Richard Blakeley

Managing Editor, Strategy & Content, Thrillist.com

Richard Blakeley is the managing editor of strategy & content for leading men’s lifestyle destination, Thrillist – overseeing the development of the recently-overhauled Thrillist.com in becoming a dynamic and expertly curated extension of the brand.

Prior to joining Thrillist, Blakeley was the Editor-in-Chief of Gawker.tv. He is also the founder of “Bad Yearbook Photos” and the over-the-top food blog “This Is Why You’re Fat.” He was named a “Playboy of Tech” by Details and one of Business Insider’s “Silicon Alley 100” in 2009, and has appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room, Good Day New York, Taxi TV, A&E’s Biography and the TV Guide Network.

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Henry Blodget

Editor-In Chief and CEO, Business Insider

A former top-ranked Wall Street analyst, Henry is also the host of Yahoo TechTicker, a Yahoo Finance video show viewed by several million people a month. He is often a guest on Bloomberg, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and other networks. He has recently contributed to The Atlantic, Slate, Newsweek International, The New York Times, Fortune, New York, the Financial Times, and other publications. He is the author of The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Investing.

From 1994-2001, Henry worked on Wall Street at Prudential Securities, Oppenheimer & Co., and Merrill Lynch. He ran Merrill's global Internet research practice and was ranked the No. 1 Internet and eCommerce analyst on Wall Street by Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates. He was later keelhauled by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over conflicts of interest between research and banking and booted out of the industry. Henry went to Yale. He was born and raised in New York.

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Lance Broumand

Founder and CEO, UrbanDaddy

With more than 10 years of experience in developing digital and new media companies, Lance is responsible for the strategic vision, creative direction and corporate development of UrbanDaddy. Lance began his career in finance as an Associate at CIBC Oppenheimer and later joined the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP as an attorney in New York.

A native of California, Lance holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles and a J.D. from Berkeley with a specialty in Corporate and Entertainment Law. Lance has successfully grown and managed two other companies from inception, including one of the first players in the local digital promotions space. Lance has been instrumental in building UrbanDaddy into a well-respected consumer brand and a leader in the digital media space. He has received a number of awards and honors for his work in digital, is currently an executive member of the IADAS, one of the founding judges for Webby Awards and an 2011 Ernst & Young Finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year .

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Steve Case

Chairman and CEO, Revolution

Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life.

Steve co-founded America Online (AOL) in 1985, when the Internet was in its infancy. Under Steve’s leadership as Chairman and CEO, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company. AOL helped drive the worldwide adoption of a medium that has transformed business and society. AOL’s early focus on ease of use and social media set the stage for its rapid growth, and at its peak nearly half of Internet users in the United States used AOL. In 1992, AOL became the first Internet company to go public, and was the best performing stock of the 1990s, with a 11,616% return. At the peak of the Internet boom, Steve negotiated what remains the largest merger in business history, bringing together AOL and Time Warner in a transaction that gave AOL shareholders a majority stake in the combined company. To facilitate the merger, Steve agreed to step down as CEO when the merger closed in 2001. He served as Chairman of the Board of the combined company (then known as AOL Time Warner) until 2003.

Steve then went back to his entrepreneurial roots, and in recent years has partnered with more than a dozen entrepreneurs as an investor and mentor. Steve created Revolution in 2005 to oversee his rapidly expanding investments. Revolution now has four divisions: Revolution Growth, which invests in high-growth consumer companies (including Zipcar, LivingSocial, and Exclusive Resorts); Revolution Ventures, which backs early-stage technology companies (including Vinfolio, Snagfilms, and UberMedia); Revolution Health, which invests in health and wellness businesses (including SparkPeople, Extend Health and Brainscope); and Revolution Places, which develops real estate and hospitality businesses (including Grove Farm and Maui Land & Pineapple in Hawaii, Cacique in Costa Rica, and Miraval in Arizona). The success of AOL, coupled with Steve’s post-AOL track record building businesses through Revolution, led CNBC to call Steve “one of the nation’s greatest entrepreneurs.”

