| 
"It was a supreme joy to be part of the successful event last week. You guys have done a superb job. It was one of the best VC conferences that I have attended. I, in particular, liked the intimate setting between entrepreneurs and investors. Giving entrepreneurs ample chances to practice on their presentation in time constraint was great. I look forward to the next event.
- Sookja Han, Executive Managing Director, Korea Technology Investment Corp.
|
|
 FundingPost on Facebook
 Follow us on Twitter
|
|
Investor Participants & Speakers (alphabetically by Fund)
| | *Click on the logos for Fund Info |
 |
David Anthony, Manager, 21 Ventures
David Anthony is an experienced entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and educator. Since founding 21Ventures in 2003, the fund has provided seed, growth, and bridge capital to over 40 technology ventures across the globe. David Anthony sits on the board of directors of several 21Ventures’ portfolio companies including: Aero Farm Systems Inc., Advanced Telemetry, LLC, BioPetroClean, Ltd; ReGen Power Systems, Inc. and Gravity Power, LLC. In addition, David serves on the board of directors of publicly traded companies such as Entech Solar (OTC: ENSL); Axion Power (OTC: AXPW); Clean Power Technologies (OTC: CPWE) and ThermoEnergy (OTC: TMEN).
David Anthony is an Adjunct Professor at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). The Academy, based in Manhattan brings together scientists of different disciplines from around the world to advance the understanding of science, technology, and medicine, and to stimulate new ways to think about how their research is applied in society and the world. The Academy is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost organizers of scientific conferences and symposia. David's students at the Academy hail from such prestigious institutions as Columbia, NYU, Princeton, Yale, Rockefeller University, Sloan Kettering, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In 1995, David Anthony launched Notorious Entertainment, a developer of multimedia brands, which published the internationally distributed magazine, Notorious, and developed an early streaming website. In 1998, he sold the company to entertainment mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, and ran the company for two subsequent years. Before Notorious, Mr. Anthony, with Dartmouth College professor Dr. John K. Shank, consulted for Fortune 500 clients on capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, and entrepreneurship. In addition David is an adjunct professor at the NYU Stern School of business where he began teaching technology entrepreneurship in the Fall of 2009.
David received his MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1989 and a BA in economics from George Washington University in 1982. He is an entrepreneurship mentor at the Land Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University Graduate School of Business. In 2002, David was awarded the Distinguished Mentor of the Year Award from Columbia University.
David blogs at www.davidanthonyvc.com
|  |
 |
Brett Hickey, Managing Partner, Aegis Capital Group
Mr. Hickey is an Executive Vice President and Treasurer of Aegis NY Venture Fund, LP. Mr. Hickey is also a member of the Investment Review Committee of Aegis Texas Venture Fund, LP, and a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of Aegis NY Venture Fund, LP. Prior to co-founding Aegis Capital Group in 2003, Mr. Hickey was an investment banker with the Insurance and Asset Management division of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. where he worked on significant capital raising transactions, corporate development projects and mergers and acquisitions, including, the $16.1 billion merger of The St. Paul Companies, Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corp., the $1.3 billion initial public offering for Eaton Vance Tax-Advantage Dividend Income Fund and other significant transactions. Mr. Hickey graduated with distinction receiving a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal , Canada with a major in Finance and Concentration in Accounting. He was on the Principal's Student-Athlete Academic Honour Roll where he played for the McGill Rugby team, was granted membership in the Golden Key International Honour Society and was on the Dean's Honour List for having a grade point average in the top 10% of the Management faculty.
|  |
 |
Warren Haber, Jr., , Angel Investor
Warren Haber, Jr. brought twelve years of venture capital experience to Crossbar Ventures. Prior to Crossbar, Until Mellon Ventures ceased pursuing new investments, he ran the New York office. Prior to Mellon, Warren was a founding Partner of Grand Central Holdings, an early-stage, regionally-focused venture firm. Previously, he was with GE Equity, where he was responsible for evaluating early- and expansion-stage venture investments. Earlier in his career, Warren worked with a leveraged buyout firm, distinguished himself in BankBoston’s management development program and spent two summers as an Investment Analyst with Allen and Company.
Warren received his MBA from the Wharton School and his BA from Brown University.
|  |
 |
Donald Sussis, , Angel Investor
Don Sussis has many years of experience as an entrepreneur, business executive, investor and investment professional. For many years he ran an investment firm for high net worth individuals that invested in public and private companies. Previously, he was retained by small and large cap companies as well as many pre-IPO companies to advise them on improving their communications and negotiating financial contracts.
Mr. Sussis served 2 full terms as VP of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. He has also been a board member of several national charities and an executive of several professional organizations. He holds an M.A. in Communications from the U. of Wisconsin, Madison (1972) and an M. P.S. in Interactive Tele-communications from N.Y.U. (1995). He was on the full time faculty of The City University of New York/Hunter College-Park Ave. for seven years. For a dozen years he was President and Principal of a high end designer fashion manufacturing company with wholesale and retail components that enjoyed national distribution. For several years he was a contributing columnist to the WSJ and was the first eCommerce Columnist for Internet.com.
Currently, Don is head of Business Development & Communications for a +$Billion Hedge Fund in Stamford, Ct. Mr. Sussis was a founding member of the New York New Media Angles Group and has invested, been a board member and an advisor to many start-ups.
| |
 |
John Ason, , Angel Investor
John Ason has been an angel investor for over 12 years specializing in early stage pre-revenue companies. He
has made over twenty eclectic investments in the areas of e-commerce, technology, advertising and
entertainment. John was at AT&T Bell Labs for over 25 years, first involved in software and technology
development, then in marketing and business management of large telecommunications projects overseas. He is
a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a guest lecturer at the Rothman Institute of
Entrepreneurial Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson and at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
John's hobbies include traveling, golf, GO (oriental game) and mentoring companies.
For about half if his investments, John has been the lead angel devoting a significant amount of his time to
mentoring the companies. A typical company consists of one or two people in a garage or kitchen with minimal
or no revenues. Average investment from the angel network for the first round is $275K. Any low capital
industry with high growth potential qualifies with the exception of medical and biotech.
| |
 |
Andrew Clapp, Managing Partner, Arctaris Capital Partners
Mr. Clapp is the Managing Partner of Arctaris Capital Partners, LLC which provides an unusual royalty-based, non-dilutive financing to expansion stage companies in the northeast, and is launching the Arctaris Income Fund, LP. He is also affiliated with Financial West Group, a West Coast broker dealer.
Previously he was a founding partner of Brook Venture Fund, whose most recent fund was a $100M sub-debt fund. Prior to Brook, Mr. Clapp was a managing director at Shields & Company, and for seven years before that he was a Partner at Downer & Company, a transatlantic investment-banking firm with offices in Boston and Paris, where he launched the firm’s highly successful sell-side practice. While at Downer he also completed a number of private placements on behalf of early stage companies.
