Sponsors:

Our renowned entrepreneurial workshops are developed with exceptional collaboration and expertise of the Batten Institute, the Coulter Foundation and CBIC. UVA’s Batten Institute, known for its sponsorship of best practices in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation, and the Coulter Foundation’s Translational Partnership in biomedical engineering, whose founder was an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and visionary, have joined forces to produce state-of- the-art, cutting edge workshops. Attending from all over the region, innovators not only participate in our workshops but conclude by having lunch with the experts and facilitators:

• Workshop I (9:00 - 10:30am): Transforming Ideas into Enterprises
  
  Summary: You have a good idea. You have a clear vision of your product and a smooth running, efficient, profitable operation. Now it's time to think about how to get from Point A to Point B. Learn steps that you need to consider before letting your cash cow run away.
  

  Co-Facilitator: Elizabeth P. Pyle | www.PyleAssociates.com
  Ms. Pyle is the Founder and President of Pyle & Associates, LLC, providing management and business consulting services across diversified industries as an Interim COO. Her extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, marketing, operations, and leadership skills have left a lasting impact on the overall enhancement of business performance from start-up to turn-around situations.

  Before Pyle & Associates, LLC, Ms. Pyle was President and Co-owner of Southern Financial Group – Charlottesville, VA Branch, a discount stock brokerage firm. Using a highly integrated financial and operational approach, she implemented a rebuilding strategy, which positioned the company for successful sale in 1998.

  Ms Pyle’s credentials include: Master of Business Administration from Averett University, Master of Education from the University of Houston, and Bachelor of Arts in Geology from Cedar Crest College. She is a board member of Charlottesville Business Innovation Council and Chair of the Annual Business Forum Committee. Elizabeth has also served as past chairs of the Charlottesville Venture Group, Business Plan Review Committee, and Business Growth Network.

  Co-Facilitator: Rick White | www.HoffmanWhite.com
  Mr. White is a founding partner in Hoffman, White & Kaelber, a rapidly growing Certified Public Accounting and Family Wealth Management practice in Charlottesville. He heads up the firm’s Technology Practice Group and Real Estate Practice Group.

  He was a member of the organizing committee that founded the Virginia Piedmont Technology Council and the Virginia Technology Alliance. He is a former chairman of Charlottesville Venture Group’s Business Plan Review Committee and served four years on that committee. He serves on the boards of numerous non-profit and for-profit organizations. Rick is a 1978 graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.

  • Download the four files for Workshop 1 (Workshop1Files.zip)
    
    

• Workshop II (10:45 - 11:45am): Tsunami: Real e-Tools for Real Entrepreneurs
  
  Managing information for small businesses is a test of efficiency and will power: Entrepreneurs struggle with managing unending phone calls, documents, emails, and meetings. This workshop focuses on the entrepreneurs that have leveraged various e-tools to build their business capabilities and increase efficiency.

  Facilitator: David Chen | bme.virginia.edu
  David Chen serves as director of the Coulter Translational Research Partnership for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia and holds a joint appointment in the Dean’s Office in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia. David actively participates as a facilitator with the University of Virginia’s T100 program and with several Virginia based startup ventures.

  David’s professional experience focused on protein chemistry, methods development, and quality control; expertise gained during his tenure at ImClone Systems Incorporated. Working at Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, David gained in depth working knowledge in marketing & new product development for the Advil brand.

  David received his BS in Biology from Liberty University, an MS in Cell and Developmental Biology from Rutgers University/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and an MBA from The Darden School of Business at UVA. He enjoys traveling, fitness, and motorcycles.

  Panelist: Jim Bain | www.FlyingDogMedia.com
  Jim Bain is the founder and principal of Flying Dog Media, a Charlottesville web and multimedia development company. Jim has twenty years of experience in information technology and Internet applications, working with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and start-ups. Jim enjoys bringing the latest web technologies and strategies to organizations that don't have dedicated IT resources. Jim is also responsible for the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (www.CvilleBIC.org) and the Annual Business Forum (www.CvilleBIC.org/abf) websites. A native of Crozet, Virginia, Jim graduated from the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science.

  Panelist: Uday Gupta, M.B.A. | www.GlobalCellSolutions.com
  Mr. Gupta is the Co-founder and President of Global Cell Solutions, Inc. He has extensive management consulting experience with an emphasis on business and technology strategy, financial analysis, and operational and quality management. He has advised and consulted to Fortune 500 companies in many different industries including healthcare, manufacturing and telecom. In addition, he has led numerous new product development initiatives as well as performed various roles within sales and marketing to procure new business opportunities and partnerships.

  He earned a M.B.A. at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University.

  Panelist: Kamin Whitehouse | www.CS.Virginia.edu
  Mr. Kamin work involves sensor networks focuses on programming interfaces to the user. This includes parallel programming and debugging tools, as well as declarative interfaces. Other work deals with automatic inference and making automatic quality of service trade-offs. Many of these projects involve analysis of a complete system, including aspects of hardware design, wireless networking, calibration, and sensor data analysis.

• Workshop III (1:30 - 2:30pm): Delivering Innovation through Social Networking
  
  Social networking is about managing dialogues with customers, suppliers, shareholders, public institutions, media, and business people. There is no better way to build long-term relationships than using social networking. We will introduce you to the latest social networking tools, share case studies and examples on how to harness the power of social networking to build business, collaborate, and create communities.

