MEET THE ADVISORS
We are a seasoned group of startup founders and business leaders with a combined 200+ years of experience in business and technology leadership roles and in starting and growing more than 20 technology startups.
We have faced every challenge
you are facing in your startup journey.
Salvador Castañeda
Lead Advisor
ClimateTech Practice
Climate, Energy, Innovation, Environmental Equity
Summary: Sal is an expert in climate, energy management, policy, and economics. He has been familiar with the adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, AI and ML integration, as well as the growing use of storage, electric vehicles, and smart devices, and emerging demands on the grid.
Prior Roles:
Co-Founder President + Climate Change Officer, CleanSmart Solutions
Co-Founder President, CloudLink
General Manager & Marketing Manager, Mitsubishi, Ltd
Latin American Marketing Division, Oracle Corporation
Product Strategist, Creative Labs, Ltd.
Featured Expertise:
Sal’s impressive portfolio includes degrees in Law, Business
Administration, Climate, IT, and Taxation from major universities in the US and the UK. All these along with certifications in Clean Energy Economics from the Stanford School of Engineering, and Business Analytics from The Wharton School.
Through experience and education, Sal has been a leading expert in Climate & Development, Policies, Legislation, Sustainability,
Mitigation and Adaptation, GHG Reporting, Energy and Risk
Management, Renewable Energy Innovation.
Mark Eagle
Lead Advisor
SaaS
Software, Business Analysis, E-commerce, Project Management and Development
Summary: Mark has 30+ years of experience in technical and management leadership roles in many industries including software development to the broadcasting, media, real estate, data storage, college planning, and high school sport’s vertical markets. Aside from being a part-time CTO and consultant, Mark has been investing in and managing early-stage companies, leading them to millions of recurring revenues through organic growth and strategic acquisition.
Prior Roles:
CTO, COO, and co-founder, SaaS startups and Public companies
Chief Technology Officer, Helping Habit PBC
President/CTO, WAVE Entrepreneurial Ventures
Part time CTO, Gusher (Video)
Director of Development Services, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Solutions Architect, Uncommon Solutions Inc
CTO, bWERX
Director of Software Development, The CE Shop
Director, Starboard Storage Systems
Founder/Chief Product Officer, 21st Century Schoolhouse
Executive VP Products and Services, Encoda Systems
Co-founder, Courtney Eagle Associates
Featured Expertise:
Mark has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Industrial Psychology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
As a business leader, he was able to navigate a company from startup to 23rd on Inc. Magazine’s list to 1200 people and $150M in recurring revenue through organic growth and strategic acquisition with exits to two NYSE companies.
His wide range of expertise includes Business Analysis and System Design, Quality Assurance, B-B, B-C, and E-commerce Systems, and Root Cause Analysis. And when it comes to management, Mark leads the field in SaaS software, Onshore, and Offshore Team Development Management, Due Diligence, Strategic Planning through Tactical Execution, and Project Management.
John C. Cook
Lead Advisor
Head of Mobile
Product Strategy & Development, Innovation, Privacy & Security
Summary: John is presently the Head of Mobile Product for the Firefox team at Mozilla, which is responsible for marketing a portfolio of privacy and security-centric iOS and Android applications. At the same time, he is also a mentor and a technical and business coach to multiple startups and companies including Lemnos Labs and the HW venture firm.
Prior Roles:
Head of Product Management for Symantec’s IoT group
Head of Mobile Product for the Firefox team at Mozilla
Mentor with Lemnos Labs, the HW venture firm.
Technical and Business Coach to multiple startups.
Founder and partner in the disruptPM consulting group
Featured Expertise:
He joined Symantec from PwC, where he was a Director of the Innovation & Development team. There, he led a product management team within the New Ventures group focusing on building new businesses that brought together PwC's insights and technology to create new products and services.
John also was a founder and partner in the disruptPM consulting group, where he primarily focused on Innovation Management, Incubator/CVC Creation, and Product Strategy, targeting both startups and established tech companies.
