PREVIOUS FORUM EVENTS & SPEAKERS

May 22, 2007
“It Takes Heart . . . Along with Growing Pains”

About the Forum
What questions do you ask when you take over a small family-owned business? How do you finance growing a four-person business to a multi-million operation? How do you take a privately-owned company public? What factors do you assess when opening up new offices overseas in Germany and Japan?

About the Speaker
George LeMaitre, President and Chief Executive Officer of LeMaitre Vascular, will share stories about navigating these decisions since 1992. LeMaitre Vascular is a global medical provider that develops and distributes innovative devices addressing the needs of vascular surgeons.


February 27, 2007
“How to Create an Effective Board”

About the Forum
Back by popular demand, this is a follow-up to Ed & Tom’s presentation of November 21, 2006.

“How to Create an Effective Board” will walk us through key considerations;
Why have a board?
Advisory or fiduciary?
Where do you find them?
How do you manage the recruitment?
Compensation?
What to do with them once you have them?

Moderated by: FiscalDoctor President and CEO Gary W. Patterson, MBA ’71

About the Speakers
Ed Pendergast has been involved in all aspects of directorship and corporate governance as a Director, Chair, CEO, Audit, Compensation and Governance committees. He is Chair of a small public company and on the Board of a number of private companies. A CPA by training, Ed is a Corporate Financial Consultant. He works with a wide variety of companies, helping develop and implement financial strategy. He assists in merger and acquisition work as well as banking relationships. Much of his practice evolves around family and closely held businesses where he helps with management succession and other shareholder issues, frequently as an alter ego to the owners or as a mediator, keeping the owner’s attention focused on the business. He received his BSc from Bentley College, attended Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, and acted as Owner/President of the Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

Thomas J. Sherwin - President of CEO Resources, Inc. - is an advisor to CEOs in the areas of strategy, CEO coaching, succession and corporate governance. A nationally recognized speaker on management topics ranging from the executive suite to the boardroom, Mr. Sherwin is a Past-President of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, where he continues on its Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Board of Visitors of his law school and the boards of Enefco, Inc., the Mazie Foundation and is Chair of the Framingham Public Access Corporation board. Previously, he was an executive with medical device companies. He holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Lewis & Clark College and a J.D. from its Law School. Mr. Sherwin was a member of the Smaller Business Association of New England Board of Directors as well as the Board of Directors of the UMASS Dartmouth Family Business Center.

Gary W. Patterson - President and CEO of FiscalDoctor – has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with over 200 companies - from start-ups to Inc. 500 to Fortune 500 - providing high-level strategic guidance and expertise. He received his MBA ‘71 from Stanford University.


January 23, 2007
“THE PERFECT MATCH: Pairing Entrepreneurs and Funders”

About the Forum
Ajay will be addressing numerous topics including:
- How is a great relationship between an E and F formed?
- How does the relationship evolve?
- What qualities best complement each other?
- What to avoid. How to begin, or end, relationships.

About the Speaker
Ajay Agarwal is a Managing Director of Bain Capital Venture Group.


December 12, 2006
“Distinction and Endurance: Overcoming Technological Changes and Economic Cycles To Thrive”

About the Forum
Newbury Comics co-founder and CEO Mike Dreese will discuss how his 26 store chain has survived and thrived the sweeping changes affecting CD and DVD retailers. With the announced closing of Virgin Megastore in Boston, and the bankruptcy of Tower Records, Newbury Comics continues to expand into new markets via both brick and mortar and innovative web-based strategies. Moderated by Mark Garrison, Stanford MBA ‘75.

About the Speaker
M.I.T. dropout Mike Dreese founded Newbury Comics in 1978 with his roommate John Brusger. Utilizing John’s comics and $2,000 – they bootstrapped their studio apartment operation into a 400 employee company with sales in excess of $70,000,000 per year. Newbury has twice been named to the "Inc. 500" for fastest growing privately held companies in America. It has 3 times been named “retailer of the year” by the music industry trade association, NARM. Mike has served as a trustee of the Berklee College of Music for the past 10 years.


November 21, 2006
“Value added Boards of Directors: Who should be on them? Who should not? What should be expected of the members?”

