MIT Sandbox Mentors

Mentorship is central to the Sandbox experience. As they enter Sandbox, teams participate in group mentoring where they are introduced to a framework of foundational entrepreneurship and business concepts. As they progress, teams are paired with two mentors who provide personalized guidance and insights based on extensive entrepreneurial and management experience.

MIT Sandbox volunteer mentors are a diverse and accomplished group of experienced professionals and entrepreneurs passionate about working with student-led startup teams. They act as teachers, connectors, and facilitators as teams explore, evolve and advance in their entrepreneurial journey.

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Jinane Abounadi is Executive Director of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program. She brings a unique combination of experiences, from academic research to senior operational and strategic roles in start-up companies and large businesses. After completing her graduate work, she worked as a research scientist at BBN, as a postdoctoral lecturer at MIT, and advised undergraduate and graduate students. She was recently honored with the 2021 Monosson Award for Entrepreneurial Mentorship. This award recognizes her leadership in supporting entrepreneurship at MIT, and specifically mentoring students on their entrepreneurial journeys.

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Jinane held leadership roles in two of the most successful local Boston area start-ups, ITA Software and Kayak, where she gained deep knowledge about the travel technology sector. Most recently, she ran a global portfolio of 3rd party products for Travelport, giving her the opportunity to establish partnerships with companies across the globe and to advise and evaluate a number of start-ups in the travel sector. Abounadi earned her PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. She has several publications in the fields of machine learning and communication networks and is passionate about teaching and working with college students.

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Nicholas Albaugh is the MIT Libraries' Innovation & Entrepreneurship Librarian and Economics Librarian. He has been working with the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund nearly since he started in January of 2016. He have an MLIS from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Bentley University.

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Richard Amster is a course 6 EE Graduate, class of 75 and also has a JD from Suffolk University. His startup experience is in: software development, Ed Tech, Fin Tech, and Data Communications.

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He has held technical and managerial positions at Raytheon, IBM (Regional Office East and Central Europe), DEC, Fidelity Investments, Jardine Flemming (in Hong Kong), Nikko Asset Management (in Tokyo), Pfizer, ABB, and was director of data communication market research for the Yankee Group (where he learned first hand the difference between "what was neat" and "what was needed"). For the past ten years he has taught, mentored, and coached; students and managers, in cross-cultural management and communication and undertaken cross-cultural issues research in India.

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Thil Arachchi helps executive and startup teams navigate product-market fit in the challenging hardware ecosystem, build defensibility, raise capital, and develop outcome-focused teams.

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As an IoT Product Leader, he has a Valley-based support network of hardware experts that support disruptive technologies to become innovative. Recently he re-invigorated the startup culture at Tait Communications, a 60-year old mission-critical technology vendor, and took an R&D project from concept to market. Now running an independent consultancy, he acts as a sounding board to early-stage startups and accelerates those ready to scale.

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Taimur Aslam holds a BS/MS from Purdue and an MBA from Sloan MIT. He has founded 3 companies in the areas of Healthcare IT, cyber security, augmented reality. He has experience in building teams, taking ideas from concepts to production, and has served as technical founder for 3 startups.

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Mitchell Ayoob is a senior level manager and entrepreneurial technologist with expertise developing novel solutions for commercial and military applications. He has demonstrated leadership, program execution skills, recruiting and team building.

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He has a multidisciplinary engineering background spanning radar, communications, C4I, control systems and air traffic control systems across complete life cycle from R&D through production. He also has experience evaluating technology pipelines for investment opportunity and performing competitive analysis and price to win modeling. He has strong teamwork and collaboration experience with academia and industry. His current interests involve adopting and leveraging commercial innovation models to develop solutions or new business models in commercial and defense markets. He is an organizational leader and master in implementing DevOps and Agile in executing complex spiral development programs.

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Mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations. Currently a mentor at the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, The MIT Sandbox and The Social Innovation Forum.

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On the MIT VMS Outreach team. Previously mentor at TechStars and Interise; judge at MITX new product competitions; judge at Northeastern's RISE product competitions. I write a blog about mentoring entrepreneurs at www.mentorphile. com. General manager with significant experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. On founding team of four venture-backed companies. Served on five boards of directors.

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In over three decades of professional experience, Dr. Afarin Bellisario has held executive strategy, marketing, and technical positions with major firms such as Intel, Analog Devices, BBN (Raytheon), Booz-Allan and Hamilton, as well as MIT and a number startups.

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Most recently she managed MIT’s portfolio in Electronics, Communications, and Semiconductors encompassing over 500 inventions, where she licensed over 80 patents and cases in a span of 3 years. She is the founder of Transtrategy Inc., a consulting firm specializing in commercializing technology in advanced materials and semiconductors. Her major clients include investment firms, major manufacturers of semiconductor and materials, prominent management consulting firms, venture capitalist, as well as two major universities. She holds a doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering, and an MBA from Sloan School of management, both at MIT.

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Aaron-Micael Bedouin is a multilingual agribusiness professional with 10+ years of international experience in physical commodities trading, private equity-backed greenfield plantation development, and successfully commercializing agrifood and biotechnologies to industry and government.

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Formerly with two of the worlds leading privately held trading houses as well as a spin out from the Los Alamos National Laboratory — among the first to successfully commercialize AI-based agriculture focused technology — he has experience working with key stakeholders across the global food and energy system. He is passionate about the interconnectedness of commodities and climate, food and health, alt data and technology and the impact on traditional market structures going forward. He is experienced and interested in working with start ups, established commercial organizations and investors on breakthrough technologies — lab to market — including business strategy, operating and pricing models, productization, and onwards to market launch and go to market strategies.

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David Boghossian is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of deep expertise in technology, strategy, and entrepreneurship. A founder of several successful start-ups including StoryStreet Technology and PowerSteering Software, Inc, his expertise is leading-edge approaches to accelerating B2B innovation and growth through the application of cloud and mobile technology to the enterprise.

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As the co-founder of PowerSteering Software, an early cloud-based enterprise software company focused on business execution, Boghossian was one of the pioneers in applying web-based software to the strategic challenges of large global organizations. Today, as the General Manager of the Software Business at Imaginatik, PLC. David is deeply engaged in the application of congnitive computing and crowd driven insight to the challenges of innovation, continuous improvement, and scaling new businesses in large enterprises. Mr. Boghossian holds AB and MPA degrees from Harvard University, where he was a nationally ranked oarsman. He also held a year-long appointment as a Lucius Littauer Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School, focused on business and government collaboration. He currently serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, is a founding advisor to the Social Entrepreneurs Program at Root Cause, as well as a mentor to both the Harvard iLab and the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.

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Maureen Boyce is the co-founder and COO of Ignition Ventures, which helped create fundable companies alongside technology entrepreneurs; she helped start companies such as SiOnyx, Zoragen, Ember, and Lilliputian Systems Extensive consulting experience both in the US and Asia.

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She worked in Hong Kong with a Fortune 100 senior management team to build and implement its Asia entry strategy Associate Partner in IBM’s Business Strategy practice, 10+ years leading the worldwide Thought Leadership Practice in Consumer Products, Retail and Travel, as well as leading client facing teams to create growth strategies for Fortune 100 companies and start-ups Strategy Consultant at Bain & Company, in both Boston and Sydney offices. Taught at MIT in engineering management and economics. Co-led MIT's research to determine what percent of the US GDP is derived from ocean and coastal resources, a leading environmental initiative of the Clinton Administration. The National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) was created from this work, and Maureen has served on its Board. Served in the US Peace Corps, building small water systems for Fijian villages Holds a PhD, MS, and MBA from MIT and a dual BS in Civil Engineering and Technical Writing from Carnegie Mellon. Maureen's PhD research in Engineering Project Management focused on multi-criteria decision-making under uncertainty with multiple decision makers, a skill she leverages often as it is highly applicable to start-ups.

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Alexander Bratianu is the CEO of De-Ice which he co-founded out of MIT in 2015. De-Ice is eliminating the departure delays and messy chemicals involved with airplane de-icing. Prior to co-founding De-Ice, Alexander interned at the National Energy Board. Alexander studied chemical engineering at McGill and finance at MIT.

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Bernice Broyde was a research associate Cornell, UCLA, Stanford, Stanford Medical School, Harvard. She was also an executive at Startup acquired by Xerox

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Bruce Cameron is the Director of the System Architecture Group at MIT. His work at MIT include technology strategy, system architecture, and the management of product platforms. Dr. Cameron has supervised over 50 graduate students, and has directed research projects for Amazon, BP, Sikorsky, Nokia, Caterpillar, AMGEN, Verizon, and NASA. Dr. Cameron is a co-founder of Technology Strategy Partners, a consultancy created to help firms to restructure product development organizations. He has worked with 15 Sandbox companies from medical devices and online platforms.

