Jimmy Wales
Co-Founder, Wikipedia / Co-Founder of Wikia, Inc

One of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Jimmy Wales is considered an Internet luminary having founded Wikipedia, one of the most visited sites in the world.

Wales is a former options trader who in 1999 set out to reinvent the encyclopedia for the Internet age-free, up-to-date and available to all. He ended up created an Internet icon that led to what may prove to be the most powerful industrial model of the 21st century: peer production.

Wikipedia has become one of the most-referenced, most-used repositories of knowledge on the planet, with more than 14 million articles in English alone.

Jimmy Wales is currently developing a human-powered search engine, which will be based on the same open, transparent, community-driven principles of Wikipedia.

Born in 1966 in Alabama, Wales’ father was a grocery store manager, his mother and grandmother ran a small private school, "in the tradition of the one-room schoolhouse," where Wales went to school through 8th grade. He went on to degrees in finance, post graduate studies, teaching and a successful career in finance.

Wired Magazine says “Wikipedia represents a belief in the supremacy of reason and the goodness of others. From the respectful clash of opposing viewpoints and the combined wisdom of the many, something resembling the truth will emerge." Wales currently travels the world spreading the word about the importance of free culture. He says “imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”

Vint Cerf
"Father of the Internet"
Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

Widely known as a "Father of the Internet," Vint is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet during his tenure with the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Once the Internet began to transition to a commercial opportunity, Vint moved to MCI where he was instrumental in the development of the first commercial email system.

Since 2005, Vint has worked for Google as its Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, where he has become well known for his predictions on how technology will affect future society, encompassing such areas as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, environmentalism and the transformation of the television industry and its delivery model among others.

Since 2000, Vint has served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and he has been a Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1998. He served as founding president of the Internet Society (ISOC) from 1992-1995 and was on the ISOC board until 2000.

In 1997, President Clinton recognized his work with the National Medal of Technology and in 2005, Vint received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes the fact that his work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put the US "at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment."

He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA and more than a dozen honorary degrees.

Mark G. Heesen
President, National Venture Capital Association

As President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen is responsible for setting the strategic direction for all Association activities, including public policy efforts, research initiatives, educational programs, and member services. In this capacity, Mark works closely with the NVCA professional staff and Board of Directors to demonstrate the positive impact of venture capital investment on the United States economy. Under his direction, the NVCA has created numerous value-added sub-groups including the CFO Task Force, Strategic Communications Group, Corporate Venture Capital Group, Medical Industry Group and Human Capital forum, all of which are dedicated to supporting NVCA membership in uniquely critical areas.As a spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to present the overarching venture capital perspective to a wider audience. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, appears regularly on CNBC, and is consistently quoted in the press in stories concerning venture capital trends.Since 1991, Mark has worked on behalf of the NVCA to enact a wide range of policies that benefit the venture capital and entrepreneurial communities, including a significant capital gains differential, securities litigation reform, numerous SEC and FASB accounting issues, immigration reform, and a streamlining of the FDA and CMS approval processes, among other issues.

Jack Biddle
General Partner, Novak Biddle Venture Partners

Biddle co-founded Novak Biddle in 1996 to provide equity financing to the management of young, information technology companies. Today, one of the country’s most respected funds has over $580 million under management. Biddle currently serves on the boards of 10 firms, having past board seats on 7 firms successful exits. Having experience on both the investment and management side of venture backed companies, Biddle brings knowledge in all aspects of growing successful companies to exit.

Bob Hower
General Partner, Advanced Technology Ventures

Bob is ATV's East Coast lead partner for investments in information technology and is primarily focused on the internet, digital media and software sectors. He has been with ATV since 2002 and is an active board member of Acme Packet (NASDAQ:APKT), ChannelAdvisor, Packet Design, Nuventix, Sanovi, and [x+1]. Named to Forbes’ Midas list for the past two consecutive years, Bob was instrumental in Acme Packet's 2006 public offering, one of the most successful IPOs in the communications sector this decade.

