CEO Leadership and Innovation Symposium
Speakers
Owner, President/CEO Tru-Kay Manufacturing 1972-2008
Precious Metal Jewelry Manufacturer
400 Employees
Acquired three competitors to achieve 90% Market Share in Lockets
Sold Company to The Richline Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company
Executive Vice President, The Richline Group 2008-present
Coordinated merchandise consolidation and management of 3 acquired companies 2008-2011
Responsible for International Sales 2011-2012
President, Inverness Division 2012-present
+ Ear piercing division
+ Marketed in 47 countries
+ Jewelry, Pharmacy and beauty markets
Planned retirement 12/31/18
2019-….. Establishing Kaufman Consulting LLC
- Executive Coaching
- Crisis Management
- Speaking
Alexander Rinke is an enterprise software entrepreneur. He co-founded Celonis in 2011 and serves as co-CEO and Chief Product Owner. Celonis is one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in the world, helping customers such as Siemens, 3M, GM, Vodafone to improve processes and accelerate digital transformation. As an actively involved early stage technology investor, Alexander helped to found other enterprise software companies – such as Testbirds and Talentry. Alexander has always been an entrepreneur at heart and founded his first company, a tuition agency, at the age of 14. For his entrepreneurial achievements, Alexander has recently been listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of top achievers under the age of 30. Alexander is an active speaker at leadership conferences, university events, business events, trade shows, and entrepreneurship events.
Bill Nankivell is the CEO of B+H Architects, a leading global architecture and consulting firm with over 65
years of award-winning work. After graduating from the University of Toronto and working for two leading
Canadian design firms, Bill joined B+H in 1996 as a partner and was appointed as CEO in 2006.
In his time with the firm he has led growth in the healthcare and higher education sectors and has
overseen significant global growth through acquisitions and organic initiatives. Starting with offices in
Toronto, B+H now practices in nine studios across North America, Asia, and the Middle East, with over
450 staff globally.
As an ambassador for creating bold and inspiring spaces for people, Bill’s work managing a diverse team
of architects, designers, and planners across ten studios has aided in delivering some of the most iconic
structures internationally. He has also been instrumental in expanding the firm’s global platform through
an emphasis on quality design, technical excellence and client service to guide B+H into the future.
With deep project experience, Bill’s knowledge and passion for the industry resulted in a medal from the
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) for Innovation in Architecture for his work on the Beamish-
Munro Hall at Queen’s University in 2003, as well as being appointed a Fellow of the RAIC. He was
profiled in Canadian Business’s Portraits in Leadership in 2011, and as CEO of the firm he accepted the
award for Leadership in Asia-Pacific Trade from HSBC International Business Awards in 2011.
Bill has also served as a keynote speaker at numerous global conferences, and he has been a member
of Young Presidents’ Organization since 2003.
Bracken Darrell joined Logitech as president in 2012 and became chief executive officer a year later. In this role he has led a transformation of Logitech.
He is a proponent of the importance of the liberal arts and design in business, especially of their role in innovating product experiences for consumers. He is an English major from Hendrix College.
Bracken brings to Logitech experience in product and brand building through design. He has worked around the world on iconic brands like Old Spice, Gillette and Braun, for which he was president. He has spent time at P&G, GE, Gillette, and Whirlpool. Since he took over five years ago, Logitech has been a top performer on the SIX Swiss stock exchange and on the NASDAQ. The company’s stock price and profits have more than quadrupled in the same period.
Founded Elite's Experiential Marketing Division in 2006 and has managed Elite holistically since 2015. Brad also consults for Venture Capital firms in Marketing Strategy . With over 25 speaking engagements on marketing and leadership for the PMA, BAA, ANA and IEG, Brad is an expert in integrated marketing and its evolution. He is an avid reader and podcast listener. Foodie and fitness enthusiast.
Porter Novelli CEO Brad MacAfee is a highly respected business and communications leader who has spent the past 25 years harnessing his expertise and insights to drive business results, competitive advantage and deeper levels of stakeholder engagement for a wide variety of brands, businesses and organizations. He is widely recognized for his strong knowledge of the real needs and challenges of small businesses and global brands and multinationals alike, as well as his practical deployment of innovative technologies to create opportunities in a changing, digitally driven business and media landscape.
MacAfee joined Porter Novelli in 2000 as partner, global technology leader and managing director of the Atlanta office, after nearly a decade of leadership positions at Alexander Communications, Copithorne & Bellows and Peachtree Software.
During his tenure as managing director, the Atlanta office became one of the most consistently profitable and recognized throughout the agency's entire global network. His passionate belief in the power of the Service Profit Chain model that puts employees first earned the office year-after-year recognition as a best place to work, while also earning the reputation as an industry leader, and model, for excellence in client service.
Brian brings a unique view to the industry - -built around global brands, digital transformation, and the power of talent.
In a career spanning over 25 years, Brian has worked hands-on with many of the world’s leading brands including IBM, American Express, Cisco, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Unilever, and Nestlé. For 12 years he was CEO of Ogilvy’s global direct and digital marketing network OgilvyOne – named by Gartner Research in 2016 and 2017 as a leader among global digital agencies.
In recent years, Brian has increasingly focused on talent. He has lectured on career strategy at institutions including Yale, Harvard, MIT Sloan School, Columbia, and McGill. Brian’s book on career strategy, The Long View: Career Strategies to Start Strong, Reach High and Go Far, was released in September 2016. (www.thelongviewcareer.com) It was named Best Book of 2016 in the business career category. In November 2017, Brian was named Worldwide Chief Talent Officer for the Ogilvy Group, responsible for a global team of 20,000.
He is also the executive sponsor for Ogilvy’s Young Professional Network and is an advisor to several start-ups run by millennials. Brian has been a board member of Goodwill Industries for over 20-years and is a passionate supporter of its mission to help people gain independence through the power of work.
Brian was born and raised in Montréal, Canada and now resides in New York. He plays hockey every Sunday night, and plays guitar and harmonica in a rock band, aptly named Plan B.
Bruce has an unwavering dedication to the vision of a firm built on growing people to their fullest potential. Despite industry skeptics suggesting such a firm could never succeed being so different, Bruce pushed forward building an organization that provided something different and unique to its employees and clients.
Bruce founded Pariveda in October 2003 during the worst IT recession in history. An idea drove Bruce that in any professional practice, talent represents the best sustainable hope for long-term success.
Bruce financed the company with his assets, crafting a unique but sustainable business model based on talent development. The business model is built on concepts counter to conventional industry wisdom; a) Recruit for passion, character, and potential versus skills and experience, b) Focus on small, short duration projects, not large, long projects c) Seek long-term client relationships instead of transactions, d) Develop people as solution architects, not specialists e) Teach everyone sales and relationship skills f) Focus on geographies and communities, not industries or technologies, g) Bring new ideas to clients to consider as you look holistically at their business h) Build a firm to last forever (ESOP), not a company to be sold.
Bruce’s initial vision to create a different kind of consultancy is driving force of our success today. Pariveda has grown to over 525 people based in 9 offices in major U.S. cities with 2016 revenue of $97 million.Our consultants seek to be more than problem-solvers. They aspire to become trusted advisors and partners to our clients with novel solutions to enduring problems, seeking knowledge to benefit our clients while building their careers. Bruce created a company based on the idea that talent can be differentiating. This differentiation through talent is essential to Pariveda in developing a highly adaptable, sustainable enterprise on the premise that the only constants in business are complexity and change, especially in IT consulting.
Bruce champions Pariveda’s commitment to giving back to the communities we serve. We’ve given nearly 130,000 hours of community service since inception. We consider this an essential part of our culture and is a pillar of each employee’s career development pathway. It also allows us to join freely in with our communities, provide opportunities for improvement and service to the people around us. Achieving one’s fullest potential has everything to do with our cultural commitment to philanthropy.
Bruce serves many organizations. He is a member of the Baylor University Angel Network and the Stewardship Board Chairman of the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center. He is also a member of the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Native Prairie Association of Texas, and certified as Master Naturalist in the North Texas chapter (NTMN).
Growing up, Carey lived in 8 different states and attended 17 different schools. Entrepreneurial from a young age, his first job was selling greeting cards door-to-door. Carey obtained a B.S. in Economics from Hood College and attended graduate school at the University of Chicago. In 1982, after 5 years as an insurance and reinsurance underwriter, Carey started his own business, Sprinkool Systems, an industrial evaporative roof cooling company, despite having no background whatsoever in the area.
Carey’s tenacity and a good eye for great products led him to create Big Ass Fans in 1999 to market and later manufacture high volume, low speed ceiling fans for industrial, agricultural, commercial and institutional applications. The development of more cutting-edge products, including LED lighting for industry, and ceiling fans, lights, and switches for the connected home under the Haiku Home division, transformed a Big Ass Fan company into Big Ass Solutions.
Since 1999, BAS has grown from 15 to 915 employees and from $700,000 to $270 million in revenue, and continues to grow by double digits by developing innovative, award-winning products in the commercial and residential appliance space.
Carey has won numerous awards for leadership, including Inc. Magazine’s Economy Hero, and was a 2011 regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He was a regular contributor to Inc. Magazine and is regularly interviewed as an expert in start-up businesses by such publications as Forbes, Inc., Bloomberg Business and the Wall Street Journal, even though he’s been self-employed for 35 years.
Carey sold Big Ass Solutions in December, 2017 half a billion dollars. This amount was shared among himself as sole owner and various taxing authorities. More than 10 percent went to over 100 of his employees who had stock appreciation rights, 15 of whom became millionaires.
