Aaron Hirschhorn
Fast Pitch Judge
Aaron Hirschhorn is the Founder and “Top Dog” at DogVacay.com, a community marketplace for pet services. The company is backed by venture capital firms First Round Capital and Science. Before starting DogVacay.com Aaron worked for Monitor Ventures and GRP Partners where he evaluated potential investments and worked with portfolio companies on strategy and operations. Aaron received an MBA from UCLA Anderson and BA from Swarthmore College. He enjoys swimming, basketball, and puppies.
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Aarti Kanodia
Panelist – Restaurant Panel
Aarti Kanodia is the founder of Crispy Waffle and Frite, a food truck in Los Angeles. Aarti is a native New Yorker and in 2009 moved from Manhattan to attend UCLA’s MBA program at Anderson. During her first six months in Los Angeles, Aarti was having trouble finding her favorite snack food – twice fried fries served Belgian-style in paper cones with various types of dipping sauce.
Manhattan is home to the hole-in-the-wall, Pommes Frites, an East Village staple and her favorite place to eat at while an undergrad at NYU Stern School of Business. Aarti started to wonder why this concept wasn’t developed in Los Angeles and so she set out on a mission – to build a brand name around these authentic Belgian fries. During her trips to Belgium, Aarti discovered that Liège waffles would round out the Belgian street food concept well, providing a sweet vs. savory option and that these waffles were something truly unique.
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Adam Green
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Adam Green is a Senior Development Manager at SolarReserve, a leading developer of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. SolarReserve’s CSP technology uses integrated molten salt energy storage that can deliver solar energy on demand – day or night. SolarReserve is currently constructing the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, which, at 110 megawatts, will be the largest molten salt power tower in the world. Mr. Green manages development of hundreds of megawatts of pre-construction solar projects throughout the southwestern U.S., with a scope including land acquisition, permits and entitlements, power marketing, transmission interconnection, strategic partnerships, and community relations; he is also leads SolarReserve’s analytical and policy efforts to build a greater understanding of the value of energy storage to the grid.
Prior to joining SolarReserve, Mr. Green held positions in renewable energy startups and in utility power procurement. Earlier in his career, he was a strategy consultant at The Callidon Group and at OC&C Strategy Consulting, where he focused on pricing analytics, M&A due diligence, cost reduction, and growth strategies. Mr. Green graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Brown University and received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
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Adam Lilling
Moderator – The Story of Recycled Bride
Adam Lilling is a serial entrepreneur and investor, creating pioneering media and e-commerce companies for almost two decades. Adam is on the board of directors of Movieclips and HelloMusic and is an investor in and board advisor to transformation companies including ShareThis, MoviePass, BigFrame and MediaNet. Adam is also proud to be a director of LaunchpadLA.
Adam has been building Internet companies since 1994. His first venture, Pentagon CDs & Tapes, was one of the Internet’s first online retailers of music and video. Adam sold Pentagon to the Virgin Entertainment Group in 1999. Subsequently, Virgin took Pentagon’s e-commerce technology and formed a new venture with Adam in 2000 called Pazanga, becoming a worldwide entertainment e-commerce services company. Most recently, Adam co-founded BiggerBoat, a vertical search and ad network for entertainment.
Adam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
Follow Adam on twitter http://twitter.com/alilling
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Al Osborne
Host – Closing Keynote, A Fireside Chat with Mike Jones
Alfred E. Osborne, Jr. is Senior Associate Dean of UCLA Anderson. In this role, he oversees a variety of key areas and initiatives within the school, including resource development, alumni relations, corporate initiatives, marketing and communications and executive education.
Dr. Osborne is also professor of Global Economics & Management and founder and faculty director of the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA. The Price Center serves to organize all faculty research and student activities and curricula related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson.
A corporate governance expert, Dr. Osborne formed a Director Education and Certification Program designed to help officers and directors of private firms prepare for the higher level of scrutiny that comes when they take their companies public. This program also educates directors and officers regarding SEC regulations, FASB considerations, Nasdaq rules and the current best practices in corporate governance.
Dr. Osborne is also an expert in social entrepreneurship who has developed several programs that apply business models to the nonprofit world. For more than 13 years, The Price Center has created and run some innovative management development programs, including four in partnership with health care giant Johnson & Johnson: Head Start – Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program, UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute, the Johnson & Johnson/UCLA Health Care Executive Program, and the Management Development Institute (MDI) servicing Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) in the AIDS/HIV supply chain in Africa. Other programs include The Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE) and the UCLA/Los Angeles County Office of Education Head Start Leadership Institute.
Dr. Osborne currently serves as a director of Kaiser Aluminum and the Heckmann Corporation, and has served many years on the corporate boards of Times Mirror Company, US Filter Corporation, Greyhound Lines, Inc., First Interstate Bank of California, Nordstrom, Inc. and K2, Inc., among others. He has served as an economic fellow at the Brookings Institution and directed studies at the SEC that contributed to changes in Rule 144, Regulation D, and other exemptive requirements to the securities laws designed to lower costs and improve liquidity and capital market access to venture capitalists and emerging growth firms alike.
Dr. Osborne’s current research interests include venture capital and private equity, and the role of the board of directors in private and public corporations. He remains active in the entrepreneurial and venture development community, has served on the editorial boards of several journals, and consults with growing companies and non-profit organizations on business and economic matters.
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Amy Chen Tran
Panelist – “Doing well to do good”: A Social Entrepreneurship Panel
Amy is Director of Partnerships & Strategy at Enso, a shared value firm, which helps organizations align business strategy with positive social impact to help them achieve new levels of success and audience participation. Enso does this through strategy, communications and community activation. As a marketer with over nine years of advertising agency experience building iconic brands, Amy previously led the shared value initiatives for Cisco, Aquafina and MasterCard at GOOD/Corps, part of GOOD Worldwide LLC. Prior to this, she spent five years at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, working on CPG brands including Sara Lee, Energizer and Pepsi. It was at Chiat that Amy solidified her passion for purpose-driven, shared value creation, most notably leading agency teams on The Pepsi Refresh Project, an unprecedented social media campaign through which Pepsi awarded $20 million dollars towards funding ideas that refreshed communities across America. She has also worked at WDWC where she oversaw Clif/Luna Bar, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Autodesk.
Amy is a double Bruin, currently pursuing a Fully-Employed MBA at the Anderson School of Management with a concentration in Brand Management and a Certification in Leaders in Sustainability.
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Andy Wilson
Panelist – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
Andy Wilson is the CEO and Founder of Graphight and a Founder and Managing Director of Momentum Venture Management (MVM), an early stage venture fund and business accelerator. Prior to founding Momentum Venture Management, Andy served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Management & General Manager of New Ventures at Overture Services, which was acquired by Yahoo! for $1.7 billion.
Andy holds an engineering degree with honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Digital Performance Inc, Cyber-Rain and Graphight and is on the board of nQueue Inc, Phoenix Energy and a board observer at DataPop Inc and Sendio Inc. His is also on the advisory board of Vincente Partners, ParkMe and Pacific Oaks College.
