Organizational Committee, MIT $100K Competition

Brian Cantwell

Co-Managing Director

Brian is a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program. At Sloan, Brian is focused on blending a passion for marketing with entrepreneurial aspirations. Prior to joining Sloan, Brian worked as a management consultant for Accenture, helping clients define customer strategies and use technology to enhance customer relationships. Brian is a published author of the white paper "Why Technical Breakthroughs Fail: A History of Public Concern with Emerging Technologies," written for the MIT Auto-ID Center. Brian holds a BA in History from Harvard University. He loves taking photographs, reviewing movies, rooting for the Red Sox, and learning about wine.

Sombit Mishra

Co-Managing Director

Sombit is a first-year MBA student in the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program at MIT Sloan. Prior to coming to Sloan, Sombit managed marketing and web development for GlobalGiving.org, an Internet marketplace dedicated to connecting donors with social entrepreneurs from around the world. During his time at GlobalGiving, Sombit helped grow the organization from a small startup to a leader in the web philanthropy sector, now with over 400+ high-impact grassroots projects in 80 countries. Sombit holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Northwestern University. His long-term aspirations include learning to play "Oh Yoko" on the piano and starting a socially responsible company that captures the elusive double bottom line.

Rajiv Bhatia

Sponsorships Co-Lead

Rajiv is a first year MBA student at MIT Sloan, where he is concentrating on technology strategy and product design. Rajiv is also part of the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program. Prior to attending MIT, he worked as a computer engineer at IBM, designing and prototyping next-generation microprocessors for servers and supercomputers. He has an BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Julie Christensen

Judging Lead

Julie is a first year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In addition to her involvement in the $100K, Julie is actively involved in the MediaTech club and organizing the Venture Capital Conference. Prior to coming to MIT, Julie worked as a program manager and consultant at Ascentium, a marketing and technology consulting company based in the Pacific Northwest. Earlier in her career, she also spent several years at Amazon.com, both as a software engineer and later as a technical program manager. Julie holds a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Linguistics, with a minor in Russian Literature, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Outside of school, Julie enjoys scuba diving, video games, and traveling.

Yukari Kuramoto

Events Co-Lead

Yukari is a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. Prior to Sloan, Yukari was a management consultant in McKinsey & Company for four years. She worked in a wid range of industries--High-tech, Media & Telecom, Automobile, and Logistics, helping her clients to develop strategies, create new businesses, and design and transform organizations. Yukari holds an MS and BS in physics from University of Tokyo. In addition to organizing the $100K, Yukari researches  "organizations for innovation," while drinking her favorite wine and whiskey.

Kelsey McCarty

Mentorships Lead

Kelsey is a first year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to matriculating to MIT, Kelsey worked as a healthcare consultant for Strategic Management. As a consultant she focused on Medicare and Medicaid regulatory analysis, risk assessment, and compliance for hospital-based clients. Before Strategic Management, she spent four years conducting pediatric oncology research at the Georgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center. Kelsey holds a M.S. in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland. In addition to her involvement with $100K, Kelsey is an accomplished musician on the piano, guitar, oboe, flute, and alto sax, and enjoys snowboarding, cooking, and travel.

Amanda Peyton

Events Co-Lead

Amanda is a first-year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Before Sloan, she worked as an intelligence briefer and consultant focused on geopolitics in the East Asia region. She has lived and worked in China, most recently with an energy efficiency and emissions reduction startup in Beijing. Amanda has a BA in Urban Studies and History from Northwestern University. She enjoys building websites, cooking and eating, and riding her bike around Cambridge.

Emily Short

Alumni Engagement Lead

Emily is a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management and member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. Emily is interested in high-tech startup ideas and hopes to start her own venture in the near future. Prior to coming to Sloan, Emily was a software engineer in Silicon Valley, working on neuroscience-based educational software. She also was a project leader for the Hands On Bay Area organization and a campaigner for the California Clean Money Campaign. Prior to that, Emily got her B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In her spare time Emily likes to participate in community service projects, listen to NPR, cook and ski.

Carlo Tursi

Sponsorships Co-Lead

Carlo is a first year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Prior to MIT, Carlo worked in Milan for A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm. As a consultant, Carlo worked in several industries, from Automotive to Pharma, from Retail to Logistics, focusing mainly on Supply Chain and Business Strategy projects. He has worked in Italy,France, UK and Germany. Carlo has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Politecnico di Bari (Italy). His main areas of interest and focus at MIT are renewable energies, automotive and entrepreneurship. Carlo is also part of the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation track.