Carey has been married to the same incredibly tolerant woman for 40 years and has one exceptional son whom he managed to bamboozle into the business and who is now the managing director of the BAS office in Brisbane, AU. Carey is now exploring other business opportunities in the big ass universe
Catherine became CEO of FASTSIGNS International, Inc. in 2009, bringing over 30 years of franchising and management experience. In 2009, she received the International Franchise Association (IFA) Bonny LeVine Award in recognition of her contributions to the growth of the franchising industry and in 2010, the Dallas Business Journal named her a top Women Industry Leader in the Dallas Metroplex. In 2012, Catherine appeared on the Emmy Award-winning series Undercover Boss to learn new ways to advance the FASTSIGNS® brand. In 2015, she received the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) first Franchise Action Network FAN of the Year award for her advocacy work in the franchising community. In 2016, she was selected as a Soderstrom Society Inductee for her contributions to the printing and graphic communications industry and was also honored with the 2016 Leadership Award from the Women That Soar organization. In 2017, she received the Distinguished Women Award presented by Northwood University and served on the Board of Directors for Idealliance, a global association of visual graphics professionals. Catherine was selected as the 2018 Ambassador of Free Enterprise by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), joining the Sales & Marketing Hall of Fame in the SMEI Academy of Achievement. She also received the 2018 Top Female Executive Award presented by the North Dallas Business Magazine. Catherine currently serves on the Board of Directors of the IFA and acts as Secretary. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for two franchise companies – The Learning Experience® and Brain Balance.
In 2011, Chris founded Pure Group, a company that creates, invests in, and advises businesses that change the status quo. Pure is the parent company of Pure Growth, an independent marketing, innovation, creative and media company with a focus on business growth and ROI; and of Pure Ventures, a division designed to build sustainable businesses.
Along with Co-Founder and President Dani Simpson, Pure Growth was founded to fill a whitespace in the agency world which was lacking partners who took a holistic look at solving business problems, not simply answering a creative brief. Pure leads with business growth in mind, marketing and communications to follow. Through client collaboration, Pure uses equal parts strategy and creativity to ignite growth, reshaping the process and identifying untapped marketing and innovation opportunities.
Pure Growth are big believers in building long term and trusted relationships with clients. Because of this commitment to partnership, brands like Jockey, Mars, Sanofi and Time Warner Cable, are long-standing clients who leverage them to achieve their business and marketing goals. From leading practical innovation to creating content marketing and media buying, Pure builds programs to fit the unique needs of each client.
Prior to founding Pure Group, Chris founded Nitro in Shanghai in 2001, redefining the advertising industry by vertically integrating industry offerings: innovation, brand strategy, traditional advertising, and digital advertising. Nitro quickly became a global network with seven offices around the world with a client base that included Mars, Nike, Unilever and Coca-Cola. In 2009, Nitro merged with Sapient, creating SapientNitro, which became the largest independent advertising and digital agency in the world. When Chris left SapientNitro it had 9,500 employees, 35 offices around the world and a market capitalization in excess of $2 billion. In December 2014, SapientNitro was sold to Publicis Groupe for $3.7 Billion.
In 1993, Chris founded Pure Creative. It quickly expanded into seven offices, from Melbourne to Beijing, and became one of the hottest creative agencies in the world. Clients included Mars Inc., Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola, and the Australian Tourist Commission. Pure Creative was sold to Leo Burnett in 2000.
Chris is also passionate about philanthropy and is on the board of Children of Fallen Patriots, Covenant House, and MindUp.
National CineMedia (NCM), LLC and National CineMedia, Inc.
Clifford (Cliff) E. Marks is president of National CineMedia (NCM), LLC, and National CineMedia, Inc. An advertising, marketing and sales professional for over 30 years, Marks leads the NCM's sales, marketing and affiliate partnerships divisions and is based in New York City.
Marks joined NCM as an original member of the company’s leadership team in 2002, when it was then the Regal Entertainment Group media subsidiary known as Regal CineMedia Corporation. He was named president of sales and marketing when Regal CineMedia became National CineMedia in 2005 with the addition of AMC and later Cinemark as founding member theater circuits, and was named President of NCM in 2016. Marks was the visionary behind the creation and evolution of NCM’s groundbreaking movie pre-show — the first to combine entertainment content and advertising — turning cinema into not only a powerful sight-sound-and-motion medium, but a key premium video option in today’s fragmented media landscape. Today NCM’s Noovie pre-show is seen by over 700 million moviegoers a year, with a complementary Noovie digital ecosystem that leads audiences to what’s next in entertaining content, purposeful commerce and interactive gaming.
Before joining NCM, Marks was a 14-year veteran of ESPN/ABC Sports, where as senior vice president he oversaw its $2.0 billion sales organization. Marks was instrumental in developing vertically integrated advertising packages for clients across multiple platforms, including ABC Sports programming, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNews, ESPN.com, ESPN magazine, ESPN radio and ESPNZone restaurants. From 1986 through 1989, Marks was an executive at The Nashville Network. He began his career at prominent New York advertising agencies Young & Rubicam (1985-86) and BBDO (1983-85).
He currently serves as a director on the Executive Board of the Screen Advertising World Association (SAWA), and also serves on the marketing committee of the International 3D Society. Marks has also served several terms as president and chairman of the Cinema Advertising Council (CAC).
Dan Gardner has led Code and Theory to become one of the largest independent creative
agencies in the US. From pioneering the modern digital landscape with more than 70 major
media launches for publishers such as Bloomberg and Vogue to defining how brands like
Burger King communicate, Gardner has radically redrawn the map of challenges a creative
agency confronts in today’s digital world. The agency has been celebrated by Webby’s, AD&D,
Cannes Lions, One Show, and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative
Companies.
Daniel Barchi is SVP and CIO of NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the largest healthcare providers in the
US and the university hospital of Columbia and Cornell. He leads 1,800 technology, pharmacy, and
informatics specialists who deliver the tools, data, and medicine that physicians and nurses use to deliver
acute care and manage population health.
Daniel previously led healthcare technology as CIO at Yale and earlier as CIO of the Carilion Health
System. He was President of the Carilion Biomedical Institute and Director of Technology for MCI
WorldCom. Daniel graduated from Annapolis, began his career as a U.S. Naval officer at sea, and was
awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for leadership and the Southeast Asia Service Medal for Iraq
operations in the Red Sea.
Drew Green is an award winning entrepreneur and expert in managing fast-paced, high-growth companies. A visionary leader, Green has created one of the world's fastest growing apparel brands. Since 2015, he has established over $90M CDN in strategic capital commitments for INDOCHINO, with less than 27% shareholder dilution via these transactions.
Green’s focus, dedication and decisiveness has tripled the size of the company, helped it achieve profitability in 2017 and improved EBITDA by just under $8 million USD year-over-year. Through a commitment to an experience-based Omni channel commerce strategy the past three years, INDOCHINO has expanded its retail network across North America to include 22 showrooms as of March 2018, with as many as 37 showrooms by year end and dramatically increased its product assortment to become the undisputed global leader in custom apparel.
Prior to INDOCHINO, Green founded and was Chief Executive Officer of SHOP.CA, Canada’s first multi-merchant marketplace, which is now owned by EMERGE COMMERCE, which he leads as Chairman and major shareholder. EMERGE has successfully combined several eCommerce brands globally over the past two years. Throughout his career, Drew has helped create billions in shareholder value through leadership roles at DoubleClick (acquired by Google), SHOP.COM (acquired by Market America) and Flonetwork (acquired by DoubleClick).
Green is a shareholder, mentor and/or member of 15 Canadian private company boards across Technology, Commerce, Ed-Tech, FinTech, Block Chain and Real Estate and is also a proud to be a member of the Board of Directors at The Scarborough Hospital Foundation, which oversees a network of hospitals in one of the most underprivileged and underfunded urban areas in Canada. This is an area he plans to significantly develop in the decades ahead.
A sought after Technology, eCommerce and Retail expert, Green has presented to hundreds of thousands of industry peers, leaders, students and entrepreneurs globally through events, conferences and educational forums and customarily gets the audience to high five before he begins. In 2017, he gave the keynote presentation at National Retail Federation's BIG SHOW which was attended by 35,000 retail executives and was the keynote speaker at Internet Retailer in Australia in August 2017. Drew has been quoted in more than 1,000 news outlets over the course of his career, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, Forbes, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Yahoo, BusinessWeek, BNN, CNN and CBC.
Edward L. Monser has served as president of Emerson since 2010. In this role, he drives the company’s international growth opportunities and global shared service organizations. He has more than 30 years of experience in senior operational positions at Emerson and has played key roles in globalizing the company. Monser is a member of the company’s Office of the Chief Executive and served as Emerson’s chief operating officer from 2001-2015.
Monser began his career as a senior engineer at Rosemount in 1981. After serving in several engineering management positions, he was named Rosemount’s director of technology in 1987. Two years later, he became director of new products and technology. Monser went on to hold vice president positions overseeing several critical operations at Rosemount before becoming its executive vice president and general manager, and then president.
From 1996 until becoming COO in 2001, Monser was president of Emerson’s Rosemount business unit. Under his leadership, Rosemount developed a range of innovative “smart” measurement and analytical devices for the process industry, expanded its service and solutions capabilities, and implemented significant operational efficiencies.
Active in promoting international understanding and trade, Monser is a member and a current vice chairman of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, and he serves on the advisory Economic Development Board for China’s Guangdong Province and the board of advisors for South Ural State University in Chelyabinsk, Russia. He is a past board member and past vice chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council.
In the St. Louis community, Monser has served on the boards of directors or trustees for several educational, civic and charitable organizations, including Ranken Technical College and the Midwest Cargo Hub Commission (vice chairman).
