Mike Andrews, Managing Director & Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales, NovaStor

Mike Andrews was promoted to the position of Managing Director in January 2007, retaining the title of Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales, a position which he has held at NovaStor since July of 2000. He is responsible for the operations of NovaStor’s North American head quarters and for the global sales of NovaStor’s complete product line.

Prior to NovaStor, in 1990, he managed a Canadian government inventory tracking and security initiative for 7 years leading to hundreds of millions in cost avoidance and savings, In 1997, he then became the Executive Vice President of Sales at Authentex Software, acting as the North American Distribution for ThunderByte Anti-Virus and a world wide distributor for the award winning DataSafe Encryption Software solution.

He is a 17 year veteran of the data security industry, is co-founder of a system integration and services company and currently sits on the board of Paradox, a non-profit organization that furnishes under privileged students with computers and professional training to assist in the creation of better work opportunities.

Jim Armstrong, Managing Director, Clearstone Venture Partners

A successful and experienced early stage venture investor across a variety of enterprise and consumer facing technology companies, Jim has established himself as a leading investor in Southern California. Since joining Clearstone early in its formation, Jim has applied his experience and industry contacts to help Clearstone companies deliver a strong record of venture performance. Jim's work at Clearstone is focused on information technology investments, with particular interest in consumer internet, application software and internet enabled business processes. Jim has benn recognized as one of the top 50 Venture Capitalists in the United States by Forbes Magazine in its annual Midas List.

Jim joined Clearstone Venture Partners in 1998 from Austin Ventures, a leading venture fund, where he spent three years supporting investments in a variety of early stage companies. Jim also worked with idealab, the incubator, helping to guide and fund a variety of early Internet companies.

Jim led Clearstone's current investments Internet companies SupplyFrame, Internet Brands (formerly CarsDirect), Vast, Six Degrees and LeisureLink, and Software companies Integrien, Siderean and Composite. Jim actively represented Clearstone's investment in former portfolio companies Comet Systems (acquired by Miva), PayPal (acquired by eBay as a public company), United Online (NASDAQ: UNTD), Jump Networks (acquired by Microsoft) and TriVida (acquired by BeFree).

Jim holds a BA in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and also holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Uri Blackman, Founder & CEO, Gideon Informatics

Uri Blackman is founder and CEO of GIDEON Informatics an online medical publishing company he founded with Dr. Berger while in undergrad. The flagship product, GIDEON, is installed in hundreds of institutions in over 45 countries.

Uri served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Speedbit. In this role, Uri developed and managed strategic relationships for Download Accelerator, a software product whose user base grew from 13 to over 90 million users during his time with the company. Uri also managed a successful M&A process for the company. Uri came to Speedbit after founding Oloop, a venture backed online insurance brokerage firm. Prior to Oloop, Uri managed the computing and download channels on Netscape's website and was a product manager for two generations of the Netscape browser. Following the AOL-Netscape merger, he worked in Business Development at AOL.

Uri has served on the advisory board of a number of technology companies in the Silicon Valley. Uri served as Commander in the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Corp. He received his BA in Computer Science and Philosophy from Tel Aviv University and his Masters of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Feyzi Fatehi, Chief Executive Officer, Corent Technology, Inc.

Feyzi Fatehi is the CEO of Corent Technology, the provider of "On-Demand Software 'On-Demand'!" an innovative "Software as a Service" and Web 2.0 platform that promises "The end of software development as you know it!"

Feyzi has over twenty years of experience in building high-performance global businesses. At HP he played a leading role in creation of a billion dollar multi-national business unit. He subsequently served as a senior executive of four start-ups in Silicon Valley and in Southern California, two of which have been named among the Red Herring 100. Feyzi has been a keynote speaker at multiple industry events in the US, Europe, Asia and Canada and is widely published including contributions to a Harvard publication on global alliances.

He holds a BS in Engineering, an MS in Computer Science, and an MBA in International Management. He is also a graduate of UCLA's Mergers & Acquisitions and Director Certification Programs.