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Ara Katz
Panelist – Digital Media
Ara Katz is one of the founding executives of BeachMint and runs Content, Storytelling, Celebrity and Partnerships. Backed by NEA, Trinity Ventures, Accel, Anthem, Scale and Goldman Sachs, BeachMint is a subscription commerce company for celebrity designed and curated lifestyle brands. Founded in Spring 2010, BeachMint launched JewelMint with Kate Bosworth, StyleMint with Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, BeautyMInt with Jessica Simpson, ShoeMint with Rachel Bilson and most recently launched HomeMint with Justin Timberlake and IntiMint with Brooke Burke.
Prior to BeachMint, Ara was an independent film producer with an eclectic filmography including such films as Paris, je t’aime, the landmark documentary, The People Speak, George Romero’s Diary of the Dead, Survival of the Dead, and Paper Man. She is a CCA Fellow in their DesignMBA Program and a Visiting Fellow at the MIT Media Lab’s Center for Future Storytelling. She has consulted on various films and new media/tech projects with such companies as Mullen Advertising, the Department of Defense and various fashion and beauty-based companies. She is currently an Advisor to a few exciting start-ups, including CelebrityMe, LovingEco, Bre.ad, HipSwap and Thre.ad. She is on the Board of I AM THAT GIRL and recently directed their most recent campaign #ThatGirlRocks.
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Artia Moghbel
Panelist – Digital Media
Artia Moghbel is an Associate with Greycroft Partners and is a member of the West Coast office. His responsibilities include evaluating investment opportunities, sourcing new deals, and working with existing portfolio companies.
Prior to Greycroft, Artia worked for L.E.K. Consulting as a management consultant, where he served clients in the media & entertainment, technology, health sciences, and consumer products industries. In addition, Artia is a two-time entrepreneur, having founded an online education-based startup and later having built and sold an online social shopping platform.
Artia graduated with Honors from Columbia University with a B.S. in Operations Research.
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Bob Bellack
Panelist – Managing Growth
As CEO of Newegg North America, Bob Bellack is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the company’s North American operations. Mr. Bellack joined Newegg in 2011, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the digital media, ecommerce and publishing spaces. Mr. Bellack’s previous executive positions include co-founder and CEO of Zetabid.com and CFO and SVP of The Los Angeles Times Media Group, the largest business unit of Tribune Company/Los Angeles Times Media Group. Prior to that, Mr. Bellack was a founder and CFO/SVP of Classified Ventures, an online classified advertising publisher that produced websites such as Cars.com, Apartments.com and Homescape. Mr. Bellack has also held several key executive roles with Compton’s New Media, a developer and publisher of consumer educational software. Mr. Bellack holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and received a Bachelor of Science degree from DePaul University.
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Brenna Egan
Panel Moderator – Fashion and eCommerce in Los Angeles
Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, Brenna became an Angeleno at age 17 to pursue a degree in Communication at the University of Southern California. After college internships with celebrity stylists, Giorgio Armani PR, and People magazine, a dream of the fashion editorial world had taken shape. She’s since held positions at Vogue, OK! Weekly, Hollywood Life, and helmed her own online vintage clothing venture, CHICandyoushallfind.com.
She’s currently the L.A. Editor at the global style hub Refinery29, where she covers everything from emerging designers and artists to beauty news and local hotspots. On the weekends you might find her meandering the flea markets, checking out a new exhibit at LACMA, or hiking the canyons with her rescue pup Mick Jagger in tow.
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Bryan Berkett
Panelist – Starting a Real Estate Fund
Bryan is a Principal at BT Real Estate Group and is a graduate of UCLA Anderson.
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Casey Lynch
Panelist – Starting a Real Estate Fund
Casey is a Co-Founder of LocalConstruct, Inc. Casey oversees all acquisitions, financing, and marketing for the firm. Since 2009, LocalConstruct has raised and deployed over $10MM of equity through a variety of discretionary equity funds and private partnerships. During that period, LocalConstruct has successfully executed 30 transactions including multi-family redevelopment, infill single family development, and land entitlement. He has also developed LocalConstruct, a fully operational “green” property management platform for the multi-family residential sector.
Prior to founding LocalConstruct, Casey worked in business development with Auberge Resorts in San Francisco where he helped develop the company’s portfolio of owned and managed hotels and resorts. Prior to Auberge, Casey served as a senior consultant with Millward Brown Optimor, the branding and corporate strategy arm of the WPP Group. Casey began his career as an investment banking analyst in the M&A group of Libra Securities in New York.
Casey holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from The University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. in Real Estate and Finance from UCLA Anderson.
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Christopher Webb
Panelist – The New Incubator
Christopher Webb is a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur and investor. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of ChowNow, a technology lab devoted to building fun, innovative products for the restaurant industry. Prior to founding ChowNow, Chris spent ten years on Wall Street where he held various trading positions at Bear Stearns, Royal Bank of Canada, and Lehman Brothers.
Webb is a founding investor in Tender Greens, a LA-based restaurant chain, and a few early stage technology startups. Outside of work, he can be found battling it out on the Venice Beach paddle tennis courts.
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Craig Finster
Panelist – The New Incubator
Craig brings a combination of strategic vision and operational expertise to an enterprise. He currently serves as Vice President of Strategy for Originate, an early stage technology investor, and as CEO of Lottay, a social funding start-up. Previously, Craig worked as a management consultant and at an international development organization in Washington, DC where he was part of the team running the 2004 and 2005 elections in Iraq and Afghanistan. Craig holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance from the University of Arizona.
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Daishin Sugano
Panelist – The New Incubator
Daishin Sugano is the Co-Founder of Y Combinator-backed Grubwithus, Inc. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company, Daishin heads up front-end development and design. After a few years at Edmunds.com as a product manager, Daishin joined Eddy Lu in franchising cream puff stores, developing mobile applications and creating other companies in the tea, apparel and financial industries. It is through their hardship that they learned the value of friendship, teamwork and determination in order to create something people want. Daishin is a Los Angeles native and received his Bachelor of Science in Political Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
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David Hughes
Panelist – Managing Growth
David Hughes joined The Search Agency in early 2004 as Chief Executive Officer with hands on management for its product, technology, operations, sales and account management functions. Prior to The Search Agency, David served as Senior Vice-President, Corporate Development for United Online, Inc. He was responsible for developing and running all user acquisition programs, new products and services to be offered to NetZero/Juno customers, broadband services, developing and implementing search services and large strategic relationships. Prior to United Online, he was a Management Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and an Associate with Mercer Management Consulting. David is a graduate of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, where he was awarded the Dean’s Award for leadership, and the University of Western Ontario where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors. He is also a past President of the Harvard Business School Association Club of Southern California and currently serves on its Board.
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Eli Portnoy
Panelist – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
Eli Portnoy is the founder and CEO of ThinkNear, an automated hyper-local marketing solution for local merchants funded by Google, Qualcomm, and IA Ventures.
