Entrepreneurs
Jay Weinberg is President of The JAY Group, a 7-person CRM marketing & software company in Chicago. Jay has been involved in marketing and technology for over 20 years. Prior to starting The JAY Group, Mr. Weinberg worked as a programmer, then marketing specialist for EDS, and as a database marketing manager for Leo Burnett, where he helped develop and manage the first marketing database for Walt Disney World.
At The JAY Group, he focuses on strategic planning for clients, as well as leading development and management of the company’s Loyalty Leaders CRM system.
Irv's entrepreneurial experience includes founding Metamor Technologies in 1985. Under Irv's leadership, Metamor was named an Inc. 500 company for two consecutive years, growing to over 500 employees and was sold to Corestaff. He founded Edventions in 1999, which was sold to Edison Schools in 2001. He is currently the CEO of
Ifbyphone, a leading telephone application platform company. In 1996 Irv was inducted into the "Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame" and in 1997, he was a finalist in the KPMG Illinois High Tech awards.
Gene Rosendale is a managing partner at ASA, The Alliance for Strategic Advantage. Gene has 31 years of experience in producing dramatic business results, within start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, across manufacturing, distribution, service, and high-technology industries. He has held line positions ranging from small and medium size business owner to Fortune 500 executive.
Zach is CEO of Inventables which provides physical Innovation Centers to the the big R&D, Marketing and Product Development departments around the world. He co-founded the firm with Keith Schacht -- the two previously co-founded and sold Lever Works while at U of I. In few short years they have been features in BusinessWeek, Forbes, Business 2.0, Fortune, ESPN, Wired...and they presented at TED, twice.
Steve is a Principal at Galvan and Associates. He is an accomplished executive in operational management and information technology; he has experience at federal and state & local governments and many industries at Fortune 500 and software companies. He was a managing director in the state & local government practice at KPMG, a global tax, audit and advisory firm, where he was part of the public sector practice leadership team.
Scott Worthem is Chief Operating Officer of eShots Interactive Event Marketing. His company is the leading and most well recognized organization in event marketing technology. Prior to eShots, Scott was with Experian Marketing Services for ten years most recently as their SVP and GM of addressable media, a business line that built and managed targeted television advertising. Also while at Experian, Mr. Worthem successfully launched two other interactive and online businesses focused on identity authentication and email marketing.
Oliver is an accomplished senior executive with a strong record of success in building effective organizations, leading transformational change, and developing superior talent. He is a strategist with a knack for execution who employs creative, technology-based approaches to developing high performance infrastructures that enable people to drive business success. Oliver has leveraged his training in law and finance into a rich and diverse business career that has spanned over three decades in premier companies in industries ranging from entertainment, to financial services, to technology.
Marc Talluto is the CEO of Fruition Partners, an IT consulting and education firm that helps IT departments transform to be more effective and align with business needs. Founded in 2003, Fruition has grown 70% every year to a 25 person company with international clients. Their client roster includes: global and regional banks, telecom providers, commodities exchanges, trading firms, and many others. The breadth of their consulting experience is applied to every engagement to provide practical solutions quickly.
Shanta is the CEO and Founder of AMBC Inc. an IT consulting firm consecutively ranked as one of the top diversity businesses in US since 2004. AMBC is a leading service provider of IT services for fortune 500 companies worldwide. . Her abilities to build and maintain a solid relationship with clients, consultants and partners has helped grow the company into one of the top 50 diversity organizations in Illinois.
Darren Schwartz founded SureSpeak in 2000. The development of the SureSpeak originated from his personal and professional communication deficiencies. In addition to a late-developing stutter, Schwartz also encountered anxiety in sales and presentation scenarios. He found a remedy in role-playing, which led to his evolution as a top-producing sales rep, a corporate sales trainer and ultimately an inventor and entrepreneur.