Bud Albin Challenge Round Judges 2008
Paul J. Holloway Innovation-to-Market Prize Competition
Judges for the Bud Albin Challenge Round
May 3rd, 8:30 am–1:30 pm
UNH Manchester
Steve August ’93G, Operational Vice President, Brookstone, Inc.
Since joining the company in 2001, Steve August has held various roles at Brookstone including customer analytics director and marketing director. Today, as operational vice president of customer marketing, August oversees all external Internet marketing programs, catalog circulation planning, the company’s loyalty program, and the company’s database marketing group. Prior to joining Brookstone, August was director of circulation at Staples, a leading office supply retailer, where he spent six years in various marketing roles. Brookstone, Inc., is a product development and specialty retail company that operates more than 300 stores nationwide.
Beth Baldwin’84G, Principal Consultant, Acceleration Research
Beth Baldwin is principal consultant at Acceleration Research where she has served such clients as Ford Motor Company, Campbell Soup Company, Lycos US, Terra Lycos SA, and NorthStar Marketing Navigation among others. Baldwin has served as vice president of global marketing information at Terra-Lycos, senior partner, planning & data at OgilvyOne, senior partner at International Marketing & Promotions/DMB&B London, strategic planning director at British Airways/AirMiles, and marketing research manager at Campbell Soup Company. Baldwin holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, an MBA from the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Lesley University.
Alex Bakman, Founder and President, Vkernal; Chairman and Founder, Ecora
Alex Bakman is the founder and CEO of Vkernel Corporation based in Durham, New Hampshire. Vkernel Corporation is addressing the virtualization management market which is projected to reach $25 billion by 2010. Vkernel is funded by Hummeer Winblad Ventures of San Francisco and Polaris Partners from Waltham, Mass. Bakman is also chairman and founder of Ecora, a software company which has helped more than 3,500 organizations worldwide meet their regulatory compliance requirements through its expertise in information technology security, audit and compliance. Bakman has been recognized for his pioneering role in automating the identification and reporting of system-wide configuration settings with the award of patents in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel.
Arlon Chaffee is a partner in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire office of executive search firm Warren & Morris, Ltd.
He previously held senior risk management positions with Tyco International, Cabletron Systems and, most recently, was a senior consultant with Aon Group, serving as Technology Practice Leader in their Boston office. Chaffee is a founding member of eCoast Angels, an angel investor network focused on early stage technology companies. He also co-founded LOCO Sports, which introduced a new line of performance running shoes for serious athletes. Active in the community, Chaffee is chair of the Newmarket Community Development Corporation. A firm believer in the creative economy and building social capital, he is also founding board member and past-chair of the Lamprey Arts and Culture Alliance. Chaffee earned an MBA from the State University of New York and has a BS in business from the University of New Hampshire.
Robert Dell Isola ’97G, Principal, KPMG, LLP
Since 1999, Robert Dell Isola has served as principal at KPMG, LLP and KPMG Advisory in a management consulting role. Prior to that, he held a variety of positions at Liberty Mutual for nearly 13 years. Dell Isola holds an MBA from the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics and a bachelor of arts from Dartmouth College. He is a former Holloway Prize Competition contender.
Bill Gnerre, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Interval Data Systems, Inc.
With twenty-plus years of enterprise sales, marketing, and entrepreneur experience, Bill Gnerre leads the overall company management and growth activities working with customers, partners, and investors. Gnerre has an exemplary record of bringing enterprise software applications to market through his expertise in market identification and segmentation, early-stage sales, and user adoption of technology. His previous roles include being a partner at Monadnock Associates, a consulting organization specializing in assisting startup software companies; cofounder of ChannelWave Software, a partner relationship management systems provider; director of sales & marketing at Wright Strategies, an early PDA data collection application vendor; and product marketing roles at Formtech and Computervision, both vendors of CAD technologies.
Andrea Kokolis ’73, ‘77G Vice President of Operations, Mindreef
Andrea Kokolis joined Mindreef to manage and grow the company as its products evolve from developer-oriented tools to enterprise-wide solutions for the developer, quality assurance purposes, support, and operations functions. Kokolis has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, working with small start-up management teams as they transition to larger companies. Kokolis holds a BA degree in political science and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics.
Michael Marsh, Investor and Entrepreneur
Michael Marsh is a full-time investor and entrepreneur. In his earlier career, Marsh started or helped to start four different software companies over the course of 24 years, focusing on applications for engineering. Marsh also started and ran a software distribution company, establishing international markets (mostly Europe and East Asia) for small to mid-size US software companies. Four of the five companies were successful and were ultimately sold to international corporations. In these companies, he held had a variety of roles; vice president for finance, president, and CEO. In his only non-entrepreneurial position, Marsh was the vice president of sales for a software company in the desktop publishing market. Marsh has been a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives for the past 2 years, working on tax bills, and helping to develop the new research and development tax credit, the economic zone revitalization tax credit, and the Coos County job creation tax credit, all aimed at increasing business activity in the state. Marsh is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin (1977), with a BS in economics. He lives in Greenland, N.H., with his wife and three children.
