The Interviews
Conversations that shape leadership
Sit-downs with global business leaders, political figures, economists, and sporting icons — on the traits that define enduring success.
Business
Ajit Nawalkha🇮🇳
Ajit Nawalkha is the Co-Founder of Mindvalley, an angel investor and the face of Zentrepreneur and Evercoach.
Business
Andrew Fischer🇺🇸
A seasoned digital media entrepreneur, Andrew Fischer most recently co-founded and helms Choozle, a pioneer in programmatic digital marketing based in Denver, Colorado. Prior to Choozle, Andrew co-founded and built the RGM Alliance, a premium focused online advertising network that reaches over 120 million consumers in the U.S. Andrew holds a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt, and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.
Business
Arthur Lenk🇮🇱
Arthur Lenk began his assignment as Ambassador of Israel to South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Swaziland in August 2013. He often appears in the media in South Africa emphasizing shared interests between the two countries especially regarding Israeli experience in food security, water management and innovation. He has learned that both Israel and South Africa were born in the wake of great tragedy and offer unique challenges and inspiration for their citizens and for so many people who closely follow our countries from around the world. He is active on Facebook and Twitter and lectures regularly across southern Africa. Previously he served as the Director of the Department of International Law at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was responsible for providing legal advice to the Ministry's International Organizations and Policy Planning Divisions, on multilateral and regional issues ranging from human rights and UN affairs to bilateral and security matters. He also coordinated the Ministry's activities on international criminal law matters and has played an active role in representing Israel before international organizations such as the UN Human Rights Council. He also worked as a staff member on the UN Secretary General's Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident. From 2005 - 2009, Mr. Lenk served as Israel's Ambassador to Azerbaijan. During that period, political, strategic and economic relations between the two countries grew dramatically including growth of Israeli exports from $5 million in 2005 to $264 million in 2009. Israel massively increased its oil import from Caspian Sea to Israel. He has also served in diplomatic postings in New Delhi, India and Los Angeles. Mr. Lenk was born in the United States (New Jersey) and emigrated to Israel in 1983. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B. and LL.M. degrees) and has been a member of the bar in Israel and New York. He is married to Ruth and they have three daughters.
Business
Ashley Mady🇺🇸
Ashley Mady is the president of Brandberry. Brandberry is a brand builder with a proven track record in design, marketing, licensing and merchandising. Ashley is a creative hybrid who blends innovation and business.
Business
Ben Jabbawy🇺🇸
Go getter and ecommerce extraordinaire Ben Jabbawy is the founder and CEO of Privy. His passion for entrepreneurship has helped him empower and inspire hundreds of thousands of small to medium sized business for nearly a decade and he's not stopping now!
Business
Bill Lyons🇺🇸
Bill Lyons is the CEO of Revestor and an entrepreneur in the real estate tech space.
Business
Blake Miller🇺🇸
Blake Miller is the Partner of Think Big Partners. Blake is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build, launch, and grow their companies.
Business
Brandon Houston🇨🇦
Brandon Houston is the CEO of Switch Video. Based in Collingwood, Ontario and serving an international client base including several Fortune 500 companies, Switch produces animated explainer videos and motion graphics. Past Switch Video clients include LinkedIn, Amazon, Microsoft, American Express, IBM, HP, Bayer and many more. Previous to Switch, Brandon ran a boutique web development studio for 11 years that specialized in custom web and mobile development and online marketing. Brandon helped to found a small business incubator dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and sat on a municipal economic development council.
Business
Carrie Rich🇺🇸
Carrie Rich is the co-founder and CEO of The Global Good Fund. At age 26, Carrie felt privileged to have a mentor who invested in her leadership as a young professional. Together, they took this idea of pairing experienced business executives with emerging young social entrepreneurs to create a worldwide organization. Carrie also serves at the Managing Director of The Global Good Fund's sister company, the Global Impact Fund, a venture capital fund seeking market leading returns by backing social entrepreneurs who are people of color and women. Fundamentally, Carrie’s message is about accessibility, how everyday people can empower themselves and others. Carrie is the author of three books, including Health Entrepreneurship: A Practical Guide, and two editions of Sustainability for Healthcare Management: A Leadership Imperative, which became a top 5 business book in Handelsblatt (Germany). Carrie is the recipient of The Daily Record’s Most Admired CEO, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and POLITICO Women Who Rule Award.
Business
Chris Goward🇨🇦
Chris Goward is the Founder and CEO of WiderFunnel. When companies like HP, Microsoft, The Motley Fool and Dollar Shave Club want to improve their marketing results, they call Chris Goward. Chris founded WiderFunnel with the belief that great customer experiences should be continuously tested to prove their value. He is the brain behind the popular LIFT Model® and Infinity Optimization Process™, growth marketing strategies that consistently lift results for leading enterprises. He wrote the bestselling book, You Should Test That!, which redefined conversion rate optimization and has spoken at 300+ events globally, showing how to create dramatic business improvements.
