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 Partial list of Speakers: Howard Morgan, Vice Chairman Idealab Dr. Howard Morgan began working with Idealab in 1996 and began serving as Vice Chairman in early 2000. Howard is also President and Founder of the Arca Group, Inc., a consulting and venture capital investment firm specializing in the areas of computer and communications technologies. He has more than 25 years of experience with more than thirty high-tech entrepreneurial ventures. Howard was Professor of Decision Sciences at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor of Computer Science at the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania for almost 15 years. He serves on the boards of a number of companies and is a respected author. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1997. Howard received his Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University and his B.S. from the City University of New York. Malcolm Elvey, Principal Partner, The Elvey Partnership A seasoned entrepreneur with a strong global track record, Malcolm Elvey brings to e-business clients a results-driven approach in building the fundamentals for success: business strategy, venture financing and company structure. His pragmatism is the result of nearly four decades of entrepreneurial and academic experience in over 10 countries. As senior executive of several companies in the U.S. and abroad, Elvey has demonstrated his vision in leveraging technology to gain a competitive advantage. He has used computers and technology to drive the success of numerous pioneering business concepts, including warehouse clubs, off-price retailing and industry consolidations. His strengths are in astute analysis an evaluation of concepts, coupled with the ability to introduce and mentor exceptional management. In his consultancy, Elvey taps a wide network of powerful domestic and international contacts--essential in today's global Internet economy. James Moore, Managing Director, Emerging Venture Network As Managing Director, Jim Moore leads and guides the EVN vision. His responsibilities include communicating with external stakeholders, supporting EVN's boards and fundraising activities, representing EVN with external organizations, and ensuring that resources are available to achieve deliverables. Formerly, Jim was a Director within the Corporate Relations group at AOL Time Warner, and Vice President with the AOL Time Warner Foundation. During his tenure at AOL, Jim formulated policy on minority business development and was responsible for numerous investments, content deals, and events that stimulated business development in minority communities. Jim also managed sales and development organizations for AOL subsidiaries Digital City and Digital Marketing Services. Prior to joining AOL, Jim had his own venture, SGP Limited, a communications and promotion company that provided networking tools and opportunities for African American professionals and entrepreneurs. He completely restructured SGP resulting in $1,000,000 in sales and expansion into two new regions. Until he joined SGP Limited, Jim had a distinguished 17-year career in the GE Lighting division of the General Electric Company with management positions in sales, marketing, and business development. Jim did his undergraduate work at American University and received his MBA from Case Western Reserve University. Don Sussis, Angel Investor Don Sussis is a serial entrepreneur. In the 1970's he developed the first computer driven multimedia system for the City University of New York. He was also on the full time teaching faculty. In the early 1980's he lead one of the largest co-op conversion projects in Manhattan --it included 257 residential units, commercial property and public space. It was valued at over $100 million. By the mid 1980's he was head of a major fashion manufacturing company which produced garments under labels such as Mary McFadden, Sonia Rykiel, Yves St. Laurent, Givenchy, Erte and Gloria Vanderbilt. In the 1990's he went back to school and earned an additional graduate degree in Interactive Media from New York University. His thesis focused on electronic money and security. Since then he has run a very successful hedge fund, served on the Board of the Internet Oversight Committee, been a charter member of the Executive Roundtable of the New York New Media Association, and a member of the New York Angel Investors Group. Don is on the board of several start-ups and frequently speaks at technology and financial conferences, as well as at the Columbia Graduate School of Business. He is the recipient of two Ford Foundation Fellowships, a prestigious University Fellowship and was awarded the International Satellites Professionals Award. He served two terms as Vice President of the Mid Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and was an official delegate to the Holocaust Asset Conference sponsored by U.S. Department of State. Mr. Sussis writes the e-Consultant column for Internet.com, and his work has appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal Online. Since the events of 9/11, Mr. Sussis has been focused on issues concerning biometric security and privacy. Ben Goodman is Executive Director of FastForwards (www.fastforwards.com). Over the last seven years, he has worked with more than 75 entrepreneurs assisting them with the fundraising process. As Director of NYNMA Ventures, Ben structured the New York New Media Association's Angel Investors Program (www.nynma.org/angels), recruiting eighty of New York's most active early stage investors to participate in the monthly breakfast series. The program was ranked top ten nationwide and #1 in New York in 2001 by Angel Advisor magazine. At NYNMA, Ben also worked with a committee of 30 venture capitalists to coordinate selection of companies for Venture Downtown 2001 (www.venturedowntown.org). Three hundred companies were reviewed, 75 auditioned in person and 24 were selected to present to 800 conference attendees. Ben has spoken about the fundraising process at a number of industry events including ITAC's