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Maren Cattonar is currently the CEO of Automated-Analytics US LLC, a lossless large scale image processing company, and leads the Government business for Neurala, Inc., a robotics neural network company.

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For 6.5 years at MIT, she was the Assistant Director of MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation focused on moving technology from the lab to the marketplace, and a Senior Industrial Liaison Officer at MIT’s Industrial Liaison Office where she managed a portfolio of aerospace and defense companies. Prior to joining MIT, she was with Northrop Grumman for 8.5 years where she was the manager of technology strategy and portfolio development, and the manager of sector mergers acquisitions and divestitures.

She was deputy corporate lead against IEDs, a systems engineer on strategic missile defense programs, and a program manager for advanced technology in chemical and biological weapons detection, advanced radar and communications. Most recently she spent a year working as a venture capitalist for ClearSky, as VC firm focused on the Energy and Security sectors.

She also is an appointed Affiliate to MIT LL, currently supports Neurala Inc.’s business development activities part-time, and mentors MIT student start-ups. She received two BSs in engineering and economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a masters from the Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Rick Chavie is now CEO of “stealthy” software venture in Quebec looking to improve speed and accessibility of digital transformation software.  Most recently, he was CEO of EnterWorks, where he turned around a struggling company to become #1 globally in Product Information Management software, according to Forrester, and subsequently led a highly successful exit to the equity firm STG.

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Prior to that he was the Chief Solution Officer for hybris, the leader in ecommerce software prior to a more than $1 billion exit to SAP, a company where Rick had previously been the Global SVP for Retail.

Rick draws on his industry experience as a former retail executive at The Home Depot and C&A, as a technology leader in NCR’s retail and hospitality business, and his partner roles at Deloitte and Accenture.

Rick is a Harvard MBA and a Fulbright Scholar in International Trade.  He is a noted speaker and author on content, commerce, and software enabled intelligence and is frequently cited in industry publications.

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Paul Cheek is a serial tech entrepreneur, software engineer, an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and a Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

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Paul currently teaches the "New Enterprises" course and previously taught the Advanced Entrepreneurship course, "Building an Entrepreneurial Venture: Advanced Tools and Techniques.” He built MIT's entrepreneurship platform, Orbit, and also coaches entrepreneurs in various programs like the MIT delta v accelerator, MIT fuse, Sandbox Innovation Fund, workshops, and hackathons.

Paul is currently building Oceanworks, the global marketplace for recycled ocean plastic materials and products aimed at accelerating the market for recycled ocean plastic to clean up our oceans. Prior, Paul co-founded Work Today, a venture-backed digital staffing and recruiting company. As CTO, he designed and built the company's technology platform and grew the business from 0 to 50,000 workers.

Paul has also built technologies for and consulted with LogMeIn, BlackRock, Prudential, Mazda, and more

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Yu Chen is a product leader and angel investor. She built products at Google across Maps, Search, Google.org, and Internet Access for emerging markets. She also spent 2 years building online learning products at the Flatiron School. In her spare time she angel invests and advises startups. Lastly - she's also an MIT course 6 alum!

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Feng Chi Wang is an MIT Course 6 graduate, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and full-time tech startup advisor. His career was focused on defense signal processing at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, digital video compression algorithms, mobile application development, and FinTech. His most recent position was with VISA as Engineering Director, Digital and Mobile. Feng is an investor and mentor at Capital Factory in Austin TX, and serves on multiple advisory boards at early-stage startups.

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Trafford Clarke holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He has 31 years experience in pharmaceutical R&D at Eli Lilly and Co.

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Tim Collins is an MIT alum with 30 years in the B2B and B2C software space mostly with start-ups and their acquiring companies. He has held roles in almost every area including CEO, CMO, GM, Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Management, Operations. He values teamwork and a highly collaborative environment. He is married with 4 children and enjoy renovating residential real estate.

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Carl Dahlberg has had a long career in both the tech and medical sectors. After graduating from the University of Michigan he started as a software engineer in Silicon Valley and the Chicago finance industry, later following his passion for helping humans into medical school and eventually a 10+ year career as an emergency physician. In 2017 he was selected as a Sloan Fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management. As a practicing physician and the principal at Dahlberg Healthcare Solutions he takes on initiatives and projects that utilize his unique mix of expertise to push forward the envelope for medicine and tech, with the core tenet of helping real people with their most important problems.

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Shivang R. Dave, PhD, is a co-founder and CEO of PlenOptika, Inc., biomedical technologist, and social-impact entrepreneur.

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Building on a research career in bioengineering, synthetic chemistry, nanotechnology, biomedical imaging, global health, and entrepreneurship at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington, Seattle, UW Foster School of Business Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Madrid–MIT M+Visión Fellow he co-invented a breakthrough technology to vastly expand access to vision care and eyeglasses globally. The QuickSee technology commercialized by PlenOptika, a mission-driven company, has been used on more than 3 million patients in 32 countries since its launch in 2018. Prior to his efforts at PlenOptika, Shivang innovated and helped commercialize two separate biomedical technologies, each expressing his passion for thoughtful design and healthcare innovation. He enjoys sharing his experiences through mentorship, meditating on philosophy and the arts, and sharing adventures with friends in the outdoors.

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Marilyn Davidson is a certified Mediator skilled in addressing the internal challenges that teams can experience as they work on their entrepreneurial companies. She has managed workplace mediation as a management consultant for 20 years working with executive teams and entrepreneurs while based in France. She has extensive experience working with international teams and their specific challenges. Marilyn currently works with international teams at the Tufts Fletcher School and Hult Prize.

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Jennifer DeSisto is a Portfolio Manager and Asset Allocator at Anchor Capital. She has 20 years of experience in financial services across equities, fixed income, distressed investing and private equity.

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He Dong graduated from Peking University in 1997 with B.S. in physics and Obtained M.S.EE. from University of New Orleans in 1998. From 1999 to 2014, he worked for Cadexterity, Avanti, Nassda and Synopsys in Silicon Valley and Boston as the technical leader and expert in Semiconductor and EDA industries.

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From 2014, he has co-founded InnovaNano and PolyQolor in nano-material field, and SSI-USA in Scientific instrument field. He has raised more than $5M in total for these startups. He is also the senior advisor at EGI Capital and the board of director of Veeyee Tech. He was the inventor or co-inventor of 27 international patents, 13 of them were granted as of today.

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Bill Douglas, a Sloan graduate, worked for 24 years in the capital markets with areas of specialty in structured finance and, as a portfolio manager, risk management. He has also performed quantitative and qualitative risk analyses for the oil and chemical industries as an engineering consultant as well as built, utilized, and analyzed mathematical and computer models. Investment professional experienced in portfolio management and security valuation. Creates proprietary solutions in: portfolio construction and risk management; security valuation; and macro-economic data analysis using non-textbook approaches.

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Throughout much of his career, Kirk Frackre has concentrated on how technology helps organizations become more productive by managing, organizing and sharing critical knowledge, information and expertise.

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Prior to joining iCorps, Kirk cofounded Airtime, a Mobile SaaS Solution provider and ResearchAgent Corporation where he pioneered a product line used to manage web content. Most recently, he built an enterprise-class sales team at Symtrax, an international software consultancy. Upon graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kirk joined Equitrac Corporation, where he enjoyed a long and successful career in a variety of progressively responsible leadership and management positions.

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Graduated from MIT in 2018, Gabriel Ginorio is currently building business intelligence systems and strategy for new product launches at Thrasio, a hyper-growth e-commerce startup aiming to be the consumer products group (CPG) company for the 21st century. He and his team have grown from six employees when he started over three years ago to over 1300 "Thrashers" stationed across 8 global offices and working remotely. In hi spare time, he enjoy going to the theater, trying out new beers, traveling and spending time with my friends.

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Karen Golz is a board member of Analog Devices, Inc., Aspen Technology, Inc. and Osteon Holdings/Exactech, a privately owned company.  She is a senior advisor to The Boston Consulting Group’s Audit and Risk Committee.  Karen is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and was named by Women Inc magazine in January 2020 a 2019 Most Influential Corporate Director.   

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Previously, Karen was a senior leader and Global Vice Chair of Ernst & Young (EY), a global professional services firm with revenues of $31.4 billion where she led the global professional practice and independence groups for many years. She is a solutions-oriented leader with on-the-ground international experience in Europe and Asia.  She has worked with large organizations and early state high-growth companies on issues in accounting, auditing, financial and corporate reporting, internal control, regulatory, risk, securities registrations, initial public offerings and ethics matters.  Karen is a CPA and qualifies as a financial expert.

Karen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with Highest Honors.   In 2017, she was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Illinois, Gies College of Business. She previously served on the Financial Stability Board’s, established by the G20 in April 2009, Enhanced Disclosure Task Force (EDTF) as Chair of the Market Risk Workstream. 