Before that, John has been a product and marketing executive at Apple, Palm, HP, and Nokia. As a consultant, his clients included Motorola Mobility, Nokia Technologies, TiVo, Yahoo, Amazon.com/Lab126, PalmSource/ACCESS, and Avid Technologies
Patty Beach
Senior Advisor
Executive Coach
Technology, Finance, Government, and Geology
Summary: Patty is known to be the magic eight ball of memorable success formulas in her performance as an executive coach for various companies. She has helped organizations build on-fire teams that never burn out; coaching senior leaders in every size company from Fortune 500 companies to startups, and in industries including telecom, healthcare, finance, software, government, aerospace, and defense.
Prior Roles:
Executive Coach and Leadership Development Expert, LeadershipSmarts.com by True North programs
Executive Coach, Growth Axis
Executive Coach, The McNeill Group
Geologist, Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Exploration
Sr. Geologist, Amoco Production Company
Featured Expertise:
To top her impressive portfolio, Patty has a degree in MSOD Organizational Development from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. She obtained her master's degree in Geology from the University of Tulsa and a bachelor’s degree in the same field from the University of Oklahoma.
Through careful study and experience in the field of management, Patty has become a leading coach in company development under different niches whether they may be in Technology, Finance, Healthcare, or in the Government.
Emma O'Brien
Senior Advisor
Communication Strategy
Communication, Branding, Positioning, and Strategy
Summary: As the founder of Punchy.co, Emma is the leading expert in brand, positioning, and messaging strategy for B2B startups. Her passion helped visionary founders tell their stories with clarity and conviction, attracting new customers, taking on the competition, and capitalizing on growth opportunities.
Prior Roles:
Founder & Chief Strategist, Punchy.co
Copy Director, Shutterfly Inc.
Creative Director for B2B Marketing Agency, FVM Strategic Communications
Brand Strategist, Elmwood (Brand Consultancy)
Senior Editor, Barker Brooks Communications
Graphic Designer, Random House
Featured Expertise:
Emma graduated Summa Cum Laude from New York University and since then guided several founders to hit their next growth milestone with killer messaging and positioning.
Among her many expertise are Brand Strategy, Positioning, Messaging, Go to Market, Copywriting, Market & Customer Research, Naming, Public Speaking.
Erin Lewis
Senior Advisor
Growth and Profitability
Aerospace, Defense, Transportation, Engineering, Electronics, E-commerce
Summary: Erin is an experienced Startup Founder/CEO/CFO/COO for multiple startups. She has successfully exited startups in 2020 in the field of software and manufacturing and engineering services within civil engineering. She joins Founder Advisors LLC with a formidable senior leadership experience in aerospace, defense, transportation, software, telecom, engineering, electronics, smart-city, architecture, hemp/cannabis, and e-commerce. Erin is a known expert in setting realistic expectations, managing growth and profitability, valuing companies for M&A, and crafting the pitch and the messaging to the right audience.
Prior Roles:
Founder, Avocado Operations and Market Platform
Board Member, Former COO, CFO, Mammoth Universal Inc dba Workweb.io
Operations and Finance Exec, Advisor, Investor, Broker, Various Companies
Fractional CFO, Ascent CFO Solutions
Senior Product Manager, GCI General Communication, Inc.
Director of Financial Operations, Cardinal Peak
VP of Operations, Parkifi
Director of Global Operations, MobileDay
President, CEO, Fashion Forward Maternity
Senior Program and Product Manager, Global Services, Sr. Product, Regional Shop Manager, GE Transportation
Feature Expertise: Erin values her real-world education on the manufacturing floor and in the trenches just as much, as it has informed her understanding of the fundamentals of business and decision making at all levels. She has an MBA from the University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Aside from this, she also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and a master's degree in the same field from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Erin’s technical expertise includes FP&A Modeling, Lean Manufacturing, Statistical Analysis, Agile Software development, Enterprise Software, Market Analysis.
While in the field of management, she excels in Management of Change, Investor Relations, Product Management, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Financial and Cash-flow Management – Contracting and Negotiations, Mergers, and Acquisitions.
