Our Team
Gerald (Jerry) Levin Chairman
Jerry Levin is Chairman and investor in StartUp Health. Jerry is also a director and investor in OrganizedWisdom. Jerry is the former CEO of Time Warner Inc. Starting in 1972, he pioneered the creation of HBO and helped develop the modern cable industry. His passion was in digital, interactive communications. He was the prime mover in the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications in 1990, Time Warner’s merger with Turner Broadcasting and CNN in 1996, and with AOL in 2001. He also served as a Director of the New York Stock Exchange and the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Previously, he was an attorney with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and then COO of D&R, an international investment and management firm. Jerry graduated from Haverford College, where he eventually served as Chairman of the Board, and received a legal degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a Trustee Emeritus of Hampshire College. Currently, Jerry is the Presiding Director of Moonview Sanctuary, a holistic mental health institute in Santa Monica, founded by his wife, Dr. Laurie Ann Levin. He is also a partner with Bill West in Connectivity, a boutique consultancy devoted to helping entrepreneurs and start-ups. Jerry also serves as a mentor for Techstars NY 2011.
Steven H. Krein Co-founder & CEO
Steven Krein is the Co-founder and CEO of StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Steven is on a mission to accelerate technology innovations in health and wellness that help lower the costs and improve the quality of health care in our country. The firm was founded on the belief that successful health and wellness companies are the result of passionate entrepreneurs, an early focus on customer validation and great coaching and guidance. Steven is also co-founder and CEO of OrganizedWisdom, a Digital Doctor’s Office and Patient Portal that helps doctors save time, grow their practice, and improve their online presence.
Steven was previously co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Webstakes and Promotions.com, a global online advertising, direct marketing, and technology company. He took the company public on the Nasdaq prior to being acquired by iVillage. In under four years, the company built a membership base exceeding 20 million consumers, raised nearly $100 million, and achieved a $500 million market capitalization. Steven began his online career with Law Journal Extra!, now known as Law.com, the first online legal news and information website, which was acquired by American Lawyer Media.
Steven received his J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law, and B.A. degree from the University of Maryland-College Park. Steven is a member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) Metro New York Chapter and lives in New York City with his wife and three daughters.
Unity Stoakes Co-founder & President
Unity Stoakes is the Co-founder and President of StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Unity is a serial entrepreneur and active in the Health 2.0, Social Media, and Quantified Self communities. He is a long-time advocate for meaningful innovation and works to inspire and support the best talent (entrepreneurs, designers, technologists, engineers, clinicians, investors, marketers, scientists, futurists…) of our time so they can invest their time to help solve the world’s greatest challenges such as improving health and wellness for all.
Unity Stoakes is also the co-founder and president of OrganizedWisdom, an expert-driven platform for health and wellness and is on a mission to transform people’s health by leveraging the power of innovation, technology, data, design, community, and collaboration. Prior to OrganizedWisdom, Unity helped build several companies including Middleberg Interactive, The Privacy Council, and Webstakes/Promotions.com, a company that he helped take public on NASDAQ in 1999 with his current business partners in OrganizedWisdom.
Unity is a founding member of the Society of Participatory Medicine and a mentor at Blueprint Health, an accelerator for health and wellness startups. He received his bachelor’s degrees in Communications and Political Science from Boston University. Unity resides in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @unitystoakes.
Howard Krein, M.D., Ph.D. Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Howard Krein is Chief Medical Officer at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Dr. Krein is Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and a founding partner and co-director of Jefferson’s Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Center. He is also the CMO at OrganizedWisdom Health, where he oversees the company’s quality standards and physician review program. He is part of an exclusive group of physicians with two doctorates, receiving his M.D. from Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Krein completed internships in both Emergency Medicine and General Surgery, a residency in Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and a Fellowship in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Medical College of Virginia in Richmond Virginia. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Neuroscience from Rutgers University. Dr. Krein lives in Philadelphia, PA.
Bryan Neff Chief Financial Officer
Bryan Neff is the Chief Financial Officer of StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Bryan is an experienced private company financial and operational executive. He was appointed to the District Export Council (Arizona) in 2012 by the US Secretary of Commerce to contribute leadership and international trade expertise complementing the U.S. Commercial Service’s export promotion efforts through counseling businesses on the exporting process and conducting trade education and community outreach.
