Council of National Advisors

The Members of the Springboard Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises are some of the most talented and accomplished leaders in the business world. The Council was convened to advise and support the organization and its Board of Directors and to actively advocate on behalf of Springboard Enterprises and its alumnae among their peers and within the broader business community. Click on a picture below to learn more about one of our Advisors.

Council of National Advisors:

Darcy Garner Bhatia	Denise Brosseau	Vita Cassese	Faith Charles	Connie Connors	Pamela Reilly Contag	Ellen Corenswet
Lauren Flanagan	Angela Garcia-Lopez	Ellen Hancock	Holly Hassett	Terry Chase Hazell	Christie Hefner	Mary Frances Kelley
Lauri Kien Kotcher	Kay Koplovitz	Geraldine Laybourne	Joan Lyman	Lore Harp McGovern	Pat Mitchell	Toby Moskovits
Julie Muraco	Betsy Myers	Carol Nichols	Sharon Patrick	Jacqueline Reses	Heidi Roizen	Stefanie Shelley
Muriel Siebert	Andrea Silbert	Lilian Stern	Bernee Strom	Amy Wildstein	Elizabeth Zabludoff	Penny Zuckerwise

Darcy Garner Bhatia
The Red Woods Initiative

Darcy Garner Bhatia is an advisor to entrepreneurial individuals and families around the areas of self, money and service.

Darcy was a founding Partner of Highmount Capital, a 2.5 billion dollar wealth management firm.  While at Highmount, Darcy structured and managed the firm's internal investment capabilities and resources.  Darcy’s passion for educating women and the next generation was well known in the industry and during her time at Highmount, she developed a governance and education program that in 2010 was introduced as its own stand alone entity, a not for profit called The Redwoods Initiative.  TRI seeks to educate individuals around three main areas: self, money and action (service) and works through collaboration with other advisors in these specialties for families.

Prior to forming Highmount Capital, she served as a Portfolio Manager and Managing Director at Trainer Wortham & Company in New York, where she designed strategic investment and asset allocation strategies for families.  Previously, Darcy served as Vice President and Portfolio Manager at The Pacific Bank in San Francisco, where she established the Investment Management Division of The Pacific Bank before it was sold to City National in late 1999.

Darcy received her BS from Tulane University and her MBA from Thunderbird, The Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona. Darcy has served on a variety of non-for-profit boards including K.I.D.S. and is a founding and advisory member of The Redwoods Initiative.  She is a member of the Women’s Presidents Organization (WPO), Financial Women’s Association (FWA), New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA), The CFA Institute, Financial Planning Associations (FPA), and STEP.  She holds a series 65, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, and a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).  She is a member of Golden Seeds, a women’s angel investing group and on the Board of Springboard Enterprises, a venture catalyst for Emerging growth ventures led by women.

Denise Brosseau
Well-Connected Leader, Inc.

Denise is the Founder and CEO of Well-Connected Leader, Inc. (WCL) a company dedicated to the success of women leaders. The WCL team is focused on increasing the visibility, credibility, connections and results of their clients, which include entrepreneurs, corporate executives and professional service providers. She spent the first 10 years of her career in the high tech industry, with leadership positions in marketing, product development and international business development at Motorola, Kensington/Acco and Broderbund Software. In 1998, she launched the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), growing this non-profit into the country’s leading organization for high-growth women-led start-ups with seven offices and over 1200 members. While at FWE, Denise was one of the co-founders of Springboard, leading the first two California venture forum events in 2000 and 2001. After leaving the non-profit arena in 2002, Denise co-founded Invent Your Future, a women’s leadership company focused on the retention, development and acceleration of women leaders.

Vita Cassese
Exigen Capital

Vita Cassese is currently an operating partner in the Healthcare practice of Exigen Capital, a transformational Private Equity firm that invests in middle capitalization startups in the Financial Services, Insurance, Media, Healthcare and Communications industries. She has over 30 years of operations experience at Pfizer Inc, a $51 billion Fortune 30 company. Most recently, she held the position of Vice President, Business Development, Strategy and Innovation. Vita started her career at New York Telephone where she had assignments with both AT&T and Bell Labs. She is a member of the Sierra Capital Ventures (PE) CIO Advisory Board, a hone member of the Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises and formerly served on Microsoft’s Pharmaceuticals Advisory Board. Vita was named to the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, named one of the top 25 CIOs of the year by CIO Magazine and is a member of the International Women’s Forum. She has authored articles and has been profiled in numerous industry publications including Computerworld, CIO, and Optimize Magazine.

Vita is a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Mount St. Vincent. She is a guest lecturer at New York University's Stern School of Business, MIT Sloan, and Boston University. Vita holds a BA in Mathematics from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Faith Charles
Thompson Hine LLP

Faith is a partner in the firm's Corporate Transactions & Securities practice group. She focuses her practice on corporate, commercial and securities matters, including strategic transactions and corporate structuring.

For over 20 years, Faith has handled a variety of complex corporate transactions including public and private equity and debt financings, private placements, public offerings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and venture capital financing both domestically and internationally. She also has experience representing biotechnology and medical device companies in matters related to technology licensing transactions , sponsored research, follow-on offerings, PIPE financing, and assisting public companies in going private.

Primary industries of her clients have included public and private start-ups and late-stage companies, underwriters and placement agents, as well as life science, biotechnology, internet and high technology companies, wholesale, retail and investment banking companies.

Faith was also named a BTI Client Service All-Star in 2006 and 2007, and is admitted to practice in the state of New York.

