Speakers/Mentors
The most promising participants from the Going Global workshop will be invited to participate in Innovate!Europe’s Master Class, which will be held 4-6 May 2009 in Zaragoza, Spain. Taught by serial entrepreneurs and experts from Europe and the United States, the Master Class curriculum will highlight proven strategies and best practices that are integral to becoming a successful global entrepreneur.The following experts have agreed to participate as speakers and mentors at this year’s Master Class:
Colette Ballou, Co-founder and President, Ballou PR
Colette Ballou is the co-founder and president of France’s smartest and sassiest high-tech public relations agency, Ballou PR, based in Paris.
She has over 16 years of public relations experience in both agency and corporate environments, and her experience spans companies across a range of industries, including digital entertainment and media, telecommunications, managed service providers, price optimization and demand management, business process management, product lifecycle management and robotics, as well as mobile entertainment and services. In addition, Colette has specific expertise counseling European venture capital firms, global media organizations, and biotechnology companies. But her true love is start-ups.
Before establishing Ballou Public Relations, Colette was a vice president at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide’s Enterprise Software and Service group in both the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices, where she developed public relations strategies and led teams in the execution of domestic and international public relations programs.
Colette is an active part of the European start-up community: she is a speaker and moderator at industry events including the Microsoft/General Electric Software Academy and the Plugg conference in Brussels, and is a mentor/judge for Seedcamp and a mentor for the Sun Start-Up Academy. She is honored to be a part of GuideWire Group’s Innovte! Europe conference.
Colette has a master’s degree in Ethics/Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary, where she wrote her thesis, Ethics in Public Relations. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (go Heels).
She is American, and speaks French with an accent that the French refer to as “adorable,” which she finds equally sweet and annoying.
John Bautista, Partner, Orrick
John Bautista, a partner in the Silicon Valley office, is a member of the Emerging Companies Group, which advises emerging companies and venture capital firms. Before joining Orrick, he was a co-founder of Venture Law Group and served on the Executive Committee. Mr. Bautista previously practiced at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, and he was a council member and mayor of the city of Cupertino.
He focuses on emerging companies, and represents both public and private high-tech companies and venture capital funds in many areas, including corporate and securities law, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, public company representation, and technology licensing.
He received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. He was also a visiting scholar in international and comparative law at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Benoît Bergeret, Co-founder and CEO, Realeyes3D S.A. (Paris) and President, Qipit (San Francisco)
Benoît Bergeret started Realeyes3D in 2003 with the vision that camera phones could do more than taking pictures. Since then, the company has developed innovative software technologies that have shipped in over 70 million camera phones worldwide. From mobile scanning to motion detection, the technologies developed by Realeyes3D enable new user interface paradigms and usages.
In 2006, Benoît founded Qipit, Inc. in the U.S. to support the launch of the first mobile document capture service (http://www.qipit.com). Qipit turns camera phones into pocket-size, always-ready photocopy/fax machines.
An experienced international executive, Benoît was previously in charge of marketing and strategy for Telisma, a spin-off of France Telecom providing speech recognition software; he launched and developed the European Service Providers Business Unit at Netigy Corporation, a U.S. based e-business infrastructure consulting firm backed by Cisco; and headed EMEA sales for the software product group at Lucent Technologies. Benoît also held marketing, sales and technical management positions in the past, both with software companies and equipment manufacturers, giving him a broad experience across all components of the computing ecosystem.
Benoît started his career as a research scientist specializing in artificial intelligence, and worked on strategic technology projects for the manufacturing industry and for the French military. He holds an M.Sc. in computer science with a major in artificial intelligence from from Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC, France), and a BSc in theoretical physics from Université Paris XII. He has also been educated in business and international marketing at Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, and at the American School of International Management (Thunderbird) in Phoenix, AZ.
Barak Berkowitz, Founder, MarketCentrix
Barak Berkowitz, founder of technology strategy consultancy MarketCentrix, is a serial entrepreneur who has worked for over 20 years in general management, sales and marketing of consumer technology products. Most recently, he was chairman and CEO of Six Apart, the makers of TypePad, Movable Type and Live Journal.
Prior to joining Six Apart, Barak was co-founder and President of OmniSky, the wireless Internet innovator, which went public in 2000 and was later acquired by Earthlink. He previously served as executive vice president and General Manager at the Go Network, building it into one of the top five Web portals at the time, uniting the Web properties of Infoseek.Com, Disney, ABC, ESPN and many others.
