Venture Expert Series Speakers

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As The Success Coach, Doug has worked with 500+ businesses and non-profits on strategy, business development, team building, and board retreats. He has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and has been a Global Gurus Top 30 Coach Worldwide for the last 4 years. He has started 5 businesses, was CMO of a $200 million Division of a Fortune 100, taught MBAs and undergraduates for 10 years and has written 2 books on growing and reinventing your business and your career. Doug serves of the Board of Angel Investor Forum, the Crossroads Venture Group Board and as a mentor for Yale Entrepreneurs.  He holds an MBA from The Darden School at UVA and a BA in Spanish/International Relations from the University of New Hampshire. 

Wes Whitmyer has been lead counsel in numerous patent and trademark litigations at the trial and appellate level. He has prosecuted thousands of patent and trademark applications and has first-hand knowledge of various technologies, including analytical instruments, avionics, computer hardware, vehicle drive and business automation. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Court of Appeals (Federal Circuit) and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member and past president of the CT Patent Law Association and an active member of multiple national and international patent associations.

Kelly F. O'Donnell is in the Business Organizations and Finance and the Trusts and Estates practices. In the corporate arena, Kelly works with businesses of all sizes and assists start-ups with understanding the legal requirements necessary to run their operations. Her practice includes mergers and acquisitions, contract review and negotiation, corporate formation, customer and vendor agreements and negotiations, protection of intellectual property, corporate succession planning and tax planning.  A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Kelly received the Award for Exceptional Service for her work as the Production Editor on the University of Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Kelly is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association. She is on the Board of Trustees of the Discovery Museum and a founding member of Thrive.  Kelly serves on the Board for of Directors the Bridgeport Regional Business Council’s Leadership . She is President of the Board of Directors of City Lights. In 2018 she won the Connecticut Law Tribune "New Leader in the Law" Award and was named in Fairfield County Business Journal's "40 Under 40" in 2017.

As a senior investment advisor at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, Scott Nevins provides asset allocation and wealth planning advice to high net worth individuals, family offices, endowments, foundations and entrepre-neurs. Scott began his career at GE Capital and was the CEO of seven successful early to mid-stage financial service and technology service companies. He serves on a number of boards including Angel Investor Forum, CT Venture Group, Association of Corporate Growth, World Affairs Forum, Men’s Club of Jewish Senior Services of CT, and the advisory board for Dolan Business School at Fairfield University.

Giulia Gouge has been giving small and medium sized businesses and non-profits a big voice for the past eight years. She comes from a marketing background and has managed such brands as Yale New Haven Hospital's Smilow Cancer Center, WNBA's Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics.  She understands the importance of brand consistency and communication and applies the practice to every online platform. Today, Giulia puts the social in social media for a variety of clients, including Progressive Voices, Vespoli Rowing, Stephanie Miller Show, and the international organization, Wakami Global.

Mark Strauss is the founder (masquerading as CMO) of TOGO Media Private Clients Group, an agency specializing in marketing analytics and predictive analysis. He is a regular lecturer at Parsons, The New School of Design in New York City, where he teaches branding and marketing. Mark was the founder, president and CEO of Educational Innovations, Inc., an independent top 20 supplier of science education supplies, which he formed after a decade of consulting to school systems.

   Sergio (Serge) is a 25-year veteran Cyber Security professional who has direct experience with building and maintaining global organizations dedicated to mitigating corporate information risk for businesses large and small in a wide range of industries. In the early nineties, Serge was an original member of Pricewaterhouse’s first tiger team focused on ethical hacking and also Senior Director of professional services at Foundstone, later purchased by McAfee. Most recently he was the CEO of Lodestone Security where he built a profitable proactive security and incident response consulting business. He has a proven track record of partnering with senior management to reduce costs, improved performance and enhance security. He also has a combined corporate and consulting background which in addition to Cyber Security includes significant exposure to domestic and international privacy services and managing technology for a global multi-billion dollar investment organization. In addition , he has worked with several venture capital and private equity concerns within the M&A lifecycle, from IT due diligence through post-merger systems and process integration.

