Advisory Board Members
Please note that this is a partial listing. Additional listings will be posted prior to the event.
Scott Belsky
Scott is the founder of Behance, the leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work, and now serves as Adobe's Vice President of Products/Community. He is also the author of the international bestselling book Making Ideas Happen (Portfolio, Penguin Books). Jose Ferreira
Jose Ferreira is the founder and CEO of Knewton, the world's leading adaptive learning company. Top publishers and education companies use the Knewton infrastructure to power course materials that dynamically adapt to each student's unique needs. Knewton was named a 2011 Technology Pioneer and a 2014 Global Growth Company by the World Economic Forum at Davos.
Phil Terry
Phil Terry, CEO of Collaborative Gain, Inc., runs The Councils, a collaborative network of senior leaders, and until early 2014, Phil was also the CEO of Creative Good, a pioneering consulting firm focused on customer experience and strategy. Phil also co-authored "Customers Included", the book widely praised by CEOs, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs for its practical and passionate focus on building better businesses. |
Marc Cenedella
Marc is the Founder & CEO of Knozen: www.knozen.com.
Alexis Maybank
In 2007, Alexis Maybank and a founding team conceived of and built Gilt, and in doing so, revolutionized the landscape of luxury ecommerce and the way millions of people shop online. She has held several positions at Gilt as cofounder since its inception, including serving as the company's initial CEO.
Alexandra Wilson
Alexandra is a pioneering leader in digital commerce, retail, merchandising, sales, business development, marketing and entrepreneurship. Drawing upon 15 years of international experience in luxury goods, retail and finance, she most recently helped to reinvent the e-commerce space as co-founder of Gilt, where she played an integral role in taking the company from conception to the global enterprise it is today. |
Participant Directory
Please note that this is a partial listing. Additional listings will be posted prior to the event.
Gil is CEO of RubiconMD, a platform for connecting primary care providers to specialists for remote opinions. Gil drives the company's vision, strategy and growth. He has seen firsthand the pain in getting a loved one to the right specialist and believes there is a better way. Previously at Putnam Associates, a pharma consultancy, Gil designed payer and market access strategies for fortune 500s. He brings years of experience in both healthcare and IT. He holds a BS in economics and biomedical engineering from Yale and an MBA from Harvard.
Mark Caron has spent more than twenty years playing a leading role in bringing mobile services to the mass-market; starting with digital wireless services in the 1990s, text messaging in the early 2000s, and the mobile internet and mobile apps in the past decade. At bMobilized, he is focused on empowering small businesses to take full advantage of the mobile economy. In addition to founding/cofounding three companies, Caron has advised and/or invested in more than twenty other startups.
Since graduating I have kept busy as Co-founder of Rent the Runway founded in 2009 with Section I classmate, Jennifer Hyman) where I have worn many different hats. Most recently, I am leading our business development initiatives where we are evaluating huge revenue growth opportunities for the business as well as innovative business model evolutions. We have launched a sponsorships arm of the business where we have partnerships with brands such as L'Oreal, Neutrogena and Ford and have structured retail partnerships, celebrity partnerships, and run key business model tests.
Bart is the Co-Founder & COO of Tiggly, a learning company that develops physical toys that interact with learning apps on tablets like the iPad; he is responsible for sales and marketing. He graduated from HBS in 2013 and received his BA in History from Williams College in 2005.
Steven Cohn is founder and CEO of Validately. Steven sold his first two companies to LivingSocial and TripAdvisor. Validately is his third startup. Previously, he held management positions at DoubleClick and Quantcast. Steven graduated from HBS in 2005. He has two high energy sons and a very supportive wife.
Sarah E. Endline is a social entrepreneur and a self proclaimed 'hippie capitalist.' Sarah is currently the Founder and CEO of sweetriot in NYC, an activist candy company, which is creating a sweet movement to fix the world. sweetriot has started by sourcing cacao in Latin America, featuring artwork on packaging, and by only using all-natural, healthy ingredients.
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Marc has found an outlet for his obsession with sports as the Founder & CEO of Fanlime, a marketplace offering elevated lifestyle apparel and merchandise inspired by the culture of sports. Marc and his team see a unique opportunity to create a branded platform around "the stylish sports fan", and as part of this vision, partner with pro athletes to launch exclusive capsule collections on the Fanlime platform. Prior to HBS, Marc earned an SB in Chemical Engineering from MIT, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and paid his professional dues as an Associate at Bain & Co (Boston), and Fidelity Equity Partners (London).
Melissa Matarese Fensterstock is the creator of Aromaflage, a botanical fragrance that doubles as insect repellent. A passionate entrepreneur, Matarese is building a luxury brand around fragrance with a function for the outdoor chic lifestyle. She resides in NYC with her husband and cofounder Michael. Melissa holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, a BA in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University, and earned her MBA from HBS in 2012. Aromaflage will be launching this spring in Anthropologie and Nordstrom.