Bob has extensive operating experience, including serving as Vice President of sales at LHS Group (EMEA), where he built the company's Enhanced Services Division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was also a member of the senior management team at Priority Call Management (PCM). Prior to LHS Group’s acquisition of PCM in 1999, Bob helped grow PCM's revenue from approximately $3.5 million to $45 million. Bob’s management background also includes sales and marketing roles at Lotus Development and General Mills.

Megan Leary
Investment Manager, AlpInvest Partners

Megan is part of the Fund Investment team at AlpInvest. That team manages an annual allocation in excess of €4 billion with total commitments of over €27 billion. The Fund Investments team has over 100 core general partnership relationships worldwide and is a proactive partner across the full spectrum of the private equity market.

Megan joined AlpInvest Partners in January 2004 from Morgan Stanley, where she was a financial analyst involved in structuring and executing high-yield and leveraged loan transactions for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. At AlpInvest Partners, Megan is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, executing and monitoring fund commitments in North America.

Kate Sidebottom Simpson
Vice President, Parish Capital

As a Vice President with Parish Capital, Ms. Simpson is responsible for reviewing investment opportunities, conducting due diligence on potential investments and monitoring those investments and their underlying companies. Prior to joining Parish Capital, Ms. Simpson worked as an Investment Associate with the UNC Management Company, an investment management firm which provides services to The University of North Carolina. In this role, she helped to manage several alternative investment portfolios, including private equity, real estate, energy/natural resources and enhanced fixed income. She worked on all aspects of endowment management including asset allocation, portfolio construction and risk management, manager selection, manager performance evaluation and reporting to the Investment Fund Board.

Mike Noonan
Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets, NYSE Euronext

Mike Noonan is a Managing Director of NYSE Euronext and Head of the Capital Markets Group. He is responsible for directing the overall activity for new listings, including initial public offerings and transfers from other exchanges as well as new listings in structured products and closed-end funds. He is also responsible for managing the firm’s relationship with the investment banking and legal communities as well as the private equity and venture capital firms.

Mr. Noonan has a combined 15 years of investment banking experience. Most recently, he came from JP Morgan where he was a member of the Equity Capital Markets Group covering Technology, Media and Telecom clients. Prior to JP Morgan, Mr. Noonan spent 10 years at Bear Stearns, covering TMT clients in both coverage and equity capital markets roles. Prior work experience includes various corporate banking roles within Wachovia Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jake Tarr
Managing Director, Kinetic Ventures

Jake's investment activities focus on power/clean technology, outsourcing, transaction software and customer care/service opportunities for Kinetic Ventures. Kinetic is a leading venture capital investor in high growth, industry defining communications, information and power/clean technology companies. Jake is a Director of APX and SmartSynch. Before joining Kinetic in 1987, Jake was with the Bank of New York.

Dan Marriott
Managing Partner, Stripes Group

Dan co-leads the team at Stripes, an active venture fund out of New York focusing on Internet, software, tech-enabled and branded consumer products. Prior to joining Stripes, Dan spent the past 11 years in a variety of Strategic Planning, M&A/Investment/Board Advisory, Operational and Start-Up roles across IAC/InterActiveCorp. Dan’s experience in assembling, acquiring, building and operating within IAC’s diverse asset base contributed to his ability to identify undervalued assets and to his broad understanding of multiple consumer sectors. During Dan’s time at IAC, it grew to a market capitalization in excess of $27 billion from its inception in 1995. Most recently, Dan was founding CEO of Pronto, Inc., the fastest growing comparison shopping site in the U.S. and founder of Gifts.com, both Operating Businesses of IAC. Dan founded Pronto, Inc. during his role as SVP of Interactive Development of IAC, a role which focused on developing IAC’s new businesses. Dan also served as SVP, Strategic Planning of IAC, overseeing all M&A and investment activity for IAC, EVP of Corporate Strategy and Development for Ticketmaster, and President of Citysearch.

Michael A. DiPiano
Managing Partner, NewSpring Capital

Mr. DiPiano is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of NewSpring Capital and a General Partner of NewSpring Ventures. NewSpring Capital is a family of private equity funds providing growth and expansion capital to companies primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. NewSpring Capital currently has over $500 million of assets under management. The family of NewSpring Capital funds consists of (i) NewSpring Health Capital, which provides equity capital to healthcare companies within the life sciences, healthcare services and medical device sectors, (ii) NewSpring Mezzanine Capital, which provides mezzanine capital for expansion stage and buyout opportunities in the business services, healthcare, information technology, and specialty manufacturing sectors, and (iii) NewSpring Ventures, which provides equity capital to growth and expansion stage companies with a focus on business services, enabling technology and information technology.

