Zeke Adams '99, Co-founder of Luggage Forward

Zeke Adkins '99 is Co-founder of Luggage Forward, a travel services company specializing in door to door luggage and sports equipment delivery to more than 200 countries worldwide. The company offers a wide range of specialized forwarding options allowing clients in teh convenience of traveling without carrying or checking their bags. Since launching in 2005, Lugage Forward has experienced rapid growth and holds a leadership position in this emerging travel industry.

Prior to founding Luggage Forward, Zeke consulted to a number of clients in teh areas of marekting strategy and strategic growth. He worked most closely with the Kurtzman Group, an advisory firm dedicated to helping companies improve their preformance and visibility in the marketplace. In this capacity, Zeke served as Executive Director of Corporate Governance Summits, a joint venture between Kurtzman Group and Kalorama Partners, a consulting firm led by former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt. Zeke also managed the development of Kurtzman Groups thought leadership studies into interactive online products.

Zeke spent three years at Atlas Venture, an international early-stage venture capital firm. he was an inaugural member of the worldwide market development team at Atlas, most closely supporting the firm's life sciences practice. Zeke focused on the brand positioningand market perception of this global firm, as well as assisted new portfolio companies and their strategic branding and positioning.

Rich Laxer '83, President and CEO of GE Capital Solutions, Career Strategies

Rich Laxer '83 can plot his career trajectory from Skidmore days to his present role as CEO of GE Capital Solutions, a global financial services corporation with over $101 billion in assets. Laxer did just that during a presentation he gave at a November 14 th Skidmore Business Network-New York networking event attended by alumni and several current seniors. After graduating from Skidmore with a business degree, Laxer decided to drop plans to study law and instead go into Financial Services. His business acumen was forged underwriting real estate and selling financial products in the gritty economy of the early 1980s.

“It's easy to succeed when the markets are good—but I learned a lot more about what can go wrong during the bad times,” he says. “To this day, it remains the most useful training I ever received”

Laxer launched his career through GE's Financial Management Program and went on to have 14 managerial positions and 8 different GE locations. Over the next two decades, he established and headed up GE Real Estate Fund Capital Group in New York and other company platforms around the country. From 2001 to 2003, Laxer ran GE Asia Pacific Real Estate in Tokyo before moving on to lead GE Corporate Financial Services London-based European businesses, where he was responsible for leverage finance, corporate restructurings, and distressed/secondary debt investments. Today, he is in charge of GE Capital Solutions, a nine-division financial services group with $101 billion in assets and locations in 30 countries.

 IGA Co-Founder Darren Herman '04 On "Leading Innovation in the New Media Space"

An entrepreneur in the alternative marketing mediums, Darren's successes first started roughly ten years ago when he launched his first start-up focusing on the technology world. Working closely with clients in the advertising, media, entertainment, and technology industries, Herman has handled clients ranging from public to private companies, as well, as global Fortune brands including eBay, FortuneCity, MyPhotoAlbum, Sony/BMG, Altlantic Records, Sprint Nextel, Ralston Purina, Subway, and No-Cal Soda to name a few. He was named "Top Entrepreneur Under 25" by Businessweek magazine for 2007.

In the 1990s, Darren established iComputerServices, LLC (iCS) in order to start designing and developing websites and applications for small to medium sized companies. After the launch of iCS, having designed over a dozen websites including the American Ideal Diamond Exchange and the SAS Group, Herman established GlobalWebSpace to host the websites. GlobalWebSpace quickly grew to over 250 clients within a 3 month time frame which led the launch of an automated game serving company, TerminalX. After two years of running GlobalWebSpace and TerminalX and managing a team of a half dozen server administrators located around the world, Herman sold the companies to a public company in the bandwidth business.

Herman then went to work for i33 Communications, one of the premier interactive agencies. Darren worked with the new business teams for Sprint, Ralston Purina, Multex, and American Eagle Outfitters. Leaving i33, Herman went to Student.com taking on the responsibilities for the entire website. Herman worked directly with the development and management team to oversee all website design and overall marketing initiatives. Student.com quickly grew to be one of Nielsen Netratings top sites for college and high school students.

