ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL PACE PITCH CONTEST | ||||||||||
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The Seventh Annual Pace Pitch Contest Presented by |
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Entrepreneurship@Lubin | ||||||||||
Monday, April 11, 2011 5:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. Pace University Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts 1 Pace Plaza New York, NY 10038 |
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The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the Elevator Pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. It is an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneur's idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes, should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch their idea during the brief ride.
Finalists in the New Business Concept category and the Social Venture category will each have exactly three minutes to pitch their new venture idea to a distinguished panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience. In addition to broad participation at Pace, we have been pleased to welcome student competitors from a number of other universities, including Columbia, Harvard, MIT, NYU, Princeton, and Stanford.
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- 5:00 - 5:30 Registration and Reception
- 5:30 - 6:00 Welcome and Keynote Speaker
- 6:00 - 6:45 Six Finalists make their Pitch (three New Business Concepts & three Social Ventures)
- 6:45 - 7:00 Break (Judging Panel selects the winning pitches in private)
- 7:00- 7:30 Judging Panel Discussion and Critique
- 7:30 - 8:00 Awards Ceremony and Networking
New Business Concept Prize
- A $3,000 cash prize will be awarded to the winner of the New Business Concept category. The prize money must be used to help build the New Business Concept presented at the Seventh Annual Pace Pitch Contest.
- Each of the three finalists in the New Business Concept Category will receive a cash prize of $500.
Social Venture Prize
- A $3,000 cash prize will be awarded to the winner of the Social Venture category. The prize money must be used to help build the Social Venture presented at the Seventh Annual Pace Pitch Contest.
- Each of the three finalists will receive a cash prize of $500.
Additional prizes will be announced later.
Pace University reserves the right to disqualify, at its sole discretion, any individual or team from the competition at any time (before or after the Pitch Contest or the award of any prize) for any reason. Reasons for disqualification may include, but are not limited to, misrepresentations in the application process, plagiarism, infringement of the intellectual property of others, and any failure to comply with the rules of the competition. Disqualified individuals or teams shall forfeit any and all prizes awarded to them.
Inaugural Pace Pitch Contest (December 3rd, 2004). Second Annual Pace Pitch Contest (December 9th, 2005). Third Annual Pace Pitch Contest (November 17th, 2006). Fourth Annual Pace Pitch Contest (December 6th, 2007). Fifth Annual Pace Pitch Contest (December 4th, 2008). Sixth Annual Pace Pitch Contest (December 3rd, 2009). |
Click to download the full Official Program for the Seventh Annual Pace Pitch Contest (PDF). |
NEW BUSINESS CONCEPTS
FitHopper
The Lean Canteen
Reslutions
SOCIAL VENTURES
Guiding Proud
Little Big Loan
Malo Traders
The management team behind Reslutions' has substantial experience in various housing professional capacities, and this experience has opened their eyes to a number of problems encountered by housing and student affairs professionals across the country. Today, housing departments license and subscribe to multiple services in order to undertake the various tasks associated with their department and other student affairs roles. This is costly, confusing and not intuitive for users, and causes extreme infoglut as the respective stakeholders need to process information coming at them from multiple sources. The Reslutions' team has also identified substantial opportunities in the underserved areas or roommate matching and threat assessment on campus.
Reslutions has developed a platform that digitizes and streamlines all of the processes associated with a collegiate housing department. We work with housing and residential life departments' to identify opportunities for process improvement. Based on our client assessment, we then develop and deploy customizable web-based applications that are guaranteed to satisfy the needs and wants or our clients. Some of these solutions include things like guest management, mail room management, room transfer requests, various reporting processes, and programming for the residence halls. Furthermore, Reslutions is currently developing a breakthrough Facebook application that will set the standard for compatibility-based roommate matching in the future. The team is also developing a threat assessment tool that is based on the framework developed by NaBITA.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) forecasts college enrollment of 19.5 to 20.3 million in 2015, representing a two to three million student increase from the estimated 17.5 million in 2006. Today, there are approximately 2.1 million college students that live on campus, and these residents end up paying about $13.3 billion annually to live on-campus.
While the focus is on student affairs and housing at colleges, some of the technologies are relevant and applicable to the following areas: Residential and commercial buildings, and elementary, middle, and high schools.
Reslutions uses a subscription business model, and the terms are semesters or trimesters depending on how the client operates. Furthermore, pricing is dependent upon the number of solutions the school needs, and the number of users at the school.
Reslutions will market itself by demoing and exhibiting at industry conferences put on my organizations such as the Association of Collegiate and University Housing Officers International (Acuho-i). The sales strategy also incorporates a Business Development Partner Network where seasoned housing professionals will be compensated with a commission for bring Reslutions new business. Strategic partnerships with organizations such as SunGard, EducationDynamics, and Blackboard are also in the works.
Reslutions has already gained traction at Pace University by implementing its service in August 2010, and they have recently become an approved vendor at Pace University. They have several conversations going on with other institutions outside of Pace, and are looking forward to sitting down and meeting with some of these decision makers at other schools. They have successfully tracked over 25,000 guests, tracked over 4,000 packages, reduced costs by about $5,000, reduced the carbon foot print, and have visibly increased the level of security at Pace University.
Reslutions has $8,000-$15,000 coming down the pipeline in the next nine months, and they are projecting roughly $7.8 million in revenue over the course of the first three years of doing business. They are in the process of raising about $30,000 in seed-financing, and look to raise $250,000 in the first year.
Biographies
Jeremy Pease, Application Architect and Lead Developer
Jeremy Pease is a Co-Founder and the lead developer/ application architect at Reslutions. When Jeremy was 18 years old, he started his own in-home and in-office computer servicing business in South Florida. As soon as he wrote his first Hello World program he fell in love and hasn't stopped programming since. He is currently the student government president of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University. He also works for the Seidenberg School as the Executive Director of Pace Web Media. There, he manages numerous projects, and designs, develops, and troubleshoots websites. Jeremy is a senior resident advisor, and has been involved with residential life for three years.
