Anderson Venture Accelerator

Ahmed Mirza is a natural connector, drawing links between people, processes and ideas. He uses this ability to take concepts from zero to one.

Ahmed has a mindset that is equal parts analytical and creative, and he believes the future is rooted in our ability to constantly create, innovate and differentiate. Currently, he is at the junction of startup incubation, technology and venture to usher in this future.

Alissa Finerman, Gallup Certified Strenghts

Alissa is an Executive Coach, Gallup Certified Strengths® Coach and author of the book, "Living in Your Top 1%."​ She works with teams, executives, managers and entrepreneurs to help them leverage their strengths, uncover blind spots, increase team engagement levels and build partnerships to achieve their goals. Alissa holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her coach training from New York University, Results Coaching and Gallup Strengths Coaching Program.

Alissa's business background includes ten years in finance at Credit Suisse, a top-tier global investment bank; IPC, a former Goldman Sachs portfolio company serving the financial industry; Guggenheim Capital, a boutique investment management firm and five years in commercial real estate.

Andre Fonseca, FC+A

Andre Fonseca is an entertainment marketer turned entrepreneur with over 15 years in the film and music industries. 

Andres Terech, UCLA Anderson

Andrew Duncan has been working in the consumer electronics, mobile, content streaming and technology licensing business for over 25 years; living and working in various countries in Europe as well as the U.S. where he currently resides. He has gained extensive experience in all aspects of business development, marketing, IP licensing and digital content distribution.  

In 2000 he founded Global TechLink, a technology consultancy company, specializing in licensing, business development and management in technology sectors like, Digital Streaming and Content, Mobile, LBS and Consumer Electronics. 

Mr. Duncan currently runs Global TechLink as well as MAGLA Entertainment, a successful Content Distribution company. He also serves on the board of Smart Kiddo International, a remote learning platform for Coding and Robotics and GTX Corp, a public company and leader in wearable technology, where he also heads up business development and I.P. management worldwide.   
From 2007 to 2010 he was the founder and CEO of ClearPlay International, based in London and Paris where he signed worldwide contracts with companies like LG and Samsung.  

From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Duncan worked as Vice President Consumer Electronics for Gemstar TV Guide International (now called TiVo). His responsibilities included product development, business management and licensing.  

Mr. Duncan worked in product management and marketing for Technicolor from1987 to1994 in Germany, France and his native U.K. He has a deep experience of business relations and markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia. 

Mr. Duncan earned his honors degree in Chemistry from Nottingham University and postgraduate qualifications in Marketing and Direct Marketing from London University (Kings College) and UCLA Anderson School of Business in Los Angeles. 

Andy Solomon '92, Sole Society

Andy has over 25 years experience in retail, ecommerce operations, marketing and entrepreneurship. Andy has been part of the Sole Society founding team since its inception within HauteLook. As part of the executive team at HauteLook, Andy served as the Senior Vice President and General Manger of Sole Society. Prior to HauteLook, Andy launched and operated a number of Internet and ecommerce related businesses. Andy began his career in sales and marketing at Xerox Corp and then PepsiCo, where he ran marketing for Taco Bell for the Western United States. Andy has a MBA from UCLA Anderson and a B.A. from Hamilton College. 

Anika Sharin from Anderson FEMBA class of 2020 has been working in the health tech industry for last 8 years. She started her career in engineering and learnt the nuances of product management, during her previous roles she focused on launching products from R&D to large scale production and managing overseas cross functional team. During her journey at Anderson, she focused on learning to manage cross functional multi-cultural team. Currently she is working at Intuitive Surgical Inc where she is focusing on M&A integration for digital health tech products. Her aim is to work on making healthcare accessible for everyone. Being an immigrant and person from underrepresented community motivated her to help startups to launch their products in the market, she has been an angel investor and mentor for startups in her home country Bangladesh and in the US. Outside work she is a mom and learning how to balance work-life and raise an empathetic human. She also advocates for animal welfare and adoption. 

Anita Schillhorn van Veen, Frame Strategy

Anita is a marketing strategy consultant with a focus on integrated brand and digital strategy. She runs Frame Strategy, a brand and marketing consultancy out of Los Angeles. 

She has over a decade of experience working closely with agency and company teams to find marketing solutions to business problems, build a compelling brand story, and bring it to life in the most effective channels.

In her work at TBWA, Grey, Havas and Digitas, she led integrated strategy for major brands. Her integrated approach shaped award-winning campaigns and websites for clients like Keurig, Pantene and Uniqlo. She is an advocate for the use of qualitative research as a means to guide rather than test outcomes. She has conducted and overseen research methodologies including participant observation, deprivation studies, friendship groups, mobile research, as well as more traditional focus groups, interviews and surveys.

She has her Master’s in communications from Temple University and graduated Summa Cum Laude. While there, she conducted field research on the rise of women filmmakers in Indonesia, on the culture of Japanese street musicians, and on the use of audio books in the classroom.

She teaches digital marketing at General Assembly, and also advised small businesses and nonprofits on marketing. She’s passionate about working with women founders and on sustainability focused products and services. 

Arthur Wang '04, Abax Interactive

Executive with a focus on general management, entrepreneurship, scaling business operations, audience development, brand partnerships, and business development.

Experience in building teams, owning P&L, product management, business development, corporate development, publisher development, and advertiser sales.

Specialties: Audience building, brand partnership, content marketing, mobile UA, and subscription-based products.

Arvind Rao '12, Symantec

Arvind Rao is a product and strategy executive who has built 20+ products in cyber security, mobile technology and semiconductors. At Symantec, he leads Product for a portfolio of security technologies, threat intelligence and analytics, serving over 140M users worldwide. Prior to Symantec, Arvind co-founded and led 2 startups in marketing analytics and collaboration software. He was a management consulting leader at the Boston Consulting Group and started his career as a hardware engineer at Qualcomm. Arvind holds a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras, an M.S. from University of Maryland and an MBA from UCLA Anderson.

Arvind is passionate about Product development and launch, with a focus on 'easy to use' for customers. He loves teaching, sharing and learning about product launch, product scaling, go-to-market and channel strategies.

Bayard Saunders is an innovative online communications brand strategist, visionary team leader and dynamic project manager. He is a chief marketing officer, expert in all things digital- and media-related: web, content, social media, mobile, SEM, SEO and analytics, as well as full-service marketing and sales operations.

Bayard has broad industry experience managing multichannel brand operations: traditional advertising, branding and public relations, direct email and customer acquisition, and partnerships, affiliates and sales programs. Currently, he is the CMO of SF Insuretech and subsidiary Just Auto Insurance, Inc. He is also now giving back as a mentor for the Wond'ry, Vanderbilt University’s center for innovation and entrepreneurship, and for the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Bayard was previously responsible for operations management and the P&L of satellite offices and regions. From startups to Fortune 100 companies, an entrepreneur in the best sense; creative, intelligent, empowering sales and efficiently managing resources.