After two years with Student.com, Herman went to become an in-house entrepreneur and product manager at Conducive Corporation and led the roll-out of the contextual bid-for-placement ad-network, adMarketplace. After launching adMarketplace for eBay and various other major websites and communities successfully, Herman incubated Dynamify Productions, a full-service independent booking agency focused on mid-market bands. While with Dynamify Productions Herman booked acts such as former New Kids on the Block, Columbia Records recording artist Ari Hest, Sire Records recording artist John Lardieri/Twin-A, and dozens of others through its numerous music booking agents. Herman acquired Fanlist.com, a premier email marketing company for the music space. After three years of running Dynamify Productions and speaking at every major music tradeshow and conference across the USA including CMJ and SXSW on music marketing, digital distribution, and tour booking, Herman sold the business to a New York based record label.

Darren Herman is currently working at IGA Worldwide Inc., as a co-founder of the company. IGA is a venture backed in-game advertising company with over $12 million in oversubscribed funding. Herman leads the business development group across advertising, publishing and technology. He graduated from Skidmore with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in business.

Over Twenty SBN-Boston Members Braved An Icy Morning Commute To Actively Network And Hear Deborah Monossan '78 Talk On 'How To Differentiate Your Company Through Marketing'

Following the February 2007 Noreaster, Deborah Monosson '79 President & CEO Boston Financial & Equity Corp successfully attracted an energetic and focused morning crowd for her talk on 'How to Differentiate Your Company Through Marketing." As head of a commercial finance company that provides equipment financing to venture capital backed startup companies and turnaround situations nationwide, Deborah also provides asset based loans to small and medium sized companies. Clients include companies that are now public: Earthlink, AOL, Medimmune and Sports Authority.

Brad Goven '90, Co-founder and CEO, OfficePartners360, Inc on "Unlocking the Power & Intelligence of India for your Company!: A tale of Skidmore, two entrepreneurs, and the channa saag sessions"

Bradford Goven '90 a passionate entrepreneurs. His business partner and longtime friend Tim Boylan graduated from another school but always had a soft spot for Skidmore, no doubt shaped by the “education” that he acquired on Caroline Street back in the day. Brad and Tim have been very successful building and/or investing in a number of companies—spanning a variety of industries which include advertising, education, publishing, technology, to name a few. Some of their individual and collective achievements include:

OfficePartners360, Inc. Started in 2005, OfficePartners360 is a fast growing business and knowledge process outsourcing (BPO and KPO) firm based in New York and Coimbatore (southern India). With 200 highly educated staff, OfficePartners360 provides a broad range of professional services for its middle market clients. These services include, but are not limited to financial research and analysis, accounting/bookkeeping, data capture and processing, sales and marketing support, among other back office functions. In addition, OfficePartners360 has a significant team that concentrates exclusively on web and application development building all sorts of custom software and websites for their clients. OP360 delivers superior quality and top notch service while typically saving its North American customers 50-70% of their operating expense. www.officepartners360.com.

Human-i-Tees, Inc . Leveraging a very sophisticated grassroots direct marketing engine, this environmental T-shirt company grew from a “dorm room startup” venture to become one of the leading educational fundraising companies with annual. In just five years, Human-i-Tees achieved annual revenue of $45million, employed 250 staff in Westchester County NY , and helped 30,000+ schools per annum across the country with fundraising campaigns. Human-i-Tees was sold in 1999.

eFundraising, Inc . Invested in this Montreal based school and youth sports based fundraising company in 2000. As an active Board of Director, provided corporate strategy and marketing counsel to executive management. Helped position the firm for very strong revenue/profit growth with their novel email-centric fundraising programs and search marketing account acquisition campaigns. This counsel was provided right up to the sale of the company to a publicly traded internet company (which was subsequently purchased by the Readers Digest Corporation).

Schoolhouse News, Inc. Having carved out a unique niche in the community publishing space, Schoolhouse News is one of the leading custom newsletter publishing companies for schools administrators, teachers, and parents of elementary and middle school aged children. These widely read school newsletters integrate local advertising essentially making the production and distribution of the news free to the school-home constituents.