Business
Chris Van Dusen🇺🇸
Chris Van Dusen is the CEO of Parcon Media, working with clients to concept, extend, implement and analyze ROI on their digital media campaigns.
Business
Conrad Egusa🇺🇸
Conrad Egusa is the CEO of Publicize and a Global Mentor at 500 Startups. He has been featured in publications including The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch.
Business
Curtis Thornhill🇺🇸
Curtis Thornhill is the CEO of Apt Marketing Solutions, helping businesses to connect with customers in more efficient and meaningful ways. Apt Marketing was named to the 2016 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies.
Business
Dan Adika🇺🇸
Dan Adika is the CEO and Co-Founder at WalkMe, an online guidance and engagement platform. WalkMe provides a cloud-based service designed to help professionals – customer support managers, user experience managers, training professionals, SaaS providers and sales managers – to guide and engage prospects, customers, employees and partners through any online experience.
Business
Dan McDonough, Jr.🇺🇸
Dan is chairman, founder and the former chief executive of Elauwit, a customer experience company with holdings in media and telecommunications across the U.S. Before being named chief executive of Elauwit, Dan was publisher at Haddonfield, N.J.-based Elauwit Media, where he helped grow a start-up community newspaper publishing business that began in 2004 to the fastest-growing newspaper publisher in America in 2009, as rated by Inc. magazine. Under Dan's tenure, Elauwit Media also was rated among the 10 fastest-growing companies in Southern New Jersey, according to Philadelphia Business Journal. As chief executive of Elauwit Networks (another of Elauwit’s operating companies), Dan helped turn a small Internet Service Provider (ISP) into a telecommunications company that delivers broadband Internet, television and telephone to the multi-family industry in nearly 40 states — one of the largest such boutique telecommunications companies in the student housing space. Dan started his career in media as a teenager, being named executive editor of The Observer in Northern New Jersey at the age of 19. Over the next decade his news experience included serving as editorial-page editor for daily newspapers in New Jersey; as a New York City-based special correspondent for the Washington-based Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.; and as a news professional with Gannett Co. and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barrons. Dan was named president and publisher of The Staten Island Register in 2001, where he was able to help grow revenues for the then 35-year-old publication more than 100 percent in less than two years. In 2004, Dan was one of the founders of Elauwit Media, which launched The Haddonfield Sun as its flagship newspaper. Today, Elauwit Media publishes 10 community newspapers reaching more than 120,000 families each week. Dan's articles on business, technology and politics have been published in Intellectual Capital, National Review, The Christian Science Monitor, the NewsFactor Network, In These Times, and a number of other publications. He has served as a board member or as an adviser to numerous companies spanning three continents, and has been a board member of a number of local and national business, community and charitable organizations. He received a BA in Political Science and Communications from William Paterson University, and studied for an MBA in finance and economics at Baruch College – City University of New York. Though Dan splits his time between Charleston, S.C., and Philadelphia, he grew up in the New York City metro area and still considers it home. Dan also is a jazz bassist, and rarely misses a home game of the New York Jets.
Business
Dan Pickett🇺🇸
Dan Pickett is the co-founder of Launch Academy. He has been building web applications with Ruby on Rails since 2004, the year Rails was first publically released, and is co-organizer of the Boston Ruby Group. He has a demonstrated passion for teaching and mentoring aspiring developers. He lives in Bridgewater, MA with his wife, Shannon, and dog, Linux.
Business
Dan Schawbel🇺🇸
Dan Schawbel is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, Fortune 500 consultant, millennial TV personality, global keynote speaker, career and workplace expert and startup advisor. He is a Partner and Research Director at Future Workplace, Founder of Millennial Branding and bestselling author of Promote Yourself and Me 2.0. Through his companies, he's conducted 30 research studies, interviewed 1,600 people, written over 2,000 articles and spoken at over 100 conferences, companies and Universities. Schawbel has been recognized on both the Inc. and Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 List and has been interviewed in over 1,200 media outlets such as NBC, FOX, CNBC, PBS and NPR.
Business
Danny Chavez🇺🇸
Danny Chavez is VP at SAEDF & Co-founder at Epux Dev – focused on creating jobs in San Antonio & Texas. Business Traveler. Tech. Entrepreneur. Eagle Scout.
Business
David Greenberg🇺🇸
David Greenberg is the founder & CEO of Updater, the technology company revolutionizing how Americans move.