Jeremy has experience with PHP, CSS, Javascript, HTML, Flash, Flex, Unix, Apache, SQL, SML, and loves learning new things.
Stiliyan Lazarov, System Architect and Main User Advocate
Stiliyan Lazarov is a Co-Founder and the System Architect at Reslutions; his main responsibility is ensuring that the firms' technology scales nicely. Stiliyan is currently a Senior Resident Advisor with the Office of Housing and Residential Life at Pace University. This is his fourth year working in collegiate housing across various campuses, and he has vast domain knowledge and experience. Stiliyan graduated first in his class in Spring 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Pace University. He has continued his education at Pace, and is currently studying towards his Master of Science degree in Software Development and Engineering. He is also working towards his Certified Software Development Associate certification, issued by the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Robert Caucci, Director of Business Development
Rob Caucci is a Co-Founder and the Director of Business Development at Reslutions. Rob is very involved with the tech community in New York City, and he will be graduating this May from Pace U. with a dual-degrees in Entrepreneurship (BBA) and Business Economics (BS). Rob is the Co-Founder and President at Effin' Textbooks (www.effintextbooks.com and http://apps.facebook.com/effintextbooks/ ). He is a past Social Venture Award winner at Start-Up Weekend NYC (Donor Universal- September 2010). He is the Co-Founder and President of Pace' Students In Free Enterprise chapter. Most recently, Rob helped the Business Solutions team at the The Dannon Company implement a predictive modeling solution. He was the Assistant Director of College Development at CleanEdison (www.cleanedison.com), a NYC start-up in the "green space", and he also served as a Sales and Marketing Consultant at San Francisco-based start-up, CityMint (www.citymint.com). Rob is also in his 3rd year as a resident advisor.
The fitness industry in the United States currently produces $17.6 billion annually and has doubled in size over the last 10 years. At the same time, 85% of the health club market remains untapped. Increasingly, fitness consumers prefer an "a-la-carte" approach to purchasing, which conflicts with the traditional "big-box" gym business model. "Big box" gyms attempt to offer "something for everybody" under a single roof, requiring all members to pay for nearly all services, regardless of which services were actually rendered to each member. Though "big box" gyms are in decline, many specialized and niche-oriented fitness service providers continue to emerge and thrive because they are allowing customers to pay for precisely what they want.
FitHopper™ will establish a network of fitness service providers that allows consumers to purchase fitness memberships that they tailor to their own preferences, schedules, and locations. Customers will be able to purchase the following at www.FitHopper.com, and FitHopper™ will ensure that the fitness service providers are compensated solely on the basis of usage:
- A fitness membership that grants access to hundreds of fitness service providers in their local area and thousands throughout the world.
- Gift certificates that can be redeemed at hundreds of fitness service providers in their local area and thousands throughout the world.
- Coupon deals promoting specific fitness service providers.
Visitors to www.FitHopper.com will also be able to view and post ratings, reviews, and rankings of fitness service providers in the FitHopper™ Network.
FitHopper™ will target young professionals ages 18-35 that live in large urban areas and enjoy trying new fitness activities with their friends. Several other companies - such as GlobalFit™ and Healthways™ - have built networks of traditional fitness centers for the purpose of marketing discounted memberships to employees of corporations, enabled by health club membership subsidies offered via corporate wellness programs. FitHopper's™ memberships and gift certificates will be promoted primarily via corporate wellness programs, social networking websites, coupon deal websites (such as Groupon.com™ and LivingSocial.com™), and sporting goods stores.
The founder and CEO, Darren Shearer, served as a Captain in the United States Air Force and has six years of leadership and management experience, holds an M.A. degree, and expects to complete an M.B.A. at Pace University in August 2012. Ajay Gupta and Fingent, Inc.™ will handle the web development and IT-related responsibilities.
The first year will be dedicated primarily to building the FitHopper™ Network of fitness service, with revenues expected to reach $680K. Revenues are expected to reach $3 million by the second year when FitHopper™ begins selling memberships in addition to gift certificates and coupon deals. The startup cost is $120K, and breakeven is expected to occur during the twenty-first month of operations. FitHopper's™ mission is to connect people with their most compatible fitness service providers, increasing customers for fitness service providers and helping people to sustain active lifestyles for a lifetime.
Biography
Darren Paul Shearer is the founder and CEO of FitHopper™, a New York-based health and wellness company that connects people with their most compatible fitness service providers, helping people to sustain active lifestyles for a lifetime. As a Captain in the United States Air Force, Darren earned the Commendation Medal for his meritorious service in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Darren is pursuing currently a Master of Business Administration at Pace University. He has served as the Academic Writing Instructor at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA where he also completed a Master of Arts degree in the field of Practical Theology. Darren's first book, In You God Trusts: The Five Domains of Personal Responsibility, released in March of 2010 and was named "Best Self-Published Christian Living Book" at the 2010 Christian Choice Book Awards. He is originally from Columbia, South Carolina and currently resides in New York, New York.
The Lean Canteen will be the only mobile food cart in NYC committed to providing an alternative way of eating lunch outside the office that supports a healthy and active lifestyle. By providing nutritional meals for a low cost, The Lean Canteen (TLC) will strive to become one of the most respected, eco-friendly and health-conscious mobile food units in the City. Since eating out is expensive with a limited number of healthy alternatives, it will be The Lean Canteen's mission to provide its customers the largest selection of nutritious meals, snacks and drinks for a low cost.
TLC will operate in the Financial District from a ten foot long enclosed mobile food trailer designed as an emergency canteen. With the nation facing an obesity epidemic and a growing number of people trying to live and eat better, a unique sales market has been created that promotes healthy meals for a discounted price. TLC can provide this service by being the first establishment ever that will cook to order Lean Cuisine Market Creations (Steamed Entrees), Casual Cuisine (Paninis, flatbreads and pizzas) and Spa Cuisine (Classic favorites) frozen entrees. The Lean Canteen will not only be known for its convenience and large variety, but also for its advertised low price of $6.50 for a nutritious and satisfying meal consisting of a frozen entrée and low calorie side.