He was most recently at Amazon where he helped develop, market and grow the Amazon Video On-Demand service. Eli was also the founder and CEO of HireWorkers and was named one of the Top Young Entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek, the 21st Coolest Young Entrepreneur by Inc. magazine, and a Top Entrepreneur Under 30 by NY Daily News.
Eli earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Fran Camaj
Panelist – Restaurant Panel
Fran Carmaj is a 15 year Venice resident with a real estate development background. He purchased the Gjelina multi-use building in 2004 when it was a retail furniture store and a residence. Going through the 4 year entitlement and construction process while living on the property, Mr. Camaj finally opened his first restaurant, Gjelina (named for his mother) in July 2008. Subsequently opened Gjelina take away (GTA) in 2011. Currently resides down the street from the restaurants with his lovely wife and three wonderful boys ages 4, 2, and 1.
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Fred Hagigi
Panel Moderator – Entrepreneurship in Healthcare
Fred Hagigi teaches The Business of Healthcare: A Global Perspective for the Anderson School MBA Programs. An expert in healthcare systems management, Fred brings more than 35 years of industry practice applying and adapting established business concepts of operations management, accounting, finance, and marketing to the unique characteristics of service delivery and education in the healthcare arena. He has organized and managed numerous multi-specialty clinics, and has consulted both in the United States and across more than 50 countries on topics including healthcare finance, social return on investment, and medical delivery systems design and management.
He has worked with the Johnson and Johnson Management Development Institute (MDI) at the Anderson School to improve the operations of healthcare organizations in Africa. He has led the creation of the Africa Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) Collaborative, a coalition of academic, private, and public stakeholders that, together with the Kenya Ministry of Health and UCLAs Schools of Nursing and Medicine, is designing a pilot emergency medical system in the West District of Nairobi. He is also providing analytical expertise to the Veterans Health Administration Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) in examining and planning for health system responses to emergencies, with particular attention to supply chain and human resource issues.
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Fred Kayne
Panelist – Operating Entrepreneurial Ventures
Mr. Kayne is president of Fortune Financial Inc. a private small investment company located in Los Angeles, California. He is a significant owner and investor in several private companies that participate in a variety of industries that include apparel, light fixtures, retail shoes wine-making and investments. Some examples of companies that he is involved with are: Walking Company Holdings (210 store chain of national brand and private label comfort shoes), Paige Premium Denim, LLC (High end designer jeans brand that sells to boutiques & department stores), Visionaire Lighting LLC (A manufacturer of custom outdoor lighting fixtures), Fortune Swimwear LLC (A manufacturer of dresses and bathing suits for mass retailer department & specialty stores) and Terravant Wine Company (Custom wine crush, storage & bottling facility in Buellton, California).
Fred became a stock broker in 1966 & joined Bear Stearns (1974). He became Managing Director of the Los Angeles office of Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. from 1978 to 1986 where he supervised the investment banking, securities brokerage and real estate activities of this leading investment bank. Mr. Kayne was a director of the public Bear Stearns Companies until September 1987 when he resigned. Mr. Kayne was an original founder and Director in 1973 of First Los Angeles Bank. Served as Chairman of the loan committee and investment committee for six years until the profitable sale of the bank in 1984. He was Chief Executive Officer and board member of FarWest Financial Corporation from February 1988 to September 1990 when he resigned. FarWest Financial Corporation had assets in excess of $4.5 billion.
Mr. Kayne is married, has two children (Andrea & Stephen), four grandchildren and lives in Beverly Hills, California. He and his wife, Lenore, support various charitable organizations and social clubs in the Los Angeles area. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission from MIT’s ROTC program. While at MIT, Fred was on the varsity tennis team and Sigma Alpha Mu, fraternity and graduated with Tau Beta Pi honorary distinction.
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Giang Biscan
Panelist – Managing Growth
Known as “The Startup Angel”, Giang Biscan is a super connector empowering early-stage tech entrepreneurs, helping startups get launch exposure and raising series-A funding from angel investors and venture capitalists. She is the founder of B Success Network, LLC and
theStartupAngel.com.
Giang is an Intellectual Property specialist with experience in managing a multi-million- dollar technology patent portfolio of a public company. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering with 11 journal publications, has been invited speakers at various universities and conferences, and has six issued and pending patents in U.S. and other countries. She has won various international awards for technology development and commercialization.
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Heather Lipner
Panelist – The New Incubator
Heather Lipner brings over 15 years of expertise in the design and tech industry as Co-Founder of Uncovet.com. During the past decade she has been a staple in the Los Angeles design and tech scene running branding, interactive and content strategy for clients such as Lisa Kline, Toshiba, KCRW, California Apparel News and AOL at the award-winning branding and interactive firm Fluidesign. Most recently she was the creative director for the MySpace redesign and rebranding initiative.
Heather Lipner holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Jason Lehmbeck
Panelist – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
Jason is the CEO and co-founder of DataPop, a marketing technology provider that helps marketers turn ads into answers that people love to click on.
Prior to co-founding DataPop, Jason was VP of Emerging Ad Products at Overture Services and Yahoo!, where he and his team partnered with leading marketers to test new models for engaging consumers on video, mobile, targeting and social platforms. Before joining Yahoo!, Jason was Director of Business Development at DoubleClick. There he managed partner programs for its technology solutions division.
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Jason Poulos
Panelist – Entrepreneurship in Healthcare
Dr. Jason Poulos received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCSD in 2005, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA in 2009. During his graduate studies at UCLA, Dr. Poulos was co-inventor on two patents that allowed for high throughput artificial bilayer formation and measurement. These platforms have made the use of artificial cellular membranes as tools for ion channel drug discovery and safety screening a viable option.
Dr. Poulos and Dr. Jacob Schmidt, started Librede, Inc. in 2008 to further develop and commercialize this technology. Librede has obtained the exclusive license for the underlying technology from UCLA, and received funding from both the NIH and the NSF through Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Grants to commercialize this technology.
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Jeff Scheinrock
Panel Moderator – The New Incubator
Jeff Scheinrock is currently the President & CFO at Originate (Originate.com). A pioneer in Venture Resources, Originate invests capital and elite engineering talent and startup expertise into high potential opportunities. Originate’s expertise includes software development (mobile, web, embedded), strategic consulting (turn-around, product development, market research), and fund-raising.
