<p>Erica Retblatt is the Human Resources Manager at Hillstone Restaurant Group. Prior to her role at Hillstone, Retblatt had assorted experience in the hospitality industry including working as a sommelier in a three-star restaurant and later moving into management roles.</p> <p>Retblatt shared her experiences as a woman in business on a panel of "Women In Business" presented by Cornell University's Career Center.</p> <p>Erica Retblatt received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University and received a Masters of Management in Hospitality (MMH) from Cornell University. </p>
<p>Alison Gerlach is a successful entrepreneur and business executive with expertise in and passion for building businesses. After doing extensive research in optimizing the business start-up process, Gerlach went on to build businesses in industries including technology, entertainment services, consumer packaged goods, and professional services. Prior to her entrepreneurial endeavors, she was a strategic management consultant and an overseas investment banker. </p> <p>In addition to building and growing her current venture, "Allie's Edibles", Gerlach spends a great deal of her time teaching, consulting to both start-up and large corporations, and giving lectures to both business and academic audiences on optimizing the business start-up process. </p> <p>Alison Gerlach earned a BA in economics from Cornell University and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management.</p>
Sara Jobin made history in 2004 as the first woman to conduct on the mainstage subscription series at San Francisco Opera. She conducted performances of Puccini's Tosca with Carol Vaness in the title role and Wagner's Flying Dutchman with Juha Uusitalo and Nina Stemme; the following season she conducted multiple performances of Bellini's Norma. Jobin has also led performances for the San Francisco Opera Center. Prior to her six years as an assistant with the San Francisco Opera, she conducted for Opera San Jose for four years. Her recording with Frederica von Stade of the music of Chris Brubeck has recently come out on the Koch International Classics label; it features the Tassajara Symphony, an organization she led for four years after its founding in 1998. She has also conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, The Women's Philharmonic, Oakland East Bay Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, and Toledo Symphony. At age 16 she attended Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, where she was named a Leonard Bernstein Music Scholar. After graduation, as a John Knowles Paine Travelling Fellow, she studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School. In 1999 she was the first recipient of the JoAnn Falletta Award, given by The Women's Philharmonic in recognition of a young female conductor of outstanding promise.
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.
<p>Joy J. Martin is known as the HR Insider. She has worked with the Career Changer Company and with some of the top financial services, advertising and professional services consulting companies in the world including HSBC, IBM, Bearing Point, J. Walter Thompson and others. With her background as a Corporate Recruiter and HR Manager, Joy shares the inside scoop on what it really takes to get hired. Joy is exceptionally positive, supportive and compassionate as she helps individuals uncover their lifeâ€[TM]s passion, find work they love and navigate the current challenging job market and hiring process. </p> <p>Joy Martin is a graduate of Colgate University.</p>
Reshma Saujani is a lawyer, politician and founder of the tech organization Girls Who Code. She was previously the Deputy Public Advocate at the Office of the New York City Public Advocate. Reshma Saujani attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she graduated in 1997 with majors in Political Science and Speech Communication. She attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she received a Master of Public Policy in 1999, and Yale Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor in 2002.
Amanda Eilian is the Co-founder and President of Videolicious. Amanda Eilian received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown and her MBA from Harvard.
Nadja Schnetzler is the CEO and Co-Founder of BrainStore and the author of "The Idea Machine". In the Swiss company BrainStore, ideas are produced in the same way as products - made-to-order and on a conveyor belt. The BrainStore ideas machine is an innovation model which functions on engineering principles and makes this idea generation possible. Nadja Schnetzler studied at the Ringier School of Journalism in Zurich, Switzerland.
Tricia M. Barry is the Director of Communications at Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences. Tricia M. Barry received her undergraduate degree from Webster University.