Nancy Robbins is the founder and co-owner of Old McDonald's Farm. Located in the 1000 Islands region of New York, Old McDonald's Farm focuses on education and agri-entertainment. The operation has been hosting school children and families at the 1200 acre working dairy and crop farm since 1986.
Beckie Robertson is a Managing Director specializing in early-stage investing in medical devices and diagnostics at Versant. Beckie’s career encompasses 23 years of venture capital and operating experience in medical products as an engineer, entrepreneur, corporate executive and investor. Before co-founding Versant, Beckie was a general partner at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). From 1994-1996, Beckie served as Senior Vice President at Chiron Diagnostics, a division of Chiron Corporation, where she had responsibility for the $200 million Critical Care business unit. In addition, Beckie was Vice President of Business Development where she led numerous deals in support of Chiron Diagnostics business and technology objectives. Prior to joining Chiron, she was a co-founder and Vice President at Egis, an IVP portfolio company, and held senior management positions in operations and finance at Lifescan, a Johnson & Johnson Company. During her seven-year term at Lifescan, the company grew from an early-stage venture-funded company to a worldwide market leader in diabetes diagnostics. She received her undergraduate degree in Engineering from Cornell University.
<p>Larry Robertson has spent more than two decades in the entrepreneurial universe in roles ranging from advisor to investor and many in between. In 1992, he founded Lighthouse Consulting, which, appropriately, guides entrepreneurial ventures, their leaders, and those who invest in them. Robertson frequently lectures on entrepreneurship at Georgetown and Cornell Universities and is a recognized expert on entrepreneurship in public, private, and academic forums.</p> <p>Robertson is on the Board of Directors of Handwriting Without Tears and Really Great Reading, serves as Vice Chair of Netpreneur, and sits on the advisory boards of several other organizations. His professional journey includes roles with investment banking and venture capital firm Robertson, Stephens & Company, JP Morgan, and the Walt Disney Company.</p> <p>Robertson is the author of A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its Moment in Human Progress, a game-changing book about the power of entrepreneurship and the truth behind everyone's ability to access it.</p> <p>Larry Robertson is a graduate of both Stanford University and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.</p>
<p>Kai Robertson has over 20 years of experience in the food industry and has spent the last eight specifically focused on promoting more sustainable business practices. This has included helping companies understand their environmental footprint, strengthening relationships with stakeholders, and speaking frequently to industry and executive audiences about why sustainability matters to the food industry.</p> <p>Most recently, Kai was Director, Business & Industry, Food and Agriculture Sector at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Prior to joining WWF in 2006, Kai was at Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business as Director of Food & Agriculture where she directed the day-to-day management of CI's relationship with Wal-Mart and was heavily involved in shaping Wal-Mart's environmental sustainability strategy. Before CI, Kai directed private sector initiatives at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an organization dealing with pesticides and food safety, farm policy and other key issues related to public health and the environment. She also spent eight years at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the leading supermarket trade association in the U.S. Kai began her career in investment banking.</p> <p>Kai Robertson has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.</p>
Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He has worked with national governments in Europe and Asia, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, national and state education systems, non-profit corporations and some of the world's leading cultural organizations. They include the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the Royal Ballet, the Hong Academy for Performing Arts, the European Commission, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the J Paul Getty Trust and the Education Commission of the States.
He was principal author of The Arts in Schools: Principles, Practice and Provision, the report of a national inquiry 1982 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. This is now established as a key text on arts and education in Britain and internationally. He was editor of The Arts and Higher Education, 1984 Gulbenkian and the Leverhulme Trust, and principal writer for the Department of Education and Science of The Arts in Further Education published in 1986.
From 1985-89, he was Director of The Arts in Schools Project, a national initiative to develop the arts in primary and secondary schools throughout England and Wales. The project was funded by the National Curriculum Council and local education authorities, and worked closely with the Arts Council, Crafts Council, and the British Film Institute, the Regional Arts Boards, and the National Foundation for Educational Research. The project worked with over 2000 teachers, artists, and cultural administrators in a network of over 300 practical initiatives throughout the country.
From 1989 - 2001, he was Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick, one of the five leading research universities in the UK.
In 1998, he was invited by the UK Government to establish and lead a national commission on creativity, education and the economy. The Commission brought together leading business people, scientists, artists and educators. His report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to huge acclaim. He was a central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture.
Sir Ken Robinson earned a PhD from the University of London in 1981. He was knighted in June 2003 by Queen Elizabeth II for his achievements in creativity, education and the arts.
Jacqueline Robinson is the owner of PR Crowd Ltd.
Previously, with her husband, Robinson owned Gems Agency, an event staffing agency. Their clients in the UK and Europe included BBC, Mattel UK Ltd, Brother, Hewlett Packard, Renault, Kodak and Pirelli Tyres.
