Gratitude Through Hard Times

Craig Elbert is Co-Founder and CEO of Care/of. Since launch, the company has made it easier and more gratifying for hundreds of thousands of customers to build healthy habits. Prior to Care/of, Craig led marketing at the men’s apparel brand Bonobos. He has an MBA from Wharton and a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College. Currently, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Lauren, and kids, Whit and Bix.Check out what Craig is up to at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-elbert-6978346/

Judy Zhu is a global operating tech executive and a long-time advocate for diversity in senior leadership. She is the Founder/CEO of a soon-to-launch venture-backed company called MoneyGirls – a simple direct-to-girl platform for young women to develop financial skills and build wealth, so they become confidently independent.Judy has spent the last decade years building and leading various technology companies, with multi-disciplinary experience across consumer and enterprise companies. Most recently, she has served as the Chief Operating Officer of The Leadership Consortium, a company co-founded by Professor Frances Frei of Harvard Business School. Previously at Uber Technologies, she led US Business Development in financial services and other strategies initiatives, building multi-years and multi-hundred million-dollar partnerships with firms such as Visa, American Express and Barclays. Judy also led international expansion at the Alibaba-backed company ShopRunner, where her mandate was to bring retailers like Neiman Marcus to Chinese consumers, via her partnerships with Alibaba and TMall. Judy previously was an early employee at Diapers.com and served in a range of leadership roles launching new business categories, both pre and post the company’s half a billion-dollar acquisition by Amazon.Judy’s set of expertise spans geographies. She graduated from the University of Victoria(Canada) with international studies via the University of International Business and Economics(Beijing), and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Her early experiences include foreign diplomatic service at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, sales leadership at L’Oreal Canada.She has spoken about the intersection of leadership and gender across industries. She can share her insights into embracing diversity and inclusion as a lever to improve individual and organizational performance. Her perspective is grounded in advising senior executives through The Leadership Consortium as well as direct experiences as a female executive at Uber as it navigated its very public crisis in leadership and culture.Check out what Judy is up to at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judyzlinkedin

Ms. Lisa Rosenthal is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Mayvin, a dynamic women-owned small business. In less than 4 years, her team doubled the firm’s revenues annually making the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing firms 3 years in a row. She is a seasoned leader and business developer with significant government and commercial experience managing a broad spectrum of tasks, functions, processes, and systems from concept to implementation. Ms. Rosenthal is recognized for strong leadership skills, facilitating organizational change, well as developing strategies for significant business decisions. She is a proven leader that achieves high levels of productivity and efficiency in very diverse and fluid environments. Lisa proudly served on the American University (AU) Alumni Board of Directors and the American Health Education Center Network Board of Directors. She further supports the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association Small Business and Education Subcommittee, the National Board of Directors for Women in Defense HORIZONS Scholarship, STEM, and Academia Director, the AU Entrepreneurship Council, and sits on the Quality Systems Management, Inc. Advisory Board. She also proudly serves as a judge for the Kogod Case Competition and the George Washington Business Plan Competition. She has a Master’s of Business Administration, International Finance as well as Management of Global Information Technology from The American University. She also has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Environmental Policy from The American University. Check out what Lisa's up to at: http://mayvin.com/

Tom Gerace is the Founder and CEO of Skyword, the leading content marketing platform and services provider. Prior to founding Skyword, Tom launched Gather.com, a demand-driven news and entertainment property reaching more than 6M people each month. Gerace also founded and served as President of Be Free, a publicly traded online marketing services company. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, and served as a senior business analyst at the Harvard Business School.Check out what Tom is up to at: https://www.skyword.com/

JD Busch serves as CEO of Busch Global LLC. He works closely with the leadership teams of our franchisor clients. He represents Busch Global with clients throughout the U.S. JD is focused on delivering excellence, and the highest level of improved performance and profitability for franchisor organizations.Check out what JD is up to at: http://buschglobal.com/

Rees Vinsen is the CEO/Founder of Adduco, a customer data platform and COO of SportsCafe, a sports media network. He also consults to select brands across NZ and USA.From 2012-17 Rees ran Adduco Media, a social agency that delivered entertainment, news and sponsored campaigns to Generation Z audiences. Rees founded the company when he was fifteen, growing and leading his 12-person team to partner with more than 130 brands and Fortune 500's across NZ, Asia and USA.He also served a Partner in First Cut, a venture investment fund based in Auckland that invested in high-impact kiwi startups such as Sharesies, Halter and Spalk.Rees is passionate about building winning teams, products that delight and all things social. He currently works between New Zealand and San Jose, California. Check out what Rees is up to at: https://www.reesvinsen.com/

Jessica Brondo Davidoff is the CEO of STATE Bags, a one-for-one, Brooklyn-born brand whose mission goes beyond selling cool and classic bags. She is also the Founder and CEO of New York City-based Admittedly, an education technology startup that provides free online tools to help students find their ideal colleges, perfect their applications and understand their chances in the process. In 2005, she founded the Edge in College Prep, a test prep, and admissions counseling company.Check out what Jessica is up to at: https://www.statebags.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessbrondo

Bess Chapman is the Operating Principal at JetBlue Technology Ventures, based in New York. She works with portfolio companies to create compelling value propositions for JetBlue, source new technology and identify emerging trends. Prior to joining JTV, Bess worked in Product Development at JetBlue Airways, where she led the content, partnerships and entertainment technology team. In this role, she drove the product and monetization strategy for JetBlue’s high-speed Wi-Fi and seat-back technologies onboard. Before joining JetBlue, Bess worked at several media organizations, for IBM’s business analytics consulting division and for a boutique media and entertainment consulting firm. Bess received her BA from Georgetown University.Check out what Bess is up to at: https://www.jetblueventures.com/people/team/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-bess-chapman-50487120/

As the CEO of Cognizant Softvision, Andres is responsible for both the day-to-day operations and the strategic vision of the firm. He most recently served as CEO of Softvision, prior to its acquisition by Cognizant in November, 2018.Prior to Softvision, he served as the Chief Solutions Officer at Globant, responsible for the design and development of digital solutions while leading strategic customer engagements globally. His areas of expertise include product development, agile transformation, and gaming. Before becoming Chief Solutions Officer, Andres founded and served as the EVP and GM of Globant’s gaming studio, leading business on the West Coast, as well as VP of Engineering and Director of Global Presales Consulting from the U.K. Andres has spoken at many leadership, strategy, and tech conferences and co-authored the book The Never-Ending Digital Journey: Creating New Consumer Experiences Through Technology. His most recent book, Transforming While Performing: How To Create A Culture Of Innovation With Partners, will be published in September, 2019.Originally from Argentina, he speaks English, Spanish and Italian. Andres holds a Bachelors of Science in Business from University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires, and enjoys cross-fit training, skiing with his four kids, running and playing classical piano.Check out what Andres is up to at:https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresangelani/https://www.cognizantsoftvision.com/news-posts/c-suite-career-advice-andres-angelani-softvision/

Since 2013, Matt Fiedler has been co-founder and CEO of Vinyl Me, Please, an e-commerce site that, for $29 a month, sends curated records to subscribers, from the vintage The Voice Of Frank Sinatra to the obscure (Watch Out! by 1970s Zimbabwean band Wells Fargo).Vinyl Me, Please sells $10.4 million worth of records a year and has found itself with a 1,400% 3-year growth rate, landing them at #342 on the Inc. 500’s fastest growing companies in the country.Just in time for Father’s day, enjoy a wonderful conversation as Matt gives credit and thanks to the man who inspired his love of music.

Ron Carson is Founder and CEO of Carson Group, which serves financial advisors and investors through its businesses including Carson Wealth, Carson Coaching, and Carson Partners. Founded in 1983, Carson Wealth has grown to become one of the largest wealth management firms in the country offering portfolio management and wealth planning services to high net-worth clients. Established in 1993, Carson Coaching has grown to become one of the leading advisor coaching programs in the country empowering advisors to overcome key business challenges through personalized coaching, proven strategies, marketing services, and a passionate community of thousands of advisors. Carson Partners empowers advisors to improve client service, efficiently run their practice, grow their business, and build a legacy through a turnkey integrated partnership. All three organizations are headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska but serve a broad base of advisors and investors across the U.S. and Canada.Ron first began honing his core principles while working from his dorm room at the University of Nebraska in 1983: a tenacious focus on serving clients’ best interests; a relentless pursuit of excellence across every activity; and a burning desire to learn, grow intellectually, and innovate. These driving principles enabled Carson Group to grow to over $15 billion in assets under advisement, which includes assets under management,* and have led Ron to receive many accolades. He is continually ranked among the top advisors by Barron’s magazine and was one of only two independent advisors inducted into Barron’s inaugural Hall of Fame.* Ron has been named to the Forbes list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors for several years*, included in Investopedia’s list of the Top 100 Financial Advisors (#4), recognized as an InvestmentNews Innovator, and acknowledged as an Inc. 5000 CEO of Carson Group, a two-time participant in the annual list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies. He also appears regularly on broadcast media for FOXBusiness and Bloomberg as a leading expert advisor and commentator. Find more about Ron at: https://www.carsonwealth.com/team-members/ron-carson/

Kimberly Snyder is the founder of Solluna and the #FeelGoodMovement, and the multi-time New York Times bestselling author of The Beauty Detox book series and Radical Beauty, co-written with Deepak Chopra. She is also a nutritionist, renowned speaker, meditation teacher, certified yoga instructor, and holistic wellness expert.An in-demand worldwide speaker, Kimberly also hosts the top-rated Feel Good with Kimberly Snyder podcast which airs on the Podcast One network. The Solluna by Kimberly Snyder organic juice and smoothie bar is located at the iconic Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.A certified nutritionist, Kimberly has worked with the entertainment industries’ top celebrities, including Drew Barrymore, Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon, and Channing Tatum, among many others. A highly sought-after lifestyle and wellness expert, Kimberly has been featured in media outlets including Ellen, The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, The New York Times, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Elle, and InStyle. She is a member of the Wellness Council for Well + Good and was named one of the top “results-oriented nutritionists” by Vogue.Check out what Kimberly is up to at: https://shop.mysolluna.com/

Jeffrey Perlman is the President & Founder of Bright Power. An experienced energy auditor, energy analyst, and solar-energy-system designer, Jeff is as happy in a boiler room or on a rooftop as he is in a corporate boardroom. He has built Bright Power from a single rented desk in a shared office to the substantial enterprise that it is today. Jeff was named to Crain's New York 40 Under 40 Class of 2018.Check out what Jeffrey is up to at: https://www.brightpower.com/