The frozen entrée industry is already an established multi-billion dollar market with brand name recognition relating to nutrition, quality, consistency and taste. While fast food restaurants also use frozen products, healthy frozen entrées are only inconveniently located in the local grocer's freezer and not cooked-to-order anywhere. The Lean Canteen will do exactly what every fast food chain does, but instead of deep-frying or grilling its frozen products, TLC will use microwave steam and grilling technology to cook its food. This way of cooking is not only healthier, but it also locks in nutrients and flavor while evenly cooking every ingredient.
With recent microwave innovations, Lean Cuisine has been able to formulate award winning frozen dinners that are convenient, great tasting and pre-portioned. TLC will make these same entrees more convenient and satisfying by combining them with frozen vegetables, healthy snacks and other low calorie products. All meals will be approximately 500 calories and TLC will also offer fresh fruit, breakfast items, meal replacement bars, nutritional beverages and gourmet coffee and teas. Not only will all nutritional information with precise amounts be clearly posted and available, but also for the first time, consumers will be able to have lunch out and know their exact dietary intake.
Jared Domingos will be the principal owner and operator of The Lean Canteen, bringing with him both experience and knowledge in the mobile food industry, as well as in customer service and independent business operations. Jared has the capabilities and training to successfully administer TLC and will use his extensive knowledge of various mobile food units to produce high growth and profitability in a radically new food service company. The Lean Canteen will use social media to interact and connect with customers while also being able to offer coupons, solicit feedback and raise awareness for its innovative service. TLC will strive to become the most health-oriented, environmentally- conscious mobile food unit with an additional emphasis on integrity, cleanliness and convenience. TLC will look to the future by having multiple canteen locations, using solar panels and energy efficient generators to power the microwaves and by giving a portion of its profits to local charities such as the New York City Food Bank. Dedication to health, integrity, variety, cleanliness and customer satisfaction will set The Lean Canteen apart from any other food vendor.
Biography
My name is Jared Domingos and I am a full time graduate student enrolled in the Lubin School of Business 5 year CPA Preparation - Combined Public Accounting BBA/MBA program at Pace University. I started at Pace University as a freshman in 2006 and this will be my last semester with an expected graduation date of May 2011. I currently live in the financial district of Manhattan which has given me a college experience that few other students have ever had. Ever since high school when I participated in the Future Business Leaders of America and was an Independent Business Owner for Quixtar, I have had an entrepreneurial spirit that still continues to thrive. After taking an internship at National Securities my sophomore year, I completed my series 7 exam and became an independent licensed stock broker dealer. Small business ownership has always been my passion and I believe that New York City is the best place to pursue my desires and aspirations of owning a business.
Guiding Proud is a youth mentoring program which matches LGBTQ youth with LGBTQA adults in an effort to foster self-esteem, self-confidence and a sense of worth among today's LGBTQ youth. Guiding Proud's purpose is to break down the isolation many LGBTQ youth feel as a result of bullying, societal stereotypes and discrimination, as well as provide a role model, guidance and support for the youth.
While society is hard for all teens, life is particularly more difficult for LGBTQ teens. Many are facing severe stresses in their lives, whether it be bullying, harassment, or thoughts of suicide. An adult mentor can help improve a teen's self-esteem, by making them feel more supported.
The ultimate goal of Guiding Proud is to provide a mentor and role model who can relate to the LGBTQ youth's experience and struggle with self-acceptance and self-care. Guiding Proud's mentors provide LGBTQ adolescent the guidance, empowerment, stability and trust, which leads to improved self-esteem and ultimately, an overall better quality of life. When teachers, peers, parents and even Facebook friends can't provide the support LGBTQ kids need, Guiding Proud's mentors are there to see LGBTQ youth through to a brighter day.
Guiding Proud's program matches LGBTQ mentees between the ages of 14-24 with responsible and caring mentors who have successfully embraced their own sexual orientation and/or gender identity and are available to mentor on a one-to-one basis.
Guiding Proud's mentees and mentors will meet in person three to four times per month on-site and off-site. Mentors will be encouraged to expose their mentees to meaningful activities, including finding a hobby, participating in sports, attending sporting events, attending museums, schoolwork, completing college or job applications, and beyond. Mentors and mentees will also keep in consistent contact between meetings via phone calls and emails. The match commitment is for one year at minimum. Guiding Proud will begin the program with approximately 7 youth for the first year and grow by 50 percent in years two and three.
Biography
Natasha Dillon is a full-time MBA student at Pace University and is expected to graduate in December 2011. In 2007, Natasha graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a Bachelor's degree in Investment Finance. After graduation, Natasha moved to New York City to pursue a career in investment finance. Natasha worked for two and a half years at AllianceBernstein alongside financial advisors and portfolio managers.
Though Natasha has continued to study and pursue business, she has also dedicated much time and energy advocating for LGBT rights. As one of the founders of New York City's Queer Rising, Natasha has been active in the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and pushes for other LGBT focused legislation.
Opportunity Overview:
In America today, there are a large number of underprivileged youth that cannot attend college due to financial challenges. By not going to college, they perpetuate the poverty cycle and settle for jobs that offer limited prospects. We have the opportunity to change the lives of these underprivileged youth by giving them access to an alternative source of education funding. Our proposal is to create an innovative web portal that will connect student borrowers with individual lenders (peer-to-peer lending). The peer-to-peer lending industry has seen significant growth in the past few years, but still lacks a company solely focused on education lending, which we think is crucial to breaking the poverty cycle and changing people's lives.
Market Problem and Solution:
Education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle and unlocking one's potential. An education affords youth opportunity and choices to direct their future – and greatly benefits the surrounding community as these people create value. Education is maybe the highest value-added investment anyone can make for themselves – but unfortunately, too often, people cannot simply afford higher education opportunities.