Benjamin Dusastre ’10, ProducePay

Ben has more than 13 years of experience in finance and technology. He’s Co-Founder and President of ProducePay, a fintech company focused on perishable commodities that has raised over $300M and is Co-Founder of Bespoke Financial, the leading fintech company in the Cannabis Industry.  He was the CFO of Radlink Inc, a medical software company where he oversaw the signing of a co-marketing agreement with Johnson & Johnson. Prior to that role he was the director of the family office for the owners of the largest farming company in America, The Wonderful Companies. His other professional experiences include working for the investment bank Credit Suisse, for the digital imaging division of Eastman Kodak and as Treasurer of the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation. He holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Business, a graduate certificate in marketing from McGill University and a Bachelors of Commerce from Concordia University.

Ben Tenn, Consultant and Coach 

Management Consulting and Coaching for Small and Established Businesses with a focus on Marketing and Sales, Start up, Representation and Negotiation worldwide.  

Successful forty-year management, sales and marketing experience, with 40% average annual growth in sales and profits. Lead three companies to a prominent market share and high profitability before becoming independent consultant including work at Panasonic, Walt Disney Co. and Activision. Plus, nine years as a Senior Business Advisor for the Small Business Development Center, a not-for-profit agency of the SBA. 

Bernard Chen '07, Quantum Instights Inc. 

Bernard is a product development executive with experience in ecommerce, gaming (online and mobile), and biotech diagnostics development.  He has worked at Ubisoft, KIXEYE, Scopely, and now runs a start-up, Quantum Insights, which develops a biomarker discovery platform.  Additional topics he likes to discuss include: data-driven product development, user experience design, behavioral economics, game development, and startup life.

Binu Varghese '10, HCL America

Binu Varghese is the Sr. Director for Aerospace & Defense business at HCL America. He joined HCL America in 2008 and heads business development for the Aerospace Systems portfolio. Over the last 10+ years, he has been instrumental in acquiring and growing new customer relationships into larger strategic customers and has championed end to end product development engagements. Apart from being a Client Partner to key customers, he drives strategy, business development and has P&L responsibility for the Aerospace Systems portfolio.

Binu has extensive experience in business development and project management in the US, UK, EU, Japan and India in multiple industries like Aerospace, Hi-tech, product engineering services, Entertainment & Media and Real Estate. Before HCL, he spent 9+ years with Tata Elxsi in leadership roles for business development in the US, Japan and India. Prior to that, he co-founded Paprikaas Animation Studios which went on to be sold to Thompson Technicolor. He has a passion for real estate and is actively engaged in real estate investments.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from UCLA Anderson. He was a GAP Fellow at UCLA Anderson.

A sportsman at heart, he has played professional badminton and continues to be involved in sports. In his free time he enjoys reading, terracotta sculpting and spending time with his family. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

Bryan Smeltzer oversees LiquidMind Inc., a global brand strategy firm that partners with start-ups and mid to large-cap consumer brands to empower their businesses to think different, be different, drive a passionate culture, and execute relentlessly.

Bryan is a successful consumer products business executive and entrepreneur. He has held executive-level roles in business development, product, and marketing with some of the world's most iconic brands, including; Oakley, TaylorMade, Adidas, K-Swiss, and Schutt Sports, among other international brands. He also founded a men's apparel brand, successfully running a profitable business for ten years, eventually selling to a Venture Capital firm.

Bryan created and hosts The Visionary Chronicles podcast, recently ranked as the #1 global Visionary podcast and the top 50 Marketing podcast by Feedspot in 2022 and 2023. He also recently finished his first bestselling book, The Visionary Brand, The Success Formula Behind the World's Most Visionary Brands, receiving the Readers Favorite Award for Best, Non-fiction, Marketing Genre book.

Thousands of executives, agents, and companies have turned to Chris Jarvis because he brings perspective that few can offer. His unique background includes actuarial science, marketing, finance, and strategic planning. His industry expertise includes insurance, healthcare, and personal finance.

Bio coming soon. 

Darren Marble is an executive producer at Going Public®, a groundbreaking series that follows the stories of founders on their capital-raising journey.

Darren is also the CEO of Issuance, the leading investment platform for Reg A+ offerings. Its clients have raised more than $250 million to date. Learn more at issuance.com.

Darren is a co-founder of YELLOW, a mission-driven DTC apparel brand that proudly celebrates and connects the sober consumer. Learn more at theyellowlife.com.

Darren has raised more than $10 million for his companies to date. Some of his investors include Chris Burch, co-founder of fashion juggernaut Tory Burch; Walter Cruttenden, co-founder and chairman of Acorns; and Chris Morris, co-founder of Computershare, the world’s largest transfer agent.

Darren’s insights have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes and the Los Angeles Business Journal.

David Pokress '98, AdColony

David Pokress is a senior marketing executive with extensive experience in both Packaged Goods and Interactive Entertainment. His career includes some of the most iconic brands in the interactive entertainment industry including Call of Duty, Skylanders, DOOM, Tony Hawk, Marvel, James Bond and Transformers. He has a proven track record of developing marketing campaigns, brand strategies and new business opportunities. Currently he oversees Publishing for the Ad Tech company AdColony, a Los Angeles based start up which was acquired by Opera Media Works in 2014. 

DC Palter '95, Appsurify

DC Palter is a long-term angel investor with Tech Coast Angels and Chemical Angel Network. He has invested in over twenty startups while acting as a mentor to the Silicon Beach community.  In addition, he’s built two successful startups in computer networking and is now co-founder and CEO of Appsurify, a startup applying machine learning to software testing.  He started his career with engineering and marketing roles at Hughes Electronics, Honeywell, and Kobe Steel.                                

 

Mr. Palter holds an MBA in technology marketing from UCLA and a BS in Mechanical & Energy Engineering from Northwestern University, along with a masters degree in Energy Law and an MFA in creative writing.  He is a connoisseur of Japanese sake and the author of a textbook on the Kansai dialect of Japanese.

Debra Bar, BitGo

Debra Bar is a marketing executive specializing in financial services and technology who has developed award-winning websites and created powerful social media and content programs. Debra has successfully designed and implemented the marketing function at multiple institutions, including the front to back execution of infrastructure, brand and sales support. Debra was most recently Head of Marketing at Bank Leumi in the U.S., where she was responsible for a new visual identity, doubling website traffic and increasing LinkedIn followers by 125% in 15 months. 