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Irene Grzybowski is a senior operating executive with extensive international experience in client-oriented B2B financial services including general management, sales leadership, business development and product development.

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Prior to returning to the Boston area, Irene held senior level, international leadership roles serving as Managing Director, Executive Director and Division Head for UniCredit Group’s Polish subsidiary, Bank Pekao Group in Warsaw, Poland with a focus on growing its corporate and investment banking presence and leading transformation projects. As CEO of Pekao Leasing, she led the acquisition and merger of the Group’s separate leasing entities and launched a new strategy for the leasing activity propelling it to a leadership role in the local market. Irene moved to UniCredit’s Polish subsidiary after having worked with the Polish Central Bank and the Polish Treasury to privatize the bank while Country Director for the London-based, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”). While at the EBRD, Irene managed a portfolio of corporate debt and equity investments of ca Euro 1.0 billion across a broad range of industries and worked with major multinationals and private equity investors in the region. While at the EBRD, Irene served as Non-Executive Director for several major Polish companies and led corporate restructurings. Irene started her corporate banking career in New York with Hachijuni Bank and then moved to Fleet Financial Group where she specialized in risk management and restructuring. Irene completed her MBA at George Washington University and her undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. While in Europe, Irene participated in EHESP’s Comparative Public Health Masters Program and maintains a strong interest in healthcare. Irene has two children, a son who started his professional career in San Francisco and a daughter who started university this year; Irene lives in Weston, MA with her husband and two Polish dogs.

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Ninad Gujar is a researcher, entrepreneur and strategist committed to develop and deliver technology-enabled healthcare innovation.

As the Vice President of Samsung Healthcare, Dr. Gujar leads the development and execution of worldwide strategy, domestic and international registrations, quality management system and compliance activities. Dr. Gujar brings more than 18 years of experience leading teams with expertise in areas ranging from market research, product strategy, business development, regulatory affairs, quality assurance and reimbursement.

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Dr. Gujar has held key leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies working at the intersection of technology and healthcare with responsibility for activities supporting product adoption and value creation. He is also an active member of the entrepreneurship community, helping innovative startups at incubators / accelerators, universities and student projects as a mentor.

Ninad earned a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Pune, a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, an MBA from Babson College and received his Ph.D. degree from University of West London.

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Raghav, or "Rags" as he is commonly known, has been in founding and leadership capacities in venture-backed tech companies for over 20 years.

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He is currently COO at Humatics, a startup building the successor to GPS based in Kendall Square. Raghav got started in tech during the dotcom boom at Live365, a Web 1.0 Internet Radio platform, starting as chief of staff to the CEO and eventually becoming COO helping guide it to be the first profitable webcaster. He then moved to Boston and was part of the founding management team at Brightcove, the SaaS video platform, staying until its IPO in 2012. During this time, he moved to London to lead the Company's European expansion. After Brightcove, he joined Videoplaza, a Swedish video advertising platform, first as an independent Board member and then as CCO, helping lead the Company to a successful acquisition by Telstra, the Australian telco, and its Ooyala subsidiary. He stayed on for another two years as GM EMEA for Ooyala before deciding to move back to Boston with his family in the summer of 2017. Raghav enjoys advising and mentoring startups and is currently an advisor to or investor in Giant Otter, Permutive, Culture Machine, Pimoroni and Ayla Beauty.

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Marwan Hassoun is currently President of Intellectual Inspiration (formerly Green Semiconductor Inc.) an intellectual property and technology consulting firm helping organizations with their technology innovation and IP strategy.

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Marwan has over 28+ years of experience in all aspects of the semiconductor industry and has been involved in building and managing innovative Integrated Circuits products that include communications and processor and co-processor design large complex integrated System-on-Chip (SoCs) with high-speed analog, digital, memory and RF circuits. This includes academia, startups, acquisitions, large semiconductor companies, expert witness, intellectual property evaluation, IP strategy and innovation.

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Miki Hayano is Associate Director of Business Development at H3 Biomedicine, an oncology drug development company located in Cambridge, MA. She works to identify, negotiate and manage clinical and research collaborations for internal programs, as well as working with external partners to develop technologies to expand company capabilities.

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Prior to joining H3, Miki was Managing Consultant at Navigant Consulting, a mid-size life sciences consulting firm. While at Navigant, she worked on projects across the drug development life cycle, from pipeline prioritization through to launch readiness projects. Miki received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling from Columbia University, and B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Boston University. In her spare time, Miki enjoys running and traveling to exotic locations to sample the local cuisine.

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As the Director of Operations and Strategy for MIT Sandbox, Ira Hochman leads the design and implementation of the critical systems and processes that support Sandbox’s tactical and strategic goals. He collaborates with both internal and external stakeholders to extend Sandbox’s current systems and support the program’s growth, facilitates visioning of Sandbox’s future, and architects the organizational structures, systems and staff development needed to fulfill that vision.

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During his professional career, Yutaka Ishizaka has enjoyed a diversity of roles, often in cross cultural settings, including lawyer, business consultant and strategic business operations leader. Ish was the Chief Operating Officer of H3 Biomedicine, an oncology R&D company located in Cambridge Massachusetts.

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Ish was one of the original members of H3 building a team to advance the company from initial concept to productive drug development organization with three clinical candidates and thereafter positioning H3 for potential spinout to expand its investor base. Before H3, Ish was Vice President of Andover, MA Site Operations for the Japanese pharma company Eisai, guiding the Andover site’s growth, establishing the organization’s operational and legal functions and leading the development of a new $65 million research facility. Prior to joining Eisai, Ish was a principal at the consulting firm of Lampert & Associates, and practiced law at the law firms of Graham & James and O’Melveny & Myers. He received his J.D. from Columbia University Law School and earned a B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

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Kasper Juul is part of the LEO Pharma team in Boston working on enabling cutting edge technologies in life science and health tech for improving the life of people living with a skin conditions.

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Kasper has throughout his career been working with technology companies, both as a founder, invester and advisor. Initially he was focused on scaling early stage companies throughout South East Asia. And later as founding partner with a focus on tech development and startup incubation. Kasper then ventured into corporate innovation in Pharma with an initial focus on tele health and new product development, and later on investing in early stage companies as a venture partner and mentor to the teams. Kasper loves to work with passionate people and be part of making the world we live in a better place.

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Gautam Kapur is a Customer Strategy and Marketing Innovation Leader at Fidelity Investments. Prior to his current role he led Strategy and Business Development for Fidelity’s Personal Investing business.

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He also has 13+ years of management consulting experience at Deloitte where he was an Associate Partner / Senior Manager in their Strategy practice with a focus on the Financial Services and Retail industries. Gautam was instrumental in building Deloitte’s Customer Transformation practice in the US and U.K. and also has co-founded several new ventures (D.rive, Customer Echos) writhing Deloitte. Gautam holds a Masters in Supply Chain Management from MIT and a MBA from Cornell University.

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James F. Kenefick Managing Partner- Azafran Capital Partners Investor / Entrepreneur / Board member / Executive (CEO, CSO, CFO) An early-stage investor and entrepreneur for more than 25 years, specializing in deep transformational technologies.

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These frameworks include: voice, acoustic/ sensory, imagery machine learning, natural language processing, cognitive science, augmented artificial intelligence, and enterprise software. James, a YPO’er for more than 20 years. A serial entrepreneur, tech leader, speaker, noted executive, advisor, board director, mentor, and investor. With 25+ years as a Chairman, CEO, senior executive in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector, his career includes the following accomplishments and milestones: • Completing $150+ million worth of transactions for 10 technology companies. • Leading 3 start-ups to revenue growth of $15, $30 and $100M — all in less the 10 years. • Raising $500M+ in capital, creating companies worth $750M+ in market capitalization.

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Dr. Tony Kulesa is a Co-founder of Petri, a bio incubator co-created with the leaders behind Ginkgo, Twist, Exact Sciences, Beyond Meat, and more. Previously, he was the founding Director of the MIT BioMakerspace, a community biology laboratory and incubator space, and an Instructor at the MIT Department of Biological Engineering. He holds a PhD from MIT, where his inventions of new platforms for drug discovery and microbial therapeutics were highlighted in Science Editor’s Choice and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. While at MIT, he was a founding officer of MIT Biotech Group and co-founded and directed 3 courses on biotech and entrepreneurship, including BiomedStartup, a course that coaches 10+ teams per year on research commercialization projects.

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After receiving graduate degrees in political science and architecture, Curt Lamb entered the practice of architecture where he served for 10 years as founding principal of a mid-size design practice.

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In 1991 he left that practice to join the Boston Architectural College. At the BAC, he oversaw a wide variety of educational programs in architecture, interior design and landscape architecture. While at the BAC he developed an extensive continuing education program for design professionals and on-line degrees in architecture, sustainable design and historic preservation. Mr. Lamb continues to serve on the BAC faculty, directing Masters Theses projects in sustainable design and historic preservation.