This is the problem we will work to solve with Little Big Loan – building the access to capital for the underprivileged through a peer-to-peer lending network. Our website will connect borrowers to lenders, allowing socially valuable loans to flow to those who can use it to build themselves a future.
Again, these are target markets that all too often find it difficult to access capital despite the small size of the funds required. We believe this concept will be a win-win – allowing borrowers to access capital and allowing lenders to find a socially responsible yet also profitable investment.
Business Model:
Little Big Loan is a transaction-based business model driven by one key revenue source: a small fee for every loan that gets funded through our website. Our website will display a database of borrowers' requests for loans – these requests will be standardized and sort-able by various characteristics. Any potential lender can then logon to their personal account and scan through the loan offers or search for specific characteristics in the borrowers requests. We are hopeful that this search-ability concept will draw in lenders who will build personal connections to borrowers with certain characteristics - these personal connections will build a user base of repeat lenders and separate us from the colder alternatives in the world of lending.
Social Return and Impact:
Little Big Loan aims to break down any financial barriers that exist for underprivileged youth to attend college. Quantifying this social impact, male college graduates earn on average $20,000 more per year versus male high-school graduates and female college graduates earn on average $17,000 more per year versus female high school graduates (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77 ). Over the course of a lifetime, college graduates earn approximately $2.1 million while high school graduates earn approximately $1.2 million, a difference of $900,000 (http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa072602a.htm)
Biographies
Vishnu Murthy is the CEO of LBL and has a broad set of work experience since working in New York City since 2004. Initially joining Lehman Brothers as a trader out of college and following the typical Wall Street path, Mr. Murthy left after 4 years to pursue his entrepreneurial desires. Working at an online retail start-up managing business strategy and online marketing further fueled Mr. Murthy's entrepreneurial spirit. Simultaneously to Mr. Murthy's career has been a consistent and deep passion for social and civic service, illustrated by his extensive experience working with underprivileged youth since high school and beyond. Currently, Mr. Murthy is in his second year as an MBA student at the NYU Stern School of Business and he holds a bachelor of science in Statistics and Economics from The George Washington University.
Eric Rosenblatt is the COO of LBL. Mr. Rosenblatt was previously a Vice President at Guggenheim Partners, where he worked for five years. Based in New York City, Mr. Rosenblatt was in the Leverage Debt Group where he focused on the media, technology, and telecom industries as a financial analyst. The position exposed him to multiple areas of deal making and diligence work, including: evaluation of opportunities, financial modeling and research, financial due diligence, term sheet negotiation, legal documentation, interacting with management, transaction execution, and monitoring of holdings. Mr. Rosenblatt is in his second year as an MBA student at NYU Stern School of Business and he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from MIT
81% of Malians under the age of five are anemic and approximately 50% of deaths can be attributed to malnutrition. In 2009, almost 73 million pounds of potential milled rice - enough to feed 580,000 people for a year - was lost due to the lack of proper storage and processing facilities.
Malo Traders LLC's social mission is to combat extreme poverty and malnutrition by increasing the income of smallholder farmers and providing fortified rice to consumers at an affordable price. We purchase rice paddy from smallholder farmers in Mali at a fair price. We then store the paddy using an environmentally friendly hermetic storage system before processing and fortifying the rice with micronutrients. The finished product is and sold to urban consumers and humanitarian relief agencies.
We are initially targeting a market of $173 million with a penetration rate of 6.5% in Year 1. We forecast that we will reach a market share of 15% by Year 5. We are targeting two groups of customers. The first is the urban consumer looking for affordable, nutritious rice and the second is the humanitarian relief agency that administers school feeding programs, food-for-work programs, and intervenes in areas of distress.
By establishing a socially responsible brand and adhering to the highest quality standards, Malo Traders has a unique advantage. Another clear distinction is our ability to produce fortified rice in a manner that is affordable and culturally adapted. Finally, the combination of our management team, superior technology, and commitment to making the well being of farmers and consumers an integral part of our business model sets the bar high for potential competitors to surpass.
We expect to breakeven from an operational standpoint in Year 1 with a gross margin of 16.53% and from a dollar invested standpoint in the first quarter of Year 4. We forecast a cumulative net income of $5.86 million in Year 5 driven by a solid increase in sales and a net profit margin of 11%. This represents a return on equity on 46% for our shareholders.
Based on our Social Impact Analysis, at the end of Year 3, the net purpose value of our intervention is $27 million and $144 million at the end of Year 10. In Year 1, we expect to generate approximately $1.5 million in extra revenue for farmers who sell us their paddy and $11.5 million in savings for customers who purchase our fortified rice. We expect to work with at least 1,467 farmers in Year 1 and produce enough milled rice to meet the daily needs of 250,000 people. By Year 5, we expect to work with at least 3,500 farmers and impact at least 600,000 consumers.
The total initial investment required is just over $4 million. Our financing strategy is the following: a) $1 million in equity from patient capital investors with a seven year exit plan and a valuation of $3.3 million b) $1 million in grants from foundations, governments, and international organizations involved in poverty alleviation, rural development, food security, and malnutrition, and c) a matching loan of $2.5 million at current interest rates secured by the initial investment and guaranteed by assets, land, and buildings. Finally, we will need a working capital loan of $10 million at a 15% interest rate that will be guaranteed by fixed purchased agreements and inventory. However, our immediate objective is to raise $50,000 in order to conduct a holistic proof of concept study in the fall of 2011 prior to building our facility.
Biographies
Mohamed Ali Niang is currently a senior at Temple University and expects to graduate in May 2011 with a BBA in International Business/Entrepreneurship and minors in Economics and Corporate Sustainability. He was part of the winning team at the 2010 Center for International Business and Education Research (CIBER) International Case Competition. In addition, he received the 2010 Sol Tutelman Memorial Prize from Temple University, an award given to a student achieving the highest standards in the field of entrepreneurship. He has interned at a variety of organizations dedicated to social change and poverty alleviation including, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Niger, the Women's Opportunity Resource Center in Philadelphia, and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). During these internships, Mohamed Ali developed valuable experiences and insights into the agriculture and nutritional sector, micro finance, and project management.