Connie Connors
Connie Connors, Inc

Connie is one of new media's pioneers. Throughout her more than 20 year career, she has helped companies capture their share of the emerging technology markets, defining a new approach to communications and marketing practices in the process. Her work for start ups as well as established companies has earned her numerous awards and honors.

Connie launched Connors Communications in 1985 with the mission to educate the broader consumer audience on how technology can make a difference in the way we live, learn and work. Connie and her team have been responsible for launching many of the major technology initiatives over the past two decades, including: the first personal and hand held computers, CD-ROM drives and educational software, the first networked workstations, online services and new Internet brands including Amazon.com and Priceline.com as well as assisting household brands - Disney.com, National Geographic, Nordstrom.com, The New York Times Digital - transition their offerings online.

Over the past several years, Connie has led her company into the age of digital influence through an integrated online communications and search engine optimization approach. As a result, Connors has developed its own software solution that was the genesis of a popular consumer product called HitTail which was launched in the summer of 2006. Connie served as an Advisory Board Member of the New York New Media Association (NYNMA) and also as its president from 1996-1998. She also served on the NY Governor's task force regarding media and Internet development in 1998. Currently, Connors is an advisor to a number of investment funds and is actively involved in an advisory capacity to several startup companies as well as not-for-profit organizations. She is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.

Dr. Pamela Reilly Contag
ConcentRx and Cygnet BioFuels
Cobalt Biofuels and Xenogen

Pamela R. Contag, Ph.D., is a serial entrepreneur and currently the CEO of Cygnet, a Biofuels company focused on the utilization of novel organisms for feedstock and biofuel production, and ConcentRX, a biotech company.

Pam has founded and led several companies including Xenogen Corporation which she founded in 1995 from her research at Stanford University. She served as President and Founder of Xenogen from 1995-2004 when the company was listed on the NASDAQ. She continued to serve as CEO of Xenogen Biosciences until 2006 when Xenogen merged with CaliperLS.

In 2000, Xenogen Corporation was listed as one of the Top 25 Young Businesses" by Fortune Small Business and in both 2001 and 2003 received the R&D 100 award for achievements in Physics. Pam was named as one of the "Top 25 Women in Small business" by Fortune magazine.Dr. Contag has held various consulting and board positions; public, private and not-for-profit.

Dr. Contag is currently Chariman of ConcentRX, Inc. a privately held Immunotherapy Company and a Board Member of Delcath, Corp. (Nasdaq) and a member of the DOE Biomass Technical Advisory Committee. Other positions include a consulting Professorship at Stanford School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics (1999-present), the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (1999-2005) and the editorial board of the Journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism (2002-present). Dr. Contag was a Director of Xenogen Corporation (1995-2005), Chairman of Cobalt Technologies (2005-2008). With more than 25 years of microbiology research experience, Dr. Contag is widely published in the field of Microbiology and Optical imaging and has over 35 patents. Dr. Contag received her Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1989 studying Microbial Physiology and Genetics (for Alternative Fuels) and completed her Postdoctoral Training at Stanford University School of Medicine in 1993 specializing in “Host/Pathogen Interactions”.

Ellen Corenswet
Covington & Burling LLP

Ellen Corenswet is a Co-Chair of Covington's Corporate Group and operates out of the New York office. She specializes in representing venture capital firms and emerging growth companies in securities matters, venture financings, IPOs, follow on offerings and PIPES, mergers & acquisitions, equity plans and executive compensation, and general corporate governance and advice. Her practice focuses on a number of industries, including life sciences, software, Internet services, financial services, clean technology, and telecommunications. Ellen has over 30 years' experience in venture capital transactions at all stages, for both companies and investors. She has helped numerous companies to prepare for an IPO and to successfully navigate the IPO processes. Ellen takes a hands on, business-focused approach to working with companies and investors.

Prior to joining Covington, Ellen was a partner of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, a preeminent law firm in the venture capital and emerging company arena, until its closure in early 2003. She was one of two founding partners of the New York office of Brobeck and the Chair of its New York corporate practice for a number of years.

Lauren Flanagan
SCIO Corp
Phenomenelle Angels Fund I, LP

Lauren Flanagan is a former IT entrepreneur turned early stage investor. Lauren has invested in 30 companies in the past 6 years, including several Springboard alumnae.  Lauren co-founded and manages two early stage funds: Phenomenelle Angels Fund LP and BELLE Capital LP, and also invests through her strategic advisory firm, SCIO Corp. Lauren has 25 years experience in running and operating technology companies. Before founding SCIO Corp, Lauren co-founded WebWare Corp, a leader in digital asset management, and served as WebWare’s Chairman and CEO for seven years, during which time she raised approximately $20 million in equity capital. WebWare was acquired by a publicly traded company, in 2003. Prior to WebWare, Lauren co-founded four technology companies and consulted for high technology leaders including Apple, Atari, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NeXT, Texas Instruments and Xerox in the early years of the pc market. A Springboard finalist in January 2000, Ms. Flanagan received Trailblazer Awards in 2000 and 2001 from the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. She was also awarded IT Software CEO of the Year for 2002 by leading analyst firm, Frost and Sullivan. BusinessWeek selected her as one of the Top 25 Angels in Tech in 2010. Ms. Flanagan is chairman of the board at HarQen Inc. and Current Motor Company, serves on the boards of directors of Springboard Enterprises and Michelle’s Miracle Inc, and is a board observer to EraGen BioSciences Inc. Ms. Flanagan also serves on the Angel Capital Association’s syndication committee.

