Entrepreneurship
At Cornell

The gateway to everything entrepreneurial at Cornell University

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Advisory Council Members

Our advisory council of entrepreneurs, business managers and organization leaders provides advice, support, and financial resources.

Membership on the Advisory Council requires two things: an interest in working with other alumni, faculty and staff to foster the growth of entrepreneurship resources for Cornell students, faculty, staff and alumni, and a willingness to support the program with an annual financial gift.

To learn more about becoming a member, please contact Zach Shulman at zjs2@cornell.edu or (607) 255-3012.

Advisory Council Leadership:

Steve Benjamin 12.17.19 Chair: Benjamin, Steven (’80, MEN ’81, MBA ’82) – Saratoga, CA
Commercial real estate development

Vice Chair: Hayford, June (’78) – Alpharetta, GA
Web app operations- development, product management

Vice Chair: Young, Eric (’78) – Menlo Park, CA
Early stage VC investment & fundraising, particularly enterprise IT

Advisory Council Members:

Abrahamian, Ani (MBA ’14) – Los Angeles, CA
Software engineering leadership mid-enterprise SaaS companies, transformational leadership

Abrams, Robin (’86) – Larchmont, NY
General counsel at public biotech with life science legal/compliance expertise

Acquay, Kwesi (’14) – New York, NY
FinTech, enterprise software, investment banking, investing in diverse founders

Ajani, Saif (MBA ’09) – Toronto, Canada
Technology, marketing, analytics

Alexander, John (’74, MBA ’76) – Ithaca, NY
Software startups and startup/angel investing

Bachelder, Stephen (MBA ’19) – Boston, MA
Software development/technical product design and supporting IT infastructure

Balen, John ( ’82, MBA ’86) – Menlo Park, CA
Venture capital and technology

Beller, Michael (’84) – Woodmere, NY
Product and engineering management, particularly early stage companies

Belsky, Scott (’02) – New York, NY
Digital product experience, design and all-things consumer. Active seed investor via CapitalB

Berger, Emily (’92) – New York, NY
Investments, risk strategy, due diligence

Bhardwaj, Hemant (MBA ’15) – San Francisco, CA
Venture capital

Bhayana, Rohit (’83) – Chevy Chase, MD
Co-founder of data and analytics/ IT services

Bi, Momo (MBA ’15) – New York, NY

Bloom, Jordan (’11) – Scarsdale, NY
Distressed special situations, CPG startup strategy, private equity

Brandoff, Randy (’98) – New York, NY
Consumer retail and venture capital

Breidigan, Tim (’85, MBA ’86) – San Diego, CA

Brunner, Jeremy (’94) – Millville, NJ
Consumer products, lawn & garden industry, packaging, sales, marketing, family business

Bunszel, Amy (’89) – Lafayette, CA
Enterprise software, product management and strategy, team leadership, AEC industry

Dan Cane 10-20-14 Cane, Dan (’98) – Boynton Beach, FL
Healthcare technology

Carniol, Rhonda (’79) – West Orange, NJ
Startup company legal matters

Cartin, Stephanie (’06) – New York, NY
Social media strategy and influence marketing

Caplan, Sue (’77) – New York, NY

Clark, J. Thomas (’63, MBA ’64) – Greenwich, CT
Sheep farming, small manufacturing business expert, leverage buyout specialist

Clark, Nancy (’62, M Ed ’64) – Old Chatham, NY
Interior design, ASID member, sheep farming, cheesemaking, member DSANA, KKG

Cohen, Alan (’89) – New York, NY

Conine, Steven (’95) – Boston, MA
Direct to consumer internet

Cortle, Peter (’10) – Ithaca, NY
Building entrepreneurship ecosystems and (online) communities. Ideation, software ans SaaS startups.

Danziger, Susan (’86) – New York, NY
Startup launch (early stage), product market fit, alternative funding, first customers

Das, Arup (MBA ’07) – Freehold, NJ
Digital platforms and scaling operations, product and engineering management

Day, Colin (’97) Red Bank, NJ
SaaS, HR, technology, organizational planning, G2M strategies

Dauk, Sharon (MBA ’89) – Ridgefield, CT
Executive and leadership coaching, culture transformation, emerging growth investing

John Doucette 4-13-17 Doucette, John (’87) – Chatham, NJ
Insurance, reinsurance, leveraging, alternative capital sources to optimize capital structures. Funding and assisting startups, particularly in insurtech space.

