Robert Stringham received his MBA from Columbia Business School, and was President of InSITE from 2005-2006. Before seeking his MBA, Robert had over five years experience in the finance and technology industries, filling roles in venture capital, operations, and strategic consulting. Most recently, Robert worked for Aspen Grove Ventures, a Utah-based fund. Prior to Aspen Grove, Robert was the Senior Analyst and Director of Business Development at Consonus, Inc., a Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City based provider of enterprise networked application development and delivery. While there, he consulted on strategy and implementation considerations for mid- to large-cap technology companies including Intel, Hewlett Packard, and Duke Communications. Robert was previously involved in technology-business strategy and architecture with the Salt Lake-based venture capital firm New Media Venture Partners and brand-advertising agency Euro RSCG Dahlin Smith White Partners. He is fluent in Spanish, and holds a BA in Economics from Brigham Young University.

 

Uday received his MBA from Columbia Business School studying Entrepreneurship and Finance. He believes in establishing for-profit businesses that also generate social returns. After graduating from Columbia he will be joining McKinsey & Co in their New York Office. He is a Chair of the Global Social Venture Competition and Outrageous Business Plan Competition, both of which are held during Spring of 2006. Prior to starting business school he founded two software companies and most recently worked for Cast Iron Systems Inc, a bay area startup backed by Sequoia, Norwest, and Invesco. He has extensive background in distributed computing and has helped design and develop solutions that allow companies to connect to the other companies in a cost-effective and efficient manner. He helped design similar complex systems at Bell South, DHL, and Manugistics. He holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, India.

 

Win received his J.D. from Columbia Law School with interests in both emerging technologies and intellectual property transactions. Prior to law school, Win was an ASIC design engineer at Agere Systems, where he worked with both start-up companies and industry-leading communications giants to design ASICs for networking applications. Win has spent the past two summers at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles and Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley, participating in venture capital financings, start-up formation, technology transactions, and other general corporate matters. Win holds a BSEE and MSEE from MIT.

 

Sanjay received his MBA from Columbia Business School with a focus on Finance and Entrepreneurship. Prior to entering business school, Sanjay was an independent consultant. As a consultant, Sanjay worked with a start-up specialty finance company to develop a business plan, provided advice on a restructuring and performed acquisition due diligence of a venture debt portfolio. Before becoming an independent consultant, Sanjay spent two years in venture capital at Comdisco Ventures. At Comdisco Ventures, Sanjay was involved in financings for eleven companies. Prior to joining Comdisco Ventures, Sanjay spent two years as an Analyst at UBS Warburg, where he worked on mergers & acquisitions as well as equity and debt financings for companies within the telecommunications services industry. Sanjay holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Columbia University.

 

Eric is currently pursuing both a JD and MBA at New York University and is specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. During the past year, Eric has performed deal sourcing, due diligence and portfolio company strategic analysis for Updata Partners. Over the previous two summers, Eric worked for Gunderson Dettmer, a prominent venture capital and emerging technology company law firm, and Fitzpatrick Cella, an intellectual property law firm. Prior to school, Eric worked at an enterprise software company, where his primary responsibility was to sell software to companies in industry areas as diverse as finance, insurance, and retail. As a Technical Pre-Seller, Eric determined the strategic problems plaguing these Fortune 500 companies. He produced technical and business solutions that were presented to upper managements. In addition, Eric held several other roles in the company. At one point, Eric took the opportunity to create a start-up web retail subsidiary, which was eventually sold. Eric holds degrees in both Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Duke University.

 

Jason Griffith received his MBA from Columbia Business School and was the recipient of the merit-based Caplan Fellowship for the Class of 2006. Prior to CBS he was a consultant to Boston-based MicroLogic, an integrated asset tracking solution provider to the heavy equipment industry. While at MicroLogic, Jason worked with the company's executives to redevelop the firms value propositions, ROI analysis, five year financial plan, and sales/investor presentations resulting 6 consecutive quarters of revenue growth and a 5M venture investment. Prior to MicroLogic, Jason was Sales director at Boston-based Cimetrics, an energy engineering consultancy. Jason graduated summa cum laude with a BSBA in International Business from Georgetown University and spent a year in the marketing management program at the London School of Economics. Upon graduation, Jason will be joining the global strategy consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as a full time Associate based in New York.

 

Zeke is currently studying toward his JD at NYU School of Law. He worked last summer for the government of Georgia in Tbilisi, where he led a team of business students advising on restructuring at the national railroad, assisted the Georgian International Oil Company during a contract dispute, and consulted on PR strategy for the Office of the President. Prior to law school, Zeke worked for the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Responsibilities included drafting legislation and bill analyses for the Insurance and Financial Institutions committees, as well as handling related appropriations.