Business
Dawie Roodt🇿🇦
Dawie Roodt is the founding member and chief economist at the listed financial services company called the Efficient Group. Dawie is also the chairman of Efficient Private Clients, an asset management company within the larger group. Dawie Roodt specialises in fiscal and monetary policy. He brings invaluable exposure to the Group through his active presence in both the local and foreign media. Dawie is the most referenced economist in South Africa and was also the recipient of the 2016 Sake24 Economist of the Year Award. “I have many children and I am interested in just about everything – Dawie Roodt”
Business
Eric Siu🇺🇸
Eric Siu is the CEO of San Francisco-based digital marketing agency Single Grain. Single Grain CEO and marketing thought leader Eric Siu cohosts the 5-star Marketing School podcast (with Neil Patel) — the show has over 12M downloads. He also hosts Growth Everywhere, where he interviews major business and marketing leaders like The League Founder Amanda Bradford, Co-founder and Co-CEO of FabFitFun Michael Broukhim, and Grammarly’s Max Lytvyn. He contributes for major publications like Entrepreneur and Forbes, is the force behind video interview series Leveling Up, and is always open to speaking and appearances.
Business
Fabian Bello🇺🇸
Fabian Bello is CEO and founding member of Journey Aviation, one of the world’s top Gulfstream operators. Under his leadership, the company has demonstrated notable growth since its inception in January of 2014, exceeding $150 million USD in total revenue within its first 5 years in business, while establishing itself as an industry preferred quality operator. While in the aviation industry, Mr. Bello has held various positions, such as executive vice-president and president/CEO of an international division, as well as president/CEO of other related aviation companies. Most notably, Mr. Bello is known for managing the introduction of Deer Jet’s BBJ’s and ACJ fleet into the Middle East, catapulting the company’s penetration into the international markets. Prior to entering the aviation industry, Mr. Bello worked in the logistics industry, working for a top worldwide logistics company with over $3 billion USD yearly turnover. In addition to his extensive business knowledge, Mr. Bello has vast experience working with and uniting diverse cultures worldwide; particularly Hispanic, European, Asian and of Arabic regions. He has an innate ability of bringing and keeping individuals working together in pursuit of a common goal. Getting things done effectively, efficiently and with the buy-in of all related parties is one of the strongest attributes to his management style. Mr. Bello was born in Havana, Cuba and immigrated to Miami, Florida at the age of three. He was raised in South Florida and attended the University of Miami where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing in preparation for his management career.
Business
Gideon Kimbrell🇺🇸
Gideon Kimbrell is the Founder and CEO of InList. Gideon Kimbrell is a Miami, FL software engineer and serial entrepreneur. His software engineering work has been praised by companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Barnes & Noble and St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Born in Montana in a log cabin, he entered university at age 15. By 16 he had programmed his first “hot or not” style website. He is the founder of InList.com. InList curates the most exclusive international nightlife and charity events.
Business
Gregory Raiz🇺🇸
Gregory Raiz is the Managing Director of the Techstars Boston Accelerator. In 2003 he founded Raizlabs, a leading mobile agency which, after being included on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies list four straight years, was acquired in 2017. Since then he has shifted his focus to investing in and working with startups, both directly and through angel groups like TBD Angels. In the last year, he has invested in 18 companies including a number of Techstars graduates. Greg has dedicated countless hours to mentoring entrepreneurs, including serving as a mentor-in-residence with Techstars Boston. He actively speaks on the topics of technology, innovation, and design at leading companies and universities including Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern, and Boston University, among others.
Business
Jess Conroy🇺🇸
Jess Conroy is the Founder and CEO of Carats & Cake, the leading provider of digital solutions for sales and marketing in the events industry. Prior to founding Carats & Cake Jess worked as an Associate at Burch Creative Capital where she helped manage investments and brand development for the firm’s portfolio. Jess is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Economics and Spanish and earned her MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Business
John Ruhlin🇺🇸
John Ruhlin, Founder of The Ruhlin Group. John and his firm THE RUHLIN GROUP are considered to be the foremost experts on developing relationships with key executives and the topic of “Appreciative Leadership.” He speaks nationally on the topic, is the bestselling author of “Cutting Edge Sales” and is the number one distributor in the 60 year history of CUTCO Cutlery. Ruhlin Group started in 2000 and quickly broadened gifting options and strategies, but many of the original principles never changed. Knowing how and when to give gifts is just as important as what to gift. These “minor” details and expert knowledge have been tested and proven over a decade to bring a guaranteed “wow” to any industry from financial services to manufacturing widgets. Today John and his team have created gift packages for some of the largest companies and pro sports teams in the world, but their mission and heart is to serve and take relationships for mid-sized, privately owned businesses to a new level using their Proven Process.
