2011 We Own it Summit Speakers

ROZ L. ALFORD, CO-PRINCIPAL, ASAP SOLUTIONS GROUP, LLC

ROZ L. ALFORD received a Bachelor of Science from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Institute in Frankfurt, Germany and the University of Chicago. In 1989, Roz founded and is now co-principal of ASAP Solutions Group, LLC. Roz’s primary focus at ASAP is to work closely with Nancy Williams, co-principal, to execute marketing and sales strategies by providing operations leadership and process implementation. Working closely with the ASAP team, Roz ensures processes and procedures are executed above and beyond set goals. Her visionary approach and extensive industry experience have complimented and supported the ASAP team since inception. As part of her broad responsibilities at ASAP, Roz works closely with clients to guarantee superior contract fulfillment. These efforts have significantly contributed to ASAP’s 2010 sales revenue of $73,700,000. Roz’s industry insight and business savvy have enabled ASAP to grow in a volatile economy. In March 2011, Roz was appointed by the President to the National Women’s Business Council for a three-year term. The NWBC is a bi-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. In addition, the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) elected Roz Alford to the Executive Board as Secretary. Roz actively participates in mentoring and teaching programs for Women Business Owners (WBO) throughout the nation. Recently she completed a year-long program with Seton Hill University to provide support, education and mentoring to an assigned WBO in an effort to promote women in business. Roz is also an active member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Kennedy School of Government. In addition to her multiple business memberships, Roz is very community minded and promotes philanthropic endeavors throughout ASAP. To date, Roz is active in the Alexis de Tocqueville Society, which is an affiliate of United Way. She was instrumental in setting up a program with the Partnership Against Domestic Violence to provide opportunities for battered women. Roz also supports the American Cancer Society and various local charities and fundraising efforts. Memberships are as follows: NWBC (National Women’s Business Council), Georgia National Partner - Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), Women’s President’s Organization (WPO - Chapter, Platinum and Zenith), Greater Women’s Business Council (GWBC), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), C200, American Red Cross Southeastern Board.

PAUL AUDU, FOUNDER, BEAUTY PARADE

Paul is a freelance professional with 20 years experience in the pensions industry.  His main focus is assisting pension funds in managing their investment programmes effectively. Paul founded Beauty Parade in 2002 to help strengthen the internal resource of pension funds and to direct their investment function.  Prior to that, he was Senior Investment Consultant with HSBC Actuaries and Consultants, and before that, Head of Investment at London Borough of Hackney, where he spent ten years as lead officer for the pension fund.  Paul holds a BSc (Econ) in Financial Economics from the University of London.

IDA BEERHALTER, INVESTMENT PARTNER, BELLWALD PARTNER GMBH

Ida Beerhalter is Investment Partner at Bellwald Partner GmbH, since 2009 and a Partner at MedXperts, a Germany-based consulting firm for private and institutional investors and companies with the focus in the Healthtech and Lifesciences Sectors, since 2006. Additionally she currently serves as Director Corporate Affairs at Cardionovum GmbH focusing on the commercialization and out-licensing of its Drug-Eluting Ballon technologies, novel DES Generations and biodegradable vascular scaffolds. Before joining Cardionovum she served as Head of Business Development at NonWoTecc Medical GmbH and spent three years at mNEMOSCIENCE GmbH as Vice President, Business Development. Prior to this position, she spent five years at the KRAUTH group in various senior level positions including Director of Business Development, Sales Manager and, Training and Education Manager. Before joining the KRAUTH group, Ida served as European Marketing Manager at Medtronic Inc., and as Marketing Manager at both AVE GmbH and Cordis GmbH, the latter of which is where she started her extensive medical device career as Sales Area Manager in 1992.

IRENE BEJENKE-WALSH, DIRECTOR, MESSAGELAB

Irene Bejenke Walsh, Director, MessageLab Irene is an entrepreneur, business Angel and coach. After a career in journalism with the Wall Street Journal and CNBC TV, followed by corporate PR, Irene started her own executive training and coaching consultancy,MessageLab, in 2000. She specialises in investor pitches throughout the funding cycle, from start-ups to private equity fundraises and multi-billion IPOs, across different sectors and territories. She works as a mentor and coach with a number of organisations such as ASTIA, the British Library, London Business Angels, NESTA and Imperial College to support entrepreneurs in their quest for building successful businesses.

DINAH BENNETT, DIRECTOR, ICE

Awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to Women's Entrepreneurship, following a distinguished career at Durham University. Dinah works to empower individuals into business start-up and growth. Dinah delivers business development programmes, working in partnership with agencies such as the UN, ILO and the British Council. Following extensive research and work abroad, Dinah is launching a new world-wide networking organisation www.GlobalNetworkingWomen.com to support, profile and connect women entrepreneurs globally. A Fellow of the RSA, Dinah was one of the first to be honoured with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2005. She is also a trustee of Willowburn Hospice.

SUZANNE BIEGEL, CEO, INVESTORS' CIRCLE

Suzanne is CEO of Investors' Circle, www.investorscircle.net, the oldest and largest early stage impact investing network based in the US. She brings more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, visionary, investor, and hands-on operational manager to her work. In the 1990s, Suzanne was the CEO of IEC, an e-learning and communications firm, during which she and her business partner received the Entrepreneur of the Year and Women of the Year awards. Since selling IEC, Suzanne has been an active angel investor, philanthropist, and board member, has played leadership roles in a variety of companies and projects. She is an active member of Women Donors Network as well as Social Venture Network. Suzanne is a frequent emcee, speaker, and moderator on social impact investment, and on social entrepreneurship. She is passionate about bringing more women into impact investing, and in investing in more women-owned/women-led, and women-focused sustainability-minded businesses, and is a supporter of the project: Women Effect from Criterion Ventures. Suzanne’s personal angel investments include such women founded or co-founded ventures as: Beyond Physical Therapy (a wellness practice in Venice, CA), AKASHA (an organic/sustainable restaurant in Los Angeles), PeaceKeeper Causemetics (an eco friendly human rights oriented cosmetics company), IceStone (a green building products company), Playa Viva (a conservation/sustainability oriented eco resort in Mexico), Lets Be Frank (a healthy/sustainable hot dog company), and Red Redemption (a computer games company producing climate change games based in Oxford.) She’s on the Advisory Board of Lulan Artisans (www.lulan.com) and several other nonprofit and for-profit ventures. Suzanne is based in London, and Investors' Circle is based San Francisco, California.

CHERIE BLAIR QC

Wife of the former British Prime Minister, leading barrister and committed campaigner for women’s equality, Cherie Blair is founder and patron of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, a charity that provides integrated business development support for women entrepreneurs in developing and transition countries.

Launched in 2008, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women was set up in response to Cherie’s experiences meeting women around the world and the realisation that, with the right support, women can overcome the challenges they face and play an important part in the economies and societies in which they work and live.  For more information: www.cherieblairfoundation.org

Cherie studied law at the London School of Economics and was called to the Bar in 1976. Her fellow trainee at her first chambers was Tony Blair. The couple married in 1980 and have four children. Cherie became a Queens Counsel in 1995 and sits as a Recorder, as part-time judges are known, and is also an accredited mediator. In 2007, she was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill medal in recognition of her high ideals and courageous actions.  Cherie also holds Honorary Degrees at the Open University and Liverpool Hope University.

As well as fighting for human rights in her professional career, Cherie is an active campaigner on equality and human rights issues. In addition to founding her own charity, Cherie is closely involved with over 20 charities with a special emphasis on those working with women, and children, and with those based on Merseyside. She is Honorary Vice President of Barnados, President of the Loomba Foundation, Ambassador for Scope, Trustee of Africa Justice Foundation and Patron of a number of charities, including Breast Cancer Care and SolarAid.

