Advisory Board

Meet some of the visionaries, entrepreneurs, leading technologists and global ambassadors for entrepreneurs and small to medium business owners who are all here to help bring the Dell Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program to life.

Visionaries, Entrepreneurs and Leading Technologists

Meet some of the visionaries, entrepreneurs, leading technologists and global ambassadors for entrepreneurs and small to medium business owners who are all here to help bring the DELL Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program to life.  Please meet the DELL EIR Advisory Board:

Melissa Bradley, CEO, TIDES

Tides is a values-based, social change platform that leverages individual and institutional leadership and investment to positively impact local and global communities. Prior to Tides, Melissa founded and served as managing director of New Capitalist, an organization that leverages human, financial and social capital to create economically profitable and sustainable individuals, businesses, and communities. Melissa is also the founder and former President of Reentry Strategies Institute – the only national criminal justice intermediary explicitly focused on reentry, and founder of The Entrepreneurial Development Institute, an international, non-governmental organization, serving youth and their families; and she founded Positive Impact – a collaborative initiative to promote diverse voices and visions within independent media. 

Garth Davis, Doctor and star of Discovery Health’s, “Big Medicine”

As a leader in the field of bariatric medicine, Dr. Garth Davis was again recently recognized as a Texas Monthly Super Doc and stars with his father, Dr. Robert Davis, on the hit show docu-reality medical series, BIG MEDICINE. His recently published bestseller, The Expert’s Guide to Weight Loss Surgery is available in bookstores nationwide.

Dr. Davis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas in Austin where he was the Student Government President. He was also recognized as the most outstanding student at UT. Dr. Davis went on to attend medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. In addition, he was inducted to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Dr. Davis completed his surgical residency at the prestigious University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he was elected to the position of Chief Administrative Resident. While in Michigan, Dr. Davis underwent extensive training in general surgical disciplines, specializing in laparoscopic procedures. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Davis is a recognized expert in initial bariatric procedures as well as revisional bariatric surgery, and is frequently asked to give lectures to both patient and physician audiences alike.

Sergio A. Fernandez De Cordova, Fuel Outdoor

Founder of Fuel Outdoor. Started in 2003, Fuel Outdoor has grown into a Multi-Million Dollar company with six offices in nine cities nationwide and is now a portfolio company of Och-Ziff, a global institutional asset management firm with over $31 billion in capital. Fuel currently has more than 4,000 outdoor advertising locations, a growing portfolio of clients, and a very active philanthropic program.

Sergio is more than a dedicated, focused businessman; he’s a young entrepreneur with an incredible ability to turn opportunity to success seemingly overnight.

Sergio co-founded de Cordova Goldman Capital Management, a holding company with long-term investments worldwide. Sergio is also an active investor or advisor in over 10 media related companies, such as Hyper Local Ventures, BNG, Cross Commerce Media, NLM, Emercury.net, Vlassified, charideem.org and Availor Group.

Sergio has had the honor to speak at; The European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs Annual Summit, speaking to European Commission members in Brussels, Speaking about entrepreneurship in emerging countries at the Economic Forum of the Americas; Forum for Global Cities in Toronto, in  Senegal, Africa at the 36th World Congress Event, speaking about Private Public Partnerships to Delegates and Country leaders from the continent of Africa, KeyNote at the Womensphere Emerging Leaders Global Summit and most recently was a Keynote Speaker at the Australian Consulate in New York about Global Leadership to a group of Ambassadors from the New York Young Leaders Program.

Finally, In his Non-Profit endeavors Sergio is the Chairman of Political Affairs for ‘Entrepreneurs Organization’ “EO” and is also Chairman of ‘New York Entrepreneur Week’. Internationally Sergio is Co-Chairman of the Young Global Leaders Board for the Global Center for Development and Democracy [CGDD] alongside former Presidents of Latin America, and he is a founding board member of the UN Foundations new Global Entrepreneurs Council, an honor only given to ten accomplished young global leaders and he is also an Official Delegate for the US Department of State’s Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) and recently worked with the G-20Y as a Member of the Business Assembly of the G-20Y Summit IOC, as well as with the young G8 2009 in Italy and young G20 2010 in Toronto.

Peter Diamandis, Founder/ CEO of XPrize, Singularity University

Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.  Best known for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, the Foundation is now launching prizes in Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education.

Diamandis is also an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector including Zero Gravity Corporation, the Rocket Racing League and Space Adventures.

As co-Founder & Chairman of the Singularity University (www.singularityU.org), a Silicon Valley based institution partnered with NASA, Google, Autodesk and Nokia, Diamandis counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to utilize exponential technologies and incentivized innovation to dramatically accelerate their business objectives.

Dr. Diamandis attended MIT where he received his degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering, as well as Harvard Medical School where he received his M.D.   Diamandis’ personal motto is: “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!”

Lyn Graft, Founder LG Pictures. Entrepreneur. Storyteller

Lyn Graft (LG) has filmed over 300 entrepreneurs and has produced and/or directed 450 videos, TV Shows & web series. His projects include 35 videos for Microsoft, 20 videos for Dell, a Primetime TV Series for CNBC’s, 25 videos for SXSW Interactive, 60 videos for Sweet Leaf Tea, 240 episodes ‘On the Road with iV’, 35 Videos for RISE Austin and 50 videos for CLUB E Network.  Entrepreneurs filmed include the founders of Whole Foods, Paul Mitchell, The KNOT, Baby Einstein, Playboy, Clear Channel, Huffington Post, Craigslist, BET Television and Tom’s Shoes.

LG has founded over 8 companies with more than 8 years of experience in production and 7 years in startups, hi-tech marketing and business development and has raised $7M in venture . LG has put on over 100 promotions, product/company launches and/or events/parties and has developed marketing programs/activities generating press in publications such as Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Software Success Weekly, AdWeek, Fortune Small Business and Digital South.