Debra has also held marketing roles at UBS, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley, along with running marketing at several technology software companies. Debra works across all marketing and communication channels, including brand, advertising, digital, social media, communications, PR, Employer Branding, sponsorships, and events. She has an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a BA from UC Berkeley.

Bio coming soon.

Dorothy Vinsky, Senior Director of Legal at Real-Time Innovations Inc. 

Dorothy Vinsky is a Corporate securities lawyer specializing in venture, private equity and emerging growth companies. Her practice includes both company and investor-side representation in private equity financings, public offerings, securities compliance, general corporate governance matters, commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. She works with clients in technology, healthtech, finance and Internet related industries.

Dorothy is a frequent speaker on corporate and securities law topics. She has taught venture capital financing/business law and securities law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She is also a contributing author to Parts II and III of Venture Capital & Public Offering Negotiation, published by Aspen Law & Business.

Before joining Royse Law Firm PC, Dorothy practiced in San Francisco with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and in Los Angeles with prominent corporate and securities boutiques and in-house legal departments.

Edward Tsai has 12-plus years of successful U.S./China direct investment and fund investment experience.

Edward Tsai’s key investments have included Cruise Automation (~$1B acquisition by GM), Palantir (NYSE: PLTR), Life360 (ASX IPO), Brave Software (first institutional investor, BOD member); fund investments: Cendana Capital (leading seed stage FOF, Fund 2 investor, LPAC member), 1011 Ventures (leading cybersecurity VC, Fund 1 investor, LPAC member); and numerous other USD and RMB investments, particularly in cybersecurity and enterprise technology.

Edward’s prior work includes leading the largest cybersecurity unicorn fundraise in the world (5B RMB over three years) for Qianxin (resulted in 2020 IPO, $10B market cap company), 360 ($20B market cap cyber company), DCM ($3B AUM U.S./China/Japan VC), and Bain & Company.

Edward has significant experience in deep, creative research, deal sourcing, complex negotiations and capital market functions (fundraising, M&A, investing, IR).

Eric Cazenave has a master’s degree in fine arts from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (A.C.T.) and a Bachelor of Science in business and economics from St. Mary’s College of California.

Eric worked for IBM as a customer operations manager responsible for managing and developing marketing support staff and providing administrative services to Western Area Headquarters executives. After eight years at IBM, Eric attended A.C.T., where he studied theater, dance, humanities, movement and improvisation. He performed in many plays over the years, including a solo show he wrote and produced. Eric also has co-star credits in television and film.

Combining his theater and business experience, Eric began teaching communications workshops for Pacific Bell. He taught leadership and presentation skills classes for graduate students at the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. He’s worked with management consultants at Pearson Publishing in leadership development workshops and taught classes for Patagonia and Fandango (an NBCUniversal company).

For over 15 years Eric worked with the Virginia Avenue Project, a nonprofit organization, teaching “at-risk” youth performance and writing to help develop self-confidence. He coordinated the Smart Partners program, an extension of the Virginia Avenue Project. Smart Partners was a mentoring program at John Adams Middle School and Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica. Eighth grade Advanced Placement students mentored and tutored sixth grade students who needed help with math, reading and writing skills. Eric also worked with nonprofit environmental organizations through Patagonia’s Tools for Grassroots Organizers program.

Eric Lau (’19), Head of AWS Labs and Industry Vertical Strategy

As a business leader with over 20 years of experience, I have always enjoyed working on new and ambiguous challenges by clarifying problems, seeking effective solutions, and formulating strategy with diverse and efficient teams so as to create value for others be it customers, clients, or partners. Expressing this passion, I am currently Head of AWS Leaves and Industry Verticals strategy at Amazon Web Services, and have also worked on Alexa, Fire TV, Fire Tablets, and Appstore products. Previously, I worked in strategy and analytics at Green Dot, my own e-commerce startup, and management consulting at PwC servicing Fortune 500 clients in the entertainment and finance industries. I graduated from UCLA Anderson Fully Employed MBA program in 2019. I received my B.A. in Business Economics with a minor in Accounting and Computer Programming from UCLA as well.

Frank Bryan '16, Reely

Frank has been involved with early-stage companies since 2010 in a variety of full time, consulting, and advisory roles. Originally from Houston, Frank spent 10 years in the energy industry, focused on trading & commodity risk management. He was integral to the due diligence, data migration, and transition during the sale of Reliant Energy to NRG in 2009. In 2010, He helped launch MP2 Energy, achieving over $100 million in revenue in the first 12 months. In 2013, He was chief risk officer of Tri-Eagle Energy, managing a 120-million-dollar portfolio of commercial and residential customers in 10 states.

In 2014, Frank moved to Orange County. He received an executive MBA from UCLA Anderson and launched REELY, a video platform that automatically generates highlights in real-time for sports and esports using computer vision and AI. The company has a team of thirteen spread across Los Angeles, Boston, South Carolina, and Poland. In November of 2019, REELY processed 2,500 hours of sports content without human intervention. The company was named one of the top AI startups in sports by Sports Business Journal and featured at TechCrunch Disrupt. In 2020, Frank transitioned to an advisory role & board member and is now seeking new ventures in Energy and Technology.

Harprit Bhui, Prodoscore

Harprit is a recognized leader with 18 years of proven experience in the management of strategic business and IT initiatives. She started her career at KPMG, where she earned her CPA in the Audit & Tax practice, then quickly moved on to Technology consulting. Over the course of the years to follow, she used a results-focused approach with an outstanding track record of complex program delivery for large-scale, global projects including packaged ERP, CRM solutions, Data Warehousing and Analytical Reporting for fortune 500 companies. Through this evolution, Big Data solutions became her core expertise, ranging from custom built applications, Oracle Analytics and BI solutions leveraging Machine Learning & AI.  Clients include Toyota, Riverbed, Polycom, Disney, CapGemini, etc.

She utilized her varied skill set in both technology and business strategy to co-found gUnify, a cloud based solution that integrates telephony with business applications to provide robust analytics that lead to actionable insights.  gUnify was acquired by Vonage in 2015 and integrated into the core product set.

She is currently cofounder | Head of Product for Prodoscore, a cloud based big data application that integrates G Suite | CRM | Telephony to provide productivity analytics.  She drives product delivery by aligning the executives vision with technical deployment.  

Harprit has extensive expertise and passion in working with entrepreneurs enabling them to take their concepts from ideation to production.  Further, she plays an Advisory role to various startups providing guidance in all facets ranging from operations, product development & sales strategy.  

Holly Wilde '18, MATT Construction

While at Anderson, Holly’s focus was on intelligent products and the commercial potential of emerging technology, specifically blockchain applications. With a background in startups, she has been a leader in five successful market-entry plays: new geographical markets, new products in emerging markets, new products in existing markets and pivoting to a new demographic. She also led product development from early beta to launch in the app store. In her early career, Holly’s role was to take an abstract vision and develop and execute a roadmap to revenue.