Bryan has served as a President, COO, and CFO in growth stage, middle market, and Fortune 500 Companies. His industry experience includes healthcare, technology, aerospace/defense, manufacturing, B2B Services, and B2C Services. He has worked in Venture Capital for 5 years and started his own healthcare services business which grew rapidly and was acquired by a Fortune 500 publicly traded company. He has assisted in the positioning, negotiation, and completion of significant private equity investments, liquidity events, startup financings, growth financings, and acquisition deal-making and financing.
Bryan’s leadership roles include success in capital formation, business planning, and hands-on management of rapidly growing companies as the financial point person for five years at Dallas-based venture investment firm Stone Investments, Inc. Bryan’s financial career began in 1988 at the “Big 4″ accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, where he served as an auditor and consultant.
Bari Krein Legal & Corporate Affairs Director
Bari serves as Director of Legal & Corporate Affairs for StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Bari is also Legal Project Manager for OrganizedWisdom Health, an expert driven platform that helps Doctors grow their practice and improve their online presence. She has worked with many members of the StartUp Health team for more than a decade. Previously, she served as General Counsel of Promotions.com, Inc., a publicly traded global online marketing and technology company. Prior to working in-house, Bari was a Partner with the Business and Finance Group of Reed Smith Shaw and McClay. L.P., where she regularly counseled early stage companies as well as established publicly-traded enterprises on securities and corporate governance issues as well as general corporate and financing matters. She started her career at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, where she worked in both the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Enforcement. Bari holds a B.S. degree from the University of Delaware, a J.D. from Widener University School of Law, and a LLM in Taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Nicole Kinsey Marketing & Quality Control Director
Nicole is the Director of Marketing and Quality Control at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. Nicole handles marketing, communications, and social media for StartUp Health, organizes the promotion of StartUp Health events, and is a liaison for Healthcare Transformers accepted into StartUp Health Academy. Additionally, Nicole works with the StartUp Health Network tech team on product development and quality assurance.
Nicole is also the Ad Operations Manager at OrganizedWisdom Health, an expert-driven platform for health and wellness. She has also served as Product Development Manager and Guide Program Manager at OrganizedWisdom. Prior to OrganizedWisdom, Nicole was Co-founder and President of an event production company putting on large-scale consumer entertainment expos. Nicole has years of Web development and online marketing expertise, along with an extensive understanding of the health field and a wide knowledge of content and design. She has been a Web programmer, online consultant, and event producer. She holds a BS degree in Animal Science with a minor in Computer Information Systems, sits on the Board of Directors of an educational and promotional non-profit company, competes in endurance rides with her Arabian horses, rescues and fosters cats, and lives in Washington state with her husband. Follow her on Twitter @KattWmn and @StartUpHealth.
Polina Hanin Scholarship Director
Polina is the Scholarship Director at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies.
Polina is an extremely passionate advocate for health entrepreneurs and active member of the startup scene in New York City. At StartUp Health, Polina focuses on business development, sales, and operations and has extensive background in working with service, IT, and medical device companies within the field. Prior to StartUp Health, Polina was an Associate at Centinel Spine, a company specializing in technologies for spinal stabilization and fusion. At Centinel, she led merger and acquisition deals, corporate development, and distribution-related operations. In 2006, Polina helped launch Musculoskeletal Clinical and Regulatory Advisers, a consulting firm for orthopedic companies seeking to commercialize their technologies. While there, Polina focused on client relations, marketing, and corporate finance.
Polina received her BA in Social Studies from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Polina lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @PolinaHanin.
Jennifer Hankin Programming & Events Director
Jennifer is the Director of Programming and Events at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. In her role, Jennifer is responsible for managing StartUp Health events and conference partnerships as well as organizing Academy programming and operations.