Salif Romano Niang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. He holds bachelors degrees in political science and French Language and Literature from Purdue as well. In May 2010, he received a Purdue Research Foundation grant to fund his dissertation on the effects of large youth cohorts on democratization, development, and conflict. Over the past four years he taught undergraduate courses in international politics, international political economy, and international law at Purdue and has also taught Model United Nations and Advanced Geography at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. In the summer of 2010, he was an intern for the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and co-authored a report on the feasibility of Ultra Rice® with Mohamed Ali.
Kevin Bolen, Partner, Innosight
Somak Chattopadhyay, Principal, GSA Venture Partners
Jalak Jobanputra, Director of Investments, Omidyar Network Access to Capital
Stanley S. Litow, President, IBM International Foundation
David S. Rose, Chairman, New York Angels
Lori Smith, Partner, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP
Kevin Bolen - Partner, Innosight
Kevin is a Partner with Innosight, where he consults with Fortune 500 firms focused on establishing a culture and discipline of growth and innovation. Kevin has balanced his career among management consulting, strategic planning, and marketing leadership roles in a variety of high growth environments. He has worked for and consulted with Fortune 500, mid-sized, and start-up enterprises in a variety of sectoring including IT software and services, consumer/retail, financial services, travel, and distribution/transportation.
Prior to joining Innosight in 2007, Kevin served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Lionbridge Technologies (NASDAQ: LIOX), a $450M global outsourcing company. Before Lionbridge, Kevin led product management and marketing efforts for several venture-backed technology firms. He began his career with IBM Global Services, spending six years in a variety of consulting and strategic planning roles.
Kevin holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BBA summa cum laude in International Business from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University. His commentary and/or bylined articles have appeared in Forbes, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Harvard Business Online, TIME, Pharmaceutical Executive, CNET and InfoWorld. He is a regular speaker at corporate, analyst and industry trade events.
Somak Chattopadhyay - Principal, GSA Venture Partners
Somak Chattopadhyay is a Principal at GSA Venture Partners. Previously, he was at Edison Venture Fund, where he sourced and evaluated investments in the tech-enabled services sector and launched the firm's New York office. Prior thereto, Somak held senior marketing/business development roles at Medtower, a pharmaceutical IT software company and DealTime, a comparison shopping company that was later acquired by eBay. Somak started his career at Broadview International (now Jefferies) and was previously director of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).
Somak is currently a director or observer at Ignighter, MyNines, ReachForce, and Three Stage Media. He also is on the board of numerous nonprofit organizations including MIT Enterprise Forum of New York and NYCVC. Somak is an Executive Committee member of TiE Tri-State and serves as Vice Chair of the SIIA Private Equity Forum. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Somak is currently a director or observer at BDMetrics, ReachForce, MIT Enterprise Forum of New York, and The Indus Entrepreneurs (Tri-State chapter). He is also Vice Chairman of the Software & Information Industry Association Private Equity Forum and on the steering committees of the NYCVC and the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association's Software Vanguard Series.
He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Jalak Jobanputra- Director, Investments, Omidyar Network Access to Capital
Jalak brings more than 17 years of experience in venture capital, technology and digital media to her role overseeing mobile technology investments on Omidyar Network's Access to Capital team.
Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Jalak led technology and digital media venture investments at the New York City Investment Fund and co-founded NYCSeed, a seed fund focused on early-stage entrepreneurs. Previously, she was Principal at New Venture Partners, a $300 million venture fund, where she founded and served as interim CEO of Real Time Content and managed the incubation of several technologies including speech recognition/natural language processing, 3D displays, video surveillance, 4G wireless broadband and music recommendation software. Jalak was with Intel Capital from 1999-2003; she began her career in media, telecommunications and technology sector investment banking and served on the launch team of an online financial information startup. Throughout her career Jalak has made significant contributions to both local and global programs that support social entrepreneurs, education reform and women in business. She currently advises organizations such as Techstars, NYCSeedStart, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Echoing Green and Astia. Jalak is also a recipient of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business award from the Asian-American Business Development Center.
Jalak earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in communications from the Annenberg School and a BSE in finance from the Wharton School.
Stanley S. Litow - President, IBM International Foundation
Stanley Litow is the President of the IBM International Foundation and IBM's Vice President for Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. He heads global corporate citizenship efforts at IBM, which contributes nearly $150 million across 170 countries. Under his leadership, IBM has developed new innovative technologies to help non literate children and adults learn to read, helped people with disabilities access the internet, created a humanitarian grid to power research on Cancer and AIDS and developed technology to increase economic growth and small business development.
Before joining IBM, Stanley served as the Deputy Chancellor of Schools for New York City, the nation's largest school system. Prior to his service with the City's public schools, he founded and ran Interface, the non profit "think tank" and served as an aide to both the Mayor and Governor of New York.
Stanley's articles and essays have appeared in numerous books and publications including the Yale Law Review, Annual Survey of American Law, Brookings Papers, the American Academy of Sciences, the Journal for the Center for National Policy, the New York Times and Newsday.
Stanley is the recipient of the Council on Foundation's prestigious Scrivner Award for creative philanthropy and awards from the Anne Frank Center, Martin Luther King Commission, Manhattanville College, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Coro Foundation, Helen Keller Services to the Blind, New Visions for Public Schools and the Women's City Club. He has served as an adjunct faculty at New School University, the City University of New York and Long Island University.