Additionally, Monser serves on the board of directors for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a company that provides gases and related services for the energy, electronics and manufacturing sectors.
Monser received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1980. He also has a bachelor's degree in education from Eastern Michigan University and is an alumnus of the executive education program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Ed Sable is President of Macrosoft, Inc. Prior to joining Macrosoft, Ed owned and led a business development consulting firm where he generated significant amounts of revenue for small technology companies. Prior to that, Ed managed divisions at AT&T that led the planning, design, development, and delivery of the full set of "quote to cash" systems for International voice, data, and wholesale services for the AT&T Global Network.
Ed is highly knowledgeable in the design and development of software applications and products and has worked successfully with major companies including Con Edison, National Grid, United Airlines, Marriott, Duke Energy, Rothschild Bank, Nova Nordisk, and others. As part of his role as president, Ed is leading strategic development of new business processes and products, designed to provide leading edge cost-effective systems and solutions for Macrosoft's clients. Ed received his BSEE, MSEE, and Doctorate in EE and Computer Science from Columbia University.
Emil Sayegh is an early pioneer of cloud computing and is recognized as one of the industry’s true veterans. A cloud visionary, he is credited with launching and leading the cloud computing and hosting businesses for HP, Rackspace, Codero, and Hostway. Emil built the Rackspace cloud business while serving as the company’s GM of the Cloud Computing Division. Earlier at Rackspace he served as VP of the Product Group and launched the company’s private cloud. He later moved on to HP where he served as VP of Cloud Service and initiated the company’s public cloud services. In 2012, Emil joined Codero Hosting as Chairman, President, and CEO and led the next generation of cloud computing with the hybrid cloud. In 2015 he led the successful sale of Codero to a consortium of telecom companies. Since 2016, Emil has held the position of President and CEO at Hostway in Austin, Texas. Hostway Services, Inc. is the world’s most trusted managed compliant hosting provider, delivering managed cloud infrastructure and application hosting across ten geographically diverse data centers around the world.
Emil holds nine patents in the fiber optics interconnect field, and is known as one of the “fathers of OpenStack,” having developed the open source software. He earned his Bachelors from the School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
Gemma Postlethwaite became CEO of SourceMedia in April of 2018.
Prior to joining SourceMedia, Gemma was CEO of PIRA Energy Group where she led a major transformation of the company and established PIRA as the leading integrated, research and data provider to the global energy markets. In 2016 Gemma led the sale of PIRA Energy Group to S&P Global.
Postlethwaite has spent several years in leadership roles in the business information sector. Prior to joining PIRA Energy Group, she was SVP, Strategy, and Operations at Altegrity, a global provider of risk and compliance solutions; and Chief Product Officer and President of Infogroup’s SMB business unit. She also spent eight years at Thomson Reuters in leadership positions spanning product and commercial management and led the channel partnership business for the Investment and Advisory Division.
Gemma is Chairman of the Board of Stratfor and Advisory board member at BizEquity.
Gemma proudly serves on the New York Board of the All Stars Project whose mission is to transform the lives of youth and poor communities using the developmental power of performance, in partnership with caring adults.
She is a graduate of the University of Kent.
Gil Dudkiewicz, is the co-founder and CEO of StartApp.
Gil is a serial entrepreneur. He was the Entrepreneur In Residence at the Cedar Fund. Prior to this, he was the CEO of SweetIM, which he joined as a pre-revenue company with 5 employees and led them to be very profitable, and winning the Technology Rising Star Award by D&T Fast 50 Competition during his tenure. SweetIM was acquired by Perion Network (NASDAQ: PERI) on November 2012 for $41 Million.
He was also founder and CEO of MyDTV/MeeVee a personalized TV Guide and TV search. Gil is a member of the board of directors of the IAB Mobile Center, he holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a B.Sc. in Engineering from the Technion, he lives in NYC with his wife and kids.
Gordon is CEO of Sport Clips, which he founded in 1995. Sport Clips has over 1,700 stores open in all fifty states and Canada, and is expanding at a rate of 100-150 stores/year. Sales at the store level were approximately $650M in 2017.
Gordon currently serves on the Board of the VFW Foundation, which directs the charitable efforts of the VFW. The Sport Clips Help A Hero program has raised over $6 Million to provide funding for free phone calls home for troops overseas and in hospitals, and has provided over 1,000 scholarships to veterans transitioning to civilian careers. He also serves on the Board of the International Franchise Association, and is past Chairman of the IFA VetFran Committee, which is dedicated to helping veterans get into franchising. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Southwest Research Institute.
Gordon received the VFW Citizenship Award 2013; an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Central Texas 2015; Best CEO (Large Company) by Austin Business Journal 2015; Vetrepreneur of the Year 2015; 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year by the International Franchise Association; Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Salon/Spa Business Network (ISBN) in 2016; Fastest Growing Company-owned business in Texas 2017, Baylor University Family Business Center; Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Philanthropic and Best Large Business Awards.
Prior to becoming involved in the salon industry, Gordon served as an Aircraft Commander in the U.S. Air Force flying C-130 aircraft (1969-1976), and worked as a financial planning and control consultant with Price Waterhouse & Co. in Houston (1976 - 1980). Gordon is a graduate of MIT (BS, '68), and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MBA with Honors, '76), and is a “retired” CPA in the State of Texas. His primary hobby is The Sport Clips Collection of classic cars.
Guy Falzarano is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lightbridge Academy, an early education
child care concept that he and his wife Julia established in 1997 to provide The Solution
for Working Parents®. Lightbridge Academy offers programs for children ages six
weeks through pre-K, as well as special programming for children up to 10 years old
during school holidays, breaks and summer camp.
Under Falzarano’s leadership, the brand began franchising in 2011, and currently has
28 child care centers opened with an additional 65 under development. Lightbridge
Academy will quadruple its size in the next five years as the company accelerates its
growth into Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Falzarano serves as President of Lightbridge Properties, LLC, a real estate investment
company developing child care centers and leasing to Lightbridge Academy
franchisees. Falzarano has also received the Small Business Man of the Year Award
from Woodbridge Township and earned the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Boy
Scouts of America.
Lightbridge Academy has received numerous accolades over the years and was
recently ranked 279 on the Entrepreneur magazine Franchise 500 list and included in
the Top 50 High Investment Franchises, in addition to being awarded the Corporate
Culture Award from Smart CEO Magazine.
A commitment to the community has consistently been an integral part of his personal
mission, serving as V.P. of Government Affairs for the New Jersey Child Care
Association, a nonprofit association dedicated to the interests of 4,300 licensed New
Jersey child care centers. Falzarano also sits on Advisory Boards for Columbia Bank
and Montclair State University’s Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship.
In 2001, Guy founded and currently serves as President of Lightbridge Foundation, a
nonprofit 501(c)3 non-profit organization formed to support the health, education and
well-being of children and their families. Through the foundation, Lightbridge has
donated more than $400,000 to those in need including local charities, food banks,
college scholarship funding and supporting for those displaced by natural disasters.
Guy and his wife Julia of over 40 years have three sons, Louis, Guy and David.
Together, they have eight grandchildren, all of which are currently enrolled or alumni of
Lightbridge Academy’s Circle of Care.
Henry Juszkiewicz is chairman and CEO of Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly, Gibson Guitar Corp.). Juszkiewicz acquired Gibson in 1986 for $5m USD with Gary A. Zebrowski and David H. Berryman. Henry attended General Motors Institute and graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree. He also graduated with an MBA from Harvard.
Make the world a better place to live for present and future generations. Specialties: Branding and consumer marketing, finance, manufacturing operations, network media technology, digital rights management, design engineering. Numerous fundamental patents.
Over a 25-year period, I’ve had the opportunity to own and operate various businesses. After earning my Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York at Albany, with majors in Biology and Economics, I continued on to Cornell University Medical College where I received my M.D. degree.
Upon graduation from Cornell, I did my internship and residency in Internal Medicine with the University of Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital and was selected as Chief Resident of Internal Medicine. I then completed my fellowship in Gastroenterology, becoming board certified in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
After leaving Jackson Memorial Hospital, while practicing Gastroenterology, I founded Medical Specialists of the Palm Beaches, Inc. (MSPB), a large, privately held, multidisciplinary medical group. I discovered that I really enjoyed the business side of the practice and, at the encouragement of a friend, I decided to invest in my own company. After exploring various business opportunities, I decided to establish a staffing company.
It was only after several years of partnering that I decided to devote myself, full-time, to the growth and success of Signature. As Founder and CEO, I continue to spend my time executing the company’s strategic vision and facing the challenges of maintaining our culture through our steady growth. I also play a hands-on role in the development of Signature’s emerging leaders, assisting the Divisions with day-to-day operations and building relationships with many of our Clients and Consultants.
At the end of the day, I enjoy spending time with my wife, Micki, and our three kids, Samantha, Zachary, and Joelle.
Joe is the CEO and Co-Manager of American Landmark. An expert in value-added and distressed real estate repositioning, and multifamily acquisitions, operations and disposals, Joe has overseen four successful multifamily portfolio builds totaling 100,000 units, with a value in excess of $7 billion, over the last 15 years. He was the original founder of Landmark Apartment Trust, which sold its portfolio in 2015 for $1.9 billion.
Joe and his partners returned to the private sector in 2015 to begin a new portfolio build under the Electra America brand. As CEO of Electra America, Joe oversees all aspects of the company’s operations, from finance to property management. An honors graduate of Cornell University, Joe holds a Juris Doctor Degree from Delaware Law School. He is active in numerous civic and charitable organizations, including AIPAC, Hillel, and The Cornell University Tower Club.