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Marc Cenedella

Founder and CEO, TheLadders.com

Marc started TheLadders.com in 2003 to make finding a professional job a lot easier and transformed the way candidates and recruiters connect online. With a membership base of 4.5 million, TheLadders.com job-search and recruitment model has been embraced by executives and employers alike, with the company ranking #1 for overall satisfaction in an independent survey of recruiters. TheLadders.com has received numerous accolades, including the 2009 Webby Award for Best Employment Website, 2009 Best Companies to Work for in New York, and the Most Valuable Start-up in New York by Silicon Alley Insider.

Marc is a populist scientist of employment. His passion in life is jobs, their sociology and culture: the process by which everyone passes from family through school and into a career. It’s the second most-important thing in people’s lives, after love and family. As a result, the subject of jobs itself is the focus of Marc’s professional life. A widely recognized thought leader on job search, career management, recruiting and business, Marc is frequently sought out by national media outlets and organizations for his expert commentary on employment and entrepreneurial related issues. Before founding TheLadders.com, Marc was a senior vice president at HotJobs.com. Marc holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar. He earned his B.A. in political science at Yale.

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Chris Cunningham

Co-founder and CEO, appssavvy

Chris co-founded appssavvy, a social activity company. His and appssavvy's vision has pioneered a new social advertising model focused on people's activity. Under Chris' leadership, the appssavvy Social Activity Platform today reaches more than 127 million people performing 1.4 billion social activities each month.

The vision of social activity advertising has established Chris as a recognized thought leader. He frequently speaks at industry conferences and forums, including ad:tech, IAB, iMedia and 4A's events, and comments on the latest developments in the social space live on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, or in leading publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and USA Today. For insight into Chris' unique perspective, read The New York Times' Corner Office.

He also serves as co-chair of the IAB Social Media Committee and in 2010 and 2011 was a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award, an achievement which was led by Chris' leadership in driving appssavvy to profitability in less than two years after founding and every subsequent quarter. Today, appssavvy has more than 60 employees in four offices across the U.S. and is recognized as a great place to work by Crain's New York Business' Best Places to Work in NYC – an honor won in 2009 and 2010 – and one of Advertising Age's Best Places to Work in Marketing and Media in 2010. Chris graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a bachelor's of arts degree in Economics & Marketing and is based in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @chrisappssavvy.

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Jose Ferreira

Founder and CEO, Knewton

Jose Ferreira is the founder and CEO of Knewton, the world’s leading adaptive learning company. Knewton’s cloud-based platform uses concept-level data to create uniquely personalized learning plans, allowing educators to tailor their content to the exact needs of individual students. The company was named a 2011 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum at Davos.

Jose earned his MBA from Harvard and was formerly an executive at Kaplan, where he led a company-wide re-engineering effort to redesign the company’s courses. Most recently, he was a Partner at New Atlantic Ventures (formerly Draper Atlantic), investing in new media and SaaS companies. He has been featured in publications from The Economist to Wired, and he lives in New York City.

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Nan Forte

CEO, Travel Ad Network (TAN)

Nan-Kirsten Forte was named CEO in September 2011 after 13 years of leading the consumer business at WebMD where she was Executive Vice President, Brand Development and Chief Innovation Officer and before that was Executive Vice President, Consumer Services and an officer of WebMD Health Corp. Ms Forte helped establish WebMD as the #1 health information brand and one of the most trusted overall brands in America. She was instrumental in growing WebMD’s consumer audience from less than 1 million to over 100 million monthly unique users and WebMD Health Corp.'s market cap to more than $2 billion. Ms Forte spearheaded the creation and launches of WebMD the Magazine, WebMD Video, WebMD Mobile, WebMD Pets, WebMD Baby and WebMD Healthy Beauty. In addition, she directed the development and growth of medicinenet.com, emedicinehealth.com and rxlist.com.

