Aby Alexander co-founded eXstream Solutions in 1999 following a successful career at PictureTel. As President and CTO, he is responsible for managing the overall technology of the company including the development of Open Learn, Digital Content Communicator (DCC), and key technology partnerships with other streaming technologies.
Prior to founding eXstream, Alexander held senior management positions at PictureTel Corporation. While at PictureTel, and with its support, he founded Computer Solutions, a provider of corporate Internet/Intranet services for companies including GE Capital and Fidelity Investments. At PictureTel, he was responsible for initiatives to migrate the company's legacy video conferencing business online. He was the designer and architect of the company's eVideo Portal, an online environment where users can launch ISDN video conferencing calls to an IP-based video call and stream it live to multiple target audiences. He is also the chief technology officer for the Boston Lobsters, Boston's official tennis team.  
Alexander is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New England. He is a board member of Mass General Hospital’s Ladders Clinic, the Museum of Fine Arts, the E&H Foundation, a founding member of the International Council Board, Belfer Center, J.F.K. School of Government at Harvard University and a member of the Dean's International Council, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.

Terry Boston is president and CEO of PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid in North America and the largest electricity market in the world.
In addition, Mr. Boston serves as a U.S. vice president of the International Council of Large Electric Systems, and as vice president of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies.
Prior to joining PJM, Mr. Boston was the executive vice president of TVA, the nation’s largest public power provider. In his 35 years at TVA, Mr. Boston directed divisions in transmission and power operations, pricing, contracts and electric system reliability.
He served three years as chairman of the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council Board, and serves on the boards of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions, and the Grid Protection Alliance. He previously served on the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) Stakeholders Board, and was elected to the NERC Members Representative Committee. He is a science advisor to both the Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest Laboratories.
Mr. Boston is a founder and past chair of the North American Transmission Forum, dedicated to excellence in performance and sharing industry best practices. He was one of the eight industry experts selected to direct the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) investigation of the August 2003 Northeast/Midwest blackout.
Mr. Boston was chosen by Intelligent Utilities Magazine as one of 2011 Top 11 Industry Movers and Shakers, and led PJM to win the Platts 2010 Global Leadership Award. In 2011, Mr. Boston was honored with the “Leadership in Power” award from the IEEE Power and Energy Society.
Mr. Boston holds a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Tennessee Technological University and a Master of Science in engineering administration from the University of Tennessee.

Mr. Buechley has extensive M&A, financing and operational experience in directing companies through highly transitional situations. Mr. Buechley focuses on clean technology, BPO, software, and traditional industries. Prior to founding Pharus, he worked with Kohlberg and Company, LLC in varying capacities including consultative, portfolio companies’ executive teams, and investment analyses. Mr. Buechley has worked in a variety of industries, including software, retail, and manufacturing sectors, and most recently he served as Interim CFO for Color Spot Nurseries, Inc. Previously, Mr. Buechley was a general management consultant for the Lucas Group where he managed and executed buy-side advisory, economic viability, and operational improvement engagements. Mr. Buechley began his career at Arthur Andersen as a CPA. He earned a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.

Michael Burcham is CEO of The Entrepreneur Center and President of StartUpTN
Michael is also the director of Accelerator Summer Business Institute, a four-week intensive immersion business program for undergraduates and recent college graduates.
From 2001 to 2007, Michael served as President of ParadigmHealth, an integrator of care and disease management services for health plans and employers. Prior to joining ParadigmHealth, Michael was President of Theraphysics, a venture-backed specialty rehabilitation firm he founded in 1992. He also served HCA as the Vice President of Managed Care from 1988-1992.
Michael received his BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, his MBA from Belmont University, and his PhD in Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. Burcham teaches Health Innovation and Launching the Venture in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and provides strategic consulting to a variety of healthcare firms and venture funds involved in healthcare start-ups. Michael has numerous publications and is a frequent national speaker on healthcare strategy and entrepreneurial development.

Crafting the perfect reputation for industry leading organizations is a work Lisa started in childhood from her parents’ print shop. She has carried that forward with the organization she founded, Write2Market. From its headquarters in Atlanta, the growing industry leadership practice crafts powerful reputations for some of the top business brands in the United States. Lisa has a BA in professional writing and Russian language with a neuroscience minor from Baylor University on National Merit Scholarship. (She ran her first agency from her dorm fax machine.) She graduated summa cum laude in 1994 and later worked in financial services marketing with BBDO and Ogilvy Worldwide in Manhattan. After 8 years running fast-growth sponsorships, national events and trade journals in the financial services space with APA, Lisa received her MBA from University of Texas with honors and founded Write2Market. The firm is recognized by Wall Street Journal, Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur, and USA Today for its innovative approach to crafting reputation. She serves on the Advisory Board for Cole’s College at Kennesaw State University and is president of the Atlanta Chapter board of Entrepreneur’s Organization, a global network of 7,000 entrepreneurs in 38 countries.