Gary Felberbaum consults and strategizes in technology and engineering best practices. His specific areas of specialization are software architecture, mobile technology and real-time mission critical systems. His expertise is in making large, complex systems into smaller manageable entities. In a 35+ year career in product development, Gary has advised both large and emerging company management regarding technical product development. He is a senior member of IEEE and currently serves as secretary of the IEEE Connecticut Section. He is an active member of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce Technical Council and serves as co-president of the not-for-profit Probus Club of Greater Bridgeport.

    Ted Stone has been CFO for companies ranging in size from start-ups to $2 billion global firms, includingpublic, private equity, employee and angel ownership. Ted uses finance and operations / engineering disciplines to partner with his CEO and leadership team to increase the value of global technology-intensive companies in a range of markets including software and information 

Ted brings value to his clients by using his engineering education, his business experience adapting the disciplined financial processes of large companies to the practicalities of smaller firms and his acute listening skills to raise the level of play for everyone else in his companies. His approach tightens the links between the technology team and business leaders to drive the company’s growth and value creation. He uses well-honed project management skills to ensure that projects are on track and being handled with utmost efficiency for successful completion. To do so, Ted prefers to work face-to-face with the CEO and the leadership team to build the necessary mutual trust and understanding of capabilities. 

He has extensive experience raising capital and supporting M&A transactions and a multi-decade record of helping his companies increase their equity value faster than their competitors. 

 For the past 9 years Joe DeMartino has been an angel investor and has been active as a mentor, advisor and board member at several early stage companies. Joe is the past President and currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Angel Investor Forum in Connecticut and an investor with Launchpad Ventures, Lean Launch. Earlier in his career Joe held senior management positions in sales, service, product management and development at Cullinet, Eastman Software, Kronos and at several other small and mid-size software companies. He has led software businesses in both growth and turnaround scenarios using a collaborative style aimed at coaching and mentoring teams to deliver high quality results to stakeholders. Joe’s specialty is advising and mentoring start up and growth-oriented companies that have fast-paced, entrepreneurial cultures. His main areas of focus are helping entrepreneurs deal with issues involving strategy development, funding, deal structure, team building and leadership development 

 Ed Cesare is a financial professional with close to 40 years of experience in the capital markets. Over his career He has established a strong track record of returns. He has served as a line manager and board member in both public and private companies. His own firm, Pleiad Capital Management, was a pioneer in investing in the
Wellness Economy. Many of the elements of that investment thesis have become mainstream with the recent focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) factors. Ed is an active member of SeaAhead, an investment group focused on opportunities in the “Blue Economy” The Blue Economy refers to enterprises and concepts that create value in, on and around the World’s oceans. In short “Venture Innovation for the Ocean”. At SeaAhead Ed considers investments for his own account and provides consulting and mentoring services to start-ups in the SeaAhead ecosystem. He serves as Entrepreneur in Residence for SeaAhead’s Blue Swell incubator program,

 Ed is a past President of the Board of Trustees of King School in Stamford, Connecticut and remains an advisor to the Board. During his term as President, the School was able to achieve an impressive list of accomplishments in the areas of advancement, board development and general governance. This experience, along with his service as a board member in the for-profit sector enable Ed to offer valuable governance consulting services to both non-profit and for-profit organizations through Pleiad Consulting.

Ed is an avid and accomplished sailor and ocean racer. He navigates regularly for highly competitive offshore teams and overall has logged over 100,000 miles of competitive offshore sailing. He serves as Commodore of the Storm Trysail Club and is a past Commodore of Norwalk Yacht Club. Ed is also a Trustee of the New York Yacht Club and Chairs two of that Board’s committees. He is also past Overseas Rear Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club.   

Pasquale Curra is a seasoned IT professional with 15 years of experience, specializing in security and support for small businesses. Previously a partner at a thriving IT startup, Pasquale developed a profitable service and support business. He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer at Contango, a managed services and security provider in the New York City metro area. In his role, Pasquale has been instrumental in helping numerous small businesses establish robust security foundations and achieve compliance with various cybersecurity and regulatory frameworks.

