Cyril Berdugo
Cyril Berdugo is the Co-founder of Landis, a VC-backed startup that helps renters become homeowners. Cyril is also a Managing Partner at Berd Industries, a global real estate investment firm and a Venture Partner at Stanford-focused Spike Ventures. Earlier, he was an investor at Fifth Wall Ventures, the largest real estate technology venture capital firm in the world where he invested in Opendoor and B8ta, and a Director at Crown Acquisitions, a NY-based real estate investment firm. Before joining Crown, he worked at Houlihan Lokey, where he advised companies on M&A, equity and debt capital markets, and restructuring transactions. Previously, he worked in Credit Trading at Citigroup. Throughout his career, he has completed over $10 billion in transactions. He is also now an advisor to early stage companies and a director at TP NYC, a real estate investor. He holds BBA from Emory University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Andrew Berman
Vowel
Andrew is an entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor to VC backed companies. Andrew is currently the CEO of Vowel, a stealth VC backed enterprise voice company. Â Previously, Andrew co-founded and served as COO and Board Member of Nanit, a VC backed computer vision and artificial intelligence company whose first product is a smart baby monitor. Prior to this, Andrew worked as a Venture Capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners and a technology investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. Andrew holds a BBA from Goizueta Business School and a MBA from the Wharton School.
Eden Chen
Eden is a co-founder and a managing partner at Fishermen Labs, one of the fastest growing digital creative agencies in the US. Fishermen Labs has created AR experiences that have reached more than 500 million people, was named the 185th fastest private company in the US by Inc Magazine, and the 4th fastest growing company in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Eden has advised and built products for Snapchat, IAC, Walmart, Sony, the United Nations, Qualcomm, and countless startups and serves in strategic, design and technical roles. Eden is also the founder of Sonar Teams, an account management and team collaboration software.
Before this, Eden was the founder of Lightmark Capital, a Los Angeles based hedge fund. Prior to these ventures, he worked as an investment banker at Citigroup. Eden invests and sits on the board of numerous startups and nonprofits including Pioneers and SENE. He has been interviewed by Bloomberg and US News and has written for Venture Beat, and Entrepreneur magazine. Eden was selected as a part of Forbes’ 30 under 30, LA Business Journal's 20 in their 20’s, Emory Magazine’s 40 under 40, and was a TedX speaker. Eden graduated from Emory University.
Jonathan Ende
Jonathon is a serial entrepreneur and currently CEO of SeamlessDocs, one of the leading govtech companies. He is incredibly passionate about government innovation and digital inclusion. He is dedicated to bringing his diverse and creative skill set and applying all his resources to truly changing the way that government works and making the web more accessible.
Recently Jonathon was named 342 in the Inc 5000 for tremendous growth. He has been honored by the GREAT Tech Awards winning a grant from the British Government and even receiving the award from Prince William and Mayor DeBlasio of NYC. He has also been appointed a NYC Venture Fellow by the NYEDC and the 92Y and won the prestigious NextCity Vanguard Award, the Grand Prize Winner of $100K at TechWeek NYC and winner of Code for America Technology Award for Government Innovation.
He also was a member of the prestigious Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator and Code for America Accelerator Program and is a member of the Urban.Us, 1776, and Govtech Fund portfolio and networks.
Jonathon is excited to continue being a trailblazer within both the Govtech and AccessTech communities. He believes that interacting with your government can be a beautiful experience and that the web should be a place built for everyone!
David Gaspar
David Gaspar serves as the Chief Operating Officer at DDG, an innovation consultancy that solves clients’ unique business challenges through digital transformation. He advises clients on digital monetization strategies across a broad range of industry verticals including publishing, new media and financial services.
As COO, David heads up two major client areas of focus: DDG’s private equity business, and its sports and event partnership and sponsorship business. He manages DDG’s relationship with IBM, where he advises IBM’s global partnership and sponsorship team across its portfolio which includes The Masters, The Grammy’s, and The US Open. In addition to IBM, David also works closely with MetLife, TIME, Convene, InvestCorp, and Crate & Barrel.
He is a thought leader on trends relating to the future of work, human capital engagement models and the development of Agile teams. He has spoken at various industry conferences including Hashtag Sports, the Experiential Marketing Summit and various ANA events.
David Gelbard
David Gelbard, founder and CEO of Parachute Health, is revolutionizing the shockingly antiquated $50 billion medical equipment industry. He sought to create a more effective healthcare system after witnessing firsthand how an inefficient medical equipment industry is hurting patients. In 2015, David’s 80 year old father underwent critical back surgery. Unfortunately, Medicare’s failure to deliver a walker on time led to him reinjuring himself.
Since first launching in 2017, Parachute has rapidly expanded in select health markets thanks to strong demand from hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, managed care companies and medical offices. Prior to founding Parachute Health, David was as an investment professional at Falcon Investments, a firm focused on partnering with families and management teams to turn around and grow their businesses. When he was 26 years old, David took over day to day management of his family’s struggling pharmacy and small medical supply business. While working both fulltime in finance and at the pharmacy, David quickly seized on the opportunity to grow the business through incorporating technology into its sales and inventory systems. The family business is now profitable, and David has turned his attention to providing a world of healthcare with transparency, accountability and seamless communication.