Russ Krajec
Senior Advisor
Patent Law
Patents, Engineering, and Finance
Summary: Russ has been on Intellectual Asset Magazine’s Top 300 Patent Strategists for several years running. His extensive works cover the systematic process for due diligence on inventions, as well as a comprehensive framework for a startup’s IP strategy. These are seen through his book, “Investing In Patents”, and the soon-to-be-release, “Startup IP Strategy. He is a ‘recovering patent attorney’ who, after a 13-year career in engineering, switched to patent law to reverse engineer the patent system to create good patents.
Prior Roles:
CEO, BlueIron
Executive Director, Ethical Collaboration Association, Inc.
Registered Patent Attorney, Krajec Patent Offices, LLC
Author, “Investing In Patents”
COO and Co-Founder, Concurix Corporation
Senior Design Engineer, Waterpik Technologies
Senior Design Engineer, Technology Driven Products
Sr. Mechanical Engineer, Hewlett-Packard
Featured Expertise:
Russ has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as a JD from Denver University. He also hosts a podcast entitled “Patent Myths”, which tackles many complex IP issues, simplifying them into meaningful strategies for today’s entrepreneurs.
As per management expertise, Russ excels in Patents, Financing Patents, Insurance, Patents as collateral.
Charles Corprew
Senior Advisor
Community Leadership
Policy Crafting, Community, Psychology, Education
Summary: Charles is passionate about revolution for personal and global transformation. He has been known as an advocate to change the trajectories of America’s most precious demographics. Within this spirit, Charles taught middle school Social Studies, coached baseball, and had the fortunate experience of teaching Psychology at the best place on earth, Green Run High School, his alma mater. Charles started his social venture where he worked to bring racial and gender equity to the consciousness of organizations around the country, believing that there was more to sitting behind a desk.
Prior Roles:
Senior Lead, Camelback Ventures, Director, Education Fellowship, Camelback Ventures
Host and Executive Producer, "What's Your Revolution?" Show
Founder and CEO, What's Your Revolution Consulting
Community Leadership Network Fellow Alumni, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Assistant Professor, Loyola University New Orleans
Executive Director, Orleans Parish Place Matters
Director, James Madison University Academy for the Academic Achievement of African American Males
Advanced Placement Psychology Instructor, Green Run High School
Feature Expertise: Charles’s achievements are backed up by a solid knowledge in psychology as he has a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in the said field from Tulane University. He also took a Master of Arts degree in Urban Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in arts in History focusing on Black Studies.
He has worked with some of the most influential education and mental health leaders to craft policy, programming, and practice that allows everyone to thrive in their varied contexts.
Xochitl Boehm
Senior Advisor
Human Resource
Change Management and Organizational Development
Summary: Xochitl joins Founder Advisors LLS with HR/OD experience in over 12 industries; semiconductor power management, medical software & manufacturing, entertainment, fashion, insurance/finance, retail, high tech., education, media marketing, food, and beverage. She has held various high-level executive positions at Spelling Entertainment, Creative Artist Agency, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, HUB International, and International Rectifier; as well as managed and worked within her own consulting firm, XCORP Consulting. Her clients ranged from small tech startups such as Scan Digital, who was the first to digitize photographs, to midsize companies such as ICRCO, who manufactured and sold digital radiography equipment to the US government, and to third world countries who were able to provide mammography to their citizens for the first time.
Prior Roles:
Human Resources, Starr Companies
HR Director, HUB International
Human Resource Business Partner, Xcorp. Consulting
Feature Expertise: Xochitl started her career as a junior executive assistant within the Human Resources department reporting to the Director of HR at Anderson Consulting. She was then transferred to the Change Management division where she learned firsthand the ins and outs of Change Management and Organizational Development. She augmented her experience at Anderson Consulting by pursuing a Master’s of Science in Organizational Development from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. Prior to this, Xochitl acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Pepperdine University.
Her greatest strength is connecting with her clients quickly, identifying their blind spots, and putting an action plan to grow the business.
Waleed Nasir
Senior Advisor
Growth Expert and Innovation
Programmatic Social Selling, Strategic Prospecting, and Content-based Demand Generation
Summary: Waleed is an experienced Chief Sales Officer and an expert on programmatic social selling - an emerging and critical tactic for any growing company dealing in the enterprise space. His most recent roles were at Freewheel Media and Comcast where he engineered programmatic advertising and marketing platforms for the companies. He currently works as the CTO and Head of Products at VirtualForce.io where his main goal is driving sales for the organization through thought leadership and personal branding. Within 3 years, he grew the company 10 folds in their annual revenue.