 

Sallil received her MBA at NYU Stern specializing in Finance, Law and Innovation. Prior to Stern, she was a founder of Art Korner, an e-commerce business focusing on importing arts and crafts products from Asia to serve customers in the US. While she was at Art Korner, she managed all business activities starting from building vendor relationship, to executing business strategy to maintaining financial performance for the firm resulting in a 20% profits within the first year of operation. Prior to Art Korner, Sallil worked as a quality assurance and software development engineer at Mentor Graphics, an electronic design automation provider. She helped developed hardware and software solutions for industrial clients. Sallil received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

 

Aron is currently pursuing a dual-degree MA/MBA from Columbia Business School and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to graduate school, Aron was Associate Director of the Financial Services Industry Council, a research division of the Corporate Executive Board that provided best practices research to technology partners of the financial services Industry, such as Avaya, IBM, FirstData, Compaq, and Checkfree. He also served within the Financial Services Sector Development practice of Deloitte Touche Tomatsu's Emerging Markets Group. He is a native of Ethiopia, fluent in Amharic and proficient in Spanish. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Studies from Northwestern University.

Dawn received her MBA at the Stern School of Business, specializing in finance. Prior to business school, Dawn supported the executive team of BrokerTec USA during its acquisition and integration by ICAP. She has spent most of her post-collegiate career evaluating venture opportunities and helping young companies reach strategic objectives. Dawn graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in entrepreneurial management in 1998.

 

Eric received his MBA at Columbia Business School, concentrating in finance and entrepreneurship. This past summer, Eric interned at Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham, a Venture Capital fund based in New York. Prior to Business School, Eric was a Senior Program Manager at Expedia where he led the planning and product development of various initiatives including online coupons, travel packages, and charter airfares. Before that, he was a Program Manager at Microsoft where he was responsible for building and delivering small business solutions. Eric holds a B.S. in Economics and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Engineering from a dual degree program at University of Pennsylvania between the Wharton School and the Engineering School.

Oren Schneider was co-founder and Vice President for Business Development for Infra-Com Technologies, a leading developer of broadband wireless solutions. Prior to joining Infra-Com, Oren spent 6 years with the Israeli Defense Force, in various positions within the central intelligence. In his last position Oren headed an intelligence compound and reached the rank of Major. Oren received his MBA from Columbia Business School, and holds a Bachelor of Law degree (LL.B.) and Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tel-Aviv University.

 

Joshua Spodek, Columbia MBA ’06, co-founded Submedia and led it as CEO to operate on three continents. Submedia shows motion-picture advertising to subway riders moving between stations. Joshua conceived of and patented the core technology, designed and implemented the corporate vision with a team of seventeen, managed raising $6 million (90% post-bubble), co-led sales leading to the first $1+ million contract, and managed public relations, covered in the international business, popular, and advertising print, cable, and broadcast media. Joshua led product development efforts at the Grow Network, an education venture, where he co-wrote a patent and managed post-merger integration efforts when McGraw-Hill Education acquired Grow. Joshua has a PhD in Astrophysics, also from Columbia. He is also an artist with solo and group shows across the country. Esquire Magazine named him one of the Best and Brightest in its 2003 Genius Issue.

 

Nisha Atre is an Associate with Mellon Ventures. Nisha focuses on investments in enterprise software, applications and business services companies. Prior to joining Mellon Ventures, Nisha was a Summer Associate for EuclidSR Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early stage investments. Prior to EuclidSR, Nisha worked in product management at Sagent Technology, Inc., a business intelligence software firm based in Silicon Valley. Nisha also served as a consultant in Booz-Allen & Hamilton's Information Technology Group. Nisha also holds a BA from Harvard College.

 

Eric is the Vice President in the Private Equity Group of Palisade Capital Management, which manages 3 private equity funds totaling $280 million. He is also pursuing a Stern MBA with a concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship and a certificate in the Digital Economy. Prior to Palisade, Eric worked at the investment banking boutique of Townsend Frew & Co. His experience also includes several years in the private equity group of Aetna. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Applied Actuarial Mathematics and Finance from Bryant College.

 

 

Amber Busuttil is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, practicing in the areas of Corporate Tax and Executive Compensation. She represents clients ranging from multi-national corporations to not-for-profits, in variety of transactional matters. Prior to practicing law, Amber worked in the nonprofit sector. Amber received her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Columbia University, where she received the academic honor of Stone Scholar and was a selected participant in the business school's Entrepreneurial Greenhouse program. She holds a B.A. from Stanford University. Amber currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Modern and Contemporary Arts Council.