In addition, Robinson worked with The Financial Times as an event coordinator to pull together their Exhibition and conferences in London.
Cheryl Rogowski expanded the family farm, created in 1955 by her father, Walter, to include hundreds of varieties of fruits and vegetables and a division called Cheryline's Fancies. Nearly everything about the original farm has changed, including the complete transition from wholesale onions to diverse retail produce and the multiplication (from 15 to 150 acres) of black dirt.
Part of this transition was a result of fungal disease pressure from monocropping, but another factor was Cheryl's desire to grow less common but beautiful varieties of fruits and vegetables that she was reading about and experimenting with in her home kitchen.
The W. Rogowski farm sells its produce at the farmers' markets of New York City and the surrounding community under the leadership of Cheryl's brother, Mike. Involvement with other vendors and Community Supported Agriculture programs, such as the nonprofit Just Food, has helped the farm overcome challenges such as marketing and setting up effective and durable displays. Cheryl credits her ability to persevere despite these challenges and inherent risks as the main reason for the farm's successful bottom line.
Jessica Crolick Rolph is founding partner and COO of HappyFamily, a start-up company that produces and markets fresh-frozen, all organic baby and toddler meals. Previously she worked at Whole Foods in national purchasing for SPINS, the leading provider of information to the natural products industry. She also has worked with Lance Armstrong's business agent to develop the concept for the Lance Armstrong branded food line. Based on Newman's Own business model, all proceeds were to benefit Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Jessica Crolick Rolph received an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University in 2004, and was awarded a full MBA scholarship, the Park Leadership Fellowship, for leadership in socially responsible business.
As part of that fellowship, she helped launch Ithaca Fine Chocolates, a socially responsible, fair-trade-certified organic chocolate company based in Ithaca that makes and markets "Art Bars". Each chocolate bar features a card with a reproduction of work by local artists or international children's art. The students developed a business plan, including a financial accounting system and pricing model for the chocolate bars; helped source their manufacture; created a distribution plan using multiple channel; and developed a relationship with Whole Foods as a key sales partner.
In addition to holding an MBA from Cornell University, Jessica Crolick Rolph also received her BA from Cornell.
Ofer Ronen is co-founder and CEO of Sendori, which provides innovative monetization solutions to large web domainers.
Ronen leads the strategy development and day-to-day operations at Sendori. Previously, he was a partner at Big Red Ventures, a seed level investment firm. In addition, he led development of Web applications at U.S. Trust, managed online magazine subscription systems at Time Warner, and founded a b-to-b e-commerce startup named Karanga.
Ofer Ronen holds a MS/BS in computer engineering from the University of Michigan, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Ronen also completed the accelerated MBA program at Cornell, graduating with distinction.
Shelley Rosen is CEO and Founder of Airlift Ideas, Inc. Airlift Ideas is based in Chicago and specializes in creating brand vitality by assisting companies in developing business-building ideas. Rosen's has over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, on both the client and agency sides. As an executive at McDonald's Corp., she directed major efforts in the areas of new business development, brand leadership and issues management. She most recently led the global strategy for McDonald's on the Balanced Lifestyles issue bringing over $500 million in new business and repositioned the brand. This led to the introduction of new menu items globally, building alliances with advocates in the U.S. government and leading scientists and expert doctors around the world. Prior to this role, Shelley was responsible for new business invention and brand positioning reporting to the CEO of McDonald's. In addition to working for Fortune 50 brands for leading advertising agencies like, Leo Burnett, Young and Rubicam and Foote, Cone and Belding she has also managed accounts for blue chip companies. Her client experience ranges from emerging to established brands and companies including; Frito-Lay, Pepsi-Cola, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Chevron Oil. Shelley Rosen holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Michigan.
Harris Rosen has been President of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Tamar Inns, since 1974.
Rosen served three years in the United States Army as an officer in Germany and South Korea. He began his professional career at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City as a convention salesman. He occupied various management positions in some of the larger Hilton hotels and eventually joined the Disney Company in California as Director of Hotel Planning. He left Disney to purchase the 256 room Quality Inn on International Drive in 1974.
Harris Rosen received his Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.
Aron Rosenberg is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for SightSpeed.
Rosenberg has over seven years of research, development, operational and management experience at both startups, academic institutions and large corporations. Most recently Aron was the Senior Researcher at Cornell University's DISCOVER Lab where he was responsible for day-to-day operations and long term research. He is also the author of publications in the field of high performance video. His work experience also includes various roles at Carr America, Naval Surface Warfare Center, and DSR, Inc.
Aron Rosenberg holds a Bacelor's degree in Engineering from Cornell University with a Major in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Human-Computer Interaction.