently launched Hillview Digital Publishing and HILL Institute (Hillview-affiliated ventures). Journalism major at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, continued studies at New York's Columbia University. Full bio online: http://www.johnrdallasjr.com

Kevin Taylor

Founder, Obtiva

I am the Director of Talent Development at Groupon, where I am helping to build a world class engineering organization. Previous to my current role, I was the President and Founder of Obtiva, a 50 person Ruby on Rails development shop that was acquired by Groupon in 2011. I am the co-owner of EventWax.com, an online event registration site. I also lecture on technology entrepreneurship at DePaul University and can frequently be found at conference's posing as a speaker on software development and technology startups, I.E. hackerpreneurship. Most importantly, I am a decaffeinated coffee snob.

Mark Pickett

CEO, Nail Your Mortgage

Mark A. Pickett, CEO, Nail Your Mortgage. Prior to founding Nail Your Mortgage, Mark had deep roots in the brokerage business. After serving in Somalia as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mark worked as a product manager with Qwest Communications and Motorola in their internet solutions and mobile internet solutions group, respectively. From there he entered the software business, as one of the initial hires into KPMG Consulting's new ASP practice. In addition to helping launch this new practice, Mark worked a wide array of software implementation projects from Rio de Janeiro to Lagos, and from banking to oil production. After running KPMG Consulting’s 40 person ASP Application Development/MGMT Infrastructure delivery team, Mark founded OmTelligence, a consulting firm specializing in business and system strategy; mortgage banks and lenders were a special focus. In 2009 Mark raised a $3.4M angel round to launch Nail Your Mortgage (NYM) - an open, transparent marketplace for mortgage finance. He also created strategic partnerships with a number of national finance companies in order to expand NYM nationally. He led the multi-year patent filing process for NYM that culminated in the filing of 21 claims. Finally, Mark is currently leading NYM through it's first institutional investment round to position the company nationally. In addition to his professional achievements, Mark has served on a Presidential National Finance Committee, volunteered at Ground Zero, been a volunteer firefighter, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and formerly the Montgomery County (MD) Chamber of Commerce.

Matthew Mandell

CEO, SimpleStorage.com

Matt is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of several companies, and currently operates SimpleStorage.com and Store4Summer.com, storage companies in the Washington DC area. Matt has directed strategy of a $2.5B strategic procurement company and consults to government and private companies. Matt recently sold DCSnacks.com, a food delivery company and has operated companies in the food, logistics, technology, entertainment and consulting space. Matt's companies have been widely covered in national and local news outlets. He serves as a board member for non profit and for profit companies.

Michael Gruber

General Partner, Independence Equity I, L.P

Extensive experience with early-stage companies, primarily within the IT, media, and renewable energy sectors. Gruber has served in senior roles at Taproot Ventures, blaxxun interactive, Intuit, InsWeb, and Silicon Investor. Gruber has also founded/co-founded a number of businesses, including Independence Equity, G4 Capital LLC, a strategic advisory group, Cornerstone Angels, a group of high net worth individuals focused on making early stage investments within the Midwest, and Opson, Inc, a sales and marketing lead generation company. Gruber brings strong strategic, product development and marketing functional expertise, and has applied this to many software, digital media, financial services, and industrial companies.

Michael Evans

Co-Founder, GrubHub

Mike Evans graduated MIT in 2000 with a pile of degrees and an equally impressive pile of debt. Jumping on dotcom bandwagon, Mike moved to Chicago to work at Apartments.com. While there he came to understand the value of lead generation Internet advertising. In 2004 Mike wrote version one of GrubHub.com because he was frustrated with futilely searching for delivery restaurants and grumbling through inaccurate orders. After refining the Web site he jumped ship and went full time to pursue making GrubHub.com a real business. Armed with a “Sales for Dummies” book Mike and co-founder Matt Maloney bootstrapped the business. In 2006 GrubHub won the University of Chicago's New Venture Challenge. The company’s rapid growth has led to five rounds of investment funding totaling $84 million

Mil Ovan

CEO, Next Gen Solar

Mil Ovan is a senior executive with over 25 years of experience focused on bringing discontinuous world-changing new technologies to global marketplaces. Mil has built and run four start-up companies, and has created new divisions at Fortune 500 companies. Mil's MBA is from Northwestern Kellogg, and he is the winner of the Alumni of the Year Merit Award from his undergraduate institution Elmhurst College.