 

Sung is a graduate of the Stern School. Prior to business school, Sung worked as the Director of Corporate Development and Director of Product Development at Talk America, a nationwide local and long distance phone service provider. Prior to this, Sung worked as a Financial Analyst at Salomon Smith Barney where he spent two years in the Telecommunications Group in New York and one year in the Mergers & Acquisitions group in Tokyo, Japan. Sung holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.

 

Raymond is currently an MBA student at Columbia Business School. Prior to CBS, he was Vice President, Finance of Sumit Mobile Systems, a wireless payment services provider based in Shanghai, China. While he was at Sumit, Raymond closed a $1.4MM first round funding and developed the company's core peer-to-peer ("P2P") payment strategy. Prior to Sumit, Raymond was the co-founder, President and CEO of IQ Funds, a Cupertino, CA based private equity research firm. Before IQ Funds, he worked as an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch. Raymond earned a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University.

 

Dan has an MBA from Stern with a major in Finance and Entrepreneurship. Prior to business school, Dan spent two years as an investment banker in Morgan Stanley’s technology group, where he worked on IPOs, mergers, and private fundraisings for companies including BMC Software, Priceline, webMethods and others. Dan left Morgan Stanley in 2000 to join a private wireless data software firm, where his responsibilities included fundraising, acquisitions, and new market development. Dan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia in 1998. He holds a BS in economics.

 

Nia is an Associate with Latham & Watkins in New York city working with technology companies in the areas of intellectual property and cyberlaw. Previously, she spent four summers working at the National Security Agency and completed an internship with Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder and Steiner. Nia has a JD from Columbia Law School and a B.S. from Spellman college.

 

Prior to business school, Tom spent over three years as a Sales Manager for NetGravity (now part of DoubleClick), working with a variety of large media players such as Time Inc, Starmedia, and NewsCorp, as well as smaller start ups such as SixDegrees, BottleRocket, and CDNow. Before that, he served in the military. Tom has an MS in Systems Management from USC and a BS in Engineering Management from West Point. He is a member of the Association of Internet Professionals, NYNMA, and TANG.

 

Jacob is an MBA student at NYU Stern studying finance and entrepreneurship. Prior to business school, Jacob worked as an internal consultant at IBM, creating business strategy and supervising technical projects at ibm.com. Before IBM, Jacob was the Director of Information Architecture at Oven Digital, a technical consultancy based in New York. In his spare time, Jacob is an adjunct instructor at the New School, teaching courses on digital strategy and project management, and publishes Gothamist, a website covering New York City news and events. Jacob hold a bachelor of arts in English Literature from Columbia University.

 

Sinclair is an Associate at New Vantage Partners where he focuses on analyzing early-stage technology companies, as well as raising funds for new ventures from private equity investors in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Prior to attending business school, Sinclair was involved in the launch of the Emedia Club, a new venture fund for start-ups in the multimedia sector, where he focused on sourcing investment opportunities for Israel-based early-stage high technology companies. Sinclair has an MA with Honors in Social Science from University of Glasgow, Scotland and an MA in International Relations from Syracuse University. He was also the R.C. Kopf British-American Fellow in international business at Columbia Business School.

 

 

Alex is currently an associate in technology, media and telecom investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Prior to business school, Alex helped start two successful technology companies before founding Boston Technical, a technology consulting practice, whose clients include Titleist Inc., Schering Plough Inc, and Novartis, Inc. Alex holds a degree in Electrical and Computer engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received research scholarships from the Sloan Foundation and National Science Foundation for various Internet-related researches. In addition to guest lecturing on e-commerce at institutions such as the Wharton School of Business, he has developed a variety of technology curricula for organizations such as Kaplan Inc., has served as a professor in adjunct at Northeastern University, and recently co-authored a book for the publisher O'Reilly & Associates entitled "Programming ASP.NET Web Services".

 

Jonathan is currently working in Bain & Company's Corporate Consulting Consulting practice. He joined Bain's Private Equity Consulting Practice, where he spent one year, after graduating Columbia Business School in May 2003. At Columbia, he worked with Professor Glenn Hubbard (as a TA for Entrepreneurial Finance), Professor Van Biema (TA for Corp. Fin) and Prof Cooper (Launching New Ventures). He has previously worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, Engage (CMGI), MMG/ MarchFirst, and Hewlett Packard (in Silicon Valley and Grenoble, France). Jon received a B.S.Econ from the Wharton School at UPENN, focusing in entrepreneurial management and information systems.

