CEOs You Should Know - Boston

Mark Constantine co founded Lush with five friends and creative confidants in 1995 after the collapse of previous mail order business Cosmetics To Go. Mark has been a key driving force behind the business for 25 years and also works as part of the product development team creating hair, skincare and body creams as well as decadent Lush spa treatments.

Challenging the business to create fresh, innovative and anarchic cosmetic products, it is some of Mark’s beliefs that Lush is based on and that have become the backbone of the company. Lush’s stringent and pioneering ‘against animal testing policy’ is just one example of how his strong beliefs have transformed the cosmetics industry – he introduced a Supplier Specific Boycott Policy, which means that Lush will not buy any ingredient from any supplier that tests any of its materials on animals for any purpose. This policy is unique in its field and is different and distinct from the Fixed Cut-Off Date policy employed by the Humane Cosmetics Standard.

Mark’s plight against over packaging in the cosmetic industry is another. In the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Insider: Packaging is Rubbish,’ Mark highlighted just how much waste the average British citizen goes through in a lifetime and exactly where it ends up – in landfill. This is why the majority of Lush products are designed to be solid and can be sold without packaging.

In the 2010 Queen’s New Years Honours list Mark and his wife Mo Constantine both received OBEs for their services to the beauty industry. Mark has been named five times since 2010 as one of London’s 1000 Most Influential People in the Environment and Business Brains categories by The Evening Standard newspaper. In 2015 Mark was named in BBC Wildlife magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in British wildlife.

Mark’s enduring love and enthusiasm for his work, as well as the beauty and retail industries, remain at the heart of his determination to make Lush the company we all want it to be.

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Neeraj Gunsagar is the CEO and President of byte®, a direct-to-consumer aligner company that is revolutionizing the orthodontic industry. Byte was recently acquired by Dentsply Sirona for $1.04 billion to expand its DTC Aligner business to dentists across the world.

Prior to joining byte®, Neeraj was the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Revenue Officer and SVP of Finance & Operations at TrueCar, Inc (NASDAQ: TRUE). In his various roles, Neeraj was responsible for the Company’s overall marketing strategy, corporate communications, consumer acquisition, research, finance and business operations (BizOps). Neeraj helped the Company go public in 2014 and played a significant role in profitably scaling the business from $70M of revenue in 2012 to over $350M in 2018.

Prior to joining TrueCar, Gunsagar spent the first 15 years of his career as a Private Equity/Venture Capital Investor. He was Vice President at both Matrix Partners’ India and Garnett & Helfrich Capital, and a Financial Analyst with Qualcomm Ventures.

Gunsagar started his career on Wall Street at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), where he advised companies such as Worldcom and Iridium on complex restructurings and acquisitions.

Gunsagar holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

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ThinkLite Co-founders and brothers, Danny & Dinesh Wadhwani, started their entrepreneurial journey as teenagers founding and growing software development, web marketing, and real estate startups. In 2009, while Dinesh was studying at Babson College and Danny was working M&A at PwC’s Advisory group, they founded ThinkLite, a lighting efficiency turned life science technology company that they jointly lead today.

Together, Danny and Dinesh Wadhwani have been recognized by Inc. Magazine as the #1 Top 30 under 30 Entrepreneurs, Top 50 Power Influencer in Massachusetts, Top Innovative Businesses in New England by SBANE, Governor Charlie Baker and the state of Massachusetts as a top immigrant entrepreneur in the state, and the most prestigious White House Administration Award as Top young entrepreneur in the country for their high impact and employment creation in the USA.

Danny and Dinesh Wadhwani were born and raised in Ghana, West Africa before moving to Boston in 2005. Danny, a Boston University alumni, also manages the family office’s investments and philanthropic projects, as well as serves on the Salvation Army Greater Boston Advisory Board. Dinesh, a Babson and Olin College alumni, is a vegetarian and an activist in environmentally friendly technology and lifestyle. Together, they live their lives based on ThinkLite’s core values - Unity, Excellence, Drive, Compassion and Fun. These values were inspired by their Grandfather, Parsram Wadhwani.

Over the past decade, ThinkLite Energy and ThinkLite Grow have developed and brought to market niche lighting solutions for the indoor tennis industry, warehousing industry, parking industry, vertical farming, and livestock industry. ThinkLite Air, their third and most recent division, has developed and brought to market the only Enterprise Indoor Air Quality monitoring system capable of monitoring viral loads, including COVID-19, in real time. Coupled with proprietary air purification technology devices, their Rings of Defense solution has now become the backbone to the air strategy of leading Fortune 100 firms in the healthcare, education, and commercial real estate industries.

