New York Business Plan Competition > Judges > 2012 Judges
2012 Judges
The 2012 New York State Business Plan Competition is pleased to introduce the judges that will be evaluating the applications in the first round and the selected teams' final presentations on April 26. The judges are a mix of private and public investors – all of whom have years of experience investing in their respective industries.
- Michael Castellana, President and CEO, SEFCU
- Judy Albers, Managing Partner, Neworks
- Nasir Ali, Co-Founder and CEO, Upstate Venture Connect
- Stuart Angert, Founder and CEO (Retired), Remarketing Services of America
- Roy Arad, Vice President of Business Development, Arocon Consulting
- Mark Austin, Senior Venture Advisor, Bright Capital Cleantech Seed Fund
- Martin Babinec, Founder and Chairman, Upstate Venture Connect
- Clayton Besch, Director, Small Business Technology Investment Fund, Empire State Development
- John Cococcia, Partner and Founder, FA Technology Ventures
- Brian Cohen, Chairman, New York Angels
- Al Culliton, Chief Operating Officer, Erie County Industrial Development Agency
- Dennis DeLeo, Senior Partner, Trillium Group
- Robert Delman, Managing Director, Golden Seeds
- Bob Greene, Managing Partner, Contour Ventures
- Edward Greer, Manager, Ventures and Business Development, The Dow Chemical Company
- James Groelinger, Chairman, President and CEO, Heartland Bridge Capital
- Kevin Halpin, Managing Director, DeltaPoint Capital
- David Hessler, Entrepreneur-In-Residence, High Tech Rochester
- Russ Howard, General Partner, High Peaks Venture Partners
- Reid Hutchins, Senior Vice President, Advantage Capital Partners
- Rami Katz, Chief Operating Officer, Excell Partners
- Michael Lasch, Managing Partner, Pine Street Capital Partners
- J. Peter Lynch, President, Salem Financial
- Howard Maier, President, Maier Ventures
- Brian Model, Managing Director, Stonehenge Growth Capital
- David Montanaro, President, Strategic Advisory Associates
- Peter Rothberg, Partner, Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
- Michael Schattner, President, Onondaga Venture Capital Fund
- Jeffrey Seul, Partner and Co-Chair, Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Team, Holland & Knight
- Michael Shimazu, Senior Project Manager, Innovation and Business Development, NYSERDA
- Christine Tate, Investor, ARC Angel Fund
- Jennifer Tegan, Partner, Cayuga Venture Fund
- Roger Williams, Chair, New York Angel Network
- Michael Wu, Founding Board Member, Long Island Angel Network
Michael Castellana
President and CEO
SEFCU
Michael Castellana is President and CEO of SEFCU, the largest credit
union in the Capital Region and the seventh largest in the State of New
York. Mr. Castellana joined SEFCU more than 22 years ago as a member of
the executive management team. During his tenure he has overseen SEFCU's
growth in Albany County and expansion into Saratoga, Rensselaer,
Schenectady, Broome, Onondaga, and Erie Counties.
Mr. Castellana directs all functional areas of the credit union and is
responsible for its business planning and asset management. In addition,
he serves as chairman of the SECU Foundation, a non-profit affiliation
he formed to pool the time, talent, and financial resources of SEFCU
staff in support of children's causes.
He also sits on several advisory boards, including: Big Brothers Big
Sisters, Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Anne Institute, the University
at Albany MBA Advisory Council, the Dean's Council of the Lally School
of Management of RPI and the President's Advisory Council of Hudson
Valley Community College.
Mr. Castellana received his bachelor's degree in Accounting and his MBA
from the University at Albany in 1984 and 1992, respectively.
Judy Albers
Managing Partner
Neworks
Judy Albers is one of the co-founders of Neworks, the managing
organization for the Pre-Seed Workshop (PSW). The PSW is a 2 ½ day
“build-a-company” event which rallies community talent and resources to
investigate and transform potentially commercializable technologies
(developed primarily at universities and major research centers) into
pre-seed stage companies. The PSW is held throughout NYS and is
expanding nationally. In addition, for the last 11 years, Judy has held
senior level positions at two Venture Capital firms in Upstate NY. She
has negotiated many equity investments and managed a portfolio of more
than 20 pre-seed and seed stage start-up companies. She is a frequent
speaker and panelist at local, regional, and national entrepreneurship
conferences, business plan competitions, and venture forums. She is
also the author of several studies related to entrepreneurship. Her
papers have reached a regional, national, and international audience.
Judy started her career as a research chemist at 3M Company and then
become a Chemistry Professor at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She
also worked at the Center for Naval Analyses in DC and served as a
defense analyst for the Pentagon and the US Sixth Fleet in Naples,
Italy. She holds a BS in Chemistry from Duke, a PhD from Brandeis, and
completed her post-doc at Princeton.
Nasir Ali
Co-Founder and CEO
Upstate Venture Connect
Nasir Ali is a resident of Syracuse, NY and the founder and Executive
Director of the Seed Capital Fund of CNY, a private LLC whose members
are actively engaged in funding and supporting early stage tech
companies. He is a Managing Director of the StartFast Venture
Accelerator, a key UVC initiative. Ali also serves on the boards of the
Upstate Venture Association of New York and Chequed.