 

Steve is an analyst at Feirstein Capital, a New York City based hedge fund. Previously, he was with at Savos, a wireless startup seeking to bring Internet audio content to wireless devices. Prior to business school, Steve also worked as a financial analyst at Lazard Freres and as Associate at Chestnut Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm. Steve has an MBA from Columbia and a BS "with distinction" in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

 

Nima has moved to San Francisco where he is working with Marcus and Millichap and doing real estate investing. Nima earned an MBA with a concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Stern School of Business. Prior to School, Nima worked at Siebel Systems Inc. where he pioneered the Vertical Sales Specialist program tailored to the Communications, Media and Energy Industries. Previous to this, Nima worked as an Account Manager for the West Coast at Backbone Communications Inc. Nima’s vast experience also includes working as an Intellectual Property Litigation Paralegal at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he was a select member of the trial team. Nima also holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Davis.

 

Jeremy is a Senior Consultant with Deloitte Consulting and has eighteen years of experience in technology, including seven in the Internet space. Prior to enrolling at Columbia, he managed marketing and sales support for an New Orleans-based software company targeting the oil and gas industry. He has also worked for EDS's New Media, where he helped develop the company's strategic vision for broadband content delivery. Jeremy has consulted on technology strategy, managed large-scale implementations, and directed operational activities for customers in media, entertainment, telecommunications, manufacturing and oil, as well as for the US Military. In addition, he has experience in film and TV production, on both sides of the camera. Jeremy completed his MBA at Columbia Business School and he remains an active InSITE Alumni.

 

Bill is currently an MBA student at Columbia Business School, focusing on finance and entrepreneurship. Prior to CBS, Bill worked spent six years in technology investment banking, most recently at SoundView Technology Group where he completed more than 20 private equity, public offering and M&A transactions. As part of the software group, Bill's responsibilities included advising companies of all stages on financing and growth strategies, as well as leading new business development efforts for the firm in the East and Midwest regions. Most recently, Bill interned at Insight Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with $1 billion under management that invests exclusively in the global software industry. Bill graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College.

 

Ross earned his MBA at Columbia Business School with a concentration in finance. During his summer internship he worked at GE Equity, the private equity/venture capital unit of General Electric Co. Prior to business school, Ross spent four years in healthcare investment banking. Ross holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

Mark is currently a second year student at Columbia Business School. Mark graduated from Tufts University in 1996 and spent 5 years in technology consulting for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their e-business and CRM practices. Immediately prior to business school, Mark was a director of IT for a medium sized company in Massachusetts. Mark recently spent his summer internship with IBM in their systems group corporate finance dept.

 

Theresa heads up New Product Development at ExpertCommerce, an e-commerce startup where she was the fifth employee. Formerly, she was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs and at JP Morgan Investment Management, where she managed the design and development of several globally-distributed software development teams. Prior to that, Theresa ran her own software consulting practice in Tokyo and worked in the Advanced Systems Group of Andersen Consulting in Chicago, where she designed computer software for global financial institutions. Theresa has a Stern MBA and a BS in Computer Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

 

Prior to attending business school, Madhu worked as a senior software engineer at NeoVista Software Inc., a data mining startup in the Silicon Valley. Before that, she spent several years with the data mining group at the research labs at Lockheed Martin Missile and Space. Madhu holds a BS in Mathematics from Presidency College, Calcutta and an MS in Computer Science from Brown University.

 

Tom is currently an associate at Lehman Brothers. He spent the last summer in the Global Technology Investment Banking Group at Lehman Brothers, where he will continue working next fall. Prior to Columbia, Tom co-founded Impromptu, a technical consulting firm, reported on technology news for Cnet, and was Director of Program Management at iKena, a Boston software start-up acquired by Net2Phone. He is a co-owner of AsiaFoods, an imported foods e-tailer. Tom holds a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Atleen earned her JD at Columbia Law School. She spent the summer at Fenwick & West, a Silicon Valley law firm. Atleen worked on intellectual property and trademark matters in the legal department of National Hockey League Enterprises during her second year of law school. Prior to law school, Atleen worked with a litigation consulting company, Analysis Group/Economics, doing industry research and economic analysis for business litigation matters spanning a variety of projects on class actions, patent infringement, damages assessments, and contractual disputes. Atleen holds a BA in economics from Harvard University.

 

Kevin is an inside counsel at Microsoft Corporation, in Mountain View, CA. At Microsoft he supports the Xbox silicon team and MSTV IP television business team. Prior to that Kevin was an attorney at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, CA in the Technology Transactions Group. He advised clients in the software, hardware, services and content spaces on a wide range of intellectual property related transactions. Previously, he held a summer associate position in the New York City office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. Kevin was a Fish & Neave student fellow at the Engelberg Center for Innovation Policy at the NYU School of Law, a founder and co-chair of the NYU Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Society, a member of the NYU Environmental Law Journal, and the co-founder of InSITE. He has a BS in Electronics Engineering Technology from Brigham Young University where he focused on digital signal processing, low and high level software programming and hardware systems design.