Formerly CEO of Scheinrock Advisory Group, the company merged with Originate Labs in April, 2010 to form Originate, Inc. Prior to that Jeff was a member of GKM Newport Generation Funds, a fund of funds managing in excess of $950 million for investments into venture capital funds and private equity buyout funds from 2003-2007. Prior to founding Scheinrock Advisory Group in mid-1997, Jeff served as Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer and Director of Kistler Aerospace Corporation from 1996 through May 1997. While at Kistler, Jeff formulated the capital raising plan and all documents for a successful raise of $350 million in equity. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Scheinrock served as Vice Chairman of Finance and Strategic Planning for Packard Bell NEC Electronics, Inc. While at Packard Bell, Jeff negotiated equity investments from Groupe Bull and NEC. Jeff also set up operations throughout Europe and Asia and negotiated tax incentives from the different countries. Jeff negotiated in excess of $1 billion in bank debt and $3 billion in trade credit from companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Tatung, Lite-On, Seagate etc. Jeff also handled the negotiation and structuring of all acquisitions including Zenith Data Systems and Ark Interface Software among others. Prior to joining Packard Bell NEC, Mr. Scheinrock was Senior Partner in charge of the Entrepreneurial Services Group of Arthur Young and Company’s Los Angeles office. He has extensive experience in international financial markets, corporate finance and capital structure, acquisitions and strategic investment, and is a CPA.
Jeff is a Director of Andrews Space and Technology.
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Jeffrey Faust
Panel Moderator – Restaurant Panel
Faust and Lee met in second grade in Orange County, attended Berkeley and opened Fundamental LA with chef Dave Morgan (Cyrus, Melisse, Charlie Palmer). Faust worked for a Big Four ad agency, and wanted “an honest restaurant where we make the food we want to eat.” The space features wood counters and tables, drop down bulbs, and bare white walls. Fundamental LA has an open kitchen, which allows diners to see the cooks
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Joel Sanders
Panelist – Digital Media
Joel Sanders is a Senior Director of Product at Viacom Media Networks. In this position, he defines and executes product concepts for social, mobile & emerging platform experiences for Comedy Central. Recent projects include the Roast of Charlie Sheen co-viewing experience & the Stand-Up Month Facebook app. Sanders started out in digital post production & broadcast with focus on 3D animation, composting and non-linear editing. His foray into online media & games started in 2000 when he joined AtomFilms.com and later Shockwave.com.
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John Babcock
Fast Pitch Judge
John Babcock has been a partner at Rustic Canyon since the firm’s formation in 1999. During that time, he has backed great entrepreneurs in the software, hardware, Internet and Cleantech areas.
Before Rustic Canyon, John was an executive at the Los Angeles Times, working in both the print and online businesses. Previously, he founded The Delta Group. John began his career as a software programmer. John earned his BA from Duke University and his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
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Jonah Minton
Panelist – Digital Media
Jonah Minton is the Vice President of Sales at Ustream. Ustream is the leading platform for live streaming and interactive video across mobile, web and TV with an audience of 52 million monthly global unique visitors.
Jonah is responsible for the US-based direct sales team, managing advertising, integrated marketing and sponsorships across client-direct and agency relationships. Jonah joined Ustream in 2009 where he was instrumental in building out the premium content, business development and direct sales teams. Prior to Ustream, Jonah worked at MySpace Video, developing original web content for brand sponsorship and integration.
Jonah resides in Los Angeles and holds a Bachelors of Arts from UC Berkeley in English Literature and a Masters in Music from the University of Southern California.
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Josh Schwarzapel
Panelist – Digital Media
Josh Schwarzapel, Co-Founder & CEO, OnTheAir.com
Josh spends his time on the normal CEO duties of a small startup: product strategy, user experience, recruiting, and ordering the groceries. Before OnTheAir, Josh was a founding team member at Cooliris, a Kleiner Perkins backed startup. Josh holds a BA from Stanford, where he was a Mayfield Fellow.
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Kedist Tsadik
Panelist – Restaurant Panel
Kedist Tsadik is the founder of Bereket, L.A.’s only underground supper club focused on modern Ethiopian cuisine. In 2011, Kedist partnered with her sister Chef Becky Tsadik to create a culinary experience unlike any other, and to showcase their culture and cuisine in an exciting way. The unique flavors, guests, and exquisite venues change with each private event, and only those who R.S.V.P. are notified of the location. A percentage of all profits go to UNICEF’s efforts towards the current famine in east Africa. Thus the name “BEREKET”, or “gift” in Amharic, the Ethiopian language.
Kedist received her M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson, and currently manages Hillstone Restaurant in Santa Monica. Prior to Anderson, Kedist worked as a financial analyst for CIBC World Market’s commercial real estate finance department and brings an in-depth understanding of LA’s real estate market and neighborhood trends. Kedist is passionate about sharing her Ethiopian culture and food with Los Angeles. A self-proclaimed “foodie,” Kedist loves exploring new cultures and cuisines within the vibrant city of L.A.
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Lindsay Wallner
Panelist – Fashion and eCommerce in Los Angeles
Lindsay Wallner is the Vice President of Zoe Media Group, where she oversees a digital team that executes a 475,000 subscriber-based online publication and Rachel Zoe’s online presence. Prior to moving to LA in 2009, she spent 10 years in the New York City both in the digital agency world where she executed strategies for brands such as Diageo, Nestle, and Starwood and in house at Ralph Lauren.
At Ralph Lauren, she was responsible for new brand launches online and Ralph Lauren’s mobile and m-commerce and QR code initiatives around the US Open in 2009. Ms Wallner graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
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Luka Erceg
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Mr. Erceg is founder, President and CEO of Simbol Materials, a venture backed company commercializing transformative technology that leverages renewable energy to create clean energy storage materials. The innovation utilizes geothermal brines, CO2, and other by-products from geothermal power plants in California’s mineral-rich Imperial Valley to sustainably produce battery materials. Simbol Materials answers the global call for secure, high performing and environmentally responsible critical materials.
Mr. Erceg brings 12 years of transaction advisory experience in the energy and energy technology sectors. Prior to founding Simbol Materials, Mr. Erceg was engaged in private transactions related to oil & gas field telemetry, petroleum marketing and coal gasification. While at CenterPoint Energy, Mr. Erceg completed acquisitions of an oil & gas field telemetry business, intellectual property licensing transactions and pipeline and gas gathering systems. At El Paso Corp., Mr. Erceg led the valuation and analysis team for domestic and international power asset portfolio of 77 power plants and restructured power assets, a part of a multi-billion dollar financing vehicle. Mr. Erceg holds a M.B.A. degree from Rice University, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Economic Law from the University of Houston’s Law Center, a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law, and a Bachelors (B.Com.) in Marketing from the University of Guelph in Canada.
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Marc Holland
Panelist – “Doing well to do good”: A Social Entrepreneurship Panel
Marc Holland celebrates his 20th year as a socially conscious serial entrepreneur specializing in matching the needs of business to those of cause and community.
In the early 90’s, Holland was a pioneer in scholastic marketing with his company, The Educational Support Marketing (ESM) Network. ESM was a market leader in national on-campus programs, which allowed major youth brands to gain on-campus access by promoting attendance and fund raising, as well as anti-alcohol and anti-drug messaging.
Holland’s programs included Macy’s presents: Billboard in The Schools, The Teen Spirit National Junior Aerobic Challenge, The Great Payday in The Schools: Payday Scratch n’ Win Payoff, The Vans BMX STUNT XXX Team. Holland’s sponsored tour of the Backstreet Boys was critical for their discovery and eventual progression to international stardom.