John is a Professional Engineer, holding a BASc from Waterloo and an MBA from Heriot-Watt. He’s served on numerous boards and industry committees over his more than 30yr career, including serving as the Chair of a medium sized southwestern Ontario electrical distribution company from 2000 to 2013. Prior to joining Canem in April of 2017, John was the Chief Operating Officer of a national multi-trades service organization head quartered in Toronto.
Keith Angell is a business leader who focuses on optimizing value for customers, employees
and stakeholders. Keith has been a C-Level executive in 6 successful VC/PE backed, high
growth tech companies (2 IPO, 4 Acq). Currently, as CEO of Velocity, Keith directs the leading
global cloud managed services company, specializing in moving complex enterprise IT/ERP+ to
the private, public & hybrid cloud. Keith is an experienced CEO, Board Director, Advisor, and
Consultant.
Prior to Velocity, Keith was President, Global Services at Virtustream, where he was responsible
for IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, & Managed Cloud Services as well as Cloud Professional Services.
Virtustream was acquired by EMC for $1.2B in 2015. Before Virtustream, Keith spent 9 years as
an executive in IBM's Global Cloud & Technology Services, including Vice President, Cloud
Managed Services, and Chief Revenue Officer at SoftLayer. Angell managed much of IBM’s
services portfolio and had key technology experiences in public and private cloud, mobility,
analytics, and networking. Keith held executive positions in US & Europe, including business
development, sales, & product offering activities in the managed services and cloud spaces.
Keith came to IBM through the acquisition of Corio, an applications services provider, where
Keith was SVP, Worldwide Sales.
Over the previous 14 years, Keith held CEO, COO, President, SVP of Operations & Sales roles
at 4 software/services technology & consulting firms. He started his career in the management
development program at Exxon Corp. Keith holds BS Engineering magna cum laude (Duke),
MS Engineering (Northeastern) & MBA Finance (LSU) degrees.
Keith Cargill is founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Capital
Bank and its parent company, Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ®:TCBI).
He also serves as a member of the company’s board of directors.
With deep roots in the banking industry and an unmatched passion for exceptional service, Cargill has helped build one of the finest business and private wealth bank in the United States. Under Cargill’s leadership, Texas Capital Bank focuses on partnering with top talent, fueling economic growth and supporting communities - a unique style of doing business coined Texas Capitalism® that expands beyond the walls of the bank.
Before forming Texas Capital Bank, Cargill served as founder and President of Cargill Lakes, Inc., a privately owned venture capital investment company, and co-founder and Executive Operating Officerof Mack Financial Group, Inc., where he was instrumental in the acquisition and operation of a commercial finance division of a Fortune 500 company.
Cargill also brings more than 30 years of diverse banking, finance, operating and accounting expertise to his responsibilities as President and Chief Executive Officer. His banking career includes Comerica Bank – Texas where he was Senior Vice President and Middle-Market Banking Manager; NorthPark National Bank, Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer; and Texas American Bank — Riverside in Fort Worth, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer. He began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co.
Giving back to our communities is a core part of Texas Capital Bank’s purpose to power prosperity in business and in life. It is personally important to Cargill as well. As an active member of the community, he serves on the advisory boards of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, HopeXchange, and on the development board of the University of Texas at Arlington. He also is a member of several organizations, including the Dallas Citizen's Council The University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council.
Cargill received his bachelor of arts in business administration and accounting from Baylor University and his master of business administration in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Kelly Tomblin has worked for more than twenty-five years in the energy industry, in both competitive and vertically integrated markets throughout the United States, the U.K. and Latin America. She has experience in the generation, transmission and distribution sectors as well as renewable development, and energy services and sales. Kelly has worked in all areas of the industry, including legal, customer service, regulatory, plant and field operations, and organization transformation.
As of July 2017, Kelly joined INTREN, L.L.C., a leading utility solutions provider based in Union, IL with 12 regional offices throughout the country. INTREN is the largest owned and operated WBE-certified specialty utility contractor in the country and is proud to have both a female chairman of the board who was named the 2017 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Energy, Cleantech and Natural Resources category) and a female CEO who was named Platts Global Energy CEO of the Year in 2016.
Prior to INTREN, Kelly served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), where she aligned employees on her vision of leading an energy revolution for the growth and prosperity for every Jamaican. That focus allowed her to turn around the Company’s floundering public image and rebuild the Company’s operations. Under her leadership, Jamaica brought natural gas to the island, began an extensive smart grid program and increased renewable penetration 300%. Prior to JPS, she served as Vice President for GDF SUEZ/International Power, one of the world’s largest energy companies and President, Pennsylvania Electric Company, a FirstEnergy Company.
Kelly is a speaker worldwide on organizational alignment, leadership and gender equality. She spearheads strategic solutions to meet and exceed her customers’ business needs and believes that healthy organizations are designed to expand the human potential. As a leader, she works to improve communication and employee engagement, champion workplace wellness and personal development initiatives, and empowers her teams to stamp their work with heart – to deliver excellence. In 2018, Kelly authored 100 Days of Doing Power Differently; a guidebook that offers ways people may own individual impact and explore their understanding of leadership through a new model—ThinkLove.
Kelly has an MBA from New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business and a Juris Doctorate and BS in Journalism (with a public relations concentration) from West VirginiaUniversity.
Kevin Maggiacomo serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of SVN
International Corp. and is responsible for the company’s mission and vision.
Propelling SVN’s expansion across the globe, Maggiacomo has facilitated SVN's
growth from 7 US offices in 2001, to more than 200 offices in 8 countries today.
During his 16-year tenure, SVN has won numerous awards including 2
Realcomm Digie awards for innovation, twice named to Inc. Magazine’s list of the
Fastest Growing Private Companies in America and acknowledged by the Lipsey
Co. as one of the most recognized brands in commercial real estate.
Maggiacomo previously served SVN as a regional director, executive vice
president and as chief operating officer. Prior to joining SVN, Maggiacomo was
an advisor for RTE Group, Inc., a technology real estate advisory group.
Previously, he spearheaded New England sales efforts for CoStar Group, Inc.
and spent 3 years at CRESA Partners, where he focused on providing corporate
real estate services to Fortune 100 companies.
In 2016, Maggiacomo was named by his industry peers as Commercial Property
Executive’s Executive of the Year. He is a member of Young Presidents'
Organization (YPO), and Vistage, 2 international chief executive think tanks. In
YPO, Maggiacomo serves as the Chair of the US East Region Sustainable
Business Network. He also serves as a board member and director with Real
Leaders, a "B-Corporation," whose mission is to use the power of business to
solve social and environmental problems, as an Industry Advisor with Chandan
Economics, a leading provider of commercial real estate research and data, is on
the National Association of Realtors Commercial advisory board and further sits
on the board of www.Buildout.com, a commercial real estate technology
company. In addition, Maggiacomo serves as an alumni career representative for
Providence College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Leighton Carroll is the President of Quadgen, a telecommunications software and services firm.
Previously he was the CEO of Squan Holdings where he oversaw the business' transition from telecommunications construction into a full engineering services firm, growing the business from 2 Northeast offices to 11 in 10 states.
Leighton is the past merger integration executive leader for AT&T Mobility where he most recently oversaw the Cricket Wireless and Alltel acquisitions. He is also the past CEO and Chairman of Wireless Maritime Services, having grown that business from $3m to over $100m in revenue in under 3 years.
Leighton is a graduate of Virginia Tech and has taken executive education at Harvard, Wharton, and MIT.
Mathew Vachaparampil grew up in an entrepreneurial family in India. He completed his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Madras and completed Masters in Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor .
Upon completing his MS in 1993, he commenced his career with Case New Holland (CNH) in the Management Leadership program. During his long tenure in the Farm Equipment industry, Mathew has worked in roles across Manufacturing, Engineering, Business Development, Marketing, Parts and Service and Business Process Outsourcing.
He has traveled extensively across the globe as part of his sales career and speaks six different languages. In recognition of his results and leadership potential, Mathew was sponsored to pursue MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago. After several great years with CNHi, Mathew joined Caresoft Global.
Mathew's global experience, credibility and his ability to build and nurture relationships at all levels has helped Caresoft achieve significant milestones and emerge as a preferred Engineering and IT services supplier for several global customers.
Michael McKelvy is president and chief executive officer of Gilbane Building Company. He joined the
company in 2014 as president and chief operating officer. Mr. McKelvy has spent his entire career in
the architecture and construction industry, bringing a broad-based background in both domestic
and international markets, and vertical and horizontal construction. He has expertise in a variety
of delivery methods including design-build and also brings expertise in a wide range of market
segments, many that parallel Gilbane’s current markets and others that present opportunities for
future growth.
As the president and chief executive officer, Mr. McKelvy is responsible for developing and executing
the company’s annual business plan in support of Gilbane’s strategic plan. Gilbane Building
Company’s executive vice presidents and president of Gilbane Federal and Global report to Mr.
McKelvy, giving him oversight of profit and loss company-wide. Mr. McKelvy also serves as a board
member for Gilbane, Inc.
Prior to joining Gilbane, Mr. McKelvy was the chief delivery officer (CDO) of CH2M HILL which
has 26,000 employees working on six continents. He also served as executive vice president for
all of CH2M HILL’s U.S. Federal delivery. In addition, he served as a member of CH2M HILL’s Board
of Directors. In his role as CDO he was responsible for profit/loss and delivery for global regions
(including the United States), global construction, global Operations and Maintenance and Strategic
Consulting. He served as director of corporate risk, safety, security, procurement, project controls,
design and quality. He also supported the firm’s leadership in strategy, sustainability, ethics, safety,
quality and diversity.