Farrell, James (’77, MEN ’80) – Orinda, CA
Clean energy (nuclear), sustainable agriculture (coffee), boot-strapped company startups

Felton, Robert (’61) – Berkeley, CA
Needs analysis for software, development of products, marketing strategy, sales and management.

Fine, Jeffrey (’85) – Washington DC
Private equity

Flickinger III, Burt (’80) – New York, NY
Consumer packaged good

Forsythe, Carl (MBA ’82) – Rockland, MA
Domain knowledge in manufacturing, engineering, banking fintech, CRM and data analytics

Gal, Steven (’88) – La Jolla, CA
Entrepreneurship and innovation- teaching, doing, coaching, investing and cheering

Galvin, Greg ( ’82, Ph.D ’84, MBA ’93) – Ithaca, NY
Semiconductor manufacturing, molecular diagnostics, additive manufacturing, startup companies

Gilman, Forrest (’89) – Closter, NJ
Banking, capital markets, corporate finance, insurance

Gulbrandsen, Allison K. (’84) – Clinton, NJ

Gulbrandsen, Don (’83) – Clinton, NJ

Hamed, Ali (’14) – New York, NY
Raising venture capital, hiring, financial services technology, lending, raising debt capital, financials/reporting, new media (YouTube, Instagram, etc.)

Hartono, Dharsono (’95, MS ’98) – Indonesia
Fundraising, carbon finance, marketing, project management, community engagement

Hayford, Tom (’11, MEN ’12) – Santa Monica, CA

Hellinger, Gary (’62) – Bronx, NY
Promotional good manufacturing

Hochandel, TJ (’10) – New York, NY
Corporate real estate advisor/broker, help entrepreneurs and C-suite executives lease, sublease, expand, extend, and re-negotiate their office and industrial leases in NYC and in any major city around the world

Holtz, Jonathan (P ’12) – Syosset, NY
People development, organizational strength, product development, key customer relations, market positioning including channels of distribution, global development of sources

Holtz, Will (’12) – Glen Head, NY
GPG (beverage) startup operations and strategy; private equity and angel investing

Huestis, Erik (’03) – Poughkeepsie, NY
Patent and other IP matters, particularly in software and medical device fields

Hui, John (MBA ’15) – New York, NY
Healthcare IT startup, particularly early stage

Isko, Steven (’86) – New York, NY
CPG, private equity, corporate attorney

Jacobs, Stephen (’17) – New York, NY
Private equity

Karangelen, Michael (’90) – New York, NY
Private equity

Kemper, Deb (’88) – Newton, MA
Funding for early stage technology startups, e.g. pre-seed, series A; focus on gender diverse founding teams; building effective boards

kinzelberg_photo2_6-22-12 Kinzelberg, Harvey (’67) – Chicago, IL
Financial engineering, financial structuring, and corporate finance

Ko, Stephanie (’14) – Brooklyn, NY
Retail, eCommerce, consumer goods, last-mile logistics and fulfillment marketing

Lancioni, Kathryn (’92) – Ridgewood, NJ
Public relations, public speaking, interpersonal communication, communication research and personal branding

Lesser, David (’87, MBA ’88) – New York, NY
Real estate, real estate securities, alternative energy, distributed generation/cogeneration/combined heat and power, investment banking/public company, activated carbon, controlled environment agriculture

Levine, Jordan (’12) – New York, NY
Corporate attorney representing emerging and established, domestic and international companies

Mann, Roger (’81) – Washington, DC
CEO founding, launching, growing SaaS companies with patented IP; seed, A round capital raises; market pull driven MVP development; marketing sales to-to-market strategies and building sales team

Rosemary Mburu 1-13-2020 Mburu, Rosemary (MBA ’19) – Atlanta, GA
Advise early stage startups, product/market fit, go-to market strategies and product development

McAleer, William (’73, MBA ’75) – Seattle, WA
Early stage investments, strategy, board experience, venture funding and M+A

McGovern, Kevin (’70) – New York, NY
Venture capital and law

McGraw, Matthew (’95) – San Francisco, CA
Scaling early stage startups, product/market fit, customer experience and company culture and governance, investments, strategy, board experience, venture funding, M+A

