Judges

Marissa leads the product management efforts on Google's search products – web search, images, groups, news, Froogle, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Labs, and more. She joined Google in 1999 as Google's first female engineer and led the user interface and webserver teams at that time. Her efforts have included designing and developing Google's search interface, internationalizing the site to more than 100 languages, defining Google News, Gmail, and Orkut, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com. Several patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design.

Prior to joining Google, Marissa worked at the UBS research lab (Ubilab) in Zurich, Switzerland and at SRI International in Menlo Park, California.

Graduating with honors, Marissa received her B.S. in Symbolic Systems and her M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University. For both degrees, she specialized in artificial intelligence.

Joe co-chairs Burns & Levinson's Business Law Department where he focuses on the representation of entrepreneurs, start-up and emerging companies, private equity and venture funds, investors, public companies and investment banking firms. Some of his core industry focuses are technology and life sciences, media and entertainment, sports, and hospitality to include restaurants, restaurant suppliers and franchises.

Joe has significant experience in public offerings, securities compliance, buying and selling private and public companies, venture financings, fund formation and a variety of early and late stage private and public equity and debt financing transactions. He also has significant international experience, including numerous cross border transactions involving Canadian companies. Joe prides himself on his dedication and responsiveness to his clients as well as his reputation as a "deal maker", "business lawyer" and a "lawyer's lawyer".

Joe received his J.D. degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He also attended the Erasmus International Law Program of Leiden University of Holland, and received a B.A. from Tufts University.

Craig is the co-founder of GrandCentral which was acquired by Google in July, 2007. In 2001, Craig became the CEO of Dialpad Communications, where he led the company out of bankruptcy and transformed it into the most profitable VoIP company in the industry. When Dialpad was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005, Craig became Senior Director of VoIP and successfully merged the Dialpad team with the Yahoo! Messenger group.

Prior to Dialpad, Craig was a technology venture investor at Sterling Payot Capital and a corporate attorney at top tier law firms in Silicon Valley, where he represented companies ranging from early stage start-ups to Cisco Systems. Outside of work, Craig spends his free time with his wife and three kids and is a board member of the Ascent Russian Orphan Aid Foundation. Craig received his B.A. from UC Berkeley, his M.B.A. from Georgetown University and his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley.

Stephen B. Maebius is a partner in Foley’s Washington, D.C. office and leader of the Nanotechnology Industry Team. He is a member of the Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical, Private Equity & Venture Capital and Public Affairs Practice Groups, as well as the Emerging Technologies and Life Sciences Industry Teams and is also part of the firm’s International Practice. Stephen has been a visiting associate professor of intellectual property law at Tokyo University's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, as well as a faculty adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School, where he taught comparative and international patent law. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Stephen was a patent examiner in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in the Biotechnology Group. He lectures on intellectual property topics in the U.S. and abroad and has authored a number of articles in the field. Stephen graduated from Cornell University (B.S. biology, 1989); and the George Washington University Law School (J.D., 1994).

 

Ed is Director of the Deloitte & Touche Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Group's Tri-State Product Innovation Practice. Ed also leads the TMT venture capital-backed company practice and is director of the Deloitte & Touche New York Technology Fast 50 program. Prior to joining Deloitte & Touche, Ed was managing partner of a Manhattan law firm, where he served a number of technology and entertainment clients. Ed also co-founded a multidisciplinary consultancy, and was a managing director of a Manhattan investment and advisory company. Ed speaks regularly on business strategy, nanotechnology, and the financing of early stage technology companies. He acquired his love of technology at New York City's Bronx High School of Science, holds a law degree from New York Law School (where he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of International and Comparative Law), and has an MBA from New York University.

 

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is a two-time World Series champion and six-time MLB All-Star who is as passionate about video games as he is about baseball. When he's not on the mound breaking curses, you can often find Curt playing an MMOG on his laptop. Curt first became involved in the video game industry over a decade ago through his relationship with Sony Online Entertainment. In 2003 and 2004, Curt served as the official spokesperson for the 3DO Company's High Heat Baseball. Curt brought this love for gaming to life with the inception of 38 Studios in 2006. Respected worldwide for his dedication to winning and his commitment to philanthropic causes, Curt has assembled an All-Star team to create an extraordinary franchise of immersive entertainment products for 38 Studios. Curt and his wife Shonda are passionate philanthropists and have raised over $10 million to fight ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), through Curt's Pitch for ALS (www.curtspitch.com), as well as encouraging awareness for sun protection through the SHADE Foundation (www.shadefoundation.org).

 

Gabor is a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP. He is chair of the firm’s Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice and co-chair of the Life Sciences Team. Gabor’s private equity and venture capital practice encompasses all legal and business aspects of structuring, financing and managing various types of investment funds; negotiating mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of portfolio companies; structuring investments in emerging companies; and participating in strategic decisions of funds and fund-owned companies. Gabor addresses the strategic issues facing his clients through a combination of practical, business-oriented solutions and highly sophisticated financing techniques.

Gabor graduated with a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1976, and earned a B.A. from Harvard College in 1973He was named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer for each of the last three years. He was also selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for2007, and is the Hungarian Honorary Consul for New England.

 

Robert (Bob) Balke is currently an investor and corporate advisor with Massachusetts-based Forge Partners. Bob has nearly 25 years of experience in leading businesses that grow via innovation. Prior to his role at Forge, Bob held senior executive positions at Fortune 100 companies including 12 years with the General Electric Company, as well as stints at Dow Chemical and Eastman Chemical. At Eastman, he served as CMO and lead the company’s venture capital unit. Over the course of his career, Bob has launched numerous new businesses and products that have produced over $1 billion in new revenue. Bob earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from Northeastern University. He serves on the boards of numerous start-ups and organizations.

