Leadership Team

Daniel A. Vannoni

Managing Director
Daniel is a second -year MBA student at MIT Sloan, where he is a member of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation program. His areas of interest include all types of social/business networking, human interaction tools, web and enterprise applications, and communication and collaboration tools.  Prior to joining Sloan, Daniel worked in investment banking as a merger and acquisition and capital raise advisor for small and middle market information technology companies around the globe. He was an early stage team member at Boston Corporate Finance and analyst at TM Capital.  He has made a career out of starting companies and working in entrepreneurial environments including Codfish Gear and Kick Grass Landscaping.  He currently serves as the Chairman of Codfish Gear.  Daniel holds a BA in Economics and Sociology minor from Bates College. Contact Daniel

Jarrod Phipps

Associate Director
Jarrod is a second-year MBA student at MIT Sloan, where he is a member of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation program. He is primarily interested in emerging trends in technology – specifically mobile, enterprise, and the cloud. Prior to Sloan, Jarrod was a business-focused technology consultant for Deloitte Consulting where he helped implement several award-winning transformational technology platforms in the Consumer Business and Healthcare industries. Jarrod holds a BS in Information Systems and Operations from Boston College. Connect with Jarrod on Twitter or his Blog

Luke Behnke

Elevator Pitch Contest Director and Alumni Engagement Lead

Luke Behnke is a second-year at MIT Sloan, where he is a member of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation program.  Before Sloan he spent five years in San Francisco working as a mechanical engineer and program manager for defense contractor L-3 Communications.  Luke came to Sloan looking to make a career change, and hopes to meet tons of amazing people and learn a lot about the big picture in starting a business.  After school, he hopes to work for a start-up, or start-up something of his own.  Luke is originally from Minneapolis/St. Paul MN, and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison (go Badgers!) where he majored in Mechanical Engineering and minored in business. lkbehnke@mit.edu

Whitney Braunstein

Sponsorship Co-Lead, General Sponsorships

Whitney is an MBA Candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she’s drinking from the firehose of accounting and statistical modeling.  Her background is in nonprofits and social enterprise in developing countries – in 2005, Whitney founded Project Muso Ladamunen, an education/health/microfinance project based in Mali.  She received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Brown University, and she is an active member of the Brown alumni community.  She lists mastering Julia Child’s coq au vin recipe among her recent accomplishments.

Gary Hochman

Judging Co-Lead

Gary is a second-year MBA student at MIT Sloan where he is a member of the Finance program.  Prior to coming to MIT Sloan, he worked as a financial analyst at Morristown, NJ based W.R. Huff Asset Management.  In addition to the $100K, he enjoys playing on Sloan’s intramural hockey team (though not necessarily with very much skill).  Gary graduated summa cum laude from Drew University with a BA in Economics.

Miro Kazakoff

Judging Co-Lead

Miro is an MBA student at MIT Sloan with a diverse background across start-ups and consulting. Most recently he led product management for the web analytics company Compete, which was acquired by WPP. Miro has spent time as a consultant for Bain & Company as well as ridden late 90s dot com wave at VarsityBooks.com (one of the last IPOs of that era). As consumer and producer of good food, great products and interesting information, Miro is passionate about helping the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition select and foster the future engines of the global economy. Miro holds an A.B. in English with a minor in Computer Science from Georgetown where he graduated magna cum laude. He also converted and lived on a school bus for a year.

Weisen Li

Events Director

Weisen is a second-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program.  In addition to 100K, Weisen is also actively involved in the MIT Entrepreneurship Review.  Prior to Sloan, Weisen worked at Intel Capital assessing consumer internet and software venture deals across North America and Asia.  She holds a BBA from the University of Michigan.  Weisen is an adrenaline junky with a passion for adventure, the outdoors, cooking, history and the arts.

Cathy Melnikow

Events Lead, Workshops

Cathy is currently in her final semester as an MIT undergraduate Management Science major.  She has held summer internships working with government contractors as a contract analyst.  Next year she hopes to pursue a career in marketing.  At MIT, Cathy is highly involved in athletics; both an athlete herself (a 4-year member of the varsity volleyball team) and as chair of the Athletics Committee (within the student government).  Instead of sleeping, Cathy often chooses to participate in any athletic event she can find, host dinner parties, and learn cultural dances from around the world!

Mercedes Politi

Sponsorships Co-Lead, Track Sponsors

Mercedes is a second-year MBA student at MIT Sloan. Before coming to MIT, Mercedes religiously watched all the MIT $100K contests streamed online, and was swept up in all the energy.  Now, she is very proud to be a part of the 2010 organizing team and loves feeling the incredible energy up close! Mercedes holds both a bachelor and master’s in Economics from top universities in Argentina and worked in the Development Economics Research Department of the World Bank in Washington, DC. Mercedes enjoys playing soccer and has a yellow belt in capoeira.

Carrie Stalder

Event Lead, Finale Programs

Carrie is a System Design and Management Fellow at MIT with only a thesis standing between her and a Master’s in Engineering and Management. Prior to MIT, she worked as a Systems Engineer for a defense contractor developing and testing novel airborne reconnaissance systems. Carrie has lived in Hawaii and California, while studying for her Bachelor’s from California Institute of Technology.  In addition to her work with the MIT $100K, Carrie is also the Project Manager for the Venture Café project and works at the Muddy Charles Pub. In her off-hours Carrie enjoys good food, traveling, knitting and spinning. Find Carrie on Twitter.