Clark Waterfall, Managing Director at BSG Team Ventures

Clark Waterfall is the Managing Director at BSG Team Ventures. As co-founder, Clark has developed a recognized practice in the emerging-growth company sector. Recent representative client engagements include CEO for Nexaweb, CEO of Privasource, and CEO for EquipNet, along with a number of VP-level engagements across the functional spectrum in Sales, marketing, technology, operations, and finance. Clark's board and membership affiliations include co-President of the Boston Chapter of the International Association of Corporate & Professional Recruitment, Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum Start-Up Clinic and Executive Committee member Board Member for the Boston Chapter of the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization, and member of angel investing group Launchpad. As part of his pro bono efforts, Clark has been Forum Committee member and Chair of the Recruiting Committee for the New England Springboard Venture Forum for the years 2000, 2001, and 2003.

Maura FitzGerald '71 Co-founder & Partner, version 2.0 communications

A seasoned professional in public relations and journalism, Maura FitzGerald '71 successfully founded and grew one of the premier brands in strategic technology communications in the U.S.

After driving communications for large-cap companies such as Sony, Motorola, Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq, and running OPAs (Other People's Agencies) such as Miller Communications and Cunningham Communications, Maura founded FitzGerald Communications in 1994 to “turn corporate vision into market value.” Under Maura's direction, the agency immediately became one of the fastest-growing technology public relations firms, rapidly transitioning from regional boutique to respected national brand in less than three years. After successfully building FitzGerald Communications to five offices and nearly 200 PR professionals, Maura sold FitzGerald Communications to Omnicom Corp. in 2002.

A serial entrepreneur, Maura was not content to sit back when she witnessed a market opportunity evolving. With new technology innovations flooding the market as a result of Web 2.0, green and alternative technologies and market evolution in the enterprise software and mobile computing arenas, Maura was poised to address the sophisticated communications challenges of these emerging companies. Together with Jean Serra, an experienced technology communications strategist and senior executive from FitzGerald Communications, she launched Version 2.0 Communications in late 2006.

Bringing her unique blend of communications strategy and business management, Maura has successfully counseled CEOs and senior marketing leaders from some of technology's most innovative market pioneers including USinternetworking, BBN Technologies, Sapient, Peregrine and Manugistics. Working with these industry giants from their early days as fledging “start-ups”, Maura has designed programs to establish industry awareness, bolster credibility and position these organizations for future successful liquidity events.

She continues to bring this expertise and experience to Version 2.0's clients through her direct client management and mentoring of the agency's leading account teams.

As a journalist and freelance writer, Maura's work has appeared in The Boston Glob e, The Fort Lauderdale News , The Miami Herald and USA Today . She has also written for the Associated Press and United Press International.

 Alan Osetek '91, EVP, Isobar "Fluid Lives"

Alan presented the latest research on the impact the Internet, mobile devices, MySpace, YouTube, SecondLife, and digital media consumption habits in general are having on consumers lives.

Dave Balter '93 - Founder/CEO of BzzAgent, Inc., co-author Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Dave Balter is the founder and CEO of BzzAgent, Inc., one of the advertising industry's most recognized word-of-mouth marketing and media firms. He launched BzzAgent in 2002, and since that time the company has established itself as the leading provider of word-of-mouth services for the world's most esteemed brands, including Anheuser-Busch, Levi Strauss and Ralph Lauren. Under Balter's leadership, BzzAgent has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio.

A co-founder and board member of The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Balter is an international speaker on the topic of word-of-mouth marketing. He has presented for corporations, associations and non-profit groups throughout the US and Europe. He co-authored Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, which has become the industry's seminal business title. Dubbed a “serial entrepreneur” by The Boston Globe, Balter built and sold two promotional agencies prior to forming BzzAgent. He was named to the “40 under 40” list by the The Boston Business Journal in 2004 as well as by Advertising Specialty Institute in 2001. Women's Wear Daily named him one of the “Top 7 Individuals Changing the Face of Beauty” in 2001..