Mr. Delaney has built a career as a business and community leader for the last decade by his belief in bringing his "blue-collar work ethic" to his daily duties leading various corporate entities and community organizations. Delaney believes in "servant leadership" which means that he does not expect more of any person on his team than he would expect of himself. He believes in working in and among the departments at Good Life and working side by side with the rest of his leadership team. His transparent nature, positive attitude and creative leadership has led to great success in each of the various Good Life Companies."I was taught at an early age that the best business relationships happen when both sides win. This win/win philosophy incorporated with surrounding myself with intelligent 'advisers' to me has been the main ingredient to launching community-impacting businesses in more than 25 states around the country."Mr. Delaney married his college sweetheart, Liz, in 2008. They have three children, Blake Seraphina, Rhys Brian and Elena Rae.Check out what Conor is up to at: https://goodlifeco.com/

Dom is CEO of Dom & Tom, a digital product agency in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles with his co-founder and twin brother Tom. With over 18 years of digital product experience, Dom has consulted with enterprise companies including Hearst Communications, Turner Broadcasting, Priceline.com, Coca-Cola, The Children's Place, and Bloomberg L.P. He speaks on emerging technologies such as Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Voice and more. He guides the agency's standards in digital product methodologies and services with the company's core values, "Do Good. Be Good."He received the 2017 Owler Top-Rated CEO award and holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Loyola University Chicago. He enjoys mentoring developers on Blockchain systems, presenting Lunch & Learns on emerging technologies, and jumping in the ocean with his son Maddox in Asbury Park.Check out what Dominic is up to at: https://domandtom.com/

Alex Schwarzkopf is the CEO and co-founder of Pillar Technologies. Pillar was recently part of the first Techstars IoT program, won the Forbes Change the World competition and was named best Insurtech startup at Plug and Play. Prior to launching his startup, Alex worked at Tesla Motors in Silicon Valley, and he spent time designing scalable wireless technologies for sub-Saharan Africa.During this interview, Mr. Schwarzkopf discusses the impact his parents had on him and what it means to "be in the fire." Through tragedy and perseverance, he has developed patience and fortitude and credits much of his success to his mother's guidance. Check out what Alex is up to at: https://pillar.tech/

During this interview, Mr. Harmeyer speaks upon the influence his dad had on him. He credits his parents capacity for love and caring to his success today. Before co-founding TiER1 in 2002, Greg spent several years managing large global information technology initiatives for Accenture in the US and in Europe. After Accenture, he was an early leader in a startup consultancy called AFKelly. As a co-founder of TiER1, Greg carried over everything he had learned from both firms about consulting, entrepreneurship, people, and culture in helping create the foundation of TiER1.In addition to his consulting experience, Greg received an MBA with distinction in finance and strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in management information systems and economics from the University of Dayton. He is a member of the Board of Directors for both the American Red Cross (Cincinnati Area chapter) and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and has served in similar roles for the Northern Kentucky University College of Informatics, Elder High School, and Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School.Check out what Greg is up to at: https://tier1performance.com/

During this interview, Mr. Hyatt discusses the impact his children have made on his life. With so much already accomplished, Mr. Hyatt stresses the importance of keeping an open mind and continuing to learn no matter how high up you are. He credits his children for continuing to teach him new skills and life lessons every day. Dick Hyatt is the President and CEO of Decisiv. He has more than 25 years of experience building, managing and growing early stage technology companies, including SAGE Systems, Automation Partners, Hayes-Ligon (sold to ADP Dealer Services), and Amteva Technology (sold to Cisco Systems). Prior to his tenure at Decisiv, Mr. Hyatt was a Director of Marketing in Cisco’s Unified Communications business. Mr. Hyatt is responsible for all aspects of building a world-class team of industry and technology experts, and delivering high-quality, profit-improving products and services leading to long-term customer satisfaction.Check out what Dick is up to at: https://www.decisiv.com/

Babak Hedayati is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tapclicks.During this interview, Mr. Hedayati goes in depth on how poetry influenced his leadership and parenting style. He specifically recites "On Children" a poem from Kahlil Gibran and compares it to his own life and children. Mr. Hedayati acknowledges the success he has endured but, explains how he wants his children to be even better. He is the CEO of one of the fastest growing marketing companies in the world but is also just a regular father who wants the best for his children. He has over 20 years high-tech experience in semiconductor, internet, media platforms, video solutions, social networking and software. Before TapClicks, he served as the CEO of DemosOnDemand. Prior to that he was SVP of worldwide marketing, applications and business development at Cypress Semiconductor, was an executive at Xilinx and served in various business and technical positions at Altera, 3DO, Zycad, and National.Babak has helped grow businesses from $200M to more than $2B.He is a graduate of Harvard Business School, and holds a BSEE from San Jose State University.Check out what Babak is up to at: https://www.tapclicks.com/ Check out the Kahlil Gibran Poem "On Children" at: http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html