Business
John Tabis🇺🇸
John Tabis is the Founder and CEO of The Bouqs Company. John is passionate about disruptive businesses, cool brands, and showing love to the important people in his life. The Bouqs Company is a combination of those things, and he is thrilled to bring it to you and yours. Prior to Founding The Bouqs, John worked in strategy consulting at Bain & Company, followed by marketing strategy for brands including Disney, ESPN, ABC, Marvel, ShoeDazzle and Gerber Baby. The Bouqs Company highlights: - Raised $75M in venture capital and private equity. - Featured in outlets including Shark Tank, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, The Today Show, Access Hollywood, and many more. - Nominated for Best Shopping experience by The Webby Awards, named #40 on Entrepreneurs 360 list, a Top 15 Startup to Watch by Inc, and to the Techweek 100. John received his BS in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA from UCLA Anderson.
Business
Justin Sachs🇺🇸
Justin Sachs is the CEO of Motivational Press, an industry leading non-fiction book publishing company.
Business
Jürgen Himmelmann🇦🇺
Jürgen Himmelmann is the Director & Co-Founder of The Global Work & Travel Co. After starting and experimenting with numerous small businesses while still in high school, Jürgen Himmelmann co-founded The Global Work & Travel Co. at the age of 19. It is now one of the world’s fastest growing youth travel brands with offices located in Surfer’s Paradise (Australia), Vancouver (Canada) and London (UK). They sell to the Australian, New Zealand, UK, European, Canadian and USA markets and employ over 80 people globally.
Business
Kasey Kaplan🇺🇸
Kasey Kaplan is the Co-Founder, President and COO at Urban FT.
Business
Katrina Lake🇺🇸
Katrina Lake is the Founder & CEO of Stitch Fix. Katrina’s friends used to kiddingly call her CEO/janitor. Today, her willingness to get her hands dirty is paying off. Katrina Lake is passionate about helping women achieve everyday confidence. She founded Stitch Fix to help women everywhere discover and explore their style through a truly client-focused shopping experience. Prior to founding Stitch Fix, Katrina developed extensive experience at the intersection of fashion, retail, and technology. Katrina holds a B.S. in Economics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Business
Kevin Getch🇺🇸
Webfor’s Founder and Director of Digital Strategy started his career in marketing over 19 years ago. He is the author of Future Proof Your Marketing and has been quoted and published on leading sites like Forbes, Huffington Post, Search Engine Journal & Mashable. Kevin enjoys speaking at industry conferences as well as volunteering his time by serving as President of the board of directors for SEMpdx, a non-profit organization focusing on connecting and educating people in the digital marketing community. Having worked for some of the largest fortune 500 companies, in 2009 he felt it was time to venture out on his own. He started Webfor in early 2009 with a business model focused on what he called the 3 R’s (Relationships, Results & ROI). Kevin believed that if we delivered in all three of these areas for our clients that we would not only help a lot of businesses succeed that we too would have a long and extremely successful life as a company. Due in major part to this business philosophy of putting the client first Webfor has seen enormous growth. Kevin is involved in the day-to-day SEO for all of our clients. When he’s not focusing on helping small businesses grow their brand he’s running obstacle course races, practicing Jiu Jitsu, hiking, traveling and spending time with his beautiful wife and two kids.
Business
Kevin Xu🇺🇸
Kevin Xu is the CEO of MEBO International, a California and Beijing based intellectual property Management Company responsible for managing “Human Body Regenerative Restoration Science” (HBRRS). CEO of Skingenix, California based Company exclusively working on drug development in the field of damaged organ regeneration. Founder of MEBO campus, a virtual educational platform for organ regeneration science. He is a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an appointee of the California-China Trade and Investment Advisory Group, and the founder of the National Rongxiang Xu foundation and Human Heritage Project. Kevin also receive the Empact 100 recognition at United Nation Headquarter. Kevin serves on the board of the Asian Advisory Board of the USC Davis School of gerontology and Board member of Dr. Rongxiang xu center of regenerative therapeutic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center in Harvard Medical school. He earned his BA in neuroscience at USC.
Business
Kristine Steuart🇨🇦
Kristine leads the Allocadia team in realizing their mission of bringing confidence to every marketer in the world. Kristine Steuart and her twin sister Katherine Berry co-founded Allocadia after experiencing the business pain first-hand of measuring marketing performance as marketers. Today, more than 16,000 marketers around the globe and leading CMOs at companies including Unilever, Charles Schwab, and VMware use Allocadia to transform how they work. Run Marketing is being propelled by the CMOs expanded growth mandate and the macro trend of the future of work, where productivity & automation SaaS help companies drive greater business impact. Kristine was named among the Top 50 Woman Leaders in SaaS and the Top 10 Women in Tech to Watch by Inc. magazine. Allocadia has received recognition as the Best Marketing Tech Company of the Year by DMN, and received the Community Engagement Award by BC Tech.