Jessica Lanning, CMC, CRMS on "Building a Referral Based Business"

Jessica Lanning has been originating real estate loans for nearly a decade, helping her clients increase their assets through managing debt, maximizing equity, and investing in real estate. A member of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and the California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB), Jessica is the only mortgage professional in California to complete both of NAMB's rigorous certification programs to earn the Certified Mortgage Consultant (CMC) and Certified Residential Mortgage Specialist (CRMS) designations.

Jessica focuses on helping her clients successfully integrate their mortgage(s) into their overall long- and short-term financial and investment plans to help minimize taxes, improve cash flow and minimize interest expense. This includes helping clients manage their home equity to increase liquidity, safety, rate of return, and tax deductions. She fuses an intuitive sense of market timing and strategy with a knack for simplifying the complex so clients can make informed decisions.

She is also a member of the State Bar of California, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and the Financial Women's Association of San Francisco (FWASF). She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a JD from the Univeristy of California at Berkeley. Jessica is available as a public speaker, and is a provider of continuing education courses for Certified Financial Planning professionals, insurance professionals, attorneys, and CPAs. She has also served as an expert witness in litigation matters. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, two kids, and their yellow Labrador Retriever.

Scott Bornstein '91, Director of Wealth Management Product and Services at Fidelity Family Office Services Discusses What His Job Really Entails

Kicking off the New Year for SBN-Boston, Scott Bornstein presented a talk on "Catering to the Super Rich: The Business of Meeting the Needs of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals." Scott is responsible for product development related to capital markets. Prior to joining Fidelity Family Office, Scott worked for Charles River Development for 4 years as the team leader of product specialists. Scott managed a group of 14 technical and non-technical product specialists during his Charles River tenure. Prior to joining Charles River, Scott was a senior specialist on the floor of the Boston and Cincinnati stock exchanges for Fidelity Capital Markets between 1993 and 2001. Scott graduated Skidmore College in 1991 with a degree in Political Economy. Scott also has a certificate of management from the Harvard Extension School. Scott currently holds a NASD series 7 and 63 licensees. Scott lives in Marblehead with his wife and two children; Jonah 5 and Aviva 8 months old.

Matt Kavet '94, Founder of Boston America Corp. Discusses His Seven Principles for Running a Successful Business in December 2006

Matt Kavet founded Boston America Corp. in 1995 and began manufacturing a line of licensed Beavis and Butthead products to distribute to specialty stores. Today Boston America Corp. has secured the rights to produce a line of tinned candies, personal care items and energy drinks for over 30 different properties including The Simpsons, Family Guy, Napoleon Dynamite and Hello Kitty. Boston America Corp's products can be found in over 50 regional and national retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, Claire's, and Sam Goody. As well as Home Specialty giants Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linens' n Things. Kavet graduated from Skidmore in 1994 and resides in Boston , MA.

"Navigating the Start Up and Venture Worlds" with
Nick MacShane '91 Managing Partner, Progress Partners, LLC, Highlights November 2006 Event

Nick MacShane, founder of Progress Partners, a boutique Boston-based investment bank, is a proven technology marketer and fund raiser with 15 years experience in working with early stage companies in marketing, branding and advertising; product development; business development; partnership development; and fund raising. Through his experience in working with start-ups, top companies and with business leaders, he brings an extensive network of senior-level contacts in New England, New York, Washington, DC, and California.

October 2006 Boston Kick-Off Event Features Director of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s subsidiaries, Douglas A. Donahue, Jr.  

 Mr. Donahue was named a Partner of the firm in 1990. In 1997 he was made a member of the firm's Steering Committee and was named Partner in charge of the Boston Office. Mr. Donahue serves as a Director of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s subsidiaries, Brown Brothers Harriman (Luxembourg) S.C.A., Brown Brothers Harriman Investor Services Limited, and Brown Brothers Harriman Fund Administration Services (Ireland) Limited. Mr. Donahue is Treasurer of the Commercial Club of Boston and a Advisor to the American Textile Museum.

 Noah Shanok ’97, Founding VP of Sales for StubHub.com, Founder of Podcast Portal Houndbite.com, Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, Bond Trader for Chase Securities on “Everyday Entrepreneurial Challenges”

Noah Shanok, '97, is currently the CEO of a pre-launch podcast portal.  He launched Houndbite.com, a "you-tube for audio" in 2006 as part of his research into the promising podcast market. Noah was the Founding VP of Sales for StubHub.com, which was recently acquired by eBay for $310 million.  He was also a Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and a Bond Trader with Chase Securities.  In addition to a BS from Skidmore, Noah holds an MBA from the Wharton School.