Zvi Band founded Contactually back in 2011. An engineer and a CEO, he has taken Contactually from idea to a fast-moving startup that now powers over 208million relationships. The company has over 60 employees, millions in revenue, 12M+ in venture backing, numerous awards, and thousands of customers. As of Monday, February 25, 2019, Contactually entered into an agreement to be acquired by Compass. Beyond Contactually, Zvi has served as a proponent of entrepreneurship in the DC region, founding DC Tech Meetup and ProudlyMadeInDC and serving as a mentor and advisor to numerous early-stage startups. Prior to launching Contactually, Zvi was the CTO of Workstreamer, acquired in 2009, and founded skeevisArts, a web development and design agency. Recently named to the 2019 Swanapoel Power 200, Zvi is three times named a Washingtonian Tech Titan and member of MindShare, the DC community’s exclusive forum for CEOs of emerging tech companies. Zvi is an active public speaker, participating in thought leadership panels at TechCocktail, WordPressDC, DC PHP, and DC RUG events, to name a few. He has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and Washington City Paper. His first book, Success is in Your Sphere was released on May 21, 2019. He received his B.S. in Computer Sciences and Economics from the University of Maryland, and lives in DC with his wife and daughter.Check out what Zvi is up to at: https://www.contactually.com/Check out and buy his book at: http://www.successisinyoursphere.com/

Ben Wright is Founder and CEO of Velocity Global, the leading provider of global business expansion solutions. The company is the first in the industry to provide end-to-end services that help companies expand globally using just one partner. Today, Velocity Global has over 120 employees with 10 international offices and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. In 2018, Wright was named Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mountain Desert Region by EY and his company ranked number 4 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.Check out what Ben is up to at: https://velocityglobal.com/

As CEO and President of SADA Systems, Tony Safoian firmly believes that technology can empower people to transform their world. To this end, he places innovation at the core of the business model, coupled with exceptional customer support and managed services. Under Safoian’s guidance, SADA has differentiated itself by proactively addressing a rapidly evolving market across Enterprise, SMB, Government and Education sectors, while anticipating the needs of its customers—often even before they do. Safoian has transformed SADA into one of the world’s top business and technology consultancy and cloud services brokerage firms. As a Google Cloud launch partner and an award-winning Google Cloud Premier Partner, SADA enhanced its suite of product offerings, solutions and services providing consultative, cloud migration, deployment, change management and cloud managed services. Safoian’s continuous drive for innovation and growth has led SADA to develop cutting-edge applications and award-winning solutions for global brands. Named a Finalist for Ernst and Young 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year award, Safoian has established himself as a visionary entrepreneur addressing the needs of the business, partners and customers.Check out what Tony is up to at: https://sadasystems.com/Here is the link to his Professor: https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=2806

Nis Frome is the co-founder of Alpha, the product management platform that powers thousands of experiments for the world’s leading brands. He is the editor of Product Management Insider and the co-producer of This is Product Management, a podcast with 1M+ downloads. His articles have been published in Forbes, The Next Web, and UX Magazine.In this conversation, we take a look back to his high school job in a pizza shop. While the position was under appreciated by many, the lessons learned in this pivotal time have affected his leadership style to this day.Check out what is Nis is up to at: nisfro.me and alphahq.com

Henry Schuck is the CEO and Co-Founder of DiscoverOrg and CEO of ZoomInfo. Under Henry’s leadership, DiscoverOrg has delivered unprecedented growth and innovation – landing on the Inc. 5000 list over the past 8 years and earning multiple awards as the top sales and marketing intelligence tool in the industry. Leading a talented team, he is focused on constantly enhancing DiscoverOrg’s proven ability to accelerate pipeline and revenue growth for its customers.Henry is a cum laude graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he was selected in 2013 as the Honors College Alumni of the Year. He also holds a juris doctorate degree cum laude from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and has studied comparative law at Oxford University.Check out what Henry is up to at: https://discoverorg.com/ and https://www.zoominfo.com/

Pat Swisher founded Swisher Hygiene in 1983. In 1994, he went on to become Forbes Up and Coming Entrepreneur, as well as becoming a top Semi-Finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and given The Distinguished Alumni Award Appalachian State. In 1995 he was awarded Top Entrepreneur by Success Magazine. As the CEO of Swisher Hygiene, he was voted as one of the Top 100 Franchises in the world by Entrepreneur Magazine for 5 consecutive years. He is now the CEO and founder of Enviro-Master Services, which has acquired ownership of Swisher Hygiene. He graduated with a BS from Appalachian State.Check Enviro-Master out at: https://www.enviro-master.info/

Ronn Torossian is the founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations, one of the 10 largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States. With over 20 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America’s most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals.Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has overseen the company’s dynamic growth, expanding the company to more than 175 professionals in the company’s headquarters in the iconic Helmsley Building in Manhattan. With clients spanning the corporate, technology, and consumer sectors, in addition to a robust crisis, digital marketing and public affairs offerings, 5WPR is regularly recognized as an industry leader and has been named “PR Agency of the Year” by the American Business Awards on multiple occasions.Throughout his career, Torossian has worked with some of the world’s most visible companies, brands and organizations. His roster of client experience includes work forL’Oréal, Unilever, Walgreens, SAP NS2, Sparkling Ice, KRUPS, Zeta Global, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Wendy Williams, and others. He also has represented top global brands including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Microsoft.His strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie’s American Business Awards 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year, the ABA PR Executive of the Year and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist. Torossian is known as one of the country’s foremost experts on crisis communications, and is called on to counsel blue chip companies, top business executives and entrepreneurs both in the United States and worldwide.Torossian has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, has appeared on CNN & CNBC, was named to PR Week’s “40 under Forty” list, is a contributing columnist for Forbes and the New York Observer, and his book, “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations” is an industry best-seller.A NYC native, Torossian lives in Manhattan with his children. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and active in numerous charities.