Prior to Downer Mr. Clapp was President of Equifax Research, a division of Equifax, Inc. and before that he was Manager of the Corporate Development Unit at Arthur D. Little, Inc., which was then the largest consulting firm in the world. While at ADL, Equifax and Downer, he launched, managed and oversaw a family of merger & acquisition related publications and directories which were sold to Securities Data Company, a division of Thompson Group, which continues to publish some of them today.
Mr. Clapp is a graduate of Clarkson University where he received a B.S. and from Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College where he received his MBA. He is a director of Hamilton Thorne Biosciences, Inc., and was formerly a Director of Texterity, Inc., Affordable Interior Systems, Inc., Mobile Medical International, Inc., Really Strategies, Universal Software, Wandrian, Bioscan, iMakeNews, Lexington Software, and was an observer on the boards of Laser Projection Technologies, Inc., Union Biometrica, and PointCare Technologies. He is a member of the Small Business Association of New England, the Association for Corporate Growth whose Boston chapter he founded, and the New England Venture Capital Association. He has two grown children, lives with his wife Jean, and spends time in the Adirondacks and Vermont.
|  |
 |
Walter Barandiaran, Managing Partner, Argentum Group
Walter H. Barandiaran is a Managing Partner and co-founder of The Argentum Group. Walter has more than 18 years of private equity experience, during which time he has led over 30 investments for Argentum investment funds. Walter’s areas of investment expertise include outsourced services, manufacturing, clean (environmental) technologies, and enterprise software.
Walter currently serves as Chairman of two portfolio companies, HorizonWimba (software platform for online education) and AFS Technologies (ERP software to the food industry); and has served as CEO of HorizonWimba from March 2002 until June 2004.
Walter currently serves on the boards of directors of Conner Industries (lumber distribution & manufacturing), LifeStar (healthcare transportation & logistics), M3 Technologies (advanced material sciences), Medsite (marketing services to the pharmaceutical industry), Metalico (metals recycling & manufacturing), and StructuredWeb (software for sales & marketing). Walter also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Baruch College Fund.
Prior to co-founding Argentum in 1988, Walter was a Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance of Steinberg & Lyman (now Healthcare Ventures, LLC). Walter received a BBA in International Business from Baruch College (CUNY) and attended the New York University School of Business.
|  |
 |
Charles Crockett, Founding partner, Ascend Venture Group
Charles is a Co-Founder and Partner of the Ascend Venture Group, a venture capital firm headquartered in New York City that targets investment opportunities in the applied technology and for-profit education industries. Ascend has approximately $150 million under management. Charles was responsible for Ascend’s investments in several datacenter infrastructure companies including Snap Appliance (sold to NASDAQ: ADPT), Netilla Networks (sold to AEP Networks) and GridApp Systems. In addition, Charles led investments in a variety of technology enabled services companies including SafeRent (sold to NYSE: FAF), Tripology and Send Word Now.
Before co-founding Ascend, Charles was a Director with The Beacon Group, a $2 billion private equity firm, where he worked on leveraged buyout and management buyout transactions in a variety of industries. Charles started his career in the Structured Finance Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Charles received his JD from Stanford Law School and his BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Charles is a currently a member of the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School, the Alumni Leadership Committee of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and is a Key Influencer of Interactive One.
|  |
 |
Matt Turck, Principal, Bloomberg Ventures
Matt is a Principal with Bloomberg Ventures. Prior to joining Bloomberg Ventures in 2008, Matt was a Senior Director at Oracle, where he focused on new product launches in the search, eDiscovery and collaboration spaces. Matt joined Oracle in 2005 as a result of the acquisition of TripleHop Technologies, a venture-backed enterprise software company that he co-founded and where he served as President & COO. Matt started his career as an M&A lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. He holds an LL.M. from Yale Law School and is a graduate of Sciences-Po Paris.
|  |
 |
Parker Gilbert, Angel Investor, Managing Partner, Brand Building Ventures
Parker Gilbert is the Managing Partner of Brand Building Ventures, based in Westchester County, New York. Brand Building Ventures, founded in September, 2004, is committed to investing in emerging consumer goods and services companies that possess unique selling propositions.
Mr. Gilbert has thirteen years of classic consumer packaged goods marketing experience across a range of product categories. Over the course of his career, Mr. Gilbert has won two sales awards and one national advertising award. He has a track record for building consumer brands that deliver top and bottom line growth. Most recently, he was Vice President of Marketing on Banana Boat Suncare at Playtex Products, Inc., located in Westport, Connecticut. His experience ranges from health and beauty aids, frozen food, medical devices, suncare, baby care and household cleaning.
Prior to Playtex, Mr. Gilbert held marketing positions at Pepperidge Farm and Wyeth. He received his MBA in marketing from the Stern School of Business at NYU and an undergraduate degree in history from Middlebury College in Vermont.
|  |
|
|
Michael Wu, Principal, Chart Venture Partners
Michael joined CVP as Principal in 2006 and has more than 14 years of experience from engineering and product management to venture advisory, angel investing and venture capital. In 2002, he founded Blue Angel Ventures, a Research Triangle Park, NC-based seed funding and venture advisory firm focusing on wireless IT, advanced materials, nanotechnology, and medical devices. He has served in interim management and board positions of several technology start-ups and is also a founding board member of Long Island Angel Network. From 1994 to 2002, Michael held engineering, technical sales, and product management roles in fiber optics, smartphones, public safety and next-generation technologies at Nortel Networks, Ericsson, Siemens, and Nextel Communications. He also worked as an avionics software developer at Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm / DASA, an aerospace defense contractor in Munich, Germany.
At CVP, Michael focuses on investments in MEMS and Nanotechnology as they apply to communications, sensors, and power & energy, and actively supports CVP's portfolio companies. He has led investments and represented investors on the Board of Blue Angel Ventures' portfolio companies.