After being a founder or early employee at several startups, Holly had the opportunity to join a company in high growth mode and solve a new set of problems. She is currently part of an executive change-management team involved in meeting the challenges of scaling and focused on corporate strategy. In addition to marketing and analytics, she leads strategic landscape analysis examining consumer trends, competition and technological disruption.

Holly completed her undergraduate degree at Brown University with honors and earned her MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Business with certificates in Entrepreneurship and Technology Management and Leadership. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at Anderson.

Ian Atkinson '01, Capcom

Over the past 20+ years, Ian has built a unique and diverse background that includes management consulting with Deloitte, investment banking with RBC Capital and Roth Capital, business development with video game publisher THQ and AdColony, and start-ups, such as Playnomics and Sleepy Giant Entertainment. He has built strong expertise in successful business models and strategies, product development and feature prioritization, operational best practices, monetization strategy and go-to-market approach. His experience and perspective is global having built and managed teams in China, Korea, SE Asia and Europe which cultivated cultural and business know-how to thrive across international borders. Ian has an MBA from UCLA Anderson (’01) and BA from UCSB. He now works with Capcom, managing their esport business including Capcom Pro Tour and Street Fighter Pro League.

Janet Allgaier (’92) 

Janet Allgaier is a top-performing global executive with 25+ years of experience at Procter & Gamble, private equity consulting and board advising for smaller, fast-growing companies. Known for driving focus and breakthrough results on high-impact opportunities that demand creative problem solving, bold thinking, and authentic leadership. 

She is a trusted board advisor for small, fast-growing companies as well C-Suite executives of large companies needing strategy, acquisition, product innovation, revenue and profit growth, branding, commercial and digital content creation expertise. 

Prior to joining Procter & Gamble in 1992, Janet leveraged her accounting and financial business degrees, working in investment banking and as a C.P.A. for KPMG. Janet earned her M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management and her undergraduate business degree from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce. Janet was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma business and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies. 

Jason McDowall '03, Method Ventures

Jason is the creator and host of the #1 podcast focused on augmented reality, The AR Show. He’s also the VP of Software and AR Evangelist at Ostendo, which is focused on solving a fundamental challenge of AR smartglasses: the underlying visual engine. Jason invests in early-stage companies at Method Ventures.

Previously Jason was a serial entrepreneur – first in mobile, later in AI-assisted CRM. He also spent several years at Salesforce.com and served as an officer in the US Air Force. He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and an MS & BS in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon.

Jeff Kendig '06, Bravos Capital 

Jeff has four years of management consulting experience and over 12 years of direct investment experience, utilizing both growth equity as well as buyout strategies.  In his current role, he leads the evaluation of investment opportunities, structures transactions and works with management teams to develop and execute operational and growth strategies. 

He has extensive responsibilities for day-to-day portfolio company management, including crafting long-term strategy, analyzing threats & opportunities, identifying operating improvements, cash flow management, and other general management roles.  He is a current or former board member of seven different companies in a variety of industries but has particularly deep experience in business services, technology services and consumer products.  

Prior to Caltius Equity Partners, Jeff worked at Kayne Anderson Private Investors and Millennium Capital Partners. He began his career in the Strategy Group at A.T. Kearney where he was responsible for executing strategic and operational improvement projects across a variety of industries.  Jeff received his M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he was a Venture Fellow, and his B.A., cum laude, in Economics and Italian from Middlebury College.  While at UCLA Anderson, Jeff won the Knapp Venture Competition as well as the Draper Fisher Jurvetson business plan competition

Jennifer Cho, Otter Media

Cho serves as EVP and CFO of Otter Media, navigating through a number of ownership and organizational changes while driving for aligned vision and results.  Led accounting and financial system implementation which enabled timely, accurate and consistent financial reporting across BUs. Cho is passionate about leading women: she chaired ‘We Gather’ event at OtterMedia and served as a co-lead/sponsor of AT&T’s ‘Lift & Connect’ program

Before joining Otter Media, Cho served as CFO of AT&T Entertainment Group’s Technology & Operations, where her team was responsible for budgeting, forecasting, expense/capital management, variance analysis, analytics supporting product development and executing on cost structure initiatives.  Cho was also the finance lead for Strategy and Business Development. Prior to AT&T’s acquisition of DIRECTV, Cho was senior vice president and treasurer of DIRECTV.  Before joining DIRECTV, she spent 10 years with Gap Inc., holding various leadership positions including the CFO for Gap Brand and its international franchise business. 

As an ex-banker, Cho covered telecom and tech sectors with BNP Paribas and KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Cho holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and has served on the Notre Dame Alumni Diversity Board.

Jared Ablon, HackEDU 

Jared Ablon is the President, Co-Founder, and head of product strategy at HackEDU, a Secure Coding Training platform used by many Fortune 100 companies. Previously he was the Chief Information Security Officer at AirMap where he was the recipient of the CISO of the year award by the LA Business Journal. Jared worked at MITRE Corporation, where he led efforts to ensure security of communications technologies for multiple U.S. Air Force programs. He began his career at the Department of Defense developing cryptanalysis, network exploitation, and vulnerability analysis security technologies. He is active in angel investing and helping early stage startups succeed. 

Jeff Lipp, Kive Company

Jeff is currently the co-founder and COO of the Kive Company, parent of the Artkive consumer brand. Prior to Artkive, Jeff’s experience was in the financial technology and loyalty marketing industries. Jeff was the Executive Director of Gift and Loyalty Services at Heartland Payment Systems. Previous to the Heartland role, Jeff was the co-founder and CEO of Chockstone, Inc. (acquired by Heartland Payment Systems in 2008) and Pure Payments, Inc. (acquired by iMALL in 1999). Prior to those experiences, Jeff worked in the merchant acquiring and e-commerce business of First Data Corporation, as well as in corporate finance in Lehman Brothers’ Technology Group. Jeff holds a BA from Williams College, an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and serves on the Board of Open Doors Organization, the Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences.

Jim Brandt, ResortPass

Jim attended Northwestern University and Columbia Law School. After practicing law for a couple of years, he joined his family’s business, which owned and operated a chain of movie theaters on the East coast, a live Broadway theatre, the largest nightclub in South Beach (capacity 3,000) and produced several low budget feature films. Currently, he is a partner in his family’s real estate business. In addition, Jim is an active angel investor (having invested in almost 100 startups over the last decade), and a member of Tech Coast Angels’ LA network and sits on its Executive Committee.