Steven has a BS in Computer Science from Fordham University and a JD from the Pace University School of Law. As the Chief Operating Officer, he is the driving force behind day to day operations, strategic implementation, and execution at The Credit Pros. Also acting as an EOS Integrator, he ensures that solutions are reached for the tough issues through productive meetings, impactful off-sites, consistent vision, clear processes, and a healthy team. He holds Leadership accountable, and provides a steadying force for TCP staff in light of a fast-moving, complex, and interconnected business. Steven ensures clarity by over-communicating the strategic plan, mission, core values, and BHAG. He loves discussing the topic of leadership, is always interested in learning more, and believes, as Peter Drucker did, that “culture eats strategy for breakfast." To Steven, professional success can only really be measured by the development of a team and their ability to successfully overcome progressively greater challenges. He has been married for 10 years to the love of his life, Shirin, and has two phenomenal kids. The Credit Pros isn’t only one of the nation’s best credit repair companies… it is also one of the best companies to work for. TCP has amassed awards for company culture, being a best place to work, and also for the rapid growth necessary to be on the Inc. 5,000 five years in a row.

As a 25-year veteran of the payments industry, Ralph, CEO and board member of BlueSnap, has led BlueSnap to be a payments leader in Global eCommerce. Ralph has spent his career creating products for retailers, processors and financial institutions, while growing both public and private companies.BlueSnap is a global payments company that looks at eCommerce a little differently. They are payment experts, veteran developers, technologists, and business professionals who are globally minded, customer focused, and constantly driven to find a better way.Check them out at: home.bluesnap.com

Working with Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, Acer, Amazon, Cisco, McKinsey, HTC, Google, AT&T, Sony, and Symantec, Selina has served as the digital partner for several of the most illustrious brands in the world.In 2009, after 15+ years in the industry working both the client and agency side, Selina founded Rational Interaction, a full-service integrated digital agency with a strategic mindset at its core. In founding Rational, Selina actualized a dream she had since childhood: to own and build an award-winning agency. Rational was built on two guiding principles: helping its clients’ businesses grow and doing so with strategic insight and creative excellence.As founding principal and chief creative officer, Selina has helped transform Rational into one of the fastest-growing, most successful integrated marketing services companies in the Pacific Northwest. Since launching in 2009, Rational has grown from a two-person startup into a multi-discipline integrated agency with over 100 team members. The company has achieved unwavering year-over-year growth, including 10X top-line growth and a 9X increase in employees.Today, Rational is the recipient of numerous awards, recently selected as one of Inc.’s Fastest-Growing Companies, The Puget Sound Business Journal’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies and Best Places to Work in Washington, and Seattle Business Magazine’s Best Companies to Work For.When not spending time in the agency, Selina can be found walking her dogs around Queen Anne or eating and drinking at one of the many foodie spots in Seattle.

A glance at his resume and you may think to Movement’s CEO, Casey Crawford, greatness lies in achievements like NFL Super Bowl champion, founder and CEO of a multibillion dollar mortgage company, and becoming a sought-after media guest whose appearances span CNBC’s Squawk Box, Bloomberg and Fox News with print features in The Wall Street Journal and TIME Magazine.There's no doubt the 2015 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is ambitious. But what truly drives him is not a championship ring or reaching the top of the corporate ladder. It’s meeting others’ needs.As a child, Casey watched his father and grandfather use entrepreneurship as outreach. Whether the need was material, employment, friendship or a good example, he saw how business could be used to meet it.Following his football days during a stint in real estate, Casey became alarmed by glaring inadequacies within the lending industry. The greed and corruption among leadership, the lack of value and care toward employees, and the inattentiveness toward community problems seemed like wide open opportunities.Casey’s response? Movement Mortgage, established in 2008 on the Christian values he shares with co-founder Toby Harris. Movement was developed as a hope-filled paradox to a dismal reality, with a mission to be a Movement of Change in our Industry, Corporate Cultures and Communities.Today, the company employs more than 4,500 and has over 650 locations in all 50 states. In 2017, Movement ranked among the top 10 purchase lenders by financing 1 in every 60 home purchases in the country, totaling more than $13 billion in originations. As prosperity increases, so does the overflow into people’s lives. The non-profit Movement Foundation has invested more than $25 million toward community improvement and meeting the needs of the underserved around the globe.Casey continues to spread this vision of greatness from Charlotte, N.C. where he lives with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters.

Jeremy Burton is the Co-Founder, CTO & Chief Data Scientist at Wonolo. He is a 9x serial entrepreneur, previously being on the Founding team of Symbian and Co-Founder of Intuwave, both of which have been sold to Nokia.Wonolo (Work. Now. Locally) is an on-demand staffing platform for businesses to fill their immediate hourly or daily job needs. Wonolo allows companies to manage unpredictability by providing a fast, efficient, flexible way to bring in talent when required.Wonolo is funded by Sequoia, Bain Capital, PivotNorth, Crunchfund, Foundry Group Angels Syndicate and Base10.