SELENA BOLINGBROKE, PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON

Selena Bolingbroke is the University of East London Pro Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for Strategic Planning and External Development. She joined UEL in 2008 as the Director of the External Strategic Development Service. Selena is responsible for driving implementation of the university’s strategic plan, and UEL’s partnerships with external organisations including local authorities, schools and colleges, government and business. Selena works to ensure UEL contributes to our local community, and that our students have the skills and experience to succeed in enterprise and business, and leads UEL’s Centre for Excellence in Women’s Entrepreneurship.
Selena has worked in local and central government as well as higher education. Before joining UEL, Selena was the director of Shaping Thurrock, a Local Strategic Partnership in south Essex, working with agencies across the public, private and third sectors. She was the skills lead on the Thames Gateway Strategic Executive in the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now DCLG) and was instrumental in forging strong links to drive skills-led regeneration.
Selena is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Society of Arts. Locally she is Chair of the Chafford Hundred Business and Enterprise College Trust Board, a governor of Barking and Dagenham College, and a board member of Pro Active East London and the Linking London Lifelong Learning Network.

JACKIE BRIERTON, DIRECTOR, WOMEN'S ENTERPRISE SCOTLAND

Jackie has more than 30 years experience in business and is an independent consultant on women's enterprise. She was adviser to the women’s enterprise policy unit in the UK government’s Small Business Service (SBS) from 2002-2005, and helped to develop and draft the Government’s ‘Strategic Framework for Women’s Enterprise', published in 2003. Jackie was also a founder member and Policy Director of Prowess between 2001 and 2008. She is currently a non-executive director of K-Space and Community Enterprise. In 2008 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to enterprise.

DAVID BOTT, DIRECTOR INNOVATION PROGRAMMES, TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY BOARD

David was appointed Director of Innovation Programmes at The Technology Strategy Board in July 2008. Graduating from the University of Sussex with a BSc in Polymer Science he stayed on to do a PhD sponsored by ICI Plastics. He then went on to lead a team working on electrically conductive polymers, polymer batteries and non-linear optics at the British Petroleum Research Centre. He then joined Courtaulds to set up and run their Strategic Research Group, spending separate years responsible for Carbon Fibre Research (1989) and Performance Films (1992)(in America). He left to join ICI Acrylics as Research Director, then joined National Starch, where he was responsible for research in their Specialty Synthetic Resins Division and then became a Director of Group Technology for ICI. Throughout his career, David has sat on the UK Governments Technology Foresight Panel for Materials, was President of the Industrial Affairs Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Co-Chairman of the Strategy and Implementation Board of the Crystal Faraday Partnership on Green Chemistry. He is Chairman of Oxford Biomaterials and a Non-Executive Director of Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group, Apaclara and Spineless Design. From 2006 until 2008 he was part time CEO of Materials UK, an organisation set up to implement and develop the work of the Materials Innovation and Growth team.

DUNYA BOUHACENE, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF WOMAN EQUITY FOR GROWTH

Dunya is the founder and Chairman of Women Equity for Growth, a non for profit organization fostering a better gender balance in economic leadership and the CEO of Women Equity Partners a private equity investment firm focusing on women-led companies. Founded in 2009, the Women Equity Program was launched to facilitate the financial and operational support of w-led growth businesses in Europe. The Program leverages a research & publishing capacity to document and promote the successes of those companies and of their management teams, enabling them to act as role models, a private equity arm focusing on growth capital through a many investment vehicles, and a network of industry experts to support & advise the development of portfolio companies.

JOCELYN BROWN, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ADVISOR, FRC

Jocelyn Brown is a Corporate Governance Advisor for the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate reporting to foster investment.

Prior to the FRC, Jocelyn was an investor within Finance Wales (FW), and served on the Board of five early-stage companies.  She was placed within FW as part of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a not-for-profit headquartered in Silicon Valley whose mission is to identify, develop, and network emerging global leaders in venture capital and private equity. 

Jocelyn is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, and holds an MBA with Distinction from Imperial College London.  She began her career as a technical manager in two start-ups, before moving to roles in management consultancy with Capgemini and technology transfer with Imperial Innovations.

SIMONE BRUMMELHUIS, FOUNDER & CEO, THE NEXTWOMEN, ASTIA

Simone Brummelhuis is the founder and CEO of The NextWomen, the First Women’s Internet Business Magazine and Community. Educated at University of Amsterdam and Columbia University Law school in NY, she worked for 10 years as an international lawyer in Amsterdam and NY before becoming an entrepreneur by setting up her own B2B publishing company. Thereafter, as co-owner and managing director IENS, she developed this start-up into the no. 1 user generated content restaurant guide in The Netherlands. She is owner of Europeanmuseumguide.com. She is in the jury of the yearly Accenture Media Innovation Awards, she presents the internet program SHE (interviews with business women) on Blueshotstv, she is on the UK Advisory Board of Astia.org, and on the Advisory Board of Trapezia, the European Investment Fund. She is a frequent moderator and speaker through TheNextSpeaker on (female) entrepreneurship and women in business networks.

TheNextWomen.com is the first award-winning online Women’s Business Magazine and Networking Forum, with a focus on startups and growing businesses, led, founded or invested in by women. It brings news on business, events, funding and tech from a female angle and interviews and profiles Female Internet Heroes, making them notable and quotable. TheNextWomen has the vision to become the international Female 'Business Week', both online on the i-pad and in print, while connecting women-led companies with each other, investors and experts through its TheNextWomen Business Club.

It is developing an online technology tool to inform, support and connect its international network of high-growth female entrepreneurs, female and male investors and supporting business consultants to accelerate growth of women-led businesses. The NextWomen run Pitching & Funding events – Dragon’s Den for women-led companies – Kitchen Dinners for leading entrepreneurs and other high profile networking events. It has developed an international paid mentoring programme to connect entrepreneurs with serial entrepreneurs and experts.

JOHN CHINA, HEAD OF RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT, SVB FINANCIAL GROUP

John China is head of relationship management for SVB Financial Group. In this role, he oversees all aspects of SVB Financial Group’s relationships with the venture capital and private equity communities. China’s leadership encompasses five key areas of this business for SVB: Venture Capital Relationship Management: ºº managing the company’s network of relationships with venture capital and private equity firms and their partners ºº Entrepreneur Services Group: supporting emerging technology and life science companies by engaging founders and CEOs with programming and networking events to add value during their development stages ºº Venture and Private Equity Services: providing banking services to venture capital and private equity clients ºº Private Banking: focusing solely on the unique financial needs of the partners at VC and PE firms ºº SVB Capital: overseeing the company’s venture capital investing business which includes fund of funds and direct investment funds exceeding $1.2 billion under management China holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University. He currently serves on the advisory board for DEMO, a board member of ASTIA and the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, and previously served on the advisory board for the Executive Roundtable of New York City.

MARIA DRAMALIOTI-TAYLOR, CO-FOUNDER, INCITO VENTURES

A founding member of Incito Ventures and member of the Advisory Board, Maria is an entrepreneur and angel investor in enterprise applications, mobile, digital advertising, e-commerce and social media. She co-founded Protos Capital aiming to raise £30M to invest in corporate spinouts, was the R&D-award winning CEO of CipherGrid, investor in the VC-backed Pervasic (exited) and mentor of startups like Improve Digital, anywhere.me & Stingray. A Senior Manager at Andersen and Ernst & Young, where she worked as technology management consultant, Maria started her career in the UK after winning a CBI scholarship with Thames Water plc. She is an Advisory Board member of the award-winning PoCKeT fund and of Astia UK, the not-for-profit organisation that helps female technology entrepreneurs get funded, a mentor and Champion of The Prince’s Trust Creative Businesses & The Young Enterprise and sponsor of a microloan foundation in India. Maria attended the PE & VC executive course at Harvard Business School and she was educated at the National Technical University of Athens and Imperial College London where she studied engineering and has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.