Business
Louis D. Spagnuolo🇺🇸
Louis Spagnuolo is a serial entrepreneur and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Don't Look Media LLC, a highly recognized privately held Internet Monetization Company and the Chairman of Illuminati Trust. During his career Mr. Louis Spagnuolo has worked with Professional Athletes, Entertainers, National Business Leaders, Heads of State and countless genuinely fantastic people, while sharing in the financial dreams of all his clients to the tune of over $884 Million Dollars in deal participations. Recognized in over 278 major media publications such as Forbes Magazine, The South Florida Business Journal, The Palm Beach Post, The Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Business Leader Magazine, Fox Business News, BankRate.com, South Florida Opulence and The Associated Press. Louis Spagnuolo is also a nationally sought after expert in Internet Monetization, with an emphasis on asset acquisitions, that can be leveraged to generate liquidity events. Louis Spagnuolo is a graduate of the University of Miami, where he earned a degree in Finance and previously held a recognized tenure at both The Royal Bank of Canada as well as two Venture Capital companies before becoming an Internet Entrepreneur.
Business
Luigi Wewege🇳🇿
Luigi Wewege is the Senior Vice President, and Head of Private Banking at Caye International Bank. Outside of the bank he serves as an Instructor at the FinTech School which provides online training courses on the latest technological and innovation developments within the financial services industry. Luigi is also the published author of: The Digital Banking Revolution which is available in audio, kindle and paperback formats throughout all major international online bookstores and is now in its third edition. Previously Luigi was the CEO of Vivier & Co a boutique financial services firm, the Commercial Manager of publicly listed Investment Research Group a financial advisory company where he led their media division, and was a Senior Consultant at The Braintrust Network which was a bespoke management consultancy. Notably, while Luigi was completing his undergraduate degree he executed a pilot study for the Federal Trade Commission during one of the most serious financial times for the American economy. The primary focus of the study was to examine and determine the accuracy of credit bureau information, with the research he conducted ultimately providing the impetus for a report which was presented before the United States Congress under Section 319 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. Luigi holds a Master of Business Administration with a major in international business from the MIB School of Management. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a triple major in finance, international business and management - cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). Whilst at university Luigi was a multiple recipient of the Dean’s list, Coaches and Athletic Director honor rolls, as well as being a recipient of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Academic All-Conference honors. Other academic achievements for him include: being formally inducted into the Financial Management Association - National Honor Society, and the Epsilon Eta Pi - International Business Honor Society. More recently, he was the honored recipient of the Salute to Business Achievement Award which recognizes outstanding UMSL business alumni and the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which is given annually to a recent graduate of UMSL for significant early professional achievements that inspire other alumni and bring honor to the university. One of Luigi’s passions is to create development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change, and this has led him to starting his own Foundation which provides an annual academic scholarship to a deserving American student. Previously he served as a Director and Trustee of Doing Good Fellows a pioneering non-profit which uses technology to facilitate an ecosystem where accomplished professionals use their skills, and networks to deliver global social impact. Luigi is also the past President of Junior Chamber International (JCI) - Metro, which is a worldwide youth service organization with members in over 120 countries, and consultative status with the Council of Europe, the United Nations and UNESCO. The primary focus of Luigi’s presidency was to create innovative fundraising initiatives to assist JCI’s partnership with the United Nations Foundation and Nothing But Nets campaign, which helps prevent malaria deaths by purchasing, distributing and teaching the proper use of mosquito bed nets throughout Southern Africa. Outside of work Luigi enjoys participating in a variety of sports and has competed in several at a high level. Select athletic achievements for him include: being a former national junior champion in swimming, and a National Collegiate Athletic Association golfer on university scholarship.
Business
Marc Hafner🇺🇸
Marc Hafner is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Revionics, Inc. Marc Hafner is an accomplished executive and CEO with over 25 years of successful leadership experience. Prior to joining Revionics, Hafner was Vice President and General Manager of NEC Corporation of America, with responsibilities for the server and systems software organization. Prior to NEC, Hafner was CEO of PerformanceRetail (PRI), a Software as a Service, business intelligence solution for retailers that was subsequently sold to both Oracle and Dresser, Inc. His background also includes leadership roles at technology companies including Broadcloud, Westell, and On-Demand Technologies.
Business
Mark Arnoldy🇺🇸
Mark Arnoldy is the CEO of Possible. He leads overall strategy, focuses on building a remarkable team, develops partnerships, and makes sure we never lose sight that everything is impossible until it isn’t. Prior to Possible, Mark worked closely with a Nepali social entrepreneur for three years to create an innovative way to treat malnourished children, and he helped create two U.S. businesses that fund nutrition programs in Nepal. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder, completed Harvard’s Global Health Effectiveness Program, and was a Fulbright Scholar to Nepal. Mark is an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, 2014 Rainer Arnhold Fellow, Cordes Fellow, and Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellow. In 2014, Mark was named one of Forbes Magazine’s top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs.
