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A
b-lab company
aligned
purpose
with
Mission
Our Mission
By women
for women
Run
WE Global Studios was founded by and with the help of trailblazing female thought leaders whose mission is to fuel your success. We are committed to rearchitecting the startup ecosystem by using technology to optimize, democratize and demystify startup building and scaling. We know what it takes to succeed, which is why we focus on delivering the tools that will aid you in establishing a solid business foundation from day one that will deliver traction and growth and prevent you from falling into the many valleys of death.
Our WE Startup
Studio Co-pilot Model
If this model is new to you, a Startup Studio Co-Pilot serves as an AI co-founder for entrepreneurs and provides critical guidance, road mapping, and resource matching to guide you toward building a successful scalable business from ideation to exit.
WE Global Studios' Founderverse™ 2.0 is the first AI-powered SaaS startup platform dedicated solely to optimizing the empire-building of women-led companies through the entire business development and growth life-cycle.
The development and design of WE Global Studios' Founderverse, was inspired by the one-stop-shop of the Hollywood Studio Model where its founder worked for many years. Everything you need to create content you will find on a studio lot. Our studio lot is the Founderverse™, a virtualized and intelligent platform that provides a one-stop-shop for business building and scaling. Our talent is the female founders of the ecosystem that have been underserved and undervalued, despite their historical C-suite overperformance and growing numbers.
Our studio team is comprised of operational experts who know and understand how to develop talent and companies and it is this knowledge that has and will continue to infuse our SaaS startup platform and the tools we are building. Through a very unique and tailor-made process, including a co-pilot leaderboard scoring system, we intend to fuel the startup pipeline at scale and support growing female-led companies worldwide because backing women is just smart business.
Vision & Mission
high impact
startups
Create
Our operational expertise has taught us that it’s all in the execution and in the details. Therefore, within our platform we created a one-of-a-kind 360° startup ecosystem just for you, to ensure you have at your fingertips all that you need to create a successful corporation or small business.
In addition, our collective intelligence community, the educational upskilling of our intensive 5-track curriculum, our tech innovation lab, our product-market fit obsession, and our partners make us stand out. We deliver on-demand training and a real edge to women entrepreneurs that is unique to our Hollywood roots because we know how to develop and build great IP, brands, and companies. We are driven by providing value to you and your investors as you build and scale a company or small business.
Deliver
high revenue
streams
WE Global Studios innovates internally and partners with founders externally to build AI tools for our Founderverse™.
Our growing five-sided marketplace within the Founderverse™ ecosystem will provide founders with access to enterprise partners and strategic opportunities that will help drive revenue and create expense efficiencies, partnership opportunities and company investment optimization.
WE Global is dedicated to delivering intelligently online what is typically found offline. We are creating, launching, and leading successful startups through an intensive co-creation co-pilot program that leverages non-dilutive sources of funding to drive meaningful traction and deliver high revenue streams at the Pre-Seed to Series A stage and beyond.
Your team
Get to know
Team: Advisory Board
Founder & CEO
Fernanda
Founder & CEO
Carapinha
Fernanda Carapinha is a serial media/tech entrepreneur, former senior Hollywood studio entertainment executive, and founder of an AI-driven behavioral data analytics company, with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment/technology business.
Fernanda’s deep experience and insight both in the creative entertainment/media business of content development, and production, as well as in the data science/software business, has afforded her a unique perspective that has enabled her to be ahead of the curve in the convergence of the entertainment and technology industries.
Fernanda received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and her Master’s Degree with honors from Pepperdine University. She is also the chairperson of the Women In Tech Alliance for the California Technology Council, a TEDx speaker, and published author.
Executive Management
team
Elena
Alikhachkina
Management Team Technology Development
Elena Alikhachkina, Ph.D., is a distinguished professional in the intersection of Digital Technology, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence. With over two decades of pioneering global leadership, she has been the driving force behind transformative digital and data strategies for Fortune 500 juggernauts like Roche, Danone, NewsCorp/Dow Jones, and Johnson & Johnson. Distinguished in the tech ecosystem as an influential digital innovator, Elena fuses next-gen technologies and data-centric methodologies, ingeniously employing AI to unlock unprecedented business innovation and sustainable growth.
Embarking on her career in management consulting, Elena rapidly emerged as an invaluable asset to global enterprises, harnessing overlooked market opportunities. Her insatiable curiosity for technology and data was ignited by an astute focus on dissecting consumer behavior and market dynamics. Elena knows how to transform big data into actionable insights that redefine customer experience and digital engagement, all underpinned by cutting-edge technology.
Elena has been the force behind the development and scaling of over 200 data and AI-enhanced enterprise digital products, resulting in an astonishing 20x revenue upswing in digital initiatives for digital powerhouses like WSJ.com, Barrons.com, and Marketwatch.com
Eve
Psalti
Management Team
Platform & Partnerships
Eve Psalti is the Senior Director at Microsoft’s Azure Artificial Intelligence engineering organization.
She is working with customers and partners across industries to help them grow their businesses through digital transformation strategies, leveraging Microsoft’s innovative AI, ML, and cognitive services capabilities.
Prior to this role, Eve held business development, sales, and marketing leadership positions at Google, Microsoft, and startups across the US and Europe.
She’s passionate about supporting female founders to develop and commercialize their businesses and also supporting ed-tech initiatives and enabling under-represented communities to have access to leadership and career growth opportunities through STEM.
Stephanie
Granato
Management Team
Legal & Strategic Planning
Stephanie Granato is a corporate attorney and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience advising growing companies, entrepreneurs, and investors. She partners with clients to launch and scale their new ventures and acts as an outsourced general counsel for companies in industries including technology, media, events, e-commerce, and sustainability.
Stephanie is a co-founder and COO of Creative Technologies Inc., a government contractor that conceives, designs, and delivers novel, immersive, cognitive simulation solutions. Before founding Granato Law Office, she practiced corporate law in New York with an international law firm in the corporate transactional group, and in Los Angeles with a boutique corporate firm. Stephanie is a Yale Law School graduate and is admitted to the bar in California, New York, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut.
Leighanne
Neville
Management Team
Finance & Venture
Leighanne Neville, a seasoned CFO and accomplished CPA, boasts an impressive three-decade career marked by her unwavering commitment to guiding visionary founders and propelling high-profile startups to success. Presently, she serves as the CFO and Practice Lead at Countsy, a division of RGP, Inc.