BAAT ENOSH, ENTREPRENEURIAL ALLIANCE MANAGER, NCWIT

Baat grew up in Jerusalem, Israel and now lives in the energetic and creative community of Silicon Valley. Prior to her current role with NCWIT as the Program Manager for the Entrepreneurial Alliance, Baat worked in the tech industry for over 10 years. Baat is enthusiastic about launching entrepreneurial women to new heights, so she is also avidly involved with Women 2.0 and acts as VP Ops for the pre-incubator Founder Labs. In addition to raising her 2 boys, Baat loves to skydive, ski, and indoor rock-climb. Baat holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

PATRICIA A. K. FLETCHER, GLOBAL MARKETING, SAP

WOMEN EXECUTIVES AND ENTREPRENEURS, HIGH GROWTH INDUSTRIES, UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

Dr. Patricia Fletcher is a software executive at SAP, currently focused on go-to-market and innovation efforts.  Through the past 14 years at SAP, Dr. Fletcher has built an extensive network that spans across the business’s multiple global lines of business, international partner ecosystem, large enterprise customers, and academic thought leaders, among others.  Through various entrepreneurial leadership and business development roles, Dr. Fletcher has successfully helped launch competitive, value-based offerings, business practices, and go-to-market models.  Dr. Fletcher began her career as a business consultant in California and England; helping small and mid-sized firms in California and England successfully drive global expansion through organic and M&A growth strategies. 

Dr. Fletcher, a highly sought after speaker and published author on the topics of women executives and entrepreneurs in the technology industries, value-based governance, business intelligence and analytics, enterprise integration, and human capital management, holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, an MBA from the Richmond School of Business in London, England, and a Doctorate of Management from the University of Phoenix.  Dr. Fletcher’s dissertation, a phenomenological study of women who hold board of director positions in life sciences and technology businesses, uncovered several new and dynamic factors among women who have achieved the ultimate in leadership positions in the most male-dominated industry in the world.  Most of the participants in Fletcher’s ground-breaking research were successful serial entrepreneurs dedicated to promoting innovation and diversity in their markets.  Dr. Fletcher has continued to focus on the role of women entrepreneurs in technology and innovation through on-going research, and active leadership and participation with key leadership and entrepreneurial associations including ASTIA and the Path Forward Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

NOA GAFNI, ENTREPRENEUR

Noa Gafni is a digital communications expert. Noa began her career as an entrepreneur, founding Queen Bees, a social network for women. The company was a portfolio venture of Astia, an organisation that Noa continues to be involved with to this day. Noa then went on to become the head of social media at Hearst Magazines US, working with leading brands Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, and Country Living, among others. Since 2008, Noa has been working as an independent digital strategist. Her client roster includes Real Madrid, Shidonni, LinkedIn spokesperson Lindsey Pollak, and Lloyd's of London.  Noa holds a Bachelor's Degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from London Business School.

ROWAN GARDNER, CHAIRMAN, BIOLAUNCHER LTD.

Rowan Gardner is a life science strategy and business development professional with a substantial network of investor contacts that participate in all stages of company creation and growth. As Head of Investor Relations at Oxford Molecular (an LSE main market listed Oxford University spin out) she worked with the Board and the company’s financial advisors to develop and deliver the corporate communications, IR and PR strategies. Rowan maintains close relationships with various industry groups such as Astia, PRISM, and Atlantic BioBridge. She has consulted to various UK RDAs, SMEs and financial institutions to help broker, fund and develop new initiatives. Rowan has recently led projects to develop world class biobanking and bioprocessing capabilities in various UK regions.

ELLEN GUSTAFSON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 30 PROJECT

Ellen Gustafson is a sustainable food system activist and social entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the 30 Project, a new way to connect global hunger and obesity and crowd-source long-term food system change. The 30 Project is hosting and inspiring dinners around the country and world to promote a new dialogue and new solutions to a better food system.
She is also the Co-Founder of FEED Projects, LLC, a charitable company that creates good products that help FEED the world, and Co-Founder and former Executive Director of FEED’s non-profit partner, the FEED Foundation. Under Ellen’s leadership FEED provided over 65 million school meals to children around the world.
Previously, Ellen was a US Spokesperson for the UN World Food Program, a terrorism research reporter in the ABC News Investigative Unit and a research associate for the Military Fellows at the Council on Foreign Relation. She has a BA in International Politics from Columbia University and is (slowly) pursuing a Master's Degree in Food Studies at New York University.  
She has been featured, with FEED business partner Lauren Bush, as one of Fortune Magazine’s 2009 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, Inc Magazine’s 2010 30 Under 30, and has spoken at the Fortune Most Powerful Women’s Conference, guest lectured at Harvard, NYU, Lehigh University, Columbia University and the US Naval Academy and given a TED talk.
She serves on the Columbia University Alumni Board of Directors and the founding Board of Directors for a new Bronx charter school within the Success Charter Network.

STEPHAN GUTZEIT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHARITÉ FOUNDATION

Stephan Gutzeit has been working as a knowledge entrepreneur in Berlin for a number of years. Currently he is Executive Director at Stiftung Charité, a foundation endowed by German entrepreneur Johanna Quandt to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in medicine. He holds several other directorships, among them at Arcadia Berlin Stiftung. He is also a member of the investment committee at the Charité Biomedical Fund, a venture capital fund focusing on investments in medical device companies, and serves as a consultant for universities and foundations. Earlier, he worked for a global consultancy firm, started up the first German liberal arts college, and co-founded the second German school of governance. He was educated at Stanford and Harvard, where he studied chemistry and philosophy.

BILL HALLAHAN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, BIS

Bill is an Assistant Director in the Enterprise Directorate at the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS), where he has responsibility for developing policies around enterprise culture, enterprise education and increasing the number of women considering, starting and growing their own businesses. These are key areas in supporting the Government’s wish to make this the most entrepreneurial decade in the UK’s history. Bill is a mentor for both the Prince’s Trust and the Ethnic Minority Mentoring Consortium. Website: www.bis.gov.uk

JEAN HAMMOND, JPH ASSOCIATES

Jean Hammond is an active angel investor usually focusing on early stage high tech start-ups. She was a founder of the Boston branch of Golden Seeds (focused on investing in women-managed businesses) and a member of Launchpad and Hub Angels. Jean serves on the boards of The Technology Capital Network, Thompson Island Outward Bound and Boston Raising. She plays or played an active board level role with a number of her Boston area investments. Jean co-founded Quarry Technologies and AXON Networks, both computer networking startups. She earned M.S. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she is currently a part-time Entrepreneur‐in‐Residence.

REBECCA HARDING, CEO, DELTA ECONOMICS

Rebecca Harding is the founder and Chief Executive of Delta Economics, a research-led economics consultancy. She has had a varied career spanning business, policy and academic roles, including senior roles at Deloitte, The Work Foundation and London Business School. She is the author of 9 books and a proliferation of journal articles and reports and has held visiting Professorships at Birkbeck College, London and the Max Planck Institute for Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth at Jena, Germany. Her other roles have included Special Adviser to the Treasury Select Committe in the UK and Adviser to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship and she is a Director of the German British Forum.

LORRAINE HARITON, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Lorraine Hariton is the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs. Ms. Hariton has more than 25 years of experience in the IT sector in Silicon Valley. She served as President and CEO of Apptera from 2003 to 2005. She served as the CEO of Beatnik from 1999 to 2002 where she repositioned the company as a leader in the wireless. Ms. Hariton also spent 15 years at IBM serving in a number of executive capacities. Ms. Hariton has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University.