Earlier in her career, Ms Forte served as President Programming and Product Development of Medcast, Greenberg News Networks and helped in the sale of that company to WebMD. Prior to that, she was President of Health of iVillage, where Ms Forte launched Better Health, its first health channel. She has developed new-media programs for companies such as Time Inc., IBM, Mosby, Times-Mirror, NBC, Reader's Digest, Discovery and PBS. Ms Forte began her career in pioneering new media technologies and communication channels with The Center for BioMedical Communications of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Ms Forte received a Master's of Science in BioMedical Communications from Long Island University and is an undergraduate of Swarthmore College.

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Jason Glickman

Executive Chairman, Tremor Video

Jason is an Internet advertising veteran focused on emerging interactive technologies. Jason co-founded Tremor Media in 2005 leading the company through enormous growth. Following the strategic merger of Tremor Media and ScanScout, Jason assumed responsibility as executive chairman of the company.

Prior to Tremor Media, Jason was the cofounder of ContextualNet, Inc., a leading online media company focused on page-level targeting, including contextual and behavioral placements. In this role, he was responsible for building strategic partnerships and managing the national sales team before orchestrating the company’s successful sale. Jason holds a B.S. in Business Economics from Rutgers University. He is the recipient of the 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the digital solutions category.

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Linda Gridley

President and CEO, Gridley & Company

President and CEO of Gridley & Company LLC, Ms. Gridley has over twenty years of Wall Street investment banking experience with fifteen years of transactional experience focused in the Company’s targeted industry sectors. Ms. Gridley founded Gridley & Company LLC in August 2001. Immediately prior, she was Managing Director in the U.S. Media Client Services Group at ABN Amro. Ms. Gridley joined ABN Amro in May 2001 when the firm acquired the U.S. Investment Banking business of ING Barings, where she was a Managing Director and head of the firm’s Information and Internet Services Group.

At ING Barings, Ms. Gridley was responsible for the origination and execution of all of the firm’s U.S. Investment Banking business in the Information and Internet Services sector. She was also a member of the firm’s Fairness Opinion Committee. Ms. Gridley joined ING Barings in October, 1997 when the firm acquired Furman Selz LLC where she was a Managing Director covering Information and Internet Services companies. Prior to joining Furman Selz in February 1996, Ms. Gridley spent ten years in the M&A Department and the Technology Group at Lehman Brothers. Her 20+ year career in investment banking includes financial advisory work on behalf of technology industry leaders and emerging growth and middle market companies in all product areas (M&A, Public and Private Equity, and Public and Private Debt). Ms. Gridley received her MBA degree from the Amos Tuck School and her A.B. degree from Dartmouth College.

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David Gwozdz

CEO, Mojiva

Dave Gwozdz has spent much of his career in the emerging media space and since 2008, has been leading the team at Mojiva Inc to develop some of the most cutting-edge mobile advertising solutions in the industry. Earlier in his career, Gwozdz served as a member of the founding team of DoubleClick, the internet advertising company acquired by Google for $3 billion in March2008. Throughout his time as VP of Sales, he was tasked with developing and implementing their media sales product and sales strategies. In 1995, Dave also founded one of the first online ad networks, Hot Link Media.

Dave previously held various management positions at McGraw-Hill, Ziff Davis andCMP. Dave regularly shares his experiences in new media at various events and conferences, some of which include: ad:tech, MMA Global’s CEO Summit, Intel Elements and AlwaysOn.

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Mark G. Heesen

President, National Venture Capital Association

Mark Heesen has advocated for the venture capital industry, entrepreneurship and innovation for nearly two decades, first as NVCA's head of public policy and, since 1999 as the Association's president. Under Mark's leadership, the NVCA has grown in both scope and scale as it relates to its public policy agenda, research initiatives, and member programs. Mark is constantly engaged in legislative and regulatory issues surrounding information technology, life sciences and clean technology investing, providing strategic direction for the NVCA professional staff and managing a board of 26 venture capital practitioners.

