Harry Wallaesa, an accomplished executive with over 30 years of experience, is currently the President and CEO of The W Group, a technology management consulting firm. The W Group provides a wide range of strategic consulting services to Fortune 1,000 companies across the globe.
Prior to founding The W Group, Harry was the President and COO of Safeguard Scientifics (SFE – NYSE), a technology holding company. Safeguard acquired and developed companies in the software, telecommunications and information technology services sectors. At the same time, Harry also served as the Chairman of Compucom (CMPC – NASDAQ) a leading computer reseller and technology services company. During his tenure, the value of Safeguard stock increased from $35 to $299, while the value of Compucom more than doubled.
Prior to Safeguard, Harry served as the CIO of Campbell Soup Company. Technology innovation enabled the company to elevate in prominence as one of the premier consumer package goods companies in the world. During this period, Campbell Soup experienced its greatest period of growth and delivery of shareholder value.
Harry began his career at IBM Corp and held a variety of Sales and Marketing jobs during his 9 year tenure. Harry holds a BS from Kutztown University.
Professor David J. Reibstein is Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Reibstein's research at The Wharton School focuses on competitive marketing strategies, marketing metrics, and product line decisions, among other issues. Most recently, his research on competitive marketing strategies addresses competitors' reactions to marketing actions, offering companies insight into ways to anticipate these reactions and use them as a part of strategizing. His marketing metrics work has focused on linking marketing metrics to financial consequences resulting in his most recent book, entitled ‘Marketing Metrics: 50+ Measures Every Manager Should Master’.
A former Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute, Professor Reibstein consults extensively with companies worldwide, including Rohm and Haas, British Airways, General Electric, Shell Oil, Hewlett Packard, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, SC Johnson, Merck Pharmaceuticals and others.
His research has been published in top-tier academic journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and the International Journal of Research in Marketing. Professor Reibstein is also the author or co-author of numerous books and chapters in books on subjects including competitive marketing strategy, global branding, and marketing performance measurement, among others.
Professor Reibstein is a dynamic, award-winning teacher who has been honored with more than 30 teaching awards. In 2005, he also received the John S. Day Distinguished Alumni Academic Service Award of Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, an honor given to a graduate whose service within the academic community reflects the spirit and service of former Krannert Dean John Day. His teaching interests include Marketing Strategy in the MBA Program, as well as teaching Competitive Marketing Strategy, Marketing Metrics, Pricing Strategies, and various other programs for Wharton's Executive Education Program.
George Samenuk is an investor specializing in technology Companies particularly in the software space. He formerly served as the Chairman and CEO of McAfee (NYSE: MFE), the world’s largest dedicated security leader.
During George’s tenure at McAfee the stock price increased from $3 to $30 and the market capitalization grew from $500 Million to more than $5 Billion.
Prior to McAfee George was the CEO of TradeOut.com, an independent, business-to-business Internet marketplace initiated to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers of excess inventory. Tradeout.com was owned by eBay and GE.
George started his career at IBM. During his 22-year worldwide career at IBM he held a variety of Executive Positions in Sales, Marketing and Services. He was one of the original Executives in ISSC which was later was renamed IBM Global Services. During his tenure, George lived in Singapore where he managed 17 South Asia countries including India. George’s last position was General Manager of the Americas where he was responsible for IBM’s $45 Billion business across the USA, Canada and Latin America.
George has served on the Boards of McAfee.com (sold to McAfee for $233 Million), Symbol Technologies (sold to Motorola for $3.9 Billion) and other privately-held companies.
George is a graduate of Brown University where he received his undergraduate degree in Political Science
Peter, a serial entrepreneur, is driving the strategy and growth plan at iJento and has extensive experience of leading fast growth, venture backed technology companies.
Peter was formerly Chairman and CEO of InnaPhase Corporation, a company he founded in 1997 and subsequently built into the world’s largest provider of laboratory information management systems. In September 2004, Peter orchestrated the sale of InnaPhase to Thermo Electron Corporation (NYSE:TMO) in one of the largest industry deals in the laboratory technology sector.
Since the sale of his venture backed company in 2004, and prior to joining iJento, Peter divided his time between private technology investments and non-executive board positions. He has also spent many years as an executive within the contract research and pharmaceutical technology industries.