Business
Mary Ray🇺🇸
Mary Ray is the COO, co-founder and visionary behind the MyHealthTeams’ platform. Her deep understanding of consumers has contributed to her success in growing innovative companies from incubated new ventures at public companies to ‘traditional’ start-ups. She personally lost a family member to a three-decade battle with multiple sclerosis, has had friends who’ve battled cancer, who won, and lost. She’s seen her colleagues juggle work schedules to be caregivers to spouses, parents or their children facing a chronic condition. Through the experiences of her friends and family, she’s come to empathize with the loneliness they have experienced, while managing life with a chronic illness. This is what drove her and Eric Peacock to co-found MyHealthTeams. Together they are causing a tectonic shift in healthcare from a physician- and pharmaceutical-driven industry, to a consumer-driven one. Mary is a graduate of the College of William & Mary School of Business and George Mason University. She lives in San Francisco, CA with her husband and son, and is a proud fan of the three-time World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants.
Business
Matt Wilson🇺🇸
Matt was formerly the co-founder of the media site Under30CEO (Acquired 2016) and is the Host of the Live Different Podcast on Business, Travel, Health, and Performance. He has interviewed everyone from NBA Legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar to the President of Starbucks. Matt's writing is published in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and The Huffington Post. He is part of the invite-only Young Entrepreneurs' Council (YEC) comprised of the world's most successful entrepreneurs 40 and younger, and the Newsweek Expert Forum. Matt is a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers.
Business
Matthew Paulson🇺🇸
Matt Paulson is the founder and CEO of MarketBeat, an Inc. 5000 financial media company that empowers investors to make better trading decisions with real-time financial data, in-depth analysis, and best-in-class stock research tools.
Business
Mike Smalls🇺🇸
Mike founded Hoopla to answer the burning question he faced running sales organizations at a variety of companies: How do you motivate people to perform their best? His inspiration came from a variety of sources including sports, motivational psychology, game mechanics, and a competitive drive. He is motivated by the desire to build a great company, have raving fans as customers, and the ongoing quest to help employees experience the thrill of winning at work. When not working, Mike enjoys hiking in the California foothills with his wife and 3 sons.
Business
Miro Kazakoff🇺🇸
Miro Kazakoff is the CEO and Co-Founder of Testive. Testive helps students raise their scores on standardized exams like the SAT by combining an adaptive online learning experience platform with a personal coach to help make sure students reach their full potential.
Business
Nanxi Liu🇺🇸
Nanxi Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Enplug, a Los Angeles technology company that builds the industry-leading software for powering digital displays in malls, restaurants, retail stores and more. The software is most known for its live social media streaming, analytics platform, and interactive content capabilities. Nanxi is also founder and board member of Nanoly Bioscience, which developed a polymer that enables vaccines to survive without refrigeration. Nanoly was awarded NASA’s Top 10 New Tech Companies and Intel’s Top Social Innovation
Business
Nav Athwal🇺🇸
Nav Athwal is the Founder and CEO of RealtyShares, an online curated marketplace for real estate investing.
Business
Neil De Beer🇿🇦
Neil de Beer is an accomplished executive and CEO with over 30 years of leadership experience. Neil is currently the Founder and International Executive President of Nedebe International, one of the leading African commercial consulting agencies. In addition to being the Chairman and President of the IFA (Investment Fund Africa) – a Mauritian based fund for African infrastructure investment. Previously Neil owned Rhino Rugby Africa, official equipment sponsors (in 1997 and 1998) to SA Rugby and the South African Springbok Rugby Team. Neil also founded the first ever Rugby University in the world, SAIR (South African Institute of Rugby) in Stellenbosch. In 2004, Neil was appointed to the Springbok Rugby Team, Under 21 Management Team of 2004 / 2005 and won the Under 21 World Cup 2005 in Mendoza, Argentina with the group. Neil also acted as CEO and Chairman for various companies involved in Mining, ICT and Commerce under Borderless International, based in Malta. Under his guidance, the Office of African Business Development (OABD) was founded and as first Secretary General, looked at the active implementation of African Union initiatives such as the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) on a grassroots country level. Neil has acted as senior adviser to a multitude of African Nations, its leadership and political structures in with regard to its future investment strategies, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Sudan, Namibia, Libya, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Morocco. Neil was the founding President of the Africa-based Monetary Fund in Dubai. Neil attended tertiary education and majored in History and Drama, with further interests in Military Strategy and African Political Studies, incorporating psychology as a focus. Neil remains determined to bring the power of a progressive, inclusive attitude to bear on both the commercial sector and the political arena. At present, Neil also acts as the current Senior State Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of South Africa.
