Alex von Allmen, MBA
Alex is a marketing, finance and communications professional who has worked in start-ups and Fortune 100 organizations. He has experience in branding, market research, design, digital marketing, product management, business metrics, software as a Service (SaaS) and team leadership. Total BrandMother client sales exceeds $4 Billion since engaging his services. He holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School in marketing and finance and a BA from Vanderbilt.
Michael Dotterer, MPA
Michael Dotterer has over 25 years of experience in sales and business development and has worked in start-ups and Fortune 100 companies. At the United Nations he called on titans of industry such as Armand Hammer, Ted Turner and Ross Perot Jr. He played for the 1984 Los Angeles Raider World Champion Super Bowl Team and was All-American baseball player. He holds a BA degree from Stanford, MPA from Columbia and studied at the London School of Economics ( LSE).
Michael Zarifes, BFA
Michael is an award-winning graphic designer and art director, specializing in infomercial production, broadcast, web and mobile design. He has held sales positions with Oracle and Pitney Bowes. (He worked under Thomas Siebel at Oracle) He has a BA degree in psychology from Stanford University and a BFA degree in graphic design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California (with honors).
Edward Nemeth, MBA
Ed is a serial entrepreneur who founded and sold several international cellular companies to Sprint and built a global pharma consulting boutique specializing in New Drug R&D Educational Programs. He’s a peer-reviewed author who co-developed 4 FDA Approved cancer diagnostic tests at Tufts, then Rush Medical Schools, including the first immunohistochemical breast cancer test that still saves 17,000+ lives annually. He studied Neurobiology at U. of Vermont, Immunology at Harvard and Business at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management
David Gruebele
Is the senior partner at Halo Capital. He is a versatile, “hands-on” senior executive with broad expertise in international business, general management, finance, sales and operations. Trained as an engineer, David has guided successful startups and recoveries of financially troubled business units and entrepreneurial companies. Industry experience ranges from Investment Fund Management, SaaS, Med-Tech, Data Storage, to Accounting and Professional Services. His work has led to sales in excess of $1 Billion to clients worldwide. With twenty five years of turnaround management experience at public and private firms, he is adept at working cross-culturally with offshore divisions, partners and customers.
Gopan Madathil
Gopan Madathil is a seasoned innovation and venture expert and runs the Investorfest Accelerator since 2009 and serves as an advisor to several startups. In his capacity as the President of InnoSapien Ventures he helps entrepreneurs with their go-to-market and fundraising strategy. Over the past 30 years he has championed the launch of several products from concept stage to initial release and beyond. Featured speakers at his events have included Tim Draper. Vint Cerf and Dr. Pam Marrone. His clients have raised more than $400 million.
Gopan has a BS in Computer Science & Engineering from Anna University in Chennai India.
Josh Sybrowsky
Josh is CEO of Carbon Manufacturing and an expert in product design, engineering, CAD and manufacturing. He has created over 300 plastic injection molds and 150 customized machines. Josh looks at projects from an integrated holistic perspective and always designs a product with manufacturing in mind. He also has extensive experience with manufacturing in China and is well versed in the nuances of Chinese culture. When he was a teenager he sent GM a letter regarding regarding a design flaw in their engine and years later was flown out to IDEO in Palo Alto for an interview by one of the GM’s former managers who had read that letter) Josh has a BS in Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Eric J. Hardgrave
Eric is currently the Managing Member of Acuity Management Company, LLC, a family of three venture capital funds that focus primarily on web-based software. He was also the co-founder of Sand Hill Capital, LLC, a venture fund that provided debt facilities to later stage and emerging growth companies. For over thirty years, Eric has provided equity, debt and related convertible debt financings to technology companies in Silicon Valley and across the Country. He began his career in commercial banking with Union Bank and later moved on to progressively senior positions with Silicon Valley Bank. Eric received a BA in Economics from Stanford University. At Stanford, he played baseball and received All-American Honors and went on to play professionally.
Cheri Smith-Comfort
Cheri is the founder of the Comfort Companies and currently works as a Business Consultant, focusing on Start-Up, Marketing, Image, and Re-Branding. She worked in the tech industry throughout the ‘90’s and parlayed her networking and marketing skills into a successful Marketing Firm in 1998, working mostly in the political and non-profit arena. Starting in 2004, she focused more on event planning, fundraising, and grant writing. Since 2020, clients have been increasingly requesting Image Consulting and she has helped with several Start-Ups, Rebrandings, and Social Media Presences.