He joined CH2M HILL in 2003 and served as president and group chief executive for the Government,
Environment, Nuclear and Transportation divisions. In addition, he served as president and group
chief executive for the Industrial Client Group and president for the Manufacturing and Life Sciences
Business Group. He has project execution and construction experience worldwide in more than 20
countries and in a variety of industries.
Mr. McKelvy began his career with AAM Architects in Shreveport, Louisiana and then joined CH
Guernsey & Co. in Oklahoma City as a project manager and project architect working with many
federal agencies. From 1988 to 2003 he worked in a variety of roles for Lockwood Greene, such as
Geschäftsführer for Lockwood Greene GmbH in Germany.
Mr. McKelvy is an active supporter of diversity in the construction industry. He was awarded the Gene
Washington Champion of Champions Award by the National Society of Black Engineers in 2013 and
the SEEK Award in 2014 for his support of Summer Engineering camps for African American and
Hispanic Children. Mr. McKelvy is also a supporter of Meeting Street in Providence, Rhode Island
where he is chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Mr. McKelvy holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design from Oklahoma University and a
Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana Tech University. He is a Registered Architect in 16 U.S. states
and a member of multiple professional societies and organizations.
Monty Hamilton leads the executive team and drives the overall strategy for Rural Sourcing Inc.
Hamilton is responsible for leading the strategic direction and the growth of RSI including the launch of
10 new development centers with 2,000 colleagues across low cost of living, high quality of life locations
in the United States. This is Hamilton’s second entrepreneurial start-up venture after leaving Accenture
in 1995. He joined together with four other colleagues to build Clarkston Consulting where he was
instrumental in growing Clarkston into a global strategic and systems integration firm with offices across
the US and Europe.
Hamilton is a sought after speaker on outsourcing, domestic sourcing and workforce development topics
and has been featured on CNBC, BBC, NPR radio and at various industry conferences, including IAOP,
Gartner, Digital Georgia and others. In addition, articles depicting RSI’s innovative outsourcing model
have appeared in the New York Times, Business Week, CNN Money magazine, CFO magazine, and CIO
magazine. His achievements were recognized by being named as a regional finalist for the 2015 Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and finalist for the 2016 MIT Inclusive Innovation competition.
Monty is on the Board of Directors for the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and believes in giving back to
the community, specifically to special needs programs. He is currently very involved with the Special
Olympics and is a former Board Chair for the Adaptive Learning Center.
Hamilton holds an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a B.B.A.
in business from Millsaps College.
Neil Meltzer is president and CEO of LifeBridge
Health, a position he has held since 2013.
Mr. Meltzer joined Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
as vice president of operations in 1988, and a
decade later became Sinai’s president and chief
operating officer.
As CEO of LifeBridge Health, Mr. Meltzer has led the system
through a period of strategic growth with a mission to transform
the organization into an integrated health care delivery system,
offering a full spectrum of care. Along with the acquisition of
Carroll Hospital in 2015, Mr. Meltzer has expanded the system
through key partnerships, including alliances with organizations
that provide medical transportation, retail pharmacy, urgent
care, health insurance, assisted living and more.
Mr. Meltzer has a background in public health and brings a
community-focused approach to every health care decision.
He serves on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Committee,
Notre Dame of Maryland University, the Maryland Hospital
Association, the Hippodrome Foundation and Everyman Theatre.
Additionally, Mr. Meltzer serves on the advisory board of the
University of Maryland School of Public Health. On the national
level, he continues to work with the American Heart Association
after serving as national chairman. He was also one of 15
national workforce health care champions appointed by former
president, Barack Obama.
Mr. Meltzer earned his Master of Public Health and Health
Administration from Tulane University School of Public Health and
Tropical Medicine in Louisiana, and his undergraduate degree in
public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Among many honors, the Maryland Daily Record has recognized
Mr. Meltzer as an Influential Marylander and a Most Admired CEO
and has awarded him its ICON Honor. The Baltimore Business
Journal has named Mr. Meltzer as one of its Power 10 CEOs.
As President of BrandMuscle, Paul Elliott is responsible for innovating, enhancing, and
delivering the future of the BrandMuscle Integrated Marketing Platform. Since joining
BrandMuscle in 2016 as Chief Digital Officer, Elliott has scaled the company’s digital
offerings and led the creation of LocationBuilder®, the company’s award-winning
breakthrough solution. He is a recognized thought leader in integrated marketing and
customer engagement, with 20 years of experience helping global brands and their local
outlets achieve significant results and return on marketing investments. Elliott is a
recipient of Ad Age’s 40 under 40 honor and the Smart Business Smart 50 honor.
Before joining BrandMuscle, Paul was the EVP, Marketing and Innovation for Rosetta
Marketing (a Publicis Groupe digital agency) and founded, built and sold eMergent
Marketing, one of the fastest-growing digital marketing agencies in the Midwest. Prior
to eMergent Marketing, Paul was the Director of Internet Marketing for the specialty
retailer Things Remembered and started his career as a business process consultant in
IBM.
Paul Martins has been in the transportation industry for the past 30 years and leads the
MNX Global Logistics team and serves on MNX Board of Directors. MNX is a premier
global provider of specialized, expedited transportation and logistics services serving the
medical device, biopharmaceutical, cellular therapies, life sciences, aviation, high tech,
secured documents and entertainment industries. Organizations in these key markets
rely on MNX’s exceptional record of transporting mission critical items around the
world.
Headquartered in Long Beach, CA, MNX maintains regional headquarters in Singapore
and London. MNX serves over 190 countries and territories, including key markets in
Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Services include dedicated
hand-carry, first-flight-out, charter, first and last mile courier, 3PL, and 4PL services
management.
Paul’s career includes 16 years with UPS holding several senior level positions including
Director of UPS Worldwide Air Cargo, and Director, UPS Airlines.
1n 2003 Paul joined Mercury Air Group as President and COO overseeing their
worldwide cargo handling and logistics companies as well as their subsidiary airline sales
company, Hermes Aviation. He left Mercury in 2008 to join Towne Air Freight where he
served as Senior Vice President as well as President for their subsidiary company, Towne
Network Solutions. During his tenure with Towne, Paul helped oversee the growth of
this regional trucking company into the second largest nationwide providers of logistics
and expedited air freight trucking services.
Paul has also served as a Senior Advisor to the Washington, DC based Logistics Capital
and Strategy consulting firm
Paul is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Executive
Leadership Programs at Bellarmine University in Louisville and Emory in Atlanta. A
featured speaker at many transportation and logistics conferences, he is former
instructor at Leadership Los Angeles and his charitable activities include board
membership with Special Olympics, the United Way and Coaches versus Cancer.
As executive chairman of ESD, Raj Gupta leads the company's mission to improve society through the built environment. He works on long-term initiatives to support the company’s future, including building ESD’s board of directors, pursuing the acquisition of small- and medium-sized firms, developing career development paths for employees and promoting the ESD brand. He champions ESD's embrace of globalization and positions the firm to compete in our digital economy. Raj is actively involved with charitable organizations and is highly regarded as both a speaker and an author.
Mr. Sheth is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mead & Hunt, Inc. He was also the CEO of the
firm from 1994 to 2018. He has more than 46 years of experience in consulting engineering and
architecture business. He joined Mead & Hunt, Inc. in 1977 as a bridge engineer. Mead & Hunt is a
national firm providing consulting services in the fields of transportation and water infrastructure,
architecture, food and beverage industry, and cultural resources. Mead & Hunt, founded in 1900, has
grown from a local Wisconsin company in 1994, to a national company with offices in 20 states. The
company revenue has grown from $10 million in 1994 to over $125 million in 2018. Mead & Hunt is an
employee owned C Corporation (not an ESOP), with nearly 30% of employees as shareholders.
Mr. Sheth is instrumental in promoting people focused values at Mead & Hunt. He attributes the
company success to staying highly focused on people, while pursuing smart growth organically and by
acquisitions. Mead & Hunt has successfully acquired and integrated ten companies in the last 20 years.
The company has been consistently named as one of the fastest growing, and one of the best places to
work. The Mead & Hunt Board of directors was awarded the “Private Company Board of the Year” award
in 2016 by a national publishing company for its best governance practices.
Mr. Sheth also serves on the board of directors of HFA, an architecture company in Arkansas; APIA, an
engineering company in Texas; and Moffatt and Nichol, a national engineering company, headquartered
in California. He is also serving on the executive committee of the Board of Directors of Wisconsin
Manufacturer and Commerce (Wisconsin’s Chamber of Commerce). In the past, he has served in
leadership positions in various professional associations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers
and the American Council of Engineering Companies. He has also served in leadership positions in
several community and charitable organizations.
Mr. Sheth has B.E. degree in Civil Engineering from India, and M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is a licensed Professional and Structural Engineer.
Ram Vasudevan is founder and CEO of QuisLex, a leading Legal Services Provider and has led the company from the initial 3 employees in 2004 to more than 1,200 today. Ram was named a Legal Trailblazer and Pioneer by the National Law Journal in 2013. Prior to QuisLex, Ram spent eight years advising clients on corporate and M&A transactions with Skadden Arps and Sidley Austin in New York. Prior to his legal career, Ram worked as a consultant for a multi-national consulting company, managing projects for large financial services clients. He received his Master of Laws from Columbia University School of Law, his MBA from Cornell University, and his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Madras.
About QuisLex:
QuisLex is an award-winning legal services provider that specializes in delivering the benefits of operational excellence, process rigor, and measurable quality to complex legal work. Our expertise in managed document review, contract and compliance management, legal spend management, and legal operations consulting enables clients to focus on the issues that demand their substantive expertise while we solve the challenges of resource constraints, cost management, flexibility, and scale.