About the Program
An atmosphere can be created wherein board members can bring true value to the boardroom and to the company or nonprofit at large. This highly interactive session, lead by experienced CEOs and directors from the National Association of Corporate Directors, will focus on value added boards and how you can help create the value everyone seeks.

Moderated by FiscalDoctor President and CEO Gary W. Patterson, Stanford MBA ’71.

About the Speakers
Ed Pendergast has been involved in all aspects of directorship and corporate governance as a Director, Chair, CEO, Audit, Compensation and Governance committees. He is Chair of a small public company and on the Board of a number of private companies. A CPA by training, Ed is a Corporate Financial Consultant. He work with a wide variety of companies, helping develop and implement financial strategy. He assists in merger and acquisition work, banking relationships. Much of his practice evolves around family and closely held businesses where he helps with management succession and other shareholder issues, frequently as an alter ego to the owners or a mediator to keep owners attention focused on the business. He received his BSc from Bentley College, attended Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, and acted as Owner/President of the Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

Thomas J. Sherwin is President of CEO Resources, Inc., where he is an advisor to CEOs in the areas of strategy, CEO coaching, succession and corporate governance. A nationally recognized speaker on management topics ranging from the executive suite to the boardroom, Mr. Sherwin is a Past-President of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, where he continues on its Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Board of Visitors of his law school and the boards of Enefco, Inc., the Mazie Foundation and is Chair of the Framingham Public Access Corporation board. Previously, he was an executive with medical device companies. He holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Lewis & Clark College and a J.D. from its Law School. Mr. Sherwin was a member of the Smaller Business Association of New England Board of Directors as well as the Board of Directors of the UMASS Dartmouth Family Business Center.

FiscalDoctor President and CEO Gary W. Patterson (Stanford MBA ’71) has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with over 200 companies - from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 - providing high-level strategic guidance and expertise.


May 4, 2005
Sonus Networks

About the Forum
The Stanford Club of New England spring Entrepreneurs Forum featured Hassan Ahmed, PhD ’82, the CEO of Sonus Networks, Inc., talked about his experiences as CEO of Sonus during the best and worst of times and going forward.

About the Speaker
As Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Sonus Networks, Dr. Ahmed is responsible for the strategic direction and management. Prior to joining Sonus, Dr. Ahmed was executive vice president and general manager of Ascend Communications’ Core Systems Division, which grew under his direction to a $1 billion business. Before Ascend’s acquisition of Cascade Communications, he served as Cascade’s chief technology officer. Previously, Dr. Ahmed was President and founder of WaveAccess, a pioneer in high-speed wireless network products, a product engineering manager at Analog Devices, and Director/VSLI Systems at Motorola Codex. Dr. Ahmed was also an associate professor at the Graduate School of Management, Boston University. Dr. Ahmed holds a BSEE and MSAE from Carleton University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.


April 6, 2005
Venture Philanthropy

About the Forum
The spring entrepreneur forum comes with an interesting twist - what happens when the venture capital and non-profit worlds collide? This breakfast forum featured George Overholser, GSB '86, SVP of Strategy, Capital One and Financial Co-Founder of North Hill Ventures.

Five years ago George Overholser realized that the skills he had developed as the head of business strategy for Capital One Financial and as a venture capitalist could benefit the not-for-profit world in a profound way. Since then, he has been working to create a performance-driven capital market for the not-for-profit sector. His goal is to cultivate long term results in the not-for-profit sector through the establishment of “equity capital.”

At this Forum, George talked about: (1) the burgeoning worlds of “venture philanthropy” and “social entrepreneurship”, (2) his conviction that the not-for-profit sector is poised for fundamental change, and (3) his efforts to create a new form of social investment that mimics the benefits of for-profit equity while avoiding the pitfalls that for-profit mindsets often bring.

About the Speaker
George Overholser was a member of Capital One’s founding management team, and a co-founder of North Hill Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Boston. Mr. Overholser graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Physics in 1982 and received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1986.

November 18, 2004
Venture Capital: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
About the Forum
The "irrational exuberance" of the 90's, and the "nuclear winter" that followed, have given venture capitalists a deeper perspective on their business. That experience -- of the good (eg, 1999 IPOs), the bad (eg, 2001 down rounds) and the ugly (eg, 2003 clawbacks) -- should make for an interesting panel discussion: not just looking back, but looking forward.

