22 July 2021
Showcase and Pitch Pit
ForumLocation:
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New Enterprise Forum invites anyone interested in entrepreneurship to join us for an ONLINE Forum Meeting. Join us to ask questions, keep pace with local entrepreneurs, and connect with people who support the local start-up community.
Showcase Presentation
An entrepreneur who has perfected a ten minute investor pitch with the help of NEF coaches will present their company and take questions from the audience.
Plumly
Patrick Ciccarelli is Co-Founder and CEO of Plumly, a sales engagement platform for the IT service provider sector. He also founded and led Varsity Technologies as CEO; a San Francisco IT service provider. Patrick began consulting with K-12 schools and non-profit organizations in the early 1990s after several years as an educator. His career has spanned 3 decades focused on the use of technology to improve social good. Patrick has held leadership positions with the Ingram-Micro (IM) Services Advisory Council and VentureTech Network. Patrick is co-author of four technology books: Networking Foundations, CCNA Jumpstart, CCDP Exam Notes, and MCSE Jumpstart from Wiley, Inc. Patrick holds a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology.
Pitch Pit
This month, selected entrepreneurs will each give a four-minute pitch of their business idea to a panel of investor judges in a “Shark Tank” format. Prototypes and visual aids are encouraged but no Power Point presentations. After each pitch, the judges will give detailed feedback and score the business. At the end of the evening, the person with the highest score will receive a $250 cash prize.
Contestants
Chris Budnik is the Founder of Heiroom Inc., a platform for families to share and document their history.
Anita Greene is the Founder of Bark Park 24, an indoor dog walking park that will actually resemble an outdoor park. It will be open 24 hours a day to accommodate all schedules.
Mara Willemin is Head of Growth for Trustpage, a single, connected hub for customers and vendors to establish trust, assisted by AI.
Judges
Anne Partington of U-M Tech Transfer is the Commercialization Director for the Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization (MTRAC Innovation Hub for Advanced Transportation) Program. A veteran of the automotive industry, Anne comes to U-M Tech Transfer with more than twenty years of global leadership experience at FCA (Stellantis) and General Motors across purchasing, program management, and product development engineering as well as a deep bench in corporate training experience in purchasing strategy, culture building, and transformational leadership. Most recently, Anne was a director of Entrepreneurial Services, managing director of the SPARK East innovation center and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lead for the regional economic development organization Ann Arbor SPARK. Anne worked with public/private sector partners and companies to promote inclusive economic opportunity while mentoring high tech companies to scale and commercialize in her role as an entrepreneurial services and DEI leader. Anne earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from U-M, followed by an MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Anne is also trained in diversity and inclusion, is a certified professional innovator, serves on CADIA’s board of advisors, and the 2021 Women In Mobility Board.
Kory Scheiber is a Business Consultant for the Greater Washtenaw Region of the Michigan Small Business Development Center. Whether it is one-on-one consulting or facilitating workshops, Kory works with all types of clients, through a spectrum of industries, to help them plan and grow their businesses. He has been teaching entrepreneurship with The Business Side of Youth for over ten years, and is part-time faculty at Washtenaw Community College. Kory also serves as the Board Treasurer for Digital Inclusion, a non-profit refurbishing technology for underserved communities in southeast Michigan. Recently, he was the Business Development Representative for the Detroit Micro-enterprise Fund Corporation where he assembled loan packages, presented to the Loan Committee, maintained relationships with the local community development corporations, local businesses, and training programs. He took applicants through the loan process from business planning through launch and growth. He holds four degrees through his MBA with undergraduate and graduate concentrations in Entrepreneurship. He has worked two and a half years in Retail as a Certified Lawn and Garden Specialist. He also spent twelve and a half years in Design and Build to Order Manufacturing where he served as; Assembly Technician, Tool Crib Supervisor, Shipping Receiving Manager, Project Manager, and Repair Department Manager.