Rich Gee is the founder of The Rich Gee Group, a high-performance coaching firm. After 20 years as a corporate leader in marketing, sales, and product management, Rich launched his own firm. Today, he has 15 years of coaching experience, gives 25+ workshops a year and serves clients like Dell, Gartner, The Hartford, Verizon, and Morgan Stanley. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsday, and Forbes and on national TV and radio, including The Today Show and John Tesh Radio. He has been a syndi-cated columnist for Hearst publications writing a weekly national column called “Ask Rich Gee.” Rich loves innovation and helping people who are innovators.

Elena Cahill is an entrepreneur, attorney, author, and business professor. Elena transitioned from the daily practice of commercial law in 2000 to business consultant, creating turn key businesses. Ventures include Karma Tequila, Sunset Towers Spa and Salon, Educated Fitness, Educated Lifestyles and others. She is the author of The Business of Energy, an energy resource guide for the management of commercial and industrial businesses and a full time faculty member at the University of Bridgeport Ernest C. Trefz School of Business, where she created a Student Entrepre-neur Center.

Liddy serves as a Managing Director of Enhanced Capital and is responsible for overseeing investment activity in Connecticut. She brings experience in clean tech venture capital, corporate finance, and early stage company management. Prior to joining Enhanced Capital, she was a Managing Partner at IRON Ventures, a venture fund investing in sustainable business ventures enabling symbiotic reuse of energy, industrial material and water.

Prior to IRON Ventures, Liddy was CEO of Resource Recovery Systems, Inc., a nationwide recycling company and CFO of Netkey, Inc., an e-commerce software company. Prior to that, she was Vice President of the Financial Services Group at Morgan Stanley.

Liddy was founder of the Angel Investor Forum in CT and as active angel investor, serves on the Board of the Angel Capital Association. She has also served as Executive Director of the Connecticut Venture Group, a statewide trade association for venture funds in Connecticut and is a Mentor at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute.

Liddy received an MBA from Yale University and a BA in from Columbia University.

  “Not All Term Sheets Are Created Equal.” Stephen E. Cooper is a Partner and chair of Robinson Cole’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Team. He also leads the firm’s Food and Beverage Industry Group. He represents clients in all aspects of corporate and transactional law, including venture capital and private equity financings, debt financings, recapitalizations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, securities law compliance, and general corporate matters. Steve regularly represents start-up, emerging and fast growth companies in connection with all aspects of their business cycles, from formation through accelerating growth and exit. A critical component of this representation includes capital formation transactions, including friends and family, angel, venture capital and growth capital financings. In that capacity, he advises clients and negotiates the terms of convertible promissory notes, subscription agreements, purchase agreements, stockholders agreements, limited liability company agreements and related documents. Steve also represents individuals, family offices and funds with respect to such transactions and the related portfolio company work.

Steve is actively involved in the innovation ecosystem. He is on the Board of Directors of Crossroads Venture Group and a member of the Growth Network of the Business Council of Fairfield County. He has an extensive network of entrepreneurs, executives, investors and professional services providers which provides critical insight into the market and can result in valuable connections.

Steve also represents strategic and financial investors, and other corporate clients, in connection with mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures. He counsels both buyers and sellers in structuring such transactions and negotiating the applicable transaction documents. Steve has over fifteen years of experience in mergers and acquisitions transactions. In addition, he counsels companies of all sizes on general corporate matters, and often acts as outside general counsel for small and mid-sized private companies without in-house legal teams. Such matters include entity formation, corporate governance, and commercial and employment-related agreements. Steve routinely represents non-profit companies on a pro-bono basis in connection with merger and acquisition transactions. He is on the Board of Directors of the McGivney Community Center, a nonprofit organization on the east side of Bridgeport which provides a variety of programs for children. 

Prior to joining Robinson+Cole, Steve was an associate at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., where his practice included both corporate and bankruptcy law. 