Prior to founding UVC, Ali was president of The Tech Garden, a
not-for-profit organization with the mission of creating an
entrepreneurial culture in Syracuse and the Central New York region. In
addition to managing the Syracuse Technology Garden incubator, Ali
managed a statewide network of experienced mentors. In 2008, Ali
co-taught a course in technology entrepreneurship at Syracuse
University, which has since grown into a year-long community-campus
collaborative effort known as the Syracuse Student Startup Accelerator.
Ali also had responsibility for launching the NYSERDA-funded Center for
Clean Tech Entrepreneurship and SATOP, a NASA supported small business
technology assistance program.
Ali moved to Syracuse from Washington, DC, where he was an associate at
Booz Allen Hamilton charged with helping IRS Commissioners manage over
$1 billion in technology modernization and workforce restructuring
initiatives. Prior to this, he co-founded New Think (a mobile commerce
services firm) and WritersPoint (an offshore technical writing company).
Before beginning his career as an entrepreneur, Ali turned around
large-scale software, telecommunications, and systems integration
projects for Fortune 100 companies. He received his MBA in finance and
operations management from Yale University’s School of Management, where
he helped initiate a joint master’s degree program in industrial
environmental management. Ali graduated from Princeton University with a
degree in physics and a concentration in economics.
Stuart Angert
Founder and CEO (Retired)
Remarketing Services of America
Stuart H. Angert is the founder and retired CEO of Remarketing Services
of America, a provider of lease portfolio services for the automotive
finance industry. Launched in 1991, the business was acquired by
Daimler-Benz in 1996, prior to their acquisition of Chrysler
Corporation.
Stuart currently serves on the boards of directors/trustees of
Independent Health, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute,
Medaille College, Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondacks, Adirondack
Park Institute, and Meszaros International Center for Entrepreneurship.
He also serves on the advisory boards of KeyBank, University of Buffalo
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL), Canisius College Richard J.
Wehle School of Business, and the Advancement Committee, Community
Foundation for Greater Buffalo. He is a Commissioner, New York State
Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Formerly he served on the boards of Amherst Chamber of Commerce, Nichols
School, Leadership Buffalo, Everywoman Opportunity Center, Boys and
Girls Clubs of Buffalo, Buffalo & Erie County Workforce Investment
Board, and the ECIDA, Niagara Region Certified Development Company
(NRCDC).
Stuart received his BA from Colgate University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.
Roy Arad
Vice President of Business Development
Arocon Consulting
The modern economy has been drastically reshaped by two main forces,
technology and internationalization—two dynamics that Roy Arad knows
intimately well. A business development executive and entrepreneurial
advisor, Arad is an expert at evaluating market opportunities and
putting the plans, resources, and people together to capitalize on these
windows of economic potential. Drawing upon dual degrees from New York
Institute of Technology and Israel’s Ruppin Academy, he currently serves
on the Board of Act for Israel with responsibility for leading the
organization’s activities in the areas of Development and Investor
Relations.
Arad’s corporate background began on the technical side, working as a
Systems Administrator and Information Technology Manager for a key
Computer Division of the Israeli Defense Force. His leadership and
communication skills, however, quickly drew him into the entrepreneurial
world, where he co-founded Tigon Software in 2003 and helped grow the
company. This entrepreneurial acumen is also the trademark of his
current role as Director of Business Development for Arocon Consulting,
where he helps international companies make the right connections to
raise funding, gain a foothold in the U.S. market, and localize their
products effectively for American consumers.
In addition to the above roles, Arad was also honored with an
appointment as Treasury Manager and Procurement Manager for the
Government of Israel, where he spent four years overseeing billions of
dollars in trade activity between the Israeli and U.S. governments. In
this capacity, he worked closely with senior U.S. government officials
and Fortune 500 executives from companies such as Boeing, Dell, Lockheed
Martin, and IBM, gaining an in-depth understanding of the federal
contracting process and the way business is done on a global,
government-to-government scale. He also serves as an Advisory Board
Member and Entrepreneur in Residence at New York Institute of
Technology’s School of Business, where he mentors aspiring young
entrepreneurs and plays a role in helping the school deliver
cutting-edge business curriculum.
Mark Austin
Senior Venture Advisor
Bright Capital Cleantech Seed Fund
Mark Austin is a senior venture advisor, strategic development
consultant, serial entrepreneur and seasoned executive with over 25
years of experience. For the last 15 years, as Managing Director of
Chandler Reed LLC, he has provided insight with implementation to the
CEOs, Boards and Senior Management of his clients. He combines the
talents of a creative strategic thinker and a hands-on executive, with
deep cross-functional expertise and breadth of industry experience to
deliver practical insights, strategies, plans and follow-through. He
serves as a Senior Venture Advisor with Bright Capital, a Board Advisor
with iCLEAN, and an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with NYSERDA.
Mr. Austin creates impact to accelerate growth, boost profitability and
realize value for cleantech, alternative energy and technology-based
companies. Focusing on core drivers of strategy, marketing, finance,
business planning, technology commercialization and intellectual
property, he helps ventures and growth companies get traction, build
momentum and secure sustainable competitive advantage. His work in the
cleantech and alternative energy sector has encompassed a broad range
including energy storage, fuel cells, solar, nanotech, energy
efficiency, green building, composites / advanced materials,
hydrokinetic, biomass, biofuels, waste to energy, gasification, water,
hazardous waste detoxification, and sustainability. Clients have ranged
from start-ups and VC-funded ventures, to public and private growth
companies, to divisions of global multinationals and UN agencies such as
the Sustainable Energy and Environment Division of UNDP.