Joshua van Aalst

Creative Lead, Business Plan Contest Finale

Joshua is a unique MBA student with a strong history in events management. Prior to MIT, Joshua founded, managed and grew a Sydney events and promotions company. In this role he oversaw the creation and execution of large-scale conceptual public events. Joshua’s career also includes 10 years of experience in the technical financial services industry. Joshua has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Technology Management from the University of New South Wales. Joshua is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program where he specializes in marketing and entrepreneurship in the creative and entertainment industries.

 

Track Leads

Robert Carter Dunn

Development Lead

Carter is a first year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan and a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation track. Prior to coming to MIT Sloan, Carter worked as a Senior Engineer for Boston Scientific in their Cardiac Rhythm Management division. While at Boston Scientific, he worked in Operations designing high performance wireless test systems for implantable defibrillators. A division wide statistics and Six Sigma mentor, he served as an advocate and resource for engineers applying statistical methods to improve product performance and cut costs.While at MIT Sloan, Carter will explore the startup space around global health delivery and smart grids, with an eye towards founding his own firm or working at a startup in business development.  Carter holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Hobbies (used to) include Muay Thai, rock climbing, and cooking.

David McClain

Biotech Co-Lead

David is a 5th year doctoral candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. His thesis is focused on cell line engineering for improved therapeutic protein production. He has worked in BioProcess R&D at Merck and has consulted for a number of local biotechnology companies. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.

Thomas Meese

Biotech Co-Lead

Thomas is currently a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management and member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. Prior to coming to Sloan, Tom worked as a biomedical engineer for InfraReDx, a Boston area startup that has developed the first device cleared by the FDA to assess the chemical composition of the coronary arteries. From 2006-2008, Tom helped InfraReDx reach the market by performing activities ranging from heart dissection to algorithm development. He holds a BS in biomedical engineering from Duke University. In addition to his work with the $100K, Tom is a VP of the Sloan biomedical business club and is embarking on a project with Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development focusing on improving health care access in Nigeria.

Akshay Nanduri

Mobile Lead

Akshay is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan and a member of theEntrepreneurship & Innovation Program.  Prior to Sloan, Akshaywas a founding member of SlipStream Data – a leading provider ofinternet acceleration and optimization solutions for wireless andnarrowband data networks.  At SlipStream, Akshay led the softwaredevelopment and sales engineering teams, resulting in successfuldeployments with some of the world’s largest Internet ServiceProviders, including; NetZero, Wanadoo and Terra.  AfterSlipStream was acquired by Research In Motion, Akshay managed theintegration of its core technology in the BlackBerry platform. Akshay holds a MASc (2003) and BASc (2001) in Computer Engineering fromthe University of Waterloo in Canada.

Francesco Renzo

Products & Services Lead

Francesco is an MBA student at Sloan, fervent about new technologies, entrepreneurship and new venture financing. Before seeing the light, he used to work as a management consultant at McKinsey. During his consulting career, he worked in a range of different industries, including energy, travel and logistics, insurance and banking, mostly in Italy. He was also awarded a fellowship by the McKinsey Global Institute, the independently funded economic research arm at McKinsey, editing the McKinsey Quarterly. At MGI, Francesco co-led an extensive research project on the future implications of Chinese urbanization, based in Shanghai. Holding a summa cum laude MS in Finance from Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), he also painfully experienced a summer internship for UBS Investment Bank, based in London. He is passionate about whatever relates to (preferably Southern) Italy, with a clear bias towards the three F’s (football, food, Ferrari). Francesco spends his (little) spare time playing guitar, singing, sailing or planning trips with friends.

Ann Verbin

Web/IT Lead

Ann is currently a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, she was a senior analyst in the New York office of Analysis Group, an economic consulting firm; she has also worked as an operations research analyst at ZS Associates, a sales and marketing strategy consulting firm. Ann holds a B.S.E. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University. In addition to her work with the $100K, Ann is actively involved with the MediaTech and Marketing clubs. In her spare time, Ann enjoys reading cooking blogs and trying out new recipes.

