Michael Bryzek, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Gilt Groupe.

Slava Rubin, CEO and Co-Founder, IndieGoGo.com

Slava Rubin is CEO and co-founder of IndieGoGo - the largest global funding platform - which provides anyone with passion the tools to fulfill their dreams and fund creative, entrepreneurial, or cause campaigns.  The service has been used for over 16,000 campaigns and distributed millions of dollars in 150 countries.  In 2010, IndieGoGo was nominated for the Webby award for Best Community.  Recent speaking engagements include Skoll World Forum, SXSW, CMJ & Internet Week NY, while press includes NY Times, Wall Street Journal,  BBC, AP, Reuters, and CNNMoney.

Twitter:    @GoGoSlava

Company: IndieGoGo - http://www.indiegogo.com

 Dr. Jun Shimada, President/CEO, ThinkEco Inc.

Jun Shimada is founder and CEO of ThinkEco, a NYC-based startup focused on energy efficiency.  Jun is the inventor of ThinkEco's modlet, a patent-pending energy saving device recently featured on the Today Show and the New York Times.  Prior to ThinkEco, Jun was a founding team member of Vitae Pharmaceuticals, where he was the chief architect of their unique computational platform for accelerating drug development.  Jun received his BA, MA and PhD from Harvard, and has professional research experience from Harvard, Columbia, and NYU.

Alistair Ong, CEO/Co-Founder, GreenSoul Shoes

Alastair, trained as an attorney, is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of GreenSoul Shoes, a social enterprise whose mission it is to shoe underprivileged children around the world in an eco-beneficial way. They do this by working with local artisans and manufacturers in developing nations to produce 100% recycled sandals and for each one sold, he donates one back to the community that made them.  His goal is to shoe 1 million children in five years.

Rotpeter, Former Ape, Reporter

Rotpeter is Drew.  He lives in New York City where he works as an actor and a private teacher.  He has been well educated and well trained at great schools and by great teachers.   Educated in medicine, psychology and theater, Drew's work reflects this intersection of art and science. Drew has performed in Israel, Florida, and New York, in a museum, a bookstore, a warehouse, as well as in public theaters and private homes.  Born Andrew, at the ripe age of 24, he snipped off the first two letters of his name. 

www.drewvalins.com

Craig M. Kapp, CEO/Founder, Zooburst

Craig Kapp is an interactive developer who has spent over ten years working to bring cutting edge technologies into educational settings. He recently founded ZooBurst LLC, a web-based startup that focuses on creating augmented reality digital storytelling tools that can be used by teachers and students around the world. Craig currently works for New York University as a Researcher in Residence at the Interactive Telecommunications Program as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science department at NYU. He plans to one day return to academia as a full-time faculty member teaching in the areas of Educational Technology and Interactive Multimedia. 

Andrea Pizziconi, Principal, The Christie Company

Andrea Christie Pizziconi is the principal of the Christie Company, a mixed-use development company that specializes in urban revitalization projects anchored by and fully integrated with educational facilities with current and past projects in North America, the UK, and Africa.  The Christie Company also serves as manager of Africa Integras, a private equity vehicle that invests in expanding university infrastructure across the continent using “win-win” strategies that allow the private sector to address the urgent need for governments to expand quality, affordable education access.  Her past mixed-use development projects have received national and international recognition for revitalizing challenging urban environments. Ms. Pizziconi is a graduate of Yale University and a Gates Scholar from the University of Cambridge (MPhil). She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Alla Jezmir, Co-Founder, Board Director, Director of Capital Raising & Corporate Development, EGG-energy

Alla Jezmir recently joined the business development team at AES Corporation. Previously, as Principal of the Green Portfolio at Calvert Foundation, she led the organization’s Green Initiative. Alla worked in TechnoServe’s Swaziland and Kenya offices, was a consultant at Reingold and participated in the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. She has consulted for the ILO, GreenFuel Technologies, and Masdar. Alla also interned in the CEO’s office of Fabindia, one of India’s emerging retailers, and the Cleantech Group, Investment Banking Division, at Jefferies & Company. She is a founding team member and board director of EGG-energy, an energy distribution company that provides portable, rechargeable batteries to low-income African households and small enterprises lacking access to the power grid. Alla has an MBA from the Harvard Business School, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a B.S. in international business and political science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Lila Kagedan, Global Ethics Advocate, Harvard University

Lila Kagedan is a consultant, advocate, educator and practitioner in the areas of global health, applied and theoretical ethics, religion and education.  Lila is a graduate student at Harvard University, and works as a consultant, educator, curriculum writer and ethicist for a variety of NGOs and academic institutions.  She has lectured and consulted extensively in Canada, India, the Middle East, South and Central America, The FSU, Europe and the United States while also spending a great deal of time working in clinical environments in the area of women’s health, family planning and ethics in global health settings. She received a BA and M Ed. from the University of Toronto and an MTS from Harvard University. Lila is also a CPE student at a Harvard teaching hospital. 

Robert Weeks, Co-Creator, Underheard in New York

Robert currently works as an intern at the ad agency BBH New York where he co-created and developed Underheard in New York, a 21st-century advocacy initiative. Underheard leverages the permanence and accessibility of Twitter’s social media platform to allow a traditionally captured demographic - homeless New Yorkers - to speak for themselves. Prior to re-locating to New York from Texas to participate in the BBH Barn internship, Robert attended The University of Texas at Austin and worked in marketing and web design. Robert plans to find a job without an expiration date (read: internship) as soon as BBH Barn ends.