Prior to joining StartUp Health, Jennifer worked at the University of Maryland for six years, most recently as an Assistant Director at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship where she was responsible for overseeing 40 annual event supporting programs including business competitions, student venture incubator, and angel investor network. Notable events included Cupid’s Cup, a business competition for student entrepreneurs that recently expanded to a national platform, and the China Business Plan Competition, an annual MBA global studies trip to China featuring a competition with students from the U.S, China, and Israel. In addition to the events, Jennifer was responsible for marketing strategy, office operations, fundraising, and budget management. Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Maryland in 2006 and a Master of Tourism Administration, with a concentration in Event and Meeting Management, from The George Washington University School of Business in 2009. She resides in New York City.
Katya Hancock Strategic Partnerships Director
Katya is the Strategic Partnerships Director at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. Katya is a passionate advocate for health entrepreneurs and an active member of the startup technology ecosystem in New York City. At StartUp Health, Katya focuses on building strategic partnerships that unite entrepreneurs with key industry stakeholders focused on health and wellness innovation.
Prior to StartUp Health, Katya worked in the technology industry as a key team member at three financial tech start-ups, helping two of them grow to be acquired by Fortune 500 companies. Her experience includes strategic partnerships and business development, enterprise sales, channel sales partnerships, product management, marketing, and capital raising.
Katya lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @KatyaHancock.
Konstantin Karmazin Healthcare Transformer Liaison
Konstantin is the Healthcare Transformer Liaison at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Konstantin applies his knowledge of clinical medicine and the healthcare industry to assist in evaluating applicants for StartUp Health Academy and works with Healthcare Transformers who have been accepted. Prior to StartUp Health, Konstantin spent three years at Huron Consulting Group focusing on improving the finances and clinical operations of hospitals systems. He is currently a medical student at Georgetown University School of Medicine with plans to head back to Washington, DC, in the fall of 2013. Konstantin received his BS in Healthcare Management and Policy from Georgetown University. He currently resides in Hewlett, New York.
Tara Salamone Strategic Coordinator
Tara is the Strategic Coordinator at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. She supports the co-founders as well as the business development and operations staff.
Tara is also the Digital Office Assistant at OrganizedWisdom Health, an expert-driven platform for health and wellness. She has also served as Guide Program Mentor at OrganizedWisdom. Tara works one-on-one with clinicians and physicians, helping ensure OrganizedWisdom’s quality standards. Tara brings years of Web search and online community expertise to her positions. She began her medical career in administration for physicians’ offices specializing in internal/pulmonary medicine, orthodontics, and pediatrics. Tara lives in Rochester, NY, with her husband and two of their six children.
Brian T. Edwards StartUp Health Insights & Research
Brian is an Insights & Research Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. In addition to his work at StartUp Health, Brian is Senior mHealth Analyst for iMedicalApps.com, the leading online publication for medical professionals, patients, and analysts interested in mobile medical technology and health care apps. As project manager for the BR-Med Connect Prehospital Telemedicine Network in East Baton Rouge Parish, Brian oversaw the design, development, and deployment of a prehospital STEMI network, as well as coordinated the participation of several public agencies, regional health systems, and private vendors. Brian advises numerous startups, research institutions, investors, and providers on digital health strategy, business development, and best practices including Wave Technology Group, MedStartr, and Healthgrid.org. Brian has a BA from DePaul University where he studied Political Economy and Mandarin Chinese. Follow him on Twitter @healthgrid.
Ron Golan StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Ron is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Ron puts his passion for healthcare tech to work on the StartUp Health Network platform and supporting Healthcare Transformers enrolled in StartUp Health Academy. Prior to StartUp Health, he worked in advertising at MediaVest on the Procter & Gamble digital media buying team. In 2012, Ron spent six months traveling South America, beginning in Ushuaia in the southern tip of Argentina, and ending in the city of Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. He received a BS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ron currently resides in his native New York City.
Tanner Yager StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Tanner is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Tanner is focusing on the analytics of the entrepreneurial health ecosystem. Tanner leverages his financial knowledge and diverse industry background to understand and find key elements in this blossoming industry. Prior to StartUp Health, he worked in the Analytics department of Deutsche Bank in London with a focus on equity derivatives. Additionally, Tanner worked in business development at TSYS Acquiring Solutions in Phoenix, and interned at eShipping, a logistics startup, in Kansas City. He was President of the KU Finance Club while an undergrad at The University of Kansas and graduated with a BS in Finance in 2009. He is currently working toward obtaining the CFA.
