Robert Reyes - Upon his return to San Diego in 2007, he co-founded StartupCircle, a group that supports entrepreneurs with resources.In addition, he’s the President of San Diego Young Entrepreneurs, a 300+ member organization dedicated to bringing together networking and resources in support of local entrepreneurs.

Robert Reyes has 12 years experience in the field of Sales, Marketing, Quality and Supply Chain Management.He founded SafeHaven International in 1999 and based upon its success decided to expand and develop Nordic Mode with his partner Matt Olaiz.Robert helps both Nordic and U.S. based firms to expand into the United States, as well as helping American companies reach Nordic markets.

Robert Reyes-Balcorta received his Bachelor of Accountancy and Supply Chain Management from the University of San Diego with a focus on international business and operations.In 2002 he received his Masters of Business Administration, from Pepperdine University focused in Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

Sebastien Torre - Mr. Sebastien Torre has 15 years of successful experience in the leadership and management of international marketing/sales and business development divisions of various technology companies. Mr. Torre’s current mission is to promote San Diego as an internationally recognized Tech and Cleantech hub while attracting venture capital funds from the Silicon Valley and from Europe.

Partner and founder of Venture Development International, LLC and Venture & Capital International LLC (1999), Mr. Torre participated in the US and international business development and strategic marketing efforts of more than twenty five small to large (some public) European and US software, hardware and wireless companies. To name a few: Mondeca SA (knowledge management software vendor), RTE Software SA (fax server vendor), Enertec SA (storage division of Schlumberger), Epilog SA (IP management software vendor), Eyetech Software Inc. (network security software vendor), Team Partners SA (transfusion blood management software vendor), Alditech SA (digital recording heads manufacturer), Ceyx Inc. (software enabled laser control system vendor), Techsoft SA (Rapid Prototyping software vendor), Multimedia Network Computer SA (Multimedia Center manufacturer), KSGambling.com (UK based online casino), Dotphone SA (first generation MMS platform vendor), Peladon Software Inc. (advanced data capture vendor), Results Engineering (advanced document capture system integrator), Springcard, Inc. (smart card and RFID card reader manufacturer for mobile devices), Fastake (crowd sourcing PAS for Facebook and Twitter), Bulky Pix (mobile games and apps for iPhone/iPad's AppStore), Hybrid MC (3D Virtual Studio system ), AMA (sister company of Ubisoft/Gameloft, specialized in casual/brain/social mobile games and applications - stand alone and connected, on all OS), Gigatribe (private and secure file sharing solutions), MaatG (Cloud Computing – PaaS), SAI Wireless (mobile phones, apps and health care sensors for kids and elderly) and CYS Energy (electricity saving & management solutions).

As a VP of Business Development and Marketing at SWT (2003/2005), Mr. Torre built a $4 Million organization from ground up for the French advanced data capture vendor, marketing Enterprise Mailroom and Remittance processing technologies to Fortune 2000 as well as through OEM’s and system integrators. The company SWT sold to the San Diego based company Captiva Software [CPTV] in May 2005 for $20 Million. The company Captiva Software sold to the company EMC [EMC] in October 2005 for $300 Million.

As a Capture Solutions Consultant as well as Product Marketing & Strategy advisor at Captaris [CAPA] (2006/2007), Mr Torre participated in the acquisition of Oce Document technologies and in the merger more recently with Opentext [OTEX].

As a co-founder and partner of Innodoc, LLC (2007-2011), Mr. Torre has been promoting Innobills, a TEM/UEM (Telecom/Utility Expense Management) SaaS platform (combined with a BPO activity) today recognized as the leading solution for the consolidation and audit of paper and electronic bills.

Mr. Torre is also head of the technology committee for SoCal French-American Chamber of Commerce, founder of the European-American Enterprise Council (EAEC), and an official trade advisor for European government & regional agencies.

Mr. Torre holds a Bachelor in Accounting and Finance from ICS, Paris, France and a MBA from the University of San Diego, CA.

Bob Afsari - Determined. Focused. Passionate. Those are the common traits of great leaders, great athletes, and
great businessmen. And those are traits that have been used to describe Bob Afsari from a very young
age. Growing up in a family of medical professionals, Bob embarked on the medical career path, as
expected. But, along the way, he discovered that his passion and talent was for something completely
different. So, bravely bucking tradition, Bob followed his heart and launched a hugely successful career
as a Sales, Marketing and Business Development professional. This determination and drive has been the hallmark of Bob’s career.