Angela Garcia-Lopez
Grant Thornton, LLP

Angela is an audit senior manager in the San Francisco office with over 9 years of public accounting experience serving clients serving clients ranging from large, publicly traded companies to small entrepreneurial businesses primarily in the technology industry. She has significant experience with accounting related to revenue recognition for for software licenses and hosting arrangements. Her expertise also includes SEC filings, initial public offerings, audits of internal control over financial reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley consulting projects and mergers and acquisitions financial due diligence.

Ellen Hancock
Consultant

Ellen Hancock is a long-time technology manager. She is best known for her 29-year tenure at IBM, where she rose to the position of senior vice president in charge of network hardware and software. She ran the networking hardware division through the first half of the 1990s, at a time when it produced double digit losses in market share year after year. (The same division was ultimately sold to Cisco in 1999.) She was also a member of the IBM Corporate Executive Committee and the IBM Worldwide Management Council. In September 1995 she started with National Semiconductor as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), after being lured from IBM by Gil Amelio. She worked closely with Amelio to move National Semiconductor to profitability. In May 1996 she again joined Amelio at Apple Computer where she took over the Chief Technology Officer role. After Apple she took the CEO position with Exodus Communications in March 1998, and became chairman of the board in 2000. While leading Exodus she set a NASDAQ record of 19 consecutive quarters of 40 percent quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. Her next gig was as President, COO, and secretary to the board of Acquicor, a company she co-founded with Amelio and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The company served as a 'blank check' holding company which acquired Jazz Semiconductor.

Hancock is a member on the boards of several companies, including Aetna, Colgate-Palmolive, Ripcord Networks, Marist College and Santa Clara University. She is also a board member of non-profit venture catalyst Springboard Enterprises. She is a graduate from the College of New Rochelle, and obtained a master's degree in mathematics from Fordham University.

Holly Hassett
Consultant

Holly is a well-respected, seasoned public affairs advocate who for much of her career headed up the government affairs operations for The Hershey Company, a large, publicly traded, food and consumer goods manufacturing company. Since her retirement from Hershey, Holly has worked as a Consultant, Board Member and Advisor providing strategic guidance to corporate, trade association and non-profit clients seeking to influence the political process on a broad range of public policy issues, including Homeland Security, health, tax and appropriations.

Holly spent 25-years at The Hershey Company starting in 1978 when she opened their Washington, D.C. Corporate office. She served as Manager until 1992 when she was named Director of Federal Government Relations. In 1994 she relocated to Corporate Headquarters in Hershey, PA to manage international, federal, state and local government relations programs for the company. Holly retired from The Hershey Company in June of 2002 as Vice President of Government Relations and a corporate officer.

Currently Holly serves on the Board of the Capitol Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based women's organization comprised of current and former Washington heads of corporations and trade associations. She also serves on the board of The Washington-Ireland Program for Service and Leadership and supports the programs of USA for UNHCR.

Terry Chase Hazell
RampCorp at Texas State University
Entrepreneur in Residence, Springboard Enterprises

Terry Chase Hazell grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, she worked at a start-up biotech company at 15 and has been an advocate and coach for start-up technology companies ever since. She has advanced innovation and entrepreneurship as a successful start-up executive spinning out companies from Universities, as a university employee advancing innovation, and as a university advisor implementing new programs helping women become entrepreneurs and investors.

Her biotech-specific expertise is recombinant protein production, process scale-up and cGMP manufacturing. Hazell started her career in biotechnology at Martek Biosciences as a student researcher working with algae and oil production. Her first leadership position was managing the bioprocess scale-up facility at the University of Maryland where she developed and scaled the production of dozens of biologic products. She then managed clinical manufacturing projects at one of the most successful independent contract manufacturing organizations, BioScience Contract Production Corporation. Hazell was the founding CEO of a protein manufacturing and University of Maryland spinout company, Chesapeake PERL. She led the company from a University idea to a revenue producing and growing company. In 2003, she led the company through a merger with a competitor. Hazell serves as Director of SD Nanosciences, Inc., a start-up company spinning out of the University of Maryland. SD Nanosciences’ nanoparticle-based technology enables vaccine development and drug delivery. Hazell served as founding President and CEO, invested the first seed funding, developed the initial intellectual property, worked with Scientific Founders to win several research grants and customer financing. In Austin, Hazell served as a fractional Vice President of Terapio Corporation where she primarily focused on operations and outsourcing pharmaceutical manufacturing.

She has developed curriculum for and taught entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland College Park and at the award-winning ACTiVATE program. She led the first expansion of ACTiVATE from Maryland to Texas with support from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and led the Texas State ACTiVATE program from October 2009 until October 2010. Together with Robin Curle, she developed customized curriculum for Texas. Today, she is an Entrepreneur in Residence at both Texas State University – leading an entrepreneurship training and incubation program, RampCorp -- and at Springboard Enterprises, helping women access capital. She leads conferences and boot camps for entrepreneurship and recently led the entrepreneurship tracks of the Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas Conferences for Women.

She serves on several start-up company boards and advisory boards, is a member of the selection committee for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, is co-author of House:work, a Woman’s Strategic Guide to Intellectual Property and is an Entrepreneur Columnist for the Austin Business Journal.

Christie Hefner
C.A.H., LLC

As Chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. from 1988 to 2008, Christie Hefner oversaw the global expansion of Playboy’s legendary brand to a wide array of new platforms and markets, transforming a domestic publishing-based business into a global multi-media and lifestyle company. She was the longest serving female CEO ever of a public company, and she was also named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes magazine for three consecutive years (2005-2007), and in 1991, she was inducted into the Women's Business Development Center Hall of Fame for "opening doors and building opportunities for all women entrepreneurs."