Student Advisors

J. Frederic Kerrest

J. Frederic “Freddy” Kerrest is a second year MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is a class leader in the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program and the 2008 MIT Patrick J. McGovern, Jr. Entrepreneurship Award winner. Prior to Sloan, Kerrest served in a number of enterprise software development and management roles, where he wrote enterprise software for Sun Microsystems and Applied Materials, and started and ran an award-winning high-technology consulting firm in Latin America. Most recently, Kerrest served for five years in various Business Development roles for Salesforce.com where he was responsible for creating the first ever on-demand OEM and mobile software distribution channels. Kerrest spent this past summer as an associate at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners evaluating early-stage enterprise software investments. Kerrest received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at Stanford University.

Ryan Carag

Ryan is a second year MBA student at the MIT Sloan school of Management and is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. Prior to attending Sloan, Ryan was a software program manager at Microsoft's Automotive Business Division in the automotive telematics space, and helped to define and build the Microsoft Automotive platform from concept to the core technology behind such groundbreaking products as FIAT Blue&Me and Ford Sync. Furthering his interest for automotive and passion for entrepreneurship, Ryan also formed a company in the performance and motorsports automotive parts niche. Ryan's interests at MIT are in enabling mobile device scenarios, particularly through improved human machine interface and improved power storage and management in the areas of battery technology and the general infrastructure in which these devices live. Ryan is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering.

Jimmy Chen

Jimmy is currently a second year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Jimmy has a strong interest in the internet industry, with a focus on consumer service sector. In addition to his commitment to 100K organization committee, Jimmy has worked on strategic projects for Yahoo, NTT DoCoMo and Artaic Technology through MIT Ventureship and MIT MarketLab. Prior to attending Sloan, Jimmy worked as a Market Information Manager for Bank of America in Retail Banking Strategy. Jimmy earned his BA and BBA degree with high honors from University of Massachusetts Amherst's Commonwealth College program in 2002.

Tamara Mendelsohn

Tamara is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Prior to MIT, Tamara was a senior analyst with Forrester Research, an independent technology research and consulting firm. As a leading expert on eCommerce technology, multichannel retail, and trends in how consumers integrate technology into shopping, Tamara authored research reports and worked with both retailers and technology vendors to help them shape their strategies. She spoke regularly at industry events, sat on the advisory boards of several industry associations, and has been quoted in top newspapers and journals. Tamara graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in comparative literature and economics.

Mike Kaplan

Mike Kaplan is a second year MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is focusing on technology marketing management.  Prior to Sloan, Kaplan served in a number of high-technology public relations roles, where he helped clients drive awareness for their products and services and develop cohesive corporate, marketing and sales messaging.  Most recently, Kaplan served as an Account Director at fama PR, working with clients such as Kodak Health Group, Sapient, Spotfire, 80108, Visible Measures and General Catalyst.  Kaplan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies at the University of Rochester.

Ann DeWitt

Ann is a second year MBA student at Harvard Business School. Most recently she was an advisor at the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center, evaluating university technology for health care-related commercial application and writing a business plan for a medical device start-up. Prior to this, she worked at 3M Company for 5 years. As 3M research specialist, she created an R&early D knowledge management system in the pharmaceuticals division and built a product development team and an underlying computational platform in the optical systems division. Ann has a Ph.D. from MIT in the quantitative analysis of biological processes advised by Doug Lauffenburger (2001) and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She enjoys skiing, traveling, and golfing (HCP 18).

Chad Lovell

Prior to MIT Sloan, Chad spent 5 years as a systems engineer for TAC Energy Solutions where he worked on the integration and installation of building automation systems into facilities for energy management purposes. With a concentration in software team project management, he also led initiatives to improve processes and procedures leading to significant labor cost savings. Chad received his BS in electrical engineering from TCU in 2002 and is focusing his studies at MIT Sloan on finance and entrepreneurship. Energy efficiency and integration of digital media with home automation technology remain avid interests of his.

Ananda Ghosh

Ananda Ghosh is a second year MBA at MIT Sloan.  Prior to MIT, he spent three years at Deloitte Consulting in the Technology Integration practice in San Francisco. At Deloitte he worked on a variety of projects involving large scale custom software implementations. Prior to Deloitte, Ananda worked as part of the founding team for a small software startup in the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) space. Ananda has a BS degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley.

Ian Cornwall

Ian is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan and currently helps lead product marketing for a VC-backed internet startup in Boston.  Prior to Sloan, Ian designed new web products to deliver research content, as well as managed online client networks of finance executives, for the Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C.  Ian received his B.A. from Yale University and holds a M.A. in Political Science, which he completed in Spain while working for CNN International and studying as a Fulbright Scholar.