PEGRAM HARRISON, FELLOW IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Pegram Harrison is a Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and a member of Exeter College. His research emphasises women's entrepreneurship in the Islamic world. He teaches entrepreneurship (pre-start-up, opportunity recognition and business planning) and leadership (especially in entrepreneurial contexts). He has also taught literature and history at New York University and Birkbeck College in the University of London. From 2006 to 2008, he was Director of the Emerging Leaders Programme at the London Business School. Prior to this he taught entrepreneurship and strategy at the European Business School London, where he also ran various MA programmes and directed an entrepreneurship research unit. Pegram has worked as a strategy consultant in New York; and as an entrepreneur, developing several UK start-ups in television and organic food. He holds a BA in Literature from Yale (1989), a PhD in English Literature and Indian History from the University of Cambridge (1997); and an MBA from London Business School (2000).

MARK HART, MANAGER, GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR

Mark jointly manages the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project in the UK and advises a number of Government Departments including BIZ, UKTI, HMT and HMRC on enterprise issues and has undertaken a number of national evaluations of business support.

COLETTE HENRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHAIR, VETERINARY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Colette Henry is the Norbrook Professor of Business & Enterprise at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London. She also holds visiting professorships at the Universities of Tromsø (Norway) and Birmingham City (UK). A Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA), Colette is also the former President of the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE). She has published widely on the topics of entrepreneurship education & training, programme evaluation, women’s entrepreneurship and the creative industries. In addition to journal articles, she has published a book on Entrepreneurship Education & Training (with Ashgate); edited two books on the Creative Industries (with Edward Elgar); co-edited a book on female entrepreneurship (Routledge), and co-edited the latest Diana publication on ‘Women entrepreneurs and the global environment for growth’ (Edward Elgar). Her more recent research focuses on entrepreneurship education and women in veterinary medicine. Colette is also the editor of the International Journal of Gender & Entrepreneurship (IJGE). In 2010, Colette was awarded a fellowship from ISBE in recognition of her contribution to and work with the Institute in her roles as Trustee, Executive Board Member and President.
Contact:

AUDREY IFFERT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP CATALYST, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Audrey Iffert is an Entrepreneurship Catalyst in Arizona State University’s Office of University Initiatives (UI), a branch of the ASU President’s Office. Audrey’s primary role within UI is to work with a wide variety of ASU faculty and staff, to support them as they build and scale entrepreneurship opportunities within the university (learn more at http://ui.asu.edu). Audrey provides counsel, helps strategize program development and growth, and builds partnerships; she also directs projects that range from ASU's Global Entrepreneurship Week to the ASU Innovation Challenge. Audrey completed her B.A. at Illinois State University (summa cum laude) and earned an M.A. from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. She is an advocate for women’s participation in entrepreneurship and is currently working on her doctorate at ASU; her research focuses on engaging college women in entrepreneurship courses and extra-curricular activities.

SHAHEENA JANJUHA-JIVRAJ, DIRECTOR, ICE

Shaheena researches, trains and publishes extensively on family businesses focusing on management and succession in family firms; conflict management; the role of women in family businesses and capacity building for social enterprises and support organisations. Director of Centre for Entrepreneurship at Henley Business School, Shaheena teaches on creativity and innovation for new venture creation, business development and entrepreneurial management. She also works to embed entrepreneurship education within the curriculum. A Fellow of the RSA, awarded in 2006 the First Women of the Future Award, and judges Coutts Annual Family Business Award. Shaheena does extensive voluntary work within the Ismaili Community.

ANULA JAYASURIYA, EVOLVENCE INDIA LIFE SCIENCE FUND

Anula Jayasuriya, MD, PhD, MBA is a life science investor. Anula is co-founder of the “Evolvence India Life Science Fund” established in 2006 to make investments in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device companies based in India. EILSF has made five investments to date in the areas of generic drugs, cancer care delivery and hospital consumables. She was previously a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto, and prior to that with the German – US venture capital firm TVM. Anula’s expertise consists of a unique combination of business, basic science and medical knowledge. Her prior positions include VP-Corporate development at Genomics Collaborative Inc., and Vice President, Global Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche for opportunistic infections in AIDS and Transplantation. Anula received a BA from Harvard summa cum laude, and an MD and PhD (in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) from Harvard Medical School. She interned in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Anula also has a M. Phil. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, England. Anula sits on the boards of Health Care Global, Bangalore; Ocimum BioSolutions, Hyderabad & Gaithersburg, InCellDx, Menlo Park and nVision, Mountain View and previously, of Lipomics, which was acquired by Tethys. She is also a trustee of Astia.

MARGARET KAVALARIS, PARTNER, SNR DENTON

Maggie Kavalaris heads SNR Denton’s Corporate practice and is a member of the Venture Technology practice. Her practice focuses on corporate finance, securities and intellectual property licensing, with an emphasis on the representation of venture backed, emerging growth companies, in particular, technology companies. Her transactional experience includes venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings, including underwriter side representation of investment banks in technology company equity offerings. She also advises companies in all stages of development with respect to corporate governance and operations, technology development, transfer, licensing and distribution. Maggie is a frequent speaker on technology, corporate finance, intellectual property, law firm management and women in leadership and law firms. Prior to joining SNR Denton, Maggie was a partner in the Venture Capital, Emerging Companies, Public Offerings, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Technology Transactions practice groups in the Washington, DC office of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. Before that, she served three terms as a member of the Executive Board of Gray Cary from 1996-2005, its national Marketing Partner from 1995-2004 and chair of the Corporate and Securities Group from 1999 to 2002. She also served as managing partner of Gray Cary’s Washington, DC office from 2003-2005. Maggie received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco in 1981. She earned her B.A. from the University of California Berkeley in 1977, where she was elected to membership in the Pyrtanean Honor Society and the Order of the Golden Bear. Awards *Elected to Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government's Leadership Board * 2005 Elected Chair of Washington, DC based WCF (formerly Women's Campaign Fund) * 2005 Elected to the Board of Directors, San Francisco Zoological Society * 2001 Named to Los Angeles Daily Journal, Top 100 Lawyers in California List * 2000 LMA San Francisco Law Firm Marketing Partner of the Year, 1999

SABRINA KIEFER, VENTURE COACH AND BUSINESS PLAN MANAGER, IMPERIAL COLLEGE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Sabrina is a Venture Coach in the Entrepreneurship Hub at Imperial College Business School, where she assists MBA students, engineers and industrial designers developing entrepreneurial businesses in the school's Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design (IE&D) Programme.
She is co-author, with Prof. Bart Clarysse, of The Smart Entrepreneur  (published May 2011 by Elliot & Thompson, London) and she set up and maintains an online learning dashboard for IE&D Projects.  She also organises the IE&D Best Practice seminar series for industry audiences.  Previously, she has worked for the Associated Press, Business Week Magazine and the Financial Times. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Management from the ACCA.