Mark has taken a leadership position on behalf of the venture capital industry on issues such as carried interest taxation, financial services reform, the FDA regulatory approval process, highly skilled immigration, patent reform, U.S. competitiveness issues, energy reform, support for basic research funding and countless other policy issues that impact America's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As the primary spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to offer insights and perspectives on trends and developments occurring within the asset class. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, a familiar and trusted source in news articles focusing on the venture industry, and a recurrent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg Television.

Prior to his work at NVCA, Mark was an aide to a former Governor of Pennsylvania and was Deputy Director for Federal Funds reporting to the Texas Legislature. Mark received a law degree with an emphasis in taxation from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.

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Rick Heitzmann

Managing Director, FirstMark Capital

Mr. Richard R. Heitzmann is a Managing Director and Member of Investment Committee of FirstMark Capital, L.L.C. He co-founded the firm and focuses on investments in emerging media and advertising, and data and analytics. Mr. Heitzmann’s current investments in the firm are WePlay, Inc., Live Gamer, Inc., Clickable, Inc., and Riot Games, Inc. His historical investments include StubHub, Inc. First Advantage Corporation, and US SEARCH.com, Inc. He is also a Mentor at TechStars, LLC. Prior to this, Mr. Heitzmann was a Partner at Pequot Ventures where he focused on investments in emerging media and advertising and data and information services. Previously, from June 2003 to January 2004, he was a founding member of the senior management team at First Advantage which was formed by a merger of a division of First American Corp. and USSearch.com. At USSearch from November 2001 to June 2003, Mr. Heitzmann, was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Member of the Board of Directors led a public company turnaround after FirstMark Capital, L.L.C. recapitalized the company. He is a Member of Venture Capital Advisory Board of Executive Council. He also served as an Executive with Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities in its Private Equity Group from July 1998 to September 1998 and with Booz-Allen and Hamilton in its Financial Services and Healthcare Group from September 1997 to December 1997. Mr. Heitzmann was involved in turnaround situations and distressed investing as a Financial Analyst and Associate at Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin from July 1994 to September 1997. He is a Director of eWork, LiveGamer, and Clickable Inc. Mr. Heitzmann is also the Director of Riot Games, Inc. He has been a Director of MTM Technologies Inc. since 2004 and is also on the Board of Directors of the New York Venture Capital Association. Mr. Heitzmann has been featured on CNN Market Call, CNBC, and Bloomberg television and radio. He holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

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Brian Hirsch

Managing Partner, GSA Venture Partners

Brian Hirsch is a Managing Partner of GSA Venture Partners and a Co-Chairman of the Fund’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining SAVP in 2004, Mr. Hirsch was a Principal at Sterling Venture Partners and led the firm’s investments in technology-related companies.
Brian is currently a board member of Flat World Knowledge, FTRANS, HomeSphere, Informous, Lendio, Pontiflex, RealDirect, Spanfeller Media Group, TRAFFIQ and Vook. Brian previously sat on the board of YellowJacket (acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE:ICE) and KnowledgeStorm (acquired by TechTarget, NASDAQ:TTGT).

Prior to joining Sterling Venture Partners, Brian was a vice president at ABN AMRO Private Equity (“AAPE”), the U.S. venture capital group of ABN AMRO N.V. Before joining AAPE, Mr. Hirsch worked as a senior consultant at KPMG in the Information, Communications & Entertainment (ICE) practice, where his clients included General Electric, CBS/Westinghouse and the Tribune Company. Brian is an active member of the New York Venture community and sits on the board of the New York Venture Capital Association and created the organization's flagship Ingenuity Conference. Brian is also a co-founder of the NYC Turing Fellows Program which matches top computer science and engineering students with outstanding summer internships at NYC startups.

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Jennifer Hyman

Co-Founder and CEO, Rent The Runway

Jennifer Hyman has been the Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway since the company's inception in November 2009. She is responsible for all areas of the business including technology, fashion, sales, marketing, operations, customer service, and team management, while also serving as the company spokesperson. Most well-known within the entrepreneurial and fashion communities for her phenomenal marketing abilities, Jennifer was named as the Chief Marketing Officer of Fortune magazine’s “Executive Dream Team.”