Networking
At the conclusion of the Pit Pitch, stick around and network with your fellow attendees over ZOOM. We will break out into smaller groups so that you can rub virtual elbows with the movers and shakers of Ann Arbor's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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Martin Dober
Katie Hall
Jeffrey Mason
Dr. Nestor Lopez-Duran
Terrence J.L. Reeves
Nicolas Théorêt
Danny Beckett Jr.
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Allison Murdock.jpg)
John Aron is the owner of Aronetics, an Ohio-based company offering offensive and defensive tools services in the area of infrastructure security. John attended Kent State University.
Richard L. Bollinger is developing a browser-based project management platform and collaboration tool for organizations in regulated industries, like medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Rick is CEO of Menlo Park Associates, a management consulting firm based in Ann Arbor, MI. and has two degrees from the University of Michigan: a Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering (cum laude) and a Master's degree in computer engineering..jpg)
Rhys Gogonis the founder of AUXIN Games, a video game design company that creates educational, fun, and engaging gaming software that changes the way students interact with biological concepts. Rhys is a recent graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Microbiology. 
Jack Miner
Jeffrey Basch
John Freshley
Mike Klein
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John Haas is the founder of Illuminate Prosthetic, offering a software app which prosthetic providers will have their patients use to track and summarize information about the fit, comfort level, pain location and pain intensity. John is a a Prosthetics and Orthotics Master's Student at Eastern Michigan University and will be graduating this April. He believes creating platforms for efficient business practices within healthcare can significantly improve patient care and streamline the insurance billing process.
Arohi Jain is the founder and CEO at BreezeBubble, offering a smart mask designed for high comfort and protection. Arohi has a background in Computer Science Engineering and recently graduated from the Master of Management program at the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan. 
Benjamin Shniper is the founder of Pittsburgh Financial Advisors and is developing AI products to help hedge funds to make returns that exceed the market. As a CMU-trained computer scientist with 10 years of AI and Cloud architecture experience, his history includes being a registered financial advisor and technology consultant helping early stage start ups building products from scratch which got funding, customers.
Fathi Abdelsalam
Evan Ufer
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Anthony Montalbano
Jacqueline Sun and Taylor Hurley from the University of Michigan Zell Lurie Institute will present Brassi. They are passionate about entrepreneurship and the health food space and joined forces in November of 2020 to bring their vision to life. Brassi is a start-up focused on providing an easy-to-make, shelf stable, and flavorful cauliflower oats bowl as full-nutrition oatmeal. Each flavorful ‘cauli-oats bowl’ contains a plant-based protein, fiber, healthy fat, complex carb, and (hidden) vegetable. 
Jake Roach from the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship at Michigan State University will present CAPNOS. CAPNOS' mission is to prevent some lung diseases with a better alternative to vaping that addresses the behavioral addiction to vaping. The CAPNOS Zero uses only air but provides a deep-hit sensation with flavor that has already helped test users quit vaping successfully. After graduation, Jake hopes to continue working with CAPNOS to help people live happier, healthier lifestyles and help save lives along the way.
Gavin Hubbard from the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship at Michigan State University will present Catch Software. Gavin also held the position of Battalion Commander of MSU Army ROTC in 2020 and will be commissioned as a Logistics Officer in 2021. Catch is an app which allows users to see a running feed of everyone at their same location. Whether you are at a concert, bar, club, business conference, stadium, or anywhere else. Catch makes it easier to connect with others, turning a real space, into a virtual one.
Diane Bouis
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CardioGenerics offers innovative, reusable/disposable surgical devices. CardioGenerics has redesigned the traditional, single-use, disposable heart stabilizer into single-use suction pods that snap onto a multiple-use flexible arm. The hard-to-clean, blood contact parts are designed for single use. The flexible arm is expensive. Hospitals can clean and re-sterilize the flexible arm multiple times at half the cost of single-use heart stabilizers. These products will save a hospital $1300 or 4.2% for every surgery done on Medicare patients. These savings could be the difference between profit and loss for Medicare reimbursed surgeries. This patent pending innovation of splitting single use devices into single and multiple use components could disrupt the $156 billion medical device market. 