Our panel of 4 Stanford alums, each with solid venture capital backgrounds, will talk about what works, what doesn't work, and what they (now) know about the business. Our panelists are:

About the Speakers
AjayAgarwal joined the Venture Group of Bain Capital in March of 2003, and previously spent over seven years as a senior executive of the venture capital backed Trilogy Software. Prior to Trilogy, Ajay was a consultant with the Los Angeles office of McKinsey and Company, Inc. Ajay also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nick Beim focuses primarily on enterprise software and services, with particular interests in RFID, supply chain, security and storage. Nick serves on the boards of OAT Systems and Mazu Networks and is a board observer at AppIQ, LiveVault and JBoss. Prior to Matrix, Nick advised a variety of technology companies on strategic, operational and financial issues while working for McKinsey & Co. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Nick also holds an M.Phil. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.

Isaac Kato works primarily on investments and buy-out transactions involving companies that apply technology to change industries and enhance business models. Prior to joining General Catalyst, Isaac was a Vice President of Summit Partners’ venture capital arm, Summit Accelerator Fund. Prior to Summit, Isaac co-founded, led, and served as chief operating officer of Sven Technologies, a 3D graphics software firm which was acquired by Spatial Technology, Inc. Isaac also holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the Harvard Business School.

Ben Malka invests almost exclusively in the financial services industry and is responsible for investments in Compete, Austin Logistics, Placemark Investments and SmartTime Software. Prior to joining North Hill, Ben was a Project Leader at The Boston Consulting Group, where he focused on serving corporations that were either direct participants in the financial services sector or suppliers to financial services companies, and before that he was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. Ben also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

Jeff Stoler specializes in representing start-up and venture-backed businesses, with a particular emphasis in software companies. Over the years, Jeff’s has served as counsel on IPOs and private offerings raising over $1.4 billion for his clients, and mergers & acquisitions of his clients involving over $3.6 billion. His recent article, entitled VC Funding for Software Game Companies: What's Holding Them Back?, appeared in Mass High Tech earlier this summer. Click here for more information.


March 9, 2004
Biotech Startup 101

About theForum
This forum featured two dynamic executives of Infinity who shared their advice and wisdom about the biotech startup world.

About the Speakers
Andrew H. Palmer is Senior Vice President, Operations at Infinity. With a track record of four successful startups in the past ten years, Mr. Palmer is a specialist in accelerating the foundation and growth of early stage companies. At Infinity, Mr. Palmer is responsible for information technology, operations, finance, and human resources. Prior to joining Infinity, as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Bowstreet, Mr. Palmer led the recruitment of the core customer-facing team as well as the development and execution of all early sales, marketing, and professional services initiatives. Previous to Bowstreet, Mr. Palmer was the first Vice President of Marketing at pcOrder.com (NASDAQ: PCOR) where he was directly responsible for dramatic revenue growth and rapid customer acquisition in preparation for a successful initial public offering. Prior to pcOrder, Mr. Palmer served as Marketing Director for pcOrder’s parent company, Trilogy. Mr. Palmer currently serves as the President of the Interoperable Informatics Infrastructure Consortium (I3C) – http://www.I3C.org. Mr. Palmer earned an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College (1994) and bachelors’ degrees in English, History, and Computer Science from Bowdoin College (1988).

Jeffrey K. Tong, Ph.D. is Senior Director, Corporate Strategy and Development at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Infinity, Dr. Tong was with the Palo Alto office of McKinsey & Company, where his work focused in healthcare with projects for leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in areas of new business building, technology spinouts, and venture investing. Prior to McKinsey, Dr. Tong was a founding researcher of the Harvard Center for Genomics and Proteomics. Dr. Tong received his educational training at the interface of molecular biology, synthetic chemistry, and medicine. His research interest is in the area of histone deacetylase biology where he has been involved with multiple teams in the identification and functional characterization of novel histone deacetylases and their macromolecular complexes. Dr. Tong holds A.B. and M.M.S. degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, respectively as well as A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University under the direction of Stuart Schreiber.