Since its founding in 2004, QuisLex has been a pioneer in the legal services industry. With more than 1,000 attorneys, process experts, statisticians and linguists, QuisLex continues that tradition today by delivering solutions that reduce costs, mitigate risks, and enhance quality. The company's expertise in providing these benefits has been acknowledged by both clients and the legal industry at large, including being recognized by Chambers & Partners as a 'Band 1 Legal Outsourcing Provider,' New York Law Journal as a 'Top Managed Document Review Provider,' and the IACCM as its 'Outstanding Service Provider for Contract Management Solutions.'
Richard A. “Dick” Ehst is president and chief operating officer and a founder, along with Chairman and CEO, Jay S. Sidhu, of the $10 billion-asset Customers Bank headquartered in Wyomissing, PA with offices in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Dick previously served as executive vice president, Commercial Middle Market, Mid-Atlantic Division of Sovereign Bank, a $90 billion-asset financial institution serving eight states in Northeast U.S. He served as Sovereign’s regional president for Berks County from 2004-2009 and as managing director of corporate communications from 2000-2004.
Prior to joining Sovereign Bank, Dick was an independent consultant to more than 70 financial institutions in the Mid-Atlantic region, including Sovereign, where he provided guidance on regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions and risk management.
As a consultant to Sovereign, Dick worked with the Commercial Development Group to identify and develop corporate and municipal relationships for the bank.
Dick began his banking career in 1968 following his service as a United States Marine during the Vietnam War. He attended Albright College, is a member of the Albright Board of Trustees and chairs the Enrollment Management Committee. Dick is a graduate of the Commercial Bank Management Program at Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
He is often asked to speak to national and international audiences on the financial landscape. He was the keynote speaker at the 21st International Seminar on Finance in Tokyo, Japan. The seminar was sponsored by the Japanese Financial News Network. He has also been the featured speaker at financial conferences in the United Kingdom.
Dick currently serves as an elected board member of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, and is Chairman of the Chamber’s Education Foundation. He has been a guest at the White House regarding education-related issues.
He also serves as a Director of the Reading Hospital Health System Foundation and has served over 40 years on several professional and not-for-profit boards in eastern Pennsylvania.
Dick and his wife, Angela, reside in Reading, PA. They have five daughters and 11 grandchildren.
With a more than 35-year distinguished professional career in the engineering industry, Rizwan Siddiqi, President and Chief Executive Officer of EBA Engineering, Inc. (EBA), is responsible for the firm’s overall administration and management and serves as EBA’s client liaison. He has supervised a variety of complex and challenging projects and is recognized equally by his clients and colleagues for his leadership, technical know-how, rapid response, and exceptional customer service. Rizwan was instrumental in establishing and overseeing the operations of the firm’s Water Systems Engineering Department, acquiring a geospatial company, and expanding EBA’s business operations into Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
Rizwan is a registered professional engineer in the state of Maryland and District of Columbia and a graduate of Virginia Tech where he earned his master’s in civil and environmental engineering.
He has held leadership positions in a variety of professional associations and is currently serving as vice president on the board of directors of the American Council of Engineering Companies/Metro Washington (ACEC/MW).
In 2011, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley appointed him as the Commissioner for the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC); he was reappointed again in June 2013 for another 5-year term. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor O’Malley to serve on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Task Force to create a statewide plan to maintain Maryland’s competitive knowledge-based economy.
In 2013, recognizing his environmental stewardship, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman appointed Rizwan to serve on the Environmental Sustainability Board until 2015. In 2015, he was appointed by Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman to serve as co-chair of the Howard County Energy Task Force. The task force’s final report was submitted in December of 2016.
Since 2016, he is serving on the board of director of a non-profit organization Howard EcoWorks that is responsible for youth development through environmental projects. He is also the president of Tehzibul Akhlaq Trust USA (TAT USA), a registered non-profit to support educational projects across the globe.
Rizwan also served as co-chair of the Commonality Subgroup under Efficiency committee in 2016, which was part of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s Commission to Modernize State Procurement. This committee provided several recommendations to make the state’s procurement process more efficient and developed a standard RFP template to be used across all state agencies.
Currently he is serving as a member of the asset management committee of the Chesapeake Water Environment Association (CWEA) and the governance committee of the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO).
Additionally, Rizwan is President of the United Maryland Muslim Council (UMMC) representing over 300,000 Muslims in the state of Maryland and he is actively involved in community service. In 2012, he received a “Community Service Award” from Governor O’Malley to recognize his leadership.
Robert Cresanti serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Franchise Association. Cresanti joined the IFA as Executive Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy from SAP America, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Communications & Government Relations beginning in 2009. In his public service, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2006 as Under Secretary for Technology for the Department of Commerce, the highest-ranking U.S. official charged specifically with representing and advocating on behalf of the United States high-tech industry. He chaired multiple bilateral technology trade missions for the U.S. government in the European Union, Asia, and Russia, and served as co-chair for the White House President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). In his nearly decade-long service on Capitol Hill, ranging from Legislative Counsel in the House to Committee Chief of Staff in the Senate, he handled legislation before the Banking, Commerce, Finance, Government Affairs, and Judiciary Committees.
As a trade association executive, he served as vice president of Global Public Policy for the Business Software Alliance from 2001 to 2006, representing the technology industry in international negotiations and complex regulatory, legislative and commercial legal matters on a global level. He also served as senior vice president and general counsel of ITAA (now CompTIA). Immediately prior to joining SAP, he served as the CEO of the IPXI, the Intellectual Property Exchange. Cresanti received his JD from Baylor University School of Law, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from Austin College. He also received a certificate of EC Law from the University of Glasgow School of Law and completed master’s courses in International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins.
Ron is responsible for growing ApplePie Capital’s brand portfolio and contributing to the product strategy of the company. Ron has been active in franchising for over 20 years.
Prior to joining ApplePie Capital, Ron co-founded and was CEO of Franchise America Finance (FAF) and later served as Principal and Chief Brand Strategist along with its affiliate, The Siegel Financial Group. The companies are leading resources connecting and supplying debt financing to franchise-based businesses. At his role with FAF, he and his team created a brand based credit modeling strategy and was able to place 20+ captive lending programs with over $300 Million in committed funds during the great recession. Subsequently, Feldman served as the Chief Development Officer of FRANdata where he was integral in creating and implementing new credit scoring models for Franchise Brands and created processes for acquisition due diligence outsourcing, and supplier strategies within the franchise sector. Feldman was also an early franchisee in The Goddard School system.
As an active advocate of the franchising business model, Feldman currently serves the International Franchise Association (IFA) as Chair of the Supplier Forum Advisory Board, sits on both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the association and has previously served on the Education Foundation Board of Trustees. Feldman was awarded the Sid Feltenstein MVP Award for service to the IFA’s Political Action Committee (FRANPAC) in 2013.
Roy McGrath is Director, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Environmental Service - an 850 employee, $160M, not-for-profit public corporation that combines the public sector’s commitment to environmental protection with the private sector’s flexibility and responsiveness. He was appointed to the role by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in December 2016, and unanimously confirmed by the Maryland State Senate in February 2017.
Previously, Mr. McGrath served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Hogan, and as Senior Advisor to the Governor and Liaison to the Maryland Board of Public Works. He provided oversight for fifteen State Departments, Agencies and Governor's Offices, encompassing 26,000 State employees, focused on business, transportation, and public safety. He also served as a member of the Governor-elect’s Transition Team. Prior to his roles in the Hogan Administration, Mr. McGrath worked at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores - a leading retail trade group - for 18 years, most recently as Vice President of Business Development. He also served in the U.S. Government at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and on the staff of former Maryland Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest.
Mr. McGrath currently serves in the Governor’s Cabinet, is an ex-officio member of the Governor's Council on the Chesapeake Bay, the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority, the State’s Housing Finance Review Committee, and is an incoming member of the University of Maryland, College Park, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences Board of Visitors. He is a lifelong resident of Maryland.
Mr. Goldman has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Star Group since October 2013. Previous to his present role, Mr. Goldman was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Star Group from May 2010 until September 2013. He joined Petro Home Services, a subsidiary of Star Group in February 2000. Mr. Goldman held various and escalating positions within the organization.
Prior to joining Star Group, Mr. Goldman worked United Parcel Service, where he began as a driver and worked his way up through management in roles in both Operational Management and Industrial Engineering. Mr. Goldman was also involved in United Parcel Service’s international expansion as well as its introduction of the use of mobile technology in the delivery industry.
Mr. Goldman is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Mr. Goldman is a Board Member of AERTC, which is a business incubation group looking for innovation in energy related technology.
Mr. Goldman has led Star Group through a period of significant expansion with a strong focus on developing employees, operation excellence, community service, outstanding customer service and improving the financial strength of the business.
Mr. Goldman resides in Lloyd Harbor, New York with his wife, Rosemarie and daughters, Erica and Sarah. When not working, Mr. Goldman is actively involved in several organizations focused on helping the
community.
Stewart A. Kohl is Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm founded to invest in premier companies at the smaller end of the middle market. Since 1988, Riverside has invested in more than 440 companies in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The firm's investors include leading pension funds, endowments, funds-of-funds, insurance companies and banks.