Business
Nicholas Slettengren🇺🇸
Nicholas Slettengren is the Founder of Power Digital Marketing, a top online marketing agency based in San Diego, specializing in Lead Generation and Brand Introduction Online. An entrepreneur by trade and digital marketer by evolution Nick has had great success building a startup with a focus on the next generation.
Business
Phil Dumontet🇺🇸
Phil Dumontet is the Founder and CEO of DASHED, the leading restaurant delivery service in the Northeast. In 2013, DASHED was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., ranking #119 nationwide and #7 in Massachusetts on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 500 | 5000 list. Phil prides himself on the company’s unique partnerships with higher-end restaurants, as well as their efforts to keep delivery green and eco-friendly.
Business
Pierre Spies🇿🇦
Pierre Spies is the Chief Executive Officer of Alviva Holdings Limited. Mr. Spies has extensive experience in the ICT industry having served in various roles, including that of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer. His experience includes the successful national and international expansion of various companies, various mergers and acquisitions, the establishment of a channel finance business. With over 27 years’ experience, he is a stalwart of the ICT industry, and is well respected by the Group’s customers, vendors and staff.
Business
Raad Ahmed🇺🇸
Raad Ahmed is the Founder and CEO of LawTrades, a platform that connects businesses to world-class attorneys and a smart project management system.
Business
Ranan Lachman🇮🇱
Ranan Lachman is the founder of Pley.com, a toy rental subscription service that saves families up to 70% on toys, reduces clutter and benefits the environment by recycling toys and preventing them from ending up in landfills. Pley teaches children one of the most valuable life lessons to be learned from a young age - to share. Pley’s innovativesharing economy model has won several industry awards. Giving back to the community has always been extremely important to Pley. It has partnered with Second Change Toys, a non-profit, and donates a toy to an underprivileged kid for every new member that joins the service. Ranan is also the founder of the Sharing Economy Forum, a non-profit organization that brings together 50+ leading Sharing Economy companies (including Airbnb, TaskRabbit etc.) their CEOs, thought leaders and academia to establish standards for Sharing Economy companies. The Sharing Economy Forum’s goal is to elevate consumer awareness to the merits of the sharing economy. It aims to ensure best practices, champion the sector and act as a single voice for the industry. The forum members act with the understanding that we all depend upon and are responsible for each other and that we should promote a social mission that better our society. Prior to founding the Sharing Economy Forum and Pley, Ranan founded GreenCrest Capital, a financial advisory firm that was acquired by Oppenheimer (NYSE: OPY). Ranan was a technology investment banker who conducted cross-border mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings, an associate at a venture capital firm, and served as a F-4 fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force. Ranan obtained his MBA from Warwick University and the Fuqua Business School at Duke University and a BA in Computer Science. He is also a triathlete and has completed several marathons and ironman races.
Business
Reid Carr🇺🇸
Reid Carr is the President & CEO of San Diego-based Red Door Interactive. With additional offices in offices in Denver and Carlsbad, CA, Red Door helps their clients win the battle for more customers through structured processes and techniques centered on customer research and insights, business intelligence, strategic planning and disciplined creative and technical execution.
Business
Rodolfo de Felipe🇦🇷
Rodolfo Felipe is a lawyer and businessman by profession. Married with three children. Mr. Felipe holds a Master’s degree in Local Economic Development from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Rodolfo is President of the Fundación de Acuerdo, non-governmental organization dedicated to human and local development. He held various public offices and other private organizations. He is the founder, shareholder and director of Compañía Argentina de Servicios Portuarios S.A., the largest operator of general cargo in the country, with operations in several public and private port terminals of Argentina. He is also President of LIDE Argentina, an organization that brings together CEOs and presidents of the largest companies in the country. He is also a presenter of radio and television. He resides in Argentina. He enjoys motor racing, yachting, tennis, soccer and now a great golf enthusiast.
Business
Ross Volk🇿🇦
Ross Volk is the Managing Director at MSC Cruises South Africa. As MD of MSC Cruises South Africa, Ross Volk is responsible for growing the cruising market in South Africa. Ross joined MSC Cruises South Africa in 2015 as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, following a varied and successful auditing career at KPMG. His 12 years at KPMG instilled in him a love for travel, visiting over 75 countries while working as a Senior Manager for the company. He also acquired a range of diverse skills during his time there, working across multiple departments in the company and frequently engaging with high-profile individuals of different cultures. It is this diversity of experience that has served Ross well since he was promoted to MD of MSC Cruises South Africa in December 2016. Ross finds the ever-changing world of cruising a fascinating and exhilarating industry to be a part of, and he enjoys the fact that this fast-paced world allows him to make maximum use of his varied skillset and tackle new challenges every day. Ross leads a team of individuals who are passionate about helping South Africans discover the hidden gem of cruising. He strongly believes in leading by example and is committed to working alongside his colleagues to ensure that cruising becomes a popular holiday ‘destination’ that South Africans love. Ross speaks three languages – English, Afrikaans and Zulu.