 

Ken has recently joined the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, CA where he is an Associate focusing on intellectual property transactions for technology clients. Prior to law school, Ken traded and managed various equity derivative positions, first at SBC Warburg and then at Credit Suisse First Boston. Ken holds a J.D. from New York University and Bachelor of Science degrees in strategic management and electrical engineering from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Yoav has over a decade's track record as a successful and creative entrepreneur, investor and advisor in technology and new media businesses. In 1996 he founded and held the position of CTO at ExchangePath, a New York based online and mobile payment company acquired in 1999 by CMGI for over $25 million. He also developed authentication software for an instant messaging platform (ICQ) that was later acquired by AOL for $407m. Prior to that, Yoav created, operated, and sold the world's first online multimedia magazine (PcEntertainer). Yoav was also responsible for wireless sector coverage at venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures, and has advised firms in the areas of wireless technology and content, entertainment consumer electronics, and interactive mobile advertising. He received his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, and studied international business at the International Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

Ben is an experienced entrepreneur who earned his MBA in Finance and International Business from Stern. Ben founded Nascent Technologies where he recruited the team to build and license messaging infrastructure software. The companies customers included major telco's worldwide like France Telecom, Hong Kong Telecom and Belgacom. The company was acquired by CMGI. Ben is a graduate (magna cum laude) of Amherst College, is fluent in Spanish and enjoys traveling and surfing.

 

Brendan is currently pursuing an MBA at the Stern School of Business. This past summer, Brendan was an interned at Deloitte Consulting, working with the finance organization of a large insurance client. Prior to business school, Brendan worked at Lucent Technologies. His most recent role as a technologist included selecting companies with which Lucent would collaborate. In this capacity, Brendan helped develop hardware and software startups, embedded computer manufacturers and various telecommunications software companies. Brendan is a graduate of Lucent's Manufacturing Leadership Program and holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

 

Amit is an MBA student at Columbia Business School, concentrating in finance and entrepreneurship. Amit has over six years of experience working in client-relationship management, analytical and entrepreneurial roles in industries such as technology, finance and utilities. Prior to joining business school, Amit was manager in the Professional Services group at Oblix, an IT security software company funded by Kleiner Perkins and APAX partners. Before joining Oblix, Amit held different roles while working for management consulting firms, like Deloitte and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting. Amit holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he received academic scholarship from government of India to foster language capabilities in setting up software tie-ups between India and Japan.

 

Evaristus Mainsah earned his MBA with a concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Columbia Business School. Prior to business school, Evaristus worked with IBM in a number of technical and commercial roles - based in London. These range from call center design through channel management to software sales to large financial institutions. Prior to that Evaristus was a university lecturer - he has published 45 technical papers and 3 books, edited technical journals and won many awards. He is a Sainsbury Management Scholar and holds a PhD in Physics / Engineering from the University of Birmingham in the UK.

 

Miriam's experience includes analyzing software and Internet-related companies for Wit Soundview and developing Internet strategy and negotiating partnership contracts for BancBoston. Prior to business school, Miriam also spent five years working in the multimedia software industry. She has a Columbia MBA and BA in Art from Williams College.

 

Mischa is currently pursuing an MBA at Stern with majors in Finance and Global Business. Prior to business school Mischa worked for Hela Capital, a private equity firm focusing on information technology companies that provide products and services to the financial services industry. At Hela Mischa evaluated potential investment opportunities and worked extensively with portfolio companies to implement their business models. Prior to Hela, Mischa worked at Wasserstein Perella and Prudential Securities providing mergers and acquisitions advisory services to companies in the informational technology, media and energy industries. Mischa graduated from the University of Rochester in 1998 with majors in economics and psychology.

 

Juan is currently pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School with a concentration in Finance. Prior to business school, Juan spent three years in sales at PeopleSoft, working with companies of all sizes spanning the media, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, and government sectors, and helping PeopleSoft gain traction in the market for Customer Relationship Management software. Before moving into sales, Juan worked as an implementation consultant at PeopleSoft and Andersen Consulting, assuming both functional and technical roles. Juan holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech, where he received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to conduct piezoelectric material research.

 

Brad is currently pursuing an MBA at the Stern School of Business with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Management. This past summer, Brad was an intern with Booz Allen Hamilton in their Information Technology Group. Prior to business school, Brad was a Consulting Services Manager with Strata Decision Technology in Chicago. With Strata, he led the implementation of financial software in healthcare organizations and contributed to the design of the applications. Before joining Strata, Brad was a consultant in the Business Recovery Services Group with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he advised clients in Chapter 11 and helped to secure financing for distressed companies. While in Chicago, Brad was both a founding member and the finance director of Windy City Young Professionals, a not-for-profit networking organization. Brad is a CPA and holds a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois.