Neil Kane

Co-Founder, Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc.

Neil Kane is the president and founder of Illinois Partners Executive Services, LLC, a firm which advises entrepreneurs and investors on technology commercialization. Most recently he was the CEO of Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc., a company he co-founded in 2003 by licensing technology from Argonne National Laboratory (U.S. Dept. of Energy). Mr. Kane is the former co-Executive Director of the Illinois Technology Enterprise Center at Argonne and was Entrepreneur in Residence with Illinois Ventures, LLC at the Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Earlier he was Regional Business Development Manager for Microsoft Corporation in Chicago. In this role he identified, negotiated and closed a $25 million equity investment. He held sales and engineering roles at IBM prior to Microsoft. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (high honors) and a Masters of Business Administration from The University of Chicago. He was named a 2007 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and twice attended their annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In 2007 he received recognition from the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Entrepreneurship and in 2009 was named a “Mover & Shaker” by Frost & Sullivan. In June 2010 Mr. Kane was an invited witness on the panel From the Lab Bench to the Marketplace: Improving Technology Transfer in the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Research & Science Education. In 2011 he was asked by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the Illinois Innovation Council.

Patricia Riskind

Founder, PatientImpact LLC

As senior vice president, medical services at Press Ganey Associates Inc., Patty Riskind works with medical practices and outpatient facilities to utilize multi-mode survey approaches (eSurvey and mail) to capture feedback from patients in real-time. Riskind was formerly Founder and CEO of PatientImpact LLC, an eSurvey company that Press Ganey Associates acquired in 2009; prior to PatientImpact, Riskind co-founded 3d Health, Inc., was COO of Tiber Group, and Executive Director of Business Development at Health Forum, a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association. Riskind has a BA from Brown University and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Peter Tapling

President & CEO, Authentify, Inc

Peter Tapling is currently President and CEO of Authentify, Inc., the leading provider of out of band authentication services. Previously, he was Regional Sales Director for Aurigin Systems and prior to that VP Strategic Development for NetDox and President of its IDMetrix subsidiary. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computer Science from Illinois State University. He sits on the Dean's Advisory Board for the College of Applied Science and Technology at Illinois State University and is chairman of of the Business and Industry Advisory Council to the School of Information Technology at the college.

Ross Kimbarovsky

Co-Founder, crowdSPRING

Ross Kimbarovsky left a successful 13 year career as a trial lawyer (so that he could wear shorts and sandals to work every day) by co-founding crowdSPRING - the world's #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, industrial design and copywriting services. Buyers who need a logo, website, custom graphic design, industrial design or written content post what they need, when they need it and how much they’ll pay. Once posted, creatives from around the world (over 100,000 from 200 countries) submit actual work. Buyers select from among actual work (an average of 110+ per project), not bids or proposals. crowdSPRING has helped tens of thousands of buyers from 100 countries (including entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses and the world's best Brands and agencies) meet their creative needs.