Martin Babinec
Founder and Chairman
Upstate Venture Connect
Martin Babinec is a noted Silicon Valley entrepreneur who now serves as a venture catalyst for the Upstate New York region.
In 1988 Mr. Babinec founded TriNet HR Corporation, a technology enabled
business service delivering human resource solutions to small and mid
sized companies throughout the U.S. Having raised more than $80 million
in equity financing over seven rounds, his leadership as Chairman and
CEO continued 15 years after relinquishing majority ownership of the
company to investors as the company grew to 30 offices, serving 8,000
customers. He remains a Director for TriNet, is active as an angel
investor in numerous tech related startups and is a limited partner in
several venture capital firms. TriNet’s story has been profiled in a
Stanford Graduate School of Business Case study and Martin is a
recipient of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Returning to his hometown of Little Falls, NY Mr. Babinec founded and
chairs Upstate Venture Connect in 2010 to help accelerate
transformational change in the Upstate NY economy by focusing on the
creation of new industry jobs that would help retain more of our
region’s best and brightest in the area. He serves full time in this
role without compensation and has been responsible for initiating
several program efforts that have brought entrepreneurial community best
practices to the region in areas such as angel investing, startup
accelerator programs and facilitating connectivity between high growth
entrepreneurs and mentors/resources who can help them.
Clayton Besch
Director, Small Business Technology Investment Fund
Empire State Development
Raised in the Capital Region, he did his undergraduate at Hamilton
College in Central NY. After years of advance education in Asia,
earning a Masters at Nagasaki University and a PhD at Tokyo University,
Clayton's focus turned to finance and investment. Experiencing the
growth and evolution in Japan's bubble market and later in the emerging
markets, he crossed from equity research to sales to the global
investment community. He then moved to the Venture Capital world
working with SOFTBANK's worldwide VC network for a number of years.
After consulting for funds in the US, Japan and the UK, he most recently
ran the Asian office for NYS’s ESDC in Tokyo introducing NYS companies
to sales opportunities in Japan and Korea and introducing Japanese
companies to strategic opportunities in NYS. Clayton is currently the
Director of New York State’s Small Business Technology Investment Fund.
John Cococcia
Partner and Founder
FA Technology Ventures
John is a Partner and a Founder of FA Technology Ventures. He serves on
the Board of Directors of Auterra, Autotask, Knoa Software and
StreetEasy, is a board observer of CORESense and BinOptics and was
previously a board observer on MetaCarta.
Prior to FA Technology Ventures, John was with Gleacher Enterprise
Funding (GEF), a public sponsored investment program, where he was
responsible for sourcing, negotiating and managing private equity
investments whose mission was economic growth. John joined GEF from the
equity research group at Gleacher where he was an analyst covering the
manufacturing and enterprise software space. Prior to Gleacher, John
worked at Ford Motor Company where he was in operations and engineering
and then later with Amphenol's Computer and Network Products Division
where his responsibilities were in new product development, design for
manufacturing and assessment and acquisition of new production line
equipment and processes.
John is a founder and Director of the Upstate Venture Association of New
York (UVANY), serves as a Judge at various business plan competitions,
is a mentor at the RPI incubator program and has been an Adjunct
Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of
Management and Technology (Graduate Program) and at the University at
Albany. John also co-founded the Eric Evans Memorial Charitable
Foundation after Eric's death in the World Trade Center on 9/11, and now
serves the Foundation as a Director and Treasurer.
John earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering and his MBA with a
concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
Brian Cohen
Chairman
New York Angels
Brian Shawn Cohen is considered one of the fathers of science &
technology strategic communications, having founded Technology
Solutions, Inc. in 1983. TSI's client list read like an entrepreneurial
who's who list of startup technology companies in computing,
communication, software, education, and entertainment. For more than a
decade he maintained a broad strategic communications partnership with
Sony & IBM Corporation providing counsel to dozens of their
intrapreneurial new technology divisions. Notably, TSI received the Gold
CIPRA award in 1998 for the IBM Deep Blue/Gary Kasparov Chess Match
concept and communications program. In 1996, TSI was recognized as the
#1 fastest growing agency in the United States. He later sold the
company to The McCann Erickson World Group in 1997 and became the Vice
Chairman of their technology group.
As a researcher, Brian created Focus Technology, an organization that
provided qualitative research and instituted the RPM model of integrated
strategic communications providing ultra-competitive technology clients
the ability to quickly discover and leverage their key strengths as
well as mitigate their destructive weaknesses.
As a publisher, Brian was a pioneer in the founding of a number of the
first computing publications including Computer Systems News and
InformationWeek magazine.
As an investor he now serves as the Vice Chairman of the New York Angels
who has invested over $35 million into more than 50 early stage
technology companies.
As an educator, Brian will be opening the AIMS (Applied Internet Media
Studies) Program, a college semester program where students will be
rigorously trained to use the internet professionally. He also mentors
entrepreneur students at NYU and Columbia University.
As a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, he holds a Masters
Degree in Science Communications from Boston University's School of
Public Communications and currently serves on the Dean's Board of
Directors.