Scott Fox, Author of e-Riches 2.0

Scott is a successful online entrepreneur, an expert on e-business and online small business marketing strategies, and now an author, motivational speaker, and e-commerce startup advisor. He has built multi-million dollar e-businesses ranging from small web site startups, to web sites for celebrities like Bill O’Reilly and Larry King, to the online divisions of major corporations.

His work and book have been covered by press outlets including the Boston Globe, LA Business Journal, Toronto’s Globe & Mail, Philadelphia Inquirer, Smart Money magazine, Orange County Register, and many, many syndicated radio programs and blogs worldwide.

Mr. Fox writes, speaks, and teaches worldwide on Internet entrepreneurship and online marketing, including inspiring and informative speeches on innovation, e-commerce trends, blogging, and small business topics. As a keynote speaker or workshop leader, he regularly speaks at conferences, schools, events, and on radio programs nationwide.

He is a graduate of Stanford Law School, a mentor to students at Harvard Business School, and an instructor at the Learning Annex.

Gavin G. Galimi, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, March Vision Care, Inc.

Gavin G. Galimi is Executive Vice President and General Counsel for March Vision Care, Inc., a Knox-Keene licensed health plan and technology company improving healthcare outcomes by unlocking medical information in eyecare provider's offices through its proprietary eyeSynergy® software. Prior to joining March Vision Care, Gavin was a senior associate in the Los Angeles office of Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP. Gavin currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of, and Secretary for, the Technology Council of Southern California. Gavin previously served on the Orange County Chapter Committee for the Technology Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the USC Credit Union. Gavin holds a B.A. in International Relations, a B.S. in Biological Sciences, and a J.D. from the University of Southern California. 

Eric David Greenspan, CEO, Make It Work, Inc.

Father, husband, serial technology entrepreneur, wakeboarder, member of the Superfriends and co-founder, chairman and CEO of Make It Work, Inc., the Neighborhood Computer Support company; managing partner of Make It Work Media; executive producer of Tech News, powered by Make It Work which airs every Saturday, 1pm on CBS Radio’s KNX 1070 in Los Angeles, Jeremy’s Desktop which appears online every Saturday, 2pm and Make It Work with Jeremy Anticouni which airs every Saturday, 3pm on ABC/Citadel Radio’s KSFO 560 in San Francisco.

Kris Kaufmann, Partner, Deloitte & Touche

Kris Kaufmann is a partner in the Los Angeles practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP focused on serving the high technology and venture capital industries. Kris leads Deloitte's Venture Capital Services for the greater Los Angeles area. Throughout his more than 17 years with Deloitte & Touche Kris has assisted numerous rapidly-growing technology companies with the unique issues they face, such as raising venture capital, securities and intangible asset valuation, corporate structuring, acquisitions and SEC registration and compliance. Kris has worked on numerous initial public offerings and other security offerings.

Kris has served companies across the entire spectrum of the technology industry, including software, interactive gaming, semiconductor, telecommunications and biotech. Some of the clients he has served include Candle Corporation, eMachines, MannKind Corporation and THQ.

Kris is active in the Southern California technology community. He has lead Deloitte's sponsorship of the Technology Council of Southern California's VentureNet program for a number of years, participating both as an organizer and speaker. Kris also manages the Deloitte Technology FAST 50 program for Los Angeles.

Kris received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California's Leventhal School of Accounting.

Jon Kraft, Executive Vice President, Big Stage Entertainment

Jon Kraft is a serial entrepreneur in software and new media. He is co-founder and President of Big Stage Entertainment, Inc. which raised $2.8M from Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures and the TCA. Big Stage Entertainment is commercializing technology from USC that takes images of a face from any digital camera and creates a geometrically perfect, photorealistic 3D model. Prior to Big Stage, Jon was President of Auryn. Auryn has developed technology to enable animators to bring the styles of leading artists and illustrators to life in 3D animation. Prior to Auryn, Jon co-founded Pandora Media (originally Savage Beast Technologies), which he ran as CEO for three years. Pandora is a personalized radio service, with millions of registered users and more than 50 million personal radio stations created. Pandora (www.pandora.com) has raised over $50M in financing from leading VCs.

