Dragons, Gazelles, & Unicorns

Shahin Enayati and Cari Enayati brought some incredibly insightful knowledge this episode. This power couple has a wealth of entrepreneurial experience and are dedicated impact investors that are helping forge a better tomorrow. Shahin currently serves as the Managing Director for both Made Noble Companies and Sustain Equity, which work to advance the value of impact-oriented and purpose-driven solutions for people and planet. Cari serves as CEO for Made Noble Companies and as Director at Sustain Equity. Additionally, she is an entrepreneur in residence at UC San Diego Office of Innovation and Commercialization, using her expertise to help strengthen the San Diego innovation ecosystem.

Sedale Turbovsky is an entrepreneur, accomplished leader, and owner of a small portfolio of growing companies. He currently serves as the CEO & Co-Founder of opengrants.io, which is unlocking non-dilutive U.S. funding for organizations around the world. Prior to his current position he served as Managing Partner for Guerilla Digital and served as the CEO for carbonBLU.

Dr. Price is an experienced biotech executive and entrepreneur with a depth of expertise across clinical asset investment strategy, evaluation, financing and execution. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer for Cohort Intelligence and prior to this role, he served as the Chief Medical Officer for ProPharma Group’s Pharmacovigilance team. Before joining ProPharma Group, Dr. Price served as CEO of Drug Safety Solutions for over 20 years, until it was successfully acquired by ProPharma Group in 2017.

Joe founded The Campaign Workshop, an advocacy and Democratic political consulting firm based in Washington DC, in 2009 after having been a partner at MSHC Partners. Joe is known for his creativity and commitment to the causes and campaigns he works on. He has produced award winning strategies for a long list of clients, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and DC VOTE.

Prior to starting The Campaign Workshop, Joe served as the Northeast Political Director at the Democratic National Committee in 1996, and between 1991 and 1995 managed many political campaigns across the country.

Sheldon Himelfarb is the President and CEO of PeaceTech Lab, an independent non-profit organization that works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data to accelerate and scale peacebuilding efforts. Prior to his work at PeaceTech Lab, he was the founding director of the Centers of Innovation for Media and Technology at the United States Institute of Peace, developed and managed peacebuilding programs across the world, and received the Capitol Area Peace Maker Award from American University.

Brian began his career working in the newly independent state of Ukraine to create marketing cooperatives in the 1990s and re-ignited his passion for politics. He has deep experience serving as an executive and public/government affairs advisor, including work with local, state, federal, and international leaders. Brian has formerly served as the Director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, Chief of Staff for Congressman Inslee, and Legislative Director for the U.S. Congress and is currently Principal at Lodestar Strategic.

Tien is the CEO of Opus8, Inc. which invests in remarkable and resilient founders who are improving the human condition via disruptive technologies that are deployed in massive markets. Additionally, he is a Managing General Partner at another venture capital firm, the Phoenix Fund focused on disruptive tech, with an emphasis on using 50% of their fund for tenacious, yet underserved entrepreneurs such as female, minority, and immigrant founders and teams. Finally, he is also the founder and host of The Big Idea CONNECTpreneur Community, a global community of over 20,000 founders, entrepreneurs, private investors, angels, VCs, CXOs and business leaders who celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship.

Nicholas M. Donofrio (chair) is a 44-year IBM veteran who held the coveted position of Executive Vice President Innovation and Technology and was also selected as an IBM Fellow, the company’s highest technical honor. Mr. Donofrio holds seven technology patents, is a member of numerous technical and science honor societies, and holds several board positions.

Mr. Donofrio is focused sharply on advancing education, employment, and career opportunities for underrepresented minorities and women in the STEM disciplines. He served for many years on the Board of Directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) and was NACME’s Board chair from 1997 through 2002. He also served for several years on the Board of Directors for INROADS, a nonprofit organization focused on the training and development of talented minority youth for professional careers in business and industry. In 2003, he was awarded the Rodney D. Chipps Memorial Award by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).

With deep experience in both the public and private sectors, Maurice Jones took the helm as LISC's fourth president & CEO in September 2016. Immediately prior to joining LISC, he served as the secretary of commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he managed 13 state agencies focused on the economic needs in his native state. He previously served as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) overseeing operations for the agency and it's 8,900 staff members. Prior to that he was commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services and deputy chief of staff to former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

Trained as an attorney, Maurice worked during the Clinton Administration on legal, policy and program issues at the Treasury Department, where he also helped manage a then-new initiative called the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund—a federal program that has grown to be a critical supporter of nonprofits that leverage its capital to bolster their communities. In the private sector, Maurice was the general manager of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and went on to become president and publisher of its parent company. He also worked for a Richmond law firm and a private philanthropy investing in community-based efforts to benefit children in Washington, D.C.

Kolaleh Eskandanian is the Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Children’s National Health System. She is also the principal investigator of the FDA-funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, focused on accelerating the path to market for pediatric devices. Kolaleh works with a large network of small and large businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies---to address the unmet needs of children. She is the producer of two annual innovation competitions that select small businesses who demonstrate the ability to address a significant medical need in the pediatric space. Since early 2014, nearly 100 pediatric medical device companies have been funded and/or received technical expertise through these competitions.

Kolaleh’s own innovations are used by millions in the market space. She is the lead inventor of the first-ever adverse event reporting system, initially deployed in a research academic environment. This technology and its derivatives have now been in the market for over 10 years. She has had leadership roles in the development of the first web-based trouble entry management system for a Fortune 100 company in the telecommunications sector. She has been a key contributor in securing over $50 million in government funding for two large research enterprises.

As Chief Medical Officer for Pediatrics and Special Populations at the U.S. FDA CDRH, Vasum Peiris provides executive and clinical leadership on Center policies and initiatives associated with medical devices intended for use in pediatric and special populations. He is the Center’s senior clinical expert on pediatrics and pediatric medical device issues. He leads systems development to facilitate internal and external innovation and synergy that enhances the ability of the Center and the Agency to optimally meet the medical device needs of historically underserved populations.

Prior to joining the FDA, Vasum was the Joon Park MD Endowed Chair in Medical Excellence and Chief of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). With appointments in both the Departments of Pediatrics and (adjunct) Internal Medicine, he provided full spectrum cardiovascular critical care and outpatient services. He helped develop the TTUHSC Clinical Research Institute, promoting patient-oriented translational and outcomes research, and was inaugural faculty of the Department of Public Health, assisting in development of the curricula offering unique training in rural health.

Vasum is triple-board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology and Adult Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Yale University and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, his MD at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital/Yale School of Medicine and Fellowship and Senior Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School.