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Dr. Rea Lavi is Lecturer and a Curriculum Designer with the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) undergraduate program in the School of Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA. In 2021, he received an award from the d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education to develop and teach a new undergraduate course at MIT School of Engineering, ‘22.s092 - Tackling Challenges in Climate and Sustainability with Ways of Thinking’. 

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Dr. Lavi received his Ph.D. in 2019 from the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. His research interests in STEM higher education involve the fostering and assessment of systems thinking and creative thinking within the context of complex problem-solving. His doctoral research received several awards, including the Zeff Fellowship for Excelling First-year Ph.D. Students and the Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth Fellowship for Excelling Ph.D. Students. 

Rea’s method for structured creative problem-solving, SNAP Method®, is trademarked in both the US and UK. From 2009–2013, he was involved in the founding and initial funding rounds of a biotech startup, diagnostics.ai, and was employed as its Research Manager. Rea credits his tenure in diagnostics.ai as the most valuable learning experience of his career.

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Ross Leav is Vice President at Presidio-Ventures, Inc. the Silicon Valley/Boston based corporate VC arm of the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan.  As a strategic investor, Ross aims to identify unique startups with whom collaboration in any of the many global and diversified business fields of the parent company might offer win/win advantages for both.  With nearly 20 years’ experience at Presidio, Ross’ specific investment interests include IT, media and robotics, especially targeting startups whose ideas can contribute to the digital transformation strategy of Sumitomo. 

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Ross graduated Tufts University with honors and a BA in International Relations/Economics and concentration on Japanese.    After graduation, Ross moved to Wakayama Japan for two years, to serve as a Coordinator for International Relations under the Japanese National Ministry of Education (Monbusho).  Upon returning to the States, Ross joined the Center for Business Intelligence, a global research firm serving the international power generation and distribution industry.  In 1997 Ross entered the Sumitomo group, as head of the Boston office of Sumitronics, Inc., a Sumitomo subsidiary at the time, in charge of discovering and developing strategic business opportunities with US high-tech startups.  One year later, Sumitomo’s CVC was established and merged with Sumitronics to create what is known today as Presidio-Ventures, Inc.   Ross has a passion for discovering new technology to solve real world problems and for fostering understanding among people of differing cultures and views.  In his spare time, Ross enjoys practicing karate, skiing, disc golf and following current affairs.

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Joshua Lessing is an experienced scientist with a strong background in building hardware startup companies.

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Kosta Ligris is an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, an MIT Sloan alumnus, and an experienced real-estate attorney, investor and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Ligris family of companies, a collection of professional services, real estate, and consulting companies, and cofounder of Stavvy, a Boston-based venture-backed fintech company.

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Alex Manick is an Associate Principal at Schooner Capital where she focuses on venture and growth stage investments in healthcare and technology companies. She currently serves as a Director at Remedy Plan Therapeutics and a board observer at Millstone Medical Outsourcing, Censinet, and eXIthera. Prior to Schooner, she worked as a process engineer for MIT spin-out start-up, 1366 Technologies, analyzed automobile manufacturing practices for the CTO at Tesla Motors, and consulted for various early stage tech companies. Alex holds a BS in Materials Science & Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Stanford.

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Alfonso Martinez is a recent graduate of the MIT Sloan MBA program and co-founder of auggi, a gut-health startup backed by MIT Sandbox and MIT delta v.

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Alfonso also acts as Product Manager at Aetna's Digital team where he builds patient-facing applications for patients with chronic conditions. He is the co-director for the MIT COVID-19 Challenge and was teaching assistant for MIT’s advanced entrepreneurship courses during his time at MIT. Prior to MIT, Alfonso worked in business development at athenahealth fostering partnerships with health tech startups as part of athenahealth’s Marketplace. Prior to athenahealth, Alfonso was a management consultant at Accenture focused on operational improvement and analytics strategy in health systems and payers. Alfonso holds a B.Sc. in Economics & Finance from Bentley University.

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Sarah Jane is a leader in sustainability & climate change at Deloitte. She’s worked in the climatech innovation space for most of her career including working with clients ranging from National Grid Partners, Gates Ventures/Breakthrough, XL Fleet, to NYSERDA. She currently volunteers her time with Energize CO as an Innovation Ecosystem Advisor as well as Clean Energy for America. She sits on the board of Exponential Impact, Forge, & Chain Reaction Innovations as well as serves as an advisor to ADL Ventures, focused on energy venture development.

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Phil McMannis is an entrepreneur and investor with expertise in product, marketing and technology in the B2B and B2C markets. His last business, LogoMix, was an online platform that enabled small businesses worldwide to create their own brand.

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Jeff Meller has been a Sandbox mentor since inception of the program in 2016. His particular experience is in energy, infrastructure, and emerging markets. He was the founding CEO of a cleantech company which generated electricity by anaerobic digestion at wastewater treatment plants. On the investment side, he was portfolio manager for a US$ 300 million emerging markets fund. For many years he was an international finance lawyer, lived in India, and worked and invested in developing countries in Central Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has taught international infrastructure finance at Boston University School of Law. His current interests focus on agriculture and forestry and in particular silvopasture which lies at the intersection.

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Most recently, at IBM Tim Meyer advised global clients on their Digital Transformation and Internet of Things (IoT) strategies, leveraging IBM’s assets in AI, Analytics, Cloud, Mobile and Security.

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He has a particular focus on Smart Cities, Intelligent Transportations Systems, Telecommunications and Industrial Systems. Tim’s career spans large technology companies Analog Devices and Ericsson as well as a series of startups. As CEO of Crisp Wireless, he pioneered mobile multimedia applications for Nokia, Motorola and AT&T. Tim has consulted for a variety of companies from small to large multinational on electric car charging, smart city networks, solar monitoring systems, wearables and cybersecurity. Tim held a variety of management roles at Ericsson, culminating in CTO of the Wireless Internet Solutions division. His notable achievement was developing the first wireless, push email system jointly with Research in Motion and RadioMail. This directly led to the development of Blackberry. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and the Cleantech Executive Program at New York University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, with a focus on the intersection of policy and technology.

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Phil Michaels is a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and finalist for ABC’s Shark Tank who’s spoken in 24 countries. After founding Tembo Education, Phil has also become a performance coach, coaching mostly CEOs from Harvard and MIT. But he also coaches the #1-ranked poker player in the world, the #1-ranked Arabic Pop Artist in Dubai, and the captain of the US Olympic culinary team. He’s also the host of the only podcast in the world that exclusively interviews entrepreneurs that made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

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As the Chief Technology Advisor at Airbus Ventures, Jonathan Miller stewards the firm's tech investment thesis globally. Growing up in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, he performed applied research and development in robotics and telehealth on behalf of the US Government and then became a venture founder, advisor, and angel investor. As a contributor to the study and practice of lab-to-market commercialization and frontier tech work, he has collaborated with organizations including Alphabet X, NASA, Flex, and the U.S. Department of Defense. He hosts the Tough Tech Today podcast, teaches at MIT, and enjoys operating planes, Rovers, and drones.

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As a Sandbox Alumni from 2017/2018, Gia Min has been involved in startups and projects that led up to startups in various verticals, including health tech and media/digital contents. She also has been active in various startup communities, accelerators and meetups as well. This ecosystem is something she is always excited about.

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Seth Muriph is a private investor, philanthropist, and advisor. He has spent over three decades in a range of ventures across the financial, software development, and entertainment industries.

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He was involved with 2 Boston hedge funds, created 3 successful software enterprises, and started his career at McKinsey. He holds SM & SB degrees from MIT in Computer Science & Engineering, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.

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Ted Offner is a PM in Microsoft's platform and OS engineering group with a background in economics and statistics. He was previously a consultant where he worked in credit cards, pharmaceutical pricing, and antitrust. He loves transportation, maps, and urban development, and for inexplicable reasons he roots for the Buffalo Bills.

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Genevieve Paquette is a commercial leader with expertise in scaling digital health companies for over 15 years. She was a co-founder of two healthcare startups, was a board director, and led her last startup, Level Ex, to a successful exit in 2020. She has owned almost every business function within a company including strategy, product, sales, marketing, and investor relations. Her early career focused on launching products, building brands, and driving sales as a marketer for WebMD, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, Progressive Insurance, and other Fortune 500 and startup brands. In addition, she is a strategic advisor to multiple VC-backed, digital health companies.

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Adam is an investor, mentor, entrepreneur and new technologies competition judge with 20 years of experience in clean energy & water and hardware companies. He has helped to start over 20 companies in emerging markets.