Learning his craft from the ground up, Bob began his career as a sales associate for a commercial real estate firm cold calling, prospecting and telemarketing to commercial real estate owners. Hard work and tenacity soon brought Bob more responsibility and before long, he was tasked with analyzing and marketing development projects. Bob continued to raise the bar for himself when he was appointed Managing Director/Partner of a leading Private Equity firm in San Diego. His drive was unflinching as he became their #1 Sales Representative in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in new business generated. Bob’s unique ability to take a project from conception to execution, with a remarkably resourceful approach, has earned him a reputation as a tremendous asset to any organization.

Bob’s lifelong journey of hard work and determination was put to the ultimate test recently when he was selected to compete in a 7 week business contest. Bob was ultimately declared the winner of The VP Contest, a high level, cut-throat sales and marketing competition. Utilizing the skills honed throughout his incredible career, Bob’s phenomenal achievements were unprecedented, leading one of his clients to describe him as “a huge ball of energy that has the uncanny ability to hyper-focus on a client’s needs and deliver exceptional results in an amazingly efficient manner.”

With a proven record in growing businesses, Bob recently realized his dream when he launched Business on Market St., providing business development and brand marketing solutions to corporate clients. Bob’s experience working in an entrepreneurial, highly collaborative and fast paced environment enables him to deliver the best possible results, with laser like precision, for each and every client.

Mr. Afsari holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavioral Sciences from the University of California, Davis. He currently lives in San Diego with his fiancée. In addition to being an avid mountain bikers and outdoor sports enthusiast, Bob is a passionate classical pianist.

Ping Wang - Ping is an entrepreneur, scientist, and engineer who focuses on bridging and finding synergies between disparate realms of technical and business disciplines, as well as cultures. He founded a startup accelerator program in San Diego, the Ansir Innovation Center, which hosts a dozen or so early-stage technology companies and facilitates mentorship, business development, and funding for them. He is a also “Visioneer” (strategyinnovation engineering) at Mytek International, a diversified business group that now produces over 200 products in the home appliance and consumer electronics space with operations and sales in Asia, US, and Latin America, and is a major brand in Latin America, with as much as 60% market share in various home appliance segments. Recently, he has led new initiatives in innovation and design, spearheading a ‘Venture Manufacturing’ model to accelerate commercialization of product concepts by local entrepreneurs. Prior to these efforts, he also founded and spun out VEA Technologies, a branded consumer electronics design company focused on display technologies. He has worked in various silicon valley startup companies as well as larger icons such as Hewlett-Packard/Agilent.

Ping received an interdisciplinary PhD in Computational Neuroscience at the Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego in addition to a double major B.S. degree in Computer Science and Biology from Stanford University, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, also from Stanford, and has been published in a number of high level scientific and technical journals, such as Science and IEEE, and was a Mayfield Fellow in the highly-selective entrepreneurship training program of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.

Robert Porter Lynch - Robert’s personal mission for the last twenty years has been to address one of the most compelling questions of our time: “How do we build trust and synergy across highly differentiated people and organizations?” because differences in thinking and culture are either the source of incessant and destructive conflict throughout the world, or potentially the source of massive innovation and creative energy that will heal the planet.

This search for the “Architecture of Cooperation” has led to potent set of best practices that now underpin thousands of strategic alliances and innovation systems around the world which consistently achieve eighty percent success rates. This has earned him the description as the “father of strategic alliances” among his peers.

Strategic alliances are now becoming the enabling framework of the value networks that are rapidly emerging as the organizational system of the future. His architecture of trust is called a breakthrough in thought and action.

Catalytic Advocacy: Because collaboration is becoming far more critical if we are to create a world that is sustainable and does not self-destruct, Mr. Lynch is continuing to join forces with other innovative champions to develop breakthroughs in collaborative networks, co-creative negotiations, trust-building, character-building, and the economics of synergistic systems to address both internal organizational problems as well as the world’s most pressing issues, such as global warming, food shortages, and new sources of renewable energy. He invites other’s to contribute to these efforts.

Author & Speaker: Robert has written award-winning and best-selling books, including The Practical Guide to Joint Ventures & Corporate Alliances (John Wiley & Sons, 1989) and Business Alliances: The Hidden Competitive Weapon, (John Wiley & Sons, 1993). His most recent book, Trusted to Lead (2011) is being co-authored with Harvard’s Paul Lawrence. He wrote the popular chapter “Fostering Champions” for Peter Drucker’s Leader of the Future book (1999). His books have been translated into several languages, and his numerous articles on alliances have appeared in a broad range of magazines.

