Judges
BioTech - Life Sciences
Mohit Kaushal, Medtronic Venture Associate at Polaris Ventures
Mohit Kaushal is a Medtronic Venture Associate for Polaris Venturesbased in the Boston office. Mohit is a full time employee of Polaris but also performs technology scouting duties for the Medicine and Technology group of Medtronic, overseen by Dr. Stephen Oesterle. Mohit joined Polaris in September 2007 and focuses on investments in the life sciences and spends a significant amount of time concentrating on European health-care opportunities.
Prior to business school, Mohit worked at a number of London based hospitals, most recently as an ER physician. In addition, Mohit spent time at a medical device start-up in London and undertook consulting projects for Venrock Associates and Kleiner Perkins during business school. Mohit also has previous experience at Merrill Lynch’s Health Care IBD Group, The World Health Organization and undertook public health field research in an Indigenous Indian reservation in Costa Rica.
Prior to obtaining his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Mohit earned his Medical Degree, with Distinction, from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He also obtained an undergraduate degree in Management from Imperial College.
Jennifer C. Ma, Associate, 5AM Ventures
Jennifer C. Ma, Ph.D. joined 5AM Ventures in 2008 from the HarvardBusiness School (HBS). Prior to HBS, she was Director of BusinessDevelopment at Phenomix, a drug discovery and development company basedin San Diego, which she co-founded in 2001. Dr. Ma has also served as abuy-side equities analyst on Janus Capital's healthcare investment teamand as a management consultant with Mitchell Madison Group. Dr. Ma holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard, a Ph.D. in OrganicChemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and her M.B.A.from HBS. Dr. Ma is based in the Waltham, MA office.
Andrey Zarur, General Partner, Kodiak Venture Partners
Andrey Zarur, Ph.D., brings more than 15 years of operating andinvesting experience to Kodiak. Most recently, he founded, and served as CEO for BioProcessors, a provider of high-throughput solutions forthe biopharmaceutical industry. During his tenure, the company raised more than $40M in venture capital and closed significant deals withseveral of the world's most prominent biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. As a General Partner at Kodiak, he focuses on the intersection of life sciences and technology. Andrey represents Kodiakon the boards of Fluxion, K-Motion Interactive and Weather Trends, and is Chairman of Allegro Diagnostics.
Prior to founding BioProcessors in 2001, Andrey served in a number of key positions in the life sciences and technology industries. Some of these included operational, executive and investor or board member for start-up companies involved in bioinformatics, genomics, medical devices, nanotechnology-derived materials and energy systems including Starlab N/V, GDI and StarSoft.
In addition to being on the Board of Directors of BioProcessors, he serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Anecova and StemLife, and is on the Board of Infantia, a foundation dedicated to providing education and services for underprivileged children in developing countries. Andrey is also a Young Global Leader and member of the Climate Change Taskforce of the World Economic Forum, and a member of the Board of Trustee's at Boston's Museum of Science.
Andrey is the recipient of several prestigious academic and management awards including the 75th Anniversary Materials Research Society Award.He has authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Science, and Langmuir, and holds more than 100 issued and pending patents for products ranging from nanotechnology derived catalysts for environmental remediation to devices for drug development and alternative fuels.
Andrey holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute's Sloan School of Management.
Consumer Products/Services
George Cooney, Venture Partner at Summerhill Ventures
Based in Boston, George Cooney is focused on developing Summerhill Venture Partners in the North-East United States. He brings to Summerhill Venture Partners more than 25 years of communications industry experience in developing and executing business in global markets.
Prior to joining Summerhill Venture Partners, George co-founded InfoClarus, a venture backed mobile platform company. Previously, he held senior executive positions at Nortel Networks. In his most recent position at Nortel, he was responsible for Nortel’s Corporate Business Development and Ventures group, where he oversaw Nortel’s direct investment and acquisition strategies with emerging technology companies and strategic partnerships with venture capital funds. George began his career at GTE Telenet, the pioneer in packet switching.
Throughout his 25 year career, George established a record for realizing growth opportunities through strategic vision and hands-on business building experience with leadership roles in product marketing, business development, operations, and finance. George holds a B.S. in Economics and Political Science from The American University (1976).