Nathan Meeks
Nathan Meeks is Co-Founder & CEO of Gigzolo, an event strategy platform trusted by marketers for Airbnb, Goldman Sachs, and WeWork among others. Gigzolo's Event Strategy Concierge™ algorithm analyzes more than 14,000 past events to find strategies proven to work for a marketer’s audience (Virtual Reality Booth? Awesome DJ? Interactive Sushi Class?) then recommends results-focused, pre-vetted vendors to execute that vision. Nathan received a BBA from Goizueta Business School graduating with High Honors and was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to continue his work and studies in Mexico City. He began his professional career in investment banking, working in International Equities at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Colin McIntosh
Colin McIntosh is the founder and CEO of Sheets & Giggles (S&G for short). S&G makes sustainable eucalyptus bed sheets that are naturally softer and more breathable than cotton, all while using up to 96% less water to make. In its first 8 months of business in 2018, S&G sold and shipped over 7,000 units of bedding, grossed $600,000 in sales, won first place at Denver Startup Week 2018, and raised a $645K pre-seed funding round in December 2018.
S&G was named a startup to watch in 2019 by Built in Colorado, and the company is growing quickly in order to shake up the (incredibly boring) $12B US bed linens market. Colin is currently going through the 2019 class of Techstars Boulder, a premier accelerator that helped launch major companies like ClassPass, PillPack, SendGrid, Sphero, and many more.
Alexandra Samit
Alexandra is owner and operator of her jewelry company, Alexandra Beth Designs. As a designer and entrepreneur, Alexandra understands the value of self-expression. She designs and brings to market a custom collection that features ultra-soft materials, finished metals and natural gemstones of soft colors and brilliant hues. She takes great pleasure in bringing joy to others with her designs, and in this way hopes to help others find their fullest expressions, too. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Alexandra has earned an international following with features in fashion media around the world. She graduated from the Goizueta Business School in 2009 and moved directly to New York City, renting a showcase at a designer's collective in Soho where she sold her first pieces. Soon after she began selling at Henri Bendel, Bloomingdale's and many other retailers worldwide. Currently, she manages a team of 9 sales people, seven days a week, at her two NYC pop ups in Chelsea Market and Soho.
Josh Sigel
Josh is the founder of Lasso Ventures, a first-of-its-kind venture management (VM) platform. Pioneering Venture Management, Lasso is a hybrid between a VC, private equity, and a consultancy. Lasso focuses on serving and building early to growth stage start-ups, and large corporations focused on the food & beverage and health & wellness industries through strategic investment, venture management and innovation services, and its event platform. In addition to Lasso, Josh has joined forces with Tyler Florence, a Twenty-five-year hospitality veteran, television host, and cookbook author, to create T+J Ventures (TJV). TJV is positioned to become a disruptive force across the food industry, opening its first significant restaurant project later this year with other ongoing projects in the works across the hospitality, emerging food, and entertainment spaces.
A leading authority on emerging food brands, food retail, hospitality, supply chain, food tech and omni-commerce, Josh is passionate about the future of food and believes continued innovation in this space will help people eat and live better. Josh is also passionate about solving the problem of food waste and continues to bring that into focus across his work. Sigel also serves as an advisor and investor in a number of food and technology-related start-ups. Josh graduated with honors from Emory University Goizueta School of Business with a Bachelors in Business Administration majoring in Decision and Information Analysis, Consulting and Venture Management. Josh resides in San Francisco, California with his fiancé Inha.
Todd Richheimer
Todd Richheimer Esq is the founder and CEO of Lawfty Law LLP, a DC-based law firm, and Lawfty LLC, a technology company that develops advertising technology specific to the legal space. Together, Todd’s two companies are changing the way lawyers practice law, partner with third party vendors, use technology, and aggregate data. Lawfty is currently in 30 states and plans to be nationwide by year end.
Prior to founding Lawfty, Todd worked for a global investment bank (Bear Stearns), for several senatorial and presidential political candidates, and as a commercial litigator for the largest law firm in the world (Dentons). Todd earned his BBA from Emory University and his law degree from Wash U in St. Louis. He is licensed to practice law in DC, NY and NJ.
Sarah Van Dell
Sarah Van Dell is the CEO and Founder of Plum Relish, a next-generation software and service provider for independent restaurants. Previously, Sarah spent ten years in account management, finance, and marketing roles across Beijing, New York, and Washington, DC. Until 2015, she served as a Senior Director at The Advisory Board Company, now a a division of Optum's UnitedHealth Group. Sarah earned her MBA from New York University and her BA from Emory University.
Sarah is an expert on food and tech and has contributed to panels for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Aspen Institute, Kayo Women in Private Equity and Venture Capital, Food + Tech Connect, and General Assembly.
William Hockey (Co-Founder, President and CTO at Plaid) and David Politis (Founder & CEO, BetterCloud) served as the 2019 Founders Address speakers for the Emory Entrepreneurship Summit. Conference attendees, students, and alumni were treated to an exciting pair of chats hosted by Dean Andrea Hershatter during which each entrepreneur shared their success story, tips for distinguishing your company in an ever changing market, and advice that inspired the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The 2019 Venture Spotlights featured Emory alumni who have distinguished themselves in various industries by creating products and services that have addressed unique needs in the marketplace. Each entrepreneur spoke about their company, provided advice to summit attendees, and later served as judges for the 2019 Pitch the Summit Competition final round.