He is often quoted in business journals, speaks to conferences, has appeared on television, radio, and syndicated tape distribution, and writes guest blogs on important issues.
Consulting & Executive Coaching: Mr. Lynch and his team have empowered senior executives and internal champions to produce results quickly with the fresh insights, impactful strategies, effective practices and potent tools. The understanding of the nature of championing collaboration and innovation has enabled many organizations to over-come internal resistance and embrace new approaches to create bold new futures.
Industries across the globe have ranged from aerospace (aviation & defense), automotive, energy, consumer products, financial services (banking, real estate, insurance), high tech (computers, electronics, tele-comm) medical (biotech, heath care, instrumentation, pharmaceutical, managed health care), and petro-chemicals.

His clients have included Accenture, AT&T, Bell Canada, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eli Lilly, ExxonMobil, Flextronics, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intuit, Lockheed-Martin, Lucent, NCR, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Prudential, Sprint, TELUS, USAA, Wells Fargo, and Xerox, among many others, as well as many smaller businesses, and numerous not-for-profit and governmental organizations at the federal, state, and provincial levels in the United States and Canada.

In the last 25 years he has trained over 25,000 executives and managers primarily in North America and Europe, resulting in a large cadre of collaborative professionals with deep skills and capabilities.

Business Leadership & Community Activities: Robert has been actively involved in over twenty civic, business, technology, community, and local economic development organizations. He is listed in Who's Who: Global Leaders and is founding Chairman of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals.

Education: Mr. Lynch holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Brown University. He’s an Adjunct Professor at the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, and San Diego; and has served on the faculties of the American Management Association, the Canadian Management Centre, Institute for International Learning, and American College of Physician Executives.

Military: He served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy, Bronze Service Star with combat duty in Vietnam.

Gabriela Dow - Gabriela brings over 20 years of experience in Strategic Planning & Implementation, Business Development, Media Relations and Marketing for technology innovators. She currently serves as an independent consultant for government agencies, political candidates and technology companies focused on e-Government solutions.

A pioneer in the e-Government field, she has proven expertise building nascent businesses into industry leaders. As a founding member of GovPartner in 2000, she worked to grow the firm from a San Diego-based start-up to an international industry leader with clients like the City of Houston, State of Hawaii, and Municipality of Abu Dhabi, UAE. As Vice President of GovPartner, Gabriela focused on the success of municipal e-Government programs and managed the firm’s business development, media, marketing and public relations.

Gabriela also served as a liaison with government services organizations, including the International City / County Management Association (ICMA), National League of Cities, State Leagues, National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), International Code Council (ICC) and regional associations. She served on the “ICMA 311 Customer Service Technology Advisory Committee” and delivered multiple presentations over the past decade at international conferences. Her work was published in national media and international government management journals.

In 2008, Gabriela created Friends With Class, an online catalog of classes and events offering quality experiences, unique learning opportunities and giving back to the community. The company was profitable within the first 90 days and operated a roster of over 40 instructors and 200 classes and activities with partnerships ranging from the Children's Museum, to Napa Valley Grille, Ameriprise and the W Hotel.

Prior to GovPartner and FWC, Gabriela specialized in developing and implementing public outreach programs for major environmental and public works projects through La Jolla-based Katz & Associates. Gabriela’s training in facilitation and mediation is from Prudential Community Interaction Consulting, and for several years she served as the facilitator for Monsanto/Kelco’s Community Action Panel (CAP). As Communications Director for CHARO, a Los Angeles community development corporation, Gabriela honed her marketing and public relations skills working with financial institutions, community groups and government agencies.

Gabriela’s experience in politics began at the White House Office of Public Liaison, followed by the appointment of Intergovernmental Affairs Officer for Governor Pedro Rossello's federal affairs agency in Washington DC. Collaborating with officials from the government of Puerto Rico, she prepared briefings for Congress, The White House, federal departments, the National Governors' Association and community groups – which led to securing more than $300 million in health care funding.

A seasoned media relations practitioner, Gabriela worked for CNN's Los Angeles and Washington DC bureaus and KCBS in Los Angeles. She has served as a newspaper columnist/photo-journalist, staff writer and editorial assistant for various publications and Internet media outlets. In 1996, she completed White House advance training to provide press advance for the presidential campaign and subsequent inaugural ceremonies in Washington.