Jennifer co-founded Rent the Runway with her Harvard Business School classmate Jennifer Fleiss. After receiving approximately $31 million in venture capital from Bain Capital Ventures, Highland Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, they have quickly built the company to include 1.5 million members, over 60 employees and 150 designer brands. Rent the Runway is a members-only online fashion community that builds customer loyalty for designer brands by enabling women to rent dresses and accessories for all the special occasions in their lives. As the "Netflix for fashion," Rent the Runway encourages women to live the life they dream today.

Within only two years of business Rent the Runway has been honored with numerous recognitions, including Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2010,” Forbes’ “15 Names You Need to Know in 2011,” Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Fashion Companies of the Year” and Newsweek’s “Best Ways to Save in 2011.” Additionally, Jennifer and her co-founder were named as Inc. Magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30”, Fashionista’s “Fashionista 50: The Most Influential People in New York Fashion”, and the New York Daily News “Fashion Week Top 20 People Cutting a Bold Figure in New York Fashion.”

Prior to Rent the Runway, Jennifer was the Director of Business Development at IMG where she focused on the creation of new media businesses for IMG's Fashion Division. She also ran an online advertising sales team at WeddingChannel.com and was an in-house entrepreneur at Starwood Hotels, creating Starwood’s first wedding business which was recognized on the Oprah Winfrey Show for its innovation.
Jennifer received her BA from Harvard University and MBA from Harvard Business School. She currently resides in New York City where she enjoys the entrepreneurial lifestyle, neighborhood restaurants, and socializing with her friends and family.

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Philip James

Co-Founder and President, Lot18

Philip is Co-Founder and President of Lot18, a wine eCommerce platform. Philip was Founding CEO, and is currently Chairman, of Snooth Media, a lifestyle media company with several properties including the world’s largest wine and spirits websites. Formerly, Philip was Executive Vice President at the Wine Messenger, a leading national online wine retailer. Philip’s background also includes Technology Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch. James holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Masters degree in Computational Chemistry from Oxford University. In 2003, Philip played an instrumental role in the world’s highest altitude rescue, on the North Face of Mount Everest.

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Peter Kafka

Senior Editor, AllThingsD

Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. He made the digital leap to Forbes.com in 2005. He may have been the first national business reporter to interview Steve “Stone Cold Steve Austin” Williams. In 2007, Mr. Kafka became the first hire at Silicon Alley Insider, where he was until recently the managing editor. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lives in Brooklyn.

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Habib Kairouz

Managing Director, Rho Capital Partners

Habib Kairouz is a managing partner of Rho Capital Partners and Rho Ventures as well as a member of the Investment Committees of Rho Canada and Rho Fund Investors. With nearly 20 years of experience in venture capital, Habib seeks to partner with entrepreneurs who are visionaries, hungry to build massive opportunities, confident enough to challenge established market leaders and charismatic enough to attract top-tier partners, customers and other business personnel. Habib joined Rho in 1993 and focuses on investments in new media, information technology and communication companies at various stages of development – from seed stage to growth equity. Prior to Rho, Habib worked in investment banking and leveraged buyouts in New York with Reich & Co. and Jesup & Lamont.

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Imran Khan

Managing Director and Head of Internet Investment Banking, Credit Suisse

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David Kidder

Co-Founder and CEO, Clickable

David S. Kidder is co-founder and CEO of Clickable, a Web service that brings simplicity to online advertising. Prior to Clickable, Kidder co-founded SmartRay Network, a mobile advertising delivery pioneer acquired by LifeMinders. Previously, David helped lead corporate development at THINK New Ideas, a publicly traded e-business and interactive advertising firm, and founded Net-X, a Web authoring and Internet advertising services company later acquired by Target Vision. Kidder is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, and received ID Magazine's International Design Award and Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008. Kidder is founder of GoodAdds.org, a nonprofit cause-marketing platform created in partnership with GE and Millennium Promise. He also is the creator and co-author of the two-time New York Times bestselling book series, The Intellectual Devotional, published by Rodale. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and two sons.