Leighanne Is a trusted strategic ally for entrepreneurs, specializing in capital acquisition, the formulation of robust financial projections and key performance indicators, fostering essential relationships with investors and Boards, and advising on the scaling of financial operations to facilitate rapid growth.
With a reputation as an indispensable in-house CFO, Leighanne has left an indelible mark on a multitude of venture-backed SaaS enterprises, including notable names like Synadia Communications and Pagos Solutions.
Before taking the helm at Countsy, Leighanne worked at True & Co while also contributing her expertise to the growth journeys of several other venture-backed startups. Her career began at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, where she distinguished herself as a Manager in the Emerging Technology Practice.
Technology Development
team
Paula
Burns
Tech Advisory Board
As Vice President of Operations for Ball Aerospace, Paula Burns is responsible for Facilities, Information Technology Services, Manufacturing and Test Operations, Mission and Process Analytics, and Supply Chain Management.
Most recently, Burns served as the senior director for Ball’s ITS strategic support unit, where she was responsible for setting the strategic direction, architecture, infrastructure and governance of the company’s ITS enterprise. Previously, Burns served as the deputy general manager of Ball’s Tactical Solutions (TS) strategic business unit, where she led operational growth strategies to meet the needs of this rapidly growing business.
Prior to joining Ball, Burns was a management consultant focused on IT infrastructure and risk mitigation.
She managed several IT development projects and played a key role in business strategy and development at a major telecommunications company, as well as several startups. Burns served as a Naval aviator, combat support pilot.
Ed
Kazmierczak
Tech Development
Dr. Edmund Kazmierczak - 30+ years experience designing and engineering software for critical systems in defense, banking, medical and academic fields; Dr. Kazmierczak is an expert in large data systems, blockchain and DLT, AI/ML, automation, and data privacy.
Dr. Edmund Kazmierczak is the Lead Engineer of the Penta Network. He received his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1991. His post doctoral work was on techniques for mathematically validating software for large scale complex systems, at the Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science
(LFCS) at the the University of Edinburgh. In 1993, he worked at the University of Queensland’s Software Verification Research Centre (SVRC), an Australian Government Centre of Excellence, where he was instrumental in the conception, analysis and design of the COGITO system and methodology for safety critical and highly reliable systems engineering. Dr. Kazmierczak joined the University of Melbourne in 1996 and was the software engineering programme leader for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes from 2000 - 2012. He has lead projects for research into automotive by-wire systems, stochastic methods for assuring software in critical systems, and mathematically proven software for safety critical systems.
Revital
Padovitz
Product Management Lead
Revital Padovitz, a seasoned product leader based in the San Francisco Bay Area, brings two decades of exceptional experience to the world of product management. With a notable career that spans renowned organizations such as Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, and BCG as well as innovative startups, she has established herself as a results-driven strategist and product launcher.
Her impressive track record includes orchestrating the successful launch of web and mobile applications for both B2C and B2B markets, with domain expertise encompassing productivity, travel, and social apps. She has led large cross-functional teams, directing product releases for applications driven by complex machine learning algorithms, big data and multi stakeholder users resulting in significant increases in application adoptions, engagement and retention.
Jennifer
Byrne
Tech Advisory Board
Jennifer is the CEO of Arrived Workforce Solutions.
As a veteran of the tech industry and former CTO of Microsoft's US Division, she often advises startups, and coaches emerging leaders.
Jennifer originally joined Microsoft as the Chief Security Officer for the Worldwide Public SectorDivision.
She has held senior Cybersecurity positions at Intel, McAfee and Symantec.
Steve
Melnikoff
Tech Development
Dr. Steve Melnikoff - 40+ years experience building large-scale web-based systems for big data in defense, academic, medical, and commercial technologies fields; Dr. Melnikoff’s expertise includes big data analysis, data visualization, interface design and implementation, blockchain and DLT, AI/ML, and data privacy.
Dr. Steven Melnikoff is the CTO and a co-founder of Penta Network. He is an information physicist, with expertise in large-scale web-based systems for big-data analysis and visualisation. Steve holds degrees in both physics and applied mathematics from MIT, receiving his doctorate in physics from the University of California in 1985. Dr. Melnikoff’s physics career began at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Since then his research spans from space-based nuclear reactors, nuclear waste cleanup and quantitative CT for bone densitometry/osteoporosis treatment, to interactive, real-time visualisation of the entire PubMed corpus. Over the past two decades he has pursued a passion for leading technology development teams and startup projects. Dr. Melnikoff received an award as part of President Obama's 'OpenGov' data challenges in developing KNALIJ, an interactive platform for visualization of PubMed data.
David
Ritter
Tech Development
David Ritter - 10+ years of project management experience in private equity and emerging technologies; 6 years experience in the blockchain industry.
David Ritter is the CEO and co-founder of Penta Network. Mr. Ritter received his degree in financial and sociopolitical history from USC. He served as Project Director of Donghu Group Investments, where he managed projects with a portfolio value of $1 billion (USD). David also managed a Hollywood P&A Fund in partnership with major Hollywood studios. Mr. Ritter has been invited to speak at many global forums about blockchain and emerging technology, including being a keynote speaker at MIT’s Global Startup Workshop in 2018, and an invited panelist at the 73rd U.N. General Assembly to discuss Using Blockchain and Cryptocurrency to Achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals. Penta made history as the first project to successfully use a token to purchase shares of a public company on the Australian ASX exchange. In addition to David’s work with Penta, he is an active philanthropist.
Monte
Hancock
Chief Data Scientist
Monte boasts a distinguished 40-year career in software engineering, algorithm development, and technical leadership. His extensive experience includes serving as Chief Scientist at 4Digital, where he specialized in numerical and semi-numerical algorithms for data mining and machine learning, with a particular emphasis on social media and text processing. Prior to this role, he played a pivotal role at Celestech, Inc., focusing on numerical and semi-numerical algorithms for super-computing applications, including pattern recognition and predictive modeling.
Monte has also excelled as a Principal Investigator and Technical Lead on numerous data mining projects for both government and industry clients.