Jonathan Hung, Managing Partner, Unicorn Venture Partners 

Jonathan Hung is Co-Managing Partner of Unicorn Venture Partners, Partner at Trousdale Ventures and Senior Venture Partner at Expert Dojo. He is an experienced professional with expertise in operations management, finance, business development, multinational business strategy, entrepreneurship, networking, data analysis, and leadership. 

Jonathan has experience running U.S. and China offices as the President of United Overseas Textile Corporation, which is an international clothing manufacturing and textile business. UOTC specializes in designing and manufacturing apparel in partnership with retailers such as Amazon, Burlington, and Costco. In addition, he is the Managing Member for his family investment office, J Heart Ventures, which has made investments into startup companies such as Bear Flag Robotics, Boulevard, ChowNow, Clover Health, Daily Harvest, DocSend, Gyft, LeafLink, Miso Robotics, Solugen etc. 

Jonathan has also worked at Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Cummins. He is the Co-Founder and COO of Kitchen Data Systems (KDS). He holds various degrees from the University of Southern California, London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Jonathan Scheter '00, Bolton & Company

Risk is inherent in every business. As a property & casualty insurance broker, Jonathan’s primary goal is to proactively work with CEOs and CFOs to identify, analyze, control and monitor risk. His clients rest assured that the company can and will continue to move forward, even in the event of unexpected loss.

Prior to his career in insurance, Jonathan spent more than 10 years providing marketing and advertising consultation to middle market and Fortune 500 businesses. With his diverse background, Jonathan’s consultative approach combines creative thinking with rigid analysis to deliver effective risk management solutions for his clients. Jonathan specializes in commercial lines of coverage, including Property & Casualty, Workers Compensation, Directors & Officers and Professional Liability Insurance.

Jonathan holds his BA from UC San Diego. He earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Business and his Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation from the National Alliance for Insurance. He is Past-President of Independent Brokers & Agents Association of the San Fernando Valley, is currently President of the UCLA Anderson Alumni Network and Chairman of the Board for Inner-City Arts, a non-profit art program for at-risk children in downtown Los Angeles.

Jordan Frank, King's Hawaiian

Jordan Frank is an innovation executive who has driven success at CPG companies for over a decade. He started his career in engineering at Kimberly-Clark focusing on new product development, machinery and equipment design, efficiency improvements, and capital expansion around the globe. He currently serves as the Director of Product Development & Innovation at King’s Hawaiian, where he leads new product initiatives from concept through to commercialization.  His expertise resides in product development, data & analytics, eCommerce, rapid prototyping, consumer research, operations, manufacturing, and engineering.       

Jordan is an angel investor with Tech Coast Angels, the largest early-stage angel network in the country.  He holds a B.S. in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.  He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). 

Josh Schachter '14, BCG Digital Ventures

Josh serves as a Product Director with BCG Digital Ventures where he has operated as the Product Lead or GM on over half a dozen ventures in multiple practice areas and regions since 2015. He is also the Director of the Energy Practice Area at Digital Ventures, and heads up the DV Mentorship program.

While at BCGDV, Josh has launched a digital payments platform and app in Malaysia, a Canadian online financial advisory service with currently +1MM members, a portfolio of IoT based applications for international ship tankers, and is currently building an artificial intelligence platform that aims to disrupt the $350B customer call center industry.

Prior to BCGDV Josh led the launch and development of numerous digital products and ventures for both startups and large enterprises. In 2007 he founded Interactive Sports Network, LLC, a social networking community for avid sports athletes and fans. In 2014 he co-founded Liveguide, LLC, an online platform that enables university admissions offices to  maximize the recruitment of prospective candidates. He has also led products at eHarmony.com, the National Football League, and Intuit. In 2014 Josh was awarded an Emmy Award for his production of NFL Up!

Kimberly Small, KUDETA Marketing

Kimberly is an accomplished consumer marketing, digital and social media expert who has led marketing initiatives for the world’s leading entertainment, finance and media companies. She has over 15 years of experience leading marketing for top brands - developing strategic marketing and business plans to creating and executing acquisition and retention marketing strategies.

Kimberly's work ranges across a wide spectrum of brands including Nestle, Beachbody, Hearst, Viacom, Intuit  and Publishers Clearing House. Early in her career, Kimberly worked at top advertising agencies driving direct marketing programs for clients including Chase Manhattan Bank and Columbia House.

Kimberly received her MBA from Thunderbird, her BA from Boston University and is a certified Executive and Organizational Coach focused on career growth and change. She currently runs her consulting company, KUDETA Marketing as well as teaches marketing and advertising classes at UCLA and Pepperdine.

Kwame Ulmer, Ulmer Ventures

Kwame Ulmer is a MedTech executive with nearly twenty years of experience in government and the private sector. He is currently an Angel Investor and regulatory strategy consultant with a focus on MedTech and Venture Capital firms. Mr. Ulmer previously served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation operating company. He led efforts to shorten global registration timelines, improved product quality by process optimization and achieve best-in-class department engagement scores. Kwame has served in progressive leadership roles at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and personally evaluated over 1,000 medical technologies.

Larry Leisure '74, Chicago Pacific Founders

Larry Leisure is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Chicago Pacific Founders, a Chicago and San Francisco private equity fund focused on senior living and care delivery services.  In addition, he serves as Chairman of Washington, D.C. based ADVI that provides advisory services to the digital health, life sciences and managed care services industries.   

Larry has had a distinguished career in health care, serving in venture capital, private equity, management consulting and industry operating roles.  Organizations where he has held senior leadership positions include Accenture as Global Managing Partner for the Health Vertical; Price Waterhouse where he led their Employer and Payer Managed Care Practice; Willis Towers Watson’s predecessor company Towers Perrin where he led their Group Benefits and Managed Care practices; Kaiser Foundation Health Plans where he oversaw national sales & account management; and UnitedHealth Group where oversaw the Payer Segment for Ingenix Consulting (now Optum Health). 

In 2009 Larry founded AccelusHealth Partners, LLC that merged with HillcoHealth to form ADVI in 2013.  He also co-founded Healthspottr, a new media company focused on the acceleration of innovation in health care.  He serves as a board member for several health-related companies, including iN2L, P3, and Recovery Ways.

Larry received his AB in Economics from Stanford University and his MBA in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Leon Zekaria '97, Windsor Fashions

Leon Zekaria was born and raised in Los Angeles, Ca. He attended Georgetown School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Economics and Finance. Zekaria received his Executive MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1997 and is the CEO of Windsor Fashions, a 2nd generation business with 187 stores and growing eCommerce business. Zekaria is a member and former chairman of the YPO Golden West Chapter as well as a current member of Georgetown University Board of Regents.

Bio coming soon.