His other roles include senior vice president and General Manager of the Americas for Logitech, and key positions at Apple Computer and Macy’s. Born in the Midwest, he grew up in New York and has lived in Palo Alto for the last two decades.
Michael Copeland, Senior Editor at Large, Fortune
Michael V. Copeland joined FORTUNE as a senior writer in September 2007. He is based out of FORTUNE’s San Francisco Bureau.
Previously, he was a senior writer at Business 2.0 covering the venture capital community, new technology, and startups. Along with Andrew Tilin, his story “The New Instant Companies” was recognized by the World Leadership Forum as the best business story in a magazine in the 2006 Business Journalist of the Year competition.
Prior to joining Business 2.0, Mr. Copeland was a senior writer at Red Herring. He also worked at the Venture Capital Journal and the Washington Post. He has been a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, Orange County Register, and Philadelphia Inquirer, and he has freelanced for several San Francisco Bay Area and national publications. He has also developed environmental stories for television and radio.
Mr. Copeland graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ignacio de la Vega, Founder and Director, International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Ventures Development (ICEVED) at IE Business School
Ignacio de la Vega is a professor of entrepreneurship and strategic management and the founder and director of the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Ventures Development (ICEVED) at Instituto de Empresa.
Professor de la Vega is the author of three books on entrepreneurial management, and the fact that he is an active entrepreneur and investor allows him to bring back to the classroom real and exciting examples and case studies.
He is currently working with large firms like GE, Siemens, BANESTO, iberdrola, Pfizer and others in the development of corporate entrepreneurship activities. He is also involved in the increasingly popular field of social entrepreneurship whereby nonprofit and community organizations can become more efficient through the use of entrepreneurship techniques.
Madeline Duva
Madeline Duva, an embedded software entrepreneur with over 20 years experience, has been instrumental in developing and executing strategic initiatives throughout her career. After years at Fidelity Investments, she moved to Silicon Valley where she has held senior managerial posts at Communication Intelligence Corp., PenOp, Dejima and Revere Data.
Before starting her own consulting firm advising and investing in startups, Ms. Duva was CEO of China MobileSoft (CMS), which developed a complete Linux platform for mobile phones. In 2005, CMS was successfully acquired by PalmSource, where she held the position of VP, Silicon and ODM Partners. PalmSource was acquired by ACCESS.
Ms. Duva sits on the board of PlantSense (www.easybloom.com), and the advisory boards of a number of companies, including 3jam (www.3jam.com), DeviceVM (www.splashtop.com) and Eye-Fi (www.eye.fi).
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors in LAS/Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Bambi Francisco, Founder and CEO, Vator.tv
Bambi Francisco is Founder and CEO of Vator.tv. Prior to Vator, she was a columnist/correspondent covering Internet trends and investments across the public and private sectors at Dow Jones MarketWatch.
At MarketWatch, Bambi’s subscriber base for her newsletters reached 400,000, and it was there when she began Vator.tv as a side project to give exposure to the many entrepreneurs and startups she couldn’t cover herself. She left her role as a journalist in April 2007 and launched Vator.tv in June 2007.
Bambi was also a morning business anchor for KPIX (the local CBS affiliate in San Francisco), and reported on MarketWatch’s business magazine show on CBS. In the ‘mid-90s, she was a founding producer at CNN’s financial news network, where she created, launched and produced business shows, including one on IPOs and new ideas.
Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf, Founder and Managing Partner, YL Ventures
Yoav has been a successful entrepreneur, investor and advisor in the technology and new media fields for the past 17 years. He is the founder and managing partner of YL Ventures, a venture capital fund with a unique strategy of achieving short-term, medium-sized exits of technology companies via strategic acquisitions.
Yoav is the cofounder and was the managing director and CEO of Movota Ltd. (London), acquired by Bertelsmann AG. He is also the cofounder and was the chief technology officer of ExchangePath Ltd. (New York), acquired by CMGI for over $25 million. While at ExchangePath, Yoav also developed critical authentication software for ICQ, later acquired for $407 million by AOL.
Yoav worked as an associate at Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures (New York). Over the years, he has consulted other early stage companies in a broad range of tech-related industries.
He holds an MBA from Columbia University and has studied International Business at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has three registered international patents.