Sid Chambless is Executive Director of the Nashville Capital Network and Managing Partner of Tennessee Angel Funds.
As part of his role, Chambless oversees NCN’s group of 75 angel investors, is responsible for deal flow, investment analysis, and due diligence. He is also tasked with helping early stage entrepreneurs prepare for the fundraising process by matching them with the appropriate investors and advisors within NCN’s network. Additionally, Chambless serves as the Managing Partner of both NCN Angel Fund I, LP, NCN’s $5.2 million sidecar investment fund, and the TNInvestco Tennessee Angel Fund.  NCN has cultivated a network of qualified and committed angel investors who have invested more than $25 million in Tennessee-based companies. NCN has invested in 25 companies under Chambless’ leadership. Chambless serves on the Board of Directors for Silvercare and is a board observer to numerous other companies. Chambless is a member of the Angel Capital Association and serves of the advisory board for the Cumberland Life Sciences Center.  Chambless is a 2003 graduate of Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, where his concentrations were finance and accounting with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. Prior to his MBA, Chambless was Executive Vice President of Surfari, Inc., responsible for mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, business development, and sales and marketing activities. In November 2000, he co-directed the sale of Surfari to Chicago-based Coolsavings.com (NASDAQ: CSAV). Earlier, as part of the Nashville Predators’ original sales staff, Chambless helped the Predators reach the NHL mandated 12,000 season ticket mark. A native of Albany, Georgia, Chambless is a 1996 graduate of Vanderbilt University.

Jason Collins is Vice President of Emerging Technology and Innovation at Alcatel-Lucent.
This responsibility includes driving innovation by developing ecosystems and executing via agile prototyping of technology, service concepts, and business models.  Jason pioneered the development of several working innovation centers in conjunction with partners.  Jason’s career began in communications research at Georgia Tech and includes over 15 years of experience in telecom service providers from large traditional telecoms to startups where he headed up product management for innovative services such as programmable QoS based VPLS and MPLS networks, VoIP and early cloud-based managed business application services.  He holds a patent for video over DSL as well as several patents pending for unique service delivery models and service diagnostic processes.

Paul Conley is a Managing Director of Paladin Capital Group.
Dr. Conley leads new investments for the firm while serving on various Boards of Directors within the portfolio. Paul joined the Paladin team in 2007 with over 15 years of previous technology R&D and entrepreneurial operating experience across software, semiconductor, systems and integration services industries. As cofounder/CEO of BrightScale, a Silicon Valley based fab-less semiconductor company, Dr. Conley led business planning, corporate finance and commercialization strategy for the company in the areas of consumer high definition image, video capture and display. As cofounder/CEO of Appfluent Technology, Paul led business planning, fundraising, team building and commercialization of the company’s patented real-time relational database technologies. Dr. Conley previously spent nearly a decade in various R&D roles in the areas of supercomputing, fluid dynamics, materials science, combustion physics and biomedical engineering, including postdoctoral positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Paul earned a PhD in Computational and Applied Physics and an MS in Bioengineering from UCSD, as well as an MS and BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Bob Crutchfield joined HMC as Venture Partner of the General Partner in September 2008 and serves as a Board Member of Optimal and as a board observer for Aldagen, Innovative Biosensors, MaxCyte and ControlScan. In addition to his responsibilities at HMC, he serves as the Chairman of the Commercialization Sub-Committee for the Alabama Innovation Council Study Commission, serves on the Steering Committee of the Alabama Obesity Institute at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, is a Venture Fellow at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, is a Visiting Executive at Auburn University and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Southeast Medical Device Association, the Birmingham Venture Club, the Alabama Launch Pad, and the Atlanta Venture Forum. Mr. Crutchfield also serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Board for the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. Prior to joining HVP, Mr. Crutchfield served as Senior Vice President/General Manager of the Pharmacy Services Division at U.S. Oncology. Mr. Crutchfield was also Vice President of New Ventures at CardinalHealth. In 1995, Mr. Crutchfield founded Surgical Innovations and Services, Inc. (SIS), a surgical laser management company. In 2000, SIS merged with Surgical Laser Technologies, Inc. (SLTI) a publicly traded surgical laser-manufacturing firm. Mr. Crutchfield continued as President of SIS and served as VP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for SLTI, until he exited the company following its acquisition by publicly- traded Photomedex, Inc. Mr. Crutchfield has launched five successful new business ventures during his private and corporate career and has lead four M&A transactions. Mr. Crutchfield is a graduate of the University of Georgia and holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Chemistry.