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Michael Lazerow

Founder and CEO, Buddy Media

Michael is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded four successful internet-based media companies. He has a passion for creating, managing and growing companies from the ground up. Michael is currently Chairman and CEO of Buddy Media, Inc., a New York-based company whose Facebook management system, the Buddy Media Platform, is used by eight out of the top ten global advertisers. Before Buddy Media, Michael founded University Wire, an Associated Press-like network of more than 700 student-run newspapers, now owned by CBS Corp, and GOLF.com.

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Craig Lipset

Head of Clinical Innovation, Pfizer

Craig Lipset is Head of Clinical Innovation within Worldwide Research & Development at Pfizer. Craig works across units and stakeholders to define Pfizer’s vision for the future of clinical trials, enabling the initiatives and investments to create that future. Craig previously served as Venture Partner in Pfizer Venture Investments (Pfizer’s VC arm), where he focused on diversifying the company’s $50M annual budget for private investments in the areas of diagnostics and health technology. Craig was also Senior Director in Molecular Medicine, where he spearheaded initiatives driving innovation in clinical research and personalized medicine by drawing upon tools from health information technology, telemedicine, and eHealth.

Craig brings over 15 years of leadership and innovation in the field of drug development. He previously served as Associate Vice President of Program Management at Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), and on the founding management team for Perceptive Informatics (now part of PAREXEL International). Listed among the 2010 PharmaVOICE most inspiring people in the life sciences and among Pharmaceutical Executive’s 2011 Emerging Leaders, Craig was recently named program chair for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Drug Information Association. Outside of Pfizer, Craig serves on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.

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Cyrus Massoumi

Co-Founder and CEO, ZocDoc

Cyrus Massoumi is the CEO of ZocDoc, which he co-founded in 2007 after rupturing an eardrum. Massoumi struggled for four painful days to find a doctor, and became convinced that a better healthcare system is possible. He has extensive experience in the healthcare-technology nexus, web commerce, and small business management.

Prior to ZocDoc, Massoumi served as an Engagement Manager at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he focused on healthcare and technology. Massoumi’s four-year tenure at McKinsey & Co. began soon after his 2003 graduation from Columbia University, where he earned an MBA and received the Heffernan Award for Outstanding Service.

In 1999, Massoumi founded his first business, a web startup specializing in e-commerce management tools. During the prior year, he worked in Austin, TX, for Trilogy Software, which recruited Massoumi upon his graduation from the Wharton School cum laude.

Massoumi currently resides in Manhattan, New York. In his free time, he thinks about work, and sometimes sleeps. A native of Florida, Massoumi served in his youth as a staffer for a US Senator. He also worked at Disney World, where he learned important lessons about customer service.

Massoumi first met ZocDoc co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Nick Ganju when the two shared a desk at Trilogy Software. He met ZocDoc co-founder and COO Dr. Oliver Kharraz several years later, when they collaborated on a project at McKinsey & Company. Massoumi’s most proud and humbling distinction to date is ZocDoc’s 2010 recognition by Crain’s New York Business as the Number One Best Place to Work in NYC.

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Duncan Niederauer

CEO, NYSE Euronext

Mr. Niederauer has served as chief executive officer and a director of NYSE Euronext since December 2007 and has served as a member of the Company's management committee since April 2007. Prior to his current position, Mr. Niederauer was President and co-Chief Operating Officer of NYSE Euronext with responsibility for U.S. cash equities.

Before joining NYSE Euronext in April 2007, Mr. Niederauer was Managing Director and co-Head of the Equities Division Execution Services franchise at Goldman, Sachs & Co. His career at GS spanned 22 years. Mr. Niederauer has served on the board of Archipelago Holdings, LLC and Colgate University, and now serves on the board of Operation Hope, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. His current memberships include the G100, the British-American Business Council International Advisory Committee, the Partnership for New York City, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Committee, the Museum of American Finance, and Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil. He earned an MBA from Emory University and a BA from Colgate University.