Michael earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, MS in Electrical Engineering and Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, and BSEE (magna cum laude and Eta Kappa Nu graduate) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is also fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and German.
|  |
 |
Matt Gorin, General Partner, Contour Venture Partners
Matt Gorin is a general partner and co-founder of Contour Venture Partners and has experience in technology operations, start-ups and turnaround management, with a focus on the financial services and applied technology sectors. Matt was previously part of the launch team at Promontory Interfinancial Network and before that worked at Red Hat. Earlier in his career Matt was at Morgan Stanley within its financial services focused venture capital fund and was a turnaround consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Some of his investments include YellowJacket Software, SwapDrive, On Deck Capital and OwnEnergy. Matt received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and B.A. in Economics and American Studies from Brandeis University.
|  |
 |
Elizabeth Sigety, Assistant Director and Co-Founder, Delaware Crossing Investor Group
Elizabeth D. Sigety, Esquire is a Partner at Fox Rothschild LLP (resident in Bucks County, PA and New York, NY ) and a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Delaware Crossing Investor Group, an angel investors network headquartered in Bucks County, PA. Her legal practice focuses on a wide variety of corporate work, with an emphasis on business and financial transactions, including venture capital and angel financing, franchising, mergers and acquisitions, securities and private placements. Liz also acts as a general counsel for numerous emerging and middle-market businesses including life science, technology and franchise companies. She co-chairs the firm’s Franchising, Licensing & Distribution Group and is an active member of the firm’s Securities Practice Group and the Technology & Venture Finance Group. Active within the Bucks County community, Liz serves as a Board Member of the Doylestown Hospital Foundation and The Village Improvement Association of Doylestown, PA. Liz also serves as a Board Member of the East Side House Settlement, Bronx, New York. She received her B.A. cum laude from Yale College and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. She is a frequent speaker and writer, especially on issues facing emerging businesses.
|  |
 |
Tim Foster, Business Development Manager, Edison Venture Fund
Tim Foster serves as Manager of Business Development. Tim is responsible for managing and expanding Edison's referral source network of service provider professionals and financing sources in the Mid-Atlantic region (PA, DE, MD, VA, DC, NJ, NY, CT, MA) Tim identifies and builds new relationships for mutual referral opportunities. This includes trading deal flow and facilitating lead sharing with referral network contacts and sourcing Edison deals and portfolio company opportunities to service providers. In addition Tim represents Edison in the market on behalf of the regional investment teams. He increases awareness of and reinforces Edison's brand and strategy in each market. Tim regularly attends regional trade, venture and networking events and works closely with entrepreneurial and technology-related organizations such as ACG, MAVA, ETC, and the NJTC.
Tim previously served as the Manager of Industry Development for 1SYNC. 1SYNC is a not-for-profit subsidiary of GS1 US which specializes in data synchronization. In his role, Tim was responsible for expanding data synchronization adoption across targeted industries and global regions as well as customer relationship management. Mr. Foster brings to Edison many years of proven experience in the software and technology industry. Prior to joining 1SYNC in October 2003, he served as Director of Sales and Operations for Consolidated Business Services. He has also served in several sales and account management roles with SAP and Princeton Softech.
Tim earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania
|  |
 |
Howard Smith, Managing Director, ETF Venture Funds
Howard W. Smith leads business development for the fund. He is responsible for generating and evaluating new investment opportunities and he supports the fund’s investment portfolio companies. His activities include proactive outbound deal prospecting and research. He also actively develops relationships with entrepreneurs, service providers and business leaders across the country.
Howard brings over 15 years of business development, financial and consulting experience. Prior to joining ETF, Howard was a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) Business Consulting Services. Howard consulted for many Fortune 500 companies and Universities such as: AT&T (NYSE: T), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), HJ Heinz (NYSE: HNJ), Rohm & Hass (NYSE: ROH) and the University of Pennsylvania Health Systems. In addition to consulting for PWC and IBM, Howard also served as the Global Knowledge Manager of the Financial Management Solution Division where he was responsible for the tacit and explicit knowledge of the firm.
Howard earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts & Sciences, from Syracuse University, and an MBA from Nova-Southeastern University. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife and two children.
|  |
 |
John Frankel, Founder, ff Asset Management
John Frankel founded ff Asset Management LLC as an early stage venture fund because he saw a market that was not being served well by established venture funds. There is a VC funding gap, that not only starves early stage companies of capital, but also of advice and expertise, impacting companies ability to grow and attract talent. John Frankel has been an early-stage venture investor for the past ten years, with a broad portfolio of investments. He has worked closely with entrepreneurs in a variety of fields and has experience advising start-ups.
Mr. Frankel started his business career with Arthur Anderson & Co. in the audit and insolvency divisions. He spent the following twenty one years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in a variety of roles that involved technology development, reengineering, and capital markets. His primary focus is helping early stage companies deploy lightweight disruptive business models to become the low cost player in their respective market.
Mr. Frankel was an early stage investor and director of Quigo Technologies, Inc. which was purchased by AOL in December 2007. He has also served on the boards of Alerts.com and The Goldman Sachs Trust Company. He is currently a director of Patents.com and StrongTech, and a member of the board of advisors of Phone.com and OneTxt.
Mr. Frankel earned a Master of Arts from New College, Oxford where he studied Mathematics, Philosophy and Logic, and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
|  |
 |
Amish Jani, Managing Director, FirstMark Capital
Amish Jani, a Founder and Managing Director of FirstMark Capital, focuses on software and systems investments in the enterprise, communications and digital media sectors, and serves on FirstMark Capitals Investment Committee. Amish also leads FirstMarks investment strategies for the Indian marketplace. Prior to founding FirstMark Capital, Amish served as a Partner with Pequot Ventures.
|  |
 |
Matthew Witheiler, Senior Associate, Flybridge Capital Partners
Matt is a Senior Associate at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience broadly cover companies and technologies across the information technology sector including digital media, semiconductors and enterprise infrastructure.
Matt joined the firm in July 2008 after completing his MBA at Harvard School of Business (HBS). Prior to HBS, Matt spent seven years in various roles in the high technology industry. Most recently, Matthew was a Summer Associate at Jefferies Broadview in technology investment banking where he advised on sale, IPO and debt strategies of various companies in the technology industry. Prior to that, Matthew spent three years at ATI Technologies, a $4B 3D-graphics silicon provider. At ATI, Matt focused on the integration of 3D graphics and digital video and was responsible for the TV on the PC integrated circuit product line. He researched, led development and launched the company’s flagship multimedia processor. Before joining ATI, Matt served for four years as co-owner and Senior Hardware Editor of the successful hardware review website, AnandTech.com, where he helped build one of the world’s largest hardware review sites.