Abby Bouchon StartUp Health Fellow – North Carolina
Abby is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. Abby is a StartUp Health Fellow focusing on the health innovation going on in Research Triangle Park. In addition to supporting and scouting innovation in the region, Abby is working on the StartUp Health Network platform and supporting the current classes of Healthcare Transformers. She is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying Biology, with double minors in Chemistry and Entrepreneurship. Abby is a Carolina Research Scholar who is passionate about low-tech innovation in public health. In 2012, she presented research at a UN conference on the influence of community health systems for rural North Carolinian women. Follow her on Twitter @abbybouchon.
Alicia Davis StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Alicia is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Alicia puts her passion for health tech to work helping with the StartUp Health Network. Alicia graduated from Georgetown University in May 2012 with a BS in International Health. Her previous work experience with the NYC Regional Extension Center (NYC REACH) incited her interest of Health IT’s role in health system reform. In addition, Alicia has also contributed to a campaign to encourage the creation of apps for domestic violence. In the future she hopes to obtain her MHA or an MBA in healthcare.
Ariq Azad StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Ariq is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Ariq combines his software engineering and business skills to work on the development of the Startup Health Network platform. He is currently a junior at Columbia University studying Biology. Ariq is very passionate about public health and social justice, hoping to apply an entrepreneurial lens to public health issues in the developed and developing world. In the past, Ariq conducted mHealth research in Cape Town, South Africa, and is keen on using mHealth as a means to disrupt the current healthcare infrastructure. He hopes to pursue an MD/MPH in the near future and use technological interventions to respond to the socioeconomic determinants that create disease and inequality. Follow him on Twitter @ariqazad.
Bryn Dyar StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Bryn is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Bryn is combining her backgrounds in the business and public health worlds to facilitate the success of entrepreneurs and startups. Before working at StartUp Health, she held a communications position at the American Red Cross. Bryn graduated in May 2012 from Miami University in Cincinnati, OH, with degrees in Public Health Promotion and Marketing. She hopes to pursue an MBA or MPH in the near future. Bryn currently resides in Manhattan.
Liz Gay StartUp Health Fellow – Chicago & NYC
Liz is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. At StartUp Health, Liz combines her business and finance background with her passion for health and wellness and for helping startups and entrepreneurs succeed. As a StartUp Health Fellow, Liz is helping research and author the 2012 StartUp Health Insight Report, launch the new StartUp Health Connect platform, and working to support and promote our class of Healthcare Transformers. Prior to StartUp Health, Liz spent five years at DRW Trading Group in Chicago, trading everything from corporate bonds to Asian equity futures. She plans to return to Chicago in the fall of 2012 to start her MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. She received a Bachelor of Science concentrating in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Yaron Sole StartUp Health Fellow – NYC
Yaron is a Fellow at StartUp Health, an Academy to inspire, educate, and provide resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. Yaron aspires to be at the forefront of the revolution that is taking place in the healthcare industry and firmly believes that health tech is the agent that will help drive this massive transformation. At StartUp Health, Yaron focuses on business development, product management, and product marketing.
Yaron’s diverse experience in the health tech industry includes various roles in product management, project management, and software development. Most recently, he served in a product management role at McKesson, a Fortune 15 company and a market leader in Healthcare IT. At McKesson, Yaron managed the complete life cycle of six Cardiology IT products located in over 300 hospitals worldwide. In this capacity, Yaron spearheaded business development initiatives with Fortune 100 companies, identified new business opportunities in the Cardiology IT space, led teams in development projects, and oversaw new product launches. Yaron is currently an MBA student at Columbia Business School in New York City. He holds a BSc in Biotechnology Engineering from Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
Christopher Michaelis Developer
Chris is lead Developer at StartUp Health and OrganizedWisdom Health. He participates in the development of new features and tools that improve functionality. As a diabetic, he likes encouraging others to take an active role in their health care, using online and mobile tools where appropriate. He previously led a development team to create world-class web hosting technologies, and his education includes a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in geographic information science. He lives in Idaho state with his wife Cassidy.