Prior to Pandora, Jon co-founded Stanford Technology Group, which developed sophisticated On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) software. The company was funded by Hummer Winblad and Sequoia Capital, and posted twelve consecutive profitable quarters leading to an acquisition by Informix. Jon stayed over two years at Informix, running Business Development and Product Marketing for the Data Warehouse Business Unit. Jon holds a BA from Stanford University.

Jay Molloy, Special Counsel, Sheppard Mullin

Jay Molloy has, for more than three decades, assisted clients with issues faced by entrepreneurial and middle market companies, including: mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; joint ventures; public and private equity and debt financings; complex contractual matters; business formation; and tax planning. His clients include healthcare providers, software and hardware development companies, service and maintenance firms, telecommunications firms, medical device manufacturers, Internet companies, measuring devices manufacturers, and research and development partnerships involving the makers of robotics, supercomputers, digital switches, laser disc equipment and CAD/CAM systems. Mr. Molloy also has experience in animated film production, avionics, construction, food distribution, metal fabrication and child care.

Mr. Molloy earned a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Southern California in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School in 1972. He is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter Committee of the Technology Council of Southern California and a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California.

Richard Neff, Partner, Greenberg Glusker

Richard Neff is a partner at the law firm of Greenberg Glusker in Los Angeles and Chair of the Firm's Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group.  He has a practice focused on complex software and internet transactions for an international base of technology and other clients, on copyright issues, and on international policy and enforcement issues affecting the copyright industries. Many clients turn to him for advice on and negotiation of international transactions, often in Latin America. He is a former chairman of the Business Software Alliance, and currently is Chair of the LA Chapter of the Technology Council of Southern California.  He has written several books on intellectual property law.  He is a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School.  He was also a Fulbright Scholar in Lima, Peru. 

Himanshu Palsule, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SAGE Software

Himanshu Palsule is an accomplished executive with over 22 years experience in successfully growing operations, revenue, and overall returns within the information technology and software industries. Excels at business management, setting product and technology directions, sales and service leadership, strategic planning, organizational improvement, and customer relationship management. Skilled at strategy development, operations management, and executing to targets. Proven capability in leading large teams and managing diverse business units and services portfolios and motivating a workforce of over five hundred employees. Hands on experience at managing large globally distributed product development teams. Motivational speaker at key industry events. Masters in Software Engineering with an additional degree in Electrical Engineering.

Himanshu is currently employed at Sage in Irvine, CA as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of their Business Management Division. He manages a multi-hundred million dollar portfolio of ERP and CRM solutions for the North American SMB market and oversees product management, product marketing, product development, sales, and services functions along with full P&L responsibility. Over the past 12 years he has held various executive positions at Sage include EVP of Marketing.

Rick Sharga, Senior Vice President, RealtyTrac Inc. 

One of the country’s most frequently-quoted sources on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, Rick has appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News, CNBC, MSNBC and NPR. Rick has briefed government organizations such as the Federal Reserve and Senate Banking Committee and corporations like JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Deutsche Bank on foreclosure trends, and done foreclosure training for leading real estate organizations such as Re/Max, Prudential and Keller Williams.

Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as Vice President of Marketing, responsible for the development and management of the company’s brand, public and investor relations. In his current capacity, he also oversees business development and data operations.

Prior to joining the RealtyTrac, Rick spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product sales and marketing strategies for corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, JD Edwards, Cox Communications and Honeywell. The 2006 Stevie® Award Winner for Best Marketing Executive, Rick began his career with Foote, Cone & Belding, and also held executive positions with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill.

Geoffrey Selzer, CEO & Chairman of the Board at Emergent

Geoff completed his MBA (with a concentration in finance/international business) at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy awarded by Beloit College in Wisconsin.

Ned Sherman, CEO, Publisher and Executive Editor at Digital Media Wire, Inc.