Since stepping down, Christie has been working with the Center for American Progress, the leading progressive think tank started and run by John Podesta, and appearing regularly on cable news to talk about business and public policy. She is working with the “Columbia Journalism Review” to increase its influence and effectiveness both as a media watchdog and as an ally in the effort to find new business models for journalism. She is also developing a new brand-licensing business for Canyon Ranch Health Resorts.

The first woman elected to the Chicago chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization, Christie helped to found the Committee of 200, an international organization of preeminent women business owners and executives. She currently sits on the Council of National Advisors for Springboard Enterprises, which supports women-led growth ventures, and has long been involved in working to elect progressive candidates, advance women, and first amendment issues. She was a founding partner of The Directors’ Council, which is dedicated to meeting the increasing needs of public boards for independent directors by increasing the diversity of boards.

She’s on the board of Trustees for Rush University Medical Center and has also distinguished herself as a committed HIV/AIDS activist, dedicating time and resources to many AIDS-related programs. She spent four years as project board chairman for the CORE Center––a public-private partnership between Rush University Medical Center and Cook County Hospital––and raised $30 million to build this innovative clinic and research facility, which opened in Chicago in the summer of 1998. The CORE Center conducts clinical research and provides prevention education and outpatient care for
people with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.

Christie was born in Chicago in 1952. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year of college, she graduated from Brandeis University summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature in 1974. After graduation, she worked as a journalist for a year for The Boston Phoenix. She is married to real estate developer
and attorney William A. Marovitz, a former Illinois state senator.

Mary Frances Kelley
INVESCO

Mary Frances is a nationally recognized small business expert and lecturer, and has been a consultant to two Fortune 100 financial services firms. Mary joined Sovereign Financial services (now INVESCO Private Capital) in 1994. She began her career in 1976 with Deloitte & Touche in the Audit and General Service department. Mary founded her own full service accounting firm in 1980. Her business acumen and leadership have been recognized by both the Reagan and Clinton administrations. She was a participant in President-elect Clinton's Economic Summit, and has served on an advisory board to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. She was appointed by President Clinton to be a commissioner for the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995. She has extensive experience in business valuation and strategic planning matters. In addition, she has worked with a number of businesses, foundations and endowments with regard to the development of systems, reporting and internal controls. Mary Frances serves on several partnership advisory boards including Telecom II & III, CHL Medical, Healthcare Ventures and Apex.

Lauri Kien Kotcher
Godiva Chocolatier, Inc.

Lauri is Chief Marketing Office and SVP Global Brand Development, Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. a position she assumed in early 2009. Prior, She was a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers, and Head of Marketing for Equity Research. Until 2007, Lauri was the Vice President, Global Brand Management at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (a $4 billion division of Pfizer Inc.), a position she had held since 2004. Lauri was responsible for growing Pfizer's consumer brands globally: Listerine, Nicorette, Visine, Purell, Zyrtec, and Rogaine which collectively represented almost $2B in sales and about 50% of Pfizer's consumer portfolio.

From 1988-2003, Lauri was at McKinsey & Company where she was a partner and co-leader of the North American Packaged Goods practice. She has deep industry experience in OTC, HBA/beauty, food and beverage, household goods, and retail apparel. During her 15 years in consulting, she led efforts for major clients across a board range of product categories and channels, including mass retail, food service, and luxury goods. She also has international experience, having worked for global companies in Western Europe, Brazil, Mexico, and Asia Pacific.

At McKinsey, Lauri was known as a knowledge leader in the firm and has led ground-breaking work including "Cracking the Code on Innovation," "Making Consumer Mergers Work," and "Breaking Out of the Pack-Building New Businesses." She also developed McKinsey's industry leaders consumer products sales force survey, which is used to benchmark sale effectiveness measures and efficiency issues and published every 4-5 years, and published several articles on sales force best practices.

Kay Koplovitz
Chairman, Springboard Enterprises
Founder, USA Networks
Chairman of the Board, Liz Claiborne Inc.
Chairman and CEO, Koplovitz & Company
Board Member, CA Technologies
Author and Entrepreneur

Kay Koplovitz is the founder of USA Network and the first woman network president in television history. A pioneer in cable television networks and new media ventures, she is a visionary woman who led the emergence of cable television to challenge the broadcast networks for coveted audiences. Kay served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from USA’s premiere in 1977 as an all sports service (Madison Square Garden Sports), until stepping down in 1998. During her tenure, she built USA into the #1 ranking in primetime viewership among cable networks, for 13 consecutive years at the helm. Under Koplovitz’s direction, USA launched the SCI FI Channel in 1992, which has become one of the industry’s top ranked networks in viewership according to Nielson and is distributed to over 200 million households worldwide.  In April 1994, she launched USA Networks International, which now operates in countries around the world.  The Company was sold in 1998 for $4.5 Billion and became a publicly listed company. 

She continues to be a leader in raising venture capital for women entrepreneurs and in launching new programming companies that challenge the frontiers of the digital age. She is the author of Bold Women, Big Ideas (May '02), which she wrote to inform and inspire women entrepreneurs to create wealth through equity. Kay speaks on subjects ranging from media and the digital revolution, to venture and private equity and corporate governance.   Her company, Koplovitz & Company provides advisory services to entertainment companies, sports organizations, advertisers and distributors and advises companies on growth strategies.  The firm also invests in early to mid-stage companies in media and technology.