Zachary Mayberry User Experience Designer
Zach is lead Web Designer at StartUp Health and OrganizedWisdom Health. He is responsible for improving site user experience, implementing clean and intuitive design, and optimizing the site to make it easier for people to use. Previously, he founded Splendor Media, a small web design firm specializing in clean, functional design. Zach currently lives in Decatur, Illinois, with his wife and two children.
Advisors & Investors
Esther Dyson
A long-time catalyst of start-ups in information technology, Esther is one of the best known and most respected names in high-tech. Since the early 1980s, she’s been closely involved in dozens of major development in computing technology and her insights have been a great guide to the future of technology innovations and their impact on business, society and individuals. Esther’s primary activity is investing in start-ups and guiding them as a board member. She specializes in online services and, more recently, IT and healthcare/genetics, and space travel. Esther is an early investor and sometime board member of numerous successful technology companies including 23andMe, Medstory (which was acquired by Microsoft), PatientsLikeMe, Meetup, and Flickr and Del.icio.us (which both were acquired by Yahoo!) just to name a few. Esther is also on the board of advisors of the Health 2.0 Conference.
Linda Holliday
Linda is the founder of Medical Broadcasting Company (MBC), one of the largest healthcare interactive marketing agencies in the country before it was acquired by Digitas in 2006 and renamed Digitas Health. Linda is widely considered one of the country’s foremost experts on interactive marketing for healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
Jason R. Finger
Jason Finger is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Bessemer Venture Partners. Most recently, he was president of SeamlessWeb, the industry-leading, online-food ordering and billing-services company he co-founded in 1999, which was acquired by Aramark in 2006. Under Jason’s leadership, SeamlessWeb grew to serve over 10,000 enterprises and one million individuals in 22 cities throughout the U.S. and in London. It received a number of awards, including designation as one of Time Magazine’s 50 “coolest” websites and one of the best places to work by Crain’s magazine. After SeamlessWeb’s acquisition by Aramark, Jason participated in the parent company’s $8.6 billion LBO and served on that company’s executive-leadership council, presidents’ council and global-leadership council, with responsibility for developing and executing corporate global strategy for 260,000 employees in 19 countries.
Jason serves as a director and advisor to several private companies and is on the board of advisors for NYU’s Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business. He has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Innovator of the Year by the Corporate Executive Council of New York, and was named to Crain’s 40 Under 40 list of leading young executives.Prior to founding SeamlessWeb, Jason worked as a corporate attorney at the law offices of O’Sullivan Graev & Karabell (now O’Melveny & Myers), a private-equity and M&A-focused boutique. He holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Maryland at College Park and a J.D. and MBA in finance from New York University, where he was a Stern Scholar.
Wayne D. Kimmel
Wayne is a Managing Partner of Artists & Instigators. Since 2000, under Wayne’s direction, Artists & Instigators has invested in several successful companies such as SeamlessWeb (sold to ARAMARK), Take Care Health Systems (sold to Walgreens), NutriSystem (NTRI), ranked by Forbes as the best small company in the United States, Philadelphia Media Holdings (owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com). Wayne was named by Philadelphia Magazine as one of “Philly’s People to Watch: one of 76 fascinating people whose moves, ideas, innovations and boldness will shape — and change — our lives over the next decade.” The Philadelphia Business Journal also recognized Wayne as one of the region’s emerging leaders. Wayne was selected as one of the Philadelphia region’s “40 Under 40” young business leaders and in 2000 he received PhillyTech Magazine’s “30 under 30” award. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the Board of Directors of the Jewish Relief Agency.
Ira Brind
Ira Brind has extensive experience in private equity and venture capital investing, as well as running, acquiring and divesting companies, with primary experience in healthcare services, technology and bio-technology. He began his successful career at Brind Leasing Corporation, where he grew the full service truck lessor and transportation services supplier to the sixth largest in its industry. After selling the business to McDonnell Douglas Finance Corporation and later serving as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of McDonnell Douglas Truck Services Corp., he founded Brind, Lindsay & Co. Inc., a private equity investment company. Mr. Brind currently serves as President of Brind Investments, Inc. where his primary focus is investing in private equity, venture, real estate and hedge funds.