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Alan Patricof

Founder and Managing Director, Greycroft Partners

Alan Patricof is the founder and managing director of Greycroft LLC. A longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital, Alan entered the industry in its formative days with the creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a predecessor to Apax Partners – today, one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $35 billion under management. He stepped back from the daily administration and operational aspects of Apax Partners, LP in 2001 to concentrate on a group of small venture deals on its behalf.

Over the course of his 40 year career in private equity, Alan has been instrumental in growing the venture capital field from a base of high net-worth individuals to its position today with broad institutional backing, as well as playing a key role in the essential legislative initiatives that have guided its evolution. He has helped build and foster the growth of numerous major global companies, including, among others, America Online, Office Depot, Cadence Systems, Cellular Communications, Inc., Apple Computer, FORE Systems, NTL, IntraLinks, and Audible. He was also a founder and chairman of the board of New York magazine, which later acquired the Village Voice and New West magazine.

Alan is active in the New York community as a board member of both the New York Small Business Venture Fund and New Jobs for New York Association, and he currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Columbia University Graduate School of Business. His philanthropic activities also include service on the boards of TechnoServe, Trickle Up Program, and the Global Advisory Board of Endeavor, Inc. In 2007, he was appointed to the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation by the President of the United States.

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Tom Phillips

CEO, m6d

Tom has been a media and technology innovator for over twenty years. He co-founded Spy magazine in 1986, and served as President and Publisher during its five years as one of the most celebrated media properties in New York. Tom was a member of the original management team of Starwave Corporation in 1993, where he led the teams that developed ESPN.com, NBA.com, NFL.com, Ticketmaster.com, ABCNews.com, and the first family of vertical Internet media properties. He became CEO of Deja.com in 1998, and sold that company to Google and eBay in 2001. In March of 2006, Tom joined Google’s North American Sales Organization. He served stints as Director of Print Ads, Director of Media Platforms and Director of the DoubleClick integration, before establishing the Search & Analytics team to pioneer new uses for Google data on behalf of major advertising clients. Tom holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University.

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Dana Reichman

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Lifebooker

Dana Reichman is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Lifebooker which was founded in 2006 to provide online lead generation and yield management to local service providers. Since its inception, Lifebooker has become the leading destination for urban women to find and book discounted beauty, health, and fitness appointments online.

Dana has been responsible for product and technological development, brand creation and positioning, and editorial content. Dana Reichman graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and a B.F.A. in Photography from Washington University in Saint Louis.

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Erick Schonfeld

Editor-in-Chief, TechCrunch

Erick Schonfeld is the Editor of TechCrunch. He oversees the editorial content of the site, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three adorable children. He joined TechCrunch as Co-Editor in 2007, and helped take it from a popular blog to a thriving media property. When TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington left in 2011, Schonfeld became Editor. Prior to TechCrunch, he was Editor-at-Large for Business 2.0 magazine, where he wrote feature stories and ran their main blog, Next Net, which had nearly 50,000 RSS subscribers. He also launched an online video series with CNN/Money and hosted regular panels of industry luminaries. Schonfeld started his career at Fortune magazine in 1993. In 1999, he won the prize for best information technology submission at London’s Business Journalist of the Year Awards, and in 2001 he won the prize for best space submission at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in Paris. In 1996 and 1997, Schonfeld was recognized in the TJFR Business News Reporter’s list of the “best and brightest financial journalists under the age of 30.” He appears regularly on CNBC, CNN, and NY1, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Schonfeld graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in 1993.