In 2000, Kay co-created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that fosters venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies. She also co-founded Boldcap Ventures, a venture capital fund backed exclusively by leading women executives. Boldcap invests principally in early to mid stage companies in the media, technology, and healthcare sectors. Kay counts among her accomplishments the Presidential appointment as Chair of National Women's Business Council (1998-2001). She is the recipient of numerous awards and inductions for her leadership accomplishments in the areas of Media and Entrepreneurship.

Kay currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Liz Claiborne Inc. a $5 Billion company that designs and markets an extensive range of women's and men's fashion apparel and accessories across 38 brands in domestic and international markets; ION Media and CA, the world's leading independent IT management software company. Kay has previously served on the boards of Instinet, Oracle, Nabisco, General Re, and Sun New Media. She serves as trustee of The Paley Center for Media and Babson College and The University of Wisconsin. She holds a master's degree in Communications from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin as well as honorary doctorate degrees from Emerson College, St. John's University, Michigan State University and  Canasius College. A native of Milwaukee, Kay is married to private investor William C. Koplovitz, Jr.

Geraldine Laybourne
Oxygen Media, LLC
Zelinick Media

Gerry founded Oxygen Media and served as its chairman and chief executive officer until November 2007 when the network was acquired by NBC Universal. She launched the network in 2000 to fill a void in the television landscape - creating a network targeted to younger women. Gerry led the company to be a strong advocate for women.

Prior to starting Oxygen, Gerry spent 16 years at Nickelodeon. Under her leadership, Nickelodeon became the top-rated 24-hour cable service and won several notable honors, including Emmy^® and Parent's Choice^® awards. From 1996-1998, Gerry was president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks where she was responsible for overseeing cable programming for the Walt Disney Company and ABC.

Gerry is currently the Chairman of the Board of Alloy Media and is a member of the Board of Directors of Symantec, Electronic Arts, JC Penney.  She serves  on the Board of Trustees of Vassar College and is President of the AAVC. Gerry also sat on a number of industry boards and advisory committees, including The National Cable Television Association, The National Council for Families and Television,  and the Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Vassar College and a Master of Science degree in elementary education from the University of Pennsylvania. A native of Martinsville, New Jersey, she and her husband Kit have two children and three grandchildren.

Joan Lyman
Lyman Management Group

Joan Lyman excels at leading Founders and Angel investors to a thorough understanding of the intersection of cash and shareholder rights, and - through that knowledge - building stronger businesses at earlier stages. She has over 25 years of operational and sales experience in developing innovative technology companies. In 1999, Joan co-founded SecureWorks, then raised $30 million to build what is widely recognized today as the largest successful, private MSSP in North America. She spearheaded the first-to-market MSSP for an IDS/IPS solution in Open Source, called the iSensor.

Her unique expertise of understanding the successful mix of markets, money and management teams was honed over two decades of experience that includes launching some of the earliest voice mail systems, information management systems and Internet security solutions. As regional sales director for CompUSA, she managed operations at 23 locations in eight states during the company’s transition from a pure retailer to a solutions-focused integrator. Today, Joan is a frequent speaker on Economics for Innovation with a specialty in Founder and Angel investors’ economics and shareholder rights. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and children.

Lore McGovern

Business @Venturess, LHM Ventures

She initiated a successful public offering in 1981, led by Hambrecht & Quist and Shearson Lehman Brothers. She also co-founded Pacific Technology Venture Fund in 1981 and headed firm with offices in Tokyo and San Francisco from 1984 through 1985. She founded Aplex Corporation in 1985 to develop products for the feminine hygiene market and holds two patents for her invention until she sold marketing rights in 1990.

She was CEO for Good Morning Teacher! Publishing Company with 750 titles for K-12, and consumer-oriented educational materials for 4-8 year olds which was sold in 1999. She has served as a Mentor Investor since 1998, raising seed capital, first or second-round financing for companies in the technology sector. In 2000, with her husband, she established The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and is actively involved as a Director. Lore has also been involved in politics for over 30 years as major fundraiser on the National and State level.

Lore is also a former director for the American Electronics Association and Montgomery Ventures. She was the Chair Emeritus, Board of Associates for Whitehead Institute at MIT and was a former director for Pacific Community Ventures, Inc until she retired in Dec. 8, 2010. She is currently a member of the Visiting Committee for Theater Arts at MIT, Council for the Arts at MIT and the Band of Angels. Lore has also received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1983 and Distinguished Citizen Award in 2008, awarded by The Commonwealth Club. She received her BA from California State University in Los Angeles and her MBA from Pepperdine University.

Pat Mitchell
The Paley Center for Media

Pat is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Paley Center for Media. She came to the Center in March 2006 from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), where she was named president and chief executive officer in March 2000, the first woman and first producer and journalist to hold the position. Under Pat's leadership, PBS rejuvenated the National Program Service, which is distributed to the public through 348 locally owned and operated PBS member stations. She also oversaw the development of many new projects, including a new series for children focusing on teaching literacy skills and celebrating diversity. She is credited with leading public broadcasting into the digital future with such initiatives as the conversion from analog to digital broadcasting, the launch of a high-definition PBS channel and an on-demand and cable preschool children's service, the growth of PBS's website into one of the three most visited sites on the internet, and the establishment of the Digital Future Initiative to help define models for public service media using new digital technologies.

Pat is responsible for establishing an independent production company based at Paramount Studios. The company produced documentaries, specials and series for broadcast, cable, and national syndication. Within the company, Pat became the Executive Producer and the host of "Woman to Woman," the first female-hosted talk show. She has reported from Israel, Palestine, Northern Ireland and El Salvador for an NBC series called "Women and War." She also produced "A Century of Women," the first documentary series on women's history in the United States.

