2009 Gateway to the US Executive Summit Speakers

Many of our 2009 speakers will return for our 2010 program. The ANZA Technology Network is always growing and evolving, and each year we add new members and those making headlines in the technology world to our roster. Speakers for our 2010 Summit will be announced on 1 October.

Simon Anderson, CMO, Pictage.com
Simon Anderson leads the marketing, sales and product teams at Pictage with responsibility for all branding, messaging, sales execution, partnerships and product strategy. He is excited to be working with creative and entrepreneurial photographers to deliver great products and services to their customers. Simon has been an executive at three prior Internet ventures -- Biggerboat, Authenticlick and Affinity Internet, and before that was a partner at the Australian venture capital firm Allan & Buckeridge. He earned a B.Sc. and a law degree from Australian National University and has atteneded executive programs on entrepreneurship and deal-making at Harvard and Stanford.

Jonathan Baer, Principal and Co-Founder, Threshold Ventures
Jonathan Baer is a senior executive who brings a unique perspective to the world of start-ups. He has been both a venture capitalist as well as the Founder and CEO of two venture-backed companies, eBoomerang, an enterprise software company which was sold in 2006 and Artificial Muscle, Inc., a spinout of Stanford Research Institute (SRI). As a principal and founder of Threshold Ventures, Jon works with companies around the world, serving as an advisor/mentor, working on specific projects (such as creating venture-backed companies from emerging new technologies and helping international companies develop and execute plans for entering the US market), and, when appropriate, taking on interim operating roles. He has worked with a wide range of software, telephony, hardware and services businesses. Earlier in his career, Jon was a General Partner at Oscco Ventures, a Sand Hill Road early-stage venture capital firm which was one of the pioneering firms in Silicon Valley. He has invested in a range of companies including Landec, Peerless Systems and Coinstar. Jon started his career at Exxon Enterprises, where he was responsible for creating and managing new businesses for the corporation. He has also worked for the Gartner Group and Prudential Securities, where he managed a portion of a $240M fund.

Sheryle Bolton, Business Strategy Consultant
Sheryle Bolton is a business strategy consultant for companies in the technology, health care, brain fitness and media markets. As a serial entrepreneur, Sheryle led companies from start-up to IPO and sustainable growth. She raised almost $100 million in investment funding, guided development of 20 software and Internet products and devised patent strategies resulting in more than 120 granted patents for these companies. As Chairman and CEO of Scientific Learning, she led a highly successful IPO. Sheryle is also an experienced executive in investment banking, private equity, health care and media and has served on Boards of Directors of several public and private companies and mutual finds with assets of $60 billion. Sheryle has an MA in Linguistics and a Harvard MBA. She was recently part of the US expert panel evaluating companies for the ANZA Fast Track program in Melbourne as well as the 2008 ANZA Success in the US tour of Australia and New Zealand. She has served as an ANZA mentor for several companies.

Tom Cervantez, Partner, Hayden Bergman Rooney
Tom Cervantez is a partner with the law firm Hayden Bergman Rooney in San Francisco. Tom specializes in corporate finance and intellectual property law, including securities, capital structure planning, private placements, mergers & acquisitions, venture financing and licensing transactions for emerging growth companies, venture funds and software and hardware computer companies. Tom has spoken on these practice specialties and how they apply to Australian and New Zealand businesses entering the US market at many ANZA events. Tom also runs two San Francisco-based angel groups, the Harvard Angels and the Golden Gate Angels. Tom received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School. 

 

John Dyson, Investment Principal, Starfish Ventures
John Dyson is one of the founders of Starfish Ventures and has played a crucial role in the establishment of the company. John has established a strong network of relationships with the major venture capital participants and financial intermediaries in Australia, as well as fostering relationships with a network of venture capital participants, especially in the US and Asia. John has personally overseen and managed nearly 20 investments in a range of technologies and industries. John has built a strong reputation in the venture capital industry by achieving numerous exits for his portfolio companies including a NASDAQ listing, ASX listings and trade sales to local and overseas companies.

 

Eliane Fiolet, Founder, Ubergizmo.com
Eliane Fiolet is the co-founder and editor of Ubergizmo.com, where she writes about web applications, design and usability. In her parallel life, she owns a Corporate ID design business that helps companies create great brands. Launched in September 2004, Ubergizmo has quickly become one of the top consumer electronics blogs in the US and the world (distributed in 6 languages and read in 212 countries). The site is a Webby Award Honoree, has been ranked as a Top100 Blog by PC Magazine and is a media partner with DEMO and Web 2.0. Prior to opening her own agency, Eliane worked for top design firm, Minale Tattersfield Design Strategy, where she created identities for Fortune 500 companies. She also worked in the video game industry as a designer for an award-winning adventure game. Eliane holds a Master's degree in visual communication and design from the "Art Decoratifs" college.

Viki Forrest, CEO, ANZA Technology Network
Viki Forrest has held senior management positions in the technology industry for many years. She has worked for major corporate entities and start-ups in Australia, Asia and the US. Since 2001, Viki has been a viable presence in Silicon Valley, bringing together business professionals from many spectrums to work together to develop and build successful companies. Viki extends these key connections to Australian and New Zealand CEOs and entrepreneurs through the ANZA Technology Network.