Gabriela obtained a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, with one year of these studies completed at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Gabriela is fluent in Spanish. She is proud to serve as a mentor through the Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI) since 1998. Gabriela served on the Board of Directors for San Diego County Habitat for Humanity from 1999 to 2007, and was elected to serve as the organization’s Board Vice President and President.

Michael Librizzi - Michael Librizzi is the founder and inventor of the patented ecoATM; a self-service electronics recycling kiosk deployed in about 30 retail locations in the United States. The ecoATM pays consumers cash for their unwanted mobile phones based upon world-wide wholesale prices. Founded in November of 2008, ecoATM is the recipient of a National Science Foundation phase 1 SBIR grant for 2011, the UCSD Most Innovative Product Award for 2010, and Coinstar’s Next Big Idea award. The company has raised over $15 million in financing from Coinstar and other investors, and intends to deploy thousands of machines across the USA.

Since the economic downturn of 2008, Mr. Librizzi has been an active investor, board member and advisor to numerous startup companies. Michael is currently working on the formation of a wireless medical device company focused on reducing the incidence of pre-term delivery for pregnant women. He also advises several student entrepreneurs, and is an active mentor with Lavin VentureStart for 2011-2012 sponsored by SDSU Entrepreneurial Management Center. Mr. Librizzi is also working on several stealth-mode startups ranging from materials engineering to consumer products.

Mr. Librizzi has 23 years of communications semiconductor experience, and is a consultant to OEMs and wireless service providers in the area of interference mitigation for small cell deployments that improve coverage and capacity of 3G/4G networks.

Mr. Librizzi has been a member of the founding management teams of four startup semiconductor companies developing next generation chipsets for Mobile WiMAX, MoCA, and Bluetooth. Michael was the Vice President of Business Development at NextWave Wireless (NASD: WAVE) where he was responsible for world-wide wireless carrier engagements for 4G broadband deployments. He joined NextWave through the acquisition of Cygnus Communications, where he held the position of Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. In this role, Michael was responsible for defining the product requirements for client and base station ICs. Prior to NextWave, Michael was Vice President of Marketing for Entropic Communications (NASD: ENTR) where he lead the product management and applications engineering efforts to develop the underlying communications technology standardized by MoCA – Multimedia over Coax Alliance. He was also responsible for sales activities in Asia, and the development of a new broadband technology adopted for FTTH deployments in Japan, Korea and China.

Mr. Librizzi is the co-founder of Silicon Wave, Inc. a developer of radio frequency systems-on-chip for use in wireless and broadband communication products. At Silicon Wave, he was responsible for strategic marketing, IC manufacturers and supply chain. Early in his career, Mr. Librizzi held various engineering and operations management positions with Peregrine Semiconductor, Brooktree, Unisys and Burroughs.

Mr. Librizzi has 3 patents issued and several patents pending. He holds degrees in electrical engineering and Executive MBA from San Diego State University. He is a US Navy veteran and served aboard oceanographic research vessels and fleet ballistic missile submarine.

Patrick Peterhans - Patrick Peterhans has 20 years of experience in the financial field, working mostly with small companies helping both the owner and the business achieve greater financial success. He has worked with companies in many industries as well as stages of development.

Patrick Peterhans has guided fast growing companies toward their successful financial future, on the other hand, also helped struggling businesses to find to way back to success while being their CFO.

The services are tailored toward the company’s needs and budget. These are hands-on and bring an outside perspective to the financial well-being of the business. Patrick Peterhans also has an extensive tax background that will assist in making the right decisions.
Patrick Peterhans is a graduate of the Entrepreneur Program of the business school at the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Financial Planner and an Enrolled Agent, i.e. a tax expert.

Jacques Chirazi - Jacques Chirazi is the Program Manager for San Diego’s Clean Tech Initiative. He is responsible for promoting, fostering and coordinating strategic alliances and collaborations among local, regional, state and federal institutions to develop and execute a clean technology business attraction strategy. His focus is the creation of economic growth and environmental sustainability by developing a clean technology cluster in San Diego. Prior to this position, Jacques was Senior Program Manager at Bainbridge Inc., a strategic management consulting firm which provides consulting services to Fortune 500 companies like Yahoo, HP, NCR, DuPont de Nemours and United Technologies. Finally, Jacques received a Master degree from University of California San Diego’s Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies with an emphasis in International Environmental Polices and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from San Diego State University’s School of Business Administration.

