Kathy Savitt '85 - KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Founder and former CEO - Lockerz; Chief Marketing Officer, Yahoo!
Kathy Savitt Chief Marketing Officer at Yahoo is responsible for the brand’s worldwide marketing and customer experience teams. By putting the user first and re-focusing on Yahoo’s core values, Kathy has been leading the re-imagination of how this beloved brand’s positioning is expressed and perceived by consumers and clients.
Before joining Yahoo!, Kathy was CEO of Lockerz, a company she founded in 2009 with the mission of revolutionizing the way Generation Z discovers and consumes content and products. She has focused heavily on youth culture, particularly on Gen Z (born between 1992-2010), which she believes is the most disruptive group in modern history.
Prior to Lockerz, Kathy was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., where she led both the global marketing efforts of the company’s portfolio of brands and the digital and e-commerce channels. She was also Vice President of Strategic Communications, Content and Entertainment Initiatives for Amazon.
Kathy’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident early in her career. She founded her first company, an integrated marketing communications firm called MWW/Savitt, before she turned 30. During her 10 years at MWW/Savitt, she represented some of the world’s most influential Fortune 500 brands and helped launch more than 100 start-ups.
Kathy currently serves as Chairman of the Lockerz Board of Directors and is a member of the Board of Directors of Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (NYSE: VSI). She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and government.
Niraj S. Shah '95
CEO & Co-Founder - Wayfair
Niraj is the CEO and Co-founder of Wayfair, formerly known as CSN Stores, the leading online home goods retailer with 2012 sales in excess of $600 Million. Niraj has been included in the Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, and has won the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Steve Conine '95 - (Co-presenting with Niraj Shah)
Chairman & Co-Founder - Wayfair
Steve Conine is the Chairman, Co-Founder, and Chief Technology Officer of Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores). Steve is responsible for architecting and developing software systems that give Wayfair a technological edge in the online retail business. Prior to that, Steve was a Founder, Member of the Board, and Chief Technology Officer of Simplify Mobile. Before starting Simplify Mobile, he served as Chief Operating Officer for the London office of iXL, a publicly traded global technology consulting firm. Steve previously co-founded and served as a top executive of Spinners Incorporated, an IT services firm, which was sold to iXL in 1998.
Brian Distelburger '01
President & Co-Founder, Yext
Brian Distelburger is the President and Co-Founder of Yext, the leading location data technology company. As the leader of Yext’s Enterprise division, Brian has driven the rapid adoption of the platform by many of the world’s largest brands, including 25 Fortune 500 companies and 20 of the top 100 retailers. Prior to Yext, Brian began his career in local marketing with management roles at CDS and Traffix.
Brian is a graduate of Cornell University and a member of the Entrepreneurship @Cornell Advisory Council. He also serves on the board of Food Genius, a startup out of Chicago.
Laurie Glimcher
Dean - Weill Cornell Medical College
Dr. Glimcher is the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, where she is also Professor of Medicine. In addition, she is Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the American Asthma Foundation, Immune Diseases Institute, Health Care Ventures, and Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Boards and served on the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund.
Josh Wolfe '99
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER - LUX CAPITAL
Josh is Co-Founder of Lux Capital and focuses on investments in the physical and life sciences. Lux is actively investing out of its third fund, an oversubscribed $245M Lux Ventures III, pursuing contrarian emerging technologies ranging from nuclear-waste remediation, robotic surgery, meta-materials, computational photography, 3D printing and other ‘matter that matters’. He serves as Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Coney Island Prep and has been actively involved with the East Harlem School at Exodus House for over a decade. Josh is a columnist with Forbes, Editor for the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report and host of a show on the Forbes Video Network.
Cheryl Swirnow '02
COO & Co-founder - Sherpaa
Cheryl Swirnow is COO and Co-founder of Sherpaa, a startup working to bridge the gap between accessibility and affordability in healthcare. She brings more than 10 years of experience in human resources, benefits, insurance, and recruitment with a specific focus on the needs of startups. Prior to Sherpaa, Swirnow was Director of Talent at Rent The Runway and head of HR at the Barbarian Group.
Randy Garutti '97
CEO - Shake Shack
Randy is responsible for the performance, excellence, profitability and direction of Shake Shack. In 2006, he was named one of Crain’s Top 40 under 40. In January 2003, Randy was named one of the Top 50 General Managers in the country by Nation’s Restaurant News.
Neal Goldman
Founder & CEO - RelSci
Neal is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Relationship Science (RelSci). Previously, Neal was the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Capital IQ, Inc. until its sale to McGraw-Hill/Standard & Poor’s. Neal is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Member at the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of YPO and a board member of Hatzalah and the Jerusalem Foundation. Neal received a B.A. from U Penn and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Jessica Crolick Rolph '97, MBA '04
COO & Founding Partner - HAPPYBABY
Jessica Rolph is Founding Partner and COO of HAPPYBABY, the leading brand for premium, organic baby, toddler, and kid’s food in the US. She was a member of the Full Circle Fund, a Bay Area philanthropic organization. She currently serves as a trustee for RSF Social Finance, as a board member of Create Common Good, and is a member of the 2013 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.
Karim Abouelnaga '13
CEO - Practice Makes Perfect, Inc.
Karim is the founder of Practice Makes Perfect, Inc., a nonprofit that works to narrow the achievement gap by providing low-income students with mentorship and resources that are beyond the reach of their inner-city public schools. As a speaker for the LIFE foundation, Karim continues to engage thousands of life insurance executives and financial advisers all across the United States. He was a Cornell Presidential Research Scholar and was recently named a 2013 Echoing Green Fellow.
Scott Belsky '02 - MODERATOR
Founder - Behance,
VP, Products/Community - Adobe
Scott Belsky has committed his professional life to help organize creative people, teams, and networks. Scott is Adobe’s Vice President of Products/Community & Head of Behance, the leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work. Scott co-founded Behance in 2006, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. Millions of people use Behance to display and find talent every month. Behance also powers portfolio display for LinkedIn, AIGA, AdWeek, School of Visual Arts (SVA), Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and many other sites and curated galleries around the web —as well as 10,000+ personal websites via Behance’s ProSite service. Behance also runs 99U, a think tank and annual conference for creative leaders focused on the execution of ideas. He is a frequent contributor on MSNBC and has worked with leading companies and organizations including General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, and Facebook. In 2010, Scott was also included in Fast Company’s list of “100 Most Creative People in Business.” Scott is the author of the international bestselling book Making Ideas Happen (Portfolio, Penguin Books). He also serves as an advisor and investor in several early-stage companies including Pinterest, Uber, and Warby Parker. He attended Cornell University as an undergraduate and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.