His areas of expertise encompass:
High-dimensional performance manifold ray-tracer; CELLO automated ontology builder;
CB and Vis_e N-dimensional viewers; Markov Random Field feature winnowing application; Adaptive Multi-paradigm multi-model classifier; Eigen-compression hyper-dimension reduction engine; Replicator Regression anomaly detector and data generator.
Monte's is a distinguished Charter Member appointee of the ACIS Technical Group by the Executive Board of the Augmented Cognition International Society.
Elizabeth
Owen
Tech Advisory Board
Dr. Elizabeth Owen is a seasoned behavioral data scientist and cognitive scientist, focused in immersive media and adaptive systems. Her mission: AI-driven games and interactive media for positive impact.
Recently a data science consultant at Google, and currently Founder / Chief Data Scientist at Learning Data Discovery, she's committed to optimizing immersive digital systems through applied machine learning. Previously, she was the Director of Learning and Data Science at Age of Learning. Additional industry experience includes Nickelodeon, GlassLab Games (EA / Zynga), and Epic Games.
Overall, Dr. Owen has 12 years experience in industry (game data science) and 23 years in cognition / learning sciences. Prior to graduate school, she helped underserved populations as a teacher in Los Angeles for a decade. After success with simulation-based, computer-supported instruction – and seeing the strong impact of assessment on students’ self-efficacy and learning – she set out to make an impact through data-driven immersive technology.
Meet Our Team
Nisa
Amoils
Advisory Board
Nisa Amoils is Managing Partner at A100x Ventures and Advisor to Dragonfly Capital where she, invests in early-stage Blockchain/AI/Crypto/NFT companies with special attention to social impact and diversity.
She has been investing in blockchain since 2016 and her prior fund was Scout Ventures investing in technology. She practiced securities law at Anderson Kill and is FINRA licensed.
Honors: Business Insider’s Women VCs to watch, 2021 systematic leader in asset management, top 100 Women in Fintech, and top 50 global Blockchain thinkers.
Prior to investing, she spent many years in business development and strategy at companies like Time Warner, NBC Universal and has parlayed that into media presence as a former host of FintechTV and Forbes columnist.
She holds a business degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kirsten
Curtis
Advisory Board | Capital
Kirsten Curtis is a board member, advisor, and consultant, dedicating her time and energy to helping companies scale. She serves on the board of directors at Pure Plus, a company focused on creating healthy candies.
She advises and consults with several other companies, with specialities in operations and supply chain management.
For many years, Kirsten worked as a Principle in the Valor Operations Group.
Her responsibilities included interim executive management, supply chain improvements, lean implementations, project management, business process improvement, and supporting portfolio companies in a variety of growth initiatives across industries as diverse as consumer goods, restaurants, and cybersecurity.
Sally
Drexler
Advisory Board | Studio
Sally Drexler is a Senior Managing Director at Teneo, a former Partner in Odgers Berndtson’s Los Angeles office, and a member of its Consumer, Technology, and Digital Practices.
She has over 19 years of international experience in executive search specializing in consumer digital, retail, as well as media, and entertainment.
She has extensive experience in recruiting Board Members, C-Suite Executives, and Innovation Leaders.
Sally is a member of the Exceptional Women Awardees Foundation’s (EWA) Cohort of Women Leaders for 2020. She is an involved member of Step-Up Women’s Network, a national not-for-profit organization that mentors and works with high school girls in underserved communities. She is an inaugural member of Allbright USA, a network and community connecting women in business.
Leslie
Knutson
Advisory Board | WE Podcast Host
As the Clinical Psychologist and Executive Coach Leslie Knutson provided training and EAP services to the administrative and correctional staff. Leslie has also taught at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice and has been a guest speaker for State. Department, US Military and Law Enforcement employees in Italy.
Leslie currently maintains an active psychology practice in Milan, Italy working in a number of diverse settings including a consulting group focusing on improving employee morale within Fortune 500 companies; a Crisis Intervention specialist to the State Department and US Military employees during and after September 11, 2001, and for the duration of the Iraq war.
Sara
Qazi
Advisory Board
Chair Capital Council
Sara Qazi is a seasoned senior finance and entertainment professional with an entrepreneurial bent and penchant for building businesses. She is currently the Sr. VP of Investments, and Founder of the Q&M Sports and Entertainment Group at Raymond James specializing in strategic financial consulting for the media, music, and film entertainment industries. Previously she was First Vice President and Director of the Global Sports & Entertainment division of Morgan Stanley,
Sara’s 22 years in the capital markets spanned the prestigious firm of Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette, where she worked with large institutional clients, hedge funds, legendary technology investors and founding C-suite.
Sara established her private client practice focused on social impact investments for the media and entertainment industry.
Louise
Spinner
Advisory Board
Louise Spinner is a prominent senior talent agent in the Motion Picture Department at United Talent Agency, one of the world’s leading talent agencies. She manages a roster of 35 artists who collectively gross an average of 200m annually.
She has helped discover and develop highly successful breakout talent in addition to supporting the growth of more established artists.
Louise’s tenure in the entertainment business spans over 25 years and began with the representation of prominent commercial and video directors at Limelight, and later theatrical representation at ICM, before joining what is now Management 360, where Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland were clients.
Deborah
Benton
Advisory Board
Deborah Benton is the founding Partner of Willow Growth Partners, which provides early growth capital to entrepreneurs building the next generation of transformative consumer brands and the disruptive technologies that power them.
A seasoned consumer retail executive with a specific passion for industries focused on women; she brings many years of operational management experience at the highest level to the firm.
Most recently, Deborah served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Nasty Gal, an online women's fashion retailer for the millennial set.
Prior to NastyGal, Deborah was Chief Operating Officer of Shoe Dazzle, an online women's shoe and accessories company.
Deborah is an active supporter of women's entrepreneurship in Southern California and currently serves as a Board Director for The Bouqs, Carbon38, and Vow to be Chic.
Candi
Dalipe
Advisory Board | Capital
Candi Dalipe is the founder of FundamentaXF, a strategic advisory and search/recruitment firm with a mission to partner with clients to solve their most pressing business challenges around talent acquisition and leadership development.
Candi currently works with select venture-backed, private equity portfolio companies and major public companies in N. America and Europe.
She serves as a coach, a trusted advisor, and a strategic partner to the firm's clients, recruiting talented leaders across varied sectors as they build transformative executive teams to help them adapt to the obstacles they are not structured to withstand during certain stages of growth.