David N. Burt - David N. Burt is Emeritus Professor of Business, Innovation and Creativity at the University of San Diego. In addition to his 9 authored/co-authored books and numerous articles, Dr. Burt has consulted with some of America’s most important firms. David has championed several successful startups including: the DOD Procurement Symposium Series, the Supply Management Forum (currently in its 26th year) and the MS in Supply Chain Management program.

Ricardo Alvarez - Ricardo is the founder, owner and managing partner of Ecolollal, LLC. Ecolollal, LLC is a San Diego
based advisory and private investment firm focused in growth and expansion opportunities in the
renewable energy, resource efficiency, and sustainable development sectors. The firm attends the
investment segment left unfulfilled for established SMEs by large investment funds and regular sources
of financing. The firm also serves companies that don't necessarily follow the Venture Capital model. Part
of the firm's strategy includes finding technologies and projects that could be exported to Mexico and Latin-American markets and also supporting projects in these regions. One of the firm’s most important drivers is getting inside companies and helping them with more than just capital and so the firm’s investments are rarely passive and fit is a very important criteria.

With this firm Ricardo is trying to prove that doing good and making money are compatible and if we all were a bit more conscious of where we put our money we could seriously improve conditions for people and planet. Ricardo’s past experience include preparing entrepreneurial companies for capital relationships that would support their long-term strategic goals at a San Francisco boutique investment advisory firm and private equity co-investment fund; serving as an Advising Member of the Board of the largest bus carrier and provider of intercity bus transportation services in South East Mexico; overseeing all capital expenditures and allocating a $50 million dollar budget for the largest manufacturer of snack foods in
Mexico, owned by the Pepsi Corporation; and leading the construction of two new processing plants for Frito-Lay in the US and the Dominican Republic.

Ricardo also served the Mexican Federal Government at the Ministry of Communications and
Transportation, where he led the privatization of the Mexican Airport Groups. As the Sub-director of Privatizations, he divested the government’s participation in these enterprises mainly through IPO’s. These companies are now very successful in the public markets and their offering generated approximately $1.8 billion dollars in income for the Federal Government. In addition to the privatizations, he was also involved in the decentralization of Mexico City’s International Airport, the development of low cost carriers in Mexico, the restructuring of a Mexican satellite company and the conception of the
largest Multimodal Cargo Center in Latin America.

Ricardo holds a Bachelor degree in Industrial Engineer from Universidad Iberoamericana, a Masters degree in Finance from Universidad Anahuac, both in Mexico City, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Edith A. Bauer- Edye is a member in the Corporate Section of the San Diego office.Her practice is focused on a full range of corporate and securities matters, including corporate formation, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, venture financing, technology transfer and licensing and general business counseling for both public and private companies.

Prior to joining Mintz Levin, Edye was a principal at an international law firm in the San Diego area, practicing in the corporate and securities group.She has extensive experience counseling public and private companies in various industries, including life science, medical device, software, telecommunications, health care, clean technology and information technology.

Edye is admitted to practice in California.She is a member of the American Bar Association, the California Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association.She is also involved in the La Raza Lawyers Association, Lawyers Club, Women of Color in Law and Athena.Edye received a B.A. in International Relations, summa cum laude, and a B.A. in East Asian Area Studies, summa cum laude, from the University of Southern California.She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School.While studying at Stanford Law School, Edye served as a Staff Editor of the Environmental Law Journal and was also a member of the Article Review Board.In 2008, Edye was named to the “Transcript Ten”, by The San Diego Daily Transcript.This honor is awarded to San Diego’s top attorneys across all practice areas selected by the editorial team of the publication.

Education

* Stanford University
JD
* University of Southern California
BA

R. Brooks Brydges - Brooks is co-founder of the Towne Centre Group, a wealth management group Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, whom provides sound financial counsel in nearly every area of entrepreneurs' and business owners' personal and corporate investment and banking needs.The Group's three main focus areas are; Wealth Management primarily for high net worth individuals and family offices; Executive Financial Services which provides retirement plans, stock and option plans, investment banking, and cash management for both public and private corporations; and Charitable Planning Services providing wide ranging investment advice for non-profit organizations, foundations and other charities.

Previous, Brooks spent 10 years with Morgan Stanley before joining Smith Barney having earned his Bachelor of Liberal Arts & Sciences in Economics from San Diego State University before going onto establish the income property division as a real estate agent for a Los Angeles real estate group while studying appraisal at the University of California Los Angeles.