"Hello, my name is Erwin van der Vlist. I am a passionate entrepreneur and co-founder of Speakap.Speakap is a digital platform that enables organizations to reach, engage and connect all employees - regardless of their physical location within the business.Our solution is used by more than 350 organizations around the globe - including some of the biggest names in retail and hospitality (Nike, IKEA, G-Star, Kimpton and McDonald’s) - but we still remain proud of and committed to creating a tool that benefits, supports and is enjoyed by its core users on the store floor, in the kitchen, in the ward, on the road, or on the production line.Here is a quick summary of the advantages of using Speakap:✔️ Engaged employees provide better customer experiences, statistically take less sick days, stay with the same employer for longer and are able to solve problems more efficiently.✔️ Communicating via a platform is clear, in contrast to a combination of e-mail, bulletin boards, newsletters, messaging apps and intranet.✔️ Reach non-desk employees with ease (which make up around 80% of the global workforce).✔️ A social communication platform works intuitively, efficiently, is always available and is loved amongst employees.Want to know more? Contact me at [email protected] or +1(516)900-5559Before Speakap my experience grew at Deloitte & Touche. I acquired knowledge about (Finance Strategy) Consulting challenges and working with large international enterprises. By running my own company, I'm learning everyday more and more in a broader way.I'm always open to meet new people with great innovative ideas to build inspiring conversations."

"Jeff Burgess’ career has spanned over 38 years in various segments of the computer industry. He founded Burgess Computer Decisions, Inc., (BCD) in 1999, as an IT reseller, building HP servers for Fortune 500 companies. In early 2008, a chance meeting sparked Burgess to begin transitioning the company to the video surveillance storage market as BCDVideo.Now the industry leader in purpose-build video surveillance recording systems, BCDVideo has over 50,000 systems recording video surveillance in 52 countries, either as their own branded products or privately-labeled for some of the biggest names in the security industry. BCDVideo’s recording devices have been installed worldwide by the industry’s largest security integrators at airports, multi-government embassies, correctional facilities, universities, hospitals, casinos, stadiums, cruise lines, and retail chains. Many of the world’s most recognizable brands rely on BCDVideo recording devices to protect their environment.BCDVideo was on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies in both 2013 and 2017. Additionally, in 2017, Inc. Magazine also named them among the country’s best workplaces, and The Channel Company’s CRN Magazine tabbed them on their Solution Provider 500 list. Burgess is also a member of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’ OEM Customer Advisory Board.The company is forecasting $60 million in 2017 revenues, which represents twenty-five percent annual growth for the past three consecutive years. Burgess has been married for 32 years to Joanne, who he also met on a “chance meeting.” They have three children, two of whom work at the company." - Underdog.NYC

"John Laramie is the Founder and CEO of Project X (fka ADstruc), the fastest growing OOH specialist in the United States. He graduated from Loyola University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Concentration in Marketing. John, a two-time entrepreneur, is an active member of the New York Tech Community and enjoys playing ping pong and tennis. John was also featured in Business Week's Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2011 and Silicon Alley's 2011 and 2010 Top 100 People in NYC Tech.In 2007, John started his own consulting agency, the JFL Group, where he helped develop the brand behind Naked Ping Pong, the group that is now known as SPiN New York (www.spinyc.com), a 13,000-square-foot table tennis social club. Previously, John worked at The Beanstalk Group, the world’s leading brand licensing agency. In his 4 years with the company, he carried out strategic licensing programs that generated over $400 million a year in retail sales on behalf of Ford Motor Company, NBC Universal, Harley-Davidson and Nestle Purina, among others."

"I help commercial operators change the trajectory of their careers.The average tenure of a commercial executive at a growth company has fallen below 18 months, with some estimates pegged at 16 months. That volatility jeopardizes growth, erodes shareholder value, and creates upheaval and risk for the operators building and running high growth businesses. It is a dangerous time to be a commercial operator.Revenue Collective is an exclusive membership for growth operators dedicated to providing support, assistance, education, and career growth to our Members. We come together to ensure CROs, CMOs, COOs, and CCOs perform better in their roles, earn the title and compensation they desire, and achieve their professional goals. We are a global organization with official chapters in New York, London, Denver, Toronto, Boston, and Amsterdam and more chapters coming online in the next few months and years.For the past 15 years, I have helped companies scale from just north of $0 in revenue to just shy of $300M. During that time, I’ve developed deep operational expertise with particular emphasis on go-to-market strategy and execution mainly with SaaS and recurring revenue businesses. I've been a commercial operator at GLG, Livestream/Vimeo, The Muse, and Behavox.We created Revenue Collective based both on my personal experience and the experiences of my friends, partners, and colleagues in the high growth community. Membership is invitation-only and you must be nominated by an existing Member. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to reach out.I also host the Sales Hacker Podcast. My friends and relatives tell me it's pretty good."

Robyn Hatcher shines a light on the power of COMMUNICATION to transform relationships, status and your bottom line. Robyn uses her decades of TV and screenwriting experience to help you craft complicated messages into simplified engaging content. Techniques culled from her extensive acting experience, help you deliver your message with impact and power. Robyn’s training as a certified Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner gives her a unique, combination of creative tools and scientific research to help maximize your influence and sky-rocket your success. You will get tangible, easy to implement mindset and communication formulas to improve engagement, performance and confidence.

Kamine founded KDC Ag to serve as a food and agricultural-focused arm of his family’s investment shop, Kamine Development Corporation. His goal? Create and invest in profitable infrastructure that will reduce food waste in the U.S. KDC Ag’s proprietary technology can convert 160 tons of unwanted fresh food into animal feed and organic fertilizers. Some of the biggest names across investing and agriculture are on board: Howard W. Buffett and former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman are among Kamine’s advisors.