Al Culliton
Chief Operating Officer
Erie County Industrial Development Agency
Mr. Culliton is currently Chief Operating Officer of the Erie County
Industrial Development Agency. He was the Chief Lending Officer since
1992 and was additionally named its Chief Financial Officer in 2003. As
Chief Operating Officer he manages the operations and economic
development programs of the Advanced Training Center, ECIDA, Industrial
Land Development Corporation, Regional Development Corporation and
several other affiliates. Additionally he manages ECIDA's venture
capital investments. His prior work experience includes 14 years as a
bank commercial lender and manager, 6 years as the Chief Financial
Officer for several mid-sized wholesale distribution companies and
several years in secondary education.
Mr. Culliton holds a BA and MA in Mathematics from Fordham University
and an MBA from Canisius College. He is a graduate of the 1997 Venture
Capital Institute sponsored by the National Venture Capital Association
and the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies. He
is a member of the Board of Directors of the Empire State Certified
Development Corporation, one of the largest SBA 504 program lenders, and
of the New York State Economic Development Council, the state's
principal organization representing economic development professionals.
Dennis DeLeo
Senior Partner
Trillium Group
During his tenure at Eastman Kodak, Denny held positions of increasing
responsibility. Initially, he was a member of the legal division,
practicing primarily patent law. Later, as a Kodak Vice President and
Director, Corporate Commercial Affairs, he managed a corporate staff
responsible for a wide range of technology-based transactions,
including, licensing, business partnerships and acquisition and
divestiture of technology, products and businesses.
DeLeo also held Kodak operating management positions as Vice President
and General Manager of the Bioscience and Emerging Businesses Division
and Vice President, General Manager of the Image Acquisition Products
Division. The latter made and sold CCD image sensors, digital camera
and image scanners. He also served as President and CEO of Eastman
Technology, Inc., a Kodak subsidiary formed to launch businesses based
on leading-edge technologies. As chief executive, he had overall
profit-and-loss accountability and managed a portfolio of more than a
dozen new ventures ranging from under $1 million to over $50 million in
annual revenue.
In 1997, DeLeo co-founded Trillium Group, LLC, a regional venture
capital and private equity firm based in Rochester, New York. He is the
fund manager of the Monroe Fund, an early stage venture capital fund
within the Trillium Group fund family.
He holds a B. A. from the University of Rochester, a J.D. from the
University of Chicago Law School and completed the Advanced Management
Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He is a
former member of the Patent Policy Board of the State University of New
York and a former Vice Chairman of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Board. He is a Board member of the Upstate Venture Association of New
York and sits on a number of private company boards, including companies
in the Trillium Group portfolio and companies unaffiliated with
Trillium Group.
Robert Delman
Managing Director
Golden Seeds
Rob is Managing Director of Golden Seeds, an angel investor organization
targeting women-led ventures with the potential to grow into
multi-million dollar business, and a Partner in the ARC Angel Fund and
Canrock Ventures, both of which invest in seed and early-stage companies
with high growth potential. Rob is an Advisor, Columbia University
Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and has co-taught the MBA-level classes
“Introduction to Venturing” and as an executive mentor in “Launching
New Ventures” and “The Greenhouse Program.” Rob was previously Vice
President, NY for Astia, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to
propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in
high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth.
He currently serves on Astia’s NYC Advisory Board. Rob has also been a
mentor for Springboard Enterprises, a leading platform where
entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts meet to build great
women-led businesses.
From 1985-2000 Rob was a principal and President of Delco International
Ltd., a successful manufacturing and distribution company of tableware
products for the food service and transportation industries. Rob earned
industry-wide recognition as a business builder, marketing and
financial strategist and general operations executive. Rob produced
all-time highs in profit and revenue for Delco with a team of 125 direct
and indirect staff. This led to the successful sale of the company in
2000 to Oneida Ltd, the world’s largest tableware manufacturer. Rob was
asked to stay on as a consultant to the new executive management team
and did so through 2003.
Rob holds a BS in Marketing from Syracuse University and an MBA from
Columbia University, He is an active member of the World President’s
Organization New York City Metro chapter; the Long Island Capital
Alliance, the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society; was awarded the Human
Relations Award by the American Jewish Committee; is an Outward Bound
graduate; and is a Bronze Medal winner in tennis for the USA Maccabi
Team. He lives with his wife Lynn and two sons Jeffrey and Jonathan on
Long Island.
Bob Greene
Managing Partner
Contour Ventures
Bob Greene is a co-founder of Contour Venture Partners and has been a
venture capitalist since the late 1980's. He has invested in all stages
of venture capital across several industry sectors. Contour invests in
seed and early stage technology companies in the northeast United States
with a focus on the financial services, digital media and the internet
sectors.
Prior to launching Contour, Bob was one of the three managing partners
of Flatiron Partners. Located in New York City, Flatiron was a leading
venture capital firm focused on the information technology sector. The
firm backed over 50 companies with over $500 million of venture capital.
Prior to joining Flatiron full time in 1999, Bob was a General Partner
at Chase Capital Partners, having joined its predecessor, Chemical
Venture Partners, in 1994. Bob started and led Chase Capital's
Technology and Internet investment practice. He built the technology
team and portfolio within Chase Capital, which included launching
Flatiron in New York City in 1996, backing Pitango Venture Capital in
Israel in 1996, and launching Techfund Capital in Silicon Valley in
1997.