In 1998, Holland scanned the marketing industry and found a gap, in-flight entertainment was being under serviced. Sky Radio, a company he then founded soon became the dominant leader in the industry and produced programming for American, United, Delta, Northwest, US Airways and Virgin. He is credited for being the first one to introduce co-branding to this entertainment format. His top shows included, Forbes Radio, Radio Yahoo, Fortune On-Air, Ask Suzi Orman and Sports Talk.
In 2008, Holland formed a new partnership and rebranded the company as Altitude Media (AMI). AMI produces Travel a la Mode and Travel & Lifestyle TV, as well as dozens of radio shows. Holland has worked with over 5,000 clients including Hilton, Dell, The Carter Foundation, City of Hope, Intel, American Medical Association, Home Depot and the Walt Disney Company.
AMI, in conjunction with CSR Wire, is currently producing “Best Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility.”
Holland’s newest endeavor is Big Heart Deals, a company, which promotes socially conscious commerce and works with non-profits to enable them to run their own fundraising deal engines while a portion is contributed to sponsored charities.
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Mariana Gerzanych
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Mariana Gerzanych, Co-founder and CEO of 350Green, concentrates on building out charging infrastructure for Electric Cars. Prior to starting 350Green 3 years ago, Mariana built a career in statistical economics. As a statistical analyst for Department of Commerce, Mariana spearheaded survey method integration with online media. She brings environmental transportation industry experience as a founder and CEO of EnviroRide, an Eco-friendly sedan service operating in MD, VA, and Washington, DC.
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Mark Eckhardt
Panel Moderator – “Doing well to do good”: A Social Entrepreneurship Panel
Mark Eckhardt became a Zen Priest after 12 years of training, which is a pretty unusual thing to do. For Mark, a disciplined musician and curious student of the human condition, it was a perfect fit. He spent 15 years as a successful producer, composer and performer having bottles of water thrown at him by certain chart-topping Divas. He also helped found a digital strategy agency where he was responsible for high level business development and client services, and has consulted executives and entrepreneurs around the globe on the tenants of how not to drive your employees crazy. Mark technically studied music on various pots, composition at UCLA and the Berklee College of Music, and also holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Cal Polytechnic State University. Now he can be found hanging out in Boulder, Colorado where he and a team of really cool people led by Alex Bogusky, are responsible for bringing the world’s first collaborative brand, COMMON, to life. When he’s not helping other creative professionals and social entrepreneurs make the world spin backwards, Mark can be found with his wife and baby girl, and training others in Zen Practice.
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Mark Suster
Opening Keynote Speaker
Mark Suster is a partner at GRP Partners. He joined the firm in 2007 after having previously worked with GRP for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Most recently Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com (NASDAQ: CRM) following its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, the largest independent global content collaboration company focused on the engineering and construction sectors, which was acquired by SWORD Group (PARIS: SWP). Earlier in his career, Mark spent nearly ten years working for Accenture in Europe, Japan and the U.S.
Mark received a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He grew up in the U.S. and is also a citizen of the UK.
Mark led the investment in Factual and currently sits on the Boards of the following companies in GRP’s portfolio: Ad.ly, Awe.sm, Burstly, Factual, GumGum, Pose and Ring Revenue.
Follow Mark on Twitter http://twitter.com/msuster
You can read Mark’s Blog Both Sides of the Table at http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com
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Matt Ridenour
Panel Moderator – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
Matt Ridenour is currently the Operating Partner at The People Fund (www.thepeoplefund.net). He has primary responsibility for supervising the People Fund’s portfolio of operating companies.
Prior to joining the People Fund, Mr. Ridenour was a founding Managing Director of two different venture capital funds, Momentum Venture Management and Gazelle TechVentures, both of which made Series A investments in early stage technology companies. Prior to this Mr. Ridenour was a Principal with Blue Capital, a leveraged buyout fund, and was a Consultant with Bain & Company in their private equity practice.
Mr. Ridenour has been a principal in fundraising transactions totaling more than $200mm and has extensive experience as both a venture investor and as an early stage CEO. Mr. Ridenour has an economics degree from Dartmouth College and graduated as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School.
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Matthew Kahn
Panel Moderator – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Matthew E. Kahn is a Professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment, the Department of Economics, the Anderson School of Management, the Department of Public Policy and the Law School. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before joining the UCLA faculty in January 2007, he taught at Columbia and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is the author of Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment (Brookings Institution Press 2006), the co-author of Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War (Princeton University Press 2009), and the author of Climatopolis (Basic Books 2010).
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Matthew Schwab
Panelist – Starting a Real Estate Fund
Since co-founding Karlin Real Estate in 2008, Matthew Schwab has overseen $40 million in opportunistic acquisitions in office, multi-family, and residential assets, and the purchases of the associated, secured debt. Using his experience from over $600 million in career acquisitions, Mr. Schwab has aggressively built KRE’s presence in the real estate and restructuring investment community. He has moderated and served on a number of panels, including the Distressed Investing 2008 Annual Conference in New York City and the Lido Family Office Wealth Conference.
Currently, he sits on the Board of Advisors for the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, the board of the Association for Corporate Growth, and is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Turnaround Manager’s Association. Mr. Schwab is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara (B.S. in Economics), the Anderson School at UCLA (M.B.A.), and is a licensed California Real Estate Broker.
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Michael Broukhim
Panelist – Fashion and eCommerce in Los Angeles
Michael is Vice President of Strategy at Beachmint, a next generation eCommerce company focused on influencer-driven, curated commerce. Michael is also co-founder of Charlie (meetcharlie.com) where he launched Rachel Zoe’s the Zoe Report, Giuliana Rancic’s FabFitFun, and crafted new media strategies for Samuel L. Jackson, Rudy Giuliani, Dick Clark Productions, and Tumblr, among others.
Michael is a graduate of Harvard College where served as Editorial Chair of the Harvard Crimson and is earning a JD/MBA from Stanford University.
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Mika Onishi
Panelist – Fashion and eCommerce in Los Angeles
As COO of Who What Wear, Mika Onishi is charged with all non-editorial aspects of this multi-media brand, including strategy, finance, business development, sales, product development and operations.
Who What Wear is the definitive online authority and curator for trend-setting fashionistas and their followers, between the ages of 18-49. This editorial brand has quickly become the essential resource among women everywhere with its inclusive voice and approachable take on fashion, celebrity and style. Who What Wear reaches its audience through its online magazine and a daily email newsletter covering the latest in celebrity fashion, runway trends and beauty secrets. The WWW content also includes online video and books – Who What Wear TV was the #1 downloaded podcast on iTunes within the fashion vertical during its 4 season run. In addition, the brand has released two popular books, Who What Wear: Celebrity and Runway Style for Real Life, and What to Wear, Where.