Pablo Martin de Holan, Chairman, Entrepreneurial Management, Instituto de Empresa
Pablo Martin de Holan is the chairman of the Entrepreneurial Management / Gestión Emprendedora Department of the Instituto de Empresa Business School, where he also teaches strategic management. He regularly visits INCAE where he has been professor of strategy and organization since 1998. As well, he is adjunct professor at MIT’s Master in Supply Chain Management.
Before joining IE, he was the Bombardier Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Alberta, Canada, visiting professor at HHL in Leipzig, Germany and visiting professor at University Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, among others. From 1993 to 1998, he taught at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he won the Royal Bank Teaching Innovation Award for two consecutive years. Since the beginning of his academic career, Pablo has taught in over 17 countries and in three languages.
Before his Ph.D., Pablo earned a masters in sociology and another one in social sciences, both from the Sorbonne University in Paris. He has also worked as a consultant to international organizations and companies, including the World Bank; NGOs like CARE and Intermon-Oxfam; trans-national corporations such as Daimler Chrysler, Unilever, Alstom and BAT; state-owned firms; and several private companies.
His research has been published by the Financial Times, Sloan Management Review MIT, Management Science, Strategic Organization, the Journal of Management Inquiry, Harvard Business Review, Revista de Empresa and the Journal of Business Research, among others. He has also presented at several scientific meetings such as the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society, the Association of International Business, the European Group on Organizational Studies and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada. His paper called “Managing Organizational Forgetting” won the “Bechkard Memorial Prize” as the best paper on organizational change published by the Sloan Management Review in 2004.
In addition, he has published five book chapters, and he contributes regularly to publications like the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail, National Post, El Financiero, La Nación, Pauta, Hablemos Claro and InfoBAE.
Marten Mickos
Prior to SQL, Mickos held multinational CEO and senior executive positions in his native Finland. He holds a M.Sc. in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology.
Maximilian Niederhofer, Associate, Atlas Venture
Max Niederhofer is an associate in the technology group and joined Atlas Venture in 2007.
Previously, he was co-founder and COO of myblog.de, a German weblogging community, and founder of IncrediblInc, an enterprise software company. Other prior experiences include work at a U.S. hedge fund, a German strategy consulting firm and a French consumer goods business. He also invested in last.fm, acquired by CBS in 2007.
He studied business administration and economics at the WHU Graduate School of Economics, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and EM Lyon, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann and Diplôme de l’ESC and earned a Dr. rer. pol. from WHU.
Gary Reeman, Founder and Managing Director, AlpinaSearch
Since founding AlpinaSearch www.AlpinaSearch.com in 2000, Gary has helped dozens of Europe’s fastest growing pre-IPO technology companies to identify and attract high impact leaders and sales, marketing and business development teams.
Prior to his career in executive search, selection and onboarding, Gary worked at Lucent Technologies. Responsible for Lucent’s partnerships with European mobile internet start-ups, Gary gained exposure to the propositions, the strategies and the challenges faced by dozens of emerging technology vendors. This experience, combined with a far-reaching network of contacts, a rigorous search and selection process, and a natural ability to mentor ambitious individuals from a diversity of backgrounds, enable Gary to deliver global searches for talented and motivated individuals who demonstrate the mindset, track record and cultural fit to deliver sustainable growth to Europe’s early stage technology companies.
As a mentor, Gary has provided valuable insights to entrepreneurs at a number of prestigious European innovation events including the Red Herring Europe 100 Bootcamp and the European Venture Academy.
The senior executives Gary has introduced to his clients have been instrumental in achieving a successful exit for the founders and investors - indeed, these high impact executives have shaped successful exits for 12 of Gary’s key clients during the past five years.
Gary holds a BSc (First Class Honours) in Management Sciences - with a specialism in Marketing - from Lancaster University.
Mike Rogers, Director, Guidewire Group
Mike Rogers has spent more than 30 years in media and advertising and has extensive experience in media, marketing, and research. As Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Fortune 500, Knight Ridder, he championed sales efforts with the largest advertisers across the country and across the newspaper industry.
In addition, he led Knight Ridder’s marketing effort for local websites. Mike spent 6 years at International Data Group, a global technology media company, where he spearheaded relationships with top advertisers, championed groundbreaking research, and served as President and Publisher of Computerworld. Prior to that, he spent more than 13 years in senior account management roles at leading advertising agencies in Denver, Detroit, and New York City on such diverse brands as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Unisys, Eastern Airlines, and Lipton.