Some of Bob's notable investments during his career prior to Contour
include 3Dfx Interactive, Acurian, Agamatrix, Cobalt Networks,
Fundquest, iXL Enterprises, GeoCities, Kinkos.com, Multex, N*Able
Technologies, Resonate, SeamlessWeb, Stamps.com, and Vindigo.
Bob started his venture capital career in 1988 with Prudential Equity
Investors (later known as Cornerstone Equity Partners) as a generalist
investor, working on venture investments and buyouts in retailing,
consumer, media, business services and healthcare services. Prior to
this, he was a banker for five years with First Boston and Fleet
Financial.
Bob is the President of the New York Venture Capital Association and has
been on the NYVCA Board since 1994. Bob has been a guest lecturer at
the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Wharton School of Business
for many years.
Bob received a BS from the Wharton School of Business and a MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Edward Greer
Manager, Ventures and Business Development
The Dow Chemical Company
Edward Greer is a member of the
Scouting & Exploration Network at The Dow Chemical Company. He is
responsible for finding and evaluating technologies and opportunities
that complement Dow's robust Research & Development pipeline and
align to the strategic focus of Dow’s Corporate Venturing portfolio. Dow
Corporate Venturing practices a variety of open innovation models
within its portfolio including joint development agreements, licenses,
strategic alliances/joint ventures, and equity investments to generate
disruptive growth opportunities to help drive the Company’s long-term
success.
Edward has extensive experience in research management, market
development, and business development for the Electronic Materials and
Advanced Materials markets. He has contributed to advancements in
ceramics, displays, organic electronics, optical disks, photovoltaics,
and microwave devices. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his
Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He holds a Certificate of Professional Development from the Wharton
Executive Education program at the University of Pennsylvania, was
co-chair for the Industrial Research Institute subcommittee on Corporate
Venturing, and serves as a judge for various business plan competitions
including those hosted by Wharton, MIT, and the Cleantech Alliance.
James Groelinger
Chairman, President and CEO
Heartland Bridge Capital
Mr. James Groelinger is an internationally experienced energy expert who
focuses on business and technology development and commercialization.
Currently, he is:
- Chairman, President, and CEO of
Heartland Bridge Capital, Inc., a publicly-traded private equity fund
focusing on, among other things, clean energy technology investments;
- Executive
Director of the Clean Energy Alliance, Inc. and, a rapidly growing
national association of clean energy business incubators and related
companies focused on providing practices and resources to its members;
and
- Managing Director of Bellegrove Associates, a consulting
firm providing strategy and transaction advisory services in the clean
and renewable energy arenas.
Previously, he was CEO and President of EPV Solar, Inc., a solar energy
technology company that designed, manufactured, and sold amorphous
silicon (“a-Si”) thin-film photovoltaic (“PV”) modules and manufacturing
facilities for power and BIPV applications. Earlier, he was Senior
Vice President for business development for CHI Energy, Inc., a
Stamford, CT-based renewable energy company operating in
hydroelectricity, biomass cogeneration, wind, and solar. Before that he
was a director of Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Inc., an international
energy strategy firm at which he was involved in numerous activities
related to energy and electric industry strategy and restructuring
around the world.
Mr. Groelinger started his career as a process engineer for Monsanto
Company. He has a BChE from City College of New York and an MBA-Finance
from Temple University.
Kevin Halpin
Managing Director
DeltaPoint Capital
Mr. Halpin has over 12 years of experience in private equity, investment
banking and finance. Prior to joining DeltaPoint Capital, Mr. Halpin
was a member of Capital Formation Group where he serviced clients in the
areas of mergers & acquisitions, recapitalizations, restructurings
and valuations. Mr. Halpin is Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Badger Technologies, Inc., a member of the Board of Directors of
IPLogic, Inc., and a past member of the Board of Directors of DynaBil
Industries, Inc., a former Fund III portfolio company. He is currently a
board member of the Upstate Venture Association of New York. Mr. Halpin
received a Master of Science degree from Rochester Institute of
Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree from State University of New
York College at Fredonia.
David Hessler
Entrepreneur-In-Residence
High Tech Rochester
David Hessler is an entrepreneurial business executive experienced in
both operating management and in private equity financing. David has
management experience in both large and small technology businesses, and
has been a serial “CXO” for several technology companies. In addition,
he has financing transactional experience as a Principal of a small
venture capital fund, as Managing Director of two middle market
investment banking firms, and as an Angel investor.
High Tech Rochester since 2003; “CXO” on an interim basis to build and grow early stage technology companies:
- 2011 – 2012: Starting new clean tech company in Fort Collis, CO and NYSERDA Entrepreneur-In-Residence.
- 2010
– 2011: Chief Executive Officer of MicroGen Systems, an early stage
technology company developing a vibrational energy harvester with
NYSERDA funding at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility.
- 2007 – 2010: CFO of PharmaNova, Inc. (specialty pharma), raised $1.5MM in angel capital.
- 1997 – 1998: Interim CEO of a privately-held manufacturer of products for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
- 1986
– 1996: Chairman, CEO, and owner of Information Transfer Inc. (ITI), a
privately-held manufacturer of defense electronic equipment.
Previously: Venture Capitalist and Investment Banker. Twelve “fast track” years at Xerox Corporation
David holds an MBA (with honors) from the University of Michigan; an MS
in Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BS degree in
Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University. He received additional
training at the NASBIC Venture Capital Training Institute, and the
Xerox/Harvard Executive Program (Exeter). He has held National
Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Series 63, Series 7, and Series
24 securities licenses.