Mika brings a multi-faceted digital media background to Who What Wear. Prior to Who What Wear, Mika developed digital media strategies for corporate and strategy development groups at Sony Pictures, the Walt Disney Internet Group, Disney/ABC Digital Media and the Watertower Group. Mika previously worked on standards and strategy development surrounding advanced advertising, digital content distribution, user identity/privacy, and digital rights management for Dentsu, the largest advertising and media conglomerate in Japan. Earlier in her career, Mika produced PROMAX/BDA award-winning studio film promotion sites, 3D film rides/location-based entertainment, CG animation, and video games for Square USA, Sony, Disney and others. Mika holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
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Mike Jones
Closing Keynote Speaker (A fireside chat hosted by Dr. Al Osborne)
Mike is an Internet executive, investor and strategic advisor. A long-time entrepreneur, Mike founded his first successful Internet company in college and since then, has founded, built and sold numerous online and mobile businesses. His experience and expertise in both large and small companies focuses on strategy, growth, and operational efficiency resulting in over $500M in successful investor outcomes.
Most recently Mike Jones served as the CEO of Myspace. In this role, Mike oversaw global business strategy and operations for Myspace, Myspace Music, and Myspace Mobile, which included board and strategic roles with joint venture partners in Myspace China and Myspace Japan / Softbank. During his tenure, he was responsible for the relaunch of Myspace, one of the most high-profile turn-around challenges in the industry. This included stabilizing a historically negative traffic and user trend, reducing the operational cost of the business by nearly 90 percent and pivoting the product from its legacy as a social network to a social entertainment destination, then selling the business on NewsCorp behalf to SpecificMedia.
Mike has over 18 years of strategic, operational and senior management experience in businesses ranging from early stage start-ups to private equity backed assets and from mid-stage business to large turn-around operations. A serial Internet entrepreneur, Mike has founded, advised, invested and sold numerous businesses, including application platform Userplane, which he led from startup to its acquisition by AOL, Tsavo Media, Movoxx, PeopleMedia, Brizzly and Myspace. Mike is actively involved with early-stage start-ups as an investor, advisor and board member. As an active early stage investor, Mike has personally invested in over 30 startup businesses including Klout, Betterworks, Formspring, ShoeDazzle and LunchMoney to name a few. Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Business and Marketing from the University of Oregon.
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Mike Rudoy
Panel Moderator – Digital Media
Michael Rudoy is a Co-Founder of Big Live, an innovative utility for real-time multi-media sharing with live audiences. Michael has a consulting background (Diamond Management, Technology Consultants) focusing on web strategy. He holds a BA in Political Science from Princeton University.
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MJ Eng
Panelist – Fashion and eCommerce in Los Angeles
MJ Eng designed and built ShoeDazzle.com, the leading online fashion subscription service for women, from idea to fully functional business operation, then scaled the business to over $80M in annual revenue in under 3 years. Prior to founding ShoeDazzle, MJ served as Director of Application Development for LegalZoom.com, executing key strategic product initiatives.
MJ began his career as a technologist at Sapient Corporation consulting for several Fortune 500 clients in various industries ranging from financial services to automotive and healthcare. MJ holds a BS in Computer Science from UCLA where he is also an award winning Instructor of Project Management.
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Ophir Tanz
Panelist – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
As the CEO and founder of GumGum, Ophir Tanz revolutionized the advertising industry with the creation of the first and world’s largest in-image advertising platform. Recently, Mr. Tanz was recognized for the success of GumGum’s in-image monetization solution with the Siemer Summit’s Innovation in Advertising Award and on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. In addition, Mr. Tanz acts as an advisor to the local Los Angeles startup community, including Binksty, where student loans are made simple, BetterYou, an online concierge for fitness, beauty and health and Adrenalads, a direct navigation advertising network.
Mr. Tanz holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a M.S. in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside of GumGum, Mr. Tanz is an active member of the Los Angeles startup and advertising community attending and speaking at various events and conferences around Silicon Beach.
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Paul Habibi
Panel Moderator – Starting a Real Estate Fund
Paul is a lecturer in real estate at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, where he has been a finalist for the Teacher of the Year Award every year he has taught MBA students. He teaches in the areas of real estate finance, development and social entrepreneurship. Paul began his teaching career at UCLA in 2004.
Widely quoted in the media, he has appeared on BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN, FOX News, NBC’s The Today Show, NPR, and all major dailies including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times. A highly sought-after speaker, Paul regularly presents to leading business, government, and nonprofit organizations
Paul is Principal of Habibi Properties, LLC, which owns over 1,600 apartment units in the Los Angeles area, and is the Managing Member of the Arrowhead Residential Funds, which invest in distressed housing in Kansas City, Missouri.
Paul is also Principal of of Grayslake Advisors, LLC, which provides expert witness services to national law firms and Fortune 500 companies.
Paul previously worked as an Investment Banking Associate at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Manager of Transaction Support with The Walt Disney Company, and Audit Manager with Arthur Andersen LLP.
Paul holds an MBA with Highest Distinction from the University of Michigan, under merit scholarship, and a BA in Economics from UCSB. He is a licensed CPA and Real Estate Salesperson in the State of California. Active in the community, he serves on the Board of Directors of Pacific Charter School Development, and as director of the Los Angeles Streetcar project.
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Paul Yeh
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Paul Yeh is the Director of Product Strategy & Business Development at Fisker Automotive, an American Car company committed to producing Electric Vehicles with Extended Range (EVer). Prior to joining Fisker Automotive, he was the Director of Marketing & Finance at Next Autoworks, a venture backed clean tech automotive start-up.
Paul started his career as an investment banking analyst focusing on technology M&A at RBC Capital Markets. When he realized that his love for cars and technology goes beyond just a hobby, he pursued a job at Ford Motor Company. At Ford, he held various roles in product development, international operations, and the launch of the Explorer SUV at the Louisville Assembly Plant. He also spent time at McKinsey & Company and at Tesla Motors.
Paul earned his B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and his MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Renee LaBran
Panel Moderator – Managing Growth
Renee LaBran brings 25 years of operating, strategic, and financial experience to Rustic Canyon/ Fontis Partners, LP, where she is a Partner. Ms. LaBran has also been a Partner with Rustic Canyon Partners, an early stage venture capital firm, since helping to form the firm in 1999. Prior to Rustic Canyon, Ms. LaBran held a variety of executive positions with the Los Angeles Times/ Times Mirror in the areas of digital media, advertising sales, investments, and strategic planning. During her tenure, she managed revenues in excess of $300 million and oversaw more than 200 employees. She was also a co-founder and served as Chief Executive Officer of CareerPath.com (now CareerBuilder), and a co-founder and board member of Classified Ventures. Prior to Times Mirror, Ms. LaBran was a management consultant with the Monitor Company in the United States and Europe and managed its Los Angeles office.
Ms. LaBran currently serves on the boards of Cabrera Capital Markets, Preferred Brands, and Sambazon, Inc. on behalf of RCF.