February 10, 2004
Trilogy

About the Forum
Four panelists shared their trials and successes in growing Trilogy from a small start-up to a company with annual revenues of $300 million and 2000 employees. About the panelists:

About the Speakers
Sameer Dholakia was with Trilogy for seven years in a variety of senior sales and marketing roles, including VP of Alliances. Sameer most recently spent the summer with McKinsey and is completing his second year at HBS. Sameer graduated Stanford, class of 1995.

Christy Jones was a co-founder of Trilogy and the CEO of pcOrder.com a publicly-traded company. Christy is currently the founder and CEO of ExtendFertility. Christy is completing her second year at HBS and graduated Stanford, class of 1991.

Molly Valim was with Trilogy for six years as a senior marketing director, including roles with Trilogy Europe and a Trilogy subsidiary, carOrder.com. Molly most recently spent the summer with Macy's and is completing her second year at HBS. Molly graduated Stanford, class of 1995.

Ajay Agarwal spent eight years at Trilogy, where he ran sales and marketing. Ajay is currently a Venture Partner with Bain Capital Ventures. Ajay received an MBA from HBS and graduated Stanford, class of 1991.


September 9, 2003
Martin Mengwall

About the Speaker
Martin Mengwall holds two degrees from Stanford University - an M.S. in Electrical Engineering as well as an M.B.A. from the Business School. At Highland Capital Partners, Martin is a Principal focusing on communications and information technology investments, specializing in cable infrastructure and semiconductor opportunities. He is involved with. Prior to joining Highland, Martin was involved with technology financings and mergers and acquisitions as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the Communications, Media, and Technology Group. He has also worked as a consultant for McKinsey and in project management roles for an early-stage storage software company.


October 26, 2002
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge - Fall Workshop

About the Forum
Ever wonder how a company landed that big sale, moved into that key market, never seemed to run out of cash, hired just the right people, and stayed successful in an unforgiving market? Find out at the MIT Enterprise Forum, held at the Newton Marriott from 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM on October 26, 2002. As a SCNE member, you qualify for the MIT member discount!


October 23, 2002
Professor Nancy Koehn

About the Speaker
A special evening with Professor Nancy Koehn. Professor Koehn graduated from Stanford and is now teaching at Harvard Business School. She will be talking about her recent book Brand New which covers successful entrepreneurs including Wedgewood, Heinz, Dell, Estee Lauder, Howard Shultz and more. What made them so successful and what can we learn from these great leaders?


February 19, 2002
Career Networking Panel

lAbout the Forum
The economy is volatile, Silicon Valley is shrinking, the stock markets are down, and the Enron scandal is sending waves through the nation. Some of us have been let go from our jobs, and others are worried. It seems many of us are thinking about our careers and wondering... Is anyone hiring these days? How long should I stay in my job? Should I make a career change? Do I want to do this forever? What are my options? Can I leave at a time like this? What do I really want to do? Should I go to graduate school?

If you're looking for answers to these questions (or at least a good start in how to think about these issues), come to a careers panel hosted by the Stanford Club of New England. We have invited four panelists to share their insight and experience, and answer your questions on all career-related topics including making career transitions and strategies for the current economy. Scroll down for their bios. For the networking hour we hope to invite local employers who are hiring and may be interested in Stanford graduates.


January 18, 2002
VentureFest

About the Forum
VentureFest, a social hour with some friends from the technical Stanford of the East, MIT. VentureFest is a gathering of entrepreneurs, technologists and some of the most interesting people Boston has to offer, presented in collaboration with The MIT Entrepreneurship Center, Techlink, and the Sloan Venture Capital Club. There might also be a few special guests that we can announce closer to the event date. VentureFest follows a day-long student-run event at MIT, the 2nd Annual Technology and Entrepreneurship Forum, showcasing leaders in hot technologies, and providing tips on how to get started on the path to successful entrepreneurship.


October 4, 2001
Jonathan Selig

About the Speaker
Jonathan Selig, Akamai Founder and Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development, graduated with honors from Stanford University with a BS degree in Physics. Currently, he is on a leave of absence from his studies at MIT's Sloan School of Management to put full-time attention on launching Akamai. At Akamai, Jonathan focuses on building relationships with domestic and international backbone providers, hosting companies and ISPs. He is responsible for deployment of Akamai's FreeFlow network and has formed partnerships that have made Akamai's content distribution network the largest of its type in the world.