LIBBY KINSEY, INVESTMENT MANAGER, NESTA

Libby Kinsey is an Investment Manager with NESTA Investments. She makes and manages investments in the ICT sector, with a focus on opportunities in microelectronics and materials innovations. She is responsible for NESTA’s investments in Gnodal, eoSemi and Skimlinks. Libby is a director of the European Microelectronics Academy, a business accelerator which leverages the experience and assets of industry stakeholders to reduce the costs and risks associated with semiconductor start-ups. She began her career at Intellect, the UK’s high tech trade association and has an MSci in Mathematics from Imperial College, London

TOM KOSNIK, FENWICK AND CONSULTING PROFESSOR, STANFORD SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, STANFORD TECHNOLOGY VENTURES PROGRAM

Tom Kosnik is a Fenwick and West Consulting Professor, Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), at Stanford School of Engineering.   He is an International Adviser for National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre, and a co-founder of Gear Up Ventures, a global partnership that helps entrepreneurs in organizations large and small to create new markets and disrupt existing markets. Teaching: His current courses include Global Entrepreneurial Marketing, Technology Entrepreneurship, New Venture Creation, and Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Program. He taught Marketing at Harvard Business School from 1985-89 and 1995-97. His current research is: Negotiating Across the Triple Chasms of Generation, Gender, and Culture.

MICHAEL LAWRENCE, TSB, UK

Michael graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked in Product Development at Jaguar Cars for 26 years. In his role as Business Director he ran the Jaguar Engineering Centre at Whitley, Coventry. He was Project Manager for the Jaguar S Type and spent 2 years as Director of Jaguar and Land Rover Special Vehicles. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Michael left the car industry at the end of 2004 to become Director of Housing, Health and Community at Oxford City Council. Michael is currently Head of Special Projects at the Technology Strategy Board (the Government’s Innovation Agency). His responsibilities include the development of programmes to stimulate innovative UK research and development in satellite telecommunications and satellite navigation. This is part of the Government strategy to increase UK industry’s share of the growing global market for Space technology and applications. He works closely with the UK Space Agency and is the UK delegate for Telecommunications at the European Space Agency. Michael is also a Non-Executive Director of Orbit Heart of England Housing Association and a Governor at King Edward VI School in Stratford on Avon.

SUE LAWTON, CEO, WECONNECT EUROPE

Sue Lawton is the CEO of WEConnect Europe, the corporate membership organisation supporting the creation of contract opportunities for women business owners. Sue has a background in business development, holding Masters degrees in both Human Resource Management and Social Enterprise and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of People Management and a Visiting Fellow at the Small Business Research Centre at Kingston University.

MARIA LEANDER, GENERAL COUNSEL, EUROPEAN INVESTMENT FUND

Maria Leander is General Counsel and Company Secretary of the European Investment Fund (EIF). EIF is a private public partnership in the financial sector, with an objective to support small and medium-sized companies and entrepreneurship generally. Maria is, among other things, responsible for all legal aspects of the business activity of EIF, including venture capital and private equity investments, technology transfer, mezzanine investments, micro-finance, structured finance and other types of financing.

Maria has some 25 years of experience working with finance and corporate matters. Before joining EIF in 1995, Maria worked in law firms for close to 10 years.

Maria holds a LL.M. from the University of Lund. She was admitted to the Swedish bar in 1993. Maria is a member of EVCA’s Tax and Legal Committee and has, among other things, participated as an expert in many European initiatives to improve the European environment for private equity (Alternative Investment Expert Group, 2006, Expert Group on Removing Obstacles to Cross-border Investments by Venture Capital Funds, 2007 and Expert Group on Removing Tax Obstacles to Cross-border Venture Capital Investments, 2009).

JULIE LENZER-KIRK, CEO, PATH FORWARD CENTER

Julie Lenzer-Kirk is CEO of the Path Forward Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit that acts as a catalyst for economic change by activating women to build their Business Beyond One™. The Center focuses on businesses that have the potential to leverage technology as they grow beyond the founder to create jobs, increase opportunities, and improve the world. The Path Forward Center was born out of Ms Kirk’s six years teaching with the internationally-acclaimed ACTiVATE® program at UMBC. Through this program, which was named “Best Specialty Entrepreneurship Program” by USASBE, she has helped experienced women learn how to commercialize technology to start growth oriented businesses. The Center recently negotiated an exclusive license with UMBC to replicate this program internationally. An award winning entrepreneur, Ms. Kirk founded her first company, Applied Creative Technologies, Inc. (ACT), in 1995 as an IT solutions firm focusing on manufacturing operations and inventory control. With Fortune 500 clients, she grew the company to multi-millions in revenues, winning several national awards for workplace excellence. Through her 10-year leadership, ACT developed and commercialized ACTrax , a leading-edge production and warehouse management system, for which she negotiated the sale in 2005.

MARGARET MACKENZIE, CO-FOUNDER, PAYMO

Ms. Mackenzie co-founded Paymo, Inc., a global mobile payments company, in 2007.  In 2009, Margaret and her co-founder sold Paymo to Boku – a market-leading mobile payments company which was recently named as one of the top 50 venture funded companies by the Wall Street Journal .  At Boku, she was the Chief Operating Officer,  SVP of Operations and head of Corporate Development until early 2011.  In addition to co-founding Paymo, Margaret has been an executive in other venture-backed, online transaction processing companies including mBlox and 4charity.  She has spent her career in financial services including early years at Silicon Valley Bank, where she was a founding Managing Director of their broker-dealer subsidiary, and in the investment banking group of BankAmerica Corporation.  Margaret is a Californian, with an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of California at Davis, and an MBA in Finance from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. 

SUSAN MARLOW, PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, LEICESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL, DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY, LEICESTER, UK

Susan Marlow, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Leicester Business School, De Montfort University Susan is Editor of the International Small Business Journal and Vice President for Research at the UK Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Susan has been a Visiting Professor at several North American universities and is currently Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Leeds. Her research interests and publications focus upon  gender and entrepreneuring, business incubation, business failure, labour management and social enterprise. Susan is an invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has been granted the  Queens Award for Enterprise Promotion through recommendation of the Prime Minister to Queen Elizabeth II.

LYNN MARTIN, PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, MMU

Professor Lynn Martin PhD is an experienced entrepreneur working within a university whose role involves research and development in enterprise. With a considerable track record in knowledge transfer she has significant experience in developing international links with Europe and Asia and working with both companies and public sector authorities. As Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Centre for Enterprise, she heads a team with a proven track record in business start up and SME growth activities who are carrying our research and enterprise activities in Entrepreneurship, Knowledge Exchange and Business Engagement, Gender and Life Course in Entrepreneurship, Knowledge transfer and Innovation, New Technology, Social Enterprise and the Third Sector. She has over 60 publications in small firm issues and runs the award winning knowledge exchange programme Tea with the Prof. Currently heading the 10,000 Small Businesses Programme in the UK Northwest, she was recently awarded an ESRC Fellowship for her work in social enterprise and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal society of Arts Commerce and Manufacturing for her work with small firms. Her background includes management in a large organisation and small firm ownership as well as a range of teaching and research expertise.

DR MAURA MCADAM, LECTURER IN MANAGEMENT, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST

Dr Maura McAdam is a Lecturer in Management and Programme Director for BSc Business Management Programme at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research explores three complementary themes; female entrepreneurship, high technology based enterprises and support mechanisms such as incubators and science parks. In particular, she is interested in the intersection of these domains, namely the growth patterns of female owned high technology firms and the role of incubators in supporting growth. She has published in Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, R&D Management, and International Small Business Journal. Maura is an invited fellow of Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) as well as an Elected Board Member of ISBE (Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship). She has a broad practical foundation from her work in industry prior to entering academia.

JO ANNE MILLER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GOLDEN SEEDS

Prior to joining Milk Street Ventures, a secondary direct venture capital firm, Jo Anne was a Principal at Nokia Innovent, a seed-stage investing team within the Nokia strategy organization. In this role, Ms. Miller was responsible for management of the portfolio and the Nokia business relationships. Prior to Nokia, Jo Anne was the President and CEO of Gluon Networks, a start-up providing next-generation converged voice and data switching and management systems for local telephone service providers. Jo Anne has more than 29 years of telecommunications and computer industry experience, including senior executive, engineering management, and research roles at JetCell, an indoor wireless/VoIP company (acquired by Cisco Systems), AirNet Communications, a wireless infrastructure company, Tellabs, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Ms. Miller has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Jo Anne is also an angel investor with SandHill Angels and leads the Golden Seeds - San Francisco Angel Investor Forum. She serves on the boards of Synergy,Inc., Inteliinet Technologies, Astia and MentorNet.