 

Paul Misir is a Founder/Partner of Morning Street Capital, a private equity fund acquiring direct investments on a secondary basis. He spent the prior 3-years as Managing Partner of a recognized advisory and merchant banking firm specializing in secondary private equity. Paul was previously engaged as a turnaround CEO of a venture-stage elearning portfolio company. He was hired for that role by an investor in Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham, a NY based venture capital fund where he worked earlier. Paul earlier spent 3-years in operations at the Welfare Administration of the City of New York. He also co-founded Blade Helicopters, a venture funded hub-and-spoke logistics and transportation company. Paul received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where he was an InSITE Fellow, and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.

 

For the past two years, David has run his own consulting company, advising traditional and new media companies on strategy and business development. Prior to business school, he spent three years as an Associate Publisher at News Communications, Inc., publishers of 22 weekly newspapers. Before that, David spent three years running a wholesale and retail chocolate and pastry business in the Washington, DC area. David has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 with a BA in Economics.

 

Kareen earned an MBA at Stern with a major in Finance. She worked at Goldman Sachs in Private Wealth Management over the summer. Prior to business school, Kareen worked for Parlo.com, an alley-based start-up focusing on online foreign language instruction, where she managed branding efforts and international roll-outs in Latin America and Europe. Before that, Kareen spent several years in marketing communications at Bozell Worldwide and worked in-house as the global marketing manager for Deloitte Consulting's Customer Relationship Management Practice. Kareen has a BA in Sociology from Vassar College. She is fluent in French, Hebrew and Italian.

 

Alison spent her summer internship at LabMorgan, the strategic venture capital and business formation group at J.P. Morgan Chase. Prior to business school, Alison was the Engineering Manager and the New Products Manager at foodline.com, the first synchronous online restaurant reservation service. Alison holds a BS from Cornell University in Biological Engineering.

 

Gavin earned his MBA from Columbia Business School. Prior to business school, Gavin worked as an Analyst in the Private Equity Group at Credit Suisse First Boston in their Technology Group. While at CSFB, Gavin helped raise over $300 million in private equity for software, infrastructure and technology services companies. Gavin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Yale University.

 

Andrew earned his MBA at Stern Business School with a concentration in Information Systems and Entrepreneurial Studies. Over the summer he worked with the Business Technology Group of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, where he focuses on the development of IT solutions for their in-house finance group. Prior to business school, Andrew worked as an author for O'Reilly and Associates, where he wrote and published two books on Oracle and Internet development.

 

Gareth has over ten years of marketing and product development experience at leading technology companies. He is currently a product manager at Red Hat in North Carolina. Previously he was a team leader in PMC-Sierra's Internet Routing Division. Gareth was the first engineer at Extreme Packet Devices, which was acquired by PMC-Sierra for $420M in 2001. He has also held engineering roles at IBM and Newbridge Networks and has consulted for the business development group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Gareth earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada and graduated Beta Gamma Sigma from the MBA program at Columbia Business School in New York.

 

Cindy is the CEO and co-founder of glow365.com, an online service provider offering real-time scheduling solutions, customer management tools and targeted marketing services for the beauty and wellness industry. Prior to business school, Cindy held marketing and business development positions at About.com, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Corporate Executive Board.

 

Dina is an Associate in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in the Private Equity Group which specializes in both fund formation and deal execution. She is an active board member and focuses on law student recruiting and law firm sponsorships. Dina has a JD from Columbia University where she was the executive editor of the Columbia Business Law Review and a Kent and Stone Scholar, and a BA in Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Veronica received her MBA from Columbia Business School where she is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and the President of Asia Business Association. Her focus is General Management and Retailing. Before business school, she spent three years working at Heidrick & Struggles in the consumer/retailing practice. She started her career with A.T.Kearney in their San Francisco office as a management consultant and worked on various supply-chain related projects. Veronica has a passion for entrepreneurship and is a part-owner of a restaurant business in Hong Kong. Veronica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from U.C. Berkeley, where she received a full scholarship from the National Academy of Space and Science.

 

Sid is the Head of Business Development for a San Fransisco-based merchandising company founded by the ex-chairman of Fingerhut. Previous to that, Sid was an Associate with the Investment Banking division of Lehman Brothers. Prior to entering business school, he was country manager for part of the East Asian business of a technology subsidiary of Citicorp. Sid has also done consulting for information technology companies in a range of technical and business roles. At Stern, Sid was the VP of the Technology And New Media Group. He holds a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Bombay.

 

Scott has a background in management consultancy and entrepreneurship. While working for Schema Associates in London he raised over $100 million in investment for entrepreneurs. Scott spent a year as a board advisor to Silica Networks, a telecom start-up in Latin America for which he helped to raise $60 million from corporate investors. At Schema, Scott acted as a consultant to companies such as Advent International. DrKW and Warburg Pincus advising on due diligence and deal sourcing. Previously Scott worked for Nortel Networks where he was involved in the development of feature software for Nortel's broadband and switching products. Scott is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen where he obtained a BS in Engineering and is currently pursuing an MBA at NYU Stern School of Business.