Prior Roles:
Board Member & District VP, Yale Science and Engineering Association, Inc.
CTO & Head of Products, Virtual Force Inc.
Co-founder / CTO, FinTech Connector
Product Director- Blockchain Insights Platform, Comcast
Sr. Product Manager - Programmatic advertising and 3rd party data integrations, FreeWheel
Researcher, Yale University
Product Manager - Wholesale Business, T-Mobile
Principal Consultant - Infrastructure & System Design, LCC
Software Engineer, Bell Labs
Systems Engineer, Ericsson
Feature Expertise: Waleed finished his MBA at Yale University as well as Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan. Adding up to his impressive portfolio is his 15 years of experience in building, branding, and selling technology products at a global scale.
Waleed’s technical specialties include Technical Sales, Programmatic Selling, Social Selling, Business Development, Technical Thought Leadership, B2B Marketing & Branding, Growth Hacking, Sales Automation, Networking and Connections Generation, Webinars, Podcasts
While when it comes to management, he is the leading expert in Business Development, P&L Management, Ecosystem Development, New Account Acquisition, and Public Speaking.
Danny Pratt
Fundraising Advisor
Finance from Institutional Trading, Research Sales, Capital Funding
Summary: Danny has a Bachelors Degree from Washington College 91’ Maryland. From there started his career at Citigroup on their OTC trading desk, trading, and sales trading. He moved on to research sales, developing relationships with institutional managers and analysts. He moved on from Citigroup to a small start-up where he organized the trading platform, traded, sales traded, and made research calls
Prior Roles:
VP at Citigroup
VP at New York Global head of Sales Trading
SVP at Matrix USA, trading, sales trading research sales
VP 3D Media VP on investor program desk
Associate advisor capital specialist for Founder Advisors.
Feature Expertise: Does not have this on the website, he only has a personnel feature
Pete Peterson
Lead Advisor
Next Generation Technology
Telecommunications, Finance, Network Design, Technology, and Research
Summary: Pete has led efforts in improving global telecommunications and significant milestones in the investment sector through developing multiple market disruptive services with his creative, technical, and finance skills. He has been part of emerging businesses that spanned augmented reality, next-generation sports, spatial computing, 5G, and low latency mobile edge computing. Pete also worked for Microsoft, crafting and delivering mobile device strategy, and global competitive positioning.
Prior Roles:
Sr Director - Immersive and Real-time Experiences (IRTE), Deutsche Telekom
Vice President, Saints Capital
Director, Executive Communications - Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft
Vice President, Equity Research – Telecommunications Technologies, Prudential Securities
Director, International Operations, AirTouch International
Manager, Advanced Technologies Group, Airtouch Communications
Consultant, Strategic Market Analysis Group, Telecom Finland
Sr. Consultant, Telecommunications Group, Booz Allen Hamilton
Telecommunications Project Manager, Voice of America
Featured Expertise:
Pete has a master's degree in Business Administration, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Aside from these, he has several undergraduate degrees from Stanford University; BS Mechanical Engineering, and BA History.
With a comprehensive track record, Pete has been an expert in Mobile Communications, Devices, Services, Applications, 5G Wireless, Edge Computing, AR/MR/VR/XR, Spatial Computing, Next Generation Sports.
His portfolio in management includes Financing, Partnering, Strategy, Technology & Service Development, International Operations, and Corporate Communications.
T.J. Agresti
Lead Advisor
Aeronautics and Engineering
Aerospace, Drones, Robotics, LogisticsTech, and Paymentech
Summary: TJ is the head of anything that flies and doesn't die. He is a certified Pilot and Aviation Manager as well as consulting communications director and business development for Key Lime Air Corporation. He was also
CEO of two Financial Services companies related to mortgages raising through Series B and including originating $52.6M line of credit.