Stephen Meade

Founder, BigBamboo

STEPHEN MEADE is an American entrepreneur, executive and strategic adviser who is passionate about growing companies that make a difference in the world. He has the ability to catapult an idea from pure concept to the creation of a functioning business. In the past 20 years, he has created, incubated and architected 9 successful technology-based companies. Most ideas are impactful and timely, like VirtualSellers, started in 1996, which was the first online ecommerce transaction processing company with 7 payment options, others are revolutionary, like Cenoplex, which is a mobile messaging platform and is the first company in the world to insert a four second audio message in the sequencing gap of a mobile phone call. Still others are more serious, such as one having a tremendous environmental impact by saving a targeted 20 Billion Gallons of water per year, and educating millions of children about water conservation. And some are plain whimsical and fun, like InBetweeners, a jacket line created by Mr. Meade, and have been worn by the likes of Joel McHale from Talk Soup, and others. Currently, Stephen serves as chairman and resident rainmaker at BigBamboo LLC, a holding company which incubates start-up companies from innovative idea to market-ready. As chairman and resident rainmaker at Big Bamboo, LLC, Stephen Meade creates and builds successful businesses by knowing how to gather a team with the precise skills, knowledge and expertise to move his ideas to market. After building human capital, he then raises the financial capital necessary to help bring the idea to market. In essence, he is a company architect once he determines an idea is viable. He currently guides the future of companies including My WetRock, Inc. RONAStar, ComCom, OrionNation, and others. He founded Big Bamboo, LLC to serve as the incubator for those ideas worth building a team around. His roster of successful businesses includes the founding and selling of SiteVisions.com, a website and database development company sold in 2000, and Virtual Sellers.com started in 1996, which became an innovation for an ecommerce-based transaction processing system that proved to be an early precursor to PayPal, and EAMS (Emergency Asset Management System), which is a software application for disaster management and was used in the City of New York to help manage the crisis of September 11th.. Mr. Meade's past experience includes having an integral role in developing business models, management teams, systems and strategy. In 1996, he founded Virtual Sellers.com (OTC BB: VDOT), a provider of e-commerce transaction property services for internet-based e-tailers. He helped develop the transaction systems at VDOT. The company provided a service of back-end transaction processing and clearing. VDOT was sold in 1999 to a public company that assumed the name virtualsellers.com. At its height, VDOT had a market cap of $950Million. VDOT, the technology, service and concept was an early precursor to what later became PayPal. Prior to venturing into entrepreneurial world, Stephen was a regional vice president with Travelers Group, a fortune 500 financial services company. Mr. Meade is also a seasoned business leader who speaks about the art of networking and how to build first-rate teams by recognizing how different personality types play a critical role in the success of your company. Executives, entrepreneurs, start-up founders, co-founders and entrepreneur students benefit from his talks. He frequently speaks at executive leadership conferences and the largest communities of startups in the world. He is a frequent participant/speaker/panelist at CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), Founder Institute, Opportunity Green, and more. He is the author of three books in the field of finance/credit improvement and business networking, a guest lecturer at universities including MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, PKI (Peter Kiewit Institute), University of Nebraska, UMKC (University of Missouri Kansas City), USC , UCLA, University of Chicago, Loyola University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago, UMKC (University of Missouri at Kansas City), the University of Nebraska, and more. Mr. Meade serves as an advisor to numerous companies and organizations including: International House of Blues Foundation- Chicago, (www.IHOBF.com, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum (www.mitefchicago.org ), PC Guild, which provides a tour management solution for Bands and entertainment (www.pcguild.com), AgileCo.net, Twitmob, and several more. Stephen fosters the advancement of other start-up leaders as a founding member of KnockNOW, a non-profit that accelerates opportunities for entrepreneurs. Mr. Meade was a judge for the prestigious global business plan challenge from Thunderbird (www.innovationchallenge.com), UMKC’s Entrepreneurial contest for 2010, and a finalist judge for Boats.com ec0mmerce awards. His "Isolation Is A Good Thing" seminar trains executives how to isolate exactly what they need and who they need to meet before they execute in order to be more effective. He welcomes an opportunity to speak if he feels he can add value to a venue. If you are interested in having Mr. Meade speak at your next conference please contact Stephen.Meade@bigbamboollc.com. His areas of expertise are networking, building a business team, recruiting management, building advisory boards, start-ups and leadership.