Terence Craig is Director of Entrepreneurship at The Impact Seat and is responsible for a portfolio of over 60 companies and several venture funds. Terence is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and worked for startups for almost his entire career. A few years ago, Terence decided to use his expertise and experience as a black founder and a deep technologist to support other “non-traditional” founders in navigating the startup landscape. Terence joined the executive team at Astia Angels and ran a pilot program of investment and support for Women of Color called the Representation Program. Terence is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Aziz Gilani is a Managing Director at Mercury Fund, where he focuses on investments in enterprise SaaS, Cloud and data science startups. Outside of Mercury, Aziz serves in advisory roles for the Mayor of Houston’s Tech and Innovation Council, Seed Accelerator Rankings, and SXSW Interactive. He is also an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business where he teaches a course on venture capital. Aziz is a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program through the Center for Venture Education, where he completed industry-defining field work on Seed Accelerators.
Krish Ramadurai is a Principal at Neue Fund – an early-stage venture capital fund that invests at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and deep technology. Neue Fund utilizes evidence-based approaches to invest in and scale breakthrough scientific innovations to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. Neue Fund’s portfolio consists of 30+ companies cumulatively valued at more than $2B. Furthermore, Mr. Ramadurai is a multi-published scientific author, scholar, and researcher. He earned an MBA in healthcare and strategy from Washington University in St. Louis, a master’s degree in biology from Harvard University, and bachelor’s degree in integrative biology and economics with a chemistry minor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
David Wezdenko is Founder and CEO of Blue Leaf Ventures. Since 2018, Blue Leaf has been actively building an investment portfolio of diverse, compelling, high growth start-up companies. David provides advice and guidance on critical focus areas including financial management, capital raising, scaling for growth and network building. Prior to founding Blue Leaf Ventures, David held senior executive positions, including COO roles within the J.P. Morgan U.S. Wealth Management and Investment Management businesses. Additionally, David was CFO and CAO at Evercore Partners, helping to lead that company through a successful IPO. David is a graduate of Boston College and active in several organizations with missions that focus on education and empowerment for underserved populations in New York City.
Patti Glaza, EVP & Managing Director of Invest Detroit, will moderate the panel. Ms. Glaza joined Invest Detroit in 2014 with over 25 years of experience in the tech sector. Her primary responsibilities include sourcing and facilitating the development of early-stage and high-growth companies by providing guidance and investment capital. Previously, Ms. Glaza managed the Michigan office for Arsenal Venture Partners, a national venture capital firm focused on IT, energy, and industrial technologies. Ms. Glaza is an advisor/board member for organizations that include: Michigan Venture Capital Association, The Great Lakes Protection Fund, University of Michigan’s M-TRAC – Advanced Transportation Oversight Committee, and GreenLight Detroit. She holds director positions for portfolio start-ups Genomenon, MicroLam, HT Mobile and Ripple Sciences. Ms. Glaza is an active entrepreneurial instructor for the NSF/NIH I-Corps. She earned a BA in International Relations/Economics from Michigan State University and and an MBA from the University of Michigan - Ross School of Business.
Randy Kuckuck is co-inventor of the ZoomBroom and CEO of Aceleon, the company which is developing the ZoomBroom. ZoomBroom makes cleaning off your deck, patio, sidewalks, and steps a breeze. Its slim, lightweight design makes it easy to store in a convenient location in your home, so it is always handy and ready to tackle these cleaning challenges. Leaf blowers are great for clearing leaves off your yard in the fall, but the ZoomBroom is designed for more common, everyday tasks around the house.