Peter was a 2003-2004 Entrepreneur in Residence at the Wharton School of Business, awarded 2002 Best CEO Under Age 40 by the US Eastern Technology Council and named as a winner of the 2002 Philadelphia Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Awards, honoring his commitment to professional excellence and community involvement. He led InnaPhase to third fastest growing technology company, ranked by the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 and to second place in the Wharton School of Business and Philadelphia Business Journal’s 100 fastest growing companies. Peter was a finalist in Greater Philadelphia's 2001 and 2002 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in the Software and Technology Services Category and a finalist in the 2001 Eastern Technology Council’s Startup Company of the Year Category.
Peter graduated in Computer Science and Business Administration from Brighton Polytechnic, England.
Carles Ferrer is a General Partner at Nauta Capital based in the Barcelona office and has extensive venture capital experience and has been managing different venture funds and early stage technology companies since 2000. Carles currently serves on the board of several leading Enterprise Software and Security companies in Europe and the USA, including Scytl, Agnitio, Kinamik, Abiquo and Basekit.
In the past, Carles has also held several positions with telecom, technology and finance groups such as Riva y Garcia, Retevision, TRW and Ernst & Young. Carles is very much present in the entrepreneurial and VC ecosystem and plays active roles on the boards of several organisations including the Global Security Challenge, European Venture Contest, IBM SmartCamp and the Techtour.
Nauta Capital manages 3 VC funds and has offices in Barcelona and Boston. Nauta recently launched its third fund, Nauta III, and has a total of $240M of capital under management. Nauta invests between $0.7M to $10M per company, mainly in 3 technology verticals: Wireless; Enterprise SW/Saas/Security, and Ecommerce/Internet. Nauta targets companies for investment in very early stage (Seed Capital) up to the more advanced stages of development (Series A and B). Nauta actively invests in Western Europe and the US. Further information can be found by visiting www.nautacapital.com.
Al Sisto has over 35 years of experience in the high-tech industry and is currently a Venture Partner with Nauta Capital and a General Partner of Sixth Bridge L. P. where he serves as an investor and business advisor to private companies. Al is also currently Chairman of Acctuall, Inc. a SaaS financial services and analytics company and Executive Chairman of CertiVox, Ltd., a SaaS cloud security provider.
Prior to Nauta, Al was Chairman and CEO of Hifn (NASDAQ:HIFN) from November 2006 until its merger with Exar Corporation in April 2009. He also was Chairman, President and CEO of Phoenix Technologies (NASDAQ:PTEC) and Chief Operating Officer RSA Data Security, Inc. Al has also held executive positions at PixelCraft, Inc., MIPS Technologies, Ingres, Intel and Honeywell. In addition to CertiVox and Acctuall, he also serves on the Board of Directors for Agnitio, a Nauta company. Al earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Nauta Capital manages 3 VC funds and has offices in Barcelona and Boston. Nauta recently launched its third fund, Nauta III, and has a total of $240M of capital under management. Nauta invests between $0.7M to $10M per company, mainly in 3 technology verticals: Wireless; Enterprise SW/Saas/Security, and Ecommerce/Internet. Nauta targets companies for investment in very early stage (Seed Capital) up to the more advanced stages of development (Series A and B). Nauta actively invests in Western Europe and the US. Further information can be found by visiting www.nautacapital.com.
Colin Watts is an Investment Director at Oxford Capital partners and is responsible for investments in the information and communications sectors. He brings to the team a combination of deep market knowledge gained in the telecoms industry and extensive international transactional experience gained as a corporate investor and as a partner of two international venture capital firms.
Previously Colin has held investment management positions with Cisco Systems Inc, DFJ ePlanet and Tlcom Capital where he invested over $80 million across 12 companies in Europe and Israel. This portfolio achieved 4 IPO’s and 6 M&A transactions worth in excess of $4.5bn. Colin graduated from Nottingham University with first class honors in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Founded in 1999, Oxford Capital Partners (OCP) is a specialist investment company, managing private equity funds on behalf of institutional and private investors. Specifically, OCP focus on growth capital and venture capital: nurturing innovative businesses at a point in their development when strategic and financial assistance will significantly enhance the opportunities for international success. Further information can be found by visiting www.oxcp.com.