David Cummings is the Co-founder of the B2B marketing automation firm Pardot and the sales intelligence firm SalesLoft,
chairman of Hannon Hill and is a director at Rigor LLC and Clickscape. He is the former Managing Director at Shotput Ventures and former CEO at Mascon Enterprises. Pardot was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as the fastest growing technology company in 2010 and the third fastest growing company in all of Atlanta that same year. David serves on the boards of Venture Atlanta and the Atlanta chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. He was named by TiE the Top Up and Coming Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010.

Steve Dauphin is General Partner of Murphree Venture Partners
Steve has followed a most unusual path to becoming a venture investor.  After earning a bachelor of arts degree in economics and religion from Harvard, he worked with Citibank and the Anglican Church of Newfoundland.  He then attended the University of North Carolina, where he earned his MBA as a Jenrette Fellow. He followed that by serving for four years as a special agent for the DEA in Arizona. There, he helped hunt down cocaine traffickers and dismantle methamphetamine labs.

Steve then returned to the business world and helped launch the Harbinger Group’s first two private equity funds, including a $76 million independent power fund.  In 1998, he co-founded Bonaventure Capital, a venture capital firm, and joined Murphree Venture Partners in 2003 as a general partner when the two firms merged their operations.  Steve generally focuses on investments related to power generation, power consumption, and environmentally responsible fertilizers.  Steve serves on the boards of MVP portfolio companies Intrinergy and Smart Furniture.

Twice before Faires has created, built and sold businesses to publicly traded entities, Disney and Lionsgate. He is now creating new companies around personal passions inluding JFE, a TV production company with a slant toward bold ideas and music. He is an advisor to the growing digital media wellness enterprise Mind Body Green and owns a piece of the yoga concept and studio Yogaposer @ Fred Segal. Jay currently sits on the Board of the LA Chapter of the Recording Academy and the charity My Friends Place. He's a weekend surfer and yogi, whose enjoyment of both far exceeds his abilities. His previous companies included Mammoth Records which sold for 65x its initial investment placing numerous acts in the top reaches of MTV’s charts while being the first independent label to have 2 platinum acts. BNY Music was a publishing company which he quickly flipped to Lionsgate. He has extensive public company entertainment media experience as President of Music at Lionsgate, doubling the value of their publishing asset, the Walt Disney Company and before that Warner Music's Atlantic. During his work at Lionsgate, he worked closely with artists like Mary J Blige and U2 while overseeing the music for Oscar and Emmy winning hits such as Mad Men and Weeds. While inside Disney, the Squirrel Nut Zippers enjoyed platinum and gold success off their #1 hit "Hell". At Atlantic, he oversaw the rock and alternative departments and had the #1 hit "Cumbersome" from the platinum selling Seven Mary Three. He received a BA with Honors from The University of the South where he has served on the Board of Trustees and an MBA from Duke where he has repeatedly guest lectured. Jay has been featured in the New York Times and in the Hollywood Reporter's 40 under 40.

Pascal is Director of Mozilla's Open Innovation group and WebFWD, where he works with the wider community inventing the future of the Web. He loves technology and believes that the Internet is deeply impacting mankind. Prior to Mozilla, he led eBay's Platform Solutions Group, launched a consulting practice to help entrepreneurs with their strategy & operations and invested into startups, among other things. Craig Newmark (Craigslist) described Pascal as "a social change maker to watch." Pascal frequently speaks about and consults Fortune 500 companies on Open Innovation, mentors and entrepreneurs at TechStars, Seedcamp, The Unreasonable Institute and many other places.
Pascal was previously venture partner at FoundersLink, co-founder at deal united, founder and managing partner at elektronauten, VP Germany for ChannelAdvisor, director of e-commerce for Gravis, and founder of yourART and oil on mars.
When he doesn't work you can find him running, teaching pro-runners Pilates or preparing espresso shots.

