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Dean Bravos
Dean is a consummate entrepreneur, who currently is a strategic consultant, investor, or operator across organizations ranging from consumer electronics companies, such as global market share leader Shure Inc., to a Chicago Cubs Officially Endorsed rooftop venue located just outside of legendary Wrigley Field. Dean previously headed global sales efforts for highly successful technology companies, including Sierra On-line, Inc., an original consumer software publisher and market share leader in entertainment, as well as internet security and pioneer WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. Dean also advises on multiple boards.
Dean has a BA Communication and Marketing from the University of Arizona.
Russ Kennedy
Russ is currently the Senior Director of Engineering and Product Management at ThinIdentity Corporation. Prior to ThinIdentity, Russ was the Vice President of Product Management and Strategic Alliances at Cleversafe. Russ has more than 20 years experience in the storage industry, and has expertise in product management, product marketing and establishing key technical and go-to market alliances. Past roles include Senior Director for Product Marketing and Strategy at Pillar Data Systems, Director of Software Product Management for StorageTek’s Information Lifecycle Management Solutions group, and Chief Technology Officer for the Information Lifecycle Management Solutions Business Unit in Sun's Data Management Group.
Russ has an MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Colorado State University.
Scott Merkle
Scott is the Vice President of Sales for Fusion Risk Management, a leading provider of IT and Operational Risk Management software and advisory consulting services. Prior to joining Fusion, Scott served in various roles including Senior Vice President of National Account Sales and Operations for DBS Communications, a $70 million wireless MVNO on the AT&T and Sprint networks, Vice President and General Manager for NextiraOne, Scott’s 21 years in the high tech and communications industry also include senior sales, marketing and product management positions with Apropos Technology, Zenith Data Systems / Cruise Technologies, and Andersen Consulting (Accenture).
Scott holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley; and an Economics Degree from Northwestern University.
Raghu Rau
Raghu is a creative, global management professional with strong operational, marketing and strategic leadership experience and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Raghu was a senior vice president at Motorola Inc. until 2008, holding positions of increasing responsibility since 1992 in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including chief strategy officer and chief marketing officer of the Networks business. Before joining Motorola, Raghu was the general manager and co-founder of a telecommunications services company in Qatar, and prior to that he was the general manager of a multinational in India. Raghu has served as the chairman of Quest Forum, the leading quality standards organization in the global telecommunications industry; the Board of the Center of Telecom Management at USC and the Motorola France Telecom partnership Board.
Raghu has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Greg Rudin
Greg is the Senior Vice President and A|X Team Lead at MediaBank, LLC in Chicago. Prior to joining MediaBank, Greg served in various leadership roles for technology companies, including Chief Operating Officer for The Point, an Internet start-up, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Cleversafe, Inc., an innovative data storage company, Vice President of Marketing/Business Development at MusicNow (sold to AOL in November 2005), and co-founder/President and General Counsel of ShopAround, Inc.
Greg earned a B.A. in History from U of I, Champaign/Urbana and a J.D. from UC Hastings in San Francisco. He is an attorney licensed in IL and CA and sits on the Boards of Directors of Neuros Technology, One Llama, and the charity, Smart Bet.
David Weinstein
David is president of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), an organization that seeks to make a lasting economic impact on the Chicagoland region by helping entrepreneurs build viable, sustainable and profitable enterprises. For the last 15 years, David has worked in a variety of management positions in the technology field, both in the public and private sectors. Past roles include president of David Weinstein & Associates, LLC., President and Chief Executive Officer of BlueMeteor. David was also technology advisor to the mayor of the City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, and managed the City's Technology Development Initiative and helped form the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors. David was recently appointed by Mayor Daley to be a member of the Chicago Plan Commission. He also participates on the board of directors for the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Citizens Advisory Board, M5 Artist Collective, the Target Group Inc., and the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors.
David is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, receiving his degree with honors and distinction from the Phi Kappa Phi National All-University Honors Society and the Golden Key National Honor Society. He earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Jamie Bellanca
Jamie’s forte is leading strategic technology initiatives in start-ups and Fortune 100 companies. Jamie was the Vice President of Advanced Technology for Cleversafe, leading the technology vision for over two years. Prior, Jamie was a regional principal/national director for Lante Corporation, a publicly-held software and technology consultancy. Lante purchased his award-winning internet design and development company ingenious, inc. in 1999. Jamie’s expertise is grounded in the areas of technology, software development methodologies and user-centered design.
Jamie has led internet and product development initiatives for Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Aon Corporation, Catapulse (Rational Software), Dell, Simon Properties, ZixMail, Motorola and Texas Instruments.
Jamie holds a BS in Interdisciplinary Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Ray Martino
Ray’s passion and experience is leading both the business and development of market creating technology products. Ray led the teams that created the first in the world WiFi (802.11) products, the world’s first mobile computer with a wireless local area network, the world’s first VoIP Wireless Phone and worlds first WLAN Switch. These accomplishments were made at Symbol Technologies where Ray held various positions including CTO, General Manager and VP Engineering. During this time Symbol grew from $20M in revenue to over $2B before being acquired by Motorola in 2007 for $3.9B.
Ray Martino is currently COO of Nanosense Technologies. Nanosense is developing at the crossroads of nanotechnology, biotechnology and neural computing creating a bio-nano-electronic device capable of olfaction.
Alan Wade
Alan Wade retired from federal service at the end of 2006 after a thirty-five year career at the Central Intelligence Agency. He retired as the Chief Information Officer, a position he held since 2001.
Alan held a series of senior positions at the CIA including the Director of Communications, Director of Security, and Chief Information Officer. In his assignment as Chief Information officer, he was dual-hatter as the Chief Information Officer for the United States Intelligence Community.
During his career, Alan’s contributions were recognized several times. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Director’s Medal, and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
Since retirement, Alan has worked with several early stage companies. He served on the board of Safeboot, N.V. (acquired by McAfee in 2007) and Detica DFI (acquired by BAE Systems in 2008). Additionally, Alan serves on public sector advisory boards of several technology companies.
Alan graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1973, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1978, he received his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