Matthew holds a BS in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Outside of the office, Matthew is an avid mountain biker, skier and SCUBA diver. At HBS, Matthew sat as the Section F Treasurer and Co-Chair of Cyberposium 2007.
|  |
 |
Thomas Blum, Managing Director, G.C. Andersen Partners, LLC
Mr. Blum has spent 22 years as an investment banker and an investor in private equity and venture capital opportunities. Before joining G.C. Andersen Partners in 2006, Mr. Blum ran Channel Capital LLC, a firm he founded in 2001 to provide venture capital and financial advisory services to emerging companies. While with Channel Capital, he became an active angel investor, backing eleven companies. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Blum was a Managing Director in the private equity firm, Columbia Financial Partners, during which time he helped manage the reorganization and liquidation of ContiFinancial Corp., an $11 billion mortgage company. Previously, Mr. Blum spent 14 years as an investment banker with Salomon Brothers Inc. and Bear Stearns & Co. During 1992 to 1998 he was actively involved in mergers & acquisitions, IPOs, high-yield and investment grade debt and corporate advisory transactions for a wide range of insurance and specialty finance companies. From 1989 to 1992, he was based in Tokyo and oversaw the Salomon Brothers’ Japanese and Asian Financial Institutions activities. In the 1980’s, Mr. Blum was deeply involved in the then emerging commercial mortgage securitization market. Mr. Blum serves on the Board of Directors of Landauer Metropolitan Inc., Supertron Technologies, Inc. and Interactive Frontiers, Inc. Mr. Blum received a BS in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
|  |
 |
Peggy Wallace, Portfolio Manager, Golden Seeds
Peggy Wallace, General Partner of the Golden Seeds Fund, is the Portfolio Manager for Golden Seeds. Peggy's 20 + year career prior to becoming an investor was in financial services. The majority of her career was with J.P. Morgan/Chase where she specialized in structured finance, risk management, and financial services M&A. Peggy retains a board position with private company Chromis Fiberoptics. She holds a B. A. from The George Washington University.
|  |
 |
Toby Moskovits, Founder & CEO, Heritage Equity Partners / Gotham Angels
Toby Moskovits is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Equity Partners. She has spent the past twelve years advising companies across a range of industries and stages on strategic and operational growth strategies. Prior to founding Heritage, Toby served as Managing Director of private equity and venture capital investment activity at Cammeby’s Capital Group, a private family-owned firm, where she invested in companies across a diverse range of industries.
In addition to traditional private equity investments, in her role at Cammeby’s Toby developed a merchant banking practice, working with entrepreneurs and companies to identify and execute on strategic growth opportunities, as well as generating significant proprietary deal flow in partnership with a network of virtual “entrepreneurs in residence” across a range of industries. Toby is also the founder of Gotham Angels, a NYC based Angel Investment group focused on providing angel investors with opportunities to invest in mature growth and middle market private equity opportunities.
Prior to joining Cammeby's Toby founded Cato Advisors, a boutique investment bank and consulting firm providing advisory services to early and growth stage companies. From 1998-2002 Toby lived in Israel during which time she worked at Israel Seed Partners, a $250 million fund based in Jerusalem, in addition to holding operational and advisory roles in a number of early stage technology companies. During her tenure at Israel Seed Partners, the fund invested in Cyota (sold to RSA) and Dealtime (IPO: Shopping.com, subsequently sold to Ebay).
Toby currently holds seats on the board of directors of Melior Discovery and Vumber, and is on the National Advisory Board of Springboard Enterprises.
Education:
Toby has a B.Sc. from Touro College and an MBA from Bar Ilan University, both awarded summa cum laude.
|  |
 |
David J. Freschman, Managing Principal, Innovation Ventures
David J. Freschman is a Managing Principal of Innovation Capital Advisors, LLC (ICA). ICA serves as the management company of Innovation Ventures, L.P. (IV) and the Delaware Innovation Fund (DIF). He served as the President and CEO of the DIF since its establishment in 1995. The DIF is a seed and early stage venture capital fund that focuses on entrepreneurial ventures in the Mid-Atlantic region. Mr. Freschman has been responsible for all aspects of IV’s and the DIF’s management since its inception, including the business strategy, fiscal and operational management, raising investment capital, and evaluating all investment opportunities and portfolio company management.
Mr. Freschman is active in the venture and entrepreneurial communities, sits on a number of Boards, and has been a lecturer on such topics at The White House Conference on Small Business, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the University of Delaware, Goldey-Beacom College, and Loyola College in Baltimore. He is the creator and founder of Early Stage East – the premier early stage venture capital fair on the East Coast. In 2001, Mr. Freschman was appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to chair the venture capital study of the state’s Strategic Economic Council. Mr. Freschman was appointed and served a three-year term representing New Castle County, Delaware on the Small Business Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia through 2002.
Prior to establishing the DIF, Mr. Freschman was responsible for the formation of the corporate finance advisory division of McBride Shopa and Company, one of the largest certified public accounting and consulting firms in Delaware. Mr. Freschman began his career with the Enterprise Group of the Philadelphia office of Arthur Andersen, LLP, from 1984 through 1989. Mr. Freschman graduated with honors with an MBA from Loyola College of Maryland and cum laude from the University of Delaware with a B.S. in accounting, where he was a John B. Lynch Scholar. He is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma – the National Honor Society.
"The Perfect Venture Conference is a powerful event for entrepreneurs to attend in order to meet, collaborate and engage in serious discussions with investors in order to achieve the goals of their enterprises and individual aspirations. An event not to miss!"
- David J. Freschman, Innovation Ventures
|  |
 |
Sita Vasan, Senior Manager, Strategic Investments, Intel Capital
Sita Vasan has worked for Intel Capital's Strategic Investment team for the past 9 years. During this time, she has closed over 60 venture capital investments in the media, semiconductor, wireless, enterprise software, storage, and optical sectors. She now focuses on digital home investments based in NYC. She has 15 years of prior investment banking experience where she worked in London for Orion Royal Bank & Bank of Tokyo, in Paris as Vice President and head of Banque Indosuez’s Foreign Swap Marketing team and at the private sector arm of the World Bank, International Finance Corp (IFC). At IFC she managed the Client Derivative Management team and worked in the Telecom / Infrastructure project finance team. Her education includes an MBA from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) and BA from Bryn Mawr College.
|  |
 |
Bertrand Navarrete, Vice President, Acquisitions, Internet Capital Group
Bert is responsible for new acquisitions and has experience leading, sourcing, and executing digital media, internet services, and mobile investments. Bert has managed investments in sixteen early stage companies across a variety of technology sectors and has had broad operational and investment management responsibilities.
Prior to ICG, Bert was an Investment Partner at Mitsui & Co., where he led Mitsui’s NY Technology Investment Group. While at Mitsui, Bert was responsible for managing and executing venture and private equity investments and oversaw the firm’s overall investment strategy. He led Mitsui’s investment in Synacor and had board responsibilities for Synacor and Anystream.
Previously, Bert was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch and managed a strategic venture fund consisting of investments in the internet, media, and mobile sectors. Within this portfolio, he managed and was a board observer on several notable investments, including CapitalIQ (NYSE: MHP), The Wedding Channel (NASDAQ: KNOT), and MyFamily.com (part of the Generations Network). Additionally, Bert executed technology business development and strategy for ML’s Technology Group, where he sourced and evaluated strategic technology alliances. Bert was also a founding member of Merrill Lynch’s first seed-stage venture fund which focused on the Financial Services IT sector. He began his career in the Capital Markets Group, where he focused on middle market institutions.