Luisa Romoff '94 

Luisa Romoff earned her B.S. in Finance from SDSU in 1988 and her M.B.A from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in 1994. She worked in bankruptcy consulting at PriceWaterhouseCoopers - her role involved restructuring, crisis and cash flow management and financing structures. She is currently involved in real estate investment - project evaluation, loan origination and property management for residential income investments. She has also mentored student teams from the Zahn Innovative Platform Launchpad at SDSU.

Mark Jaffe '03, Independent Consultant 

Mark Jaffe has served as head of operations and finance for VC-backed companies within the tech, media, and consumer services sectors. He was an early employee of three start-ups that exited, including Kizmeet.com, a consumer Internet company he co-founded. He began his career working in investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons and later for the venture capital arm of Lexington Commercial Holdings. Mark graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University and received an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School, where his team won the Knapp business plan competition. Mark lives with his family in Los Angeles.

I have many years experience with start up companies and love the work of growing a business. I am currently active at Volto Urbano, SCBI Online Store, MailRoute, Inc, AC Golf and Tennenbaum & Kelly in each case as a CFO, strategist and other roles.

Business development and communications professional with more than 30 years international experience in strategic communications and analysis, partnerships and alliances, technology and media licensing. Serial entrepreneur and member of senior leadership team at multiple digital media and technology startups. Former award-winning newspaper, magazine and technology newsletter journalist.

Matt Joseph, SurgeryOS

Matt Joseph is a technology executive with a background of launching, advising, and investing in software businesses. Currently, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of SurgeryOS, a search engine for medical implants. Prior to SurgeryOS, Matt co-founded Locent, a YCombinator backed messaging service for healthcare providers. For his work with Locent, he was named a top young executive in Los Angeles by the LA Business Journal. Before starting Locent, Matt was Director of Investments and Operations at Launchpad LA, which was named top accelerator in Southern California by Forbes during his tenure. He previously held corporate positions at Verizon and the Boston Consulting Group. He earned a B.A. from Princeton and a JD/MBA from UCLA.

Matthew Marquez '17, Coefficient Consulting

Matthew Marquez has 15 years of overall experience, with 10 years within the CPG Food and Beverage industry.  Throughout his career, Matthew has been focused on helping brands plan for and achieve sustained profitable growth.  The companies he has helped have ranged from $500M to $5B in annual revenue. His early career experiences include traditional finance & accounting, while his later career focus has been on strategic finance & analytics and retail go-to-market strategy development and execution.  Matthew has deep knowledge and expertise on what it takes to succeed and scale CPG brands within retail.  He has worked closely with retailers and sales teams to formulate winning growth strategies across all major retail channels, including Club, Mass, Drug, Supermarket, Natural, Convenience, Dollar, Specialty, Vending, and E-Commerce.   Each channel presents its own unique challenges and opportunities, requiring specialized knowledge on how to unlock profitable growth.  His most recent experience includes Wonderful Pistachios, which in late 2018 was recognized by IRI as America’s #1 fastest growing Snack Brand.  Matthew earned his MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and his BS in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.  He is also a licensed CPA in the State of California.  Matthew is based in Los Angeles, California.

Michael Gitig, G-Technology

Michael Gitig is a former music + entertainment industry worker turned tech intra- and entrepreneur.  He’s worked in business & strategic development, marketing, product management, and strategy for a variety of companies including Disney, Microsoft, and American Express, and was the co-founder of a music supervision company.  His obsession with the convergence of media, technology, and commerce led him to pursue an MBA at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with distinction. While at the Ross School of Business, Mike led the consumer technology team of the Frankel Fund, a pre-seed student run venture fund.  Bitten with the startup bug, Mike returned to LA, where was the co-founder and COO of Gobbler, a start-up building an open cloud platform for collaborative media creation. His work at Gobbler led him to his current position as the Studio Team lead and (this is actually my title) Intergalactic Commander of Business Development at G-Technology.  In his free time, Mike serves as an advisor and mentor for startups, and has helped companies raise over $20m to date. He is terrible at writing bios in 3rd person, but sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

Michael Kim, StrongArm Ventures

Michael is an engineer turned entrepreneur, currently serving as the CTO and Co-Founder at StrongArm Technologies where he oversees all product development and strategy to align with customers and business needs. StrongArm is the world’s leading safety science company creating wearable solutions that captures physiological and environmental risks to help manual laborers, or Industrial Athletes and their employers make smarter and better informed decisions about safety and workforce optimization.

His area of expertise is in product development roadmap, strategy and team execution, customer and product discovery (product-market fit), scaling teams and culture, B2B enterprise sales development, hardware development - manufacturing, and investor pitch decks/presentations.

Milan Karunaratne ’18, GE Transportation

Milan has over a decade of experience in the transportation industry working for GE and Wabtec Corporation. A graduate of GE’s Edison Leadership Development Program, Milan has held various engineering roles with global exposure spanning diesel engine validation & reliability, control system diagnostics and systems innovation. He has extensive experience building and leading efforts on advanced analytics and machine learning predictive models for large scale assets, advancing the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).  

Currently, Milan heads the global Digital Applied Innovation team that he founded under the office of the CTO at Wabtec. Bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to a large enterprise, this dedicated team of AI specialists, solution engineers and product strategists is focused around driving disruptive innovation and new digital product development across Wabtec’s $9B portfolio of businesses. Milan has nearly 20 patents granted throughout his tenure at GE and has grown that culture of applied innovation within his team and throughout his organization. He has extensive experience in strategic product road maps and effective minimum viable products that enable new solutions to scale successfully.  

He holds a B.E. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stony Brook University in New York and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he continues to serve as a GAP Fellow.

He is a passionate musician, having released his own original album. Milan lives in Orange County, California with his wife and two sons.

Neal Green '79, The Coding Network

Neal Green has forty+ years of experience in healthcare management and sales. He started and operated his own medical billing and management company for seventeen years. The company grew to $9 million in revenues, a staff of 250, and offices in four states. Neal then joined a regional billing company and helped it expand into a national industry leader while tripling the company’s revenues from $8 to $25 million in five years with 500 employees operating in sixteen states. In 1995, Neal started a national coding company that currently operates in all fifty states serving hospitals, medical school faculty practice plans, integrated healthcare organizations, medical groups, and medical billing companies.

Communications executive, mentor, teacher, and angel investor skilled at startup messaging, public relations, and marketing. Understands that early-stage businesses are stories, and uses background in journalism and entrepreneurship to structure foundational PR and communications strategies.

Communications executive, mentor, teacher, and angel investor skilled at startup messaging, public relations, and marketing. Understands that early-stage businesses are stories, and uses background in journalism and entrepreneurship to structure foundational PR and communications strategies.

