Startup Weekend

Speakers

• 
  

  Devon Loffreto - President, Noiz Ivy, Inc.

  Speaking: Friday evening

  Topic: Startup Resources

  Bio: Noiz Ivy is a not for profit tax exempt organization that assists entrepreneurs in the launch of their company. Assistance can take many forms, such as providing mentorship/guidance on how to setup a company, locating a co-founder, attorney, accountant or even peer2peer lending.

• 
  

  Jonathon Schuster - Dir. of Biz Dev, Sproutbox

  Speaking: Wednesday morning

  Topic: Startup Funding & VC

  Bio: I started my career in compliance and worked through various positions, including a great stint at Citadel in Chicago where I was exposed to the world of complex finance.

  I returned to school to get my MBA in 2008 where I focused on innovative finance and marketing, with heavy exposure to alternate data sources, financial modeling, and alternate valuation techniques such as venture capital-style valuation and real options valuation. Now I'm the Director of Business Development for Sproutbox (a new approach to venture capital) where I develop ongoing relationships with the startup community, establish channel partnerships for our companies, and drive strategy at both the company and portfolio level.

• 
  

  Sue Wang

  Speaking: Saturday mid-day

  Topic: Startups

  Bio: Sue is a co-founder and partner of Clarity. She has a wide variety of corporate law experience, having done $6-7 billion in transactions over five years at her previous firm. Sue has substantial experience in reviewing and negotiating contracts of all kinds.

  In addition to drafting individual contracts, Sue has led legal diligence teams of up to eight attorneys in the course of buying and selling companies. She has represented both the buy-side and the sell-side, where she identified and contained legal risks (for the buy side) and helped companies prepare to be an attractive acquisition target (for the sell side). Much (but by no means all) of Sue’s work has focused on the energy industry. Before she became a lawyer, Sue fell in love with clean technology while developing windfarms in Morocco. As a lawyer, she has helped many energy companies get financed, get licensed, or get bought. One of her wind energy financings won an industry award for Environmental Deal of the Year in 2007. Sue has supervised numerous law firms around the world, including Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, and India, on issues as diverse as local tax, employment issues, loan collateral and local regulations. Domestically, she has managed local counsel in a dozen U.S. states. Sue also advises clients on a pro bono basis. Amongst other projects, in 2009 she successfully represented a Zimbabwe political refugee in a hearing before a United Nations agency. Sue earned her JD from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a fully funded Clarence Darrow Scholar and elected to the Order of the Coif. She was also a contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review. She is based in Washington, DC and travels to New York and California regularly.

• 
  

  Mark Marich

  Speaking: Sunday evening

  Topic: Global Entrepreneurship Week

  Bio: Mark is an overall rockstar! * VP, Communications at Global Entrepreneurship Week * Editor at Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship * Executive Vice President at The Public Forum Institute Ortmans brings a wealth of experience to the project, serving as a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation.

  Principally, he advises the Foundation on its global footprint and its interface with policymakers through the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship (hosted on entrepreneurship.org), a public policy initiative to focus attention on the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy and society. Based in Washington, DC, Ortmans serves as an interface between new research and initiatives to advance entrepreneurship at the Foundation and the questions and concerns that arise from policymakers in the nation's capital. He started his first business at the age of 19 in his native United Kingdom and his second at 34 after a career on Capitol Hill working for the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee focusing on trade policy. Previously, Ortmans served as executive director of the Columbia Institute for Political Research, concentrating on health care economic policy. Currently, he also serves as president of the Public Forum Institute, an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that enjoys strong bi-partisan congressional support in fostering public discourse on major issues of the day.

• 
  

  Michael Lee

  Speaking: Sunday evening

  Topic: Panel

  Bio: Mr. Lee is a senior government advisor with 16 years of IT strategy and management experience providing services and guidance to agency CIOs and their IT organizations.

  He is currently the Technical Lead on the government's Federal Cloud Computing Initiative as well as the Strategy Lead for DoD's Cloud Computing Strategy. His past clients include the CIA, FBI, DoD, DHS, CDC, GSA, OMB, NGA, HUD, CDC, among many others. His specific domains of expertise cover IT strategy and planning, EA (EA), IT capability-based assessment, IT governance, portfolio management, IT management, and program and project management.

• 
  

  Roy Kosuge

  Speaking: Sunday evening

  Topic: Panel

  Bio: Mr. Kosuge is a Senior Associate with Syncom Venture Partners. Mr. Kosuge joined Syncom in 2010, and brings 11 years of experience in digital media, communication and technology. Prior to joining Syncom, Mr.

  Kosuge operated a strategy consulting practice serving start-ups in web, mobile and gaming, as well as established entertainment companies and a large cable MSO. Prior to his consulting practice, Mr. Kosuge was Vice President of International Strategy and Operation for Faith Inc., a Japanese mobile technology and services provider with subsidiaries in the U.S., France, Brazil and China. Mr. Kosuge served as a critical liaison with Faith’s subsidiaries, supporting M&A and new business initiatives, as well as leading priority operational projects for its subsidiaries. Mr. Kosuge also served as Director of Business Development at Universal Music Group, where he was responsible for negotiating various content licensing and distribution deals across online and mobile platforms, as well as evaluating the impact of new technologies and business models to the core business. Mr. Kosuge began his career as a strategy analyst at AT&T Broadband, where he supported product marketing and channel strategy efforts for broadband services. Kosuge earned his B.A. at Harvard University, and is fluent in Japanese and Portuguese.