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Harvard University
|  |
 |
Eric Greenberg, Co-founder and Manager, Jersey Angels
Eric Greenberg is Co-founder and Manager of Jersey Angels, LLC. He is also President of EG Consultants, LLC, a marketing consulting services firm focused on brand management and customer-centric strategies. Prior to these positions, Eric founded and served as the CEO of Millennium Teleservices, LLC, one of the nation’s largest providers of outsourced call center services, employing more than 5,000 employees.
Eric shares his experience with the world of academia, and currently serves as the Associate Director at the Rutgers Center for Management Development (CMD). Prior to joining CMD, Eric was a visiting professor at Rutgers Business School and served as Director of its Customer Relationship Management Research Center. Eric’s marketing and entrepreneurial expertise has been an invaluable resource for the entrepreneurial community. He hopes to expand upon his history of aiding young companies as both an investor and mentor though his involvement with Jersey Angels. Eric is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and New York University Law School.
|  |
 |
Katherine O'Neill, Executive Director, JumpStart New Jersey Angel Network
Katherine is the Executive Director of JumpStart New Jersey Angel Network.
Katherine is also President of O'Neill Associates, a consulting firm providing financial and management services to technology and growth companies. O'Neill Associates provides and assists companies with business plans, financial projections, and access to financing sources. Katherine acts as Chief Financial Officer and provides sophisticated financial management to growing companies. O'Neill Associates has been providing services for ten years in the Mid-Atlantic states.
Katherine is a seasoned financial executive and investor in early stage enterprises with extensive experience in start up and entrepreneurial operations as well as operational experiences in a diverse range of businesses. She has particular expertise developing technology-based business as well as strategic business plans, budgets, cash and tax planning and financials.
Katherine has extensive multinational experience and financial operation management and knowledge of healthcare pharmaceuticals, information systems, e-commerce and medical instruments and devices. Besides her entrepreneurial activities, she was a senior manager in corporate finance in pharmaceutical operations of the now GlaxoSmithKline as well as in industrial, agricultural chemicals and fiber operations at FMC Corporation.
Katherine is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of Merion Mercy Academy, an independent school for young women in Merion PA. She is active in organizations that support women in businesses. Current memberships include the New Jersey Technology Council and its Chief Financial Officer Advisory Board, Forum of Executive Women and Women in Investment. In 2002, Katherine received a Chief Financial Officer of the Year Award from the NJ Technology Council. Other boards and committees she has served or chaired have included the Business Advisory Council of the Ben Franklin Technology Council of SE Pa, Board of Directors of the Forum of Executive women, Greater Philadelphia Girl Scout Council, Delaware Raritan Girl Scout Council, Steering Committee for the Strategic Plan of the City of Philadelphia, Hyde School (Maine) Advisory Board.
Katherine earned a BS in Economics from the University of Maryland and an MA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
|  |
 |
Larry Chaityn, President, Keiretsu Forum
Larry Chaityn is President of the New York Tri-State Chapters of The Keiretsu Forum, the largest global private equity investment network of accredited angel investors, venture capitalists, and corporate/institutional investors. Keiretsu Forum members invest in high-quality, diverse investment opportunities in emerging technologies, healthcare/life sciences, real estate, consumer products and other industries with high growth opportunity. Our community is strengthened through education on angel investing, as well as charitable and social activities.
Larry is an expert in the development and execution of performance management and corporate acceleration strategies that help organizations achieve their financial and operational goals. His 18 years of experience consulting in industries such as Technology/Software, Healthcare, Life Science and Manufacturing on multi-million dollar engagements has helped shape the vision and strategy for True North Global Partners.
Larry is an active member in the National Association of Health Services Executives, Turnaround Management Association, and The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Health Leaders of NY, The American College of Healthcare Executives, and the American Society for Quality's Healthcare Division and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce in NYC. He often speaks on topics of change, systems thinking, effective communication, and causal problem analysis. Larry held senior management positions with the consulting practices of Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young and Oracle Corporation. Larry graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and a Masters in Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has completed additional executive education programs in Management from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
|  |
 |
Konstantine Drakonakis, Director, Launch Capital
Konstantine Drakonakis, P.E., Director of the New Haven Office of LaunchCapital LLC, brings over ten years of environmental and energy technology investment and engineering consulting experience to the LaunchCapital team. LaunchCapital actively engages university startups and entrepreneurs seeking seed and early stage funding in a broad array of industries, including Medical Device, Cleantech, and IT.
Konstantine was the Manager of New Technology Investments and Infrastructure Development at Connecticut Innovations, Inc, which administers the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, prior to opening LaunchCapital's New Haven Office. Konstantine oversaw venture stage
equity investments, project finance for beta and alpha stage technology projects and clean energy infrastructure developments
programs for the CCEF. His project and investment experience covers the full range of cleantech technologies, ranging from renewables, fuel cell and hydrogen generation, and smart-grid and energy storage
technologies, as well as water supply & infrastructure, environmental
remediation technologies, and natural resource management. While at CI, Konstantine structured, financed, and managed multiple emergent renewable energy company projects worth over $11M. He has been very active in the clean energy community, speaking and instructing events
covering renewables and carbon markets, resource management, and investment workshops. Konstantine draws on his experience in environmental and civil engineering project management and consulting
to evaluate technologies for their investment potential as well as the
business model's integrity and feasibility.
Konstantine received his Masters in Environmental Management from Yale
University, with a focus in Industrial Environmental Management and
Industrial Ecology. He earned his civil and environmental engineering
degree from the University of Vermont, and is a member of the National
Civil Engineering Honors Society. He is a co-founder of the Cleantech
in Connecticut Network.
|  |
 |
Kyle Harris, Managing Director, Liquidity Works
Kyle Harris is the Managing Director of Liquidity Works. He began his career in the Foreign Military Sales group for the Navy's F-18 aircraft program, ultimately running the team that sold over $3.5 Billion dollars is USG equipment worldwide. He next ran international marketing for the NYMEX crude oil contract working with foreign governments and multinationals to develop risk management programs around the world's largest traded commodity. After receiving his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Business he began an early stage incubator which funded several notable projects. As a operator/entrepreneur, he was COO of IMTI Systems an insurance software provider, and was the founder of Global Detection and Reporting, Inc a company offering innovative risk detection tools for illegal drugs in the workplace. Kyle is married, has three children and lives in NYC.