Ian Griffin, Executive Communications
Ian Griffin is a versatile communications professional with over 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry. His specialty is communicating complex technical information in an effective and clearly understandable manner. He has been a speechwriter, international TV host, national public speaker, multimedia project manager and event coordinator. He has a proven track record of delivering compelling messages that move audiences to action. Ian currently operates a freelance speech writing business in Silicon Valley. Clients include Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems among many others. He holds degrees from Leicester University, UK and Tufts University, Medford, MA.

Warren Hogarth, Partner Sequoia Capital
Warren Hogarth is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital. Sequoia Capital was an original investor in Google, Yahoo, YouTube, PayPal, Flextronics, Network Appliance, NVIDIA, Netscreen, Cisco, Oracle and Apple Computer. Warren focuses on Sequoia Capital's energy and clean tech efforts, which are particularly focused on finding capital-efficient buisnesses with strong IP. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital, Warren completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering, where he developed fuel cell technology. During this time, he was a visiting Fulbright Scholar to Princeton University and a Guest Scientist at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Warren has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland.

 

Sudha Jamthe
Sudha Jamthe has 15 years' experience building Internet organizations. She successfully built Internet communities and divisions in companies like Harcourt (now Reed Elsevier), Fidelity Investments, BGS Systems (now BMC Software) and for clients Time Warner and Cabletron. Most recently, as VP Marketing of Myndnet, she developed the company's go-to-market plan and got them selected to launch at DEMO 2007. As a Venture Mentor at MIT, she has been instrumental in helping Internet entrepreneurs coming out of MIT with their product conceptualization and marketing. Sudha was the co-founder and CEO of Coola, Inc., a mobile software platform integrating applications between the Palm Pilot and the Web. In this capacity, she raised Series A venture capital of US$1M in 40 days and Series B of US$5M. Sudha writes an entrepreneurship column on the blog From the Eyes of an Entrepreneur and organizes the Silicon Valley Facebook meetup group. She has an MBA from Boston University and a BS in Computer Science Engineering from Madras University.

 

Linda Jenkinson, CEO LesConcierges
Linda Jenkinson is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and Chairman of LesConcierges, the largest luxury corporate concierge company in the world. She has received multiple awards for her entrepreneurial efforts in the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Prior to her current entrepreneurial endeavors she was a Partner at A.T. Kearney, where she was a global leader in financial institutions strategy and strategic sourcing. Additionally, Linda is a Founder of WOW, an innovative business-based approach to SME development in West Africa. She has an MBA from The Wharton School - University of Pennsylvania and a BBS from Massey University in New Zealand.

Mark B. Johnson
Since April 2005, Mark Johnson has provided management and business expertise, mentoring and counsel for private companies and entrepreneurs as well as non-profit humanitarian organizations and initiatives. He has advised multiple companies in the smart energy, mobile Internet, video entertainment and social networking segments on platform strategies, consumer product management, team development and venture financing. He mentored the first-time CEO of  a diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical company of restructuring corporate governance, licensing, personnel and streamlining operations. Mark also assisted Hurricane Katrina/Rita disaster relief in Louisiana through the Red Cross. Recruited after volunteering in the shelters and assisting shelter management to direct overall disaster relief operations for the entire region, he provided leadership and clear direction as well as client management to address complex humanitarian and logistical challenges posed by a natural disaster of this scale. 

 

Ben Keighran
Ben Keighran is an Australian-born Internet entrepreneur. He is currently involved with a number of venture capital and early stage companies in Silicon Valley. He taught himself programming at the age of 10 and started an electronic bulletin board called The Zone at the age of 12. In 2006, Ben moved to San Francisco and attracted $6.5M in funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners to start instant messaging firm Bluepulse. Ben was nominated by Business Week in 2007 as one of America's top 25 entrepreneurs under the age of 25.  

 

Jean A. Kovacs
Jean Kovacs is a member of Harvard Angels. She has over 30 years' experience directing technology companies. Most recently, she was CEO and co-founder of Comergent Technologies. In this role, Jean spearheaded Comergent's overall solutions and services strategy, and also oversaw the company's daily operations including product development, sales, marketing and operations along with her executive team. Prior to Comergent, Jean co-founded Qualix Group. She has also held positions in sales, marketing and support at Frame Technology, Sun Microsystems and Compugraphic Corporation. Jean was named to the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Business Journal's list of Most Influential Women in Business in 2008. She holds a Bachelor's degree in finance from Northeastern University and a Master's degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Ed Lambert, Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank
Ed Lambert is a Senior Vice President of Bridge Bank, with 24 years of banking/lending experience, specializing primarily in Tech/Life Sciences. He has previously been Senior Vice President, Business Development with Comerica Bank, and has worked for Silicon Valley Bank and Bank of America. Ed began the Tech Practice for Coast Business Credit, building to $20-30MM in annual commitments. He has an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ed is a long-time member of the Churchill Club and currently sits on the executive committee on the American Electronics Association.