He received his BA in political science from Emory University and a JD with honors from George Washington Law School. Before attending law school, he worked in the leadership office of the Honorable Richard Gephardt. He is admitted to practice in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. 

Patricia A.P. Fisher has led JANUS, the oldest information security consulting firm in the U.S., through its entire history, helping major U.S. and global organizations fulfill their information serves as vice-chair of the Connecticut Technology Council, and is the chair of the Cyber Security Seminar series. She also serves on the criminal justice curriculum committee for the University of St. Joseph, previously served on the Cyber Security Curriculum Development Committee of Norwalk Community College, and is a past president of the Southwestern Fairfield County American Heart Association. security needs. Prior to that, Ms. Fisher spent 11 years at IBM, where she managed the Information Security & Business Continuity Programs for IBM's Latin American and Canadian sites. She serves as vice-chair of the Connecticut Technology Council, and is the chair of the Cyber Security Seminar series. She also serves on the criminal justice curriculum committee for the University of St. Joseph, previously served on the Cyber Security Curriculum Development Committee of Norwalk Community College, and is a past president of the Southwestern Fairfield County American Heart Association. 

Dror Futter is a venture capital and technology attorney at the Rimon PC law firm.   He advises ventures and investors on venture financings and a range of technology companies on their commercial  agreements. Previously, he was the general counsel of a venture fund and a venture-backed startup.  Dror is the editor of the “Start-Up & Emerging Companies: Planning, Financing & Operating the Successful Business” treatise,  published by ALM Global.  He is a member of the legal advisory board of the Angel  Capital Association and was a long-time member of the NVCA model form drafting committee.  He is a mentor at Princeton’s Keller Center and the Jewish Entrepreneur.

 Dror earned his AB in political science magna cum laude at Princeton and his JD at Columbia. He is admitted to practice in both New Jersy and New York. 

  A CEO needs to be a venture’s best salesperson.  Guy Sullivan is founder of Silicon Parkway Ventures. Guy has alternated stints as a founder with diverse corporate engagements in financial services focused on innovations to better deliver customer value and sustainable growth. Guy will address techniques to acquire leads, close sales and retain customers.

Having started as a portfolio manager with EF Hutton, he launched his first startup, Advantage Family of Funds in 1986. It was acquired by a Fortune 500 insurer in 1994. He then served as a senior officer at Putnam Investments, moving their market share rank from #6 to #1. Later while at American Skandia, he developed an industry leading pension and 401k management platform (later sold to BISYS and Prudential). In 2003 he founded New York-based OGDENBURR partners, LLC , which became one of the leading broker-dealer platforms in the trading and marketing of alternative investments to family offices. He sold OGDENBURR to a private equity firm in 2012 and started Fund Forensics LLC, a wealth advisory firm serving UHNWI navigating the bewildering array of financial services, product choices and pricing structures. In 2017 Guy joined Merrill Lynch to work with business owners in the “Silicon Parkway” corridor to deliver lending, corporate finance and pension plan services. In 2019 he left to start Silicon Parkway Ventures, serving entrepreneurs.

Guy is a graduate of Cornell University with a BA in Chemistry and a minor in Neurobiology. He has served as a FINRA Neutral Arbitrator where he adjudicated disputes in the securities industry. On a pro bono basis, he has been a founding signatory and Senior Advisor to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing and former Chair of the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. 

Frank Eucalitto,  Associate at  Lowenstein Sandler, is a venture lawyer who represents startups and emerging companies, as well as the angel investors and venture capital funds that invest in them. His practice focuses on VC investments and M&A, in addition to the day-to-day operations of startups as they scale. Frank works closely with entrepreneurs and VCs to provide practical solutions to complex legal and business issues. Like his clients, Frank is entrepreneurial in nature and passionate about many facets of science and technology, including blockchain, FoodTech, and space exploration. 