August 28, 2001
Diane Burton

About the Speaker
Diane Burton is an Assistant Professor of Management Behavioral Policy Science at MIT Sloan School of Management. Professor Burton's will discuss her research, a longitudinal study of 172 high-tech startups in Silicon Valley, focusing on employment relations and organizational change in entrepreneurial companies. Prior to joining HBS, and later Sloan, faculty, Professor Burton served as a lecturer in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management at Stanford teaching an MBA elective, “Human Resources in Entrepreneurial Firms.”

Professor Burton received an A.M. and Ph.D. from the sociology department at Stanford University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Social and Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University, and an M.Ed. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Before beginning her career in research in teaching, Professor Burton worked in information technology and educational computing at Carnegie Mellon, Harvard Law School, and Northeastern University and spent several years consulting for the higher education marketing division of Apple Computer.


June 12, 2001
Randall Davis

About the Speaker
Randall Davis has been one of the seminal contributors to the field of artificial intelligence and expert systems. He is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT and served as Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory for five years. He has been a consultant to several major corporations, including Digital, IBM, Aetna, and Schlumberger, and has been involved in founding three software firms. He is on the Board of the Massachusetts Software Council.

Randy also has been active in the area of intellectual property. In 1990, he served as expert to the Court (Eastern District of NY) in Computer Associates v. Altai, a software copyright infringement case that resulted in a significant change in the way the courts view software copyright. He chaired the National Academy of Sciences committee that produced The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Digital Age. Randy will be speaking at the Forum about the important findings of this report. Randy received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1970, and received a Ph.D. from Stanford in artificial intelligence in 1976.


May 11, 2001
Chip Hazard

About the Speaker
Chip Hazard is General Partner at Greylock. Prior to joining Greylock in 1994, Chip was with Bain and Company, a management-consulting firm in San Francisco. He graduated with honors from Stanford University and has an MBA with highest distinction from the Harvard Business School. Chip represents Greylock on the boards of ArsDigita, eForce, e-Steel, Hill Top Research, Idiom, Inc., Trusecure, and iPhrase. He also led GreylockÕs prior involvement with Narrative Communications (acquired by @Home), Internet Business Advantages (acquired by ServiceSoft), and The Vincam Group (acquired by ADP).


March 2 , 2001
Hassan Ahmed

About the Speaker
As President and Chief Executive Officer, Hassan Ahmed is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the company. Prior to joining Sonus in 1998, Dr. Ahmed was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Ascend Communications’ Core Systems Division, which grew under his direction to a $1 billion business. Before Ascend’s acquisition of Cascade Communications, he served as Cascade’s Chief Technology Officer. Previously, Dr. Ahmed was President and Founder of WaveAccess, a pioneer in high-speed wireless network products. Additionally, he has held the positions of Product Engineering Manager, Analog Devices, and Director, VSLI Systems, Motorola Codex. He was also an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Management, Boston University. Dr. Ahmed holds a BSEE and MSAE from Carleton University and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.


January 29, 2001
“Through the Looking Glass: Lessons from Startups.”

About the Speaker
Todd Richman, Stanford GSB ’83, shared what he’s learned as a veteran of seven startups and advisor to many others. Three are now public (with a combined market cap of $2.5B), two are private and two are no longer in business, so he has seen all sides of the startup adventure. Todd is cofounder and managing director of Software Launch, an integrated strategy, marketing and business development firm helping domestic and international high-tech companies enter and grow in the US market. He is also founder and president of Broad Reach Associates (a joint venture partner in Software Launch), a consultancy providing business, marketing and product strategy to software, e-business and e-financial services companies.


December 1, 2000
“ Early Stage Venture Investing”

Ted Dintersmith, general partner for Charles River Ventures, has more than twelve years of experience in early-stage venture investing, focusing on commerce and information services companies. He has been an early and active investor in several successful startups including:

• Vignette(NASDAQ: VIGN)
• Flycast Communications (Nasdaq: FCST)
• WebSpective Software (acquired by Inktomi)
• Novera (acquired by TSI Software)
• BeFree (NASDAQ: BFRE)
• Ibis Technology (NASDAQ: IBIS)
• SQA Software (IPO in 1996, then acquired by Rational)
• Individual (NASDAQ: NEWZ)