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Prior to being an entrepreneur, he was an employee at the Industrial Bank of Japan, Salomon Brothers, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and National Investment Fund 13 (in Poland). Adam has been presented the Cleantech Investment Forum Pioneer Prize for his work in establishing the first significant wind and solar development companies in central Europe. As an Angel Investor, Adam is a Partner in the Clean Energy Venture Group, a member of Launchpad Ventures, and MIT Angels. Adam mentors & judges at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Techstars, Northeastern University, CleanTech Open, & MassChallenge. Adam is on the Advisory Board of the International Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga Portugal, the MIT Enterprise Forum Polska accelerator in Warsaw Poland and the University of Wollongong (Australia) iAccelerate program. Adam has a Masters Degree from the MIT Sloan School (1988), a BA from the University of Chicago (1981), and graduated from Phillips Academy at Andover (1976). Adam is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Adam’s profile can be found on LinkedIn or listen to Adam on the podcast.

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Khalil Ramadi is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine at NYU. He is an MIT graduate (SM '16 PhD '19) and former Sandbox Fellow and team member. He has extensive experience in biomedical technologies and ventures and is a former Co-Director of MIT Hacking Medicine.​

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Daniel Ramirez has spent the last 6 years in the healthcare space building, investing, and helping startups grow and partner with large organizations. He has worked in different regions of the world in industries like Banking, Petroleum, Insurance, Pharma and Consumer goods. He is currently based in Silicon Valley. Daniel enjoys problem solving and focus his efforts on helping people get closer to their vision.

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Patrick Rivalli is currently Co-Director and Life Sciences Track Lead at MIT Angels, an angel investing group comprised of over 800 MIT alums. He is also President and CEO of Sonogenix, Inc., a clinical-stage medical device company preventing and treating kidney disease.

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He previously was founder and CEO at Bioabsorbable Therapeutics, a cardiology drug delivery company acquired by MultiCell Corporation in 2009; co-founder and CEO of Smart Therapeutics, a neurovascular device company acquired by Boston Scientific in 2002; and VP of Strategic Planning and Operations at Target Therapeutics, a neurovascular device company acquired by Boston Scientific in 1997. Mr. Rivelli has been an active angel investor and Director since 2002, including for Chestnut Medical Technologies (acquired by ev3 / Covidien); Bay Street Medical (acquired by Johnson & Johnson); and Vascular FX (acquired by Micrus / J&J). He has a MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a BA magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University. He also holds 9 issued patents.

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Brad Rosen is a serial entrepreneur with EECS background and Sloan MBA who loves the early stages of company building.

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Will Sanchez is a technology entrepreneur with experience founding, leading, and operating venture-backed technology companies. He specializes in the commercialization of advanced technology in design, manufacturing and materials, semiconductors, and telecommunications. His primary interests include sourcing advanced technologies and building businesses around the commercializing of these technologies.

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Will recently served as VP of Business Development at Gradient, a Boston-based, venture-backed cybersecurity company. Prior to Gradient, Will served as Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) for the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management where his teaching centered around entrepreneurship; he currently advises & mentors aspiring entrepreneurs across MIT, helping them turn ideas to reality as well as build skills and knowledge through courses, educational programs, hackathons, and accelerators.

Prior to MIT, Will co-founded CoolChip Technologies, an MIT spinout commercializing proprietary electronics cooling technologies. As President and CEO, Will was responsible for overall operations across US, China, Japan, and Taiwan, including supply chain management, business and corporate development, research & development, and strategic partnerships. Prior to CoolChip, Will was a researcher and instructor at MIT EECS, and held positions at Telefonica and the CIA.

Will is an active community member, serving as a mentor for Hack.Diversity, a public-private partnership designed to tackle the underrepresentation of black and Latino talent in Boston’s innovation economy; a mentor for Air Force Accelerator powered by Techstars; and, a volunteer in various Christian-based ministries throughout greater Boston. Will earned B.Sc., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT, and lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

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Javier Segovia is an entrepreneur and builder of innovative digital experiences. He is a proven technology executive with expertise in leading lean startups, product management, business development, marketing strategy and high-performance product development & design teams.

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He is an advisor to entrepreneurs on venture fundraising, go-to-market & growth, and product & UX strategy. He is an entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School, where he coaches student-entrepreneurs as they navigate the process of launching new ventures. He is a judge for HBS Alumni New Venture Competition and MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. He is also a lead mentor to TechStars, MassChallenge and HBS Rock Accelerator startups. He is driven to grow tech businesses to profitability by building great products, satisfying customers, and using lean startup methods for capital efficiency. Javier is passionate about developing great user experiences working closely with designers, developers, and customers.

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Sami Shalabi is a tech exec, ex-google news lead, 2x billion user product creator, startup founder (acquired by Google), and Angel Investor with 50+ patents.

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Dr. Nadia Shalaby is a serial technology entrepreneur, CEO, board director, and investor, passionate about bringing on societal, economic, and environmental impact via technological innovation.

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Nadia’s track record spans 20+ years growing and founding companies bringing deep expertise in academic research, concept generation, product market positioning, establishing operational infrastructure, strategic alliances, sales and marketing, IP strategy, and corporate governance. Besides serving on the board of tech startups, Dr. Shalaby was Founder & CEO of Arctic Sand, an energy-saving breakthrough semiconductor company, was VP Marketing and Sales for Cooper Perkins, and held various positions at BBN/Raytheon and Princeton University. Nadia holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She is the recipient of multiple national grants and awards from NASA, NSF, US Department of Energy, DARPA, the Clean Tech Open, and the National Renewable Energy Lab, and the holder of 5 issued US patents.

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Neil Sirni is the head of New Ventures at Roc Nation / Co-founder and President of Arrive

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Redmond Sui is based in Boston and works with a team to invest in early-stage LATAM startups that are expanding into the US. He is passionate about innovation & entrepreneurship and he believes this is the key to a better, more collaborative future. He has a background in economics and finance and is experienced in working with international entrepreneurs in multicultural environments.

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Dr. Brendan Smith is the Co-Founder and CEO of SiTration, Inc., an advanced materials cleantech startup building durable filtration membranes for improved efficiency in industrial separations. He invented the technology during his PhD at MIT, and was supported by the Sandbox program for several years.

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William Mander leads the AI and analytics of MIT spinoff Digital Cognition Technologies, based on research work from CSAIL on AI for understanding and modeling behavior and cognition. He is interested and experienced in artificial intelligence, technology, and applications in healthcare. He is originally from France and received a double B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science and a Master in Computer Science from MIT.

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Adi SV, an alumnus of the Sloan Fellows program, has over 15 years of cross-functional experience in helping global enterprises modernize their digital platforms. He’s managed global technology services and international business development teams. Adi is currently based in New York and has lived in India, Singapore, and Hong Kong; and enjoys learning from new cultures and countries.

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Matt Verminski currently advises and consults with startups bringing complex electromechanical systems enabled by software from early concept to reality. Previously, he built and led the Desktop Metal engineering team that invented and produced novel metal 3D printing solutions for prototyping thru production with $436M in backing from Kleiner Perkins, NEA, Lux Capital, GV, KDT, and others.

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Matt was part of the initial Kiva Systems team which was acquired in 2012 for $775M and is now Amazon Robotics. At Kiva, he shepherded multiple generations of autonomous robotic systems from concept to volume production. At Amazon Robotics, he started an advanced robotics team to expand uses of robots across fulfillment centers. Earlier, Matt co-founded and led systems engineering for Mimio and was an early team member at PowerAdvocate. He has an MIT MSEE and a Tufts BSECE. Matt’s broad system level approach to leading product design has resulted in 42 granted US patents to date with more pending.

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Paul Weaver is the co-founder and CTO of Abstract, helping manufacturers understand the hidden problems at their factory using operational data.

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Previously Paul worked helped companies understand the global supply chain at Panjiva and help manufacture epoxy for the space shuttle at Lockheed Martin. Paul graduated from MIT class of 2012.

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Nathaniel Welch is a broadly experienced, collaborative, results-driven executive with high EQ and a record of improving business outcomes, enhancing customer success, increasing new revenue, and developing cohesive senior team performance. Nat lives in Concord, MA, has 4 adult children, one granddaughter, 2 dogs, and a cat.

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After MIT, Ben Wells worked as an engineer at Polaroid and Manager at Teradyne. He was a founder of Reflection Technology, an early VR startup, and Wells Research and Development, a manufacturer of test equipment for the optics industry.

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Dennis Yamashita is the Executive Vice President of Chemistry at Cambrian BioPharma, a startup biotech company that funds and manages subsidiary companies with the goal to develop new drug therapies to delay the diseases caused by the drivers of aging.