Prior Roles:
Founder and President, Critical Mission Consulting, LLC
Airline Pilot AND Director of Corporate Communications, Key Lime Air Corporation
Director Of Business Development/Communications, Swift Engineering Contract
Founder/ Director, LifeQuest World Fund
Chief Executive Officer, Aspect Robotics, LLC Full-time
Operations Manager and Captain, Mountain Aviation
Chief Executive Officer, EquityLock Solutions, LLCC
Featured Expertise:
To enumerate TJ’s various expertise, he has a Law LLM Tax degree from the University of Denver and a JD in Law from Seton Hall University. Aside from these are various Aviation, Aeronautics, and Flight Management and Operations courses from several Aviation schools such as Flight Safety International, ATP Flight School, European American Aviation, McAir Aviation, and Aspen Flying Club.
Given his rich experience and education, Systems Engineer and Investment. While in the field of management he is a leader in Strategic Planning, P&L Management, Operations, International Energy Business Development, and Management.
Clarence Hampton
Senior Advisor
Sales and Management
Sales, Sales Management, Advertising, Entertainment, Healthcare, and Technology
Summary: Hamp has 38 years of experience scaling business entities from a Go To Market strategic plan to full execution of top-level sales performances. With impressive stints in Sales, Advertising, Entertainment, Healthcare, and Technology, he has been the industry leader in digital mobile identity authentication technology and led solution architects and account managers securing contracts with major companies.
Prior Roles:
Chief Revenue Officer, Cadalys Inc.
Managing Director, Vauban Consulting LLC
SVP Business Development Healthcare Retail Communications, Payfone
Chief Revenue Officer & Medical Enterprise Consultant, WebToMed LLC
Epocrates, Sales Director, Emerging Markets, Athena Health
Senior Director Business Development, Greater Than One
National Sales Director, Everyday Health Inc.
President, CEO, FitzRoy Media LLC
President, Honest Entertainment LLC
Featured Expertise:
Hamp has a Bachelors's degree in Communications and Marketing from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Aside from all these, he is also an experienced Startup Founder/CEO of 3 B2B startups with two successful exits. He has extensive venture pitching and fundraising experience and a very large network of venture capital and private equity entities.
When it comes to management specialties, Hamp is a Player/Coach Sales Leader while a master of Go To Market strategic planning, Sales Operations, P&L Management, Enterprise Business Development, International Business Development, Channel Partner Relationships - Negotiations, Public Speaking.
Dean Hiller
Senior Advisor
Technology and Software Engineering
Finance, Social Media, Health, Computer & Electrical Engineering
Summary: Dean is an experienced CTO/CEO who started and sold an offshoring company in China. His 20 years of experience in Architecture, Team Culture, Leadership have led to his success in various roles in the field of telecom, health, finance, social media, and many other domains. He worked at Twitter most recently, where he built systems of 150,000 requests per second. As the current CTO of Orderly Health, he manages a staff of four Engineers while at the same time coding and setting its Architecture.
Prior Roles:
CTO & Vice President of Engineering, Orderly Health
Twitter Business Search Lead then on Notification Delivery Team, Twitter
Adjunct Professor of Business, University of Denver
Founder, Mountain Goat Loans LLC
Founder and CEO, Extreme Apps
Featured Expertise:
Dean obtained his Bachelor's degree in Computer Software Engineering from University of Michigan College of Engineering. He also studied Chinese Language at Beijing Normal University.
Dean excels in many different technical specialties such as in AWS and GCP, Docker, Microservices, Architecture, Java, Scala, Javascript, Html, css, Twitter Bootstrap, Http2, Http1.1, Thrift, GRPC, Spring.
While in management, he has led in Team Formation, Product Management, Strategic Planning, Architecture, Business Development, P&L Management, Negotiations, Ecosystem Development, and New Account Acquisition.
Patty Laushman
Senior Advisor
Sales enablement, sales development, outbound sales, lead generation, growth strategy
Summary: Patty is an expert in helping companies scale their sales and making sales teams more efficient and effective through sales enablement. She looks at their sales functions holistically and takes an iterative approach to improve revenue and other data-driven outcomes. She meets them wherever they are and helps them get to the next level by helping with strategy, processes, tech stack, and training.