Business
Samira Far🇺🇸
Samira Far is the founder and president of Bellacures, a nail salon brand that offers franchises. Bellacures opened its doors February 2006. Since then, Bellacures has received countless accolades and a devoted clientele that is committed to the Bellacures brand. Today, the brand has seven stores in Los Angeles and Orange County and an 8th in Dallas, TX. In 2009, Samira was awarded the Small Business Administration’s “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” Award for Los Angeles. Samira has also been a member of the Step Up Women’s Network, Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), and National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
Business
Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer🇺🇸
Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer is the Co-founder and CEO of AirPR, a technology solution to measure the impact of PR. He was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Shasta Ventures focused on consumer internet and the social graph.
Business
Stéphanie Delestre🇫🇷
Stephanie is what you call a serial-entrepreneur, workaholic and geek. With more than 20 years of professional experience in the media and web environment, she is part of the new entrepreneurial generation of the digital economy. With a master in history and having graduated from the Europe Business School ESCP-EAP, she started her career at the biggest french TV channel TF1 as web manager of Eurosport. Responsable for the marketing and strategy development she fundamentally contributed to make Eurosport the leading website in sports news. In 2007, Stephanie joined the german startup Qype as executive officer. After having managed the two fundraisings of the company, she was in charge of the international development of the service. With her dynamic and innovative manner, Qype became the european leader in the local review industry hosting more than 18 million unique visitors per month and 1 million members. Qype got bought out by the american leader Yelp. In 2011, Stephanie co-founds Qapa and becomes CEO with one main ambition: breaking the traditional way of job searching! By offering an innovative service based on matching only the truly relevant criteria for hiring, Qapa is a time-saving tool for both, candidats and recruiters. Today Qapa is the number 1 job board in France with 4 million members and 200 000 new candidats every month.
Business
Sunny Bonnell🇺🇸
Sunny Bonnell, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Motto. Sunny is a branding expert and serves as the co-founder and creative director at Motto. Motto is a comprehensive branding firm that helps visionary entrepreneurs and companies build inspiring brands using their most powerful asset: their purpose. Sunny thrives on inspiring others to pursue their passions and pushes both herself and her clients to reach beyond their threshhold to achieve success. Sunny was named one of GDUSA’s “25 Creatives to Watch in 2014″ and has been featured on MSN Business, CBS News, AMEX, and various print and online design publications.
Business
Ziad K. Abdelnour🇺🇸
Ziad K. Abdelnour; Wall Street financier, is the President and CEO of Blackhawk Partners, Inc., a New York based private equity “family office” that focuses on originating, structuring, advising and acting as equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations, buildups, and growth capital financing in companies and projects based both in the US and emerging markets and the trading of key physical commodities. Mr. Abdelnour is also Founder & Chairman of the Board of the Financial Policy Council; a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization designed to give its select group of supporters the opportunity to have direct face-to-face dialogue with the nation’s quintessential powerbrokers and policymakers. Since 1985, Mr. Abdelnour has been involved in over 125 transactions worth in aggregate over $10 billion in the investment banking, high yield bond and distressed debt markets and has been widely recognized for playing an integral role in those three key market sectors. Mr. Abdelnour serves on the board of Elate Partners, a Chinese investment group backed by large institutional, strategic and wealthy individual investors from China. Mr. Abdelnour also serves on the Advisory board of DPG Investments, a recognized premier multi strategy global merchant banking, alternative investment, management and advisory firm. On a more personal level, Mr. Abdelnour, former President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America, is the author of “Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics”; a best seller manuscript written for investors that need to navigate the troubled geopolitical waters of the post-crisis world and a prolific writer for 100+ entrepreneurial and financial publications advising and educating investors in private equity, hedge funds, crowd funding, Sovereign Wealth Funds, fund-of-funds, angel networks, venture capital and family offices. Mr. Abdelnour is also a regular speaker on Private Equity, Physical Commodities trading and Middle East geo-political analysis at industry conferences & TV outlets nationwide including but not limited to Fox News, Newsmax, etc… and a key “influencer” in his own right having a hard core constituency of over 2 million viewers having read his blog postings and analyses since January 2014. Mr. Abdelnour holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from the American University of Beirut.
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