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Dan Señor

Author, Start-Up Nation

Dan Señor is co-founder of Rosemont Capital, LLC. Over the past 15 years, he has served in senior positions in government in his public sector career. In his business career, he was an investment professional with the Carlyle Group’s U.S. venture capital fund, and has also invested in and helped guide a number of early-stage companies through their seed founding and early growth periods. Señor was one of the longest-serving civilian officials in Iraq, where he served in 2003 and 2004 as a Senior Adviser and the Chief Spokesperson for the U.S.-led Coalition. For his service, he was awarded the highest civilian honor by the U.S. Department of Defense. Señor also served as an aid to Central Command in Qatar and as a foreign policy and communications adviser in the U.S. Senate. He has studied in Israel and Canada, completed his MBA at Harvard Business School, and — in his business and government careers — has traveled extensively throughout the Arab world and Europe. Señor’s analytical pieces are frequently published by the Wall Street Journal; he has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, Newsweek and TIME. He is also adjunct senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Señor is the co-author the New York Times business best-seller Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle.

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Ofer Shapiro

Co-Founder and CEO, Vidyo

Ofer co-founded Vidyo in 2005 and pioneered Personal Telepresence, enabling a new generation of software-based natural, multi-point HD video conferences on desktop computers, room systems, and mobile devices. Prior to Vidyo, Ofer spent eight years at RADVISION where he was responsible for the development of the first IP video conferencing bridge and gatekeeper technology and the first commercially successful video conferencing architecture. He also served as senior vice president of business development responsible for strategic sales and relationships. Ofer was a contributor and one of the editors of the H.323 standard. Ofer has over fifteen years of experience in bringing disruptive technologies to market. He holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Physics.

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Are Traasdahl

Founder and CEO, TapAd

A serial entrepreneur in digital media; formerly CEO and Founder of Thumbplay, a company he exited in 2008. Start-ups founded by Mr. Traasdahl have generated more than $350 million in mobile and online revenue up from $0 when he started them.

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Albert Wenger

Partner, Union Square Ventures

Albert combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology background. As an entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded five companies, including a management consulting firm (in Germany), a hosted data analytics company, a technology subsidiary for Telebanc (now E*Tradebank), an early stage investment firm, and most recently (with his wife), DailyLit, a service for reading books by email or RSS. Albert also served as the president of del.icio.us through the company's sale to Yahoo. His technology background goes back to winning the German national computer science competition at age 18. Albert graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in economics and computer science and holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology from MIT. He has managed technology projects for organizations as diverse as Tacoda (startup) and Telebanc (leading Internet bank).

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Alexandra Wilkis Wilson

Founder and Chief Merchandising Officer, Gilt Groupe

With over twelve years of international experience in luxury goods and retail, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Founder and Chief Merchandising Officer of Gilt Groupe, is on the forefront of revolutionizing and innovating the landscape of luxury e-commerce. Prior to co-founding Gilt Groupe, Alexandra managed retail operations at Bulgari, overseeing 15 North American stores. Before working at Bulgari, Alexandra managed Leather Goods Sales Planning for Louis Vuitton North America. Alexandra began her career working for 3 years in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, spending her time between New York, London and Latin America. She subsequently entered the retail world working for retail guru Marvin Traub at Financo Inc. Alexandra holds a B.A. from Harvard College where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Alexandra speaks five languages. She is involved in a number of not for profits including: Dress for Success, Endeavor Global, Robin Hood Foundation, the New York Junior League and El Museo del Barrio. She is also an active fundraiser for her alma maters The Brearley School, Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. Alexandra is an official mentor for Tech Stars and an unofficial mentor for many budding entrepreneurs.

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Benjamin Wolin

Co-Founder and CEO, EverydayHealth

Ben Wolin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Everyday Health, Inc. Wolin, who founded Everyday Health with Mike Keriakos in 2002, has grown the business to over $100 million in revenue and the company now has more than 400 employees. Prior to Everyday Health, Wolin served as the Vice President of Production & Technology for Beliefnet, Inc–which later sold to News Corp. As Beliefnet's first employee, Wolin was responsible for product development, Beliefnet's technology infrastructure, and day-to-day operations of the site. Prior to Beliefnet, Wolin served various positions at PBS, Tribune Interactive, Warner Bros, and A&E. Wolin sits on the board of The Travel Ad Network. Wolin was named one of Crain's New York Business 40 Under 40 for 2009.

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