Frank is active in Lowenstein Sandler’s VentureCrush (https://www.venturecrush.com/vc/index.html) and serves on the Membership Committee of the Connecticut Association for Corporate Growth, a global community for middle market M&A and business leaders focused on driving growth, and actively participates in industry events, such those hosted by the Exit Planning Exchange. Recognizing his work in M&A, Greenwich Magazine recently named Frank one of the top 300 Lawyers in Fairfield County (2021). 

Prior to joining Lowenstein, Frank practiced in New York City and Connecticut, where he advised companies and investors in general corporate matters, venture capital financing and mergers and acquisitions. He holds  a  B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut and earned his JD summa cum laude from  Quinnipiac University School of Law, where he was Research & Symposium Editor for the Quinnipiac Law Review. He is admitted to practice in the states of Connecticut and New York , the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York and before the USPTO.  

    Charlotte is Founder and President of TSF Management, Inc., a Management Consulting company and General Partner for The Seed Fund. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Smartleaf, Inc., a FinTech company. She also serves on the Advisory Boards of Aliro Group, LLC, an advanced talent management SaaS platform, and Daily Cloudt, Inc., a civic tech company. 

She was formerly Chair and CEO of NASD and NYSE member firm Martin Simpson & Company, Inc. and Chair and CEO of NASDAQ-listed Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corporation, an award-winning Education and Entertainment Software company. Charlotte also co-founded and served on the Board of MOCA Systems, Inc., a leading Design and Construction Software Services company. In addition, she has served in C-Level Operating or Consulting roles at Doolli, Inc., Faith Popcorn's Brainreserve, Infratab, Inc., Purchased, Inc., Quality Interactions and Vuzix Corporation, among others. 

Charlotte is a member of the American College of Corporate Directors and holds an Executive Master Director certification. She is also a member of the MIT Enterprise Forum in Cambridge and New York, as well as E2, where she is also a mentor for the E2 fellowship program. She sails, hikes, skis, reads and writes in her free time.

 Matthew Krieger is a technologist and executive with experience in IT, manufacturing and publishing. He is VP of Technology for Cober, Inc. and previously held senior IT leadership positions at Time, Inc. and the Reader’s Digest Association. Matt is Chief Technology Officer and sits on the Leadership Team of the SCORE Fairfield County Connecticut chapter and is on the Southern Connecticut State University Computer Science Technical Advisory Committee. Matt is also President of the Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation non-profit, is on the advisory board of Cyber-Seniors and until recently served on the Advisory Board for the Baruch College Computer Center for Visually Impaired People. Matt is also creator of Whysper, an audio aggregation platform allowing the consumption of text content as high quality text-to-speech and Whysper for Publishers, which allows content creators and media outlets to provide audio versions of their content, unlocking a new advertising revenue stream.

  Bob Oros' expertise resides within new product & new business development. Over 40 years, he has identified and commercialized many successful products, including some which created entirely new categories within their respective industries. 

His corporate marketing career includes experience in over-the-counter health products, foods and beverages, pet foods, packaging and confections with such companies as Vick Chemical, Ralston Purina, the Pillsbury Company, American Can and Squibb. 

Along the way, he organized and managed the new products/new business group for Marketing Corporation of America, a consulting firm based in Westport, CT, assisting corporations to identify and qualify strategic growth initiatives and new product development programs.

In 1983, Bob formed Stamford-based Business Development Resources, a marketing consultancy specializing in new business, new product development and innovation. BDR’s client roster includes both corporate clients and inventors/entrepreneurs. Domino’s Pizza’s “Heat Wave” delivery bag and P©M Wonderful Pomegranate Juice are two projects in which BDR played a major role from inception through strategic development. It also played the leading role in the license and sale of Isomalt®, a proprietary sugar substitute from Germany, to major USA companies.

Bob earned his B.S. degree in marketing from Rutgers University and his MBA from Michigan State University. He has served on boards for the Connecticut Venture Group, the Inventors Association of Connecticut and participates as a judge for various entrepreneurial groups and competitions. 