Vipin Goyal is the Co-Founder & CEO of SideTour, which was acquired by Groupon in September 2013. Since joining Groupon, in addition to managing the SideTour business, Vipin also heads Sales & Business Development for GrouponLive. Vipin was previously VP of Business Development at Joost, the online video company started by the founders of Skype. Prior to Joost, he was Director of Strategy & Business Development at MTV Networks International. Vipin began his career as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, in Chicago and Mumbai.
Dana is an innovator, entrepreneur, builder, and thought leader with diverse experience in strategy, business development, marketing, sales, and communications. With a career spanning the retail, financial services, and social enterprise sectors, Dana has a strong interest in innovation within consumer technology.
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Aunim is the CEO of Tista Games, a platform for curated video games delivered through the cloud to monthly subscribers. His work has been featured in SXSW Interactive, Inc Magazine, and the Washington Post. In 2013, President Obama formally recognized him as an innovator at the White House. Prior to Tista Games, Aunim worked as a Product Manager at Zynga, an Investment Associate at TPG Capital, and a TMT Analyst at Goldman Sachs. In 2005, he co-founded Intuitouch and helped to create a handheld scanner for the early detection of breast cancer, which was ultimately funded by the US Army. More
Aditya Julka is cofounder of Paddle8, the leading online auction house launched in 2011. He is a serial entrepreneur and a graduate of IIT-Delhi and the Harvard Business School, where he obtained his MBA and graduated as a Baker Scholar. Before joining HBS, Julka cofounded two successful healthcare companies in Europe and Asia. He currently serves on the board of Performa, NYC's Art Biennial and Khoj, South Asia's leading performance art foundation.
Amy is a product and business person who is passionate about customer experience (online and offline) and building companies. She's had successful exits (yay!) and executive positions at Fortune 500 as well as startup companies. ROKO Labs, her most recent venture, is a B2B company offering mobile SDKs for user engagement, finance (e.g. charting and stock quotes), and user management as well as providing custom development services to its global client base. Clients include large companies such as CNBC and the New York Stock Exchange as well as emerging start ups. More
Gene's interest in coffee began in college. It grew when he worked on Wall Street, fueled by his home roasting hobby and barista training. One day inspired by his serial entrepreneur best friend, Gene decided to pursue his passion full-time. He left a cushy private equity job and founded HiLine Coffee with the goal of building the first premium coffee brand online.
Sonia Kapadia is founder and CEO of Taste Savant, a one-stop-shop for savvy diners. The food space is familiar territory for Kapadia, who spent five years at PepsiCo in the US and the UK before joining the London CPG startup Gu Chocolate Desserts as Head of Marketing and New Product Development. Gu sold one year later, after which Kapadia returned to the US to lead Marketing Partnerships at Rent the Runway. She holds a BA from UPenn and an MBA from HBS.
Zameer Kassam is a VOGUE-featured jewelry designer and founder of his eponymous fine jewelry brand. Zameer's love affair with jewelry began in his teens, while working at his family jewelry business in Vancouver, Canada. Early on, he learned that jewelry is about more than the incredible beauty of gemstones or the excitement of wearing a magnificent piece; it is about celebrating the most important moments in life, in a way that will last forever.
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Founder of S'well. Designer of the most fashionable, insulated bottle on the market (planet?!). Sarah Kauss designed and developed the first "hydration accessory" bottle, which keeps drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12. S'well bottles are sold in 35 countries and thousands of stores, including J. Crew and Nordstrom, and to direct customers such as Facebook, Microsoft and the TED Conference. S'well is the only bottle that looks great and does good, with donations made to charity partners for every bottle sold.
Osman Khan is one of the cofounders of and the COO for Paddle8, the leading online auction house. Since Paddle8's inception in 2011, Khan has overseen day-to-day management of the company, including all of its internal operations and business development. He was previously in financial services at various firms including Goldman Sachs and Perella Weinberg.
Startup entrepreneur...On my 3rd startup. Buillding RetSku - business intelligence and analytics platform for brands (cpg companies / product manufacturers) that sell through retail companies like Target, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond - essentially all offline retail companies
Catherine Levene is the Co-Founder and CEO of Artspace (www.artspace.com), the premier online marketplace for contemporary art. As a digital media innovator and entrepreneur with over fifteen years experience building successful online media companies, she is responsible for the joint vision of Artspace as well as the overall day-to-day management of the company.
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I'm a (recovering) Norwegian management consultant turned entrepreneur in New York who is passionate about leveling the playing field in the job market. In 2010, I co-founded Evisors with the mission of democratizing the access to great careers and the goal of connecting motivated and talented job seekers with great careers, irrespective of who the job seekers know, where they came from or where they went to school. Today Evisors connects students and recent graduates from hundreds of universities worldwide with experienced alumni for one on one career consultations and webinars.