John Gworek, Attorney at Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton
Jon’s practice focuses on the representation of entrepreneurs, technology start-ups and emerging companies from formation through liquidity event. In this role Jon routinely advises clients through angel and venture capital financings, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents venture capital funds and other institutional investors in fund formation and investments in start-ups and emerging companies.
Jon has a particular interest in bridging the interests of investors and founders in the venture funding process. Over the course of his 15 plus years of experience as a corporate lawyer, Jon has represented a wide array of entrepreneurs, investors and public and private companies in complex business transactions as well as ongoing needs as they arise in the areas of corporate, securities, tax, employment, compensation, intellectual property and licensing law.
Jon is a graduate of Brown University (Sc.B., Applied Mathematics/Biology) and a cum laude graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. While at law school, he was a member of the Connecticut Law Review.
Jon has been an active member of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge for many years, and is a member of the Forum’s Executive Committee. He is also a judge in the annual MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
Jon is a member of the state bars of Massachusetts and California. Before practicing law, Jon was an account executive at the advertising agency of Young & Rubicam.
Joe Hadzima, Managing Director at Main Street Partner and Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan
Joseph G. Hadzima, Jr. is a Managing Director of Main Street Partners LLC, a venture development and technology commercialization firm. He currently serves as President of IPVision, Inc., a Main Street Partners portfolio company, which provides corporate enterprises with systems, tools and services for the analysis, development and management of intellectual property.
Joe is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global MIT Enterprise Forum. He practiced law for 17 years, first at Ropes & Gray in Boston and then at Sullivan & Worcester as director of the High Tech/New Ventures Group, where he was involved in various capacities in the founding of over 100 companies and advised entrepreneurs, high-growth businesses and venture capitalists. He is also a Director of the New England chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Joe started teaching at MIT Sloan School of Management in 1984. He was a founding judge of the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. With the support of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, he organizes and coordinates the the Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans, a popular IAP course. He also co-developed The Manager's Legal Function course, in which he has been lecturing since 1984. He is a frequent speaker for the MIT Enterprise Forum's Satellite Broadcast Series (SBS). In recent SBS presentations he has spoken about company valuation and structuring venture capital deals. Reprints from Hadzima's popular Boston Business Journal column, "Starting Up," are available.
Hadzima received his S.B and S.M in Management degrees from M.I.T and a juris doctore cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Greg Schmergel, CEO of Nantero
Greg Schmergel is currently co-founder, President and CEO of Nantero, Inc., which is developing nonvolatile random access memory using nanotechnology. He was most recently Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy for About, Inc., the 5th largest Web property. Previously he was President and CEO of ExpertCentral.com, Inc. Greg founded Expert Central in November 1998 to provide consumers and small businesses with access to thousands of experts to use as an online resource for important questions on a wide variety of topics. He also served as Chairman of the Board. ExpertCentral was acquired by About, the leading network of comprehensive vertical sites for users and marketers, in January of 2000 (now part of Primedia, NYSE: PRM). Prior to forming ExpertCentral.com, Greg served as Case Team Leader for Bain & Company where he led consultant teams working on critical strategy and implementation issues for Fortune 1000 companies. His earlier experience includes senior positions at TowerGroup, which he helped start, and the Ernst & Young Center for Information Technology & Strategy. Reuters acquired TowerGroup in November 1999. Greg also served as a Summer Associate at Booz*Allen & Hamilton, Inc. Greg stays active in supporting entrepreneurship at Harvard, MIT, and throughout Boston, including being a guest speaker at entrepreneurial classes and groups and a judge for the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the NanoBusiness Alliance and on the Board of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, the largest technology business association in the region. Greg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and earned an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Greg was selected as the 2006 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner in New England, in the emerging technology category.
Development
Mark Albion, Founder of Net Impact
Mark Albion spent nearly 20 years as a student and professor at Harvard University and its Business School. A seven-time social entrepreneur, he left Harvard to develop a community of service-minded MBAs, co-founding Net Impact in 1993. He has made 600+ visits to speak at business schools, covering over 135 different schools on five continents, for which Business Week dubbed him “the savior of B-school souls." Mark is the author of the New York Times bestseller Making a Life, Making a Living (2000), Finding Work That Matters (3-CDs; 2002), True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business (2006, www.makingalife.com), and this fall, More Than Money: Questions Every MBA Needs to Answer, which has been electronically distributed to up to 54,500 MBAs at 75 business schools, including 9 of the top 10 and 17 of the top 20 U.S. Business schools. It is accompanied by the 3-minute animated movie, "The Good Life Parable: An MBA Meets a Fisherman," produced with Free Range Studios, an official selection of 2009 film festivals.