Mr. Kohl joined Riverside in 1993. Prior to that, he was a vice president of Citicorp Venture Capital, Ltd., the private equity arm of Citibank. Under the guidance of Mr. Kohl and Co-CEO Béla Szigethy, Riverside has grown to manage more than $5.5 billion in assets. The firm employs more than 200 people in offices across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition to his work with Riverside, Mr. Kohl is engaged in the following civic activities: Oberlin College Board of Trustees; Co-Chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland Board of Trustees; the Cleveland Clinic Board of Trustees, Wellness Institute Leadership Board, and Co-Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Capital Campaign. Mr. Kohl is also the founding donor of VeloSano, a charity cycling event that has raised $8 million for cancer research at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute since 2014.
Mr. Kohl was inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence in 2009. He previously served as Co-Chair of the Building for Hope Capital Campaign of the Center for Families and Children. For 16 years, he was a "Heavy Hitter" participant in the Pan-Mass Challenge bicycle fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Mr. Kohl holds a BA from Oberlin College (1977) and resides in Shaker Heights, Ohio with his wife, Donna, where they enjoy spending time with their daughter and six grandchildren.
Todd Becker is president, chief executive officer and director of Green Plains Inc.
Green Plains is a publicly traded company, focused on risk management, operational excellence, and safety, operating at the intersection of agriculture and energy. Since 2007, Mr. Becker has led the company through rapid growth to become the second largest consolidated owner of ethanol production capacity in the world, with nearly 1.5 billion gallons of operating capacity. Green Plains is also the fourth largest cattle feeder in the United States and the world’s largest industrial vinegar producer with the recent acquisition of the Fleishmann’s Vinegar Company.
Mr. Becker has 30 years of extensive experience in risk management, supply chain management and numerous commodity processing businesses, along with significant international trading experience in agricultural markets. He spent ten years with ConAgra Foods in various management positions, including vice president of International Marketing for ConAgra Trade Group and president of ConAgra Grain Canada.
Mr. Becker currently serves as chairman, CEO and director of Green Plains Partners, a first-of-its-kind master limited partnership focused on ethanol storage, handling and transportation assets, which went public in June of 2015. He served on the Board of Directors, including its Audit and Compensation committees, for Hillshire Brands Company from 2012 to 2014. He earned a Master’s degree in Finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Kansas.
Tom Scarangello leads the strategic direction and oversight of Thornton Tomasetti, an
international engineering design, forensic and analysis firm with a project presence in
more than 50 countries and currently the engineer for Kingdom Tower, the world’s
tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has more than 35 years of experience in the structural engineering of a wide variety of building types, from long-span sports and entertainment arenas and stadiums to high-rise commercial and mixed-use buildings.
His recent project credits include oversight of structural design for Yankee Stadium,
Hudson Yards and US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings.
Tom has led Thornton Tomasetti into the forefront of project delivery services and
engineering technologies for building analysis, design and construction. When he
became chairman in 2008, he oversaw the development of the firm’s strategic plan for growth and innovation in areas such as building information modeling and integrated project delivery. With the 2015 merger with Weidlinger Associates, he has expanded the portfolio of the firm to include security and protective design, transportation facility design and related applied science. Recently, he led the formation of TTWiiN, an innovation accelerator, which commercializes technology spun off from Thornton
Tomasetti technology incubators.
A spirit of mentorship – both professionally and personally – lies at the core of Tom’s
role as CEO and chairman, from providing inspiration to young engineers, to challenging the leadership team to push the boundaries for Thornton Tomasetti. He tells young engineers and his colleagues that it’s hard to lose passion for what you truly love doing.
Tom holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Manhattan
College, and a professional engineering mechanics degree in the Ph.D. program of
Columbia University, New York City. He is a member of numerous professional
organizations, including the New York Building Congress – for which he served as
chairman from 2014 to 2016 -- the Structural Engineering Association of New York, and the New York City Seismic Code Advisory Board and Steering Committee. He is a
registered professional engineer in 27 states, the District of Columbia and in Alberta,
Canada.
Tom is active in numerous philanthropies and serves as a trustee of St. Patrick’s
Cathedral and Loyola School. He loves spending time with family and close friends and following “his” Yankees. He also enjoys running and bicycling. In 1979 he landed a job with Thornton Tomasetti (then Lev Zetlin Associates) a week before he was scheduled to begin a cross-country bicycling tour. He took the job instead.
Viren Joshi has over 35 years’ experience in leading large engineering MNCs in India, Asia, MEA and
Europe. He is CEO & President, Sigma Electric, global leaders in machined castings, supplying to leading
MNCs. Sigma has 10 world class facilities manufacturing facilities in India & North America. Sigma is
actively pursuing a profitable growth strategy, both organic and inorganic. He set up Parker Hannifin
operations in India and South Asia, and over 15 years led it to a leadership position in the fluid power
market. He was responsible for several acquisitions during his tenure.
He has wide experience in growing new businesses from startup and managing rapid growth and
performance at large engineering MNCs. He has rich experience in M&A and is a keen practitioner of
practices like Lean Enterprise, Profitable Growth Strategy, Policy deployment, Balanced Score Card and
Talent Development.
He has received a National Award from The President of India, for a paper on Alternate Sources of
Energy. He has attended global programs on Leadership, Change Management, Balanced Score-card,
Talent Development, and Mergers & Acquisitions.
At present he is Chairman, CII, Pune Zone. Previously he was Chairman of CII, Fluid Power division. CII is
India’s leading industry association.
Xiaoning Qi is CEO of C-SKY Microsystems Corp. Previously, he held senior management and technical positions in Intel, Rambus, Synopsys and Sun Microsystems, working on integrated circuit devices, micro-processor design and platform electrical design for semiconductor systems. Additionally, he was Chairman and President of the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association, USA. Currently, he is a member of Asia-Pacific Leadership Council, Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). Xiaoning has published more than fifty technical papers, one book, one book chapter, more than two dozens of invited talks and holds two US patents. He is a reviewer for numerous IEEE Journals and international conferences. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. Xiaoning Qi received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Moderators
Alex is the Founder and CEO of Applico. He founded Applico in 2009 when he was 20 years old
and funded the company with his own credit cards.
Alex co-authored the best-selling book, Modern Monopolies, which defines the platform
business model dominating the 21st century economy. In his role as CEO, he works directly with
Fortune 500 C-suites and boards to help them build or buy their own platform businesses. He
has written content for a variety of publications including TechCrunch and has been featured on
Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox News, Yahoo Finance, and other notable media outlets.
Alex is a graduate of Babson College, Choate Rosemary Hall and Greenwich Country Day School.
Having more than 20 years' experience in the hospitality industry has broadened my experience to many diverse areas in the industry. I have continued to guide our business in a manner that raises value and quality to our client base, while streamlining all areas of process flow, with a heavy emphasis on personalized customer service.
We have systematically been bringing more and more of our production facilities to the domestic front, and providing jobs for our employees with futures for them and their families. All the while, I am actively involved in my community synagogue, children's schools, I coach my daughters high school softball team, and I continue to play in active ice hockey and softball leagues.
I am a 2nd generation Owner/Manager at a domestic textile company based in the NY area. I put a lot of effort into helping others, and looking out for my employees. I want to keep growing our business, while never missing the critical elements of being connected to my family and kids.
Ed is responsible for overall agency leadership and has been instrumental in both driving Peppercomm’s business success over the last 20 years and securing its position as the No. 1 Workplace in New York, 2012 by Crain’s New York Business.
He continues to lead the agency in its evolution from a strategic public relations firm to an integrated communications and marketing agency. Ed has led the firm’s acquisition strategy over the last five years and continues to provide overall direction to operations, finances, new services development, client service, new business and broader strategy.
Ed was named on B2B Magazine’s Who’s Who list and was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award. Ed provides expert
commentary for such media as: CNN, FOX News, Marketing
News, BrandWeek, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc., PRNews and PRWeek. His passion for continual innovation led to Peppercomm’s creation and growth of its measurement and research offerings. He serves as a trustee for Drew University, is a board member of the Council of PR Firms Counselors Academy, and sits on the planning committee of the Council of PR Firms. His nonprofit work includes board positions with Little Kids Rock and My Good Deed.org.
Eugene Babenko is an established pharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical arena. Eugene brings an extensive wealth of knowledge in specialty pharmaceuticals and in various niche therapeutic areas.
Eugene spent 12 years working in a variety of capacities at various major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Gilead Sciences, Inc. Ten years ago, he along with 2 partners, founded Quality Specialty Pharmacy (QSP), a successful retail specialty pharmacy chain focusing on disease states such as dermatology, HIV, and hepatitis B and C. QSP's focus is customer-driven and provides affordable, high-quality care for complex chronic conditions. The company prides itself on its commitment to compassion, integrity and quality - measuring its success through healthy outcomes, satisfied clients and clarity of vision to support the hundreds of new life-changing biopharmaceutical drugs that will help patients in the decades to come. QSP is currently licensed and operating in 45 states.
Joe Apfelbaum is the CEO of Ajax Union, a B2B digital marketing agency based in Brooklyn. Ajax Union is one of the fastest growing companies in the US, 178 on the INC 500. Joe enjoys speaking and writing about digital marketing & personal development topics in his seminars, webinars and articles.
Joe is the host of the Breakthrough Maze podcast where he coaches anonymous entrepreneurs to create 7 figure breakthroughs in every area of their life. Joe has served on the Board of Directors of the Entrepreneurs Organization in Brooklyn for over a decade. EO is a global organization with over 12,000 CEO’s. Joe is a contributing member of the INC Business Owners Council, a community of the fastest growing companies in the United States. He has been a Vistage member and now is a Vistage speaker speaking to groups of over 20,000 CEOs..
Joe is proud of all his accomplishments, but most of all he is proud of his successful foodie wife who is the author of Busy In Brooklyn a online community with over a million moms drooling at recipes and he loves beautiful amazing 5 kids.