Mr. Brind currently serves as the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of the Arts. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Wistar Institute (former Chair of the Board), the University of the Arts, The Connelly Foundation, Thomas Jefferson University, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Jefferson Health System. Ira serves as an advisor to North Castle Partners, a private equity fund located in Greenwich CT. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of InPhonic, Inc. NASDAQ), Enzymatic Therapy, Inc., and VerifiedPerson, Inc., and was a member of the Board of Advisors of CRC Health. He received both a BA in Biology and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeff Markowitz
Jeff Markowitz is a Partner and Greylock Ventures. He was most recently a partner and member of the executive committee at a national recruiting firm. While there, Jeff was both the first employee on the ground, and built that firm’s Silicon Valley office into the leading search practice serving the venture capital industry nationally. Jeff focuses on senior level executive searches within all areas of technology, including both private and public companies. He also conducts partner level searches for both venture capital and private equity clients. With a background in a “Big Five” accounting firm, Jeff’s extensive experience – in both large and small companies – provides a unique perspective to his clients’ organizations. Earlier in his career, Jeff was a manager with Deloitte & Touche in Philadelphia managing the relationship with that office’s most prominent client, Comcast Corporation. During his tenure with Deloitte & Touche, he gained valuable experience cultivating client relationships. Additionally, his background with executive management in various companies has enabled him to understand how businesses operate, as well as how to assess their unique needs. Jeff is also experienced and trained in various leadership programs, which enhances his ability to deal most effectively with clients and candidates.
Peter Kash
Peter Morgan Kash is co-founder and Chairman of Two River Group Holdings, LLC and the President of Riverbank Capital Securities, Inc., a NASD broker-dealer specializing in conducting private placement financings for public and private development stage biotechnology company. Mr. Kash has co-raised nearly $600 million in private equity financings for more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies. He has also served on the board of directors of several privately held and publicly traded biotechnology companies and currently serves as Vice Chairman of Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Velcera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Kash is also a co-founder and former Vice Chairman of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Kash has worked on Wall Street for 25 years, including Shearson Lehman Hutton and Paramount BioCapital, Inc., where he served as Senior Managing Director from 1991-2004. From 1990-1992, he served as an Associate Professor of Marketing at Polytechnic University. Mr. Kash was a television host for FNN’s business program International Spotlight and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and International Venture Capital at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania from 1996-2000. Mr. Kash was Entrepreneur in Residence at Pace University in the spring of 2001 and at Ball State University in May 2002. He was also a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Sy Syms School of Business from 2003-2005. Currently, he serves as a Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business at Nihon University in Tokyo.
Mr. Kash earned his B.S. in Management Science from SUNY Binghamton and his M.B.A. in Banking and International Finance from Pace University. He has completed post-graduate studies at Harvard Business School on how to make Not-For-Profit Board of Directors more effective. Mr. Kash is currently earning a Doctorate of Education at Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University. He serves on the Board of Keren-Or, a charity for blind and multi-handicapped children, as well as Kids Kicking Cancer, a charity for terminally ill children.
Jeff Stewart
Jeff is both an investor and serves on the Board of Advisors of StartUp Health and OrganizedWisdom Health. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Urgent Career. Previously, Jeff has built several successful companies including Mimeo and Square Earth.
Roger Ehrenberg
Roger Ehrenberg is the founder and Managing Partner of IA Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Kinetic Trading Strategies, a technology firm that has developed a unique platform for performing back-testing, simulation and roll-forward analysis on models consuming massive volumes of structured and unstructured data.
Prior to forming IA Ventures, Roger was an active angel investor through IA Capital Partners, a seed-stage investment firm focused on digital media and financial technology. From 2004 to 2009, Roger seeded 40 companies, including bit.ly, Buddy Media, Clickable, Invite Media (sold to Google), Magnetic, MyTrade (sold to TD Ameritrade), Solve Media, Stocktwits, TheLadders, TweetDeck, OrganizedWisdom and Wallstrip (sold to CBS Interactive).
Roger currently sits on the boards of BankSimple, Kinetic Trading Strategies, Metamarkets, Recorded Future, and The Trade Desk, and is a Board observer of SaveWave. Formerly, he served on the boards of Alphacet, Buddy Media, Global Bay Mobile Technologies, Magnetic, Selerity and Stocktwits.