  Facilitator: Marijean Jaggers | www.StandingPR.com
  Marijean is often met with “Oh! The blogger?” when introducing herself to a new acquaintance. Her blog, www.stlworkingmom.com has a loyal following of readers including working moms and others from both St. Louis and Virginia. An active blogger since 2004, Marijean is experienced in social media, strategic communications, community and media relations with a background that spans health care, business-to-business ventures, technology, finance and nonprofit client work.

  Marijean’s background includes feature writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and freelance articles for several monthly publications. An active member of the Charlottesville community, she recently launched Voices of Poverty, a podcast series devoted to the poverty problem in Charlottesville.

  With a strong commitment to community, Marijean was voted one of 20 people to watch by the C’ville Weekly, a member of the 2006 class of Leadership Charlottesville and serves as a board member of the Charlottesville Community Scholarship Program and People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry, an organization serving the homeless in her community. Marijean was the 1998 Guinness World Records holder for creating the world’s largest bouquet of flowers.

  Panelist: Adam Healey | www.VibeAgent.com
  Mr. Healey has over ten years of international experience in entrepreneurship, software development, management consulting and finance.

  He is currently the co-founder and CEO of VibeAgent, a new travel 2.0 site that helps people research and book hotels by combining user reviews, meta-search, and social networking.

  Prior to founding VibeAgent, Mr. Healey was the founder and CEO of Samba Digital Media, an e-services consulting firm based in Prague with sales offices in London and Berlin. While at Samba, he oversaw the company’s multinational expansion from two to forty employees, successfully raised $2.4 million of venture capital from institutional investors, and helped secure an extensive multinational, blue-chip clientele. During this time, Mr. Healey was a frequent speaker at technology conferences throughout Europe, and was featured in articles in major national newspapers and on television news programs throughout Europe.

  Mr. Healey has also worked as a management consultant at Monitor Group in the media, biotechnology, and national security fields, as a corporate venture capital associate at the media company Landmark Communications, and as a fixed income analyst for Salomon Smith Barney.

  He received a B.A. in Finance from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and an MBA at the Darden Graduate School of Business, where he was invited to join the Raven Society, the University’s oldest and most prestigious honorary society.

  Panelist: Joel Selzer | Ozmosis.com
  As an entrepreneur and technology leader, Joel has focused his passion and skill on transforming the healthcare industry. In February 2007, Joel officially launched Ozmosis, a platform that redefines the way physicians interact online and empowers physicians to share knowledge, to build and nurture professional relationships, and to collaborate in real-time.

  Prior to Ozmosis, Joel co-founded Medical Funding Services (MFS), a healthcare technology and financial services firm. At MFS, he developed an electronic payment solution streamlining the reconciliation and reimbursement process between healthcare payers and providers. He successfully built and managed a company of 25 employees and led all technology and operations efforts. Prior to MFS, Joel launched a new wireless consulting team at IBM Global Services focused on delivering wireless infrastructure and mobility solutions. While at IBM, Joel also led complex e-business infrastructure projects for Panasonic, IMS Health and Cigna. Earlier in his career at American Management Systems, he developed business intelligence and social network analysis solutions for the U.S. Government before working for the AMS Strategic Development Group.

  Joel has an MBA from the Darden School of Business where he was President of the Entrepreneurs Club and created the Batten Venture Boot Camp. He also led the DSA Social Committee and was awarded the C. Stewart Sheppard Distinguished Service Award. Joel received his B.A. in Government & International Relations from Georgetown University.

  Panelist: Jason Beckerman | TeachThePeople.com
  Jason Beckerman is Founder and CEO of Teach The People, and also founder and consultant to Dank Apps, makers of the Facebook application The Lotto. Since the age of 16, he has been heavily involved with application development and hosted internet applications, and has a deep knowledge of Web 2.0 and ways to use the social graph to execute complex business models. Jason has worked for various financial institutions and startups throughout his career including Merrill Lynch, Paytrust, Island ECN, Instinet, Albridge Solutions, Siebel, and Salesforce.com. In his time at Salesforce.com, Jason managed the release process for the largest on-demand CRM roll out in the history of SAAS. Jason holds a BS in Entrepreneurship and Information Systems from Quinnipiac University and a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.

• Workshop IV (3:00 - 4:30pm): Crash & Learn – Anatomy of a Failure
  
  One of the best ways to gain inspiration and reassurance for growing your own business is to look at what others have done – find out what worked and what didn't. Achieving success can be difficult: Distractions, delays, and defeats discourage everyone. Hear how others have managed challenges head on and survived. History has shown us that stories of success are also stories of great failure – so join us for some insightful stories!

  Facilitator: Philippe L. Sommer | www.darden.edu
  Philippe Sommer, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the Batten Institute, leads the expansion of the Batten Institute’s program for developing entrepreneurs. He oversees and shapes the full scope of the Institute’s entrepreneurial programs and activities in the MBA area. Philippe directs the Darden Incubator working with the entrepreneurship and innovation faculty to coordinate the relationship between the MBA curriculum, field study projects, and student-focused initiatives, identifying appropriate opportunities for Darden students to work with start-up companies and venture capital firms.

  Before joining Batten, Philippe served as president of Alsacia & Sommer, Inc., which provided consulting on strategy and funding for early stage med-tech companies. He was a founding partner of WestMed Venture Funds, publicly registered investment companies affiliated with CIBC/Oppenheimer, Inc. Philippe served as Director of Business Development at Pfizer, Inc., in the Medical Products Group. Additionally, he has consulting experience with Booz, Allen, & Hamilton Inc., the Cambridge Research Institute, Le Tranchage des Bois, and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America).

  Philippe holds an M.B.A. in finance from Columbia University and a B.A. in Neuropsychology from Amherst College.