Russ Howard
General Partner
High Peaks Venture Partners
Russ is a co-founder and General Partner at High Peaks. He has been in
the investment business for more than twenty years and a venture
investor for the past fifteen years. Russ joined GE Equity (the venture
capital arm of GE Capital) in 1994 as an early member of the group and
had the thrill of participating first hand in the internet boom of the
late 90’s. Russ then joined The Berkshires Capital Investors, the
original venture fund in the Village Ventures Network, as a General
Partner in 2000. Earlier in his career, Russ worked in New York City for
Equitable Capital Management and Alliance Capital Management and was a
strategy consultant with The Futures Group.
Russ focuses his investing activities on financial technologies,
tech-enabled services, and has a personal interest in sports-related
analytics and technologies. At High Peaks, he has led the firm’s
investments in Auterra, Widetronix and Zipmark. While at GE Equity, Russ
led or co-led a number of successful investments, most notably
CommerceOne ($500MM capital gain) and CyberSource ($275MM capital
gain)—both went public in the late 90’s. At BCI, among the investments
Russ was responsible for were Optasite (sold to SBA Communications) and
Everyday Health (leading online health and wellness web site expected to
go public in next 12 months).
Russ is active in both the New York City and Upstate New York markets
for High Peaks and also manages the administrative aspects of the firm.
He is a graduate of Williams College, where he majored in economics and
was a member of the basketball and track teams. Russ also holds an MBA
from the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
Reid Hutchins
Senior Vice President
Advantage Capital Partners
Mr. Hutchins manages Advantage Capital's New York investment portfolio.
His responsibilities include sourcing and structuring new investments,
as well as working with current portfolio companies. He currently sits
on the Board of the Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY).
Prior to joining Advantage Capital in 2006, Mr. Hutchins served as a
product development engineer for Advanced Micro Devices and prior to
that as an engineer and manager with IBM Microelectronics. Mr. Hutchins
brings operational experience in semiconductor design, manufacturing,
test and production to the firm.
Mr. Hutchins holds a bachelor's degree in physics from St. Lawrence
University. He also holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
and a master's in engineering management from Dartmouth College.
Rami Katz
Chief Operating Officer
Excell Partners
Rami Katz is the Chief Operating Officer for Excell Partners, Inc.
Prior to joining Excell, Rami served as the Director of Technology
Commercialization at High Tech Rochester where he worked closely with
entrepreneurs, researchers and start-up firms to evaluate the commercial
potential of new technologies. He managed the creation of over 50
business plans that led to raising over $40M in capital from venture
capital and angel investors as well as government grants.
Rami is an attorney that led a litigation, banking and corporate law
practice in Israel, managing a legal team that directed the restructure
of over $14M in corporate and asset backed debt annually, while growing
the group’s revenues by over 300%.
After launching his own legal and management consulting practice in
Israel, Rami was one the founding members of a seed-stage investment
group, investing in seed and pre-seed stage ventures and providing
financial and business development management to the startups in the
group’s portfolio. The team launched 12 high-tech startups that were
focused on advanced materials, internet technologies, consumer
electronics and medical devices.
Rami earned his MBA from the University of Rochester and his law degree from the Tel-Aviv University in Israel.
Michael Lasch
Managing Partner
Pine Street Capital Partners
A founder of Pine Street, Mike is actively involved in all activities at
Pine Street, including deal sourcing, deal structuring and portfolio
management. Mike currently serves as a board observer on Pine Street
portfolio company Healthtrax, Inc. He also serves as President of the
Upstate Venture Association of New York. Prior to co-founding Pine
Street, Mike was a Director in FleetBoston Corporation’s Leveraged
Finance Group in Boston responsible for originating and structuring
leveraged cash flow transactions for middle market companies. Before
starting his banking career, he served as a congressional aide in
Washington, DC. Mike earned his MBA from Emory University and his
undergraduate degree from Holy Cross College. He is a 2007 recipient of
the New York Capital District Business Review’s “40 under 40”award and
is active with several non-profit organizations in the Capital Region.
J. Peter Lynch
President
Salem Financial
Mr. Lynch has worked, for 34 years as a Wall Street security analyst, an
investment banker and a private investor in small emerging technology
companies. He has been actively involved in following developments in
the renewable energy sector since 1977 and is regarded as an expert in
this field. During this time he assisted a number of renewable energy
companies with private placements and public offerings in the 1980’s,
1990’s and 2000’s and has raised over $600MM for renewable energy
companies in the Photovoltaics, Solar Thermal, Wind and Biomass areas.
He was the contributing editor for 18 years to the Photovoltaic Insider
Report, the first publication in Photovoltaics (PV) that was directed at
industrial subscribers, such as major energy companies, utilities and
governments around the world.
He is currently a private investor and has from time to time been a
financial/technology consultant to a number of emerging technology and
renewable energy companies. He can be reached via email at
solarjpl@aol.com or at his website for the promotion of solar,
www.sunseries.net.
Howard Maier
President
Maier Ventures
Howard Maier is President of Maier Ventures, a marketing company.