Prior to joining NewSpring Capital, Mr. DiPiano was a serial entrepreneur and investor. He led or co-led the investment into six operating companies in the business services, healthcare and information technology industries. During that time, he was affiliated with Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFG) and their related Funds. He currently serves on the boards of Femme Pharma; Continental Bank; I-pipline; CyberShift; Bluenog; and the University City Science Center, where he also sits on the Audit Committee. Mr. DiPiano has a B.S. from Penn State University and an MBA from Stern School at New York University.

Lou Volpe
Managing Partner, Kodiak Ventures

Lou Volpe leads Kodiak's investment efforts in software and core technology areas with over 25 years of technology industry experience. He focuses on new and unique software products and technologies that are disruptive and provide quick ROI to customers. He represents Kodiak on the boards of airwide solutions, Azimuth Systems, ChannelAdvisor, Egenera, Glasshouse Technologies, HighRoads, Newforma, and SpaceClaim.

Prior to joining Kodiak in 2000, Lou had a distinguished career as part of the executive management teams at three of the most successful technology companies in the Boston area - ArrowPoint Communications, GeoTel Communications and Parametric Technology. He has served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing as well as a Board member at these companies. Each had very successful IPO's, and both ArrowPoint Communications and GeoTel Communications were acquired by Cisco Systems in multi-billion dollar transactions. At Kodiak, one of his portfolio companies had a successful acquisition when IMlogic was acquired by Symantec in January 2006. Lou has also served on the Board of Directors of a number of public companies including Atria (acquired by Pure) and Softdesk (acquired by Autodesk).

Mark McQueen
President & CEO, Wellington Financial LP

Mr. McQueen has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. He has led Wellington Financial’s growth from its inception as a $7 million fund in 2000 to its current $450 million investment program. Wellington is Canada’s most active venture debt fund. The Fund’s limited partners include many of Canada’s largest institutional investors, including the $95 billion Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board, Industrial Alliance Insurance Co. and Export Development Canada. In 2009, Profit Magazine named Wellington as the 17th fastest growing company in Canada. This was Wellington’s second consecutive year on the PROFIT 100 list.

His views on the capital and debt markets are regularly quoted in a variety of media outlets, including Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business Magazine, Fox Television, and he is also a regular guest on BNN Television, Canada’s business television channel. In 2008 and 2009, readers of The Globe and Mail voted Wellington Financial’s corporate blog one of the “Top 10 Financial and Market Blogs” in the world.

Bruce A. Craig
Managing Director, England & Company

Bruce Craig has over 20 years of venture capital, M&A, operations management and technical experience in the energy, communications and industrial technology industries.
Prior to joining England & Company, he was a General Partner at Ideal Partners Fund, an energy and communications technology venture capital fund. Prior to Ideal Partners, he was Vice President of E3 Ventures, a hybrid venture-investment and strategic advisory firm, and Director of Utility Regulation and Environmental Affairs at the Natural Gas Supply Association. Previously, Mr. Craig worked in corporate finance with Conoco Inc., as a Director in program development within the US Environmental Protection Agency's energy efficiency and pollution prevention programs, and led engineering and business development teams for American Meter Company/Ruhrgas AG.

Don Rainey
General Partner, Grotech Ventures

Over $1B US under management, Grotech focuses on early stage information technology companies. Don currently serves on the boards of Grotech portfolio companies ARPU, Clarabridge, LivingSocial and Zenoss, as well as the Northern Virginia Chapter of the March of Dimes.

In Fall 2008, Don was appointed for a second term as an emerging technology consultant to the Chief Information Officer of the US Department of Defense through the DeVenCi Program. The DeVenCi Program consists of a handful of venture capitalists who research and nominate companies to solve the US Department of Defenses’s unmet technology needs.