 

Tony is a pioneering media entrepreneur and a prominent opinion leader in the technology business and investment editorial world. He founded Red Herring magazine in 1993 and his two current ventures, the AlwaysOn Network and the GoingOn community management platform in 2002 and 2006, respectively. In 1999, Tony co-wrote The Internet Bubble, a book that forewarned the dot-com bust. Tony's public activities include serving on President George W. Bush's Information Technology Advisory Council. He co-founded and chaired Silicon Valley's premier business and technology forum, the Churchill Club, in Palo Alto, California. Prior to launching Red Herring and AlwaysOn, Tony was founder and CEO of Upside Publishing and vice president of business development at Silicon Valley Bank.

 

As editor in chief, Jason Pontin is responsible for the editorial direction of the award-winning magazine Technology Review and TechnologyReview.com, published by MIT. Pontin took on the role of publisher in September 2005, overseeing all aspects of the company’s business: website, e-newsletters, international editions and events such as the annual Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT. From 1996-2002, Pontin was editor of Red Herring. Most recently, he was editor in chief of The Acumen Journal, covering business, economic and policy implications of discoveries in biotechnology and the life sciences. Pontin writes a regular column, "Slipstream,” which explores new ideas in technology, for the Sunday New York Times. He has written for national and international publications including the Economist, the Financial Times, WIRED, and The Believer, and is a frequent guest on television and radio, including ABC News, CNN and NPR.

 

Bambi Francisco is a co-founder and CEO of Vator.tv, the professional network for innovators. Bambi is a veteran journalist covering the technology and Internet industries for 15 years. Her newsletters reached 400,000 subscribers interested in her thoughts on Internet trends and investing across public and private companies. She has appeared on Fox News, CNBC and CBS as a commentator on the Internet. She was also the morning business anchor for KPIX, the CBS San Francisco affiliate. She was a founding producer at CNNfn, where she created business programming, including one on new ideas and innovation.

 

 

 

Rob Norman is CEO of GroupM Interaction Worldwide. GroupM is the world’s largest buyer of advertising media with billings of US$ 60 billion (RECMA). GroupM Interaction is also the world’s largest buyer of online media with billings of US$3 billion and is the largest agency customer of Google, Yahoo and MSN. GroupM Interaction employs 1800 people across the world and operates four agency brands being Beyond Interactive, MEC Interaction, Mindshare Interaction and Outrider. Its major North American clients include AT&T, Ford, VW, GSK, Citi, LVMH, Chevron, BP and Paramount.

Rob is considered a digital marketing pioneer and is a frequent keynote speaker and writer at industry events and in its publications and was named a Media Maven by Advertising Age in 2007. Rob sits on the board of WPP Digital, the venture arm of WPP and is a member of the board of Wild Tangent the online gaming a network and of digital design agency Schematic as well as the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. Prior to moving to the USA in January 2005 Rob was Chairman of the Mediaedge:cia Group in the UK, also a unit of WPP. Rob lives in New York with his wife and dog and is widely believed to be the only Englishman with a working knowledge of the infield fly rule. He is a fan of the New York Mets, the New York Jets, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester Rugby Football Club.

 

Leah Culver founded the website Pownce (pownce.com) with her friends Kevin Rose and Daniel Burka as a way of sending messages, links, files and events to each other. Aside from her role as a founder, Leah is also the lead engineer for the project. Prior to Pownce, Leah worked as a developer for several other startups including Instructables (instructables.com) and Chipmark (chipmark.com). Leah holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota and loves the challenge of developing a web application from scratch. She writes a blog about her experiences as a software developer at leahculver.com.

 

 

 

Keith is responsible for Slide's strategy and partnerships. Under his leadership, Slide has become the leading application developer on Facebook with more than 63 million applications installed and the most active users than any other developer. Before Slide, he served as Vice President of Business & Corporate Development at LinkedIn, where he was responsible for generating new revenue streams. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Vice President at PayPal, directing the company's competitive strategy and business development initiatives. After leaving PayPal, Keith was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Clarium Capital Management, the global hedge fund lead by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Keith currently serves on the Board of Directors of Yelp, Vendio, Xoom and FanIQ. He is also an early investor in YouTube and several other high profile early stage start-ups. Keith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

 

Jim Fowler is the CEO and co-founder of Jigsaw (www.jigsaw.com), an online directory of business contact and company information built by and for its global membership. Jigsaw provides easy access to high-value business information that can be used to identify key decision makers and people for purposes such as sales, marketing, recruiting and customer service. A veteran sales executive, Jim Fowler has spent the last 15 years selling marketing and collaboration software. Prior to co-founding Jigsaw, Jim served as vice president of sales at Digital Impact (DIGI), Paramark and TightLink where he was responsible for building their sales departments. Jim also held sales management positions at Personify and NetGravity. Before his career in software sales, Jim was owner and operator of Lookout Pass, a ski resort in Idaho, and served in the US Navy as a Diving and Salvage Officer. Jim is a graduate of the University of Colorado.

 

As a principal in Fish & Richardson’s New York office, Lori Hoberman is the Co-Practice Group Leader nationally for the firm’s Corporate and Securities Group. She also created and chairs the firm’s Venture and Technology Group, which was formed to addresses the needs of start-up and emerging growth companies. Ms. Hoberman’s law practice emphasizes venture capital, private equity, and general corporate counseling for emerging as well as later stage and publicly traded companies. Her experience spans a full-range of industries, including telecommunications, software, biotechnology and life sciences, consumer products, the Internet, advertising, gaming and media. Ms. Hoberman is a member of the Board of Directors of the MDS Life Science and Technology Fund, USA, the New York Chapter of MIT Enterprise Forum, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Foundation and a member of the Board of Advisors of ceslie.com.