Suzy
Feldman
Advisory Board | Marketing
Suzy Feldman is the Senior Vice President of Worldwide TV Marketing at Lionsgate.
She oversees consumer and trade marketing, creative services, PR & publicity, trade shows and events, and social media.
Suzy is responsible for all marketing efforts for the domestic, international and digital sales teams.
Lionsgate is a global content leader that reaches next-generation audiences around the world through films, television series, digital products, and linear and over-the-top platforms.
Suzy has a track record of more than 20 years in the entertainment industry working in positions in marketing, sales, publicity and social media.
Stefanie
Marx
Advisory Board
Stefanie Marx is a Co-founder of an AdTech startup that modernizes ethical personal data use.
As its head of marketing, she utilizes her entertainment background to create innovative marketing campaigns and positive user-experiences on the (UI/UX) product side.
Stefanie brings 7+ years of work experience at the intersection of Entertainment and Tech, specializing in creative strategy, content development and product marketing.
After graduating from Tufts University with a B.A. in Child Psychology and Communications, she entered the media industry with a focus on the digital space and tv/film development.
She is the producer of innovative, eye-catching viral videos, capturing 50M+ views.
Juliet
Scott-Croxford
Advisory Board | Chair Studio Council
Juliet is the President of North America for Brompton Bicycle. Before joining Brompton, Juliet was the CEO for Worth Media overseeing its transformation from a print publisher to digital content and event platform. Prior to that, she was Chief Delivery Officer at the Guardian News and Media, responsible for the strategic implementation of the brand’s global three-year turnaround plan.
Juliet began her career as a management consultant, learning to code at IBM Business Consulting Services, before focusing on business strategy and organizational change, working with clients to solve complex business problems across a variety of industries through the use of technology.
Juliet also serves as Advisory Board Member for WE Global Studios a startup innovation studio and digital platform for women entrepreneurs around the world.
Fumbi
Chima
Advisory Board
Co-Chair International Council
Fumbi Chima is the Global Chief Information Officer of Adidas. She is an accomplished senior executive with extensive experience leading digital transformations within established, global corporations across multi-industries.
Fumbi focuses on driving business outcomes through the use of technology and digital solutions. She has deep experience in leading organizational change, global transformational programs and inspiring organizations to embrace a new future
Prior to joining Adidas in 2019, Fumbi has been the transformational CIO for several global organizations, she was most recently the CIO of Fox Network Group; CIO at Burberry Corporation, CIO of Walmart Stores Inc. Asia business operations, and CIO of American Express’ Global Corporate Technologies.
Daniel
Dobson-Smith
Advisory Board
Daniel Dobson-Smith is a transformational executive and global leadership coach, and has over 20 years of experience working in corporations.
As a professional executive, Daniel has held a range of senior executive and C-Suite level roles across a host of sectors and companies including renowned retailer Marks & Spencer Plc, travel and tourism company Eurostar International, Crossrail Ltd, music giant Sony Music Entertainment, and Essence Global.
Daniel is certified as an Executive Coach by both the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring, credentialed with the International Coach Federation. He is a coach-supervisor through the Coaching Supervision Academy. Daniel is also an accredited practitioner of Transformational NLP.
Lucia
Gallardo
Advisory Board
Co-Chair International Council
Lucia Gallardo is a Honduran serial entrepreneur building socially impactful emerging technology solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems as Founder & CEO of Emerge.
Emerge's portfolio includes projects in digital identification, global food supply chain, information accuracy, health and financial inclusion, and more.
For its work, Emerge has been nominated for the 2018 Global SDG Awards and Newsweek’s 2019 Blockchain Impact Awards. It was listed as one of Hatch's 20 Most Impactful Startups in the World.
Lucia is also pioneering a progressive, impact-focused platform ecology as the Managing Partner of Penta Network's Impact Ecosystem.
Delilah
Panio
Advisory Board | Capital
Delilah Panio is Vice President of Capital Formation for Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) based in Southern California.
In this role, Delilah advises U.S. companies on the opportunity to list and raise capital on Canada’s premier equity markets.
She is a frequent speaker and pitch competition judge and coach, and was recently named in the “2019 Top 100 People in Finance” Magazine.
Previously, Delilah spent 10 years at TSX and TSXV in business development and strategy.
She has advised many companies
on the going public process and provides an understanding of private and public financing options in Canada and the United States.
Margot
Shapiro
Advisory Board | Capital
Margot Shapiro is currently a Managing Partner at Spiral Sun Ventures, investing in early-stage CPG companies that promote a healthier lifestyle, particularly in the food, beverage and personal care sectors.
She uses a broad resource network and collaborative partnerships with visionary founders to help accelerate the growth of young companies on a path to success.
Margot is a seasoned investment professional with 20+ years in private equity and venture capital.
She started her career in the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs, then worked in private equity. In 2010 Margot co-founded a venture fund that invested solely in female-led companies.
She loves being involved in mentorship and is passionate about empowering female entrepreneurs and working to expand roles for women in venture capital.
Executive Advisory Board
team
Advisory Council
team
Janét
Aizenstros
Advisory Council
Dr. Janét Aizenstros is the founder and CEO of Ahava Digital Group (ADG) -- a women-led digital consultancy working with Fortune companies to help them connect with women consumers using data and technology.
She is an award-winning Canadian businesswoman that is the recipient of the prestigious 2021 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Excellence Award, one of the 2022 EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Ontario finalists, and a recipient of the 2020 WXN Canada's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur Award: Top 100, 2019 honorary Presidential Service Medallion by the U.S. Presidential Service Center, and the Employer of the Year by Canadian Business.
Joanna
Bloor
Advisory Council
Potentialist - FairyGodmother.
Joanna Bloor believes that it’s time for us humans to rethink how we take on the modern working world.
The what, where, when, and how of work is changing, a shift that technology and business have embraced yet people haven’t.
Joanna’s on a mission to help us prepare for the big leap into the working future. To identify and articulate our human value and our place in the next chapter of the working world.
And while we’re at it, have a great time in the process. “Imagine our careers were more like an adventure than a climb?” A perpetual career adventurer and self-described “startup junkie,” Joanna spent her early career scaling and building brands like Ticketmaster, Cars.com,
OpenTable, and Pandora. Known for building teams, infrastructure, and revenue strategies through their moments of accelerating growth and rapid change, Joanna did so in environments where there were no rulebooks, no career paths, no precedents of how things “should” be done.