Keith Gregg is Chairman of JRG Ventures, and a Founding Partner in oneC1TYnashville.
A Certified Licensing Professional, Mr. Gregg specializes in assisting entrepreneurs, investors, and executives implement growth strategies to accelerate ideas into value. Mr. Gregg has over 25 years of operational and advisory experience in high growth life science, healthcare IT, and disruptive information systems environments. Prior to founding JRG, Mr. Gregg held key positions at multiple biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies. His management roles and responsibilities have encompassed corporate development and licensing, operations, federal government liaison, marketing, financing, mergers, and public offerings. Mr. Gregg is an advisor to select US and non-US investor groups; a member of multiple entrepreneurial healthcare technology boards; a founding Partner in creating the healthcare technology centric park oneC1TYnashville; the Entrepreneur in Residence for Healthcare & Health Information Technology at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center; and an invited lecturer in the areas of corporate business development, growth strategy, healthcare technology, and finance. He is also Adjunct Professor of Health Care Management in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.
Mr. Gregg received his MBA in Finance & Marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, and his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Gregg holds a certificate in executive business strategy from The Wharton School.

Laurence Jackson, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SourceMark, LLC, a medical and surgical supply manufacturer and Senior Advisor with New Mountain Capital, LLC, a private equity fund. He is also an active investor in the Heritage Group in Nashville, which focuses on early stage health care firms.
He was President and CEO, Global Procurement, of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and prior to that role was EVP and Chief People Officer of Wal-Mart.
He was formerly President and COO of Dollar General Corp., SVP of Safeway Inc., and spent 18 years at PepsiCo where he rose to SVP for worldwide operations.
He began his career as a corporate banker at Bank of Boston and was also a consultant at McKinsey and Co.
He presently serves on the board of directors of Parsons Corporation, Assurant, Inc., IRI Group Holdings, and Red Prairie Holdings. He has previously served as a director of ProLogis, Radio Shack and Allied Waste Inc. and with numerous non-profit boards including the San Francisco YMCA and The Family Place, a shelter for abused women in Dallas, Texas.
He received his bachelor’s in Economics and his MBA from Harvard University.
In 2002, Lawrence was named one of Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Black Executives. A native of Washington, DC, he resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Roy Keith is Chairman and CEO of Summit Management Group, LLC and Chairman of BLOC Global Services Group, LLC. He serves on the boards of Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and Virtus Mutual Funds.
He previously served as Managing Director of Almanac Capital Management and as a Partner with Stonington Partners, a private equity fund. From 1995 to 1998, he was Chairman and CEO of Carson Products Company, a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and served as Chairman from 1998 to 2000, when the company was acquired by L’Oreal. A 1961 graduate of Morehouse College, Dr. Keith holds masters and doctorate degrees from Indiana University and has received honorary doctors of laws degrees from Bowdoin and Dartmouth Colleges.
Before assuming the leadership of Carson Products, Dr. Keith was President of Morehouse College and previously Vice President for Policy and Planning at the University of Maryland. Dr. Keith was appointed Chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and served as an Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Education and Urban Studies at Dartmouth College. Dr. Keith served on the boards of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center and Mentor, a National Mentoring Program. While living in Savannah, he served on the boards of the Telfair Museum of Art, the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the United Way, the Savannah Symphony and the Community Foundation. He was also a charter member of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Alison Lynch is an operations and marketing professional with nearly 20 years experience in venture development – assisting start-up companies and established small businesses achieve profitable growth. Beginning her career at Oracle, Alison gained the confidence of executives in three practice groups, which ultimately led to a position at Intelligent Interactions.
As the first employee and minority shareholder of Intelligent Interactions, Alison caught the entrepreneurial bug early and easily manipulated multiple roles: web designer, code writer, office and facilities manager, bookkeeper, HR director, and Corporate Secretary working with legal and accounting firms as well as creating Due Diligence documents for investor groups. Following an acquisition by 24/7 Real Media and an IPO in 1998, Alison was invited to join IMS Ventures, an early stage angel fund in Alexandria, Virginia.
At IMS Ventures, Alison was responsible for identifying and qualifying potential investment opportunities as well as serving as Corporate Secretary and Treasurer. She also fulfilled the duties of Vice President of Operations, ensuring the financials and other organizational tasks were managed for the business. 
Since leaving IMS in Alison has been involved in multiple startups as both an angel investor and C level executive.  She is a mentor in Nashville’s technology accelerator, Jumpstart Foundry, and in her role as COO BlueJar Media, LLC, she is instrumental in building the corporate vision and long term plans for the company.