Don is also an Organizing Board member of the prestigious MindShare forum. In this role, he helps CEOs from the Greater Washington Metropolitan region’s most promising start-ups build long-term sustainable companies. This invitation-only group provides its annual CEO class with an opportunity to meet peers, Organizing Board members and prominent speakers in an intimate setting to exchange ideas and discuss current issues facing start-up companies. To date, more than 400 CEOs have graduated from the program, including some of the area’s most notable entrepreneurs.

Manan Shah
Managing Partner, Focus Investment Banking

Manan has over eighteen years of consulting, management and M&A advisory experience in the government, aerospace, defense, business process outsourcing, software and information technology sectors. Leader of the Government, Aerospace & Defense group at Focus, Mr. Shah has completed a number of M&A transactions for clients such as Avialec, Blue Canopy, Calibre Systems, Camber Corporation, Cambridge Systems and Global Science & Technology among others. He has also represented numerous clients in the software, information technology, engineering and other professional services firms in successful M&A and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Shah is also an expert in cross border transactions particularly between US and India.

Previously, as a Vice President of S3, a boutique investment-bank, Mr. Shah was involved in providing M&A advisory, valuation and corporate finance services to companies with revenues of $20M to $50M. Prior to that, he founded two software companies where he raised over $12M in early stage investment capital between the two companies. As President & CEO of Creative Technology, a next generation broadband application company, he conceived, conceptualized and established the foundation and was responsible for all the disciplines. As a Co-founder and Vice President of Digital Reach, a human asset management software company, he oversaw all operational aspects.

Ryan R. Moore
General Partner, GrandBanks Capital

Ryan co-founded GrandBanks Capital in 2000 and focuses on investments in each area of focus in the GrandBanks Capital portfolio. Ryan currently serves on the Board of Directors uLocate Communications, GlassHouse Technologies, First Coverage, Vela Systems, Vivox, Inc, SendMe Mobile, I Love Rewards, and Nexage. Ryan managed and served on the board of GrandBanks' investment Enpocket which was sold to Nokia Corporation in October 2007. Ryan also served as the lead investor in the Series A funding of First Coverage, Nexage, uLocate Communications, Vela Systems, and Vivox.

Doug Brockway
Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus

Doug Brockway is a Managing Director in the Technology Investment Banking Group of Stifel Nicolaus, heading Stifel’s Software practice. Mr. Brockway brings over twenty years of investment banking experience to the firm, closing more than 70 M&A and capital-raising transactions totaling over $6 billion in value.

Prior to joining Stifel, Mr. Brockway was a Managing Director at Innovation Advisors, a technology-focused investment bank, successfully closing transactions for companies in the Software, IT Services, Media & Communications, Internet/Digital Media, and Homeland Security verticals. Before Innovation Advisors, Mr. Brockway led SG Cowen’s Boston Technology Corporate Finance Group, providing M&A and capital-raising advisory services to Software and other technology clients.

Mr. Brockway joined SG Cowen after six years with Alex. Brown, where he had been a senior member of Alex. Brown’s Internet Group in its Investment Banking Department. Previously, Mr. Brockway also worked at Whitman Heffernan Rhein & Co., an investment bank providing restructuring advisory services, as well as with Salomon Brothers, in its Investment Banking Department.

Chris Holden
General Partner, Court Square Ventures

Chris Holden brings over 25 years of early stage investing and company-building experience to Court Square, including 11 years with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in a variety of senior operating, strategy, and executive management roles.

From 1995 to 2000 he served as Chief Executive Officer of Kesmai Corporation, a wholly owned software and technology subsidiary of News Corp, which he sold to Electronic Arts and America Online. Prior to becoming CEO of Kesmai, Mr. Holden was vice president of News Technology Group, which held company-wide responsibility for investing in technology and new media businesses, as well as managing the integration and deployment of new technologies across News Corp business units worldwide. He also served on News Corp’s Global Interactive Strategy Taskforce, was a member of the executive team that created iGuide (a joint venture between News Corp and MCI which later became TV Guide Interactive and merged with Gemstar Corporation), and was a senior executive with the News Digital Media Group, which oversaw the online operations of a number of News Corp companies. Prior to joining the News Technology Group, he co-founded the Advanced Media Group for HarperCollins Publishers in New York (a News Corp company) and served as corporate vice president. While at News Corp, Mr. Holden served as a director of numerous private companies in the IT, Software, and media sectors.