Joel Greenwald is a dynamic attorney and a Managing Partner at the law firm of, Greenwald Doherty LLP. Greenwald Doherty is often considered management’s in-house employment law firm. They are not only preventative counselors, but also seasoned litigators. Altogether, they advocate, protect, and partner - so your focus is your business.
John Cavitt is Founder and CEO of Covenant Testing Technologies in Houston, TX. John has a long history of entrepreneurship and leadership. Out of a love for people, John began as a Chemistry teacher in Midland Texas where he sharpened his skill to motivate and lead. His first business was in high school with a shaved ice stand and lawn business and has launched multiple businesses since then including a chain of hair salons in West Texas. An import/export business in Mexico. While in Midland, John joined Oil States International, a leading oil and gas services and technology business. There he gained executive management experience and moved to Select Energy Services, a leading water solutions and technology company for oil and gas development. He served as the Vice President of the Well Testing and Well Flow Management Division, growing the division to the largest in the US.
In May, 2013, John Partnered with Ken Hersh and NGP, a private equity firm out of Irving Texas. He founded Covenant Testing Technologies greenfield with his American Express card and a vision to create an innovative and employee centric oil and gas services technology and service company. Since then, through a significant commodities downturn and distressed market, John and Covenant have capitalized on an innovative culture and multiple strategic distressed asset deals to become the largest well flow management company in the US oil and gas market. With over $100Million in revenue and 700 employees, Covenant is postitioned uniquely in the most important areas of the energy market and provide innovative and environmentally responsible techniques with superior service to its clients.
John is married to Leah with 5 kids (4 boys and a girl all 9 and under), 3 of whom have a rare eye retinal disorder rendering them legally blind. In his spare time, he fights for this cause with his work toward a gene therapy with the Blue Cone Monocromacy Family Foundation. He and his family also work to provide technical job skill training to the deeply impoverished through organizations in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
A believer in truly big ideas, Ken launched and co-founded Patient Innovations, LLC and created OnTime Care®: cloud-based software to eliminate waiting in Doctor’s offices, and optimize both practices and hospitals.
UnitedHealthcare (UHC) partnered with Patient Innovations in 2013 to fund development of OnTime Care®. UHC featured OnTime Care® at its booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2014 as an emerging new technology that will offer competitive advantage – that was before the software was even written! Patient Innovations has nine patents pending on several of their innovative solutions.
Prior to founding Patient Innovations®, Ken’s early career included 22 yeas in retail banking. Ken then co-founded Austin & Williams in 1992, the leading advertising and marketing consultancy headquartered on Long Island. Austin & Williams is the Island’s most-awarded advertising agency, and serves three key verticals: banking, healthcare and higher education.
Ken has always been fascinated by technology, and brought Austin & Williams into the digital age in 1995. The agency has been growing its digital business ever since.
Ken is a product of Brooklyn College where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.
He is involved in several charities and trade organizations: YJP, the Long Island Association, Long Island Advancement of Small Business, (LIASB), American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Direct Marketing Association - Long Island Chapter (DMALI), Health Leaders of NY (HLNY), The Beryl Institute and more.
In October 2014, Ken was inducted into the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame.
He’s the immediate past President of AJC’s Long Island Chapter, serves on their Board, and also chaired their annual golf outing. Ken is also a member of the New York Board of Regents for the Center for Security Policy, and participates in their Victory Coalition briefings.
In 2015 Ken co-founded Alert Long Island, the first downstate New York chapter of ACT for America, the leading grass roots national security organization in the World.
He also serves on the Board of the Long Island Strategic Alliance (LISA) – a consortium of several small business trade groups.
Ken lives in Mount Sinai at the Hamlet Willow Creek – an award-winning golf course. Despite his proximity to the course… you just can’t tell from his game!
Kirsten Bay is redefining what it means to be a fearless leader in the technology industry. She is an accomplished, bilingual executive, transforming the cyber security space. As President and CEO of Cyber adAPT, she leveraged more than 25 years of experience, leading her team with risk intelligence, information management, and policy expertise across a variety of sectors.
Throughout her career, Kirsten has been appointed to a congressional committee developing cyber policies, initiatives and recommendations for the intelligence community. She has developed recommendations in partnership with the Center for North American Studies (CNAS) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) for The White House energy policy, and collaborated on information studies for MIT-Harvard and several federal agencies. She has gone before a parliamentary subcommittee on recreating trust in the global economy, presented national security and critical infrastructure concepts at conferences such as Black Hat, Secured Americas, Enterprise Architecture Institute, SC World Congress, and the Eurim Information Management Committee. She has also spoken on applied economics and its relationship to both cyber and national security around the world.
Kirsten is a self-proclaimed ‘serial student’. Her current membership of the Alliance of Chief Executives feeds her perpetual drive to learn and share insight with peers; an inspirational trait she models for her Cyber adAPT team.
In previous executive roles for ISC8, Attensity Group, and iSIGHT Partners, she has led companies through corporate restructuring, risk and corporate intelligence product launches, and company turnarounds, respectively.
With a BA in English and German from the University of Oregon, let’s just say she will correct your grammar in multiple languages.
Michael leads the New York office of Manchester Capital Management. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the Executive Team and provides customized portfolio management and advisory services to Manchester Capital’s clients.
Michael is the former CEO of Bank Hapoalim Switzerland, a Private Bank with $10B of assets under management. Prior to that, Michael was CEO of PAM Global Investments, an asset management firm. He has held several executive positions at the Citibank Private Bank, was a co-founder of the Citibank Family Office, and has established or directed investment advisory, asset management and trust businesses in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg, Israel, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Michael earned a B.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. with honors from Columbia University. He is a CFA charter holder, a member of the World Presidents’ Organization, and a founding member of the YJP CEO Forum and of the Chairman’s Council of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
Manchester Capital Management (MCM) is, and has been since its inception, a Private Family Office dedicated to helping families sustain their wealth, values, and legacy from generation to generation. MCM’s thirty three experienced professionals care for three billion dollars on behalf of forty families. MCM diligently establishes and oversees tailored global investment portfolios, including traditional securities, alternative strategies and directly-owned real estate. MCM’s expertise extends to trust and estate work, financial education and planning, philanthropic endeavors and family meetings. MCM families value authenticity, sincerity and commitment.
Neal Topf is the President and Co-Founder of Callzilla, an outsourced customer-experience focused ommi-channel customer contact center. Neal leads Callzilla’s operations and sales and marketing efforts as Callzilla has evolved into a quality and training-first, full service, onmi-channel solutions provider that helps US companies acquire and care for their customers. Neal has lived, worked, and studied in multiple countries and diverse cultural environments and hopes to bring that wealth of experience, languages, and cultures to the Callzilla service portfolio. Neal resides in South Florida with his beautiful wife and 4 year old son which are his true passions, along with the Washington Redskins.
Rich Cohen is President and General Counsel of Corporate Creations International Inc., the 3rd largest Registered Agent. Rich has more than 30 years of legal, business and consulting experience focused on providing the most efficient legal services to clients. Prior to joining Corporate Creations, Rich served as a Managing Director of Duff & Phelps and President of RenewData Corp. He has also held senior positions with The Garden City Group and LexisNexis, and he has served as General Counsel of Ohio Power and Columbus Southern Power.
Rich has been recognized as an AV Preeminent rated attorney every year since
1998. Rich serves on the Corporate Counsel Advisory Board of The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel and as Editor in Chief of The Electricity Journal. He is a recipient of the Corporate Legal Times Distinguished Legal Service Award. He has served as President of Association of Corporate Counsel Central Ohio, on the Board of Advisors for Bryan University, and as Co-Chair of the Mass Tort Subcommittee of American Bankruptcy Institute and is currently President of B’nai Aviv Synagogue in Weston, Florida.
Rich is a member of Ohio State Bar and Authorized House Counsel in Florida. He graduated from State University of New York at Buffalo and from University of Akron School of Law. Rich and his family reside in Weston, Florida.
Sponsors
About
In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, the job of CEO can be daunting. Any CEO knows that running a company -- regardless of size and industry -- requires incredibly long hours under stressful conditions with ever-increasing pressure from all sides to succeed and grow. To address these challenges, YJP is convening business thought-leaders and experts for the CEO Leadership and Innovation Symposium.
The Symposium will bring together CEOs from across the country and representing a variety of professional sectors to provide a leadership platform in order to cultivate the forging of new relationships and encourage discussion and debate on topics and challenges that are of universal concern to all CEOs.
This is more than just a typical leadership conference -- it is a dynamic event designed to foster a productive and innovative environment in which candid, in-depth conversations can take place. The intimate and confidential setting will provide participants the opportunity to ask industry leaders difficult questions, identify new avenues for collaboration, brainstorm on best practices and explore potential solutions to challenges.
In today’s ever-evolving business landscape, a company’s success is contingent on high levels of innovation and the establishment of strong relationships and networks. YJP’s CEO Leadership and Innovation Symposium will serve as a powerful catalyst to develop new strategies and ideas, solutions to challenges and fuel collaborations so that participants can return to the companies they lead better equipped to ensure success. The Young Jewish Presidents is an exclusive network dedicated to connecting the world's top Jewish business leaders with each other. Our forum opens its doors for CEOs to forge long-lasting, sincere relationships in upscale, comfortable, small group settings with top talent, and executive peers.
*In order to be considered a member, applicants must be a CEO, president or a recognized authority in their given industry*
Interested in speaking or sponsoring? Please contact Rebekah Edelstein at rebekah@yjpnewyork.com.
Agenda
Partial Guest List