Thomas Sparico is a career entrepreneur, inventor and and executive having built, led and advised several companies across a number of industries.His career has been driven by a passion for innovation and a desire to engineer the success of concepts and companies. He is the Founder of the Brand New Matter companies (Brand New Matter, Inc. and BNM Ventures). Brand New Matter provides strategic advisory and capital to early stage companies.Mr. Sparico began his career at the intellectual property think tank, Walker Digital, where he became a named inventor on over 100 US patents. While at Walker Digital, he was also part of the founding team that built and launched priceline.com. After priceline, he went on to launch several other business with a concentration in travel, lifestyle and technology including Internet Travel Enterprises and Marquee Concierge. He led the acquisition and turn around of Hickory Travel (now Hickory Global Partners). Mr. Sparico led BNM Ventures investments in Leaflink, Bizly, VenueBook, Seatboost, LYNQ, and AirportSherpa and is currently an Advisor to Rocketrip, Beachy, Curacity and Gurkha Cigars.Mr. Sparico is a long standing member of the Board of Directors of Curetivity (formerly the Eric Trump Foundation), currently serving as its President, which raises money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.He resides in New Canaan, CT with his wife and son.

Rob Emrich is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Gimbal Inc.Gimbal Inc. is a marketing technology that unites the physical and digital worlds. The company counts over 10,000 end customers, from global giants like Ford, Citibank, Walgreens to small neighborhood businesses. Gimbal has received over $90 million in investment from institutions like Qualcomm, AEG, Zebra Technologies, and SK Group. The company was recognized for its remarkable growth #66 on the Inc 500 and #34 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.Before Gimbal, Rob started five other ventures and has a lifetime record of 4 wins and 1 loss. Rob has been featured in the The New York Times Bestselling book The Lean Entrepreneur & 21 Questions for 21 Millionaires. He has been recognized by the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and ‘Forty under 40′ (at age 25). He is an active member in the Young Presidents’ Organization and a member of the Digital Advisory Committee at The Alliance for Audited Media.Rob has done more community service than courts demand of white collar criminals. In addition to serving on corporate boards, Rob has sat on nonprofit and community boards of various Jewish organizations, The Tobacco Public Policy Center, The Alliance for Nonprofit Insurers, the PBS Documentary on Pediatric Cancer A Lion in the House, and continues his philanthropic work with his family through The Emrich Foundation, a donor advised fund at The American Endowment Foundation.Rob received a scholarship to attend The Ohio State University Honors Program, and graduated with Research Distinction. He loves adventure travel and backcountry camping and has walked over 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to New York.

Dan’s passion for closing deals and building businesses has led to growing teams on three continents, #61 on the INC500 as VP Sales at Brafton, and taken several companies from zero to multi-million dollar revenue. Dan currently leads Mindracer’s sales consulting practice, providing the go-to-market strategy for SaaS, Consulting and Agency businesses. Clients include SPARK Neuro, Bodhala, New Haircut, and Salience. Mindracer has helped clients win business with enterprise brands such as State Farm, Blackrock, Mastercard and more.

Peter Hurley is the premier headshot photographer in New York City. He teaches his technique at his Headshot Intensive Workshops and online at Headshot Crew—his educational website dedicated to cultivating the largest network of portrait photographers in the world.He is the author of the book The Headshot: Secrets to creating Amazing Headshot Portraits and has released several critically acclaimed tutorials with Fstoppers, Creative Live, and Kelby One.

Radek started as an analyst, became a sales person and then worked for 8 years as a portfolio manager. Radek has unique first-hand knowledge of how things work in the industry. Radek’s direct experience with the pain of Corporate Access both on the sell side and buy side as well as a desire to fix a problem that affected him directly for so many years is what spurred the idea behind WeConvene.

WorkGenius is a digital workforce solution connecting companies with freelancers. Founded in 2012 by Marlon Litz-Rosenzweig and Daniel Barke as "Mylittlejob", the company has expanded internationally. With offices in Hamburg, Germany, and New York City, WorkGenius works with over 300,000 freelancers and more than 5,000 companies worldwide.In November 2018, WorkGenius officially announced its Series A funding of 8.5 million Euros. WorkGenius plans to use this funding to continue its rapid expansion into the US market. According to Litz-Rosenzweig, "We are proud to announce that our existing investors continue to back this company and its management. We have ambitious plans for our expansion in the US, and we see tremendous momentum in the freelance space with Upwork’s IPO, record low unemployment and changed work preferences of younger generations." With over 60 full time employees worldwide, some of WorkGenius' services include graphic design, content creation, and translation. Some of WorkGenius' customers include eBay, LinkedIn, and Amazon.

Stephen is a Partner of Cornell Capital. He has over 25 years of private investing experience across a broad array of sectors. Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Stephen worked as a Portfolio Manager at Avenue Capital, focused on public and private equity investing. Previously, he served as a member of the Management Committee and Global Co-Head of Morgan Stanley’s Merchant Banking Division and Private Equity Group. Stephen began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked in the Investment Banking Division’s Energy and Power Group in New York and Corporate Finance Group in Hong Kong before moving to the Merchant Banking Division in Hong Kong and London where he Co-Headed the Industrials investing effort and was a member of the Investment and Operating Committees. Stephen formerly served on the board of various Goldman Sachs portfolio companies, including Berry Plastics, Capmark Financial, Cobalt, Cognis, Deutsche Kabel, Messer Griesheim and Wincor Nixdorf, among others. Stephen is a Director of Knowlton Development Corporation. Stephen was a member of the United States Olympic Fencing Teams in 1984 and 1988. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College and Storm King Art Center.