Before establishing Maier Ventures, Mr. Maier was President of the Maier
Group, which he sold to Time-Warner in 1994. The Maier Group was a
producer of non-theatrical videos and was widely known for its Buns of
Steels exercise video series. The Maier Group ranked on INC. 500’s list
of the fastest growing private companies for four successive years
(1991-1994). Mr. Maier was an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in
1993.
Prior to the Maier Group, he spent fifteen years in senior marketing and
advertising capacities at Clairol Inc., Alberto-Culver, and Esquire
Magazine. Mr. Maier received an MBA from Bernard M. Baruch Graduate
School of Business in 1972 and a BS from SUNY Buffalo in 1968. Mr.
Maier has taught marketing courses at Wagner College and Queensborough
Community College. Mr. Maier devotes significant time to charitable
organizations. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, and is a
Trustee of the North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System.
Brian Model
Managing Director
Stonehenge Growth Capital
Brian Model has twelve years operating experience as a retail executive
and entrepreneur responsible for both online and physical retail
locations throughout the country. Mr. Model joined Stonehenge in 2000
and manages growth equity investments for the New York funds. Stonehenge
currently has 7 active growth equity portfolio companies in New York
State. Mr. Model currently serves on the Board of Directors of eHealth
Global Technologies, Lumetrics, Knovel (observer), and iCardiac
Technologies (observer) and previously served on the Board of Directors
of Lorica Solutions, PixFusion and Medidata Solutions (observer).
Mr. Model is active in the regional venture investing community, serving
as Vice President of the Upstate Venture Association of New York
(UVANY), and speaking at events sponsored by the Business Council of New
York, YoungStartup Ventures, FundingPost, the Long Island Capital
Alliance, and Columbia Business School. Mr. Model has served as a judge
or Advisory Board Member for business plan competitions and venture
financing events sponsored by the Council for Economic Growth, UNYTECH,
Pre-Seed Workshop, SIIA (Software & Information Industry
Association), NY Venture Summit, FundingPost, The Wharton School, and
Columbia Business School. In addition, Mr. Model serves as co-chairman
of the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York’s Ventures
Committee and is a mentor for Columbia Business School’s Lang Fund. Mr.
Model received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke
University and has an MBA with Honors from Columbia Business School.
Peter Rothberg
Partner
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
Peter handles a wide variety of corporate matters, including private
equity, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets,
joint venture and technology commercialization transactions. Peter has
represented several merchant banks, buy out and venture funds, as well
as their portfolio companies, in these matters, including Dillon Read,
D.H. Blair, NeoNet A.B., National Securities Corporation, Enhanced
Capital, Adirondack Ventures, Advantage Capital, Stonehenge Capital,
HighPeaks Ventures, Edison Ventures, Rho Ventures, Osage Partners, SJF
Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Borealis
Ventures and Village Ventures. During his legal career, Peter has
worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission, both in Washington, D.C., and at several of
the largest law firms in the United States.
Peter received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center where he was
an Editor and a contributor to Law and Policy in International
Business, the International Law Journal of the Georgetown University Law
Center. Peter is the Lawyer in Residence for the New York University
Stern School of Business, Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, and was named its Mentor of the Year in 2008. Peter is
legal counsel to Ultra Light Startups, which operates a monthly series
of meetings for the national community of emerging growth companies, and
is the author of the Ultra Light Startups website “Legal Q&A”
column. Peter is a frequent speaker and panelist on issues related to
the venture capital markets and is a frequent guest lecturer on venture
capital finance and business organization issues at New York University
Stern School of Business and the New York University ITP Program.
Michael Schattner
President
Onondaga Venture Capital Fund
Mike Schattner is President of Onondaga Venture Capital Fund, a venture
capital company located in Syracuse, NY that invests in early-stage
companies. Founded in 1986, OVCF has invested in over 40 companies
throughout the northeast mainly concentrating in Upstate NY.
Mr. Schattner received his Bachelor of Science degree from University of
Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. He received a MBA from
Syracuse University and has served as an adjunct professor at Syracuse’s
Whitman School of Management. Mike is on various corporate and
non-for-profit boards in the Upstate NY area.
Jeffrey Seul
Partner and Co-Chair, Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Team
Holland & Knight
Mr. Seul practices corporate law and is co-chair of the Venture Capital
and Emerging Companies Team at Holland & Knight, a large law firm
with offices in the US and abroad. From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Seul was VP
and General Counsel of Groove Networks, a software company founded by
Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie, who served as Microsoft's Chief Software
Architect, the position previously held by Bill Gates, after Groove
Networks was acquired by Microsoft in 2005. Prior to Groove Networks,
Mr. Seul was a faculty member at Harvard Law School, where he taught
courses on negotiation (dealmaking and dispute resolution). He
practiced corporate law in San Francisco and Boulder earlier in his
career, working primarily with tech companies through all stages of
their development and with venture investors. Mr. Seul regularly serves
on corporate boards. He was a director of C3 Technologies, a 3D
mapping company, until its acquisition in 2010. He currently serves on
the boards of Energy Materials Corporation (a solar energy technology
company) and Movimento Group AB (a Swedish company providing cloud-based
services to the auto industry).
Michael Shimazu
Senior Project Manager, Innovation and Business Development
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
Michael Shimazu manages several programs in the Innovation and Business
Development group at NYSERDA to increase the opportunities for clean
technology companies to commercialize new products and grow their
business. These include six clean energy business incubators, an
Entrepreneur-in-Residence program, and direct funding to innovative
companies with promising plans for growth and manufacturing in New York.
