Throughout her career, Pelin Wood Thorogood has been in the forefront of emerging technologies and trends. During her more than 15 years as a high technology marketing executive, Pelin has led the go-to-market strategy for WebSideStory's on-demand online marketing suite (acquired by Omniture), extended Peregrine Systems' enterprise software business (acquired by HP) into the web-based employee self service (ESS) category, and in the mid 90s, launched one the very first mobile B2B applications designed for the Windows CE platform. Her success with venture backed start-ups, rewarding creativity and speed, as well as public companies that thrive on process and fiscal discipline underscore the diversity of her skills and the strength of her approach. Currently Pelin sits on boards and advises new media and cloud computing companies focused on solving sales and marketing problems - Online Marketing and Media Company Online Marketing Connect; Sales Intelligence CompanyInsideView; Inbound Marketing Company Eightfold Logic, Content Delivery Network Limelight Networks; Web Analytics Consulting Company Technology Leaders; - and serves a virtual Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Pelin was also instrumental in defining theSales 2.0 Movement. She is a regular speaker and author on Social Selling, Establishing a Culture of Measurement, and Sales and Marketing Alignment and is recognized for her passion for the subjects by technology analysts and pundits alike. Most recently, Pelin was the Senior Vice President of Marketing for WebSideStory, a leading provider of real-time, multi-channel analytics solutions. Pelin holds a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research, Master of Engineering and MBA degrees, all from Cornell University. Her comments are from the November 2010 Strategic Marketing Conference sponsored by the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.
Bruce Failing has been an entrepreneur, private equity and venture investor and turnaround specialist with successes in the areas of technology, media and consumer packaged goods. Over his 35-year career, Bruce has acted as CEO, founder, investor and board member of numerous growth companies, resulting in an IRR of 60%. Prior to co-founding Alerion in 2004, Bruce led investments in Productivity Solutions, Actmedia, Lamaze Publishing, Newborn Channel, Tone Brothers Spice Company and ERS International.Bruce sits on the Board of Directors of ScentAir, EnviroScent, True Citrus, InStadium, HydroMassage and Convergence Marketing.
Bruce received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.
Gil Crawford is the CEO of MicroVest Capital Management. He has over 20 years experience with microfinance institutions and capital markets and has worked extensively in Latin America and Africa, as well as in Asia. MicroVest Capital Management is the first private microfinance investment firm in the United States. Crawford has grown the company from a single $30MM debt and equity fund to a global microfinance intermediary, most recently originating and servicing a $39MM collateralized loan obligation with Lehman Brothers and acting as a sub-advisor to eBay's MicroPlace.
Previously, Crawford worked for the Latin American Financial Markets Division at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and focused on investments in microfinance institutions. Prior to joining IFC, Mr. Crawford created and ran Seed Capital Development Fund, a US based non-profit firm, involved in creating financial instruments and attracting funds to capitalize microfinance institutions, primarily in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Before founding SCDF, Crawford was the Assistant Project Director for Africa Venture Capital Project, a $7.1 million USAID contract designed to create risk capital firms in Africa. Crawford received his bank training at Chase Manhattan Bank in the mid-80's after working in Africa for the Red Cross and State Department.
Gil Crawford graduated from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in 1983 and Bates College in 1980.
Leland Pillsbury is a venture capitalist with a special focus on the hospitality industry. He is the Founder, Co-Chairman and CEO of Thayer Lodging Group, a privately held hotel real estate investment firm which ranks among the top 5% of top performers among all private real estate firms. He is also the cofounder and chairman of TIG Global, an internet marketing company serving over 1,500 hotels around the world, cofounder and chairman of EMC Venues, the largest resort and conference center marketing representation firm in the country, cofounder and chairman of Thayer Insurance Group, providing specialized insurance coverages to hotel and hospitality firms, cofounder of HUBS1, providing the only Global Distribution System and central reservations systems to the domestic Chinese hotel and airline industries, and cofounder of HQuant, a financial and analytical firm serving the hospitality industry and publisher of the HQuant Lodging Real Estate Index. He is a principal and director in several other companies both inside and outside the hospitality industry.
Pillsbury launched Grande Heritage Hotels in 1989 and sold the company in 1991, after serving 20 years at Marriott International, where he was Marriott's youngest Executive Vice President and corporate officer. Mr. Pillsbury served as the head of Strategic Planning for the lodging business, participated in the acquisition of a time sharing business, led the venture team that developed and launched Fairfield Inns, acquired the Residence Inns Company, and introduced several brand extensions. During this period, Marriott experienced a four fold increase in sales, a five fold increase in profits, and an eight fold increase in its market capitalization. At the time of his departure, he was responsible for $1 billion in annual capital development projects and over 18,000 employees. After his departure, he participated in the acquisition of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company by Marriott International. In 1991 he founded Thayer Lodging Group.