Toby Moskovits

Heritage Equity Partners

Julie Muraco
Praeditis Group LLC

Julie C. Muraco, Managing Partner, Praeditis Group LLC, works with private companies and fund groups seeking access to global capital sources, as well as providing operational expertise in strategic planning, sales & marketing and corporate communications. She founded Praeditis Group LLC, a capital markets and corporate advisory firm in 2007.

Previously, Ms. Muraco was a Senior Managing Director and head of Global Capital Markets for The NASDAQ OMX Stock Market responsible for strategy and client relations with corporate advisors, such as investment banks and financial sponsors, transitioning private companies to the public markets. She has extensive experience with global financial sponsors, banks, and institutional investment firms throughout the U.S., Canada and Asia. Ms. Muraco spent more than 20 years on Wall Street as a Vice President with J.P. Morgan’s Cash Markets Division, based in New York, and as a Managing Director in the Capital Markets Division of Smith Barney, based in Chicago and earlier, in Cleveland. Ms. Muraco spent 2 years as Vice President, Investor Relations, for Archstone-Smith, a publicly traded REIT specializing in luxury high-rise apartments.

Ms. Muraco serves on the advisory boards of Genisys Group, a private company based in London and Springboard Enterprises, a not-for-profit organization that promotes women entrepreneurs and their companies in the capital markets. She also is a Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of Americans for the Arts, Washington, D.C., the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing rticipation in the arts. She writes and speaks nationally on the influence the arts play on corporate innovation and creative thinking and the economic impact of the arts in community development. Ms. Muraco holds a B.A. in Finance from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. She resides in New York City.

Betsy Myers
Leadership Expert

With more than two decades of executive leadership positions in various aspects of the public sector, Betsy Myers brings a wealth of leadership experience and personal focus. Betsy Myers most recently served as COO for Obama for America, the 2008 Presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama (IL). Myers, who is known for her ability to build organizations from the ground up, oversaw the day-to-day operations of the campaign. According to Betsy, her "two passions in life are politics and leadership development." In addition to writing her first book, she has a busy speaking schedule on the topics of politics, leadership and women in business.

Prior to joining the Obama Campaign, she was Executive Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The Center is dedicated to excellence in leadership education and research and through its programs and initiatives, bridges the gap between leadership theory and practice. Prior to her appointment at the center, she was Director of Alumni Programs and External Relations and the Kennedy School. During the Clinton Administration, Betsy was a senior official at both the White House and the Small Business Administration (SBA) as Associate Deputy Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development and was responsible for the agency's technical assistance, management , and distance learning program.

In addition, she was responsible for implementing the SBA's national requirements under President Clinton's Welfare to Work Initiative. From 1995-1997, Betsy launched and directed the first White House Office for Women's Initiatives and outreach, serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Women's Initiatives. In 1993, she held the post of Director at the Office of women's Business Ownership, Washington, D.C. where she served as advocate for 7.8 million women entrepreneurs. Betsy began her career as an entrepreneur in southern California.

Carol Nichols
vCFO, Circle C Ventures, Golden Seeds, North Texas Angel Network and Texas Women Ventures Fund

Carol Nichols is an early stage investor, focused on strategies to make companies and people successful. As a former executive with JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and as the Founder of Circle C Ventures, LLC, Carol has almost three decades of experience providing capital and advice to growing companies. Carol is currently Vice President for vCFO responsible for business development and sales strategy for vcfo, vrecruiting, vhr, and vcapital in North Texas. Vcfo is a unique professional services firm offering a customized team model to assist Middle Market and Early Stage companies with finance, accounting, capital raising, recruiting and human resources.

Carol is a leader in capital access initiatives for women-business owners. She is a Co-Founder of the Texas Women Ventures Fund, a member of Golden Seeds, a national angel investor group, and a Co-Founder of NWABO Capital Concepts, Inc., a micro loan program for women entrepreneurs. Carol is on the Boards of Springboard Enterprises, the North Texas Angel Network, and the Texas Horse Park. She serves on the Advisory Board of J.O.Y. Foods in Dallas, TX. The Fort Worth Business Press has recognized Carol as one of the "Great Women of Texas." Carol graduated Cum Laude from the University of Georgia with degrees in Economics and Political Science and she received an MBA from Tulane University.

Sharon Patrick
Patrick Partners

Sharon is a business architect and brand builder specializing in entrepreneurial ventures. After graduating from Stanford University and earning her MBA from the Harvard Business School, she spent 13 years at McKinsey and Company developing her brand building skills and experience - founding and leading McKinsey's media and entertainment practice; creating the business model and start-up strategy for ESPN for Getty Oil; directing Cablevision in the development of the original SportsChannel franchises as well as American Movie Classics; directing strategy and branding work for the USTA and USFL; and leading the turnaround and branding of urban cable systems for Times Mirror, Warner Amex, Cox and Cablevision among other assignments.

From 1990-1993, Sharon joined Cablevision as President and Chief Operating Officer of Rainbow Programming to convert the company from a Cablevision subsidiary into a standalone, self-financing company with a portfolio of branded assets. On Sharon's watch, 4 new channels were successfully launched: In Court (now Court TV) was created, the Bravo network was branded and repositioned, Rainbow's other networks doubled in size, revenues grew 58 percent to nearly $350 million, and operating income tripled, enabling the company to become profitable for the first time.