Tracy
Christian
Advisory Council
Tracy Christian is a veteran talent agent with more than twenty years in the industry working in both the literary as well as talent space.
Past clients include Oscar winners Melissa Leo, Octavia Spencer, Mo’Nique, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Elizabeth Moss.
Within the lit space she’s personally responsible for more than 1,000 hours of on-air primetime programing.
In 2011, Tracy opened TCA, a Los Angeles-based boutique talent agency representing writers, directors, producers, and actors trained by some of the best theatre schools around the globe.
TCA excels at marrying art, commerce, and future vision, by representing an exclusive and curated list of talent that Tracy is very passionate about so a high level of attention and strategic guidance can be leveraged to assure their success. As a manager based in Los Angeles, Tracy has come to be respected because of her aggressive and innovative deal-making skills.
Natalie
Do
Advisory Council
Natalie Do is the Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking at Torrey Pines Bank in Los Angeles. She specializes in serving the complex banking and financial needs of middle-market businesses and family offices.
She has received repeated recognition as one of the Most Influential Lenders in Los Angeles County by the LA Business Journal.
A former entrepreneur and business consultant, Natalie’s secret element is her ability and commitment to understanding her client’s complex business and financial needs. Before banking, Natalie worked in commercial real estate, managing consulting and IT in Japan, Australia, China, and SE Asia. Having lived and worked in eight countries, Natalie is fluent in four languages and a world traveler. Natalie serves as board chair for the GYRD Foundation; a nonprofit focused on reducing gang-related violence and strengthening families and communities.
She is also a classically trained Mezzo-Soprano.
Virginia
Green
Advisory Council | University
Virginia Green has an impressive 20+ year history as CEO for three Fortune 500 companies. Virginia is known for her successful coaching and implementing ways to be more effective and efficient in strategy, innovation, organizational development, leadership, inclusion and change management for nonprofit and profit industries including Fortune 500 companies around the globe using Top Human Performance and Business Growth Excellence concepts.
As a keynote speaker at worldwide industry conferences, she presents on current transformational business topics and teaches workshops and seminars for her clients, board members and industry professionals.
Pam
Harris
Advisory Council | Marketing
Pam Harris has been a dynamic growth leader and brand champion for some of the world’s most loved sports, entertainment and media properties, like Madison Square Garden, NY Knicks, Real Madrid North America, AS Roma, and Blue Man Group.
Most recently, she served as the Executive Director to open Fotografiska New York, the US flagship of the world’s largest photography museum.
Wharton MBA, Stanford BA. Raised in Brazil and Mexico, lives in Brooklyn.
Charleen
Kao
Advisory Council | Marketing
Charleen Kao is an Account Executive at Google, advising B2B Mid-Market customers on their digital marketing & growth strategy. She is also the founder of The Growth Collective, a marketing advisory firm helping businesses unlock their full potential for growth.
Charleen is a classically trained marketer with 10+ years of experience across brand, digital, and performance marketing.
She started her career at Disney marketing beloved movie/brands, then joined Google after completing her MBA from USC Marshall. On the side, Charleen enjoys working with startups and helps out with the Google Accelerator team mentoring early-stage startups and founders on their digital advertising strategies.
Charleen remains incredibly passionate about the startup ecosystem and driving meaningful growth, innovation and impact.
La Keisha
Landrum Pierre
Advisory Council
La Keisha Landrum Pierre is Co-Founder and Managing Director at Emmeline Ventures where she invests in female founders, fintech, and the sustainability sector. She leads Emmeline Ventures' ecosystem building, strategic partnership, and research efforts. She has spent 12+ years building world-class operational teams and infusing strategic excellence into social-enterprise companies.
La Keisha brings nearly two decades of experience working at the intersection of tech, social enterprise, and digital media. As the CEO of Nigeria's largest digital media start-up, Sahara Reporters Media Group, La Keisha built and scaled the first civic media platform of its kind. With venture backing for a Nigerian company when Africa was an overlooked market, she grew the company from 2MM to 25MM monthly users, positioning it for investment by impact funds, then raising $6MM+ in funding. She then partnered with the Omidyar Network and MacArthur Foundation to launch the first-of-its-kind Civic Media Lab, with support from the MIT Center for Civic Media. There, she was the Executive Director and today sits on the board of the Civic Media Lab, Nigeria. She is also now the Chairwoman of Sahara Reporters.
Linda
Mbagwu
Advisory Council
Linda has often been described by her clients as “the last coach you’ll ever need”!
She has worked with purpose-driven CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, and consultants from around the world, who felt they were stuck in various aspects of their life. Her signature POWER program and tools have made a life-changing difference to her clients, who have identified their root trigger and achieved emotional freedom and personal and professional success.
She is passionate about having her clients meet their full potential and power – and approaches her coaching with a unique combination of both frank and fearless guidance, and love and compassion.
Linda was born in Nigeria and moved to London at the age of 6. Her coaching draws on her own personal and professional experiences including taking herself from being homeless, depressed, and suicidal to growing a multimillion-pound executive recruitment business and transforming herself and her relationships. She travels widely and currently reside in Tulum, Mexico.
Katie
McKee
Advisory Council | Marketing
After a 15 year career building out digital commerce capability for companies in pillars such as CPG, Luxury, Beauty and Apparel, Katharine McKee founded Morphology Consulting, a digital commerce consultancy that creates long term profitable growth for their clients by helping them understand and adhere to algorithmic systems online.
Katharine is a leader in ecommerce and an expert on systems, who focuses on building clean processes and organizations.
To date, Katharine has overhauled the digital go-to-market for more than 50 brands, including Fortune 500's such as Coty, Luxottica and IPG Media Brands and has sustainably increased client’s revenue up to 600% YoY.
Tina
Olson
Advisory Council
Ambassador and Chief Foundation Officer, California Technology Council, Tina Olsen is a new business development leader with proven success and established expertise creating sales strategies, strategic planning, integrated marketing strategies and brand communications with global execution across multiple channels.
Having held senior executive positions with companies such as Metromail, RR Donnelley, Valassis and Cenveo, she has developed strong client and network relationships with a hands-on approach to create solutions for short and long term strategic opportunities.