Ms. LaBran graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and earned an M.B.A. with honors from the Harvard Business School. Her non-profit activities include the La Canada Flintridge Educational Foundation, where she is former President, and current Endowment Trustee, and Vice-Chair of Hathaway – Sycamores, a child and family services agency. She is also a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an advisor to the Women’s Student Association at Harvard Business School.
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Reuben Berman
Panelist – Starting a Real Estate Fund
Reuben Berman is the founder of Entrada Partners, a full service real estate investment and advisory firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Entrada’s current portfolio consists of over $50 million of commercial properties. Before founding Entrada Partners, Reuben worked in the acquisitions and development group at Kor Realty Group, a Los Angeles based real estate firm focused on apartments, condominiums, boutique hotels and resorts. At Kor, Reuben led the acquisition and disposition of $330 million worth of multifamily properties. Prior to Kor, Reuben worked at AEW Capital Management, a real estate pension fund advisor with $32 billion of assets under management. At AEW, Reuben worked with Joint Venture operating partners to acquire over $500 million of commercial real estate, sell a $615 million portfolio of office buildings to Arden Realty, negotiate debt facilities and underwrite numerous other investment opportunities.
Prior to joining AEW, he worked at Wells Fargo Bank’s Real Estate Group underwriting construction loans and borrowers for new real estate developments. Reuben earned a BS in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley as well as an MBA from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. Reuben is a past President and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Haas Alumni Network, Los Angeles Chapter. He is also actively involved with the ULI Young Leaders Group, the Jewish Federation Real Estate and Construction division and the Jewish Federation New Leaders Program where he worked on a task force to help solve the Los Angeles housing crisis.
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Robert Jadon
Fast Pitch Judge
Robert is the Director of the Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator. Robert’s previous company, Micro Memory, was a leader in the storage networking and DSP markets. It was acquired by VMETRO, and subsequently Curtiss Wright (NYSE: CW).
After leading various product roles, Robert left to pursue angel investing. Robert is an early investor/advisor to AnyMeeting, BetterWorks, GotCast, TicketMob/LaughStub, and various other web companies. In addition to being a proud Bruin alumni, Robert is now a manager of the Dauntless Fund, a member of the Tech Coast Angels, and an investor/advisor to the Amplify.la Accelerator.
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Robert W. Price
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Robert W. Price is the Executive Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Institute. He enjoys world renown as an expert in the field of entrepreneurial capitalism. He is a strategist, innovative thought leader, public speaker, creative educator, and prolific author. He has written or edited more than a dozen books. His entrepreneurship books and course materials are used in the Top 10 best graduate programs in the USA that teach entrepreneurship, and 8 of the Top 10 best undergraduate programs in the USA that teach entrepreneurship. His work has been translated into more than 10 languages.
Founded in 1998, the Global Entrepreneurship Institute is a non-profit that promotes the advancement of entrepreneurial education around the world. Working as a global business incubator it also facilitates introductions to investors, professional service providers, and other entrepreneurs. Using his exclusive Roadmap to Entrepreneurial Success he has helped entrepreneurs raise over $100 million.
He has been the intellectual architect for a number of exciting and innovative projects around the world. Most notably was an online financial service during the early days of the Internet-era. This project became part of the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, as one of the most significant technology advances in the insurance arena.
He has been honored as a semifinalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) Program and was recently a featured TEDx presenter in Latin America. Robert earned his MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and Bachelor’s degree in International Studies/Western Europe from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
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Ryan Black
Panelist – Managing Growth
Ryan Black founded Sambazon in 2000 after discovering the açai fruit during a surf trip to Brazil. Quickly realizing that the sustainable trade of this fruit was a powerful vehicle to spread a message of corporate social responsibility, Ryan began building a sustainable business model in the Amazon Rainforest with mainstream promise. As CEO of Sambazon, Ryan leads a new generation of social entrepreneurs who successfully use business to create positive economic change for the planet. His efforts are paying off as Sambazon’s organic and sustainable products are enjoyed by world class athletes and health-conscious people across the globe.
A social entrepreneur, Ryan is guided by the philosophy of the “Triple Bottom Line” which demonstrates that corporate success can be achieved on an economic, social and environmental level. Intrinsic to Sambazon’s corporate mission, Ryan helped create a force in the Amazon that has enriched the lives of thousands of local families, aided in the economic growth of the region and protected the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest through Market Driven Conservation.
Ryan appeared on Donny Deutsch’s The Big Idea in 2008 with his brother Jeremy Black and received a Tastemaker Award from Food & Wine magazine, an annual award which recognizes the top 35 talents in food and wine under the age of 35. Ryan was listed as one of the top 40 agriculture stars under the age of 40 years old by American Food & Ag Exporter and was a ‘readers choice’ winner for Fast Company magazine’s “Fast 50” award. Ryan has been featured in such publications as PEOPLE Magazine, Entrepreneur, ODE, FORTUNE, Inc., The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to Sambazon, Ryan attended the University of Colorado, where he was captain of the Buffaloes’ nationally ranked football team. After graduating with a degree in Finance and Business Administration, Ryan joined the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL and finished his professional football career playing overseas in Europe. An avid surfer, sports have remained an integral part of Ryan’s daily routine, and he constantly searches for ways to improve his energy and endurance through nutrition and healthy living.
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Sabarinath Saran
Panelist – Entrepreneurship in Healthcare
Sunny is a serial entrepreneur. He is currently the CEO of e2o Health a Healthcare IT Services firm that specializes in providing Electronic Health Record solutions to ambulatory medical practices. e2o Health was conceptualized during the business plan development class of Anderson and was formed during the GAP Business Creation Option of the FEMBA program. In less than two years of being in business e2o Health has established itself as a leader in providing quality healthcare IT services in the state of California and is in the process of helping several hundreds of healthcare providers meet federal government compliance requirements. Prior to founding e2o Health founded IT Resources International, Inc in 2004. Sunny also serves on the board of a non-profit organization called CDD (Crossing the digital divide) which helps recovering adults in acquiring computer skills. During his FEMBA program Sunny was very active in the Enterpreneur’s Association and was the Director of FEMBA Programs for the Entrepreneurs Association and he was also the external representative for his FEMBA section.
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Sam Friedman
Panelist – Doing Business with Business: A Panel With B2B Entrepreneurs
Sam Friedman co-founded ParkMe in 2009 to solve his own parking problems. Having paid a seemingly uncountable number of parking tickets and having arrived embarrassingly late to one too many meetings, he realized the parking process needed an overhaul.
Sam also held positions at Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles based wealth management firm, National Public Radio, and Merrill Lynch. Sam has a BA in Economics and Business from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He used to be fluent in Spanish, and has had amazing parking karma over the past several years.