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He is an exceptional drug hunter and medicinal chemist with 30+ years in pharmaceutical and biotech drug discovery. Dennis was VP  Medicinal Chemistry at Axial Therapeutics, VP Drug Discovery at ORIC, and VP Chemistry at Trevena, a startup founded by Nobel laureate Robert Lefkowitz. At Trevena, Dennis co-invented Olinvyk (oliceridine), an FDA-approved analgesic for the treatment of post surgical pain. Dennis spent 21 years at GSK, most recently leading drug discovery research collaborations with premier academic institutions, as well as internal drug discovery projects in oncology, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and immunology disease areas. Dennis has a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from MIT and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale. 

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Dr. Armstrong is a Managing Director bringing extensive experience in strategic leadership, biopharma R&D, business development, global marketing, and medical affairs. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded Einstein Science, LLC. (science education) and Immunarm, Inc. (immunology consulting), Popular Immunology e-Magazine, and Lead Horse Technologies, Inc., an AI-driven personalized medicine company.

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Nick Meyer is currently Co-Founder of The Rattle, a venture studio that funds and develops the next great artists and creative hackers. He also invests in Scientist-Founders through his syndicate Provocative Science. Nick is a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, and was formerly an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship where he mentored students and created the micro-accelerator MIT Fuse.

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Kevin is responsible for Google strategic partnerships with the world's top travel companies and airlines. He is a mentor in Google for Startup Accelerator. Before moving to the business side, Kevin was engineering manager/TLM at Google and built an airline reservation system. Before Google, Kevin worked for startups at various stages and founded his own startup.

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PK Shiu is a hands-on technologist working primarily in FinTech and EdTech. He has worked internationally in Asia, UK, Europe and US. His experience includes building startups in CTO roles and working as an entrepreneur exploring new product and technology in large enterprises. PK currently leads technology in a product innovation division of eMoney Advisor.

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Emily is an investor at Pillar VC, where she focuses on emerging technologies. She previously ran product teams at Google, Kayak, Paperless Parts, and co-founded a microfluidics manufacturing company called Parallel Fluidics. Emily has expertise in product management, customer discovery, monetization, revenue operations, prototyping, and operating businesses.

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Todd Williamson received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) and Physics, and a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. After working at startups in medical devices and machine perception, he moved to ITA Software, where he was the technical lead for the world’s leading airfare pricing and shopping system, still used by the world’s largest airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines. After ITA was acquired by Google, he went on to lead the development of the world’s fastest and most comprehensive flight search product, Google Flights. He was responsible for bootstrapping Google’s travel sustainability efforts, including the prominent display and ranking of flight options according to their CO2 emissions, and the development of a widely-accepted open source model for aviation emissions. Most recently he worked on acquiring data from suppliers in order to prominently display more sustainable rail and bus options within Google search.

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Specialties: Technical Leadership | Programming Languages | System Performance | Software Development | Algorithms | Artificial Intelligence | Optimization | Embedded Systems | Machine Learning | Agile Methodologies | Scalability

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With more than 30 years of experience in business development, training, and consulting, Robin founded InternWorks (formerly InternBoston), an internship program for high school and college students that provides custom-tailored internships that are integrated with a robust career-readiness curriculum. Currently, Robin directs all internship programs, student engagement, employer partner outreach efforts, and curriculum development. 

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Omolara is a technology executive and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in new product development, strategy, growth, operations, and strategic partnerships. A graduate of the MIT Sloan Fellows MBA program, she was employee number ten at Jumia, the largest ecommerce company in Africa (NYSE:JMIA) and spent seven years growing Jumia’s new verticals, Marketplace, and Payments across 14 African countries. She has also held leadership positions at Meta and Amazon. Omolara is passionate about unlocking prosperity through technology in Africa and has rolled up this passion into co-founding Fast Forward Venture Studio, where she works with dynamic founders on their pre-early-stage ideas to build tech companies that offer huge potential for exponential impact across the African continent.

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Andri is a growth VC investor with over twelve years of experience investing in and operating world-class technology companies. Andri spent seven years solving complex business problems (go-to-market design, demand forecasting, pricing) and leading data-driven strategies for high-growth companies in Canada (SSENSE, Bombardier Aerospace, Energir), followed by five years and counting investing in growth stage series C, D, and E opportunities across the spectrum of Cloud Software, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, and Frontier Technology. Andri is currently in the Sloan Fellows MBA program at MIT.

Expertise: Go-to-market, Demand Forecasting, Pricing.

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Enrique founded and led startups, advised sellers and buyers in M&A transactions, and spearheaded industrial collaborations and spin-offs in academia. As Founding Member of Expert Collective Cooperative (http://expertcollective.org), Enrique advises academics in creating spinning out companies for positive socio-economic and environmental impact. Whenever ventures form, Enrique works with founders to develop viable strategies and ensure proper funding. Recently, he has been instrumental in helping clients build relationships with key customers, recruit top talent as well as secure over $25 million in equity investments. Enrique is affiliated with the MIT LinQ program for biomedical innovation where he supports the formation of new businesses. He earned a M.B.A. from Babson College (USA) and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela).

Expertise: business strategy, business development, financial management, financial modeling, technology management, deal-making

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Gokul Prasath Rajamanickam is a biomedical engineer with 10+ years of medical device product development experience. He has been core member of early-stage startups in India and USA leading product development teams and has taken products from idea to market. Gokul is an alumnus of the System Design and Management program at MIT.

Expertise: Medical devices, healthcare, product management, program management, finance and operations

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Created worlds largest digital marketplace for recycling and waste, Founding board member Endeavor offices, Founder Future Labs Capital venture capital firm created to support the MIT ecosystem

Expertise: Biz strategy, biz dev and board composition etc

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CTO/CPO that took Archibus/SpaceIQ from startup, to international competitor, to industry consolidator, and finally to a successful exit with "rule of 40" growth.

Expertise: startups, growth stage, sell- and buy-side M&A, product management, program management, engineering management, international business, software, SaaS, AI

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3X AI Entrepreneur, operator, SaaS executive, raised millions in venture money with multiple successful exits. Expertise in solving complex business problems, product discovery, team & culture and PMF scale up, with expertise on optimizing customer behaviour & Identity across channels. Domain - Fintech, B2B, Consumer, eCommerce & Auto

Angel Investor in 50+ startups with focus on AI, Neurotech, Robotics & Climatech.

MBA from Sloan, MIT100K, Legatum Alumni & Guest Faculty.

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Expertise: PLUG (Product Led Growth), GTM (Go to Market), Product & Platform Management, Fund Raising, and Network Effects

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With 14+ years of experience in the HealthTech industry with a successful track record in piloting and scaling end-to-end Digital Health and therapy portfolios lifecycle from connected medical devices, mobile applications, Virtual Reality to Conversational AI SaaS platforms on both US & EU regulated healthcare markets. With a lifelong passion for technology, I dedicated my career to enhancing patients’ quality of care by leveraging the power of innovation.

Expertise: Health tech AI Neurorehabilitation Physical Therapy VR Product strategy management

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I am currently a VP at Google Cloud where I run development for a portfolio of products in Cloud Networking. Over the years, I have worked building video processing and delivery infrastructure for YouTube, helping scale Google's global infrastructure footprint, and running it's Wide Area Network. My path has been as a hands on engineer who learned management, and later product management and product strategy. My undergrad and master's work was in Computer Science, and I have an MBA from Sloan.

Expertise: Software Cloud Distributed Systems

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PhD and postdoc in cancer molecular biology, startup consultant, operational and strategy & corporate development experience at global science company

Expertise: life science, operations, strategy, team building, interpersonal conflict

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Engineer with a track record of startups in health, currently heading a Danish Telehealth Company. At The HabLab we help senior citizens with chronic condition follow treatment and establish new self-caring routines by combining IoMT solutions and behavioral science principles.

Expertise: Digital health/ Telehealth/ IOT

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Emre is an engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned executive. For the last 10+ years, he has dedicated his life to establish, grow and help impactful startups. He founded his own startup that developed advanced materials at the age of 22. For the last five years, one of his roles was to manage Borda Technology, an IoT & AI health-tech startup that brings operational awareness to hospitals as the CFO & Head of Strategy. He was responsible from growing the startup from a local company to a scaleup active in 15+ countries with a team of 130 people. Emre also serves as an expert evaluator in the Eureka Network, the world’s biggest public network for international cooperation in R&D and innovation.

Expertise: Finance, Strategy, Health IT, IoT, Scaling,

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Jonathan Bronson, PhD is a Managing Partner at J2 Ventures. Prior to founding J2, Jon was a Director of Acquisitions & Finance in the private equity group of D. E. Shaw, a New York based asset manager with over $50 billion in assets under management. Jon was the Chief Operating Officer of Betterpath, Inc., a startup focused on helping patients visualize their medical records (restructured to become Backpack Health, which was later acquired). His responsibilities included hiring and managing the software, product and operations teams, and working closely with the CEO on fundraising and investor pitches. Jon began his career at the Boston Consulting Group, serving as a Project Leader responsible for overseeing consulting teams working with Fortune 500 executives. Jon holds a PhD from the chemistry department of Columbia University, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Jon was formerly an EMT in New York City where he met his current business partner, Alexander Harstrick.