Patrick Driscoll, 500 Startups

Patrick serves as the Investment Education Program Manager for 500 Startups’ multiple Venture Capital Unlocked programs in partnership with universities, governments, corporations, and other institutions in the US and abroad.  In this role, he manages relationships with VCs, corporates, governments, family offices, syndicates, and angels from more than 60 countries. Since moving to LA in November 2019, Patrick has also overseen startup recruitment and due diligence for 500 Startups' seed programs. Outside of his current role, Patrick is quite active in the LGBTQI+ advocacy space, specifically serving as the Chair of the LA Programming Board for StartOut, volunteering with at-risk youth groups, and speaking at engagements regarding LGBTQI+ issues in entrepreneurship and tech.

Prior to 500 Startups, Patrick served as a Lender Relations Specialist with the US Small Business Administration in LA, where he trained lenders including HSBC, JP Morgan Chase Bank, East West Bank, US Bank and more. He also served with the US Peace Corps in Senegal as a Community Economic Development Agent where he led programs in business management, microfinance, agriculture, and lending practices. He is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and investors from emerging economies around the world and underserved communities in the US.

He has an MA in Global Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration from the University of Denver.

Patrick Gardner '00, Symantec

Patrick Gardner is an accomplished cybersecurity general manager and engineering executive, having spent over 20 years at Symantec Corporation. He joined Symantec as an intern in 1999 and through the years, he has served in a number of roles as a developer, architect, and general manager innovating and creating core security engines and technologies that ran on hundreds of millions of consumer and enterprise endpoints, email gateways, network devices, and cloud services.

Patrick was the founder of Symantec’s Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) product line that enabled enterprise customers to discover, investigate, and respond to attacks across endpoint, network, and email threat vectors. Patrick created the ATP product line and was able to grow it from 0 to ~$90M in sales protecting over 3000 enterprises and > 10M units.

Patrick holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles. He has over a dozen issued patents, regular speaks at industry conferences and events, and enjoys mentoring and advising cybersecurity and enterprise companies of all sizes.

Paul Pastor '04, ProjectUnite.TV

Paul Pastor is the former EVP Network Strategy, Revenue and Operations for the Discovery, Science and Animal Planet channels where he was responsible for defining the multiplatform content strategy, establishing new business models and partnerships with producers, distributors, platforms and advertisers, and managing the channels’ ~$500M in content investment. He also previously served as SVP Strategy and Consumer Analytics for the Disney/ABC Television Group. Paul is currently working to build out a new, broadcaster driven European OTT service. Paul holds a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Business.

Software CEO, Board Member, and C-level executive with $1B of exits. My passion is building disruptive technology companies in nascent markets and turning them into highly valuable organizations.

Renu Mevasse, SmartyPants Vitamins

As a seasoned marketing professional with over ten years of experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry, including food & beverage, household products and personal care, Mevasse has a proven track record of launching new brands into the marketplace and revitalizing mature brands to make them relevant again. Coupled with a keen sense of marketing and sales expertise, offering a unique understanding of consumer and retailer dynamics, Mevasse is known for developing high performing teams and building a culture of engagement in organizations both big and small.

For the past two decades, Rob Dyrdek has built a flourishing empire by identifying and uniquely leveraging the intersection of business and media. A natural and gifted storyteller, he has continually refined his multiplatform approach, and today he sits at the helm of the Dyrdek Machine, a full-service venture studio founded on the concept of building “forever brands” — with media squarely at the center.

Rob invests in, builds and advises an array of ventures in consumer products and media. The common thread between his projects is the idea of identifying and nurturing companies that are disruptive — but built to last forever.

Rod Kurtz, Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson

For over a decade, Rod Kurtz worked as a journalist and advocate on behalf of entrepreneurs—until finally becoming one himself. Today, he oversees a New York- and Los Angeles-based media strategy firm, advising startups and Fortune 500 companies alike, on all things content, branding, and marketing.

Previously, he served as Executive Editor of HuffPost Small Business, which he launched in 2011, Executive Editor of AOL Small Business, Senior Editor at Inc. and Inc.com, and Small Business Editor at BusinessWeek Online.

As a longtime TV contributor, Rod has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, and the Today Show. He also speaks regularly at entrepreneurship and media events nationwide.

Roman Reyhani, BCG

Roman Reyhani is a tech, media and startup attorney, strategist and entrepreneur. His clients include, startups, investors, content creators, production companies, and media and entertainment personalities.

Formerly, Roman worked for IAC where he provided legal advice for a number of highly trafficked sites. Prior to this he worked in the entertainment industry negotiating film, television and new media deals. Additionally, Roman consults on strategy with various technology and media companies, including in artificial intelligence, crypto-assets, and digital media. He also participates in startups as a core team member and advisor, one of which was focused on utilizing machine learning to quantify geopolitical risk and which was recently acquired.

Roman’s experience with tech, law and strategy gives him a deep insight into the complex issues his client’s face. Born in Germany and raised in New Zealand, Roman is fluent in German. He represents clients across the United States, Europe, China and Australia.

Sajid Mohamedy '11, NoiseGrasp

Sajid Mohamedy is an experienced strategy professional and entrepreneur, with a demonstrated history of creating and scaling businesses. Ranging from tech to renewables and real estate, Sajid has served as founder or senior leader of 4 high growth ventures. Among his current roles, Sajid spends most of his time as Chief Strategy Officer for NoiseGrasp, an AI-based marketing analytics company. Sajid started his career in management consulting with EY and Mercer, and received both undergraduate & MBA degrees from UCLA.

Samir Mehta '92, IBM

Samir is a Mergers & Acquisitions Executive in IBM Corporate Development responsible for over $5BN. in enterprise software acquisitions IBM has made across a variety of areas - AI, analytics, cloud, content mgmt., health tech, open source. He has expertise in B2B,ecommerce, GTM, marketing and product management. Prior to IBM, Samir worked at startups that went IPO including BroadVision and eHealth as well as major technology companies including HP and Sun Microsystems. He is a UCLA Anderson Alumni and have an MS in Computer Science and a BS in Math from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Sassan Masserat, MLG

Sassan Masserat has a broad range of business and legal experience. He practices in the areas of civil and business litigation, and general business law. He also focuses on international business matters. His fluency in Italian, French and Farsi expands his capacity to better service his clients in the international arena.

Sassan was brought up and educated in Italy. He earned a degree with honors in Business Administration, Finance at California State University, Northridge. He graduated with honors from Southwestern University School of Law. Prior to becoming a member of the California bar, he worked for a number of years in the financial services and investment banking industries, where he gained experience in compliance and regulatory matters. He also clerked for a Federal Judge.

Sassan is a member of the Board of Governors of the Italian American Lawyers Association, a Member of the Board of the Anti Defamation League, where he is also the Chair of the International Affairs Committee, and has been designated by the Italian Consul as a preferred lawyer ("Avvocato di Fiducia")

Sassan has been invited by foreign governments and organizations to speak and lecture about US business and US Law, and has traveled as far as South Korea, Turkey, Italy and a variety of European countries on behalf of his clients.