Prior Roles:
Founder, Revenue Catapult (2012-current)
Co-Founder, The Uptime Group (2003-2012)
Featured Expertise: Patty is an entrepreneur with a successful exit. She earned a B.A. in chemistry and a minor in music performance at the University of Northern Colorado. She earned an M.A. in journalism with an emphasis in integrated marketing communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She also earned a secondary science teaching license from Metro State College of Denver.
Patty’s unusual background as a symphony violist, analytical chemist, marketing writer, high tech recruiter, chemistry teacher and cashed-out entrepreneur makes her uniquely qualified to cultivate and innovate unique solutions.
Glenn Fitzgerald
Senior Advisor
Technology
Technology, Security, and Sales Enablement
Summary: Glenn comes from 30+ experience in technical, social media, filmography, and senior management development leadership with roles in security, federal government, defense, software, telecom, and data networking businesses. His expertise have been vital in the growth of several companies such as CSC, Lockheed Martin, Hayes Modems, Micron Electronics, Check Point Software Technologies and most recently, IBM.
Prior Roles:
World Wide Cloud and AI Client Success SaaS & Social Leader, WW Security Client Success & Social Selling Leader, WW Data Protection Enablement & Social Selling Leader, IBM
Managing Partner, Sell-Tech Solutions, LLC
VP Sales, Netilla Networks/AEP Networks
Chief Operating Officer, rSchool.com
National Sales Director, Hayes Modems
Featured Expertise: Glenn has degrees in Mechanical Design and Computer Programing with a minor in Computer Science from Maxwell Institute. He is also an experienced Startup Founder and Senior Advisor at 3 B2B startups. His most recent role at IBM as leading worldwide sales enablement/social selling leader for their Cloud and Cognitive and Security division guided sales leaders, as well as hundreds of technology startup companies, navigate and overcome every challenge they face in leading their teams in launching successful technology products while reducing the risks involved.
To point out his many technical specialties, Database Security, Access Control, DevOps, SaaS/Cloud SW solutions, Network Security, Agile SW, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (IBM Watson), Enterprise Software, Digital Media Marketing, and an experienced Certified LinkedIn Sales Navigator Instructor, fills in the list.
And when it comes to management, Glenn is a master of Company Brand Development, Social Formation and Culture, Technology Markets & Trends Analysis, Sales Management, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Global Sales & Marketing, Corporate Annual Reporting, Channel Partner Development, New Account Acquisition, Public Speaking, Digital Development and Revenue Acceleration.
Rick Robinson
Senior Advisor
Encryption Technology
Data Security, Encryption, Finance, Management, and Communication
Summary: Equipped with a 30-year career experience, Rick has delivered solutions in the defense, retail, financial, manufacturing, communications, and data security industries, in over fifteen countries, addressing the significance of information security and analytics. Through his experience in new product development and in advancing products that employ encryption, various companies and business units have excelled with his guidance in go-to-market strategies, financial refinement of R&D, technology adoption, market analysis, and improved operational and sales execution.
Prior Roles:
Principal and Trusted Adviser, Goldbug Technology Consulting
Offering Manager, Data Security, Encryption and Key Management, IBM
Senior Security Consultant, Accuvant
Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, eSoft
Senior Computer Security Architect and Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Avaya
Director of Integrated Terminal Applications, IVI-Checkmate
Applications Engineer / Developer, DVT Corp
Featured Expertise: Rick has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Colorado and also a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering. He also has certifications from the Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2) and has contributed to the Storage Network Industry Association Storage Security Industry Forum (SNIA-SSIF), the OASIS-KMIP technical committee, the IETF, and is a past Section Chair of IEEE.
He is known for helping organizations unlock and apply the right encryption technologies to increase value and deliver innovation. He has consulted with customers on security and key management architectures for security data at rest, data at transit, and data in use for real-time and high-velocity applications with a particular emphasis on problems that involve PKI and the use and management of certificates and SSH keys. Rick has authored or co-authored and been awarded thirteen patents during his tenure at Avaya and IBM.
Technically, Rick specializes in Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption, Homomorphic Encryption, Post-Quantum Cryptography, Public Key Infrastructures (PKI), Cryptographic Acceleration, Standards Development, Regulatory Compliance.