Earlier in his career, Roger served as President and CEO of DB Advisors, LLC, Deutsche Bank’s internal hedge fund trading platform where his 130-person team managed $6 billion in capital across multiple strategies with offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. Before DB Advisors, Roger was Global Co-head of Deutsche Bank’s Strategic Equity Transactions Group. In 2000, Roger’s team won Institutional Investor magazine’s “Derivatives Deal of the Year” award. As an Investment Banker and Managing Director at Citibank, Roger held a variety of roles in the Global Derivatives, Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Structuring groups.
Roger holds an MBA in Finance, Accounting and Management from Columbia Business School and a BBA in Finance, Economics and Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Roger blogs at http://informationarbitrage.com and tweets at @infoarbitrage.
Dr. Marty Lautman
Dr. Martin Lautman is currently a Managing Partner at Marketing Channels, Inc. Dr. Lautman is the former Chairman of GfK Custom Research North America. GfK, headquartered in Nuremburg Germany, is the fourth largest marketing consulting and research company in the world with offices in over 60 countries. Prior to taking on the Chairman’s role at GfK, Dr. Lautman was the CEO of GfK Custom Research North America, New York City, where he was responsible for a major corporate turnaround and the integration all of the newly acquired North American custom research companies with those in GfK’s existing worlwide portfolio.
Dr. Lautman has been and continues to be actively involved in private equity and venture capital, having served on the Advisory Board of a major venture capital company, Bachow and Associates, for over ten years. He also was part of a senior management team that acquired a large division from a major New York stock exchange company, subsequently taken public as a Master Limited Partnership (NASDAQ STON). Currently, he serves as a Director of that company. He has also served as the President of Numex Corporation, a public company acquired as an acquisition vehicle, which marketed health care products through infomercials and QVC; and as the President of Marketing Channels, Inc, a company which supplies highly experienced, seasoned marketing professionals to companies on a short term, outsourced, project basis. Dr. Lautman has also owned and operated a Florida-based multi-store retain chain selling women’s apparel.
Dr. Lautman received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Brooklyn College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematical Psychology with concentrations in Statistics and Computer Science from The Pennsylvania State University.
He has served on Board of Directors, and as head of the Marketing Committee of Moss Rehabilitation Hospital/Albert Einstein Hospital, and on the Board of Directors of The Perelman Jewish Day School.
Bill West
Bill has deep knowledge and experience working with start-up and growth companies in retail, entertainment, e-commerce, and sports marketing. Bill is founder and CEO of Taylor West Adv. / PR where he leads the firm’s marketing strategy, brand management, and business development departments. He also has over 24 years experience as a successful entrepreneur and has launched or invested in 19 start-ups in 11 business categories including his latest venture, Saveie, a targeted, retail marketing website, Mindsearch, an on-line market research company, Real Response, a real insight in real time video intercept firm, and Trendmark Sports Group, a corporate sports marketing agency. Bill is a partner along with Jerry Levin in Connectivity which advises early stage and emerging companies in areas of market fit analysis, brand development, optimization, and alliance marketing. He and Jerry also serve as mentors for Techstars NY 2011.
Dan Feldman
Dan has more than a decade of experience building Internet businesses as an entrepreneur, consultant, and strategic planner. Dan is a Managing Partner at Woodleigh Ventures LLC and is the Vice President of Sales for OrganizedWisdom Health. Dan worked previously with StartUp Health founders Unity Stoakes and Steven Krein as co-founder and President of Promotions.com, a NASDAQ-traded global promotion and direct marketing technology company that was sold to iVillage Inc. (Nasdaq: IVIL) in 2002. Dan also managed Chakkalina, the company’s Japanese subsidiary, which was acquired in 2001 and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of iTX Corporation. Promotions.com was awarded to Deloitte & Touche’s prestigious “Technology Fast 50.” Promotions.com received approximately $100 million of private and public financing from an IPO led by Bear Stearns, Thomas Weisel Partners, ING Barings and Wit Capital. Dan graduated from George Washington University in 1992 and holds a bachelor’s degree in international business. Dan Currently lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.