 Russ was named a Moffly Media Top Lawyer in Fairfield County in Virtual Technology in 2021 and a Super LawyersRising Star in Business and Corporate law in 2018 & 2019. He has significant experience advising clients in the software, e-commerce, marketing, market research, healthcare and biotechnology industries. His general business practice includes representing clients in the structure and consummation of mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, and financing transactions. He works with clients to review, draft and negotiate license agreements for software and other technology contracts for mobile applications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, websites and APIs. 

Russ has notable experience in the marketing and advertising industries and  has presented on several occasions to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (the 4As). He is a member of its Legal Affairs Committee.  In the area of market research and data analytics, Russ has represented a wide range of firms in industry, and previously served as outside governmental affairs counsel to the largest trade group for market research businesses in the United States. He is a regular presenter to the Insights Association’s General Counsel Forums.  Because Russ counsels clients that collect and use large amounts of personal data, he understands the expansive web of state, federal and international privacy and data protection regulations, including issues regarding privacy policies and procedures; security breaches; HIPAA and HITECH; the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and other state privacy laws; cross-border data transfers and processing (including GDPR compliance); and email and telemarketing regulation.

Russ graduated from the College of William & Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law, J.D., in 2004 and earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University with high honors in 2001. He is a member of both the Connecticut and American Bar Associations.

Andre is founder and CEO of Force Metrics.ai, a software platform that provides first responders with visual, mobile, time critical information and data analysis at dispatch of 911/police to enable unified solutions including co-responder case management of homelessness, domestic violence, gun violence and mental health challenges .

Andre McGregor is co-founder of the security firm ShiftState, a cybersecurity firm focused on applying effective enterprise security practices to organizations looking for a new perspective on managing risk. ​He possesses deep knowledge of cyber-criminal and cyber-counter intelligence techniques used to attack computer networks and infrastructure. 

Andre serves as the Chief Security Officer for Namely Inc and was Head of IT Security at Tanium – responsible for security operations, engineering, incident response, and governance/risk/compliance of systems and networks worldwide.

Most notably, Andre served as an FBI Cyber Special Agent in New York City working threats against nation-states and cyber criminals, before being promoted to Supervisory Special Agent at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC.

Before entering the FBI Academy at Quantico in 2009, Andre earned his degree from Brown University, and started his career at Goldman Sachs and Cardinal Health. He is on the Board of Directors for the Space ISAC and the National Cybersecurity Center. Additionally, Andre was the technical consultant for the NBCUniversal TV show Mr. Robot.

  “It’s the jockey, not the horse.” Venture investors focus on the management team in their funding and valuation decisions. Typical scored valuations attribute 30% to the team, so leading and building the team to manage a new venture is job one for entrepreneurs.

Principal of Den Corporate Advisors for almost 20 years, David Lyons has provided business advisory services to small and middle market public and private companies, assisting them in identifying and implementing sale and acquisition opportunities and in developing and implementing client specific strategies designed to achieve growth, market share, profitability, and shareholder value. David has founded, and served as Chairman and CEO, for a number of private and public companies, mostly focused on the technology space. He has also served on multiple public and private Boards also primarily in the technology space. His years as a practicing corporate and securities attorney contribute greatly to Mr. Lyons understanding of “how the process works”. 

David currently owns and operates an ecommerce company, amtify.com, while he sits on the Advisory Board of Boon Networks, a network accumulator and design company, as well as on the Board of NAMI Southwest CT. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is a nationwide nonprofit, grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of all people affected by mental illness and in working to change public attitudes about mental illness. NAMI offers a multitude of support, education and advocacy programs at the state and local levels.  

  Seizo Mazer has extensive experience building commercial iPhone apps, most recently as Director of Software Development for Arccos Golf, a startup in the Golf Technology space. Previously he was at Priceline.com, working closely with product owners, designers, and other engineers to drive mobile conversion growth. 

The apps he has worked on have had hundreds of thousands of users. He has worked closely with on-shore teams, as well as off-shore developers and understands the importance of building good software the right way. He has seen how apps built to launch a startup must change as they develop market share and growth. 

Seizo graduated from Williams College and earned a masters in Software Engineering from Fairfield University. He blends experience in Business Analysis, Advertising, and technology to create user focused experiences. 