Hoyt David Morgan, Co-Founder & President of Nito: A successful entrepreneur and business leader with multiple positive exits to his credit. While experience and skills are broad, special focus has been in the Internet and entertainment verticals, and on strategy, finance, marketing and operations skills. Hoyt has a proven track record growing businesses, acquiring customers and increasing revenues/profits. One example: as the first marketing employee and VP Marketing at College Loan Corporation, he lead all customer acquisition efforts for the consumer business. During his tenure the company secured more than 800,000 customers, grew from zero to be the 6th largest student loan company in the country and had the most cost-effective and efficient direct marketing program in the entire industry. Hoyt has been on the leadership teams for two entertainment tech companies with significant exits (in addition to his other experience and exits).

Born and raised in NY, Horwitz studied of economics and finance at Columbia University. Horwitz joined the investment team for Columbia University’s endowment in 2013 and then spent a year at Harvard Law School, where he secured an internship with Bridgewater Associates and met his future business partner, Benjamin Cogan. Together Horwitz and Cogan founded Hubble, a direct-to-consumer, subscription contact lens company, where Horwitz focuses his efforts on fundraising, business development and regulation compliance.

Michael Beber is the President and CEO of Exiger. A seasoned business leader with decades of experience in the C-Suite of leading multinational corporations, Michael co-founded Exiger with Executive Chairman Michael Cherkasky and serves on its Board of Directors.Prior to co-founding Exiger, Michael served as President and CEO of Altegrity Risk International (ARI), a leading compliance due diligence firm and as the Executive Vice President, Strategic and Business Development for ARI’s parent, Altegrity, one of the largest background screening and corporate investigations firms. Michael joined Altegrity from MidOcean Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm, where he focused on evaluating opportunities in the business and professional and business services sector. Before joining MidOcean, Michael was Chief Strategic Development Officer for Marsh & McLennan Companies where he was responsible for developing the long-term corporate strategy, divesting over $5 billion of non-core assets and working with each of the company’s six operating businesses to develop and implement key strategic growth initiatives.From 1998 to 2004, Michael served in a series of executive-level positions of increasing responsibility with Kroll, Inc., including Executive Vice President for strategic development and President of its background screening group which included pre-employment screening, drug-testing and mortgage screening. At Kroll, Michael spearheaded several major acquisitions that significantly diversified Kroll's services and expanded its revenues and profitability principally in technology-enabled information services businesses to the financial and corporate markets. Michael was part of the executive team that led the efforts resulting in the successful sale of Kroll to Marsh & McLennan Companies in May 2004. Prior to 1998, Michael cofounded and was a Managing Director and forensic accountant at Lindquist Avey, a leading forensic and investigative accounting firm, was the Partner in charge of the Litigation Support and Forensic Accounting group at BDO Canada, and served as a Senior Manager at KPMG in Toronto.

Dennis Mortensen is the CEO and co-founder of x.ai.Dennis is an expert in leveraging data to solve enterprise use cases and a serial entrepreneur who’s successfully exited several companies on that theme.His long-term vision of killing the inbox led to the formation of x.ai and the creation of Amy + Andrew, artificially intelligent assistants who schedule meetings. He speaks frequently to anyone who’ll listen, from the crowds of Web Summit to his building’s doorman, about an optimistic future for AI, productivity, and the future of work.Dennis was also an accredited Associate Analytics Instructor at the University of British Columbia and the author of Data Driven Insights, on collecting and analyzing digital data.Originally from Denmark (and keeping his accent), Dennis is now a New Yorker for life.

Mr. Phillip Rosen, also known as Phill, is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Even Financial, Inc. Mr. Rosen served as President and Chief Technology Officer of Even Financial, Inc. Mr. Rosen served as technical Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering at Orchard Platform. He helps as an advisor to early stage tech startups. He has been working in startups in NYC for a decade.

Adam Connors is a sought-after speaker, social architect and super-connector who has transformed lives and accelerated careers. He’s the Founder and CEO of NetWorkWise, a business platform that expedites outcomes for people through training in the art and science of personal and professional networking.Prior to NWW, Adam was Managing Director of Simia Capital, a litigation funding company and wholly owned subsidiary of Asta Funding, Inc. Previously, Adam was Managing Director of GWG MCA Capital, Inc. and Managing Director of Walker Preston, LLC. He’s held numerous roles as an executive search professional and business coach, assisting countless Professionals, technology startup executives, and Fortune 500 company leaders in unlocking higher performance and building inspirational careers.An entrepreneur at heart, Adam has spent almost 20 years starting and building companies across a variety of industries. He established and developed three executive search firms in multiple verticals, as well as, a boutique career consulting business. He’s recognized for having a deep Rolodex and an extraordinary ability to open difficult doors. Adam is skilled in raising capital and building businesses. He’s worked in many industries to include by not limited to, executive search, career coaching, litigation funding, insurance, real estate, merchant cash advance, sports, education, medical marijuana, telecommunications, and financial services.Originally from New York, Adam now resides in Hoboken, New Jersey. He earned his B.A from Quinnipiac College. He owns a small residential real estate company. He was a licensed FINRA Registered Rep and previously held his Real Estate license.