|  |
 |
Edwin Goodman, Co-Founder, Milestone Venture Partners
Mr. Goodman co-founded Milestone Venture Partners in 1999, as he was energized by the opportunities he saw being created by the Internet in the New York metropolitan area. He currently sits on the board of Medidata Solutions, Inc., SkillSurvey, Inc., and supervises MVP II’s investment in RichFX, Ltd. Prior to founding Milestone, Mr. Goodman was with the U.S. office of Hambros, a London-based merchant bank. He joined the firm in 1981 and supervised the growth of the business from $5 million of paid-in-capital to $150 million. Prior to Hambros, Mr. Goodman worked at Patricof & Co. (now Apax Partners), which he joined in 1974 as its third employee. During his seven years with the organization, he participated in all aspects of the business. The most prominent of its investments was a $250,000 commitment to the final private financing round raised by Apple Computer in the summer of 1977. From 1970 through 1973, Mr. Goodman managed WBAI FM, an educationally licensed, listener-sponsored FM radio station in NYC. Before managing WBAI, Mr. Goodman joined the Bedford Stuyvesant Development & Services Corporation in Brooklyn, NY in 1967 and became its co-chief executive. The group made SBA-guaranteed loans to dozens of small businesses to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation.
|  |
|
|
Jeffrey Seltzer, Angel Investor, New York Angels
Jeffrey L. Seltzer is Managing Partner of Pierce Yates Ventures which provides venture capital and consulting to the financial services, business services, education and sports industries. He is a member of the board of directors of the New York Angels.
Jeff was the Chief Operating Officer of Adirondack Trading Partners from 1999 through the exit of its businesses in 2005. Adirondack was a start up venture formed to capitalize on electronic trading technology through the creation of new securities exchanges and the development of market making capabilities on those exchanges. It was the corporate founder of the International Securities Exchange, now the largest equity options exchange in the U.S., which had its IPO in 2005.
He joined CIBC World Markets in 1994 and from 1996 to 1999 was Deputy Chairman of its U.S. broker- dealer focusing on the credit, derivatives and wealth management businesses as well as regional strategies for CIBC. Before that Jeff was with Lehman Brothers where he was Managing Director and one of the founders of its Financial Products Group. In eight years at Lehman he played a major role in structuring and executing innovative international financial transactions and the management of the new product development process. Jeff started his career as a securities lawyer in private practice in New York City.
Jeff is a Special Professor of Law at Hofstra University Law School where he developed and teaches a seminar in Complex Corporate Transactions. He is also a Faculty Associate of the Merrill Lynch Center for the Study of International Financial Services and Markets at Hofstra's Zarb School of Business. Jeff is a member of the Board of Overseers of the University Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania, the Advisory Board of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, the Advisory Board of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative and the Major Gift Committee of Penn's $3.5 billion capital campaign.
He served as an advisor for six years to the U.S. Small Business Administration and as a joint advisor on trade policy to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative for four years. He served as Vice Chairman of the Institute for International Bankers and was the founder and Chairman of the Swap and Derivative Products Committee of the Securities Industry Association. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Nassau County Sports Commission.
Jeff received a B.S. in Econ. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
|  |
 |
Jalak Jobanputra, Senior Vice President, New York City Investment Fund
Jalak is Senior Vice President at the New York City Investment Fund and manages the Fund's investments in the information technology, media and cleantech sectors. Prior to joining the Fund, Jalak was a Principal at New Venture Partners, a $300M early stage venture fund where she was a director of Procelerate Technologies and Real Time Content. Previously, Ms. Jobanputra worked at Intel Capital where she led and managed strategic investments in software, digital media and services companies.
Prior to receiving her MBA, Jalak worked as a Product Manager at an online financial services start-up, and as a media and tech investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Broadview Associates in NYC and London. She has also consulted for the United Nations Development Programme in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as well as several education nonprofits, including The Big Picture School (Providence, RI), Jobs for the Future (Boston), and the Fenway Institute (Boston).
Jalak holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a BS in Economics magna cum laude from the Wharton School, and a BA in Communications magna cum laude from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a Trustee of the Achievement First Bushwick Charter School in Brooklyn and a member of Echoing Green's junior board.
|  |
 |
Robert Brill, Managing Partner, Newlight Associates
Mr. Brill is a founding Managing Partner of Newlight Associates and was previously a General Partner of PolyVentures, venture capital funds whose principal investment focus was on early stage investments in technology companies. Before joining PolyVentures, Mr. Brill was a successful "turn around" CEO at two technology companies, Algorex Corporation and Sipex Corporation. Previously, Mr. Brill served as General Manager of Harris Corporation's CMOS Semiconductor Division, where he was responsible for launching the world's first two commercial 16-bit CMOS microprocessors. From 1972 to 1980 he was employed by the IBM Corporation where he held various positions in engineering and management. Mr. Brill was a founding member of the Technical Advisory Board of the Semiconductor Research Corporation. Mr. Brill holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University and a B.A. and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Lehigh University, both with honors. Mr. Brill holds multiple patents and invention disclosures.
|  |
 |
Adam VeVerka, Associate, NewSpring Capital
Adam VeVerka is an Associate of NewSpring Capital having joined the firm in 2006. Most recently, Mr. VeVerka was an Investment Banking Analyst at Credit Suisse. In this role, he assisted on several transactions in the financial institutions and financial technology sectors where his primary responsibilities were financial modeling, due diligence and deal marketing. Prior to Investment Banking, Mr. VeVerka worked in Credit Suisse�s Information Technology division, where he worked closely with the Chief Technology Officer evaluating new technologies for the firm. While completing his degree, Mr. VeVerka spent two summers at Goldman Sachs and worked on the Chairman�s staff at American Financial Group / Chiquita Brands. Mr. VeVerka graduated from the University of Cincinnati�s honors business program with a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Technology and minors in Finance and Real Estate.
|  |
|
|
Robert Wilson, Principal Owner, North Sea Ventures
Robert A. Wilson is Chairman, CEO & President of Sea Holdings, Ltd. He has led a distinguished career as manager and developer of companies; he has twenty years experiences in the business and financial world. Mr. Wilson has worked with many companies in many industries in many stages of development. Mr. Wilson has spent time as a professor of Finance at both the Brentwood and Southampton campus’s of Long Island University, as well as the Riverhead and Selden Campus of Suffolk County Community College. Mr. Wilson holds a degree of Associates in Applied Science in Business Administration from Suffolk County Community College, a Bachelor of Science in Management of the Sports Industries from the University of New Haven and a Master of Science in Finance and Financial Services from the University of New Haven.
|  |
 |
Owen Davis, Managing Director, NYC Seed
Owen is currently Managing Director of NYC Seed, a seed stage venture capital fund in New York City. Owen has worked in all aspects of the online world, including work with early versions of AOL and MSN. He created one of the first 200 web sites on-line and founded Thinking Media in the summer of 1995, an online marketing firm which pioneered client-side tracking of pages and advertisements, which has become the standard method for online measurement. He co-founded Sonata in 1999, a wireless company that provided location-based services and marketing to cell phones. Owen also co-founded, Petal Computing, a firm that developed software which allowed large numbers of commodity PCs to act like a single unit, useful in industries ranging from image rendering to pharmaceuticals.