Deborah Magid represents IBM’s $25 B software business in the company’s 12-year old Venture Capital Group. Her expertise spans several industries.
Deborah is responsible for sharing insights about emerging markets, technologies, and business models with venture firms and entrepreneurs around the world. She scouts for emerging business opportunities, and shares views on innovation and growth areas of the market. As a director of strategy in IBM Software Group, she also brings insight from the venture community to the development of IBM’s growth strategies. Deborah is responsible for fueling the ecosystem pipeline in strategic areas related to building a “smarter planet” and contributes to filling out the IBM product portfolio through M&A.
Deborah’s relationships are global and extend into emerging geographies. Deborah is a frequent spokes-person on topics of relevance to entrepreneurs and investors. She is the Incoming Chair of SVForum, the Silicon Valley emerging technology network; on the advisory board of White Bull, serving the European entrepreneurial and venture communities; and on the Steering Committee of the California Sustainability Alliance.
Previously, Deborah held positions in product management, marketing, and user-centered design at Taligent, GE Information Services and AT&T.
Deborah holds degrees in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Connecticut.

Michael C. McChesney is Founder, Chairman and CEO of StarPound Technologies, Inc. (also known as M1 Global Solutions, Inc.) Mr. McChesney served as a Partner at Five Paces Ventures Fund, L.P. and Five Paces Ventures, LP. He founded Budget Center Inc. He also founded SecureWare, Inc., in 1986. He has 20 years of experience in technology and venture capital investing. He has been the Founder or Chairman of four successful Internet-based technology companies: SecureWare,Inc., Technologics Inc., Security First Technologies, Inc., and WebTone Technologies, Inc. In 1992, Mr. McChesney spun Technologics, Inc. out of SecureWare and became its Chairman of the Board. In 1998, Mr. McChesney founded WebTone Technologies. In 1995, Mr. McChesney co-founded S1 Corporation and Security First Network Bank (SFNB), the first Internet bank. S1 was one of the top IPO’s of 1996; SFNB was sold to the Royal Bank of Canada in 1997. He was the Chairman of the Board in 1999. He served as a Director of Jacobs Capital LLC. Mr. McChesney is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton school of business.

Sig Mosley, known in Atlanta's tech startup circles as the "unwitting godfather of angel investing," is President of Imlay Investments, Inc., the personal investment company of John P. Imlay, Jr. Mosley has spent over two decades financing and mentoring Atlanta startups. He recently led funding and now manages Flashpoint Investments, the seed fund for the Flashpoint accelerator at Georgia Tech. Imlay Investments backed more than 120 technology companies since 1990, including blockbusters Internet Security Systems (sold to IBM), Witness Systems (IPO) and Tradex Technologies Inc. (sold to Ariba) Imlay and Mosley officially retired from angel investing in 2010, though they continue to manage investments in dozens of portfolio companies. Mosley holds a number of directorships in private companies including Contract Packaging, Inc., eQuorum Corporation; Invistics Corporation; Kelly Registration, Inc.; Photobooks, Inc.; Pramana, Inc.; Rotunda Corporation; SciHealth, Inc.; Skyway Software Inc; and USBA Holdings, Inc. In addition, he is a director of The Imlay Foundation, Inc., Techbridge, and Entrepreneurs Foundation of the Southeast as well as GATV, TiE, Southern Capital Forum, Atlanta CEO Council and TAG. He also serves on the ATDC advisory board and the investment committee of Gray Ghost Ventures.

Meghan Murphy is Senior Director of Alliances at the X PRIZE Foundation.
She joined the X PRIZE in 2008, bringing more than ten years of experience in business development, fundraising and financial and strategic market analysis. Ms. Murphy is responsible for identifying new opportunities and partnerships for the Foundation and serves as the liaison for other non-profit organizations, corporations, Foundation partners and the Board of Trustees and Vision Circle.
Previously, Ms. Murphy worked in business development for Yahoo! Search Marketing and spent four years on Wall Street as an Equity Research Analyst covering Major Chemicals and Industrial Gas companies for Salomon Smith Barney. Most recently, she served as a Senior Marketing Manager at ServiceSource, Inc., a technology services firm in San Francisco, where she was active in corporate positioning and messaging, market strategy, sales team enablement and demand generation activities.
Ms. Murphy earned a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles. While at Princeton, she won two NCAA Division 1 Squash Championships. At the Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Murphy was active in fundraising and supporting development programs for alumni around the world.