Seizo also speaks 4 languages (Spanish, Japanese and German along with English) and is now tackling the language learning space, building an app that utilizes his learnings, addresses gaps in the current language learning methodologies and integrates the latest technologies in AI Generative technology. 

John Garber is Chief Commercial Officer for Wave Aerospace. He has achieved highly diverse product launch, sales and marketing success in complex B2B  markets ranging from AI medical diagnostics to e-commerce, SaaS and enterprise software to mobile telecom and unmanned aviation.  John is recognized for formulating and refining highly analytic consultative product development and sales processes to convert voiced and unvoiced customer needs into hundreds of millions of dollars in new product revenue while creating formidable competitive advantages and substantial cost savings for customers and clients.

John has uncommon ability in directing growth from academic research and pre-revenue stage to                                                                      venture and growth stages.  His strength in building enduring and trusted relationships with C-level,           operations, engineering and customer-facing leaders helps drive his success in attaining full buy-in                                                                                                                                                  essential to new product and new product category creation.

John holds  a BA in computer science from Yale and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He was Founder and CEO of VIDA Diagnostics, SaaS based imaging diagnostics for COPD, where he raised $5 MM in venture funding. John served as COO for e-commerce pioneer Click Commerce, generating $10 MM  in revenues prior to its successful IPO. Prior to Click Commerce, John spent over 10 years in global sales and business development for Motorola and prior to that held a senior corporate            strategy role at PepsiCo.

Jed Ande is a partner in McCarter & English’s Corporate Group. Clients seek Jed’s practical guidance in structuring, negotiating, and documenting a wide variety of merger agreements, securities purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements and disclosure schedules. He develops documents associated with such transactions, including escrow, security, employment, limited liability company operating agreements, partnership , shareholders, and entity formation documents. He has helped hundreds of clients at every stage of business through acquisitions, divestitures and financings, with a focus on tech and tech-enabled industries. In addition, venture capital funds and private equity funds rely on his extensive experience with venture equity transactions, debt financings, capital financings and other general corporate and securities law matters. He works at the forefront of emerging technologies and new industries, including cannabis.

Jed received his BA in Political Science from Lebanon Valley College magna cum laude in 2002, where he was production editor for the Environmental Law Journal and received the Order of the Coif. He received his JD from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law magna cum laude in 2005. He is admitted to practice before both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bars and in 2022 was cited as Dealmaker (Cannabis) by the New Jersy Law Journal. 

Founder and CEO of STASH, Janine Darling is an award-winning CXO and tech strategist who has driven the expansion and profitability of many well-known global brands including Sony, Barnes & Noble, Everlast, Chanel, Mark, Nestle, Samsung, and Starbucks. Her expertise in leveraging considered risk to optimum outcome is well documented; her constant commitment to transparency and trustworthiness puts customers at center stage. Recent Recognitions:

2021 Short List: Cybersecurity Woman of the Year

2021 RSA Conference Cyber Defense Award Ransomless Ransomware Solution

2020 Business Intelligence Group Fortress Award for Best Data Security Solution

2020 Black Unicorn Top 100 Women in Tech Award

2020 Phase I U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Awardee

2020 Phase II U.S. Air Force SBIR Awardee

2020 numerous data security patents.

In addition to a host of media awards and recognition, Janine is a keynote presenter and speaker at numerous domestic and International cybersecurity events including the Women in Technology International Conference (WITI), The Armour Expo, The Future of Technology Summit in Washington D.C. and the APEC Digital Economy Conference. She is a frequent panelist and moderator at other cyber events.

She is a member of The Dell Women Entrepreneurs Network (DWEN), Women in International Security, Infragard National (INMA), The Executive Women’s Forum for Information Security, Risk Management, & Privacy (EWF), and Google Tech Makers. When Janine is not devising ways to make STASH first choice for data privacy, security, & resilience, you might find her cooking for a small group of close friends & family, wine glass in hand, while binge-watching James Bond movies.