Owen is the author of various patents in Internet methods and technologies. He is also the author of the book Instant Java Applets, available from Ziff-Davis Press. He is an original member of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, and served on that group's original board. He was also an original member of the Board setting online advertising and media specifications and has served as Managing Director of the Wireless Advertising Association. Owen was named various times as one of the 100 Top Internet Executives in New York by The Silicon Alley Reporter and most recently was named one of the 100 most influential people in Silicon Alley for 2008. He received his bachelor's degree from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
|  |
 |
David Stahl, General Partner, OmniCapital Group
* Twenty five years in information technology and venture capital
* Director and founding member of Lucent New Ventures
* Director of Bell Labs technology commercialization
* GM of AT&T CRM software unit
* CEO and CFO of several start-ups
* Board of directors of numerous start-ups
* Ph.D., MBA
|  |
 |
Matt Bieber, Senior Associate, Originate Ventures
Matt was formerly with Bear Stearns in the Financial Analytics and Structured Transactions group (F.A.S.T.). Matt was also an investment banking analyst with Fairmount Partners, a regional investment banking boutique. He has been a member of Barclays Capital in the distressed debt group, an overseas research analyst for Deloitte & Touche based in Prague and an intern for Senator Arlen Specter’s office in addition to a volunteer for former Senator Rick Santorum's campaign.
Prior to his formal business experience, Matt founded an online entertainment company focused on massive online roleplaying games, which he rolled into IGE.com where he became a premier account vendor. Matt has recently been named Treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Network of Young Professionals and has been a judge for Wharton’s VCIC competition. Matt is a graduate of Lehigh University with a BS in Business with a concentration in Financial Mathematics.
"I found the Perfect Venture Conference to be the optimal setting for entrepreneurs to have a captive investor audience. For an entrepreneur being able to hear investors on the panel & understanding their philosophy is very important, coupled with a speed pitching session makes for a potentially powerful combination from an entrepreneurial funding standpoint."
- Matt Bieber, Originate Ventures
|  |
|
|
David Drahms, Vice President, Osage Venture Partners
David joined Osage in 2005 and is involved in several venture organizations, including the MAC Alliance, Early Stage East and the 3 Rivers Venture Fair. Prior to Osage, he worked at Teradyne, Inc., a Boston-based manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment, where he was a mechanical engineer before becoming a project manager.
David led the firm's investment in Yaupon Therapeutics, where he serves on the company's Board of Directors. He is also a board observer of InstaMed, Melior Discovery, HardMetrics and ProtonMedia.
He is a native of Savannah, NY, and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an MBA from The Wharton School.
David resides in Philadelphia, PA.
|  |
|
|
Tom Olenzak, Angel Investor, Robin Hood Ventures
Mr. Olenzak has nearly twenty years of investment banking, venture capital, financial, and senior management experience in the information technology, health care, life sciences, and environmental industries.
He is currently a founding partner and Managing Director of Fountainhead Venture Group, a new venture capital fund investing in high growth companies in the Healthcare IT arena. He was a managing director with a technology-focused investment banking firm, formed and managed a corporate health care venture capital fund for First Consulting Group, and was a Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategic Planning for FCG and for Integrated Systems Consulting Group, a public predecessor to FCG that focused on technology for the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Olenzak was also President, Chairman, and a founder of Cutting Edge Computer Solutions, Inc., a client/server consulting firm. Mr. Olenzak has a BA in economics from Princeton University.
|  |
 |
James Robinson IV, Managing Partner, RRE Ventures
Jim Robinson is a co-Founder & Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been active within the technology community for over twenty years as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and banker.
Since co-founding RRE in late 1994, Jim has been responsible for over thirty technology investments, with a focus on digital consumer, enterprise and financial services technologies. He is currently a Director of AdaptiveBlue (semantic personalization) GoMobo (mobile order systems), iCrossing (e-marketing technologies), Mixed Signals (digital broadcast monitoring), m-Via (mobile remittances), OpenPeak (home infotainment platforms), SmartPay Jieyin (mobile top-up & payments in China), Vivre (luxury brand retailing), and WisdomTree (developer of indexes/ETFs).
While earning a dual degree in Computer Science and Business Administration at Antioch College during the early 1980's, Jim worked as a programmer for state government, and later founded and was President of IV Systems Inc., a firm that created small business applications for unix workstations. In 1986, Mr. Robinson joined JP Morgan & Company, where he spent four years working on technology-related assignments, first within the group charged with building global risk management systems, and later as an investment banker in corporate finance. Mr. Robinson earned an MBA from Harvard in 1992, and subsequently joined Hambrecht & Quist Venture Capital in San Francisco. While at H & Q he led investments primarily within the software and communications sectors.
Jim is involved in several non-profit endeavors, with a particular interest in children’s issues and rights. He is also involved with the New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA), the New York City Investment Fund's Information Technology Group, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Association of Drug Abuse Problems. Jim has been a member of the Young President's Organization since 1998.
|  |
 |
John Adler, General Partner, Silver Creek Ventures
Mr. Adler joined Silver Creek Ventures as a General Partner in 2007. His areas of expertise include data and voice communications, semiconductors, and wireless applications. Mr. Adler has also served as a board member of the Texas Venture Capital Association since its inception in 2004.
Prior to joining Silver Creek, Mr. Adler served as a Partner with InterWest Partners since 2001, a leading diversified venture capital firm in information technology and life sciences. Representative investments include Covaro (acquired by Adva Optical), kajeet, Nuventix, Venturi Wireless and VizionWare.
Prior to InterWest Partners, Mr. Adler developed 17 years of operating experience in product management and engineering from Rockwell International, Alcatel, Monterey Networks and Cisco Systems. Mr. Adler received a BSEE and MBA from Southern Methodist University and has authored or co-authored four US patents.
|  |
 |
Jordan Levy, Partner, Softbank Capital
Jordan Levy is an experienced operating executive with an expertise in sales and marketing. He has led two lasting billion dollar technology companies to successful exits and he is a seasoned venture capitalist who has operated three venture funds where he has realized upper quartile returns. Mr. Levy is a Managing General Partner of Seed Capital Partners, an early stage technology venture fund which he co-founded in 1999 with Ron Schreiber. He currently serves as a Director of CompanyDNA, GT3, The NewsMarket, SilverCarrrot, CoKem International, and XOsoft. In 1990, Mr. Levy and Mr. Schreiber founded Upgrade Corporation, the first technology customer relationship outsourcing company. Mr. Levy served as the company’s President and Co-CEO with an emphasis on sales, marketing, and all customer-facing activities. The company’s customers included 80% of U.S. software vendors and it grew from $0 to $65 million in profitable revenue.
|  |
 |
Laura Sachar, General Partner, StarVest Partners
Laura is an experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. She has founded three successful entities, was an early identifier of the growth in digital media and has invested for over a decade in technology-enabled business services companies. As a founding partner of StarVest, she has been active with StarVest's investments in Connected Corporation (acquired by Iron Mountain in 2004), MessageOne (software-as-a-service company acquired by Dell Computer in 2008), Newgistics- now the leader in returns management, iCrossing-now the largest privately-held digital marketing services company and Fieldglass (leading human capital management software-as-a-service company). Laura was the Founding Chairman of the New York New Media Association Angel Investors Program,
a professional nonprofit organization in which she assisted hundreds of early-stage New York area companies in accessing initial capital.