Dan McGuire
Dan McGuire was formerly a fellow and software development manager working on data compression and video conferencing chips at 8x8, Inc., in Santa Clara, California. Prior to that he was an assistant professor of computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and has also taught part-time at Washington State and the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. He received his bachelors, masters and PhD from MIT. He is currently president of the New Hampshire Bridge Association and the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and is secretary of Granite State Taxpayers. McGuire is a member of the Breakfast Club and eCoast Angel Network, and a past member of the Portland (Oregon) Angel Network.
William Nyhan, Principal, Nyhan Associates
William Nyhan is principal at Nyhan Associates, an investment and strategy firm. Previously he co-founded Office Environments of New England, the largest Steelcase dealer in the United States. Bill has been a principal at York Hill Company, a financial services and investment banking entity and a general partner at Anconcagua Company, a venture capital firm. He also served as an audit supervisor at a PriceWaterhouseCoopers predecessor. Nyhan was also a member of the US Coast Guard's Search and Rescue Unit. He currently sits on the boards of Atlas Water Leasing, LLC, Barrington Partners Fund II, LLC, and Atlas Watersystems. Nyhan is a past board member of Office Environments of New England, Inc., Office Extras, Inc. and the Eastern Massachusetts Literacy Council.
Thomas Pucciarello, Director of Management Development, BAE Systems
With almost 25 years of experience in the areas of leadership, management, organization development and teaching, Tom Pucciarello has worked with and taught people at every organizational level. He has worked with ITT, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dow Jones & Co., and BAE Systems (formerly Lockheed Martin). His expertise includes developing executive-level members through the design and development of training courses, individual one-on-one counseling sessions, team building exercises, and facilitating strategic and integrated planning processes for business area success and program execution. Pucciarello has been an adjunct faculty member at Rivier College since 2000, and an adjunct faculty member at UNH since 2001. Pucciarello graduated from Seton Hall University with a BA in psychology. He received an MA in forensic psychology from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an MS in organizational psychology from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
David Speltz
David Speltz, a nationally recognized healthcare turnaround advisor, has helped hospitals and other healthcare facilities improve their financial, operational, and market performance through organizational renewal. For more than 25 years, he has led senior management teams in successful turnaround and restructuring efforts in public, teaching, and community hospitals, often in highly competitive managed care environments.
Ron Von Sciver
Ron Von Sciver is currently a member of the eCoast Angel investing group in Portsmouth, N.H., which invests in area technology business startups. He is active in several eCoast investments and sits on the boards of two portfolio companies. Von Sciver also sits on the board of Vested for Growth, a program supported by the New Hampshire Community Load Fund, that provides sub-debt funding and technical assistance to New Hampshire businesses. He owned and operated Timbertech Company, a wood pallet manufacturing and service business that he started in 1975. The business operated from two New Hampshire locations, one in Hooksett and the other in Windham, and employed up to 45 people. He sold the business in 2002. Prior to starting Timbertech, Von Sciver worked for Pennsylvania Box and Lumber Company, also in the wood pallet and packaging business, as assistant controller. He also worked for American Friend Service in Alabama, setting up a community-owned pallet manufacturing company, and for IBM in new product market research. Von Sciver graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1966, and from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College in 1968. He currently lives in Rye, N.H.
Roger Worboys ’71G
Roger Worboys has been active in the community since retiring and returning to New Hampshire. He is serving or has served on the boards of Great Bay Services, Cross Roads House, and the Mill Pond Center for the Arts. Worboys is a trustee of Alfred University where he serves on the finance, audit, and development and enrollment committees. He is on the advisory committee of Newport Computer Services, a green solution for reprocessing computers and servers in Rochester, New Hampshire. As a volunteer, Worboys has assisted those interested in starting their own companies and advised existing companies in the Seacoast area with the Service Corps of Retired Executives.
Worboys is a member of the eCoast Angels, a group that invests in startup companies primarily in high tech industries. During his corporate career, Worboys was senior vice president, cable operations officer and partner with Bresnan Communications from 1996-2000. He served as vice president of operations officer and partner with Insight Communications from 1988-1996. Worboys received his MBA from the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and a bachelor’s degree from Alfred University. He was honorably discharged from the US Army at the rank of Captain. In 1983, he served as president of the Greater Portsmouth NH Chamber of Commerce.