LESA MITCHELL, VICE PRESIDENT, EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

She has been responsible for the Foundation’s frontier work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universities into the commercial market and the new relationships between philanthropy and for profit companies. Under Mitchell’s leadership, the Foundation is defining and codifying alternative commercialization pathways, and identifying new models to foster innovation. Mitchell was instrumental in the founding of the Kauffman Innovation Network / iBridge Network, the Translational Medicine Alliance, the National Academies-based University-Industry Partnership and leader in the replication of innovator-based mentor programs across the U.S. In addition, Mitchell serves on the boards of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation and the University of Kansas Institute for Commercialization.

Prior to joining Kauffman, Mitchell spent twenty years of her career in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles, and Marion Laboratories and ran an electronic clinical trials consulting business in support of global pharmaceutical clients.

EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.Kauffman.org) works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship around the world. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is working to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, to advance entrepreneurship education and training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and to better facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and others that have great promise for improving the economic welfare of the world.

The Foundation works with leading educators and researchers nationwide to create awareness of the powerful economic impact of entrepreneurship, to develop and disseminate proven programs that enhance entrepreneurial skills and abilities, and to improve the environment in which entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

TOM MONTGOMERY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HYDRA VENTURES

Tom currently manages Hydra Ventures, the recently launched venture capital arm of adidas AG. He was formerly the Head of Corporate Strategy at adidas. Prior to joining adidas, he worked for almost a decade in various management roles in strategy, marketing and finance for the Walt Disney Company.

EMMANUELLE MORICE, GLOBAL SOFTWARE EXECUTIVE

Most recently at SAP, Emmanuelle Morice was the head of Digital Channels and Demand Management, responsible for establishing a significant new revenue line. She created one eCommerce Business platform, exploiting Web and Tele capabilities, steering the entire Demand Generation value chain globally, to build an integrated Sales and Marketing channel in support of SAP’s volume business goals.
Emma joined SAP in 1995 and has held various roles in the SAP organization, including Managing Director (MD) of SAP Portals EMEA, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Global Collaborative Solutions, Regional MD of SAP Nordic. Then, Emma was SVP of SME Market Development, responsible for the Go-to-Market of SAP Business ByDesign, the first SaaS offering from SAP.

Emma was a member of the Global Executive Leadership Team; she has been instrumental in leading the transformation of SAP going down market, from key accounts to small and mid-sized enterprises.
Before joining SAP, Emma worked in a number of field positions at Automatic Data Processing (GSI-ADP) for seven years.

TERESA NELSON, PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SIMMONS COLLEGE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Dr. Teresa Nelson holds the Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor of Entrepreneurship Chair and is Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the Simmons College School of Management, offering one of three MBA programs for women in the world. Her teaching, research, and consulting focuses on issues of entrepreneurship and global business, most particularly around start-up and growth company governance and top management team dynamics. She has also been engaged for more than a decade with global business issues, including especially China and the European Union.

RICHARD NUNNELEY, HEAD OF CHARITIES, DALTON STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

A former Director of Mercury Asset Management and Cazenove, Richard has long advised and managed assets for UHNW clients and their Foundations He currently acts as a key independent advisor to a Major British Family. Also Chairman of EMAC Capital, he finds time to act as a trustee of the Yehudi Menuhin School ,Combat Stress and the Dunhill Family Medical trust . He is strongly focused upon Corporate Social Responsibility and relishes advising both Entrepreneurs and their children as to how they can strive to make a social difference . Whilst in The Army, from which he retired as a Colonel he was a fully qualified Mountain Guide . He still loves high places because they are there.

MAGGIE O'CARROLL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE WOMEN'S ORGANISATION

Starting her career in the United States, Maggie moved to Liverpool in 1991 where she successfully ran her own management consultancy business working with a range public, private and third sector organisations. In 1996 she founded The Women’s Organisation to address issues hindering female enterprise policy and practice development. She has led its development as an award winning women's economic development agency and social enterprise since its inception and it is now the largest and most successful dedicated Women’s Economic Development Agency in the UK. She is responsible for the overall strategic development of the organisation and has been actively involved in women's economic development policy influencing on an international, national and regional basis. She is a Business graduate with a Masters in Community Enterprise from the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Maggie also lectures part time at Liverpool University Management School on Entrepreneurship and Liverpool John Moores University, on Measuring Social Impact within their Masters in Social and Community Enterprise programmes. She is a regular contributor to conferences in the UK, and aboard, on issues relating to women's education, employment and entrepreneurship and social enterprise.

MARTINO PICARDO, CEO, STEVENAGE BIOSCIENCE CATALYST

Martino is the first CEO of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst an ambitious concept to develop an Incubator and Accelerator, followed by a world class science Park for the Life Sciences sector. Martino has a PhD in Biochemistry from Cardiff University and spent 4 years at Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston, TX in Cardiovascular research. Martino joined Amersham International in 1991 and subsequently went on to manage the R&D Technology Transfer Group, based in Cardiff and became the Science Director in 1997. Martino was previously Managing Director of UMIC and MICL and is a Board member of UKBI. Martino recently provided consultancy expertise to the World Bank on behalf of the Argentine Government in advance of direct infrastructure and project related funding ($300M) being allocated to the Biotechnology sector. Martino is also acting Chairman for a start-up company, sri Forensics Ltd.

RENAUD REDIEN-COLLOT, ADVANCIA GRANDE ECOLE DE MANAGEMENT ET D'ENTREPRENEURIAT A PARIS

Renaud Redien-Collot, ADVANCIA Deputy Director (Ph.D in Gender Studies, Columbia University, 2002) After running a UN Euromediterranean project (1992-1997) that has welcomed 600 women entrepreneurs and launched 20% of fast growth firms, Renaud has developed several programmes for national-based women-led high-growth businesses that seek to internationalize their activities. Between 2005 and 2008, in order to diversify ADVANCIA’s incubator’s female populations, he studied the networking strategies of successful French female ethnic entrepreneurs. In 2009, he joined the Women Equity for Growth (WEG)’ Index project that has identified more than 20 indicators to rank the 50 best women led-businesses in France. Renaud has chaired the WEG scientific committee since February 2010.

GRAHAM RICHARDS, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Graham Richards is emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford where he was head of the Department of Chemistry, the largest such department in the western world. His research is in the area of computer-aided drug discovery and he set up the hugely successful screensaver project involving more than 3.5 million people in over 200 countries. He was the founding scientist of Oxford Molecular Group Plc and of Inhibox Ltd. He is senior non-executive director of IP Group Plc, chairman of Inhibox Ltd and a director of TdeltaS Ltd. He is the author of over 360 scientific articles and 17 books including ‘Spin-outs; creating businesses from university intellectual property’.

ALICIA ROBB, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION

Dr. Alicia Robb is a Senior Research Fellow with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a Research Associate with the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests are entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurship by women and minorities. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, she is the co-author of Race and Entrepreneurial Success published by MIT Press and is currently working on her second book on financing strategies for women-owned businesses to be published by Stanford University Press. Her current research is on women’s entrepreneurship and innovation in the U.S., as well as women’s entrepreneurship in the U.S. and Australia.