Hilda Tang

Mentorship Lead

Hilda is currently an MBA student at MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, Hilda was a consultant at Oliver Wyman specializing in Strategic IT and Operations in the financial services industry. She advises clients in translating business strategies to actionable plans and optimizing performance of IT and operations. Hilda has worked for top global financial institutions such as universal banks, investment banks, retail banks, commercial banks and asset managers, within North America, Europe and Asia. She has a Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Commerce Honors from Queen’s University in Canada.

Anne Wang

Marketing and PR Lead

Anne is a second year student at MIT Sloan and is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program.  Prior to Sloan, she worked in a variety of positions at the at the U.S. Navy-  as an engineer in shipboard environmental quality, as a test director for future wartime strategies and as a program manager for cross-platform systems development research.  Anne holds an M.S. in Engineering Management from George Washington University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.  When not working on the $100K, Anne can be found at the dance studio, brainstorming (often crazy) business ideas or searching for the best fro-yo in town.  Follow Anne on Twitter.

2010 Track Leads

Gennaro Bisesti

Products and Services Lead

Gennaro is a second year MBA student at MIT Sloan where, apart from his involvement in the MIT $100K, is an elected representative in the Sloan Senate. While at MIT Sloan, Gennaro is exploring the startup space, with an eye towards founding his own firm or working at a startup in business development.  Before Sloan, Gennaro worked for McKinsey & Co. in Italy serving mainly Financial Institutions in business plan preparation, operations restructuring and post merger management. He also worked as an intern in the supply chain management for Ansaldo STS, a technology company in the transportation business, and as a consultant in the HR development for Città della Scienza, a NGO based in Naples. Gennaro graduated magna cum laude in Industrial Engineering from Università degli studi di Napoli “Federico II”.

Lisa Frist

Development Co-Lead

Lisa is a joint degree student at MIT Sloan and the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to MIT, Lisa worked for two years in community development in Mozambique focusing on disaster relief and projects related to water and sanitation, income generation, and health. She has also lived abroad in South Africa, Brazil, and Nicaragua. While at Sloan, Lisa is exploring social entrepreneurship and the use of modern technology in rural developing communities. She is also working on a nonprofit called All Nations Education to provide college scholarships to students in Ghana, Rwanda, and Peru. Lisa holds an AB in public policy from Princeton University and calls North Carolina her home.

Hewmun Lau

Life Sciences Co-Lead

Hewmun Lau is a second year joint degree student at MIT Sloan and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). In addition to the MIT $100K Competition, she is actively involved in the Biomedical Business Club. Prior to MIT Sloan, Hewmun worked as a Research Associate at McLean Hospital’s Laboratory of Genetic Neuropharmacology studying functions of GABAA receptor subtypes in the central nervous system. Hewmun graduated cum laude from Brandeis University with a BS in Biochemistry, Biology and Economics. Hewmun grew up in Malaysia and enjoys good food, traveling and practicing Bikram yoga.

Puneet Newaskar

Mobile Lead

Puneet is a second-year MBA student at MIT Sloan. In addition to his involvement with the MIT $100K Competition, he is active in the Management Consulting, Mobile Technology (MoMIT) and Venture Capital & Private Equity clubs. Prior to business school, Puneet worked as a Product Manager at ST Ericsson, where he led the development and marketing of innovative, industry-leading semiconductor solutions for cellphones. Puneet holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Caltech, and a MS from MIT. In his spare time, he enjoys running, kayaking, skiing and writing blogs and articles.

TJ Parker

Life Sciences Co-Lead

TJ is a 5th year PharmD candidate at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Previously he worked for Northeast Pharmacy Services, a startup in New Hampshire that has built a highly automated prescription distribution system through innovative software and robotics solutions. During his free time TJ can be found skiing in the mountains of New Hampshire, playing and listening to music, reading, or riding his bike. Follow TJ on Twitter

Alicia Pichard

Web/IT Lead

Alicia is a second-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management.  Prior to coming to Sloan, she worked as an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Program Manager at athenahealth, which offers billing, practice management and electronic health records services to physicians through its unique web-based platform.  At athenahealth, Alicia worked cross-functionally to solve complex EDI issues and created and oversaw an Operations Command Center.   In addition to the MIT $100K competition, Alicia is actively involved in the Biomedical Business and the Operations Management Clubs.  Alicia graduated cum laude from Amherst College with a BA in Computer Science and Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought.

Lillian Tse

Development Co-Lead

Lilian is a joint degree student with MIT Sloan and Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. At Sloan, Lilian is investigating how to improve collaboration among entrepreneurs in emerging markets.  Before being a student, Lilian worked at various social entrepreneurship non-profits including Ashoka, Endeavor, Grameen, and the United Nations. She also worked as a Consultant at the Corporate Executive Board, where she helped executives at financial services firms more effectively learn from their peers across different sectors. Lilian grew up in Hong Kong and founded a school in China for immigrant children. She enjoys eating curry fish balls.

2009 Leadership Team