In 1994, Sharon founded her own company, The Sharon Patrick Company, to create and own highly branded media and merchandising businesses. She began by creating the Outdoor Life Network among other ventures. One of the clients of The Sharon Patrick Company was Martha Stewart who in 1993 was looking to Sharon to help her buy back her interests from Time Warner and help her build her own company. The two joined forces as founding partners to build, based on Sharon's "omnimedia" business model, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., the well known and highly branded $1.5 billion retail empire for the home. Sharon led the buyback of Martha Stewart Living from Time Warner to establish MSO and in 1998 became MSO's President and COO. In that capacity, she led the company's high-profile IPO, taking over as CEO in June 2003. At year-end 2004, mission accomplished, she resigned from MSO, returning to The Sharon Patrick Company full time once again pursuing her entrepreneurial interests in creating new, next-generation branded ventures capable of "doing good while doing well".

Heidi Roizen
SkinnySongs

Heidi Roizen spent her life immersed in the Silicon Valley ecosystem – as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture capitalist, educator, and member of the boards of directors of private and public companies, trade associations and nonprofit institutions. After receiving her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford University, Heidi co-founded T/Maker Company (an early personal computer software company) in 1983, where she served as CEO from inception through its acquisition by Deluxe Corporation in 1994. In 1996, Heidi joined Apple as Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. From there, Heidi entered the venture capital world, serving as a Managing Director of Mobius Venture Capital from 1999 to 2007.

Today, Heidi is a member of the board of directors of TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) and of Yellow Media, Inc. (TSX: YLO). She serves on the advisory boards of Springboard Enterprises and the National Center for Women in Information Technology. Heidi has also recently joined the faculty of Stanford University’s Technology Ventures Program (in the department of engineering) as a Fenwick and West Entrepreneurship Educator. And, Heidi is also still an entrepreneur herself through her venture SkinnySongs.

During the fall quarter of 2010, Heidi served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Edinburgh Business School in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is the 2008 recipient of the Annual Achievement award from the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives.

Stefanie Shelley
Edgewood Growth Consulting

Stefanie Shelley, a seasoned operating and marketing executive, is currently the Principal of Edgewood Growth Consulting and a Board Director of Green Bank. Stefanie has experience as Chief Marketing Officer and Product Management Executive at Fortune 100 companies, including Chase, Citibank, Capital One and GE Capital and is currently the Acting Chief Marketing Officer of Broadridge Financial Solutions. She has a broad functional background in business strategy, marketing and product and channel management and extensive experience launching, building and restructuring businesses.

Stefanie was EVP/Bank Marketing Executive of Capital One Bank. Previously, she held an executive position at Citibank, where she managed the product management and marketing of the $100 billion retail deposit product portfolio. Before Citibank, Stefanie was the Chief Marketing Officer for Small Business Banking at JP Morgan Chase. In this role, she was responsible for marketing campaigns in the integrated Chase/Bank. Stefanie has also held marketing and general management positions at GE/GE Capital, Smith Barney, Bankers Trust and Money magazine and in management consulting.

As Principal at Edgewood Growth Consulting, Stefanie provides consulting services to develop and execute strategies that deliver profitable business growth. Stefanie is a Director of private equity-owned Green Bank. Stefanie serves on the Planning Committee with other bank executives for the annual BAI Retail Delivery conference, a major event in the banking industry. Stefanie has an undergraduate degree in Economics from Colgate University and an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton Business School.

Muriel Siebert
Muriel Siebert and Company, Inc.

Muriel is the founder and president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) brokerage firm that bears her name, Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc. She established the firm in 1967 when she became the first woman member of the NYSE, and transformed the firm into a discount brokerage house on May 1, 1975, the first day that NYSE members were permitted to negotiate commissions.

Muriel continues to oversee the firm's day-to-day operations at its seven branches. The firm's Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., LLC municipal affiliate is ranked in the Top 25 Public Finance Firms in the country. Muriel started her career as a $65 a week trainee in research at Bache & Co., and became an industry specialist (airlines and aerospace). She later became a partner at Finkle & Co., as well as at Brimberg & Co.

Andrea Silbert
Eos Foundation

Andrea Silbert joined the Eos Foundation as its first president in 2007. Prior, Andrea was the co-founder and CEO of the Center for Women & Enterprise, one of the largest nonprofit entrepreneurial training centers in New England. Since 1995, CWE has served entrepreneurs ranging from owners of small home-based businesses to the founders of fast-growth technology companies like Zipcar and iRobot. Andrea was a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 2006, campaigning on a platform of job creation, economic development, economic justice, and poverty alleviation.
Andrea began her professional career as a financial analyst with Morgan Stanley in New York. She was inspired to use her skills to help alleviate poverty and left Wall Street for Latin America. Working in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil, Andrea served as a trainer and consultant on grassroots economic development issues. During her time abroad, Andrea worked for Women’s World Banking, an international network of micro-loan funds, and was named an Echoing Green Fellow for her work to help at-risk Brazilian street girls learn job skills and start their own businesses.
Returning from her work overseas, Andrea served as the Economic Development Director for the Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation in Roxbury, where she provided counseling to small businesses prior to launching the Center for Women & Enterprise. A nationally recognized advocate in the area of economic empowerment, Andrea was selected by Working Woman magazine—alongside Senator Barbara Mikulski and Gloria Steinem—as one of only 25 leaders in the past 25 years who “have given women in the workplace a better shot.”
Andrea is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Lilian Stern
Stern Investor Relations

Lilian Stern has been a senior investor relations counselor in the biotechnology industry for over 15 years, representing more than 200 companies ranging from start-ups to large-cap public companies, in a broad range of development stages and therapeutic areas. As Principal of Stern IR, she works closely with client teams, providing skilled and knowledgeable IR counsel. Prior to founding Stern IR, Lilian established and ran the investor relations group at Burns McClellan for six years and worked as a biotechnology sell-side analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette/Credit Suisse First Boston. She holds an A.B. with distinction from Cornell University and a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School.