Christine
Astorino
Advisory Council
Christine is a seasoned human-centered designer and innovation strategist that excels in delivering large scale, user-centric, customer and employee experience transformations.
Currently a Managing Director and Digital Leader at BCG with an expertise in design thinking, Christine has served as a Global Client Lead for WeWork and launched and lead McKinsey’s Global network of Experience Studios.
Filipa
Carvalho
Advisory Council | International
Filipa Pinto de Carvalho is a Lisbon-based attorney with over ten years of corporate and immigration law experience and assisting in foreign direct investment.
She is a co-founder of Moss&Cooper, a consulting firm aimed at assisting start-ups and SMEs by providing strategic and financial consulting.
She also co-founded and is the managing partner of AGPC, a law firm based in Lisbon focused on assisting clients from other countries who are (interested) in investing, launching, or relocating business to Portugal.
Filipa is passionate about helping entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a working plan and build a successful business out of what they love.
Vicki
Dallas
Advisory Council
Vicki Dallas is a corporate and business attorney with more than 30 years of experience as a former corporate partner and shareholder in two major, regional full-service law firms. Vicki received her J.D. and L.L.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida. She has been honored with the AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell and the Super Lawyer rating by Thomson Reuters.
Vicki launched DIL in 2018 with a focus on providing bespoke legal services to her clients in the areas of lower middle market sell-side M&A, representation of emerging companies, and outside legal counsel representation.
Vicki is the Consulting Editor (Tax) of the Rutter Group California Practice Guide: Corporations, on the Legal Task Force for the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, a Legal Mentor to San Diego Sport Innovators, and General Counsel for Hyundai Hope on Wheels, Genesis Inspiration Foundation, and Women in Sports Tech (WiST). She has lectured and written extensively in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, representation of emerging companies, and general corporate matters.
Gabrielle
Garofalo
Advisory Council | Marketing
Gabrielle Garofalo is the founder of Gabrielle Garofalo Inc.; Coaching, Consulting & Creative Energy, and is on a mission to introduce every human being to the healing power of pleasure. Gabrielle was trained in the worlds of advertising, branding, and high-profile media, and became an award-winning marketing executive, corporate leader, and ultimately an entrepreneur.
Her ventures have led her to consult for high-profile clients like Oprah and Condé Nast and even owned a growing local food festival in Portland, ME for several years while writing a food blog for JerseyBites.com. In 2019 Gabrielle turned her passion toward certifying as a life and career coach. Since then, Gabrielle has logged more than 300 hours helping others live a more embodied and authentic existence.
Charla
Griffy-Brown
Advisory Council | University
Dr. Charla Griffy-Brown is a tenured full-professor at Pepperdine University who has trained hundreds of executives in the areas of business innovation leveraging digital systems, analytics, and optimizing cyber risk.
She is a seasoned board member and currently serves as a Director on two Corporate Boards and two non-profit boards including the California Technology Council.
Charla has worked with business leaders and executives to deploy a risk-based approach to cybersecurity working with leaders in organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, Paramount Pictures, and Nintendo.
She is the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal, Technology in Society.
Alexia
Hefti
Advisory Council
Alexia Hefti is a Swiss-Canadian, New York-qualified lawyer and is based out of Dubai.
Alexia is CEO of eGovern, which advises governments globally on transitioning to e-government delivery models and companies seeking to explore blockchain uses within their industries. Alexia is also an Advisor on the FinTech Advisory Board of the Government of Bermuda.
Previously at Deloitte, Alexia co-founded the blockchain tax practice in Canada and Dubai working on improving the delivery of tax administration services using digital solutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Prior to this, she worked in international human rights,
transitional justice and international criminal justice in the Middle East and Africa for several organizations and governments, including the United Nations.
Kristi
Kaylor
Advisory Council | Marketing
Kristi Kaylor has been an innovator in the world of celebrity & influencer marketing for over 20 years.
After years in TV, a dot com startup with Jen Aniston & running celeb brands (Mandy Moore & Lindsay Lohan) she opened The Loft Entertainment where she matches top talent with her brand clients (NBC, Peacock Network, Mattel, IHOP, Applebees, Coca-Cola, etc) for content and innovative marketing.
John
Maatta
Advisory Council
John Maatta is an attorney who primarily focuses his practice on entertainment and media transactions including the development and production of motion pictures, television and streamed content and matters related to the representation of content creators and performers and the distribution of programming broadcast, cable and streaming platforms.
John is experienced with issues involving production, finance, distribution, affiliate relations, human resources, broadcast standards and matters involving media-related technology, marketing, advertising and branding.
John was also the Chief Operating Officer of the WB Television Network as well as its Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
Valarie
McCall
Chair Gov. Advisory Council
Valarie J. McCall is the Chief of Communications, Government & International Affairs for the City of Cleveland and Mayor Frank G. Jackson.
McCall serves as the Jackson administration’s primary liaison to local and state government, federal agencies and international organizations. She also oversees the administration’s appointments to internal and external boards and commissions, and helps implement the Mayor’s policies to promote regional growth and cooperation.
McCall also oversees the City of Cleveland’s communications strategy, media relations and brand identity. McCall is the Mayor’s primary representative to several national organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities and the National Black Caucus of Local and Elected Officials. She is also past chair of the American Public Transit Association’s Executive Committee (board member emeritus).
Lisa
Mitnick
Advisory Council
Lisa Mitnik is an accomplished digital leader with a 20+ year track record of launching and scaling new businesses with deep experience in strategy, M&A, alliances, product development and sales. She has worked across communications, media, technology, health and government sectors, harnessing the power of technology to bring value added services to customers.
She is currently working with Connected DMV, non-profit regional collaboration across Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, on a “Connectivity For All'' public-private initiative to provide solutions that advance social and digital equality across the region.
Patrice
Sosoo
Advisory Council | Marketing
Patrice Sosoo is a creative and marketing executive with over 15 years of experience in brand development, strategy, and marketing. Patrice has sharpened her skills at places such as American Express, Dotdash Meredith, ELLE magazine, and LVMH.