McKinney, Joanne (’87) – Old Greenwich, CT
Brand foundations- strategy, naming, identity, creativity expression

McNair, Jim (MBA ’83) – Chicago, IL
Private equity

Memarzadeh, Arsham (’14) – Boston, MA
VC- Series B/C/D globally

Miller, Doug (’76) New York, NY
Sales, marketing, eCommerce, financial analysis, investment management, business management

Miller, Mark (’85) – Arlington, MA
Investment banking

Franco Mora Mora, Franco (MBA ’12) – Mexico
Strategy operations experience in several industries, specific know-how on cost structure design and operational set-up for both, services and manufacturing

Morse, Rick (’88) – Florence, AL
B2C eCommerce, marketing, operations

Matt Nastos 4-22-16 Nastos, Matt (’10) – New York, NY
Performance marketing & digital customer acquisition

Pacchiana, Glenn (’89) – Briarcliff Manor, NY
Innovation solutions, startups, planning, international, agricultural chemicals, construction, mining, real estate development

Parker, Jeffrey P. (’65, MEN ’66, MBA ’70) – Gulf Stream, FL
Early stage investing, fintech, bigdata, SaaS

Phillips, Everette (’82) – Newport Beach, CA
Exponential technologies: robotics, AI, spatial computing, AR/AR, internet of things and convergence of those fields, manufacturing, supply chain and outsourcing, LinkedIn/Digital Marketing, networking strategies

Pilc, Roger (’89) – Stamford, CT

Pochareddy, Surya (’17) – New York, NY
Financial services, private equity (insurance, fin-tech, business services)

Qadir, Salmaan (’16) – Denver, CO
Cryptocurrency/blockchain, startup financial planning & analysis, data science & analytics, fintech regulation & policy

Reisch, Jake (’15) – Geneva, NY
Customer development, product management, fundraising, growth marketing, team leadership

Rosenberg, Meredith (’92) – Boston, MA
Digital education and education technology

Ross, Sacha (’94, JD ’99) – New York, NY
Startup legal matters

Rozental, Anatoliy (’09) – New York, NY
Private equity, growth equity, mergers and acquisitions

Rubins, Matthew (’90) – Boston, MA
Education technology, enterprise software, angel investing, finance and corporate development

Russo, Matt (’90) – New York, NY
Insurance

Ryan, Rob (’69) – Hamilton, MT
Business model analysis, business strategy and building companies

Ryan, Terry (’69) – Hamilton, MT

Santomauro, Jonathan (’10, MBA ’11) – Gwynedd, PA
Healthcare supplies

Saporta, Marissa (’99) – Westport CT
Sales, eCommerce, consumer goods, operations, business, entrepreneurship

Schoen, Andrew (’14) – Washington DC
VC, preferably Series A-C, interested in deep tech, prop tech, health tech, fin tech

Shah, Niraj (’95) – Boston, MA
Direct to consumer internet

Shapiro, Steve (’84, MBA ’91) – Milton, MA
Early stage go-to market strategy, product innovation process, any tech venture around education or workforce training/talent

Shore, Doug (’67) – Atlanta,
GAB2B media (magazine, tradeshow, conference, emedia, data) startups and acquisitions, intrapreneurship, M+A, private equity

Sklar, Scott (’80) – Mill Valley, CA
Startups

Sotoodeh, Sam (MBA ’87) – Santa Ana, CA
Mergers and acquisitions

Soucie, Aimee (JD ’02) – Washington DC
Intellectual property litigation (especially in the internationally trade commission) and intellectual property marketing/BD

Stein, Jeff – New York, NY
Startup legal matters

Surrey, Samantha (’02) – New York, NY
Commercializing technologies in the life sciences, venture capital, private equity, corporate partners, innovation, robotic surgery, immunotherapy and cancer, pharmaceutical, medical devices, and AI for healthcare

Tassone, John (’91 ) – Jupiter, FL

Trenchard, Bill (’97) – Palo Alto, CA
Raising money, idea generation, managing high growth

Trivedi, Sid (’13) – New York, NY
Enterprise software startups across categories like cybersecurity, IT, DevOps, SaaS applications, data analytics and networking

Tso, Lilian (’13) – New York, NY
Private equity