While in the field of management, he excels in Organizational Leadership, Market Analysis, Financial Analysis of Operations, and Social Marketing.
Mark Karasek
Senior Advisor
Innovation and Product Development
Engineering, Lean Design, Project Management, and Business Process Redesign
Summary: Mark comes from 20+ years of experience leading innovation and product development in the consumer and commercial durables space working with start-ups to identify customer value insights and define business strategy. As an adjunct faculty member in the Office of Professional Education program in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, he taught graduate courses in innovation management, lean design, project management, and business process redesign. Adding to this feat, Mark was a key part of the leadership team that transformed Chamberlain Group (CGI) from a consumer and commercial durables manufacturer into a connected platform ecosystem leader. The company is a privately held corporation with 5000+ employees worldwide and a global leader in the Access and Security markets.
Prior Roles:
Business Consultant, Karasek Consulting
Adjunct Professor, McCormick School of Engineering
Chief Technology Officer & Exec VP Engineering, Executive Vice President of Engineering, Vice
President of Engineering, Director of Engineering Support, Analytical Support Manager,
Senior Project Engineer - Garage Door Openers, Chamberlain Group (CGI)
Technical Director, Safe and Secure Access Coalition
Research Associate, Illinois Tool Works
Design Engineer, Wilson Sporting Goods
Feature Expertise: Mark comes from extensive experience in the toolsets of innovation including stage-gate, agile and lean start-up. He is also active in the Chicago startup community as a board member of mHUB Chicago, an innovation center focused on product-based startups and manufacturing technology. He acquired his Ph. D in Polymer Science from Penn State University and prior to this, an MSME in Fatigue and Fracture of Materials from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also took his Bachelor of Science degree in Emech, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the same university.
In the field of management, Mark thrives in IoT, IIoT, Consumer Durables, Commercial Durables, Ecosystem Platform Development, Innovation, User Insight Development, Project Management, Product Development, Lean Start-up, Intellectual Property Management.
Eliav Kling
Reverse IPOs
Passive Income, Real Estate, Corporate Tech, IT
Summary: Eliav started his career in the IT Industry as a developer and through the years switched from development to project management managing large-scale implementations. His engineering background involved designing and developing RF real time systems. While his prowess in management was further honed when he worked in Amdocs, a company that is responsible for introducing products, building a network of business partners, and supporting the sales cycle for the North-American Market.
Prior Roles:
Co-Owner, KERRA Investments
Delivery & Integration Manager, Channel Manager – North-American market, Amdocs
System Engineer, Elisra Electronics Systems
Quality Assurance, AVT
Feature Expertise: Eliav holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the Academic College of Tel-Aviv. With his background in the corporate tech world, he has been making great achievements in the real estate and business world. The keys to his impressive portfolio are his analytical skill, crisis management, and knowledge of managing teams remotely, which are critical to significant operations.
Ehab Fedel
Advisor
Strategic Sales, Marketing, and Business Development.
Summary: Ehab is an Advisor at Founder Advisors LLC. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Purdue University and an MBA in International Business & E-Commerce from Regis University. He has experience across multiple areas including Business Development, Account Management, Sales Development, International Business, and Strategic Marketing. He has worked across multiple industries encompassing Education, Technology, Energy, Utilities, and Infrastructure. He also held various Managerial positions with Accenture, Avaya, and Hitachi Consulting working on a number of high-profile projects and initiatives with Fortune 500 clients.
Prior Roles:
Executive - Business Development
Regional Account Manager
Senior Business Development Lead
Senior Manager
Feature Expertise: Ehab previously worked as an Executive – Business Development at Simfoni, a leader in Procurement Analytics. He also worked with Siemens (formerly Rolls-Royce Energy) as a Regional Account Manager where he managed strategic Global Accounts across multiple Industries. Additionally, he worked as part of GE as a Senior Business Development Lead covering multiple products & services across. He has resided, worked, and traveled extensively across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America regions. He also held various Managerial positions with Accenture, Avaya, and Hitachi Consulting working on a number of high-profile projects and initiatives with Fortune 500 clients.
Ehab is currently working as a Senior Executive at an Education Technology Startup Company.