Previously, Patrice oversaw a $30 billion licensing program at Dotdash Meredith where she turned iconic media brands into must-have household products such as the Better Homes & Gardens collection at Walmart. From product development to integrated go-to-market launches, she was responsible for keeping over 40 brands at the top of 200 million readers' minds every day. Prior to that, she led global brand and design for American Express where she helped to develop a brand strategy that increased American Express' brand value by 8% in 2018 to $19 billion after four years of decline.
Patrice holds a B.S. in International Relations and a minor in Economics from St. John’s University. She lives in New Jersey and is married to her college sweetheart, Kalvin, and their two children, Kingsley and Celine.
Bridget
Baker
Advisory Council
As principal of independent consultancy Baker Media, Bridget Baker advises and represents major media and technology companies. Prior to establishing Baker Media, Ms. Baker had a distinguished 23-year career at NBCUniversal where she was a co-founder of CNBC and the company’s first president of TV Networks Distribution from 2006 - 2013.
Bridget was instrumental in building and later overseeing a $5 billion content distribution business that firmly established some of the most highly rated and valuable network assets in history. Included among the company’s top 1% of senior executives as a member of the management committee, Ms. Baker was at the forefront of a wide range of strategic initiatives from expanding coverage of the Olympic Games to creating Hulu. She was tapped by parent company General Electric to develop the first-ever corporate affinity group for women in 2006, and in 2008 her division contributed the largest consolidated operating profit at the company. Ms. Baker played a key role in nearly $50 billion of mergers and acquisitions from 2002 - 2013, culminating in Comcast’s integration of NBCU.
Jeymi
Choi
Advisory Council | University
Jeymi Choi is currently the Associate Director of the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation program at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Jeymi is currently looking to finish her doctorate in Education at USC and her dissertation is on the lack of venture capital that is awarded to female entrepreneurs.
Her passion is helping students succeed in launching ventures and being a mentor to female entrepreneurs.
Alma
Derricks
Advisory Council
Alma Derricks is an accomplished marketing executive and brand strategist with over 20 years of experience empowering both emerging and established businesses to capitalize on shifts in technology, competition, and consumer preferences.
Known for her shrewd cultural insights and engaging bedside manner, she is the Founder and Managing Partner of REV, a brand management company that empowers accomplished creators, artists, and organizations to craft a distinctive brand story and transform expertise into authoritative and profitable new business ventures.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University and is a past president of the Stanford National Black Alumni Association (SNBAA) board.
She also holds an MBA from Georgetown University where she was both an NBC Fellow and Dean’s Scholar.
Katja Maroni
Gianella
Chair Marketing Advisory Council
Katja Maroni Giannella is a global citizen with 20 years’ experience in business leadership and transformative marketing for major international and regional brands such as Bose, Nike, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nokia, Vodafone, Carlsberg and Arla. She has worked all over the world including the UK, Netherlands and US. As a result of her broad cultural experience she has a well-rounded and global perspective and a natural instinct to help brands succeed on a global scale.
Katja brings an analytical mind and a passion for creating environments that foster outstanding creative communications, evidenced by a long list of creative awards she has received from every major advertising award show. She pioneers new approaches to marketing communication and developing effective creative communications aimed at rapid market-share growth. She currently leads communication for the Apple Mac Portfolio globally.
Kerri
Hall
Chair Tech Advisory Council
Kerri Fermino Hall is a highly experienced senior technology sales executive with 25+ years in high tech.
She currently works for Siemens Digital Industry Software and is responsible for sales of electronic design automation technology to the US Government Department of Defense, US Research Labs, and analytical device companies.
Liz
Heller
Advisory Council | Studio
Entrepreneur and early-stage investor Liz Heller activates profound game-changing ideas for companies that matter.
As Managing Partner at memBrain, she is an early-stage investor and advisor unearthing good ideas.
Before joining memBrain, Liz enjoyed a meaningful and trailblazing career spanning the worlds of media, music, consumer products, and film.
At Capital Records, she served as Executive Vice President. She founded the first New Media designed and developed strategic alliances between the label and Microsoft, Apple, and other tech giants.
At Island Visual Artists, one of the early visual media labels, Liz produced The Basketball Diaries starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and MarkWahlberg and an 11 part series on the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Denise
Lambertson
Advisory Council
Long before she was hailed by Forbes as the founder “changing the influencer marketing platform between celebrities and start-ups”, Denise Lambertson was leading the industry in brand partnerships and celebrity integrations, and turning the traditional endorsement model on its head.
In 2009, Denise founded LMS, and after serving the consumer goods start-up community for 10 years, Denise launched Constellation Capital, a venture fund that combines unique deal access, high profile limited partners, and marketing expertise to capitalize on early-stage, high growth consumer goods investments.
Kim
Manna
Advisory Council | Marketing
Kim Manna has over 20 years of experience in consumer products, brand management, development, licensing, retail, e-commerce, and marketing. She has held leading roles as CEO, President, and SVP for lifestyle and entertainment brand consumer products.
Kim served as the CEO of Panama Jack for over 15 years. Prior to her tenure at Panama Jack, Kim held the role of SVP and similar roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Saban Entertainment, and Warner Bros.
Kim earned her B.B.A., Finance, and Marketing, from the University of Miami Herbert School of Business.
She completed the Executive Program for Consumer Marketing Strategies at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business and Columbia Business School Executive Education in Digital Marketing.
Allison
McGuire
Advisory Council
Allison McGuire is the CEO and creator of the McGuire Method. She’s worked as a storytelling professional—from actor to politico to entrepreneur—for over two decades.
As an entrepreneur, Allison founded and created tech startups, raised over $1MM, and attracted a team from companies like Waze, Uber, and Snapchat.
With these learnings, she created the McGuire Method, a storytelling framework that combines acting techniques with business applications to give innovators—from startup founders to C-Suite executives—the skills to present as the best version of themselves.
Prior to entrepreneurship, Allison managed communications at Network for Good. Additionally, she worked on national security and human rights issues for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs and the U.K. Parliament.
Jasmine
Ober
Advisory Council
Jasmine Forouton is the Founder & CEO of Pitch Genius and has specialized in preparing early-stage startups for fundraising for the past six years.
Jasmine has a degree in Entrepreneurship and has lead workshops at Google Launchpad, SAP.io, SA&M Precellerator, Quake Capital, StartupBoost, LAVA, LACI, Grid110, DivInc., StartOut, USC, LMU, Pepperdine, and Chapman University.