VARUN SAHNI,MANAGING PARTNER, IMPACT INVESTMENT PARTNERS

Varun Sahni has 14 years experience in managing and investing in enterprises – both in low - middle income emerging markets, and as an angel in traditional high income businesses. At present a co – founder and managing partner of Impact Investment Partners a venture fund focusing on critical goods and services in emerging markets currently building out its first fund – India Healthcare Fund 1 a 100 MUSD fund investing in enterprises providing healthcare products and services to mass markets. Most recently, from July 2005 to July 2010, Varun built and managed the India fund for Acumen Fund where he was responsible for all fund operations. Prior to which Varun worked with a number of for profit and not for profit enterprises building multiple businesses across India. Varun is currently on the Healthcare Leadership Council of USAID’s Market-based Partnerships for Health (MBPH), and on the Advisory Council of Social Impact International. He is on the Investment Committee of Ennovent Ventures, and a member of the Executive Council of the Centre for Emerging Market Solutions at the Indian School of Business (ISB). Varun is a TED India Fellow, an Asia Society Global Young Leader and a Chevening Gurukul Scholar at the London School of Economics – an award given to 10 Indians every year by the British Government. Varun has an MA from Columbia University.

BRENDA SANTORO, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, SVB GLOBAL

Brenda Santoro is the Chief Administrative Officer for SVB Global, a member company of SVB Financial Group. Santoro is a key member of the Executive team responsible for delivery and implementation of SVB’s continued expansion into key global markets which include UK, India, Israel and China. 

Santoro has over 20 years of experience in global financial services. In her prior role as Head of Global Credit Services, Santoro had direct responsibility for a more than 100 person team, which delivered SVB’s suite of Global Credit Products, Trade Services, Global Treasury and core Operational capabilities. Prior to this role, Santoro was directly responsible for SVB’s Global Credit Products team, which supported SVB client’s global financing requirements through products that included the Export-Import Bank programs, credit insurance and forfaiting structures to name a few.

 Prior to joining SVB, Santoro spent four years as the Vice President of Concord Growth Corporation, and worked directly with start-ups and small businesses, providing and structuring financing solutions to support their growth.

Santoro began her financial services career with HSBC.  During her ten years with the organization, Brenda had responsibility for managing and structuring financing solutions for multinational client relationships, conducting business around the globe. 

Santoro is a Board Member of the British American Business Council of Northern California and the SVB Foundation.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas A&M University and spent a year studying international business as part of a Georgetown University Exchange program in the Netherlands.

SUSAN SEARLE, CEO, IMPERIAL INNOVATIONS

Susan Searle joined Innovations in 1994, initially as Commercial Director and was appointed Chief Executive in January 2002. Innovations, which is quoted on the London Stock Market, has developed a proven business model that creates, builds and invests in pioneering technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy and engineering. It has built a portfolio of innovative companies with potential to generate significant returns for both investors and IP originators. In December 2010 Innovations raised £140m to expand its investment focus from spin-outs of Imperial College to include Oxford, Cambridge and UCL. Susan was previously employed at Montech (Australia), Signet Group, Bank of Nova Scotia and Shell Chemicals in the UK and internationally, in a variety of commercial roles. She is on the Board of several companies in which Innovations has invested including Evo Electric and Plaxica. Susan has an MA in Chemistry from Exeter College, Oxford University.

NADIA SOOD, IMPACT INVESTMENT PARTNERS

Nadia Sood is an emerging markets and responsible investment expert. Most recently, she has been involved in the start-up of an investment firm called Impact Investment Partners (IIP) that specializes in critical service sectors in emerging markets. Nadia has also been Executive Vice-President for South Asia at a leading renewable energy company where she oversaw an investment portfolio of renewable energy projects in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Nadia previously served as a Director at Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company where she was responsible for developing programs to combat child labour in the agriculture sector and for leading Nestlé’s repositioning as a Nutrition Health and Wellness Company in the UK. Nadia also worked in the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at the United Nations in New York. Nadia is a US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Scholar and holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University as well as a Master in International Affairs from Columbia University. She is an Astia entrepreneur and has been named one of the top 25 leaders under 35 and one of the top 40 leaders under 40 by two of Norway's leading business magazines.

MOLLY STEVENS, PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE, IMPERIAL COLLEGE, THE RESEARCH DIRECTOR FOR BIOMEDICAL MATERIAL SCIENCES, INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

Molly Stevens is currently Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine and the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. 

She joined Imperial in 2004 after a Postdoctoral training in the field of tissue engineering with Professor Robert Langer in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to this she graduated from Bath University with a First Class Honours degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and was then awarded a PhD in biophysical investigations of specific biomolecular interactions and single biomolecule mechanics from the Laboratory of Biophysics and Surface Analysis at the University of Nottingham (2000). In 2010 she was recognised by The Times as one of the top ten scientists under the age of 40 and also received the Polymer International-IUPAC award for creativity in polymer science, the Rosenhain medal and the Norman Heatley Prize for Interdisciplinary research from the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2009 she was awarded the Jean Leray Award from the European Society for Biomaterials, in 2007 the prestigious Conference Science Medal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and in 2005 the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Engineering. She has also recently been recognised by the TR100, a compilation of the top innovators, under the age of 35, who are transforming technology - and the world with their work. Her previous awards include the Ronald Belcher Memorial Lecture Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry (2000) and both the Janssen Prize and the UpJohn Prize for academic excellence and research. 

She has a large and extremely multidisciplinary research group of students and postdocs/fellows. Research in regenerative medicine within her group includes the directed differentiation of stem cells, the design of novel bioactive scaffolds and new approaches towards tissue regeneration. She has developed novel approaches to tissue engineering that are likely to prove very powerful in the engineering of large quantities of human mature bone for autologous transplantation as well as other vital organs such as liver and pancreas, which have proven elusive with other approaches. This has led to moves to commercialise the technology (she is the co-founder of RepRegen, formally BioCeramic Therapeutics, and InTiGen) and set-up a clinical trial for bone regeneration in humans. In the field of nanotechnology the group has current research efforts in exploiting specific biomolecular recognition and self-assembly mechanisms to create new dynamic nano-materials, biosensors and drug delivery systems. Recent efforts by the Stevens group in peptide-functionalised nanoparticles for enzyme biosensing have enabled the most sensitive facile enzyme detection to date and have a host of applications across diseases ranging from cancer to global health applications. 

JEANNE M. SULLIVAN, GENERAL PARTNER, STARVEST PARTNERS, L.P.

Jeanne M. Sullivan has been investing in and growing tech companies since 1990! She has 18 years of private equity experience and has spent 28 years in the technology sector encompassing both extensive operating and investing experience with technology companies. Jeanne is a co-founder and General Partner of StarVest Partners, L.P. a New York City based venture capital firm with over $400 million under management. The firm invests in technology-enabled business services companies. As a General Partner of StarVest Partners and previously with Olivetti Ventures, Ms. Sullivan has served on the boards of many technology company boards. Ms. Sullivan has extensive experience creating “go to market” plans for expansion stage companies. Her expertise also includes strategy, a keen understanding of the technology landscape and industry trends. Prior to her venture experience, Jeanne gained her operating experience with AT&T and Bell Labs while serving in product management and industry marketing roles.

Ms. Sullivan is a sought-after industry speaker on the subject of investing in and building technology companies and has served as an adjunct professor of marketing at the graduate level. Her credentials also include: lousy but passionate golfer, Yankee baseball and sports addict, and oldest of eight kids where she learned the most about managing people and getting results.