David Neubert is president of GenSpring's Nashville family office. Founded in 1989, GenSpring Family Offices, an affiliate of SunTrust Banks, Inc., is one of the nation’s premier wealth management firms for ultra-high net worth families. David works closely with families on a variety of wealth management issues, including estate and gift planning, philanthropy, family governance, and multi- generational planning. Prior to joining GenSpring, he served as a founder and director at The Perigee Group, a planning boutique working nationally with wealthy individuals and large family offices providing tax consulting services. Prior to The Perigee Group, David was a senior manager in Arthur Andersen's family wealth planning group where he helped clients throughout the United States meet their estate, succession, charitable, investment and income tax planning needs. David began his career in KPMG's personal financial planning practice. David is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He has held numerous securities and insurance licenses as part of his consulting. He received a B.A. degree in Business Administration from Rhodes College and a M.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Virginia.

Colin Raney is a Design Director and leads IDEO’s studio in Boston.
He specializes in designing new ventures around emerging technologies or consumer insights. He believes that good business is good design— to be successful, organizations need offerings, brands, services, and strategies that complement one another. Working with IDEO clients, Colin has developed brands, products, and service strategies for clients in a myriad of industries, including consumer technology, financial services, media & entertainment, and food & beverage. Prior to joining IDEO, Colin was an architect for large-scale software systems. His work has taken him around the world and allowed him to meet people from all walks of life. Somewhere along the way, he lost interest in machines and became fascinated by people; which is possibly how he ended up at IDEO. Colin holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon and a bachelor’s in Information Systems from the University of North Texas.

Glenn Ricart, CTO of US Ignite, is an Internet pioneer and entrepreneur who has worked across government, academia and industry in the continued development of the Internet. He is currently a Board Member and the Secretary of The Public Interest Registry. His has formerly been CEO of National LambdaRail, Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers Center for Advanced Research, Co-founder of three tech startups including CenterBeam, and Executive Vice President and CTO for Novell under three CEO’s including Eric Schmidt.

A former DARPA program manager and former military technology liaison to the Clinton White House, Dr. Ricart is renowned for bringing the ARPAnet protocols into academic and commercial use. While at the University of Maryland as the academic CIO in the '80s, he and his teams made the following innovations:


1. ∙ Created the first implementation of TCP/IP for the IBM PC
2. ∙ Created the first campus-wide TCP/IP network
3. ∙ Shipped and managed the software that powered the NSFnet, which was the first non-military TCP/IP national network
4. ∙ Created the first open Internet interchange point, the FIX and later MAE-EAST
5. ∙ Created the first operating NSFnet regional network, SURAnet.
6. ∙ He is also the author of the algorithm for distributed mutual exclusion in operating systems, which has been cited hundreds of times in other scholarly papers.

Jonathan Taplin is the Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC
and an accomplished writer, music and film producer, investment banker and entrepreneur. His early career included producing concerts for Bob Dylan, The Band and George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. He produced Martin Scorsese’s first major film, Mean Streets, and twelve other feature films with nominations for the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and six appearances at the Cannes Film Festival. He was VP for media M&A at Merrill Lynch and founded and led the first Internet Video-on-Demand firm, Intertainer, which today licenses to firms including Apple, Microsoft and Comcast.

Mike Tatum is a serial entrepreneur who grew up in Chattanooga. He is currently a co-founder at Whiskey Media, a social media company.
Since graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1994, Mike has worked in San Francisco, California with early stage and public Internet companies. At CNET Networks, now CBS Interactive, he closed over $100 million dollars of acquisitions that helped the company enter more general lifestyle media markets. He also led the investment in Auttomattic, the creators of the world’s most popular CMS, Wordpress. Prior to CNET, Mike worked in digital music where he helped create the Rhapsody music service.

Mike currently lives in Marin, California with his wife and two children.

Sharon is currently director of business incubation in the Emerging Technologies Group at Cisco. She is responsible for finding new businesses that can generate $1 billion worth of revenue and take Cisco into new adjacent markets. To find new ideas, Sharon and her team have managed the Cisco I-Prize global innovation competition and internal employee innovation site.
Sharon has more than 20 years of experience in the communications and software industry. She is a veteran of multiple start-up companies including Kalpana (acquired by Cisco), VXtreme (acquired by Microsoft), and Isilon Systems (acquired by EMC), where she held a variety of marketing and business development roles.
Sharon holds an MBA degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a B.S. and M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford.