About Us
Board of Directors
Laurent Ohana, Chairman, Azigo
Laurent Ohana is the Managing Partner of Parkview TMB (www.parkviewventures.com). Parkview is an early stage investor in web and mobile businesses in the social networking, identity management and privacy, online advertising and e-commerce, data analytics and related digital economy sectors. Parkview also provides strategic advisory and investment banking services to technology companies in the US, Europe and China.
Paul Trevithick, CTO & Co-Founder, Azigo
Paul is a successful software entrepreneur and a pioneer in the new field of user-centric identity. Paul's passion is to give everyone their own data wallet app--a personal data service that works entirely on their behalf. Azigo's app is based on the open source Higgins Project, co-founded by Paul in 2004. Paul is frequently called on to advise industry, government, and academic groups on issues related to digital identity, privacy and security. Over the years he has formed, chaired and contributed to numerous working groups and standards efforts in the user-centric identity space. Prior to co-founding Azigo in 2000, Trevithick was president and co-founder of Bitstream (NASDAQ:BITS). Paul has a BSEE from MIT. He blogs at http://incontextblog.com.
Michael Phillips, Director, Azigo
Mike is the former chairman of Russell Investment Group, a global leader in multi-manager investing. He served as chief executive officer from 1993 to 2003. Mike also previously served as a board member of Frank Russell Company, and Russell Investments Limited (London). In 2006 Mike was appointed by the White House to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), representing the U.S. financial services industry. He is chair of the Finance Economic Working group (FEWG) of ABAC. Mike is currently chair of the non-profit Russell 20-20 Association. In 1981, Mike joined Russell in the London office and became the managing director in 1983. There, he helped build a European presence for Russell. In 1986, he moved to company headquarters in Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A., to serve as director of international consulting. In that capacity, he led Russell's efforts to establish offices in Toronto, Sydney and Tokyo. Mike became president of Russell in 1990 and retired in 2008. Before joining Russell, Mike was an investment analyst and a portfolio manager at Barclays Investment Management Ltd. in London, where he was responsible for managing internationally diversified pension fund assets. Mike also taught investment courses at City of London Polytechnic School of Business Studies.
Steve Marcus (observer), Founder and Senior Advisor, Partnerwise
As a specialist in the dynamics of affinity and co-branded credit cards for consumer loyalty programs, Steve has been at the forefront of this marketplace since its inception, playing leadership roles in the sales and marketing efforts of over a dozen major international issuing banks from 1984 to the present . Steve has participated in the critical steps involved in the creation of partnership programs with a myriad of industry participants: airlines, lodging, retail, media, insurance, investment management, entertainment, sports and several hundred premier non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada. In 1991 Marcus founded Affinity Partners which became the exclusive sales partner for First USA Bank. During this relationship, FUSA grew from the 14th largest issuer of Visa Credit Cards to the #1 issuer. During his career Steve has represented a number of financial service companies including: MBNA, NationsBank, Signet Bank, Bank of Montreal, First USA, and Juniper Bank among others.
Board of Advisors
Gorse Jeffries, Former Sr. Planner, Young & Rubicam
Gorse is a world class Brand Strategist who has lead Strategy teams for some of the world’s top Communications Networks and brands. Starting her career in her native London Gorse learnt her craft at TBWA and then Lowe London where she worked with brands as diverse Nissan, Orange (Telecom), Electrolux, Cadbury’s, Tesco and Twinings. Developing both the strategic response to business challenges and the creative strategy with which to successfully build each brand. In 2006 Gorse moved to Singapore to take on a new challenge as EVP Director of Account Planning at Ogilvy and Mather. A move motivated by the desire to better understand and experience a market and consumer mindset that had over the years become more important in the increasingly global brand landscape. In Singapore Gorse worked across many local and regional brands such as DHL, Cisco, Lenovo and Kimberly Clark. Creating consumer insight, communication, content development and close collaboration with the many multidisciplinary aspects of the communications mix. In 2008 Gorse continued her journey on to San Francisco with her family and joined Young & Rubicam as EVP Director of Account Planning and as a member of Y&R’s global planning board. In 2010 Gorse left the advertising agency world to pursue her passion for writing and interest in understanding the organizational dynamics and technology adoption that will lead to better long distant collaboration and less mindless travel. Gorse now applies her considerable experience to selective projects where there is a chance to learn, collaborate and make a big difference. To Azigo Gorse brings all of her experience in brand building in and outside the technology space but also a passion for personal empowerment in this fast changing digital landscape.
Joelle Kaufman, Former SVP WW Marketing & Products, Adify
Joelle brings experience in corporate and product marketing, sales and business development in the online advertising space. Before Adify, she served as VP of marketing and sales development for Reactivity, Inc., the leading provider of XML networking solutions that was acquired by Cisco in March 2007. At Reactivity, Kaufman drove category definition, corporate messaging, advanced key analyst relationships and successfully positioned the company as a leader in the XML-based Web services and SOA market. Prior to Reactivity, Kaufman led XML Web services initiatives for RSA Security and also held management, strategy and product marketing positions with Lifespire, Inc., NetDynamics, Firefly Networks, Inc., and Deloitte Consulting. Kaufman holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Monica Nascimento
Monica is an attorney, international law and business liaison, business executive, investor and philanthropist. Her legal practice is focused on international trade, commerce and investment businesses on the private sector—especially those related to Brazil – on matters related to trading, commodities exchange, bonds and securities, pharmaceuticals, minerals and natural resources business development, and telecommunications. Clients include Hurricane Global Resources Corporation Group, Global Petroleum Inc., Advanced Cleanup Technology Inc., Cellay Inc., American Pharmaceuticals LLC, SuperSpeed Software Inc., and Pharmacogenetics Clinical Advisory Board, wherein she provides legal advise, liaison and consulting services to these firms as pertains to business in Brazil. Ms. Nascimento is also an experienced senior business executive, and was the President of Computel, a telecommunications provider in Sao Paulo from 1990-95. When working for Computel, Monica made a Join Venture Agreement with Boston Technology Inc., and they became the pioneer of voice recognition and voice message system in Brazil, wining 70% of the Brazilian market. Monica serves on the advisory board of three other companies, is a partner with two law firms in Sao Paulo, and has 30% of Monytel SA. Ms. Nascimento, in addition to continuing studies in the United States at Harvard Law School, and Suffolk Law School, has a JD from Santa Ursula University. Monica was admitted to the Rio de Janeiro Bar in 1985, the Sao Paulo Bar in 1986 and the Brazilian Supreme Court in 1987.
Sandy Pentland, Professor, MIT Media Lab
Alex `Sandy’ Pentland directs MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, and advises the World Economic Forum, Nissan Motor Corporation, and a variety of start-up firms. He has previously helped create and direct MIT’s Media Laboratory, the Media Lab Asia laboratories at the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Strong Hospital’s Center for Future Health. Profiles of Sandy have appeared in many publications, including the New York Times, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, Caring Magazine (Hospice), and Odyssey Magazine (Children). His most recent book is `Honest Signals,' published by MIT Press. Sandy is among the most-cited computational scientists in the world, and a pioneer in computational social science, organizational engineering, mobile computing, image understanding, and modern biometrics. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, the New York Times, Vogue, O Magazine, and the National Inquirer, as well as being the focus of dozens of TV features including Nova and Scientific American Frontiers. Over the years Sandy has advised more than 50 PhD students. Almost half are now tenured faculty at leading institutions, with another one-quarter leading industry research groups and a final quarter founders of their own companies. Sandy's research group and entrepreneurship program have spun off 26 companies to date, three of which are publicly listed and several that serve millions of poor in Africa and South Asia. Recent spin-offs have been featured in the Economist, Newsweek, Business Week, and the New York Times, as well as winning more than a dozen prizes from international development organizations.
Jeff Yolen, Former Chief Revenue Officer, Sphere
As the CRO of Sphere his responsibilities included sales, business development and monetization strategy. He has initiated and/or closed distribution partnerships for Sphere with publishers such as CNN, Wall Street Journal, Major League Baseball, AOL, Reuters, CBS News, NBC’s Access Hollywood, US News, Time, College Sports TV, MTV Networks, and many more. Yolen has been an executive in media and technology for thirteen years, including five years of international experience. Before joining Sphere, he served as Vice President of Business Development at MobileLime, a mobile payments start-up. In his last year based in Europe, Yolen consulted to Nokia on developing a podcasting strategy. Prior to that, he ran international business development and RealArcade (the leading online casual gaming service) RealNetworks. Previously, Yolen was a senior executive in corporate venture capital at the Virgin Group, focused on Virgin Mobile and mobile Internet projects. Before the bubble burst, Jeff Yolen was Vice President of Business Development at Kozmo.com; he led their big deals with companies like Starbucks and Amazon, and never once had to deliver a movie in under an hour. Before Kozmo and after business school, he spent five years in the television industry.