Trish Fleming, Executive Director, MIT Enterprise Forum
Trish Fleming is the Executive Director of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. She works closely with the Forum's Board and 100+ volunteers to provide quality programs and services that allow science- and technology-based entrepreneurs to learn from other entrepreneurs, connect with resources, and grow their companies. During her tenure, Forum programs have grown from 22 programs and 600 members to 70+ activities, 1200 members and 6 different program lines. Her 25 years experience in non-profit management and administration encompass educational, government, and social service organizations in the greater Boston area, and has included fund-raising, program development and management, marketing, events planning, volunteer management, strategy, and general administration. Organizations she has worked for include the Mass. Government Land Bank, the Cambridge YWCA, and the Future of the Automobile Program I at MIT. She was named a 2008 All-Star by Mass High Tech. She is currently the co-chair of Mass High Tech's Women to Watch Advisory Committee and is a member of the High Tech and Science Committee of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Her philosophy is “Never settle into your comfort zone – you stop learning and you stop taking risks. And where’s the joy in that?” She holds both an M.B.A. and a B.A. from Simmons College
Raj Melville
Raj Melville has over 25 years of product management, marketing and consulting experience at four start-ups, and several larger organizations. He currently provides marketing and strategy consulting services to emerging social entrepreneurs particularly those addressing solutions for the developing world. His previous responsibilities included managing product strategy and features for nTAG Interactive, a spin off from the MIT Media Lab; marketing and product management at mobile software vendor Vaultus; product management at Be Free Inc. (now Valueclick); and managing the launch of two high-end Internet server products at Electronic Book Technologies (later acquired by Inso). His early career included stints at Microsoft Corp., Digital Equipment Corporation, and Booz Allen & Hamilton. Raj has an undergraduate engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, a M.S. and D.Sc. in Engineering from MIT, and a M.S. in Management from the Sloan School at MIT.
Nancy Rosenzweig
Most recently President and CEO of The Natural Dentist, Nancy Rosenzweig brings over twenty years of executive experience and creativity to the company, the first oral care company founded to address oral health with whole body health in mind. A focused, results-driven leader, Rosenzweig has devoted her career to working for businesses with social and environmental missions. She has a proven background in marketing, business development and business management, with particular expertise in positioning, branding and image building; business and social change management; long-range strategic planning and problem solving.
Since joining The Natural Dentist in 2005, Rosenzweig led a complete re-branding and re-formulation of the company’s original product line. Those strategic improvements, along with new product offerings, have more than tripled the company’s sales and gained a higher national profile for its products. Rosenzweig has secured significant venture capital and expert governance to sustain the company’s future growth objectives. To guide the company’s further investment in research and development, Rosenzweig formed a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of the some of the most influential leaders in dentistry.
As vice president of brand development and communications at Tom’s of Maine, Rosenzweig helped evolve the company from a predominately health channel brand to a nationally recognized mass-market brand. She was instrumental in obtaining the American Dental Association (ADA) Seal and she launched the Tom’s of dental professional programs.
Prior to joining The Natural Dentist, Rosenzweig served as vice president of marketing at Zipcar, now the country’s largest car-sharing company. During her tenure, she strategically and creatively expanded both membership and revenue at more than 100% annually for the early stage company.
At Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc.(BFAM – NASDAQ), the world’s leading provider of employer-sponsored child care and early education, Rosenzweig served as the vice president of marketing and communications, providing leadership through a period of double-digit base growth and a merger with its largest competitor.
Throughout her career, Rosenzweig has fused her business acumen with passionate support for entrepreneurship and socially responsible organizations. She currently serves as a Director of the Forsyth Institute for Oral Biology and on the board of Root Capital, a nonprofit loan fund whose mission is to conserve biodiversity and alleviate poverty in the developing world.She is the immediate past chair of KaBoom!, a nonprofit that brings together business and community interests to construct playgrounds and playspaces in communities across North America, with the mission of creating a great place to play for every child in America.