Fun Fact: Sam can say the alphabet backwards
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Sam Teller
Fast Pitch Judge
Sam Teller is the managing director of Launchpad LA. Sam joined Launchpad from Charlie a Los Angeles based media company and interactive agency he co-founded in 2010. At Charlie, he led new media strategy for top entertainment, corporate, and political clients, including Samuel L. Jackson, Tumblr, Rachel Zoe, and Dick Clark Productions, while launching new media brands (FabFitFun) and making angel investments (Art.sy, Zoe Media Group, LearnBoost). Before Charlie, Sam was a member of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and inaugural new media team, managing Facebook and AdWords marketing and producing innovative digital campaigns on Hulu, Pandora, and in Xbox Live video games. Earlier, Sam worked/interned at Google (AdWords), Credit Suisse (investment banking), The Huffington Post, The Colbert Report, and for Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. Sam was born and raised in Los Angeles and received a BA from Harvard College, where he was business manager of the Harvard Lampoon and wrote some of the earliest news stories about Facebook.com.
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Steven Dietz
Fast Pitch Judge
Steven is a Partner of GRP Partners. Prior to GRP, Steven was a Senior Vice President of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in the Investment Banking Division and a member of DLJ’s Retailing Group for 14 years, where he provided advisory and capital raising services to more than 30 different retailers and numerous information technology companies.
Steven attended the University of Colorado and received a BS in Finance.
In GRP’s current portfolio, Steven sits on the Boards of TrueCar, Eagle Crest Energy Prior Board seats include CTSpace (acquired by SWORD Group (NYSE EURONEXT: SWP), Bill Me Later (acquired by eBay NASDAQ: EBAY), Koral (acquired by Salesforce.com (NASDAQ: CRM) and UGO Entertainment (acquired by Hearst Corporation).
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Terry Heller
Panelist – Restaurant Panel
Terry Heller’s background was in real estate prior to opening one of West LA’s hottest new restaurants. Plan Check Bar is located in an old liquor store on Sawtelle Ave, and features some of the cities best burgers, fried chicken sandwiches and charcuteries.
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Tracy DiNunzio
Panelist – The Story of Recycled Bride
Tracy DiNunzio is the founder of Recycled Media, a company that’s on a mission to turn every woman’s closet into a store. Recycled Media’s first property, RecycledBride.com, is the world’s largest wedding marketplace. Its next website, StyleTrader.com, is a place for women to buy, sell, and swap anything in their closets, and is slated to launch in May 2012. Investors and advisors include Dany Levy (founder of Daily Candy), Mark Suster, and Dave McClure.
Tracy began her career as an artist and discovered her passion for technology and media when she started Recycled Bride in 2009. She bootstrapped the company to profitability by renting out her bedroom on Airbnb and sleeping on her couch. She is now a sought-after speaker and media personality, as well as an SEO and customer acquisition expert and consultant.
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Venkat Shastri
Panelist – Clean Tech: First Mover’s Advantage?
Dr. Shastri is a world recognized leader in the fields of intelligent automation & control systems and robotics. He was recruited by founders and shareholders of PCN Technology, Inc. in 2006 from Palomar Technologies where he oversaw the critical designing, building, integration and support of very high-precision technologies needed to assemble complex packages with the highest levels of accuracy and reliability.
Dr. Shastri has held positions of Senior Director of Engineering and Product Development at KLA-Tencor; one of the world’s leading suppliers of process control and yield management solutions for international semiconductor and related microelectronics industries.
Prior to KLA, Dr. Shastri spent years at SRI International which is a leading research institute as the Director of Robotics and Intelligent Automation and as a SRI Senior Research Scientist.
Globally respected for his research in Artificial Muscles, Bio-Automation, and overall advances in Critical Automation & Control systems; Dr. Shastri’s scientific and academic background includes Engineer at JPL for the NASA Mars Exploration Program and specifically the Mars Pathfinder project. Dr. Shastri was also a research scientist at Yale University and research professor at Stanford University. Dr. Shastri received both a B.S and a M.S. degree in mechanical engineering, as well as, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering; each from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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Vijay Kotrappa
Panelist – “Doing well to do good”: A Social Entrepreneurship Panel
Vijay Kotrappa is a Technologist and an Entrepreneur. As Founder and CEO of CareRally, he is currently pursuing his passion in combining social media, technology, and health care to bring doctors and patients together at a local level with a goal of improving the quality and cost of care. Prior to CareRally, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of PatientFYI, a dental search directory. Before that, he founded Guidance Solutions – a technology incubator/services firm in Marina Del Rey which led to the and of several Dot-Com businesses during the 1998-2000 Internet-boom.
Vijay is a Principal in the America’s Schools Program, a venture developed to help fund K-12 Educational/Environmental Programs. He has been instrumental in developing business plans and partnerships through this decade long journey for this venture focused on Recycling and Environmental Education. Programs have included a Youth Environmental Summit and a Fashion/Trashion Show. The recent thrust is in developing a specialized plastics recycling plant in conjunction with the University and K-12 education system in Las Vegas.
Vijay received an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management (2000), an MS in CAD/CAM from UCLA’s School of Engineering (1986) and a B-Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Bombay (1984).
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William Cockrum
Fast Pitch Judge
Professor Cockrum has won numerous teaching awards, including recognition as the top entrepreneurial professor in the nation in a survey conducted by Business Week in 1996. He has become a legend for a case-study entrepreneurial finance class he has taught for more than 25 years, teaching students the ins and outs of acquiring and sustaining the financing for organizations.
Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, Bill Cockrum spent 25 years in financial services initially as a marketer and lastly as CFO/CAO and one of the top senior officers at Becker Paribas, Inc. a 3,000-employee investment banking firm. When the company was sold to Merrill Lynch in 1984, Cockrum began his second career as a consultant to chief executive officers. He serves as a consultant in a variety of industries on issues such as organization structure, strategy, marketing, finance, and administration.
Shortly after starting consulting, Cockrum became a full time professor at UCLA Anderson teaching students the business and finance skills needed to succeed as entrepreneurs. Mr. Cockrum currently teaches entrepreneurial finance, business ethics, and investment management and more than 7,000 students have passed through his classroom for these courses. He also is a member of the School’s Board of Visitors, the Anderson Alumni Board, the Advisory Board of the Price Center, and a member of the UCLA Foundation investment committee and a Govenor of the Foundation.
Professor Cockrum is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Management of Cranfield university, Cranfield, England as well as a visiting Professor and a member of the Advisory Board of the Betteny Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies at Cranfield. Cockrum is also a Visiting Professor ay the Graduate School of Management at Warwick University, Coventry, England.
Education
MBA Finance and Marketing, 1961, Harvard University
B.A. Economics, 1959, DePauw University
Interests
Banking, Board Management, Brokerage Industry, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Initial Product Offerings, Investments, Leadership, Start-Up Companies, Venture Capital
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Woogene Lee
Panel Moderator – Restaurant Panel
Faust and Lee met in second grade in Orange County, attended Berkeley and opened Fundamental LA with chef Dave Morgan (Cyrus, Melisse, Charlie Palmer). Faust worked for a Big Four ad agency, and wanted “an honest restaurant where we make the food we want to eat.” The space features wood counters and tables, drop down bulbs, and bare white walls. Fundamental LA has an open kitchen, which allows diners to see the cooks