Mike served as CEO of SyndicateIQ, an early entrant in the RSS marketing/advertising category, and is currently Vice President of Sales for AllBusiness.com, a Dunn & Bradstreet company.
Nicolas Rose, Partner, XAnge
Nicolas Rose is a Partner at XAnge Private Equity, a venture capital firm specializing in software technology and innovative services.
Prior to joining XAnge, Nicolas worked as a financial analyst specializing in Information Technology with Hambrecht & Quist Euromarkets. Previously, he was a sector-focused expert in the financing and valuation of high-tech companies for JP Morgan. Nicolas began his career as a software developer and IT consultant. Nicolas currently sits on the board of six high-technology companies in Europe and in the USA.
Nicolas holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris.
Chris Shipley, Co-founder and Chairman, Guidewire Group
Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the executive producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG Executive Forums, Chris has helped technology companies bring over 1,000 new products to market since 1996. As a founding partner and Global Research Director of Guidewire Group, she analyzes emerging technology companies around the world to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market.
Fortune Small Business Magazine placed Chris on its “Top 10 Minds in Small Business,” and the San Jose Business Journal named her a “Woman of Distinction.” She has often been cited as a leading influencer by Marketing Computers magazine. Chris has covered personal technology since 1984 and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology and consumer media. She is currently working on a book on the social impact of technology-driven change.
Chris holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Literature and Communication Arts from Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa.
David L. Sifry, Founder and CEO, Offbeat Guides
Dave Sifry is a entrepreneur with over 20 years experience in the IT industry. Most recently, he founded Technorati, the largest blog search engine in the world, and was CEO from 2002-2007. He is Chairman of Technorati’s Board of Directors. Dave was a co-founder and the CTO of Sputnik.
Prior to Sputnik, he was co-founder, CTO, and Vice President of Engineering at Linuxcare, Inc, having built Linuxcare’s services infrastructure. Dave is a recognized expert on leadership development, blogs and the massive changes in the digital media environment, Open Source development, and the Linux operating system. He is also the creator of Projectdocs, an online document management and collaboration service, and Hoosgot, a lazyweb service.
He served on the founding Board of Directors of Linux International, the Advisory Board of the National White Collar Crime Center, and the Technical Advisory Board of the National Cybercrime Training Partnership for law enforcement.
He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. Dave lived and worked in Kobe, Japan for Mitsubishi Electric, and speaks Japanese in a rusty kansai-ben. While he now lives in foggy San Francisco, one of his top travel destinations is Yosemite, in his hometown state of California, although the lure of London and Paris frequently beckons.
Mike Sigal, Co-founder and CEO, Guidewire Group
Mike Sigal is Co-founder and CEO of Guidewire Group. Mike brings to Guidewire Group a 20-year record of building innovative technology-based businesses for existing and emerging global companies. Previously, he ran a strategic advisory and interim management consulting firm, with clients such as the Daily Mail General Trust, Fresher Information Corp, IDG, Office Depot, Pacific Bell, Philips Electronics, Synoptics and the U.S. Postal Service.
He has lived and worked in Europe, providing marketing and business development services to technology companies as they developed their trans-Atlantic strategies. As director of DASAR, producer of the annual European Technology Roundtable Exposition (ETRE) conferences, Mike built communities which fostered relationships among technology industry executives and investors.
An entrepreneur at heart, Mike has founded a number of technology ventures, including FM Waves and WiFinder. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Carla Thomson, Senior Anaylst, Guidewire Group
Carla Thompson comes to Guidewire Group with a unique perspective on the viability of companies and market sectors playing in the technology of tomorrow. Specializing in social networking and software, Internet communities, natural language processing and the semantic Web, Carla has both inside knowledge of singular Silicon Valley and a much-needed everyday consumer perspective from her Texas address.
She has worked in technology for 10 years, having counseled companies such as Visa, Intuit, Chase Capital Partners, Network World, and Sun Microsystems on communications and positioning as senior account executive at Ketchum Silicon Valley and as co-founder of MC2 Communications. She earned a silver SABRE award for the successful launch of Transmeta Corporation in January of 2000, and ushered the company through one of the Valley’s largest IPOs, during which time she also served as publicist to Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system.
Carla resides in her native Texas and is a recovering political junkie and active gadget freak.
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