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Marissa
Waldman
Advisory Council
Marissa is a respected industry executive with over twenty years of experience managing and leading high-performing teams and organizations.
She is a business builder and strategic leader who intuitively understands her clients' and stakeholders' needs.
Marissa's previous professional experience includes a high-value role as President of Brainard Strategy, leading the learning strategy for all sales organizations at Option One Mortgage and over 13 years at Right Management Consultants as a Vice President of Regional Sales, a Client Services and a Career Management Consultant.
Circle Council
team
Roland
Deiser
Circle Council
Roland Deiser is an international speaker, author and Drucker Senior Fellow and leads the Center for the Future of Organization (CFFO) at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, an independent Think Tank dedicated to exploring the future capabilities needed for our disruptive, digitally connected world. His latest research investigates the organizational capability requirements for shaping and leveraging business ecosystems. (www.futureorg.org).
He is also the author of four books and more than 40 articles in scientific and professional journals and serves as the co-publisher of Developing Leaders Quarterly.
developingleadersquarterly.com.
Vanessa
Liu
Circle Council
Vanessa Liu is the Vice President of SAP.iO, the early-stage venture arm of SAP which invests in and accelerates startups in enterprise technology.
She oversees SAP.iO’s North American Foundries which helps startups integrate with SAP solutions, collaborate with SAP customers, and become part of SAP’s ecosystem of partners delivering the intelligent enterprise.
Before SAP, Vanessa was the Chief Operating Officer at Trigger Media Group, a digital media incubator.
In her role, she co-founded, incubated and oversaw business operations and strategic initiatives of Trigger’s portfolio companies: InsideHook and Fevo.
Anne
Thomopoulos
Circle Council
Anne Thomopoulos is the former Senior Vice President of HBO credited with the creation of their dramatic series department. She launched the department with OZ, HBO’s ground_-breaking one-hour drama series. Subsequently, she established the acclaimed miniseries division developing and overseeing "From the Earth to the Moon." The 12-part miniseries won numerous awards, including three Emmy® Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Her subsequent miniseries include "Band of Brothers," which won six Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries, and a Golden Globe® Award for Best Miniseries; and "The Corner," which won four Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries, and a Peabody Award.
Thomopoulos also developed and Executive Produced HBO/BBC historical dramatic series ROME, the 7-part HBO miniseries “Generation Kill” and served as Executive Producer on CAMELOT for Starz where she had a first look producing deal.
Anne Thomopoulos, a dual national of The United States and France, is currently based in London.
Jim
Jordan
Circle Council
Jim is an active board member and angel investor. He has extensive operational and financial experience in software, professional services, manufacturing, M&A and IPOs.
Serving as executive to more than 20 companies over the past 15 years, Jim has successfully raised more than $600m in debt and equity and completed more than 30 acquisitions.
With extensive international experience in Asia, Australia And LATAM, Jim has held senior executive positions including Airwide Solutions,Venture Advisors (founder), Glasshouse Technologies, EnerNoc, Verillon, BIT9, Savantis, CXO Systems, Ntru Cryptosystems, ArsDigita and Cambridge TechnologyPartners.
Eric P.
Rose
Circle Council
Eric P. Rose, NPDP, MBA is the president of Pinnacle Product Innovation, Inc. He is a product innovation and management consultant who provides entrepreneurs and established companies the expertise to move new products from opportunity to market reality.
Eric has more than 35 years of experience in product innovation, product development, manufacturing, commercialization, and project management.
He has worked in the consumer, medical, and industrial product industries with companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 firms.
Eric has taught product innovation, entrepreneurship, and marketing at Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Rice University and is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Cal State Northridge.
Bruce
Waxman
Circle Council
Bruce Waxman has served as the Managing Director of The Waxman Group since launching the firm in 2003. The Waxman Group is a retained search firm founded on the principles of providing clients with the resources and reach of a large firm, but the personal touch and partnership achieved in boutique firms. While Bruce is recognized in Los Angeles for his expertise in the Entertainment / Media and Technology fields, he has developed a diverse list of clients in all industries including Consumer Products, Clean Tech, AdTech, MarTech, FinTech, Data Analytics, Non-Profit, Retail, and Financial & Professional Services.
Prior to starting his own firm, Bruce was a Partner for 10 years in the Los Angeles office of Ryan Miller and Associates, a large boutique retained search firm.
He was responsible for developing their Entertainment / Media practice and built the retained search practice which ranked consistently as one of the top ten search firms in Los Angeles.
Craig
Kornblau
Circle Council
Craig Kornblau built his media career at NBC Universal and Disney, where he spearheaded projects around transformative technology and delivery. Craig is now principal of a strategic consulting firm, working closely with venture capital/private equity firms and entrepreneurs. He advises companies on everything from entertainment trends, storytelling and brand building, to business development, operational logistics and the convergence of physical and digital businesses.
Craig was president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment for 15 years, where he oversaw sales, marketing, distribution, and finance for Universal’s North American home entertainment operations.
Currently, he is GV's (formerly known as Google Ventures) first advisor from the media and entertainment sector, and he serves on the board of directors of a variety of companies in the media and tech space.
Neeta
Shah
Circle Council
Neeta is passionate about all things start up and as a result, partners with CEOs and founders to optimize cash flow, accelerate growth and be ready for exit. She strongly believes in promoting women in tech and business, and as such works extensively with women-founded businesses.
Neeta has 20 years of global experience in finance, FP&A and operations, whilst leading teams, rolling up her sleeves and delivering high impact results. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Assurance and Advisory services in London and Sydney.
She subsequently joined BlackRock in London and later New York, where she worked on Finance initiatives for the Technology business. She also worked with Citigroup's Global Consumer Bank Finance, based in New York and focused on digitization and automation.
Neeta has a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, is a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is a CFA charterholder.
Stefan
Whitwell
Circle Council
Stefan Whitwell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Whitwell & Co.
He is a sought-after adviser and business funding expert serving difference-makers and business owners. He helps clients implement strategies to support their life goals through tax planning, investing, business exit planning, asset protection, wealth transfer planning, and impact philanthropy. Whitwell started his career working alongside some of the most globally respected bankers at James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Whitwell graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He has passed the Series 3, 7, 30, 34, 63 and 66 securities exams and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement, both from the CFA Institute where he serves on the global Educational Advisory Committee.
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