He helped create and chairs the Global Leadership Network and serves on the board of Harvard Business School's Initiative on Social Enterprise, Independent Sector, Citizen's Budget Commission, and the After School Corporation
David Rose - Chairman, New York Angels
David S. Rose is an entrepreneurial executive and investor with extensive experience in high technology and communications, angel investments, finance and government. He was named by Inc. magazine to the 1998 Inc 500 list as CEO of one of the fastest growing private companies in America. Red Herring magazine has described him as "a patriarch of New York's Silicon Alley" and Crain's New York Business named him one of the City's 25 most influential technology executives.
During the course of his career, Mr. Rose has supervised the creation of an intellectual property portfolio of issued patents appraised at over $100 million and negotiated both domestic and international corporate acquisitions. He was a prime author of the new data messaging protocols for the personal communications industry, and lectures frequently on issues relating to the development of the international information infrastructure.
In 1997 he was honored as a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the New York New Media category; in 1984, Time magazine profiled him in its "Computer as Man of the Year" issue; and he has been the subject of numerous interviews and articles in print and electronic media. He is a member of the Technical Committee of the Personal Communications Industry Association as well as the Council of Communications Advisors.
Mr. Rose is Chairman of the Board of the New York Angels, Inc., the leading angel investment consortium in the New York region. Through his investment fund, Rose Tech Ventures, he provides capital and management expertise to promising early stage companies. On behalf of his own technology firms he has personally raised tens of millions of dollars in venture, strategic and institutional capital.
With over two decades of hands-on experience in founding, managing and funding diverse companies, Mr. Rose is actively involved in mentoring and advising other entrepreneurs and corporate executives. Dubbed by BusinessWeek "The Pitch Coach" for his ability to help entrepreneurs perfect their fundraising skills, he was a Founding Member of the New York New Media Association and is a frequent guest speaker at graduate business schools including Harvard, Yale, Columbia and NYU. He is also a mentor and judge of Yale University's annual business plan competitions and has judged the annual Students in Free Enterprise national finals. As a regular lecturer for New York's Industrial Technology Assistance Corporation he has taught the Venture Financing and Deal Negotiation section of the FasTrak Tech courses since 1997.
Lori Smith, - Partner, Sedgwick, Detert, Morgan & Arnold LLP
Lori Smith, a partner with the firm's Corporate Practice Group, represents foreign and domestic companies in various industries, including technology, media, financial services, food and beverage, sports, textile, fashion, specialty chemicals, and drug and medical device. She has more than 25 years of experience acting as outside counsel with regard to all aspects of corporate and commercial transactional work, corporate governance matters and negotiation of commercial agreements. Ms. Smith has significant experience representing emerging technology companies and investors, and advising companies at all stages of development ranging from start-ups to public companies.
Ms. Smith has represented public and private companies in the structuring, negotiation and implementation of equity and debt financings and private equity transactions; private placements; acquisitions and mergers; strategic alliances; joint ventures; and licensing, manufacturing and distribution arrangements. She also advises companies with respect to the various issues that need to be addressed in anticipation of and planning for a public offering, sale or merger.
In addition, Ms. Smith advises clients on all aspects of business operations, including board of directors and shareholder issues, negotiation of shareholders' and voting agreements, and transitional issues in connection with the transfer of management and control from one generation to the next.
Ms. Smith is an active member of the MIT Enterprise Forum, serving on the global and New York chapter boards. In addition, she is a member of the New York Advisory Board of Astia, a non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship among women. In 2008 and 2009, Chambers US named Ms. Smith as one of New York's leading lawyers in the technology industry.
Ms. Smith frequently speaks at events focused on the New York technology and investment community. She recently moderated a panel discussion on the current state of angel and venture capital investment at the 2009 Astia Doing it Right Conference. She also served as a panelist at the April 2009 MIT Enterprise Forum symposium, which focused on mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and other alternative strategies for liquidity in the current economic environment.
Ms. Smith earned her JD with high honors from Duke University School of Law where she was the senior-editor of Law and Contemporary Problems. She received her BA, magna cum laude, from the University of Rochester.
Speakers
Stanley S. Litow - President, IBM International Foundation
Salman Khan – Founder, the Khan Academy
Harold Levy – Managing Director, Palm Ventures
Neil S. Braun – Dean, the Lubin School of Business
Bruce Bachenheimer – Clinical Professor of Management, Pace University
Stanley S. Litow - President, IBM International Foundation
Stanley Litow is the President of the IBM International Foundation and IBM's Vice President for Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. He heads global corporate citizenship efforts at IBM, which contributes nearly $150 million across 170 countries. Under his leadership, IBM has developed new innovative technologies to help non literate children and adults learn to read, helped people with disabilities access the internet, created a humanitarian grid to power research on Cancer and AIDS and developed technology to increase economic growth and small business development.
Before joining IBM, Stanley served as the Deputy Chancellor of Schools for New York City, the nation's largest school system. Prior to his service with the City's public schools, he founded and ran Interface, the non profit "think tank" and served as an aide to both the Mayor and Governor of New York.
Stanley's articles and essays have appeared in numerous books and publications including the Yale Law Review, Annual Survey of American Law, Brookings Papers, the American Academy of Sciences, the Journal for the Center for National Policy, the New York Times and Newsday.
Stanley is the recipient of the Council on Foundation's prestigious Scrivner Award for creative philanthropy and awards from the Anne Frank Center, Martin Luther King Commission, Manhattanville College, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Coro Foundation, Helen Keller Services to the Blind, New Visions for Public Schools and the Women's City Club. He has served as an adjunct faculty at New School University, the City University of New York and Long Island University.
He helped create and chairs the Global Leadership Network and serves on the board of Harvard Business School's Initiative on Social Enterprise, Independent Sector, Citizen's Budget Commission, and the After School Corporation
Salman Khan – Founder, the Khan Academy
Sal is the Founder, Executive Director, and Faculty of the Khan Academy. He started the Khan Academy as a way to tutor his cousins remotely--while he was a hedge fund analyst in Boston, and they were students in New Orleans. He started posting videos on YouTube, and more and more people kept watching. It was clear there was a huge unmet need, so Sal left his hedge fund job and started Khan Academy with the mission of providing a free world-class education to anyone, anywhere.