Katie Bigelow is the owner and founder of Mettle Ops, an engineering and federal contract consulting company centered on Warfighters Serving Warfighters. Katie started Mettle Ops in 2013 knowing defense contracting was the place where she could make an impact for the warfighter. Mettle Ops has won 9 contracts since that start in 2015 and have been awarded over $33 million in Army contracts, including a prime government contract worth over $19 million. Katie spent ten years in the US Army, first an enlisted soldier and completing her last seven years as a warrant officer and Army aviator. With over 1,000 flight hours including two years in combat, Katie is experienced in intense environments and critical decision making. 
Linda M. Fingerle, CPA, MBA is President and Managing Director of Tappan Hill Ventures and has over 25 years of business and finance experience, including eight years serving as CFO and Principal of EDF Ventures in Ann Arbor. While at EDF, she served as a board member and acting CFO for a tech start-up internet technology company. Earlier, Linda served on the board and was Audit Committee Chair for Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. a Michigan based biotech company. She provided strategic & financial consulting to an Ann Arbor based biotech start-up culminating in a successful exit in 2009. Linda earned her MBA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University.
Gwen Jimmere is CEO and founder of Naturalicious and has cemented her place in history as the first African American woman to hold a patent for a natural hair care product. Her products can be found all around the world, in over 1200 retail stores, including Ulta, Whole Foods, and Sally Beauty. A respected authority in the hair care industry, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans in the U.S. and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Winner. Gwen is based in Detroit and, when she’s not strategizing her next business move, you can find her hanging out with her son Caiden, Naturalicious’ CCC (Chief Candy Curator).
Ali Alhimiri, MD is the Principal Founder of MODUS and is a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Physician who has been providing cost-effective, high quality care to thousands of patients in Southeast Michigan since 2002. His experience in treating patients with pain led directly to the development of MODUS, a digital health platform that improves patient access to evidence-based care, enables employers to implement value-based contracting technology, and rewards physicians for positive outcomes..jpg)
Mike Klein is CEO of Genomenon, a genomic health IT company that keeps pace with the constant advancements made in genomics and connects that research to patient DNA to help diagnose and treat patients with rare and inherited genetic diseases. With over 25 years of developing, building and growing 4 different high tech companies, Mike raised over $50M in capital and had several successful investor exits.
Raffaele Mautone is CEO and Founder of AaDya, a Detroit-based startup founded in 2019 to provide smart, simple and effective cybersecurity solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Raffaele’s strategic thinking and effective leadership have been instrumental and paramount in his career as an IT, Sales and Operations professional. His extensive experience in the IT and Security industry serves as the platform of Aadya. His consistent record of leading teams through successful acquisitions, strategic planning and implementation and deploying large, multi-tiered complex programs has served companies such as Duo, FireEye, McAfee and Dell. Raffaele also has experience in implementing marketing and sales strategies positioning companies for future growth and deploying applications and business process improvements to assist with bookings, leads and new go-to-market programs. 
Mark Shalinsky, Ph.D., is a data scientist who now focuses on sales and revenue operations. As the fifth employee at Duo Security, Mark built the inside sales infrastructure and kicked off sales operations. Following his tenure at Duo, Mark built out a similar infrastructure at FatStax, a sales enablement company acquired by BigTinCan. By day Mark works as the Director of Inside Sales and Sales Operations at SkySync; by night, Mark shares insights with small and medium-sized companies that are struggling with their sales and revenue operations.
Bill Taylor is a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer with Chief Outsiders, a firm of 70+ Fractional Chief Marketing Officers. Bill applies his passion for technology to helping technology CEOs achieve profitable, sustainable growth. Over the last 35 years Bill has had roles as a corporate CMO, VP of Sales, and Strategy Executive with companies ranging from early stage startups to multi-billion-dollar businesses. At Chief Outsiders he helps companies find their growth engines through a strategic planning process and go-to-market plans that bring the strategy to life.
Paul Henchey is Vice President of the New Enterprise Forum as well as a consultant to healthcare software companies, providing expertise in strategic product marketing, software product management, content marketing, software design and strategic product planning. His management experience spans both Fortune 20 companies and small start-ups. Paul has a successful track record in helping companies of all sizes launch new software products and grow new revenue streams.