He has more than 20 years experience in technology commercialization in
startup companies, universities and government. He was a co-founder of
MOEC, an optical components company, where he raised more than $27
million in venture capital and launched several profitable new products.
He has also advised several technology startups as a consultant and
Business Development Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He
holds the S.B. from MIT and M.S. from Rensselaer.
Christine Tate
Investor
ARC Angel Fund
Christine Tate is an Investor in the ARC Angel Fund, which is actively
involved in early stage and seed investing. She is CFO of the GrandSlam
Alley business accelerator based in Troy, NY as well as GP in the
GrandSlam Accelerator Fund. She serves on the due diligence committee of
the NYC-based ARC Angel Fund and is active in the Upstate New York
startup community. She serves as a judge for several pitch events in
Upstate NY. Christine is an organizer of Startup Weekend Tech Valley.
She is also in the early stages of her own start-up based in the Capital
District. Prior to becoming involved in early stage investing,
Christine worked for Cargill, Inc. in a variety of executive level
positions, including Overseas Business Development based in Asia,
Worldwide Audit, Tech and IT Development, and corporate level system and
strategic efficiencies. She managed the financial and sales service
departments of a $1B telecommunications company and served as Business
Development Manager for an Asian manufacturing sourcing company.
Jennifer Tegan
Partner
Cayuga Venture Fund
Jennifer Tegan is Partner/Owner of Cayuga Venture Fund (CVF), located in
Ithaca, NY. Since starting with CVF in 2002, Jennifer has been working
with, supporting and financing entrepreneurs in technology-based
companies in the areas of communications equipment, semi-conductors,
life sciences, optical switching, materials sciences and CMOS sensors.
She most recently served on the board of Allworx, Inc., a
telecommunications company, until its sale to Paetec Corporation and
represents the fund on the boards of BinOptics Corporation, a
semiconductor laser company and Calient Networks, another
telecommunications company. She was and is also responsible for setting
up and managing the financial and administrative functions of CVF.
Since its inception in 1994, Cayuga Venture Fund and its member
investors have invested more than $50 million in technology companies in
upstate New York, many of which are based on research performed at
Cornell University, and helped to attract more than $250 million of
investor capital to technology start-up companies in what is
traditionally considered to be a region underserved by venture capital.
Roger Williams
Chair
New York Angel Network
In a working career that spans over fifty years, Roger Williams started
as a co-op student at General Motors Institute, where he earned a B.S.
in Industrial Engineering. Roger has served as Division Manager of a
Tier One U.S. automotive supplier and President of North American
operations for a Tier One German automotive supplier. In addition to
work experience in both marketing and manufacturing operations for large
companies, he also owned a small business where he learned a lot about
“applied entrepreneurship” and the need for due diligence.
For ten years prior to semi-retirement, Roget worked for New York State
supported organizations in economic development and technology
commercialization. He worked for the Alliance for Manufacturing &
Technology (AM&T), a Regional Technology Development Center in
Binghamton, and for the Center for Life Science Enterprise at Cornell.
Since leaving the University, Roger is helping to develop a state-wide,
sustainable program for Pre Seed Workshops. After organizing several
Pre Seed Workshops for Cornell, he recognized the value of the Workshops
in the formation and development of research-based high-tech companies.
He is also developing a state-wide alliance of angel funding groups,
the New York Angel Network (NYAN).
Roger served as Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Finger Lakes
Entrepreneurs’ Forum. He helped organize the Cornell Industrial
Outreach Group and has served on the Advisory Committees for the
SmartStart Venture Forum, the Golden Horseshoe Business Plan
Competition, the Syracuse $100K Business Plan Competition, the
BRIncubator, the Cornell IDEA Center, the Cornell Center for Materials
Research Jump-Start Program, the MDA Regional Alliance, UNYTECH and the
Emerging Technology Alliance. He has held leadership positions in
several local not-for-profit groups. In 2007, he was selected for the
Cutting Award in recognition of his efforts to provide assistance to
entrepreneurs in the region.
Michael Wu
Founding Board Member
Long Island Angel Network
Michael Wu has been a venture investor since 2002 focusing on Software,
Communications/Wireless IT, Mobile Media, Energy, and Clean Tech. Most
recently, Michael was a Principal at Chart Venture Partners, a New
York-based $100M early-stage venture fund focusing on dual-use
technologies (with both commercial and defense applications) in the
areas of Communications & Mobile, Software & Cyber Security,
Advanced Materials, Energy and Clean Tech. Michael is also one of the
Founding Board Members of Long Island Angel Network, an angel investor
network focusing on early-stage technology companies based in Long
Island of NY. Prior to that from 2002-2006, Michael raised and managed a
seed fund (Blue Angel Ventures) in Research Triangle Park, NC and
partnered with first-time entrepreneurs in co-founding or turnaround
operating roles. Prior to entering venture capital, Michael held
engineering and technology management roles in fiber optics and wireless
infrastructure at Nortel Networks and then product management roles in
mobile devices and applications at Ericsson and Nextel. Michael earned
his MBA from Duke University-Fuqua School of Business, MS in Electrical
Engineering and Management of Technology from Georgia Tech, and BS magna
cum laude in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic
Institute. Michael is also fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and German.
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