Sal holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was the president of his class. He also attended MIT, where he received 3 degrees: a Masters in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and a B.S. in Mathematics.
Harold Levy – Managing Director, Palm Ventures
Harold Levy is a Managing Director at Palm Ventures where he concentrates on investments in education, regulated industries and allied fields. Mr. Levy has extensive management and acquisition experience in education and finance. He was formerly the New York City Schools Chancellor, Executive Vice President of Kaplan, Inc., Director of Global Compliance of Citigroup, Head of Litigation of Salomon Brothers, and Managing Director of Plainfield Asset Management. He holds a JD and BS from Cornell and an MA (PPE) from Oxford. Mr. Levy is a member of the Board of the Cambium Learning Group (NASD:ABCD). He is also on the board of the Roosevelt Institute and of Pace University, a member of the Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee of Teachers College, Columbia University. He was recently appointed by Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan to the Committee on Measures of Student Success.
Neil S. Braun – Dean, the Lubin School of Business
Neil S. Braun has served as the Dean of Pace University's Lubin School of Business in New York since July 2010. He currently serves on the board of directors of IMAX Corporation and national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength, and he has previously been President of the NBC Television Network, Chairman and CEO of Viacom Entertainment, an internet and environmental entrepreneur, a film producer, and a corporate attorney. Mr. Braun has taught an MBA course in economic models of media and entertainment at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Bruce Bachenheimer – Clinical Professor of Management, Pace University
Bruce Bachenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Management, the Executive Director of Entrepreneurship@Lubin, and a Faculty Fellow of the Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Pace University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurship, management, and strategy. He created the Pace Pitch Contest in 2004 and organizes it annually.
Mr. Bachenheimer is a member of the Global Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a Board member and past Chair of the New York City Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, and on the Board of Directors & Advisors of LeadAmerica. He has served as a consultant to the New York City Department of Small Business Services, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and a variety of new ventures. He has been widely quoted in a variety of publications, interviewed on radio and television, and has spoken on entrepreneurship at numerous conferences. His earlier career includes having served as a VP of iQ Venture Partners, an AVP of Westpac Banking Corp. and an International Banking Officer for the Bank of Tokyo. As the International Product Manager for MSI, an SBA certified 8(a) firm, he was responsible for the initial commercialization of a high-technology forensic science system. In that position, he conducted business in over twenty countries. He was also the founder of Annapolis Maritime Corp. and the Co-founder of StockCentral Australia. Other activities include having sailed his 36' boat from New England, through the Caribbean, to South America and back. Bruce also participated in the Sydney to Hobart race in 2000.
Mr. Bachenheimer holds a BBA, summa cum laude, from Pace University. He spent a semester at Tsukuba National University in Japan as an undergraduate and continued to study Japanese at NYU after graduating. He later received the McKinsey & Company Leadership Scholarship to pursue an MBA degree, which he earned from the Australian Graduate School of Management.
Selection Committee
Narendra C. Bhandari, Professor of Management, Pace University
Jack Bloom, Adjunct Professor of Management/Finance, Pace University
Jonathan Hill, Assistant Dean, Seidenberg School of CSIS
Paul Kurnit, Clinical Professor of Marketing, Pace University
Yiannis Kourakis, Board Member and Operations Committee Chair, MIT Enterprise Forum of New York City
Harvey Markovitz, Assistant Clinical Professor of Marketing, Pace University
Rebecca Tekula, Executive Director, Helene and Grant Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Narendra C. Bhandari, Professor of Management, Pace University
Narendra Bhandari is a Professor of Management at Pace University. His research interests are in the areas of small business and entrepreneurship, with a particular interest in "Trade Equilibrium" for keeping and creating jobs.
Professor Bhandari served as the editor of Cases in Small Business Management, South-Western Publishing Company, 1979. He founded the American Journal of Small Business and served as its editor from 1976 to 1980. His textbook contributions include "Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship," Chapter 23, published in William H. Newman, E. Kirby Warren, and Andrew R. McGill, The Process of Management, sixth edition, Prentice-Hall, 1987.
Professor Bhandari earned a Master of Commerce from the University of Rajasthan, and his Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.
Jack Bloom, Adjunct Professor of Management/Finance, Pace University
Professor Jack Bloom holds adjunct appointments in both management and finance on the Pace faculty. He graduated from Harvard College with honors in 1979 and from the MIT Sloan School of Management with an MBA in 1983. Bloom worked on Wall Street for 12 years, rising to Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for a boutique investment banking firm. In these roles, he completed numerous IPOs, private placements, bridge loans, venture capital investments, and M&A deals for growth companies. In 1995, he started and became CEO of Auto America, Inc., a retail and financial services firm, similar to CarMax, which he grew to $50 million in profitable sales. In 2005, he sold his interest in the company to a large hedge fund. As CEO of his own company, Bloom was responsible for all strategy, marketing, capital raising and finance, organizational development, locations, and M & A. Since 2005, he has been a professor at NYU Stern School of Management, Beijing University, and Pace University. He was previously twice a coach of the NYU Stern business plan competition with one of his teams winning first place. He continues to work as a senior strategic and financial advisor to many start-ups and middle market companies.
Jonathan Hill, Assistant Dean, Seidenberg School of CSIS
Dr. Jonathan Hill is the Assistant Dean for Special Programs and projects at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. With a unique combination of experience in both academia and the private sector, Jonathan combines 20 years of college teaching with managerial experience at consumer-facing internet ventures including Travelocity.com. Previously he had management engagements with United Airlines Vacations, Hertz and Aeroflot Russian Airlines. He has been a principal in start-ups including Baltia Air Lines, Worldres.com and EngineerRe.His higher education experience includes 15 years on the faculty of the City University of New York where he developed successful educational programs in technology and entrepreneurship including the Honors Entrepreneurship program at Queens College. In addition to teaching responsibilities at Pace, Jonathan oversees the work of the Web Media Lab at the Seidenberg School which provides Web consulting to both non-profit and corporate partners. He also coordinates corporate partnerships with major technology companies including Microsoft, Verizon, HP and Apple. He was part of the team that received a Pace University Presidential Grant for community service. His research interests include technology entrepreneurship, Web development, interaction design, usability, Web 2.0, digital distribution systems, software engineering and abstraction.