Ken Zankel ’82, owner of The Grove Cafes and restauranteur on “Why SF’s reputation as a culinary magnet with great restaurants and/or affordable prices may be at serious risk in the near future.”

A former venture capital investment analyst for Harvard University 's endowment from 1982 to 1985, Ken received an MBA from Columbia University in 1987, then served as American Express Manager of Entertainment Industry Marketing from 1988 to 1992, and Visa USA Director of Restaurant Industry Marketing from 1992 to 1993. He then left the industry briefly to attend the Musician's Institute for guitar.

In 1995 Ken opened Zinzino Ristorante (honored by James Beard House, Chronicle Top 100, Examiner Top 50, etc.), which he sold in 2001. He has owned and operated The Grove Cafe on Chestnut Street since 1999, and The Grove-Fillmore since 2002. Each Grove is designed combine “rustic-lodgey” with “interesting and cool, with great music,” serves American comfort food, and functions (depending on the needs of the guest) as coffee house/cafe/winebar.

Ken writes: “I love the cafe business (usually!) because it incorporates topics I'm passionate about, and would be even if it wasn't my living: food, music, design, travel (to get ideas, stuff for the cafes), people, and business. I like the mix of Art and Commerce.” He has been a board member of Golden Gate Restaurant Association since 1999, and President from 2004-05. He is also Trustee for the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Mike Berger, '91, Senior Channel and Product Marketing Manager, Xora, Inc, Discusses "In Order to be Better, You Must be Different"

On February 13, 2007, Michael Berger, ’91 is the Director of Channel and Product Marketing at Xora, a fast-growing company in the Mobile Resource Management space. Xora enables businesses to track the location and activity of their workers through GPS-enabled mobile phones. Michael recently moved to California from Boston, where he spent three years at Bose Corporation in Business Development. Prior to that he helped take MCK Communications, a company that made VoIP gateways which allowed traditional phone systems to communicate over packet networks, through a successful IPO. Michael moved to the Bay Area with his wife Rebekka and his six year old son Zachary (pictured).

Gregory A. Rutchik, '87, Intellectual Property Attorney, Liner Yankelevitz Discusses "From the Trenches: Top ten deals and disputes of 2006"

On January 9, 2007, San Francisco alums listened to Gregory A. Rutchik, '87, Intellectual Property Litigator and founder of the Arts and Technology Law Group (www.rutchik.com) discuss "From the Trenches: Top ten deals and disputes of 2006." Greg received a J.D. in 1992 from the Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, then served as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Law from 1992-93 where his focus was the licensing of technology by Japanese information technology companies.

In the mid-1990s Greg worked with the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in New York City representing independent songwriters, film producers and arts entities. He then worked as an associate with Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb and Soffen in New York City, with a focus on semi-conductor patents, trademarks and copyright litigation. In 1998, Greg joined the Information Technology Practice Group of Cooley Godward LLP in Palo Alto, CA, to work on software and information technology clients. He was then retained as Assistant General Counsel to two Cooley Godward clients: www.noosh.com, a web-based procurement entity, and at www.Loudcloud.com, an infrastructure managed services company.

Trevor Hamilton,'90, Regional Director for Western Advertising Sales, Reuters Media Inc., on "The Evolving Mobile Ad Marketplace"

Jeff Treuhaft '91, Senior Vice President, Digital Content and Messaging Services VeriSign Communications Services

Approximately 30 alumni gathered on November 14, 2006 to hear featured speaker Jeff Treuhaft '91, Senior Vice President, Digital Content and Messaging Services VeriSign Communications Services at SBN-SF Chapter's inaugural networking event.

Treuhaft is responsible for leading product strategy and new business development. VeriSign's Digital Content Services provides content aggregation, rights management, subscription management, portal hosting, transaction authorization, billing and payment mediation and data intelligence solutions for mobile, broadband and broadcast entertainment applications.