Brad Spahr, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Brad Spahr is the Director of Mobile Entertainment in the Mobile Entertainment Group at Sony Pictures Entertainment. An operating unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Mobile Entertainment Group extends Film, Television, Gaming and Original Programming content into the mobile marketplace through wireless operator agreements, licensing and direct-to-consumer initiatives.

Within the Mobile Entertainment Group, Spahr oversees sales and partner relationships with U.S. operators, OEM’s and licensing partners. In early 2005, he was instrumental in conceiving and building Sony Pictures’ mobile Direct-to-Consumer business which enables distribution of mobile content (Games, Ringtones, Images and Applications) through web, wap and application based storefronts. Spahr also secured and provisioned Sony’s first mobile short code (4SONY) that is now the foundation of all mobile marketing programs across the studio.

Separately, Spahr oversaw development of Sony’s first Director-to-Consumer casual gaming site (www.sonypicturesgames.com) that now offers more than 40 games for both online play and purchase via digital download. Spahr was instrumental in the launch of the web site, enabling DRM and commerce functionalities, and setting up marketing programs to drive traffic.

Diverse and entrepreneurial focused, Spahr brings the combination of technological expertise and business development/sales experience. Prior to Sony Pictures, Spahr was a co-founder of Perfect Fifth Media where he focused on enabling technologies to facilitate the adoption of Video on Demand and Interactive Television services. Spahr has also held positions at Princess Cruises, where he oversaw all aspects of the Princess.com web site; LockStream Corporation, where he spearheaded business development and strategic efforts around LockStream’s Digital Rights Management technology platform (with a primary focus on video on demand and mobile); and Hollywood.com where he oversaw the day to day operation of the Hollywood.com web site.

Spahr is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in Radio and Television (new media focus), and a minor in marketing.

Robin Zucker, Marketing Director at Yahoo!

Robin Zucker has spent her entire career in the advertising business starting on the agency side in New York.  She has spent the past twelve years focused on the business of internet advertising and monetization.  She is a currently Marketing Director at Yahoo!.  In her role she focuses on delivering marketing and communications for the company’s advertising products.  She has launched numerous products and new features to several hundred thousand customers, generating billions of dollars of revenue for the company.  

She has works on a broad range of marketing initiatives from product communications, to online and offline marketing techniques and social media to deliver results.  During her tenure at Yahoo, Robin has consistently been singled out to handle key product launches and initiatives across a range of target audiences.  Her success stems from her knowledge of the online world and her unwavering focus on achieving quantifiable results.  

Prior to joining Yahoo!, Robin was the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for VastVideo, Inc. a broadband video company focused on bringing searchable information content  to all digital platforms, and several models for monetization.  Before that Robin was at Director, Marketing at AOL, Inc. where she oversaw the marketing team responsible for creating category marketing programs to grow ad revenue in top advertising verticals, during her tenure she worked on projects that generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.  She entered the Internet space in 1997 at Netscape where she helped to build the foundation for a multi-million dollar per year advertising business that transitioned Netscape from software to a media company.  

Robin began her career in New York in the advertising agency business working on accounts like KitchenAid, Gillette, BMW Motorcycles and USA Network.  She has an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, and a BS in Communications from the University of Illinois.  Robin resides in Los Angeles with her family.

Jeff Zwelling, CEO at Convertro

Jeffrey Zwelling is an experienced software entrepreneur who has started and sold several companies.  He was formerly head of product development at Crystal Dynamics, a video game developer that was sold to Eidos Interactive, and subsequently worked at GeoCities, which was acquired by Yahoo.  Jeff also co-founded EchoSign, a digital signature SAAS company in Palo Alto.  As a consultant, he worked with companies including ReplayTV, Vcommerce, Avamar, and co-lead the LBO of Columbia House.  Most recently, YLighting, a lighting ecommerce company he co-founded, took a substantial investment  from private equity.  In addition, he has served as an expert witness for intellectual property cases and is a frequent speaker on online marketing and ecommerce.

Jeff is currently the CEO of Convertro, an online marketing optimization company. He has a BA from UCLA and a JD from USF.