FastTrack Seminar, iBreakfast's Innovator Evening, the Harvard Business School African American Association Private Equity Conference and the Columbia Organization for Rising Entrepreneurs. Ben began his career developing online strategy for AT&T as a consultant at GeoPartners Research. He was briefly involved in the development of HTML authoring software at Adobe Systems, Inc. before entering the interactive advertising space. As an Account Manager for several Silicon Alley agencies, (Renegade Marketing, T3 Media and Creative Good), he worked with clients large and small to implement effective online solutions. Ben graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University with a degree in International Commerce and holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley with a concentration in Management of Technology. Scott Johnson, CEO, SJ Partners Scott Johnson is the founder and CEO of SJ Partners LLC (SJP), an investment banking boutique that provides financial advisory and capital raising services primarily to domestic and foreign media, consumer, information technology, and real estate firms. SJP's advisory work encompasses both mergers & acquisition counsel as well as analysis of overall financial strategy and capital structure. SJP specializes in working with financial investors such as venture capital or leveraged buy-out funds. Scott Johnson was trained as a securities analyst and has been a Wall Street equity research analyst. Scott's mentor was Jim Rogers, George Soros' original partner. Scott was a member of Institutional Investor rated teams at both Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch (Merrill team rated #2 on Wall Street, according to Institutional Investor). Notable transactions completed at Salomon include the $900m acquisition of Carson, Pirie Scott by Proffitts, Inc. and the $3.3 billion acquisition of Saks Fifth Avenue by Saks Incorporated. At Merrill transactions included the landmark $89 billion acquisition of Warner Lambert by Pfizer and secondary equity offerings by Gillette, Inc. and the Estée Lauder Companies. Scott complements his financial orientation with operating experience, having served as CFO of an early stage media company. Scott completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Columbia University. He received an MBA in finance and MIA (Masters of International Affairs) where he studied under Ambassador Jack Matlock, the last U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. He also holds a BA from Columbia where he was a Martin Fischbein Fellow. He has lectured on entrepreneurship and finance at New York University. Elaine S. Gilde, President, Grove Street Capital LLC Elaine S. Gilde, President of Grove Street Capital, invests in early stage companies and works closely with management to expand their businesses with the objective of creating enterprises with significant growth potential. Ms. Gilde provides financing expertise and business advisory services to Grove Street Capital's portfolio investments. Ms. Gilde has more than 20 years of private equity and investment banking experience and is expert in how to evaluate, structure, and close transactions. She understands the views of the different constituents and the many facets of evaluating an investment opportunity and closing a deal. Ms. Gilde's experience encompasses a broad range of industries from consumer products, information technology and internet-based businesses to light manufacturing, retail and specialty distribution, transportation, media and health care. Ms. Gilde has invested in and advised a number of early stage companies; investments include Lumina Americas Inc., a provider of integrated marketing and advertising solutions for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets; StatCard Entertainment, which has brought smart card technology to interactive entertainment and Internet gaming; and Content Directions, Inc., the leader in the adoption of the Digital Object Identifier for digital content. She was the lead investor and financial advisor to Simpatix, an ASP in Internet recruiting, acquired by TMP Worldwide (Monster.com). She is an investor and on the advisory boards of Droplets Inc., an application software platform that facilitates moving complex applications onto the desktop (or devices) and America To Go, an online corporate food ordering expense-reporting solution. Prior to founding Grove Street Capital, Ms. Gilde was a Managing Director and Partner of a private equity firm, Butler Capital Corporation, which had $1.4 billion of capital from institutional pension funds. She was a senior member of the firm's investment staff with primary responsibility for selected investments and she oversaw the research and analysis activities of the firm. Ms. Gilde invested in portfolio companies, represented the firm on boards of directors and worked closely with these businesses to enhance their value and operations. From 1980 to 1990, Ms. Gilde was an investment banker at major Wall Street firms. She was a founding member of Merrill Lynch's strategic initiative in the high yield market and a Director in its Merchant Banking Group; Ms. Gilde initiated, structured and executed acquisitions and financings for leveraged buyouts and non-investment grade companies. While at Lehman Brothers, Ms. Gilde managed relationships, recommended and implemented financial strategies and transactions for both Fortune 500 and rapidly growing clients. She directed a wide range of financings, including public and private debt, initial public offerings and other equity financings and provided merger and acquisition advice. Ms. Gilde has a thorough background in corporate strategic planning, having been a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm. Ms. Gilde has extensive contacts in the principal investing and investment banking businesses. Ms. Gilde has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration (1978) and an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University (1976, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). |
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