Laura has a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. She is a member of the Gotham Chapter of the Young President's Organization (since 2003).
|  |
 |
Brian Model, Managing Director, NY, Stonehenge Growth Capital
Mr. Model is responsible for Stonehenge Capital's Early Stage and Start-Up investment activities in New York State. Stonehenge currently has 10 active Early Stage and Start-Up portfolio companies in New York. He has been with the firm since 2001. Mr. Model currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lumetrics, PixFusion, Lorica Solutions, Knovel (observer), Medidata Solutions (observer) and iCardiac Technologies (observer).
Prior to joining Stonehenge, Mr. Model spent 12 years in the retail industry as Founder of a men’s sportswear e-tailer, Vice President and Merchandise Manager of an upscale multi-store apparel retailer in New Jersey and as a graduate of the Macy's Executive Training Program in San Francisco. Mr. Model received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke University. He has an MBA with Honors from Columbia Business School.
|  |
|
|
Nick Bellomo, Vice President, Trident Capital
Nick Bellomo joined Trident Capital in 2005 and is a Vice President in the Westport office. Prior to Trident, he was a Senior Analyst in Morgan Stanley's technology investment banking group where he focused on mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance transactions within the Internet services, IT services, communications technology and semiconductor industries. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Nick was an Analyst in Stifel Nicolaus' technology investment banking group.
Nick attended The University of Denver where he earned his B.S. in Finance and a minor in Economics.
|  |
 |
Ellen Sandles, President, TriState Investors
Ellen Sandles, President, brings over ten years of increasingly successful sales and marketing expertise to the capital raising process having worked within various start-up, high-tech divisions of AT&T Corporation, Harris Corporation and Commerce Clearing House.
Ms. Sandles has frequently lectured on Business Angel Financing, and was most recently heard at the Harvard Club, the New York City Venture Capital Conference, the Williams Club, the NYU Entrepreneurship Conference as well as the IBC Conference on Roll-ups and Mergers. She has been interviewed on numerous business programs including New Jersey Business News, the Ron Thomas Entrepreneur Forum and Bloomberg Small Business.
|  |
 |
Irvin Barash, President, Vencon Management, Inc.
Mr. Barash has close to four decades of comprehensive experience regarding venture capital and entrepreneurism. Mr. Barash holds an MBA from the Columbia University Business School and a chemical engineering degree from Drexel University. As President of Vencon, a venture capital firm, Mr. Barash has created numerous high technology ventures. He has a broad experience in the growth of enterprises and advises on the complexities and implementation of long range business planning and the management of company growth particularly those firms experiencing high growth, which are usually vulnerable to improper asset deployment. He has acted as chairman of industrial companies. Vencon has been involved in renewable energy, electronics materials and semiconductors since the early 1980’s. In other affiliations, Mr.Barash was an executive in strategic planning and M&A activities with industrial companies including W.R. Grace and EBS Industries, which owned subsidiaries in electric power, chemicals, and engineering construction. Barash was Director of Planning of BASF, a $40 billion manufacturing business. At Belco Petroleum Company, an international petroleum and coal producer, Barash was Assistant to the President. During the early 1970’s, Barash was Director of Economic Studies for the Price Commission, a White House initiative to stabilize pricing.
"The November 2008 Perfect Venture Conference, IV, was perfectly organized. There were many opportunities for us to talk to the entrepreneurs as one on one, other networking, and listen to pitches. Of major importance, there was ample room to meet for private conversations, at one's convenience, rather than being crammed together as is the common situation with most such conferences. Thank you FundingPost for being sensitive to the needs of venture capitalists."
- Irvin Barash, Vencon Management, Inc.
|  |
 |
Jung Yun, President and CEO, Yun Capital
Jung Yun has more than fifteen years experience in the areas of finance, banking, operations, sales, consulting, and as an entrepreneur. She is currently the Managing Director for Yun Capital. She also serves as a Fund Manager and Partner of Global Media Fund with over $400M under assets. In addition, Ms. Yun is a partner of Boston First Capital, a boutique Investment Bank focused in International Transactions in such countries as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, China, Montenegro, Kingdom of Tonga, and the Bahamas.
Ms. Yun's experience has been in the capacity of both Fund Manager and Investment Banker. She has worked with many public/private companies in transactions ranging from $1M to $8B. She has completed over $300M in mergers and acquisitions, and serves as both designer and architect in these ventures. She also delivers financial strategy, business consulting, operations, implementations and strategic alliance expertise to the companies she invests in. In addition, her career has included setting up and managing Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards. She has served as President and Chairman of Global Life Line, a telecommunications company and President of Mindography Inc, an eduportal for the education market.
Ms. Yun's accomplishments on the operational side include building direct sales channels, managing a team of 300, business development, Joint Ventures and mergers & acquisitions. The list of companies to which she has contributed to their growth include: JPMorgan, Reed Elsevier, The Village Companies and many others. She graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee and is a proud member of the MENSA organization.
"I thought the event was excellent as always. Thank you for including me in your wonderful event. I thought companies really benefited. I am following up with 3 companies from the event and one that we recommended for the event :)"
- Jung Yun, Yun Capital
|  |
Additional Investors were currently making profiles for:
Mark Mitchell, Safeguard Scientifics
Alexander Kates, Jersey Angels
Jeff Seltzer, Pierce Yates Ventures
William Podd, Landmark Angels
Michael Kelley, Red Clay Equity
Mathew Ingle, Best Buy Capital
Kal Renov, Angel Investor
Anil Vasagiri, Connecticut Innovations
Ross O'Brien, New Vernon Financial
More to be Announced! We are expecting Over 55 Investors.
Are you an early-stage Tech VC or Angel Investor? Contact us to participate in this event! 800-461-5509 or info2@fundingpost.com
|
Brought to you by:  |
|
© Copyright 2001-2009 FundingPost.com, Second Venture Corporation |
|
Bookmark to del.icio.us
Tweet this event