 

Prior to Columbia Business School, Elizabeth worked as Manager of Strategic Planning at Skyview Media, a start-up network in partnership with DirecTV, where she helped to launch foreign language channels for direct-to-home distribution in the United States. Before that, she was the Manager of Business Development at PanAmSat, a satellite communications company, where she helped the company gain entry into the highly regulated telecommunications markets in Japan, South Africa and Nigeria. As PanAmSat's Regional Manager for Africa, she also launched the company's South African office where she spent two years developing business with Internet Service Providers, broadcasters, telcos and multinational companies throughout Africa. Elizabeth has a BA in English Literature and Spanish Language from the University of Virginia and an MA in Foreign Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

 

Jeriel is currently pursuing an MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship and Finance. He is a fellowship recipient of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Prior to business school, Jeriel was an associate with Putnam Investments, conducting equity research of machinery and industrial companies. In addition to Putnam, Jeriel served on the board of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs as Vice President of Marketing. He is a native of New York City, fluent in Spanish and of Puerto Rican descent. Jeriel holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

 

Crystal is currently pursuing an MBA from Columbia Business School. Prior to business school, Crystal spent three years at Oracle Corporation in Redwood Shores, CA. At Oracle, Crystal served as a Senior Sales Consultant and provided technical consulting for North American government, education, and healthcare sales teams. In this capacity, she was responsible for managing the rapid prototyping development efforts of a team based in Bangalore, India. Crystal also created strategic sales plans for vertical partners like SCT, PeopleSoft, Datatel, Endeavor, and Blackboard, and she regularly conducted conference presentations for up to several hundred participants. Before joining Oracle, Crystal spent two years developing large data warehouses for NCR's leading Midwest clients including Nationwide Insurance and Lexis-Nexis.

 

Erin is an Attorney with the Venture Law Group in Menlo Park, CA specializing in providing legal advice to technology companies. Previously, she held summer internships with Lowenstein Sandler, one of New Jersey's largest law firms, and with Lucent Technologies, where she designed corporate Web sites and catalogued contracts for the ISO 9000 certification. Erin was a James Kent and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at Columbia University School of Law, an active member of the Society for Alternative Dispute Resolution, and an Editor for the Moot Court. She has a B.A. with High Honors in Political Science and Japanese from the University of Michigan.

 

Devraj is currently pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School. Prior to business school, Devraj spent three years as a private equity investment professional at Parthenon Capital. At Parthenon Capital, Devraj was involved in operational projects with portfolio companies and numerous venture, growth equity, recapitalization and leveraged buyout transactions in technology, life sciences, healthcare services, business services, consumer products and distribution. Prior to Parthenon Capital, Devraj spent two years as a Financial Analyst at Salomon Smith Barney, where he worked on mergers & acquisitions and capital raising transactions in the power, energy and infrastructure sectors. Devraj graduated Magna cum Laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.

 

Kevin is an Associate with Rein Capital, a venture capital firm focusing on early stage companies in the Communications and Information Services sectors. Prior to business school, Kevin spent two years with Hambro-Grantham, an Australian Venture Capital Fund. His experience also includes a strategic development position with a Telco and four years of Public Accounting with Deloitte & Touche. Kevin also spent two years with Deloitte's Corporate Finance group focusing on Venture Capital Fundraising, where he focused on the technology sector and sat on the board of directors at three technology companies. Kevin holds a Columbia MBA, a CPA, and a BS in business from the University of Technology of Sydney.

 

Alex is earned his J.D. at NYU Law School. Prior to law school he was a Fulbright Fellow in Jordan where he researched the societal linkages between economic and business development in a Middle Eastern context. His relevant business experience includes spending his 1L summer with ExxonMobil's tax department and previous experience in investment banking.

 

Vivian is an Associate with McKinsey & Co., where she had also worked the previous summer, helping develop e-commerce and web strategy for the largest banking group in Hungary. Prior to enrolling in business school, Vivian worked for Deloitte Consulting China as a senior consultant implementing ERP solutions for Fortune 500 companies in Shanghai and spearheading the offices change management initiative. Previous to that, Vivian worked for General Electric Lighting and NBC Broadcasting companies in finance in Eastern Europe and Asia respectively. She has also spent two years in General Electric's intensive financial manager training program (FMP), one of the most prestigious corporate financial training programs in the industry. Vivian has an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business having majored in management and the digital economy initiative.