Heidi Messer, Founder/ Chairman Collective i, Founder/ CEO of LinkedShare (sold)

Ms. Messer is most recognized for revolutionizing performance based marketing with her first company, LinkShare Corporation, one of the world’s largest online affiliate networks. Ms. Messer and her brother Stephen founded, built, and managed LinkShare until its sale in 2005 for an estimated $425 million.

Ms. Messer plays an active role in the Internet startup community and is the co-Founder and CEO of World Evolved, a company created to identify and syndicate important internet technologies worldwide and the Chairman of Collective[i], a division of Cross Commerce Media, a company which provides web based business intelligence dedicated to solving the problems associated with cross media measurement, data integration, and the process in which meaningful insights are extracted from abundant, disparate data sources. Collective[i] is one of the first integrated media analytics networks designed to give marketers a real time,  holistic view of their campaign performance across all media. More information about Collective[i] can be found at www.collectivei.com.

Ms. Messer speaks and has been cited as a recognized as an authority on online marketing in The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Chief Executive Magazine, The Nikkei, Women’s Wear Daily and Internet Retailer Magazine. Ms. Messer has also appeared on national television and radio programs such as Business Talk Radio, Fox News, CBS Morning News and the Fox Morning Show.

Ms. Messer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University,  graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. She received her juris doctorate from Harvard Law School graduating cum laude.

Amy Millman, 
President, Springboard Enterprises

 

Amy Millman has established a successful career as an advocate working for and with business and government officials to develop and implement national business development and policy initiatives. In 2000, she co-founded non-profit venture Springboard Enterprises whose mission is to facilitate women entrepreneurs’ access to the equity markets. The organization hosts educational programs and forums to provide women entrepreneurs with access to investors and information about sources and uses of equity capital.

Previously, Amy served as the Executive Director of a federal government commission focused on developing policy and initiatives concerning women’s business ownership. Earlier in her career, she represented the interests of several corporate and industry groups before the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Amy has served on the boards of many organizations including her current service on the boards of JumpStartInc and Enterprising Women magazine.  She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and holds a masters degree from The George Washington University. She and her family reside in the Washington, D.C.

Jigar Shah, CEO of Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room, Founder / CEO Sun Edison (sold)

A renowned visionary, Jigar Shah is committed to renewable energy and sustainable solutions that enable prosperity beyond the carbon economy.  As CEO of the Carbon War Room, Jigar is dedicated to identifying business-as-usual practices and replacing them with low-carbon solutions. Prior to the Carbon War Room, Jigar founded SunEdison in 2003. Under his leadership, SunEdison revolutionized the solar industry by introducing a business model to sell solar as a service. The transformation to solar power service agreements is responsible for turning solar services into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Jigar is also an expert on energy project finance, changing energy policy, working with entrenched stakeholders, and convincing individuals to embrace energy technology. He works closely with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors around the world to develop, incubate, and implement sustainable solutions.

Jigar holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Jigar sits on the boards of SB NOW, Earth Day Network, and Greenpeace USA.

Peter Shankman, Founder HARO (sold), CEO The Geek Factory

PR Week Magazine has described Peter as “redefining the art of networking”, and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective”.

An author, entrepreneur, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, and customer service.

Peter is best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year became the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 200,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,500 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO’s tagline, “Everyone is an Expert at Something”, proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helpareporter.com each week. In June of 2010, less than two years after Peter started HARO in his apartment, it was acquired by Vocus, Inc. Peter is now Vice President and Small Business Evangelist for Vocus, working out of New York City.

Peter is also the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc, a boutique Social Media, Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide.

Peter is the author of two books:  Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons 2006) and Customer Service: New Rules for a Social-Enabled World (Que/Pearson, 2010) and a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences and tradeshows worldwide, including South By Southwest, Affiliate Summit, BlogWorld, The Public Relations Society of America, The International Association of Business Communicators, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association.

Chris Shipley, Founder/ CEO TheGuidewire Group

Chris Shipley is CEO of Guidewire Group, Inc., a software and services company that catalyzes the Innovation Ecosystem to work more effectively.  A leading technology analyst for more than 25 years, Chris is passionate about entrepreneurship as the driver of economic growth and job creation. She has built a career on identifying emerging market opportunities and the innovative startups poised to capitalize on them, and as executive producer of the DEMO conference from 1996 to 2009, helped companies including WebEx, VMWare, salesforce.com, TiVo, Xfire, Ribbit, and Ironport make their market debut.  In June 2010, SVForum presented Chris with its prestigious Visionary Award for her work with emerging companies. She sits on the board of CSR-management software company Versaic, and is an advisor to a number of early stage companies.

Gary Whitehill, Founder of Entrepreneur Week and The Relentless Foundation

A relentless entrepreneur and driven philanthropist with a footprint on four continents; broad experience spanning entrepreneurship, M&A, business turnarounds, and Fortune 100 board directorships. In 2009, Gary began leveraging his global rolodex of accomplished leaders and innovators to build the largest network of Entrepreneur Weeks in the world. Since its inception, Entrepreneur Week has convened more than 5,000 entrepreneurs, representing more than $8 billion in revenue, and continues its expansion into 25 cities and 14 countries.

Philanthropically, Gary is driven by a desire to build a framework for teaching every child in grades K-12 the tenets of entrepreneurship inside the classroom by 2030. This mission commenced with the formation of The Relentless Foundation in 2009. Gary is a member of the AOL Small Business Board of Directors, Astia Global Board of Directors and a delegate for the U.S. Department of State’s Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP). Gary was a Division I collegiate athlete in both Football and Track & Field at Central Connecticut State University and graduated with a triple degree in management, marketing and entrepreneurship.