Don Mathis is an entrepreneur and angel investor with several successful exits and 12+ years of experience in technology ventures. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Kinetic Social, a data and technology company launched in 2011 with a core focus of marrying "Big Data" to social media for large brand advertisers. Prior to Kinetic Don served as CEO of TA Associates-backed EpicAds, more than tripling the ad network's revenue in less than three years and then merging it into Connexus Corporation (Oak Capital Partners, Insight Ventures and Idealab).
Karen Moon is cofounder and CEO of Trendalytics, a SaaS visual analytics platform that measures how consumers engage with fashion and beauty trends. Moon has over a decade of operating and investment experience: retail investments at Goode Partners, consumer insights at Kurt Salmon, concept development at Gap, Inc. and technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs. She has appeared on the Wall Street Journal, contributed to Forbes and spoken at Fashion Digital and Strata.
I am the co-founder and CEO of a start-up based in New York City called Manicube. The mission of Manicube is to make the lives of working women easier. We offer 15-minute manicures to working professionals in corporate offices and are tech-enabled so customers can book, change and pay for appointments online. We currently offer our services in New York & Boston.
After HBS graduation in 2012, I founded a company called TopShelf Clothes and led the company as CEO through it's sale to Lift Ventures in 2014. TopShelf provided online personal styling services to busy women, aggregating individuals' past online clothing purchases from across retailers and using this data to offer targeted shopping recommendations. In October 2014, I joined the startup GLAMSQUAD as its Director of Strategy & Business Operations.
Frida Polli, PhD, MBA is CEO and cofounder of pymetrics. pymetrics is the brainchild of merging a decade of neuroscience with a Harvard MBA. pymetrics uses neuroscience and big data to provide match job candidates with companies; think LinkedIn meets OkCupid. Job seekers get optimal career fit guidance, and companies find top-fit candidates in a process that eliminates unconscious bias and emphasizes diversity.
I am the founder and CEO of Halsbrook.com, an online fashion boutique for modern, sophisticated women. With an eye for quality, craftsmanship and elegant style, Halsbrook offers a curated collection of clothing and accessories from over seventy established and emerging European and American designers, many of which cannot be found in department stores or most other online retailers. Halsbrook also offers exclusive fashion and lifestyle content, from styling tips for special occassions to insider travel guides inspired by designers.
Anupam is a co-founder of Monaeo, a location-based data analytics tech company based in New York. Prior to starting Monaeo, Anupam has been a global tech investor for several years at Silver Lake Partners (NY & London) and General Atlantic (NY & India). He started his career in M&A at Morgan Stanley (NY).
Ted Sullivan is cofounder and CEO of GameChanger Media. He is also cofounder of Headfirst Camps, a minor league pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, and worked in marketing and business development for Rave Wireless. He is a 1999 graduate of Duke University, and earned his MBA from HBS in 2006.
Supporter of and investor in entrepreneurs solving meaningful problems. Recognition: "Most Powerful Women in Technology" (SF Chronicle 2014); "100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs" (Goldman Sachs 2013); 30 under 30 (Forbes 2013); "12 Entrepreneurs Reinventing Healthcare" (CNN 2012); "15 Women to Watch in Tech" (Inc. Magazine 2012); "Woman of Worth" Honoree (L'Oreal 2009)
Irene Tserkovny founded Docurated in 2012 with a vision of changing the way Marketing and Sales share and use content. Prior to Docurated, Tserkovny was a VP of Disruptive Innovation at AMEX, focused on re-inventing company's benefits and MR program through mobile platforms. Prior to AMEX, as part of the WPP fellowship, she rotated through a series of leadership roles across variety of agencies. Prior to joining the HBS 2007 MBA class, she held a number of Engineering roles at EMC and Time Inc, among others.
Anila is a co-founder of Tandem Lane, an e-commerce company that helps family members stay connected with their elderly loved ones. Previously, she founded ElderBranch, an information site for people looking for long-term care. Before pursuing these two entrepreneurial ventures, she spent 8 years in various roles in finance and management consulting.
I'm the co-founder of Material Wrld, a luxury fashion trade-in service. Women send us designer fashions they no longer wear to earn gift cards upfront from their favorite brands and retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Saks and Shopbop.
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Shaun is the founder of TripleLift, an advertising technology company whose software powers the largest and most innovative buyers and sellers of online advertising. Based in New York City, TripleLift is backed by an outstanding group of investors including True Ventures, iNovia Capital, and NextView Ventures.
Jie is the Co-Founder of Material Wrld, the ultimate fashion trade-in service. An experienced online fashion professional with expertise in eCommerce, operations, and digital marketing, Jie launched international eCommerce at Ralph Lauren and J.Crew. Material Wrld has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Refinery29, Women's Wear Daily, InStyle, and Techcrunch.