Robert Katz is a Knowledge & Communications Associate at Acumen Fund.
Before joining Acumen Fund, Rob Katz was an Associate with the Markets and Enterprise Program of the World Resources Institute. Katz researches, writes and speaks about "base of the pyramid" business approaches to poverty alleviation and environmental degradation. He is the co-founder and co-Managing Editor of www.NextBillion.net, a web site and blog about enterprise and development. As a principal analyst of household survey data and co-author for The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid (March, 2007), he studied BOP market structure and spending patterns extensively.
Katz has consulted with a number of Fortune 500 corporations on BOP strategy, spoken to conferences around the world, and done scenario work for institutions such as the XPRIZE Foundation and the Institute for the Future, among others.
Rob Katz holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Georgetown University.
Zack Schildhorn is an Associate with Lux Capital, based in the firm's New York headquarters. Zack has been working with Lux since 2006, focusing on investments in energy and novel materials.
Before joining Lux, Schildhorn received his B.S. cum laude from Cornell University's College of Engineering, where he developed his own curriculum to study materials science engineering and business entrepreneurship. After being accepted into a highly selective dual-degree program, Schildhorn pursued his MBA at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, where he helped teach in the entrepreneurship and private equity immersion program.
Liam Hoban is a Project Manager for Adidas America.
Liam Hoban is a graduate of Cornell University.
James Ioannidis is the Chief Technology Officer at The College Freeway. The College Freeway was launched in September 2007. The company's mission is to create an online library on which college students and faculty pubish and view academic documents. For example, students may contribute documents that they have created themselves (Outlines, Study Guides, Notes, Formula Sheets, Essays, Research Papers, Etc.). And faculty may contribute work that they have created as well (Practice Tests & Questions, Problem Sets, Labs, Etc.). The College Freeway team is based out of Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA with a supporting satelite team based out of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
James Ioannidis received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Jeremy Riney started Project Playlist in February, 2006 as a weekend hobby. After launching a MySpace widget for Project Playlist, the site traffic exploded. Recently ranked by Comscore as one of the fastest growing sites on the internet, Project Playlist now has over 14 million registered users (growing at 50,000 new registrations per day) and 15 million playlist widgets embedded all over the internet. The mission at Project Playlist, Inc. is help people find and enjoy music legally throughout the web in the same way that other search engines help people find webpages, images, and other media.
Jeremy has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience that focus around his passions for the Internet and online music and a yet-unfilled passion for theme parks. Jeremy started Music America Records, an online record label and music publishing company. After Music America Records, he simultaneously started Bluewire Connect and Praise Collection. Bluewire Connect provided custom branded social networks to recording artists and then expanded to colleges, universities, companies and organizations. Praise Collection acquired the rights to thousands of hours of rare, live performances featuring some of the world's most famous gospel and country artists including Chet Atkins, CeCe Winans, Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams and many others. The performances were compiled into a subscription DVD service and sold through direct marketing channels.
In college, Jeremy started a textbook rental business, an online customer acquisition company and an online ticketing business. In his spare time he found time to work for the Disneyland Resort as a tour guide and guest relations host.
Matt Dacey is President and Chairperson of Cornell University Johnson School's Venture Capital Club. In addition, he is the founder and CEO of CustomGrocery.com and OneClickGrocery.com which he has been running for four years.
CustomGrocery includes custom software focused on online grocery startups across the country. The Custom Grocery team develops grocery software for startups and grocery stores looking to enter the online grocery shopping industry.
OneClickGrocery is an online grocery delivery company dedicated to campus communities.
Matt Dacey is currently pursuing his MBA at the Johnson School at Cornell University. He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University.
Eben Bayer is CEO and Co-founder of Ecovative Design.
Before founding Ecovative, Bayer worked at Applied Research Associates. During his time with ARA, Bayer designed components of multiple remotely operated vehicles, including the armor for a US Marine humanitarian de-mining vehicle, and the production molds for a small reconnaissance drone.
Eben Bayer received a dual B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design and Innovation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May of 2007.
Marissa Goodman was the marketing manager for Celebrity Brands at Steve & Barry's from 2006-2008 where she oversaw creative production and promotions. Marissa is now an account executive for Verizon at Momentum, an event marketing agency located in New York City.
Marissa Goodman is a graduate of Cornell University.
Onesh Subasinghe is the Managing Director of Opex Holdings, Ltd.
Onesh Subasinghe is a graduate of Cornell University.