Steve Subar

Founder & CEO, Open Kernel Labs

Steve Subar, Founder and CEO, Open Kernel Labs. Steve is a lifelong entrepreneur, adventurer, and tech aficionado – boasts a track record of successful innovation and leadership in the software industry. Steve earned his reputation as a seasoned executive by building winning teams, driving accelerated growth, developing strong customer relationships, and creating shareholder value. In 2005, Steve was chosen from more than 60 Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to become the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence for NICTA (National Information and Communications Technology Australia), Australia’s leading center for IT research. His role as EiR resulted in the creation of Open Kernel Labs. Under Steve’s leadership, OK Labs has become the leading provider of mobile virtualization, with software deployed on more than 1.1 billion devices. As an early employee of CA Technologies, Steve helped grow revenues from $30 million to in excess of $1.2 billion in just five years. Later, he was Vice President at Mobius Management Systems, a venture-backed startup, which resulted in a NASDAQ IPO. In 2001, Steve launched z2m4, a boutique management consulting company for venture capital investors and their portfolio companies. Steve holds a Bachelor of Science from Miami University’s Farmer School of Business with a concentration in computer and information technology. He currently sits on the advisory board for the Northwestern University Center for Innovation and the Illinois Technology Association Big Idea Forum.

Ted Greene

Co-Founder, Akoya

Ted Greene currently serves as a CEO of Rainbo Sports and a Partner in Old Willow Partners. From 2003 - 2006 Mr. Greene was the founding CEO of Akoya, the leading provider of on-demand, cost intelligence software for Fortune 500 manufacturers. In 1994, Mr. Greene co-founded SGS Net, an IT software and services firm providing managed business services, strategic consulting, and custom application development. Mr. Greene was CEO of the company through 2002 and served on the Board of Directors through its sale to Whitman Hart in 2004. Mr. Greene earned an MBA at the University of Chicago, an MA at the University of South Carolina, and a BA at Miami University in Ohio.

Thomas Gorman

President, Entrepreneurial Design, Inc.

Tom Gorman, President of Entrepreneurial Design. Immediately prior to that he was, VP Operation, COO of Leverage Point Media, which bought Labeldollars, a company he co-founded. Prior to that he ran The IT investments of an incubator in Boulder, Arete Industries. Prior to Arete, he was Director of business development at PAC Enterprises, a turn-key beverage can manufacturing plant engineering and Construction Company. During his tenure, they built plants in China, Russia, Brazil, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and won the Colorado exporter of the year award in 1986. Prior to that, he was co-founder and President of a television production company which produced U-Choose-it, a show about home care equipment choices for seniors, and before that he was co-founder and VP of Sales and Marketing of Roman Labs, a manufacturer of portable oxygen concentrators; it was bought by Lifecare. He has a B.A. in Economics from DePauw University (IN) and an MBA from the University of Colorado

Uzi Shmilovici

Founder & CEO, Future Simple

My name is Uzi Shmilovici and I'm the CEO and Founder of Future Simple where we reinvent software for small businesses. Prior to that I founded and managed Netcraft, a leading web design and development agency, brought the company to $1.5M in revenues, employing 30 full time employees and sold it in the end of 2009. I was the local leader of the Interaction Design Association in Israel and in 2008, TheMarker, the leading business newspaper in Israel, put me on its list of “The top 40 Israeli web professionals.”

Vinnie Lauria

Co-Founder, Lefora.com

Vinnie Lauria co-founded Lefora.com in San Francisco, a forum hosting service for communities on the web. In less than 3 years, Lefora grew to over 100,000 communities and was acquired by CrowdGather, Inc. in the summer of 2010. Vinnie also started the Silicon Valley NewTech meetup and grew it to over 7,000 members, with hundreds of startups demoing and launching their product at the monthly events. Prior to Lefora, Vinnie was part of the Meetro.com team building a location-aware IM client. Earlier in his career, Vinnie helped shape how IBM was approaching social software as an emerging and disruptive technology. He can be contacted at vinnie@vinnie.net

Zak Boca

CEO & Co-Founder, SingleHop, Inc.

Zak Boca is the Co-Founder & CEO of SingleHop, a Chicago-based infrastructure as a service provider, that has grown under Zak's leadership to $25 million runrate, and nearly 50% EBITDA margins. Prior to SingleHop, Zak co-founded midPhase web hosting, which was a bootstrapped hosting company that he grew to $16 million in revenues, before it was acquired by a competing firm. Zak has been named an INC Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as a 40 Under 40 on the Chicago Crains list.