Katrin Burt
Partner, Intersouth Partners

Katrin joined Intersouth Partners in 2004 and focuses primarily on the technology portfolio. She works with the firm’s investment team across the full venture cycle, from sourcing new investments to working to develop and grow Intersouth’s portfolio companies.

She serves on the boards of directors of several Intersouth portfolio companies including HexaTech, siXis, Zenph Sound Innovations and New River Innovation. Katrin is a director of the Contemporary Science Center and the North Carolina Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology and teaches several classes on venture capital at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Pete Howton
CEO, Kingfisher Systems

Harry M. (Pete) Howton is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kingfisher Systems, Inc. Prior to founding Kingfisher, Mr. Howton was the founder and CEO of Gray Hawk Systems. He built Gray Hawk into a thriving defense sector business with 2005 revenues of over $70 million and over 500 employees. In 2000, Gray Hawk earned a rank of 277 on the INC 500 list of fastest growing privately held companies. ManTech International Corporation purchased Gray Hawk in 2005. Prior to founding Gray Hawk, Mr. Howton and a partner launched Kestrel Associates, Inc., a defense systems integrator in Arlington, Virginia. As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Howton led Kestrel to a place on the INC 500 list three years in a row.

Maureen Downey
Principal, Pantheon Private Equity

Maureen focuses on sourcing, analyzing and closing North American secondary investment opportunities for Pantheon, a private equity firm with $21.4 billion under management and over 300 institutional clients. She also participates in fund monitoring, firm marketing and client reporting. Prior to joining Pantheon, Maureen was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, & Co.

Catharine Burkett
Principal, Camden Partners

Catharine manages the Camden Private Capital Fund of Funds. With extensive experience as a limited partner, Catharine over the last 20 years has designed, built and managed private equity funds for corporate pensions, foundations, and two major university endowments. Camden has holdings in such venture firms as Silicon Valley’s Bay Partners, Intersouth Partners, Inverness Capital Partners, Galen Partners and Sanderling Venture Partners.

Keith Bergelt
CEO, Open Invention Network

Keith Bergelt is the CEO of Open Invention Network (OIN), the collaborative enterprise that enables innovation in open source and an increasingly vibrant ecosystem around Linux. Central to the achievement of his goals at OIN is the acquisition and funding of technology in the information technology and computing arena.
Prior to OIN, Mr. Bergelt was CEO of two hedge funds formed to unlock the considerable value of IP and facilitated IP's emergence as a viable asset class in the capital markets. During Mr. Bergelt's stewardship, he raised over $300 million while financing IP-centric portfolio companies of leading financial sponsors.

Tom Grossi
Principal, NEA

Tom joined NEA in 2005 and focuses on investments in alternative energy, enterprise technology and digital media. Tom sits on the board of directors of Apprenda and is involved with NEA’s investments in Innerworkings (NASDAQ: INWK), Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ: ECHO), Data Robotics, Gridpoint, MediaBank, Millennial Media, Motricity, Nordic Windpower, Pentaho, Vertica and ViXS. Prior to NEA, Tom was with the Boston Consulting Group where he worked in the firm's retail and energy practices. There, Tom advised clients on subjects including an online media strategy for a Fortune 50 retailer and new emissions and fuel hedging strategies for two of the nation's largest independent power producers. Before BCG, Tom worked as a engineer at America Online where he developed monitoring software used to manage AOL’s extensive and rapidly changing network.

Susan Moser
Partner-in-Charge, Cherry, Bekaert & Holland

Susan is the Partner-in-Charge (PIC) of CB&H’s Washington practice and leads the Firm’s Federal Government Services practice. She has over 20 years of progressive accounting and finance experience, and extensive government knowledge through her work with numerous government contractors and federal agencies.
Susan focuses her practice by providing a myriad of accounting and consulting services to the Firm’s federal government and government contractor clients. She previously led the Firm’s Government Contractor Services Group before focusing more of her time directly in the federal arena. Susan frequently speaks on topics of interest to the government and construction industries, and has contributed many articles to association and industry publications.