Rosenzweig holds a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and an MBA from Northeastern University. She has served as a teaching fellow at Harvard University working with Robert Coles.
Shana Yansen
Shana has 10+ years of experience in international health and development with expertise in strategic communication. Her work has brought her to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, and Honduras, where she has developed and implemented a number of health communication strategies, multi-media programs, web-based tools and behavior-change initiatives.
At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs (CCP), her projects have focused on youth, maternal and newborn health, avian and pandemic influenza and HIV/AIDS. In 2007, one of Shana's Television programs received a World Medal Award at the New York Festivals. Shana has served as co-director for CCP's Global Program on Avian and Pandemic Influenza where she provided technical input on avian and pandemic influenza programs worldwide.
Inspired by her experiences in Asia and Latin America, Shana recently launched Jute & Jackfruit (www.juteandjackfruit.com), an environmentally and socially conscious online company. Jute & Jackfruit seeks to provide women artisans and designers worldwide a means to reach North American markets through sophisticated, environmentally sustainable merchandise including clothing, jewelry and handbags.
Shana served in the United States Peace Corps in Honduras as a health and child survival educator. She earned her master's degree in International Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her bachelor's degree from Stanford University.
Energy
Bruce Anderson, CEO of Wilson TurboPower
Bruce Anderson co-founded the New England Clean Energy Council last year along with more than a dozen other people and serves as its co-chair. He is CEO of Wilson TurboPower in Woburn, MA, one of four MIT-related spin-offs launched by IGNITE, which he co-founded in 2000 to start companies to commercialize MIT technologies. Wilson is commercializing both an ultra-efficient industrial heat exchanger and an ultra-efficient microturbine for distributed power generation and as a replacement for diesel engines. Bruce started his clean energy career in 1973 by completing his masters thesis at MIT on solar energy. Twelve years later, Bruce became the first recipient of the American Solar Energy Society’s “Outstanding Solar Contribution” Award. He was a founding director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (then the New England Solar Energy Association), authored the New York Times best seller The Solar Home Book and 8 other books, served on the National Advisory Board of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now NREL) and has twice testified to Congress on energy matters. Bruce ran for governor of New Hampshire in 1986. He has served as director of numerous national organizations and companies and recently was president of the MIT Alumni Club of Boston. Currently, he serves on the International Board of MIT’s Alumni Association.
Pooja S. Pathak, Associate at Oxford Bioscience Partners
Pooja is an Associate with Oxford Bioscience Partners, supporting investments in the Boston office. Prior to joining Oxford, Pooja was a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, a global strategy consulting firm, where she worked with leading pharmaceutical companies to address their issues in the areas of product and portfolio strategy, business unit growth, salesforce optimization, manufacturing process management and cost reduction.
Pooja has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For her graduate thesis, Pooja studied cancer angiogenesis at the Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation fellowship.
Mitch Tyson, CEO of Advanced Electron Beams
Mitch Tyson joined Advanced Electron Beams as CEO and Director in October 2005, upon the completion of the company's Series A round of venture funding.
Prior to joining Advanced Electron Beams, Mitch was a corporate consultant and lecturer, serving on multiple industry, government, and corporate boards of directors, and advising start-up organizations and venture capital firms. Before working as a consultant, Mitch was the CEO of PRI Automation, a publicly traded corporation that supplied automation systems including hardware, software, and services for the semiconductor industry. From 1987 to 2002, he held positions of increasing management responsibility, and helped transform PRI Automation from a small robotics manufacturer to the world's leading supplier of semiconductor fab automation systems. Previously, Mitch worked at GCA Corporation and served as science advisor and legislative assistant for energy to U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas.
Mitch is a cofounder of the New England Clean Energy Council. Mitch serves on the Executive Committee and heads the CEO Council. Mitch also serves on the executive and governing boards of John Adams Innovation Institute, a quasi-public state agency focused on promoting high tech economic development in Massachusetts, the Mass High Technology Council Board, UMASS High Tech Executive Council, the Massport Security Advisory Council and the Board of the Progressive Business Leaders Network.
In October 2008, the Mass High Tech Journal named Mitch a Mass High Tech All-Star for his leadership in and commitment to the clean energy sector.
