About the Speakers

Julie Ask, VP, Forrester Research
Julie joined Forrester in 2008, bringing seven years of extensive analyst experience from Jupiter Research. Julie Ask's research and analysis on telecommunications and consumer mobility have been widely cited in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, BusinessWeek and on CBS, NBC, and PBS. Julie holds a B.S.E.E. and a Master of Science in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Larry Baer, CEO, San Francisco Giants
With impeccable credentials in the world of marketing, television, film and politics, Larry Baer has gained a national reputation as one of professional sports' leading visionaries. He was named President of the San Francisco Giants in October 2008 and Chief Operating Officer in May 1996. Larry Baer graduated from UC Berkeley and earned his MBA from the Harvard School Of Business.

Alex Chang, CEO, Roost
With more than 15 years of experience in the real estate and technology markets, Alex Chang is the CEO and Co-founder of Roost. Prior to founding Roost, Alex served as SVP of Technology & Operations of TotalMove, Inc. and Senior Director of Services for Walmart.com. Alex holds an MBA from University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Sandy Climan, CEO, Entertainment Media Ventures, Inc.
Sandy Climan is Managing Director of Entertainment Media Ventures (EMV), a Los Angeles-based venture capital fund focused in investment in the area of technology and media. Prior to EMV, Sandy was the executive vice president and president of Worldwide Business Development for Universal Studios and part of the senior management team at Creative Artists Agency. Climan earned his MBA at Harvard Business School.

Toby Daniels, CEO of Crowdcentric & Co-Founder of Social Media Week
Toby Daniels is an entrepreneur with a passion for emerging media, technology & social innovation. Toby is the CEO of New York-based Crowdcentric and the co-founder of Social Media Week, a bi-annual conference that takes place simultaneously in multiple cities across the globe.

John Donahoe, President and CEO, eBay
John Donahoe has been the president and CEO of eBay since March 31, 2008. Before joining eBay, John spent over twenty years at the worldwide consulting firm Bain & Company, where he rose to become the firm's CEO. In 2010, he was appointed to serve on President Barack Obama's White House Council for Community Solutions. John received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Jim Feuille, CEO, Crosslink Capital
Jim Feuille is the CEO of Crosslink Capital and a member of their venture capital team. Jim's prior positions included Global Head of Technology Investment Banking at UBS, Operating Officer at Volpe Brown Whelan & Company, and Head of Technology Investment Banking at Robertson Stephens. He holds a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College.

George C. Halvorson, Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Permanente
George C. Halvorson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., headquartered in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente is the nation's largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, serving about 8.8 million members and generating $42 billion in annual revenue.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, George was President and Chief Executive Officer of HealthPartners, headquartered in Minneapolis. With more than 30 years of health care management experience, he has also held several senior management positions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Joe Kennedy, President and CEO, Pandora
Joe Kennedy joined Pandora in 2004 following a five-year stint at E-LOAN, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer. Earlier on in his career, Kennedy was the VP of Sales, Service, and Marketing at Saturn, which he grew to over $4 billion in revenue. Joe holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University.

Chris Kenton, Founder and CEO, SocialRep
Chris Kenton is the Founder and CEO of SocialRep. A longtime marketing and technology veteran, Chris has led both agency and client teams in the development of innovative marketing applications and methods. His accomplishments include managing the development of Devx.com, co-founding Cymbic, and working with top marketing executives on the CMO council as SVP of corporate strategy.

Ross Mayfield, Chairman and Co-Founder, Social Text
Ross Mayfield is Chairman & Co-founder of Socialtext. Prior to Socialtext, Mayfield served as VP of Marketing for a Fujitsu spinout and CEO of an enterprise risk management software company. Mayfield co-founded and served as president of RateXchange (AMEX:RTX), the leading B2B commodity exchange for telecom. A noted blogger and industry expert, Mayfield is a serial and social entrepreneur.

David Kim, CEO, Baja Fresh
When David Kim came to America at the age of 14, he was penniless and sold toys at a flea market to help his family make ends meet In 2006, Kim formed Caliber Capital Group, an equity market investment group, specializing in acquiring distressed companies and turning them around in record times. Using his personal experience as a reference, David wrote the inspirational guide Ignite! 7 Values that Fuel Billionaire Success.

Yves Lermusi, CEO, Checkster
Yves Lermusi founded Checkster after 7 years at Taleo as President of Taleo Research. Prior to Taleo, Yves founded iLogos and held several positions in research and consulting organizations in Europe. He is a well known public speaker and a Career and Talent industry commentator. Yves earned a degree in Physics and Philosophy, and has a diploma in Economics from the University of Brussels and from the University of London.