 

Russell Mansky, CPA, Spott, Lucey & Wall, Inc. CPAs
Russ Mansky is a CPA and holds both a Master's degree in taxation as well as an international tax certificate from Golden Gate University. He has more than a dozen years of experience working with international individuals and entities handling tax planning, structure and compliance issues. Russ is an owner in the San Francisco-based CPA firm of Spott, Lucey & Wall, Inc. CPAs, which specialize in the US aspects of international taxation. Clients consist mainly of foreign citizens working or investing in the US, US citizens working or investing abroad, foriegn companies engaging in US business activities both directly and through subsidiaries as well as US businesses with foreign investments.

 

Roger Marshall, Managing Director, Upstream Australia
Roger Marshall is a corporate and technology communications specialist with over 19 years' experience in international public relations and marketing industries across Australia, Europe and the US. His broad range of clients draw on both the B2B and B2C sectors where he has worked with technology leaders and start-ups such as Cisco, Google, Trend Micro, HTC, Symanetec, BlackBerry, Quadstone, Smart Internet CRC, Dell, Business Objects and Vignette. Over the past two years he has built Upstream's communications platforms that span traditional media relations, social media engagement and content-led marketing.

 

Kelly McCown, McCown & Evans LLC
Kelly McCown is a partner and co-founder of the corporate immigration law firm McCown & Evans LLP in San Francisco, and was certified as a specialist in immigration and nationality law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization in 2001. Since 2004, Kelly has been honored each year as a "Northern California Super Lawyer" by San Francisco Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine and was recognized in 2007 as one of the "Top 50 Female Super Lawyers" in Northern California across all legal specialities. Kelly's firm is the national immigration partner for Advance, a community of Australians overseas with more than 18,000 members. Kelly is a graduate of Stanford University and Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley

Sidney Minassian, Co-Founder/CEO/Member of the Board, Liaise, Inc.
As an entrepreneur, leader and evangelist, Sidney Minassian has helped create markets, raise capital and reshape how businesses operate. Before founding Liaise, he was co-founder and CEO of Think Software, providing innovative work management solutions to a wide range of industries including banking and financial services, telecommunications, professional services and government. Prior to his contribution to the technology industry, Sidney was Founder and CEO of Montage Advisory -- a project and risk management consutlancy. He also served as Senior Consultant with KPMG and as a Senior Risk Management Officer with the Industrial Bank of Japan (Australia).

Jarmal Richard, CEO, jdrlegal
Jarmal Richard is a legal international intellectual property attorney, licensed to practice in both Australia and the US. As the Founder and CEO of jdrlegal, a global intellectual property firm with offices in Melbourne and Los Angeles, he has worked with numerous technology companies to commercialize their intellectual property between Australia and the US. Jarmal holds a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College and a JD from the University of Southern California Law School. He is also a PhD candidate at RMIT University, with his research focused on open source business modeling for entrepreneurs.

Chris Shipley, Co-Founder and Chairman, Guidewire Group, Inc.
Chris Shipley is a leading technology analyst focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2004 she co-founded the Guidewire Group, Inc. to accelerate the growth of early stage companies and the technology markets they create. Well known as the Executive Producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG's Network World, Chris has helped technology companies bring more than 1,500 new products to market since 1996. Chris is an ANZA mentor and has participated in ANZA FocUS Marketing Workshops for the past three years. Her analysis of and feedback for many Australian and New Zealand companies has led to their successful participation in the Gateway to the US program.

Gary Swart, CEO, oDesk
Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the marketplace for online work teams with the best business model for both buyers and providers. Prior to oDesk, Gary was a Business Unit Executive at IBM - Rational Software where he held a number of senior management positions including Western Field Operations, Americas Medium Business Leader, Area and District Manager and Director of Telesales. Prior to Rational, he held a number of sales, management, and leadership positions with Pure and Pure Astia. Gary holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Maryland.

Beatrice Tarka, CEO and Founder, Mobissimo
Beatrice Tarka is the CEO and Founder of Mobissimo, a travel search engine. A serial entrepreneur, Beatrice brings a blend of Internet, leisure travel industry and consumer product experience to her role with Mobissimo. Prior to Mobissimo, Beatrice was Co-founder and CEO of Axall Media, a games and edutainment software company. She engineered the acquisition of two companies, negotiated licensing deals with Hearst and MGM/UA and completed distribution deals in 20 countries. Previously she co-founded France Portage, a press distribution database provider acquired by France Telecom. Beatrice holds a BA from the American University in Paris and an MBA from Boston University.

Kathy Woeber Gardner, Attorney, Montgomery Pacific Law Group
Kathy Woeber Gardner is corporate attorney with Montgomery Pacific Law Group, a corporate law boutique firm in San Francisco. She represents emerging companies, venture capital firms, private equity firms and public companies in a variety of industries including technology, life sciences, financial services, consumer products and energy. Kathy advises clients on corporate and finance transactions including equity and debt financings, acquisitions, joint ventures and other commercial arrangements. She also has extensive cross-border transactional experience in strategic alliances, secured financings and private equity offerings for companies and investors in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining Montgomery Pacific Law Group, Kathy was a partner with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Kathy is a member of the Board of Directors of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives and is a member of ASTIA.

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