Leland Pillsbury received his BS degree from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and an Executive MBA from Northwestern University's J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Howard Morgan has been President of Arca Group, Inc. since 1989 and also serves as a Director of Idealab. Arca Group, Inc. is a consulting and venture capital investment management firm specializing in the area of computer and communications technologies. In 2005, he confounded First Round Capital, an early stage venture fund based outside of Philadelphia, PA
Morgan served as Professor of Decision Sciences at The Wharton School, and Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at The Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1972 through 1985. He has been a Visiting Professor at the California Institute of Technology and the Harvard Business School.
Howard Morgan received a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University and a B.S. in physics from City College of the City University of New York.
Kathleen O'Connor is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University's Johnson School. She is an organizational psychologist who studies negotiation, teamwork, and decision making. Much of her recent research focuses on how negotiations link together over time. One stream of work shows that past negotiation experiences direct negotiators' choice of tactics and their performance in successive negotiations. A second stream investigates how negotiators' reputations affect them and their potential for success at the bargaining table. As part of this research, she has explored how negotiators' confidence in their skills changes as a function of their negotiation successes or failures, and how it affects their tactical decision making and the quality of their deals.
O'Connor's recent projects investigate the development of individual social capital. She applies theories of individual cognition and interpersonal behavior to study the conditions under which people recognize and exploit opportunities for building social capital. She is a member of a team of networks experts from Cornell University whose work is sponsored by the Institute for the Social Sciences.
Her research has been published in such journals as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Making, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
O'Connor joined the faculty at Cornell University in 1997. She has been a member of the faculty at Rice University, and has been a visiting faculty member at Northwestern University, and at the London Business School.
Kathleen O'Connor earned a BS from Cornell University and an AM and PhD in social and organizational psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Paul Polman was appointed an Executive Director of Unilever in October 2008. He assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer on 1st January 2009.
Paul began his career at Procter & Gamble in 1979 and was group president Europe and officer of the Procter & Gamble Company until 2001.
Prior to joining Unilever, Paul was chief financial officer of Nestlé S.A. from January 2006 as well as executive vice president for the Americas from February 2008.
Paul serves as President of the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust and Chairman of Perkins International Advisory Board. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the European Round Table, the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce. He is on the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum where he co-chairs the Board Strategy and the Sustainability Committees. He is a Trustee of both the Leverhulme Trust and Asia House, a former board member of Alcon and, since February 2010, a non-executive director of the Dow Chemical Company.
Married with three children, Paul enjoys reading, marathon running, and mountaineering, but his main passion is for his role in running the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust.
Paul earned a BBA/BA from the University of Groningen, Netherlands, in 1977 and an MA in economics and MBA in finance/international marketing from the University of Cincinnati in 1979. He has honorary degrees from the Universities of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK (2000) and the University of Cincinnati, US (2009).
Thatcher Bell is a Principal at DFJ Gotham.
Prior to joining DFJ Gotham, Bell was a Senior Analyst at North Hill Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of Capital One Financial. While at North Hill, he evaluated investments in financial technology, enterprise software and technology-enabled services companies, and was a deal team member for DealerTrack, Compete (acquired by comScore), Higher One, and Exchange Solutions.
Before joining North Hill, Bell was Manager of Business Development at OpenPages, an enterprise software vendor, where he oversaw an acquisition and developed channel partnerships in the U.S. and Europe. Previously, he was the third employee at SharkTank, an online marketplace connecting lawyers and potential clients. Thatcher began his career as a consultant at Ernst & Young (now Cap Gemini Ernst & Young), working on competitive strategy and process improvement projects in the financial services, telecommunications, and health care industries.
Thatcher Bell has a B.S. cum laude in Engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Noah Goodhart is a New York-based entrepreneur who has spent the last 10 years starting, running and investing in internet companies. Along with his brother and partner Jonah, Goodhart started his first internet company at Cornell, an early online advertising company called Colonize.com. He went on to become co-CEO of Smarter Ad Group, a leading online customer acquisition firm. Goodhart was also a founding investor and Board member of Right Media, the leading online advertising exchange which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007.
Goodhart is a partner in WGI Group, a seed stage fund which has invested in over 20 early stage technology companies, and serves on the Board of several portfolio companies. Goodhart recently founded Moat, which is a new type of advertising company. His first internet job was in 1996 as an intern at the White House, where he helped build whitehouse.gov.
Noah Goodhart holds a BA, summa cum laude, from Cornell University, an MA, from Yale University, and is on leave from the PhD program in political science at Yale, which he paused to pursue his entrepreneurial activities.