He has a Bachelor of Science in physics, a Master of Science in nuclear engineering, and a second Master of Science in political science, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Carter Williams, Managing Partner of OI Ventures
Carter Williams is currently a private investor and advisor to several early stage companies. He was President of Gridlogix until it was successfully sold to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Gridlogix software helped large enterprises reduce energy usage by 20% through optimization of existing building controls and HVAC systems. Mr. Williams was a director and founder of Boeing Ventures where he led The Boeing Company's efforts to develop new venture growth opportunities, in areas such as marine navigation, manufacturing, engineering collaboration and border security. Mr. Williams led Boeing's technology planning process, which covers all aspects of technology development at The Boeing Company. Prior to the Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merger, Mr. Williams led several successful engineering and manufacturing activities at McDonnell Douglas involving design for manufacturing, process development, and product development. He is the past president and founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. Mr. Williams serves on the boards of Procelerate, Viamorph, and First Choice Courier. He is on the board of advisors of Anzode. He has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School and a Bachelors of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Mobile
Walter Doyle, President and CEO of uLocate
Walt's passion for emerging technology has kept him on the leading edge of consumer media and technology for over 15 years. Prior to joining uLocate in 2005, Walt was a GM of MapQuest (TWX). His career began in Hong Kong with Dow Jones (DJ), then spanned executive level appointments with GameSpot (CNET), Net2Phone (IDT), and DialPad (YHOO). Walt's ability to identify emerging technology trends, create corporate strategy, and build winning teams puts him squarely at the helm of uLocate. Walt left San Francisco for his native home of Boston in 2005 where he and his family are outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy fishing, biking, hockey, and travel. He is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jamie Goldstein, North Bridge Venture Partners
Jamie Goldstein joined North Bridge Venture Partners in 1998. Prior to joining North Bridge, Jamie co-founded PureSpeech, a venture-backed speech recognition software and applications company targeting service providers and enterprise call centers. Jamie served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, driving revenue through OEM relationships with leading PC manufacturers and voice services platform providers. PureSpeech was acquired by Voice Control Systems (NASDAQ: VCSI) and subsequently sold to Scansoft (NASDAQ: SSFT).
Before PureSpeech Jamie was an early employee with Symmetrix, a provider of manufacturing execution software that helped old-line manufacturing companies streamline their operations. Symmetrix grew to nearly 200 employees before its acquisition by SAIC.
Jamie’s investment interests are diverse – software, storage, wireless, semiconductor and materials companies. He is a graduate of MIT, 1989 and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, 1994. He is actively involved in the MIT Deshpande Center for Innovation, is a Trustee of the MATCH School (a Boston-area Charter school) and serves on the Board of the New England Venture Capital Association.
Stephan Randall, CEO of LocaModa
Stephen Randall is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in mobile computing.
Prior to founding LocaModa, Stephen was a founder of Symbian, the London-based wireless joint venture between Ericsson, Nokia, Panasonic, Psion, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. He served on the Operational Board of Symbian from 1998 to 2002 where his roles included COO, EVP Design and Technology and EVP Advanced Data Services. During that period, he was also the Chairman of The Ambient Computing Working Group, advising the European Parliament on roadmaps for pervasive computing. Prior to Symbian, Stephen was the architect of Psion PLC's licensing strategy. He led the restructuring of Psion to form Psion Software, which as Joint President, he helped build into a global licensing business and, in 1998, led its spin-out to form Symbian. He was also a founder of the pen-based computing pioneers, Eden Group, which was acquired by Geoworks. Before venturing into mobile computing, Stephen had a career in music technology, developing the world's first digital guitar, for which he received a British Design Award from HRH Prince Phillip. He has several patents to his name, including one of the first British software patents, for his "write on screen electronic organizer."
Web/IT
George Bell, Special Venture Partner at General Catalyst
As Special Venture Partner at General Catalyst Partners, George Bell focuses on investment opportunities in new media, interactive marketing and digital-driven disruptions of traditional consumer behavior.