Yiannis Kourakis, Board Member and Operations Committee Chair, MIT Enterprise Forum of New York City
Yiannis Kourakis serves as Board member and Operations Committee Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of New York City. In that capacity, he has been involved in the planning and organizing of numerous events focused on business and innovation. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of technology entrepreneurship, media & information technology, cleantech, biotechnology, and venture capital investments.Yiannis works as an Engineer in the New York office of Ove Arup & Partners, an engineering design, planning and consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. He specializes in structural analysis and design of high-rise buildings and has also worked in Austria, Croatia, and Hong Kong.Yiannis obtained his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Greece, spending his final year as an exchange student in Germany, and holds a Master of Civil and Environmental Engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Paul Kurnit, Clinical Professor of Marketing, Pace University
Paul Kurnit is an internationally recognized marketing, advertising and entertainment professional. Paul began his advertising career at Benton & Bowles and Ogilvy & Mather, where he managed a number of classic brands for Procter & Gamble, Kraft/General Foods and American Express. As President of Griffin Bacal, Paul managed businesses in virtually every consumer and service business category and also served as Executive Vice President sister company Sunbow Entertainment, a leading producer of quality children's television programming. Paul is an expert in social and cultural trends having created a number of specialty business units dedicated to addressing a diverse range of marketing initiatives, including: LiveWire: Today's Families Online&174; , Kid Think Inc.™, Licensing Works!™, Trend Walk™, TDC: The Design Group, The Digital Station.
Currently, as founder of Kurnit Communications, KidShop and PSInsights, Paul has been dedicated to delivering customized solutions across a range of marketing disciplines for companies seeking dramatic new initiatives to drive their businesses. Paul is a frequent speaker and writer for television, radio and print media (i.e. NBC/The Today Show, ABC, CBS News, CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Barrons, Ad Age, AdWeek, BrandWeek, Entrepreneur and more). He has shared his expertise in consulting work for Bayer, ConAgra, Disney, General Mills, Hasbro, Mattel, McDonald's, Nickelodeon, Pepsi, Polaroid, Scholastic, Sony, Universal Studios and many other blue chip and start up companies.
Paul is on the boards and advisory boards of The Advertising Educational Foundation (AEF), The Advertising Council's Creative Review Committee (CRC), Pace University Lubin School of Business, the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Better Business Bureau and the International Journal of Advertising and Marketing to Children. He is clinical professor of marketing at Pace University, where he teaches marketing and advertising and serves as university advisor for NSAC (National Student Advertising Competition) sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).
Harvey Markovitz , Assistant Clinical Professor of Marketing, Pace University
Harvey Markovitz is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Marketing at Pace University. He is the founder and director of the Interactive-Integrated Direct Marketing (IDM) Lab (www.pace.edu/idmlab), an "incubator internship" that provides real life opportunities for students.He previously taught at Baruch College and was the director of the Direct and Interactive Marketing Lab, where the academic discipline of marketing merged with professional marketing resources and provided assets for students, faculty and small businesses owners.
Professor Markovitz has more than 40 years experience as a direct marketing, sales, and business development professional. Before founding his own company, HBM Associates Inc. in 1981, he directed strategic planning, marketing, sales, administrative and financial activities within various departments of JCPenney and CBS, Inc. He was also the President of a major media barter company. He created innovative product, marketing and financial strategies that resulted in increased profitable sales in both domestic and international markets. He is also the author of a business pamphlet-guide "101+ steps to rapid and sustained profit change; it's your business what do you want to do about it?" published by HBM Associates, Inc. and "How to build a consulting practice within your accounting business" published on audio tape by Bisk Publishing company.
In May 2009, Professor Markovitz was engaged by the US Department of State to lead a Marketing Training Mission to Guyana to help develop the marketing skills of that country's entrepreneurs. He conducted seminars in Georgetown and Linden, Guyana to approximately 100 entrepreneurs. He also appeared on national television discussing, with Guinean leaders, how to market the brand of Guyana. In August of 2009, in Hong Kong, he conducted a one week seminar on Customer Relationship Marketing, training approximately 70 mid level executives for the world's largest exporter, Li & Fung. Professor Markovitz was awarded the 2005 DMG Award for Outstanding Service to Direct and Interactive Marketing Education presented by Direct Marketers Gateway, Inc. Since 2002, he has been an annual winner of the DMA's ECHO leadership award. Professor Markovitz earned a Master of Science Degree (with distinction) in Direct and Interactive Marketing from New York University in 1999. He is a specialist in profit improvement through organization development and restructuring, marketing and media planning, financial and administrative processes as well as sales and management training.
Rebecca Tekula, Executive Director, Helene and Grant Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Rebecca Tekula is the Executive Director of the Helene and Grant Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship, an institute of Pace University aiming to serve students and nonprofit organizations towards the goal of more effective and efficient nonprofit management practices.Ms. Tekula is completing her PhD in Economics at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. She earned her BA at Vassar College, her MPA from Pace University, and her MBA from the University of Oxford. Ms. Tekula has a extensive background in New York City philanthropy and across the nonprofit sector
For additional information, please contact
Bruce Bachenheimer,
Clinical Professor and Director of Entrepreneurship @ Lubin:
Tel: (212) 618-6663
Fax: (212) 618-6664
E-mail: bbachenheimer@pace.edu
Web: webpage.pace.edu/bbachenheimer
Address: Pace University
Lubin School of Business
Department of Management, Room 342
163 William Street
New York, NY 10038