Bernee Strom
The Strom Group

Bernee D. L. Strom is Chairman and CEO of WebTuner, a Redmond, WA-based over-the-top (OTT) television software and services company, which enables video to be delivered directly to TVs without separate boxes or computers. She was also a founding partner of Revitalization Partners, a Seattle-based turnaround and business advisory firm. Ms. Strom also served as Chairman of Ensequence, Inc., a software company that has developed a cross- platform technology for Interactive Video across cable, satellite, broadband and mobile devices. She was also Chairman and CEO of Strom Group Inc., an investment, management consulting and business advisory firm that specializes in the turnaround of troubled companies and startup of new firms, especially in high technology. Strom was President of InfoSpace Ventures, LLC, and President and COO of InfoSpace, Inc., a leading global provider of cross-platform merchant and consumer infrastructure services on wireless, broadband, and narrowband platforms. She was CEO and served on the board of Walker Digital and was founding CEO of Walker Digital’s first spin-out, Priceline.com. Ms. Strom is a founder and was a principal of the Gemstar Development Corporation.

Ms. Strom was a founder and board member of MilleCom, an Internet-based communications company. Ms. Strom was previously President and CEO of USA Digital Radio (USADR), now known as iBiquity, developing a worldwide standard for AM and FM digital radio broadcasting. Ms. Strom was founder, President and CEO of MBS Technologies, Inc., a computer software company that published the award-winning FileRunner^® program. Ms. Strom's experience also includes many years in the newspaper industry as a senior executive of a major metropolitan daily, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

Ms. Strom was recently named one of the 100 Most Impactful, Inspiring Alumni of the Anderson School of Management of UCLA. Ms. Strom received the Luminary Award from the Committee of 200 as its “Technology Innovator.” She was named by the Star Group as one of the “Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World” at a ceremony in Venice, Italy, where she also received the Technology Award from IBM. The Seattle Chapter of the Forum of Women Entrepreneurs also named her “Entrepreneur of the Year”. Ms. Strom holds an M.B.A. (with honors in finance) from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management where she was a Carter Fellow. She holds a B.S., summa cum laude, in mathematics and history from New York University where she was a General Motors Scholar. She also completed her masters and doctoral degrees (ABD) in mathematics and mathematics education at New York University. Ms. Strom was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma (National Business Honorary), Pi Mu Epsilon (National Mathematics Honorary), and was nominated for Woodrow Wilson and Danforth Fellowships. Ms. Strom also was awarded an NDEA Title IV Fellowship.

Amy Wildstein
Boldcap Ventures, LLC

Amy Rosen Wildstein serves as the Fund Manager for Boldcap Ventures, LLC, a venture capital fund that invests in early to mid-stage women-led companies, primarily in the healthcare and technology sectors. Wildstein oversees the investment activities of the fund.

Prior to Boldcap, Wildstein served as a Principal of Solera Capital, which was formed in 1999. Prior to this position, she worked at Morgan Stanley, where she was responsible for evaluating potential acquisition candidates and structuring investments for Morgan Stanley's $2 billion investment fund.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Wildstein worked with The Blackstone Group and focused on private equity investing and mergers and acquisitions. With this experience under her belt, Wildstein is able to play a crucial role for Boldcap's portfolio companies in developing and executing financial strategies, including public equity and debt financings, bank facilities and private equity placements. Amy has served on the Boards of Directors of companies in the media, healthcare information technology and consumer sectors.

Elizabeth Zabludoff
Withers Bergman LLP

As head of U.S. Business Development and Marketing, Elizabeth oversees firm marketing to U.S. intermediaries and potential clients. She also travels both domestically and internationally to develop new business. In addition, Elizabeth works closely with Firm attorneys to market their respective practices and to develop their individual books of business.

Elizabeth sits on the board of Global Fellows for Social Enterprises and is a member of the University of Florida Astronomy Department Advisory Council, the Legal Marketing Association, and the New York and Southeast branch of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce.
Elizabeth works closely with Firm attorneys to market their respective practices and to develop their individual books of business.  She is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA) and earned her JD at Fordham University School of Law.

Penny Zuckerwise
Russell Investments

Penny Zuckerwise is chief executive officer of Russell Investments’ Americas institutional business. In her role, Penny has primary responsibility for Russell’s institutional business. Penny brings more than 25 years of industry experience, as a business leader, consultant and investment advisor to this role. She serves as a member of Russell’s management committee and provides strategic direction and oversight for Russell’s Institutional leadership team. She joined Russell in 2010.
Before joining Russell, from 2005 to 2010, Penny was president and chief executive officer of Utendahl Capital Management, L.P., an asset management firm offering institutional investment grade fixed income management to Fortune 500 companies. As a successful executive in the asset management industry and as an entrepreneurial business builder, Penny was instrumental in building key new relationships for the firm.

Previous to that, Penny served as the principal and founder of Wiserock, LLC, which provides strategy management oversight and business advice to a select group of companies, CEOs, management teams, pensions and private equity funds. She was also founder, general partner, and governing board member of Boldcap Ventures, formerly Angels4Equity, the first New York women’s investment fund that targets early to mid-stage private investments across the media technology and healthcare industries.  Throughout her career, Penny has demonstrated an ability to execute business strategies in a complex and rapidly changing environment. She brings an extensive background in fixed income investing, and a proven track record as a catalyst for a client-driven culture to the role.