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Russ, a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgetown University with an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, has over 25 years’ experience advising clients on their financial plans and has served as an executive at several major Wall Street firms. Now, he’s sharing his wealth of knowledge with WRKO listeners to help you find ways to cut through the clutter of Wall Street and get a clearer path towards your retirement and financial future. Learn ideas on how to lower risk, minimize taxes, and maximize income in retirement by listening to The Wall Street Sweeper, Sunday’s at 9AM on WRKO AM 680, and connect anytime at www.hackmannwealth.com.

Hackmann Wealth Partners offers financial planning, portfolio risk review and asset management, legacy and estate planning, and insurance services throughout the United States.

Hackmann Wealth’s mission is to help their clients add financial clarity to their lives. They offer the following services:

Comprehensive Financial Planning, Guaranteed Lifetime Income Plans, Investment & Product Recommendations, Risk Managed Growth & Income Portfolios, Portfolio Risk & Fee Reviews, Required Minimum Distributions & Tax Management Strategies, Legacy & Estate Planning and Life Insurance Review

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Rob Shavell is CEO of DeleteMe, The Online Privacy Company. Rob has been quoted as a privacy expert in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Telegraph, NPR, ABC, NBC, and Fox. Rob is a vocal proponent of privacy legislation reform, including the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

DeleteMe (https://joindeleteme.com/) is the leading online privacy personal information removal service. In business for over 10 years, DeleteMe's privacy advisors have successfully completed over 25 million opt-outs from data brokers, ensuring consumers and businesses' online privacy.

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Jack Kudale is the Founder & CEO of Cowbell Cyber, the industry’s first
AI-powered cyber insurance provider that aims to make cyber insurance
accessible to all businesses. Cowbell Cyber makes cyber insurance easy and
delivers customized, standalone cyber policies with robust coverages that
deliver financial protection against all flavors of cyber incidents including
data breaches, ransomware attacks, and cybercrime. Our policies are
bundled with risk assessments, risk insights, cybersecurity awareness
programs and free-of-charge risk management services to help businesses
eliminate their cyber risk exposures.

Jack brings 25 years of business experience, having led 3 venture-backed
Silicon Valley cybersecurity and data analytics startups after a long stint as an
executive in charge of distribution at a Fortune 500 software company. Jack
is a frequent speaker at industry events covering topics such as the future of
cyber insurance and the use of AI and technology to enable continuous
underwriting for cyber.

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As a 4th generation family member in a family-owned and operated business, Matt Monkiewicz, 53, has done just about every job in the sales, marketing and distribution end of the business. Starting at age 14, his roles ranged from maintaining the grounds, shipping and truck driving during school vacations and summers to retail merchandising, route sales, account executive and product manager.

After completing his MBA at Babson, Matt sought experience outside the family business, working at internet startups and Fidelity Capital before rejoining Kayem Foods in 2002.
Matt has been credited with building and leading the Marketing and R&D teams, first as the Director of Marketing and R&D, and then Vice President of Marketing which grew from a total of 2 people in 2003 to a team of over 16 by 2021. He led the development of the company’s strategic planning, which transformed from a regional meat processor and distributor to a national brand marketer, boasting a leading chicken sausage brand in U.S. grocery stores with al fresco, the #1 brand of franks in New England and recent entry into premium bacon with Kayem. Matt’s management experience, passion and drive have positioned him to accelerate the momentum that has been generated over the past several years and propel Kayem into even greater success in the years to come.

Matt lives with his wife Jenn and their combined 5 children in Lynnfield, MA and is active in supporting the town in his role on the Recreation Commission and various coaching and board roles in youth sports. He also is a member and past Chair of the Jordan Boys & Girls Club of Chelsea and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston where he Co-Chairs the Safety Committee. He serves on the Board for the North American Meat Institute where he is also a member of the Finance Committee.

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Stephen has devoted his career to supporting the educational promise of all, from the youngest children to high school students and adult learners -- working to realize his vision and belief that everyone at every age deserves a great education. Stephen was named CEO of Bright Horizons in January 2018, and over the last decade, he has held leadership positions throughout the organization including President, Chief Development Officer, and Managing Director, Europe, based in London. He joined Bright Horizons in 2006 through the acquisition of College Coach®, a company he co-founded and led. Previously, Stephen held roles at Fidelity Ventures and Arthur D. Little.

In addition to the Bright Horizons Board of Directors, Stephen serves on the boards of the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children in both the U.S. and the UK and co-chairs the Bright Horizons Diversity and Inclusion Council. A Massachusetts native, Stephen is a graduate of Babson College and Harvard Business School.

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Norman brings a unique set of experiences to the agency, combining the best of both client and agency worlds along with a forward-looking perspective on the marketing and media landscape.

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CEOs You Should Know
John J. Murphy, President & CEO of Members Plus Credit Union
Apr 18, 2022




John J. Murphy has been in the financial services industry for 40 years. He has served in many different roles and is currently he President and CEO of Members Plus Credit Union. He joined MPCU in January of 2015 as Executive Vice President and was appointed President and CEO in 2016.

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