Expertise: Venture Capital, Government Contracting, SBIR, Deep Tech

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Proven strategist and partnerships executive with over fifteen years of experience [primarily] in consumer banking, specializing in strategy, monetization, and creating multi-dimensional, complex commercial alliances that are truly mutually beneficial to all parties, counting many of the largest retail financial services institutions and data providers in the country as clients and/or partners.

Expertise: Partnerships & Strategic Alliances (B2B2C), Commercialization, Monetization, Business Development, Strategy, Org Structure and Dynamics, Strategic Investments

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Ling is an expert in intellectual property, with over 13 years of experience in patent portfolio building and licensing. She currently serves as a strategic advisor to several fast-growing startups with cutting-edge machine learning, cybersecurity, and blockchain technologies. Prior to practicing law, Ling was a postdoctoral researcher at MIT CSAIL, where she co-developed an attribute-based encryption scheme for fine-grained access control in databases, multicast communications, and other data sharing applications. Her PhD research focused on modeling and verification of randomized embedded system algorithms using techniques such as theorem proving and model checking.

Expertise: Intellectual property, patent, licensing

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Currently a Sloan Fellow MBA student at MIT, Luyang (Eric) has extensive international experience in entrepreneurial technology strategy and turning idea from lab into mass production. Prior to MIT he was Technical Advisor to CTO and Senior Director of System Engineering at Horizon Robotics, an unicorn AI startup working on building autonomous driving AI platform. He was also co-founder of two technology startups and worked in venture capital. Luyang holds B.Eng and M.Esc from University of Electronics Science and Technology of China and University of Western Ontario in Canada. He sits on the technical committee of Artificial Intelligence and Road Vehicle at International Standard Organization.

Expertise: Technology Strategy, Autonomous Machine, Semiconductor

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An accomplished executive with a PhD in chemistry and extensive drug discovery and technology development experience having built and led high-performing teams in R&D within large and midsize pharmaceutical companies as well as biotech. A proven track record of de-risking disruptive technologies leveraging external innovation models as well as leading successful cross-functional drug discovery teams. Reputation as a change agent who has constantly pushed the edge in terms of organizational and cultural transformation of the organization. Member of R&D Senior Leadership Teams, Scientific Review and Joint Steering Committees, Advisory and Discovery Portfolio & Prioritization Boards.

Expertise: Product Innovation | Global Research Networks | Drug Discovery | Novel R&D Business Models | Scientific and Strategic Leadership | New Technologies | Empowers Others | Budget Accountability | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Team Leadership | Visionary

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Paul Blackborow has been involved in successful startups, is experienced in mergers and acquisitions both from the selling and buying side, mentors new ventures in the Boston area, and acts as an occasional angel investor. He is the former CEO & Co-Chairman of Energetiq Technology, Inc., a company he cofounded in 2004 and now a subsidiary of Hamamatsu Photonics of Japan.

Expertise: Semiconductor manufacturing, Photonics, hardware development and manufacturing, product & business management, startups, M&A.

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Expertise: Segment focus on healthcare IT, cloud infrastucture, cybersecurity, data/analytics; experience scaling B2B companies; ability to help with early stage company challenges and scaling; can help with fundraising as a VC

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Raafet has a been one of the architects and leaders of the Quantitative Investment Strategies division at Merrill Lynch in NYC and London, a cutting edge multi-strategies quantitative hedge fund. After two decades in the quantitative hedge fund industry, Raafet founded Athena Impact, a revolutionary early stage fintech which aims at democratizing the access to impact investing and fighting greenwashing. Raafet is also an active investor in easy stage startups straddling fintech, technology, sports, healthcare and sustainability. Raafet is currently at MIT as a Sloan Fellow. Raafet holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School in Paris as well as a Bachelor in Laws. Raafet currently serves on the advisory board of Global Citizen in NYC, an advocacy organization which aims at eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 and supporting the SDGs. Raafet is an Ambassador for Wallah we Can, a Tunisian not-for-profit which promotes education in underprivileged areas of Tunisia, his home country.

Expertise: Fintech / Hedge Fund / Sustainability / Growth / Scaling /Fundraising

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Raleigh Werner is a strategic investor at Presidio Ventures with a background as an entrepreneur, startup operator and Harvard Business School MBA.

Expertise: SaaS, FP&A, Financial Modeling, B2B, B2C

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Robert started his career on an interest rate derivates desk before co-founding a real estate fund and has most recently joined SBXi as the Director of Operations. SBXi is a fund that invest 10K-1M into startups with MIT graduates on their founding teams.

Expertise: Fixed Income, Early Stage Venture, Growth,

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16 years experience in consumer goods and telecommunications. Expertise in Commercial , Go To Market and channel development as well as managing organizations in critical times. Broad experience in multiculural teams and conflict management . Ironman Certified Coach

Expertise: Commercial operations, GoToMarket and channel definition, Business plan definition, consumer marketing, telecommunications business management

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Founder and former CEO of a beauty-tech startup delivering AI-based, personalized skincare formulation based on each individual’s profile. Raised three fundings and 12 R&D government grants. Prior to startup, worked at multi-billion dollar publicly listed companies in providing post M&A strategy and integration planning. Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CPA).

Expertise: eCommerce, Product Development, Fundraising, PR, IR, Commercialization, Finance, Operations

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Six years of management experience in high tech and translational research, within early stage startups as well as academia. BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Current MBA candidate at MIT Sloan and cofounder of Almond Finance, a financial inclusion startup for entrepreneurs in developing nations.

Expertise: Fintech, medtech, translational research

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Jie is the cofounder and COO of a VC-backed healthtech startup, basys.ai. She has an MS in Health Data Science from Harvard and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from National University of Singapore. Over the past decade, Jie accumulated a unique blend of experiences in healthcare consulting, pharma, and leading US hospitals. Previously, she worked in both Singapore and France, managing the medical business of Pierre Fabre in five countries.

She has worked in data science and AI operations at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mass General Hospital. Jie was awarded 40 under 40 Health Catalyst Award from the Boston Congress of Public Health. As a healthtech entrepreneur, she judged for the MIT 100K Entrepreneurship competition, and the SLINGSHOT 2023 deep tech competition organized by the Singapore government.

Expertise: Healthcare, AI

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Deepti Karan Pandey is a seasoned technology and business strategy leader with extensive experience in driving digital transformation across industries. She holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Sloan Fellow, a Master’s in Software Systems from BITS Pilani, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from MDU. Currently serving as Associate Vice President at Mphasis Corporation, Deepti specializes in leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and data analytics to fuel business growth and innovation.

Outside of her professional commitments, Deepti serves as a mentor for startups through the MIT Sandbox Innovation Program, where she guides them through their entrepreneurial journeys. Her passion for nurturing emerging talent extends to mentoring aspiring professionals and sharing her insights through speaking engagements and thought leadership activities within the tech community. In her free time, Deepti finds fulfillment in exploring the latest trends in technology, further enriching her expertise and contributing to the advancement of the field.

Expertise: Data, Tech, AI

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Hassan is a Vice President at Ericsson, 145-year old global leading company in telecommunications, where he oversees the program management of the Global CU, one of the company's top business units with a multi-billion-dollar P&L. He has over 19 years of experience in delivering complex and innovative solutions for Tier-1 customers across 22 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. He is also a MIT Executive MBA graduate, a Harvard CME graduate, and an Ericsson-certified technology and leadership professional. Hassan is passionate about driving digital transformation and innovation in the telecom industry, as well as sharing his insights and expertise with various prestigious platforms and organizations. He is an official member of the Forbes Technology Council, an advisor at the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, and an Ericsson delegate at the Telecom Council. In his spare time, he enjoys playing 22 musical instruments, flying as a certified pilot, and volunteering for humanitarian causes with the UN World Food Program and hospice care organizations. Hassan was part of the team to receive People Choice Award at MIT IDEA Entreprenurial competition. Hassan is co-founder of Umeed Inc., In Urdu language, "Umeed" (امید) primarily means "hope." It embodies the idea of looking forward to positive outcomes and has a positive/optimistic connotation. Umeed inspires a brighter, equitable future via principled, innovative leadership to improve the world. Founded at MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it is not only a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, but also a movement that transforms challenges into opportunities, despair into hope, and problems into innovative solutions.

Expertise: People Leadership, Telecommunication, Technology, Organizational Culture

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Founded, built, and sold several technology startups. Background in banking software, fintech, and online media. Professional experience in software engineering, sales, business development, and corporate leadership. MBA in finance and international business. Currently with MIT Corporate Relations.