DR ANDREA TOBIAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AQUILA CONSULTING GROUP, LLC

Andrea Tobias, Ph.D. is Managing Director of the Aquila Consulting Group, LLC in San Francisco and currently focuses on developing venture philanthropy and social enterprise organizations, and new models for funding innovation. From 07-09 she helped create, launch and fund Fast Forward, the venture philanthropy arm of the US National MS Society. She is also a senior advisor to the Global Healthshares Initiative based at UC Davis. Andrea previously was a partner at CMEA Ventures (San Francisco) from 2001 to 2006. Prior to this, Andrea spent four years as an Assistant Director in venture capital for Apax Partners & Cie Ventures (Paris) and Abingworth Management (London), where she was focused on the biotechnology, healthcare and health net sectors. Andrea also held management positions, for 10 years, in the US biotech industry and was Director of Strategic Development for Chiron Corporation and Manager of New Research Identification for Genentech. In addition, she served as the R&D liaison for foreign subsidiaries in Canada, Japan, and Switzerland. Andrea has a degree in Physiology/Anatomy from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in Endocrinology from the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine.

DOMINIQUE VALENTINY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, VALENTINY ADVISORY SERVICES

Dominique Valentiny has been an independent investor and consultant since 2008. She is notably active as a Business Angel in the technology industry in France and the UK and has already invested in 4 companies with which she is keenly involved. She is also a non executive director of a mobile service provider and is part of the Advisory board of Astia, a not for profit organization promoting women entrepreneurs. Prior to this Dominique spent 18 years in the IT&T industry. She began her career within France Telecom where she held various management positions in technical, commercial and marketing roles. Her last position was VP Sales and Marketing for the international mobile division, Orange International. In 2001 she joined Aéroports de Paris Group to launch and manage an independent telecom service provider, Hub Télécom, serving the transport, freight and logistics sectors. Developing/building up /expanding the company strong expertise in mobility she implemented a successful B to B business model and grew the business to €80million in 2007. Dominique Valentiny graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom ParisTech and holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School.

SHARON VOSMEK, CEO, ASTIA

Sharon has been CEO of Astia since 2007 previously serving as COO since 2004. Sharon has an unwavering passion and a uniquely well-suited background to drive forward the organization’s mission of propelling women’s full participation as entrepreneurs & leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation & driving economic growth. Under her guidance, the Astia community of investors, entrepreneurs, & industry leaders has grown ten-fold & now spans North America, Europe & India. Under her leadership, the organization received a half a million dollar investment from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest foundation for entrepreneurship globally. Previously, Sharon founded SJ Vosmek & Associates and held management positions at American Express & in the office of US Senator DeConcini. Ms. Vosmek was invited to participate in The White House Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference and The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. In January 2011, Astia was chosen to join the White House’s StartUP America initiative, developed to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Astia is the only organization included that focuses on women-led start ups. Sharon has a master’s in public policy and administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a bachelor’s in political science from Arizona State University.

JULIE WEEKS, PRESIDENT & CEO, WOMENABLE; CHAIR OF THE BOARD, ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS, USA

Julie Weeks is the President and CEO of Womenable, a for-profit social enterprise that works to enable women’s entrepreneurship worldwide by improving the systems – laws, policies, programs and research-based knowledge – that support women’s enterprise creation and growth. Weeks is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of women’s enterprise development, with experience in both the private and public sectors in the areas of research, public policy and program management.

Prior to launching Womenable in 2005, she served as Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, a federally-funded bipartisan policy advisory body created by the U.S. Congress to serve as an independent voice of women’s entrepreneurship and an advisor to the President, U.S. Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on women’s entrepreneurship issues. Weeks has also served as the Director of Research and Managing Director of the Center for Women’s Business Research, the Deputy Chief Counsel for Statistics and Research at the U.S. Small Business Administration, and was Vice President for Research and Public Policy at two market research firms.

Weeks has a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s degree from that same institution in Political Science with a concentration in research methodology.

FRIEDERIKE WELTER, PROFESSOR, JIBS, SWEDEN

Friederike Welter is professor for business administration, focusing on entrepreneurship, and Associate Dean for Research at Jönköping International Business School, Sweden, which she joined in October 2008. Her main research interests are related to entrepreneurial behaviour in different contexts and support policies, on which topics she has published widely. Her research on women’s entrepreneurship highlights the importance of context on the nature of women-led ventures together with implications for policy. Relevant projects include two large-scale studies on the nature and extent of women entrepreneurship in Germany and in emerging market economies, a study on the media representation of women entrepreneurs in Germany and a project on entrepreneurial learning and opportunity recognition in a gender context. Together with Candida Brush and Anne De Bruin she also edited two special issues on women’s entrepreneurship published by Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. Moreover, Friederike has wide experiences in applied policy-related research on entrepreneurship, much of it in an international context. She is a board member of the European Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB), which she headed as president from 2007-2009, and of the International Council for Small Business.

LENA WEST, CEO AND SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST

Lena L. West is an award-winning social media consultant, blogger, speaker, journalist, technologist and the Founder of AuthenticInfluencer.com, the only social media training program created exclusively for women business owners and leaders. She is also the Founder, CEO & Chief Social Media Strategist at Influence Expansion, a social media consulting, implementation and development firm that helps women-owned and led companies profit from the power of Social Media and the Internet. West is also a colmunist for American Express OPENForum, former Entrepreneur Magazine blogger and columnist, expert blogger for FastCompany Magazine and guest blogger for Lipsticking.com and bplans.com. West strongly believes that social media is a catalyst to uniting the world’s people and will continue to lead businesses and individuals toward greater levels of environmental accountability, social responsibility and corporate transparency - hence her passion for the medium. Influence Expansion's goal is to help women business leaders expand their influence, increase their income and ROCK the world! 

BARONESS WILCOX, PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Judith Wilcox, Baroness Wilcox, was born in 1940 and educated at St Dunstan's Abbey, Devon and then St Mary's Convent, Wantage, with further education at Plymouth Polytechnic.

She has had a substantial business career including running a family business in Devon and acting as President of Pecheries de la Morinie from 1989-91 and Chair of Morinie et Cie from 1991-94, both in France.

Baroness Wilcox has held a number of long-standing non-executive roles including at the Automobile Association, Port of London Authority, Cadbury Schweppes (where she launched their first corporate social responsibility report), Carpetright and Johnson Services.

She was chair of the National Consumer Council from 1990 to 1996.

In 1996 she was made a life peer as Baroness Wilcox, of Plymouth in the County of Devon. Her Lords career includes acting as Opposition Whip from 2002-05 and various roles as Opposition Spokesperson: Treasury 2003-05, Cabinet Office 2005-06, Trade and Industry/Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 2006-08, and Energy and Climate Change 2008-10.

She was a member of the science and technology Select Committee from 2000-02 and various science and technology subcommittees, including chairing a sub committee on the aircraft cabin environment. She was also a member of the European Union sub-committee from 1997-2000.

She has held office in the following all-party groups: Vice-chair, Fisheries Group 2004-; Patron, Corporate Governance Group 2004-; and Vice-chair, Consumer Affairs and Trading Standards Group 2009-.

Her political interests include the fishing and marine industries, consumer affairs and finance. Personal interests include sailing, bird watching and calligraphy.

KAREN WILSON, EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION - EUROPE

Karen works as a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation representing them in Europe. She is also founder of GV Partners, a firm created in 2004 to work with start-ups as well as initiatives to facilitate the development of a broader entrepreneurial ecosystem, including in the areas of finance, policy and entrepreneurship education. Since starting GV Partners, Karen has worked with private sector firms, international organizations, foundations and universities. In addition to the Kauffman Foundation, she is also currently working with the World Economic Forum on a global Entrepreneurship Education initiative as well as with the OECD on high growth financing and entrepreneurship policy. She currently is a Board Member and Advisor of the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER), a member of the European Advisory Board of Astia and serves on the European Leadership Council for Harvard Business School. She received, with honors, a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.