Fireside: Chicago

 Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures, a digital health-focused venture capital firm, where she invests in technology and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to become better stewards of their health. She currently sits on the board of Ayogo Health and Higi and is a board observer with Zerigo Health, NOCD, Jasper Health, RecoveryOne, Brightline, and MedArrive. 

Alyssa’s prior experience in venture capital includes as an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Hyde Park Angels, and Healthbox. She was also the co-founder of TransparentCareer, a company focused on helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Alyssa also served as Senior Director at the Advisory Board Company, where she was responsible for expanding new business through the sales of technology platforms.

Dustin is the Founder and CEO of BriteCo, an innovative insurance technology company that is transforming the jewelry insurance experience for the digital age. Launched in March 2019, BriteCo currently holds insurance licenses in all 50 states plus Washington DC. When not working or spending time with his family, Dustin likes to research and collect vintage watches.

Vincent leads HomeX’s business and development strategy to support the company mission, helping to activate entirely new end-to-end solutions for both consumers and providers by leveraging technology alongside industry expertise.

Before HomeX, Vincent spent over 10 years at eBay. As a user-obsessed product leader, Vincent led the large-scale transformation of some of eBay’s most fundamental experiences, including eBay’s North American consumer business and their structured data platform product organization.

Brad is the founding CEO of P33 where he is leading the nonprofit organization to drive global technology leadership for Chicago and inclusive economic growth for all. He brings twenty-plus years of professional experience and brings a deep understanding of how to unlock economic opportunities that benefit businesses and individuals to P33’s efforts.

Daniel Estrada is the co-founder and CEO of 86 Repairs, a subscription service that automates the entire repair and maintenance process for restaurant groups.

Daniel started his career as a web developer, working in a variety of technical roles in both startups and Fortune 500 companies. He worked as a consultant for several years, before serving as the CTO at Scavado, a recruiting software company.  Daniel also ran digital transformation initiatives for a major health system in the Midwest.

Prior to starting 86 Repairs, Daniel led the European healthcare practice at EPAM Systems, a global digital consultancy, and was based in London.

Scott is a Chicago-based entrepreneur focused on building and investing in early-stage growth companies that leverage media as a core competency.

As CEO of Technori, he's played a small role in shaping Chicago into one of the largest and most inclusive tech ecosystems in the world by creating the first-ever radio show and event series that enabled startups to fundraise directly from a live audience of both accredited and retail investors; resulting in more than $350 million invested via equity crowdfunding, angel groups, and traditional venture capital.

As an operator, Scott has successfully acquired and sold two companies while investing in nearly a dozen other startups (including 4 with exits).

Pete Wilkins is a purpose-driven leader committed to creating a positive impact in the world. As a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, board member, and advisor, he has worked with some of the world’s best entrepreneurs and top venture capital firms to help purposefully grow their companies from seed investment into industry leaders.

Before he was thirty, he was a critical part of two technology startups that sold and IPO’d for more than $2.8 billion. He later went on to lead the turnaround of a medical education company from record losses to record profits and built one of the premier online physician education communities, which was followed by starting a double-bottom line company focused on college attainment for Latino families. Not every step was successful, but they were all purposeful.

Today, Pete leads HPA, one of the most active and successful early-stage venture investor groups in the country. He and his firm take a people-first approach—they purposefully invest in human and financial capital in entrepreneurs—to help them build successful businesses and ultimately realize their dreams.

Pete is also the soon to be author of Purpose First Entrepreneur, which takes key principles to help others live more purposefully, capitalize on their purpose, and turn it into a thriving business to create measurable outcomes in everyday life.

Pete is also involved in the World Business Chicago ChicagoNext Leadership Council, Future Founders, and P33, a bold initiative to make Chicago a global technology leader. In recognition of his contributions, Pete has been named one of the Top 100 Chicago Innovators by Chicago Tribune, 50 on Fire by ChicagoInno, the winner of Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS Industry Champion Award and the Chicago Innovation Award. He also frequently speaks and writes about investing in people and organizations for Forbes, VentureBeat, and Thrive Global. 

Jay Rudman joined the TopstepTrader team as Chief Growth Officer and quickly advanced to Chief Executive Officer in March 2017 due to his extensive experience scaling high-growth firms. Jay has been a crucial contributor to TopstepTrader’s growth and success, while remaining true to the company’s mission and vision. Prior to TopstepTrader, Jay grew OpinionLab, Inc. from an idea to an eventual sale to a publicly traded company. He then founded Paperly, where as the CEO, he grew it to be the leading direct seller of personalized products, before selling it to another publicly traded company. Most recently, Jay helped Champion Healthcare Technologies expand its presence into the nation’s leading hospital

systems. Jay currently sits on various advisory boards as well as guides multiple startups as a CEO mentor.

Matt is a leader with a contagious passion for great customer engagement, and the economic and business impacts created when customers are engaged in exactly the right way.

Prior to founding XSELL, Matt had the opportunity to work with many quintessential brands including Disney, Apple, Carnival, AT&T, GE, Walgreens helping them to bring their customer experience to life. His experience in these environments led to his observation of a power law in sales, regardless of the brand, wherein top performing agents were not marginally better than their peers - they were multiples better and they delivered disproportionately successful results. 

This observation drove Matt’s curiosity around the ability to scale the actions, tactics, and strategies of top performers to an entire enterprise. 

Matt founded XSELL Technologies on the premise that this was not only possible, but when done exceedingly well it would radically transform the digital customer experience. 

Matt has since grown XSELL to deliver on this premise, leading XSELL’s clients to experience transformative business results. 

Matt has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Illinois State University.  He is married to his college sweetheart Kerri; they have three kids - Emma (21), Charlie (18) and Henry (16), all of whom are top performers.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Ziegler is the first female CEO of 1871, now the Number 1 ranked university affiliated -tech incubator in the world.  

Previous to 1871, Betsy was the Chief Innovation Officer at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, responsible for portfolio innovation as well as integrating technology into the Kellogg educational experience. From 2011 through September 2015, she served as associate dean of degree programs and dean of students.

Prior to Kellogg, she served as a principal in McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office where she led the firm’s Life Insurance Operations and Technology practice and co-led its Financial Institutions Operations and Technology practice.

Ziegler holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and received a B.A. in economics from The Ohio State University, where she graduated with distinction. She is a member of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and the Museum of Science and Industry Boards of Directors and an advisor and investor in many young technology companies.