Howard Lind, CEO, Cicoil
Howard is CEO of Valenica, CA-based Cicoil, a manufacturer of flexible cables and assemblies for military, aerospace, capital equipment and medical customers. Since implementing new technologies and marketing techniques including a web-based “Cable Configurator,” Cicoil sales and profitability have grown consistently since Lind led its 2006 purchase. In his first foray into entrepreneurialism, he and a classmate transformed a small ($300k in sales) gear manufacturer into a $65 million global business. Howard received his MBA from Harvard and BA from the University of Regina in Canada.

M.R. Rangaswami, Founder, Sand Hill Group and Sandhill.com
M.R. co-founded Sand Hill Group LLC, one of the earliest “angel” investment firms, and has been a strategic advisor to several fast-growing companies. In 2008, he co-founded Corporate Eco Forum, an organization dedicated to the effectiveness of eco-strategies at Global 500 companies. He has held global VP marketing positions at Baan Company, Avalon Software, and Oracle Corporation. M.R. was profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and has been named in Forbes' “Midas 100 List” as one of the most influential investors in technology. He holds an MBA from Kent State University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Madras.

Henry Nothhaft, Retired CEO, Tessera Corp
Henry Nothhaft is the former President, CEO, and Chairman at Tessera Technologies. Henry is also the author of Great Again: Revitalizing America's Entrepreneurial Leadership, a business policy book published by Harvard Business Review Press. He received an M.B.A. in Information Systems Technology from George Washington University and a B.S. with distinction in Politics & Economics from the U.S. Naval Academy; Henry is also a former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Mike Sabbatis, President and CEO, CCH North America/Wolters Kluwer
Mike Sabbatis is the current President & CEO of CCH, a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services. Previously, Sabbatis was the executive vice president of sales and marketing for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting and the vice president of business development and strategic accounts for Thomson Tax and Accounting. Mike is consistently recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the tax and accounting profession.

Michael Saylor, CEO, Microstrategy
Michael J. Saylor has served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors since founding MicroStrategy in November 1989 and as president from November 1989 to November 2000 and since January 2005. Before MicroStrategy, Michael was employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and by Federal Group. Mr. Saylor received an S.B. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and an S.B. in Science, Technology and Society from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ben Sharp, President and CEO, Capture Wines LLC and Tin Cross Vineyards
Ben Sharp serves as President and CEO of Capture Wine Brands, LLC. Ben has a wide range of professional experience and has done extensive work with the California wine industry's most revered estates, such Vérité, Lokoya and Cardinale. Ben lives in Sonoma County with his wife and co-founder of Capture Wines, Tara Sharp.

Amit Singh, Vice President, Enterprise, Google
Amit Singh leads Google's Enterprise business. He joined Google in 2010 after nearly 20 years at Oracle in different areas of the business, including product development, channel management, sales, strategy and acquisitions. In his most recent role, as group vice president, he led the Application Strategy Group, responsible for applications acquisitions, shared services and product strategy for North American Sales. He also ran sales and operations for some of the fastest growing acquisitions at Oracle including Demantra, G-Log, Agile, Logical Apps and Peoplesoft HR. Amit spent a decade in various sales positions managing Applications sales organizations in the Northeast and Midwest. He began his Oracle career in product development, designing and building some of the first Oracle Applications, before moving into channel management.

Amit is a graduate of Rensselaer with a master's degree in industrial and management engineering and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.

Wesley D. Sterman, M.D., President and CEO, Pharmacofore
Wesley Sterman is the current President and CEO of the biotechnology company Pharmacore. Prior to Pharmacore, Wesley founded and directed EndoVascular Technologies, Heartport, and Theravance. Dr. Sterman holds a California medical license and earned both M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University. He currently serves as a voluntary instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Alex Yoder, CEO, Webtrends
As chief executive officer, Alex Yoder is responsible for worldwide operations and the overall strategic vision of Webtrends, the global leader in mobile and social analytics. His time at Webtrends tops off more than 20 years of global business experience spanning leadership roles across sales, marketing and operations. Yoder has also served as vice president of sales for Touch Clarity, a behavioral targeting company. Yoder won a Stevie Award for Executive of the Year in Computer Software at the 2011 American Business Awards and was recognized by the Portland Business Journal as the 2010 CEO of the Year in Technology.

John Younger, CEO, Accolo
For over 23 years, Accolo CEO John Younger has been driven by a passion to dramatically improve how people and jobs find each other. Highlights of his career include serving as VP of HR for over 16,000 people at Bank of America and founding y/net in '96. He earned a degree from Notre Dame in Mathematics & Computer Science and is a former member of the USA National (Olympic) Rowing Team.