 

Ricky is currently pursuing an MBA at the Stern School of Business with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. Prior to business school, Ricky spent three years at Microbia Inc., a successful start-up biopharmaceutical company in Boston. While at Microbia, he conceived, designed and directed the development of the first company-wide knowledge management software system for collaborative research, and helped prepare the foundation for the launch of 3 key drug discovery projects with over $3B market opportunities. Before joining Microbia, Ricky spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, focusing on the research of anti-cancer drugs. He is also the co-founder of ACI Group Inc., a successful IT outsourcing company and has worked with clients across North American and Asia. Ricky is the author of 8 research papers in internationally renowned journals and holds 2 patents. He holds a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Harvard University.

Ted Thoma

Ted is pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School with a concentration in Finance. He brings to InSITE experience in private equity, sales and consulting. Most recently, Ted was a summer associate with Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham evaluating and investing in early-stage opportunities and with Merrill Lynch Private Equity evaluating late-stage opportunities. Prior, he was with Akamai Technologies, a distributed computing services company, where he grew the western account management team and managed key clients such as Microsoft and Symantec. He started his career consulting for Accenture consulting for both fortune 500 companies and the Department of Defense. Ted holds a BA from Bucknell University.

 

Miranda is currently pursuing an MBA at the Stern School. Prior to business school, Miranda was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young Israel where she established and led the Biotechnology and Life Science Corporate Finance Department. In this role, Miranda provided strategic business services including technology and addressable market positioning, strategic alliance and business plan formulation and venture capital/angel investor fundraising to over 90 life science companies in Israel and the U.S. Miranda holds a BA in Economics, focusing on International Economics and Finance, from Tufts University, ! Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Steven is an Attorney at Kaye Scholer LLP in New York City. He is also the co-founder and an active board member of WorldHomeCenter.com, an online retailer of remodeling, designing, and building products and services. Previously, Steven spent a year working in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He has a JD from NYU School of Law and a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.

 

Fred has over four years of private equity experience at Hambrecht & Quist and Granite Ventures, the spin-off of H&Q's early-stage venture capital group. At H&Q, he was actively involved in sourcing new investment opportunities, performing due diligence, structuring new rounds of financing as well as managing existing portfolio investments as a board member or board observer. Fred is also the co-founder of Slynk.com, an online marketplace for reusable software components. Fred holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Political Science from Princeton University.

 

Michel is currently an Associate in the New York office of Shearman & Sterling LLP in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. Michel has a J.D. from Columbia Law School, as well as a Maitrise in French Civil Law and a Master in International Business Law from the Sorbonne in Paris. While at Columbia, he interned as a legal consultant to the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) where he helped reshuffle small and medium-sized companies' equity market (NZAX). Michel also received an MBA from ESSEC Business School (Paris) in 2000.

 

Brendan is a second year MBA student at Columbia Business School. Prior to Columbia he founded Emerge Mobile, launching a text-message based taxi booking system. Previously he worked for Finnish software company RTS Networks Plc, where he built and managed their UK mobile data products and services group which was recognized as a Top 5 UK practice by Forrester Research in 2001. Clients he has worked for include: Motorola, Tesco, iFone, Colt Telecom, Laura Ashley, Deloitte Consulting and ESRI. He has been a regular speaker at conferences in Europe on the emergence of mobile data services and worked this past summer for Sprint in corporate strategy.

 

May earned her Columbia MBA with a concentration in General Management. During the summer she was an intern with Bear Stearns Health Innoventures, an early stage biotech venture capital fund. Prior to business school, May worked with Health Business Partners, a boutique venture capital and financial advisory firm focusing on the alternative healthcare sector. Prior to this, she spent several years with Credit Suisse First Boston's Health Care Investment Banking group, doing corporate finance and M&A. May holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from MIT and in Management from the University of Tokyo. She is fluent in Japanese and proficient in Russian and Spanish.

 

Zohar Yardeni is a founder of CallStreet LLC, a financial information provider which was sold to FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) in 2004. Prior to CallStreet, Zohar worked for Lazard Freres & Co. in Mergers and Acquisitions before moving to International Real Returns LLC, a $600 million Private Equity company sponsored by Lazard-related entities. He received an M.B.A. with Honors from Columbia Business School and a B.A. from Cornell University in Philosophy and Psychology.

 

Weichen is currently a part-time MBA student at Stern, NYU, with a concentration in Finance. Weichen is currently working at Lucent Technologies as a Marketing Manager, responsible for the market development of next generation wireless systems and networks. Before moving to the current position, Weichen was an R&D engineer at Lucent Wireless Business unit in New Jersey. From 1991 to 1995, he was a marketing/sales manager at Hewlett-Packard Company, China operation. Weichen holds BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, and published over 10 papers in prestigious Journals and conferences. He is a winner of 2000 Bell-Labs President Golden Award.