Expertise: fintech, online media, software, contracts, bootstrapping, funding

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Melinda J Watman RN, BSN, MSN, CNM, MBA spent 15 years as a clinician before obtaining her MBA and transitioning to entrepreneurial endeavors. She has worked with both startups and established companies taking innovative healthcare technologies to market. She founded two successful consulting businesses, was the CEO and co-founder of a medical device company, and owned a French restaurant. She is an avid supporter of entrepreneurs/entrepreneurship and is a mentor for the MIT Venture Mentoring Service and Innovate@BU.

Currently, she is the president and founder of Weighty Decision, a service providing accurate and comprehensive information for those determining their weight management plan. She is a board member of the Obesity Action Coalition and does advocacy work on equal access to care and anti-weight bias/discrimination legislation. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of obesity with eating disorders/disordered eating.

Expertise: Healthcare, product management, operations

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Michael Lebowitz is a recently retired Computer Science professional with an academic background in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. He received his BS from MIT, PhD from Yale, and then was on the faculty at Columbia University for 7 years. He then transitioned to financial services with time spent at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, AIG and most recently WorldQuant.

Ecpertise: Computer Science; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Data Science; Organization Design; Corporate Management; Staff Development; Recruiting

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Ernie Sabine is a retired executive who has led several high-tech companies through the IPO process. His career began at MIT where he served as Director, Digital Computation at the MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Boston University. Ernie serves as a Mentor with MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service, is an I-Corps Instructor, and has served as Industry Mentor in the National I-Corps program.

Expertise: Leadership, financial modeling, project planning, hardware and software design

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Jay is a technology executive and investor with more than 25 years’ experience building businesses and bringing innovative technology products to market. As President of Powerhouse Dynamics, Jay has responsibility and oversight for the company and its business including strategy, sales, marketing, R&D, operations, finance, human resources, and other administrative matters. Before joining Powerhouse Dynamics, Jay was actively involved in numerous technology companies, both through his consulting firm and as Vice President of Operations for Wakonda Technologies, a Boston-area materials innovation firm. Prior to Wakonda, Jay was a General Partner at the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund (MGEF), a venture capital fund focused on making early-stage investments in climate technology companies. Jay also held various leadership positions in business development and product management for Teradyne, Incorporated. Jay holds an MBA and MS in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Fellow in the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program. He earned his BS in mechanical engineering from Yale University.

Expertise: Internet of things, Climate tech, Energy, Food service technology, Leadership, Strategy, Business development, Sales, Product management, SaaS, Start-ups, Entrepreneurship

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Jean Bonney has been an information technology executive, and research executive for more than forty years with experience in research, software design and development, marketing, consulting, and training.

As a Program Officer in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Small Business Innovations Research program she was responsible for the area of Information-based Technologies. Prior to joining NSF, Ms. Bonney was a member of the Concord Consulting Group, an organization that focuses on developing business strategies for new technologies. During 14 years at Digital Equipment Corporation she was a research director and also held management positions in marketing. Before joining Digital in 1984, Ms. Bonney was a director of Information Systems at MIT. Her career is rounded out by experience in research and systems design work at Bell Telephhhone Laboratories and Rutgers University.

Ms. Bonney has a BA and an MS in mathematics and certificates from the Bell Laboratories Graduate Study Program and Executive Management Program at the University of California, Berkeley. She did advanced graduate work in computer science at Rutgers University. She has held numerous national leadership positions in the Association for Computing Machinery(ACM), has been a member of the Educom Consulting Group and the Keybanks Corporate Technology Board. She was Digital’s representative to the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) and a member of the IRI Board of Directors and a member of council of the National Academy of Science Government University Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR).

In retirement she has been an active member of the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement. She led study groups on the environment and ecology, numbers, the Internet, and the science of sleep. She now coordinates a STEM forum that runs 3 or 4 sessions each semester. Ms. Bonney also consulted on pre-propoals for NSF after leaving the organization.

Expertise: Computer Science, Environment and Ecology

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Entrepreneur turned early stage deep tech venture capital investor. MIT BSME '93. I've worked in medical devices, Hollywood film production & development, and digital health social networks. Now investing at SkyRiver Ventures. #Girl dad.

Expertise: Deep tech, digital health, data & privacy, ALS, Entrepreneurship, VC

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Reha Jhunjhunwala is a physician, researcher, and technologist with expertise in AI-driven healthcare innovation. As Director of Clinical at WHOOP, she leads the development and validation of advanced health monitoring products, utilizing data science to improve user insights and outcomes. Her work focuses on bringing AI-powered health products to market, fostering technological advancements that enhance healthcare delivery.

Reha has a broad background in clinical research, product development, and regulatory compliance. At VideaHealth, she played a critical role in securing FDA approval for AI-driven dental imaging tools, and at eClinical Solutions, she led deep learning projects that improved clinical trial accuracy and accelerated drug development. In addition to her industry work, Reha is an angel investor and startup mentor, actively contributing to Boston’s innovation ecosystem. She holds a Master's in Clinical Investigation from Boston University and a Dental Degree and enjoys art, opera, and running in her free time.

Expertise: AI/ML in Healthcare, Medical Device Development, Clinical Research & Validation, Regulatory Compliance , Digital Health, Deep Learning Models, Data Science & Analytics, Product Strategy & Development, Healthcare Technology Integration, Market Research & Customer Retention, Strategic Planning & Execution

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Mr. Faber earned an MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mannheim, Germany, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Business. He is a professor at Bentley University teaching Strategic Management.
Mr. Faber has held various executive leadership roles in both Europe and the United States, including serving as President and CEO of NetOptix Co., a publicly traded telecommunications and photonics firm acquired by Corning Inc. At Corning, he was Vice President and General Manager of the Photonics Components division.
Additionally, he has been a director at several technology companies and has served on the Board of Trustees for the Children’s Hospital Boston Trust, the advisory board for the College of Engineering at Boston University, the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, First Founders, and various not-for-profit organizations in the Boston area.

Expertise: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Executive Leadership, Mentoring, Technology Investment, Organization Structure and Culture

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Khat Zorig is an MIT Sloan'18 alum, previously AI/mental health startup founder and AI/impact investor, now working on a scifi movie/brand about AI. She also advises pre-seed to Series A tech startups (mostly AI, deeptech, neurotech, and cleantech) on fundraising and strategy, and stays active in the MIT/Boston innovation & entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Expertise: Everything involved with founding a company and fundraising for pre-seed to Series A tech startups

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Retired Full Professor with more than 40 years experience in Aerospace Engineering. Has worked at the beginning of his career in two aerospace companies and then conducted research in that field for 20 years in the US and for 20 years in Italy. Taught hundreds of students in the Master's and Ph.D. study programs some of whom are now professors in the US, Italy and Spain. Has led a group of about 8 postdocs and young researchers in advanced aerospace projects funded by NASA and more recently by the European Innovation Council. Has some experience in the commercialization of research products and international patenting.

Expertise: Aerospace Engineering

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MIT BS Computer Science, MBA Harvard Business School. Experience in consumer and industrial marketing management. Co-founded pharma/biotech and medical device consulting company focusing on market research, positioning, and pricing that was acquired by large CRO. Current focus on angel investing and mentoring startups.

Expertise: Business-to-business SAAS, medical devices, professional services.

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Multi time CEO in healthcare. Experience in both VC and PE backed companies. Experience in fundraising, scaling companies, customer acquisition. Have been a startup mentor for more than 5 years.

Expertise: Healthcare, customer acquisition, scaling operations, PE and VC backed companies and fundraising, mentoring startups

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Accomplished leader with extensive experience scaling product operations, developing high-performing teams, and
designing strategy deployment. Adept at optimizing processes, implementing scalable solutions, and building
effective operations from vision to execution. Known for a strategic mindset and a hands-on approach, delivering
operational excellence and enhancing cross-functional collaboration. Passionate about fostering a culture of
continuous improvement and innovation, growth and grit, and resilience to change.

Expertise: Product Discovery, Product/Market Fit, Agile, Software, Hardware, Process Optimation, Leadership, Change Management, Metrics and Measures

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Punit Shah brings over 15 years of entrepreneurial expertise across marketing, product development, and growth strategy. He has worked extensively in scaling businesses and developing innovative digital technologies. His experience spans across B2B and B2C industries, where he has crafted go-to-market strategies, managed multi-million dollar marketing budgets, and led cross-functional teams through agile and OKR-driven frameworks.

Punit currently holds leadership roles at Allsmith, a growth agency, where he oversees product and marketing growth strategies for both B2C and B2B organizations. At 110 Labs, he supports companies in product development, branding, and go-to-market strategies. Punit’s mentorship focuses on helping startups navigate challenges in product development, customer acquisition, and market positioning, guiding them toward sustainable growth and scalability. He is also active in mentoring startups through programs like MassChallenge, School16, EforAll and VentureForum.

Expertise: Product Marketing Growth