George has been involved in the creation and growth of consumer businesses for 25 years. Before General Catalyst, he was CEO of Upromise, the country’s largest college savings service, sold in 2006 to Sallie Mae. George was also Chairman and CEO of Excite@Home, bringing together the Excite portal with the @Home cable broadband platform in a $7 billion merger. George was CEO of Excite prior to the merger, led the company’s IPO, oversaw the acquisition of more than 20 companies and expanded Excite into a worldwide media property. Previously George founded The Outdoor Life Network (now Versus Network), a specialty cable channel reaching 40+MM homes; served as SVP, Times Mirror Magazines, where he oversaw eight special interest magazines, such as SKI and Field & Stream; and has won four national Emmy Awards as a producer and writer of adventure, wildlife and vanishing culture documentaries for ABC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic.
George is also board Chairman of Harris Interactive (NASDAQ: HPOL) a leading marketing services and polling company; Chairman of the New England Advisory Board of Trust for Public Land; and immediate past Chairman of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. George is a board member on three General Catalyst portfolio companies, Going.com, a social networking site found in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, Photoshelter, a leading online archive and marketplace for professional photographers and Wonderhowto, the video guide for a curious world.. He has won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award both in Northern California and New England; been featured in TIME, Fortune, Forbes and Business Week; has appeared regularly on CNBC as both guest and co-host; and spoken extensively on new media, convergence, and leadership.
George holds a BA from Harvard College.
Stephan Schambach, Executive Chairman and Founder of Demandware
Stephan Schambach is Executive Chairman and Founder of Demandware, provider of the leading on-demand ecommerce platform for consumer brands. Prior to founding Demandware in 2004, Schambach was CEO of Intershop, an ecommerce company he founded in 1992, built to market leadership, brought public in 1998 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's Neuer Market, and led to a successful NASDAQ listing in 2000. Long an ecommerce visionary, Schambach was among the first to recognize ecommerce as a major software market. He is the developer of a number of industry standards for the technology and also produced the first integrated eCommerce software package, enabling major global brands to sell and service over the internet. Schambach also currently serves as a board member of the SIIA (Software Information Industry Association) Software Division and regularly speaks in the industry about emerging technologies. Earlier in his career, Schambach studied physics at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, and was among the first to found a company in East Germany after the Berlin Wall came down.
Carl Stjernfeldt, General Partner at Castile Ventures
Carl Stjernfeldt has an investment focus on wired and wireless communications technologies and services. He also has a strong interest in the intersection of content mobility, transport, and trust. Prior to Castile, Carl was a partner at Battery Ventures where he spent seven years investing in leading IT companies. He currently serves or participates on the boards of Agito Networks, Funambol, and PermissionTV. He has served on the boards of Arbor Networks, Broadbus Technologies (acquired by Motorola), Cedar Point Communications, and Tejas Networks, and was a board observer of Optium (acquired by Finisar). Prior to Battery Ventures Carl worked for Cambridge Technology Partners as a client partner and project manager and at Summa Four developing telecommunications solutions for domestic and international service providers. Carl holds a dual MS in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm and Northeastern University in Boston, and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, where he now teaches a course in entrepreneurial finance.
Carl serves as a Catalyst for the Deshpande Center at MIT, is a Charter Member with TiE, is on the University of Michigan's Technology Transfer National Advisory Board, and serves on the Boards of the New England Venture Capital Association and the Massachusetts Networks Communications Council.
John Pyrovolakis, Director at the Kauffman Foundation
Mr. Pyrovolakis is currently a director at the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship's Innovation Network Initiative.
Mr. Pyrovolakis entered the MIT Entrepreneurship competition in 1996, and launched Collegescape, which he sold to the Thomson Corporation (NYSE:"TOC") two years later. Mr. Pyrovolakis then founded a software company, which shall go unnamed because he is in the process of selling it. Simultaneously with the development of that company, Mr. Pyrovolakis has consulted with several organizations vetting early stage IT deals or new technology initiatives, such as MasterCard, United Health Care, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Mr. Pyrovolakis is a triple major in math, computer science, and philosophy out of NYU, where he won the school wrng competition and was the first undergraduate teaching assistant in mathematic logic. From there, Mr. Pyrovolakis went to MIT for a PhD in Linguistics and Philosophy. While at MIT, Mr. Pyrovolakis did work at the Laboratory for Computer Science in automated theorem proving, and was a teaching fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysics lab, where he won the Derek Bok prize for teaching excellence.
Mr. Pyrovolakis is a judge at the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition, as well as Columbia University's and Stonybrook University's.