Scott Goldblatt '12, Fernish

Scott has 8+ years of marketing experience across digital marketing, brand strategy, product marketing, and eCommerce. He currently leads marketing at Fernish, a rising startup focused on subscription furniture, and described by Fast Company as "Rent-the-Runway, but for sofas." As Fernish grows into a nationally-recognized brand, Scott is working to build consumer awareness, digital acquisition, and strategic partnerships.

After getting his MBA from UCLA Anderson, he spent 5 years at Yahoo launching products, driving acquisition, and leading customer engagement. He then joined LA's startup community, and has more recently led marketing for brands like Wolf & Shepherd and Recess. He graduated from Anderson in 2012, and has B.S. in marketing from Lehigh University.

Bio Coming Soon

Sonny Bandyopadhyay

Sonny is a Product & Strategy professional focused on the 0 to 1+ Phase of the startup lifecycle, which includes opportunity development & product build, as well as serving as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) during new company launches.

He’s currently a Product Manager at Cie, an LA-based startup studio which creates both in-house startups as well as corporate ventures. Sonny is also a Fellow with Tech Coast Angels (TCA), an angel investment group based in SoCal.

He is an avid pro basketball fan (especially when the Lakers win) and is a graduate of Emory University.

Steve Borochoff, Acqubit

Steve Borochoff is a strategic advisor to emerging stage software and hardware developers providing both guidance and execution in business development, go-to-market strategies, and building global sales organizations.  Product breadth has included enterprise level software, software development and engineering services, and hardware spanning semiconductors, sensors, boards, and systems.

Prior to his advisor roles, Steve was an award winning, client facing sales and business development leader at the VP level who has built successful businesses from start-ups to new business units of mature organizations by building, mentoring, and leading teams focused on developing strategic, executive level, trusted relationships that address client issues and needs.   He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Steve Huntley '78, The Huntley Company 

Steve has nearly 30 years of experience in senior executive positions. In his capacity as an owner of Huntley, Mullaney, Spargo, & Sullivan, Inc. (HMS), a real estate and financial restructuring firm he co-founded in 1993 (and that was recently acquired by Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.), he has overseen the restructuring of more than $10 billion in client assets through debt and lease restructuring and Chapter 11 planning, including more than $4 billion in lease and loan modifications, discounted loan payoffs, and deficiency settlements that he has negotiated with more than 50 lenders.

Prior to founding HMS, Steve was the president and CEO of the Cook Company, an office and land development company whose $120 million real estate portfolio he turned around through an aggressive restructuring of loans with GE Capital and Bank of America. He also served as the turnaround CEO of Princeton Real Estate Group, an $80 million retail and apartment development company. His experience additionally includes a five-year period in which, as the president of Triton National – a $400 million private real estate and development company with more than 500 employees – he oversaw acquisitions as well as the financing of asset management and joint ventures for the company. While at Triton, Steve also served as president of several separate real estate joint ventures, including a joint venture with Crocker Bank, American Savings, and Wells Fargo Bank.

Steve has also taught commercial real estate investment at the University of California, Berkeley, and authored several influential publications on the topic of commercial real estate debt restructuring.

Steve has an MBA from UCLA.

Todd Laurence '92, Startup Advisor

As a sales leader in the technology industry, Todd Laurence has sold complex enterprise solutions and built sales teams globally for two decades. His industry expertise spans open source software, large scale analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence, supply chain/manufacturing, and even food/ag tech. Todd's sales leadership includes roles at both global technology giants and hardware/software startups, two of which achieved successful IPOs. In addition, he has closed sales deals and delivered keynotes at conferences throughout Latin America, and speaks fluent Spanish. Todd received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Princeton University, and earned an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA, where he was awarded the Carter Fellowship for graduating in the top 2% of his class.

Tom Shapiro, Sole Source Capital

Tom Shapiro has founded multiple companies in a variety of backgrounds. Companies he has founded are Academy Tent and Canvas, Inc., Academy Awning, Inc., Event Technical Services, Inc., and TAS Investments, Inc. Most recently, after selling Trade Supplies, Inc., Tom joined Sole Source Capital as Operating Partner. Tom holds a BS from USC.

Yelena Blank '13, Pluto TV

Yelena Blank is a media and entertainment executive with extensive expertise across content distribution, streaming media services and brand management. In her most recent role as Director of Global Distribution at Sony Pictures, Yelena drove content strategy and maximized television distribution revenue through deal analysis, content acquisitions and innovative content packaging. Yelena joined Sony Pictures in June 2014 as Senior Manager of Emerging Platforms and Partnerships where she developed digital business strategies and distribution partnerships in emerging markets.

Prior to joining Sony, Yelena worked in strategic planning in Disney’s Media Networks division, which includes ABC Television, Disney Channel, ABC Family and ESPN. As part of her role, Yelena developed growth strategies and evaluated new business opportunities across Disney's portfolio of broadcast, cable, and digital media segments. During her tenure at Disney, Yelena also worked as Global Franchise Manager of Disney Channels Worldwide where she led product development for Disney’s flagship preschool TV network Disney Junior. In that role, Yelena’s key focus was driving brand success and maximizing company revenue across key Disney verticals, including Consumer Products, Digital Media, Theme Parks, Publishing, Disney Records, and Home Entertainment.

Yelena began her career in Finance in Disney's Theme Parks and Resorts division after completing her B.A. in Business Economics at UCLA in 2005. Yelena completed her MBA in 2013 at the Anderson School of Management Fully-Employed program. When not working, Yelena is training for her next marathon.

Yvonne Manganaro '02, Gelson's Markets

The Southern California native has worked in the retail industry for 30 years, with 17 of those spent at upscale grocer Gelson’s Markets. While paying her way through her Bachelor of Arts-History degree at UCLA, Manganaro worked for six years at single-store operator Breadstiks market, learning the grocery industry through the roles of checking, stocking, order writing, bookkeeping, and managing. Following her undergraduate education, Manganaro worked full time at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, and then obtained her MBA degree in 2002, with an emphasis in Marketing and Strategy.

Following a year of consulting work for Gelson’s former holding company Arden Group, Inc., Manganaro transitioned into full time employment with Gelson’s, starting her tenure in the company as Marketing Manager. During her engagement with Gelson’s, she started eCommerce for the chain, spearheaded the social media efforts of the company, and created the company’s first loyalty program, during a period which saw the chain grow by 50%. Manganaro combines a drive to integrate data into marketing decisions, cultivate process improvements through the organization, and collaborate with the merchant and operational teams to achieve an engaging, satisfying experience for customers.