Judges’ Bios for VentureX New England 2012
We are excited to have such a great group of judges for the finals of Venture X – New England on January 26, 2012:
Matt Rightmire
Matt uses the contacts and insights he gained from a decade of building internet companies in the Silicon Valley to lead Borealis Ventures investments in internet services and mobile content. He is currently a director on the board of Borealis’s portfolio company Handmark, and an observer on the Makeover Solutions and Wingu boards. He previously served on the board of Borealis portfolio companies Flurry, Foodbuzz, go2 Media and Icovia. Matt joined Borealis full-time in 2005 after serving as an advisor to the firm from its inception.
Before Borealis, Matt was COO of Efficient Frontier (acquired by ADBE), a venture-funded marking services company that applies portfolio optimization techniques from financial markets to the marketplace of online advertising. Matt began his internet career as an early member of the team at Yahoo!, which he joined in 1995 when the company was still pre-revenue and a team of 10 individuals. Over the next seven years, he held a variety of product development and business development positions and played a critical role as the company grew to more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Matt concluded his tenure with Yahoo! In 2002 as the vice president and general manager of media and entertainment, one of the three business units at the company.
Matt earned his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he received the Julia Stell Award for leadership. He also received his B.S. in industrial engineering from Stanford University.
Jamie Coughlin
Jamie is a passionate advocate and implementer of entrepreneurship and innovation. He serves as Chief Executive Officer and Entrepreneur in Residence at the abi Innovation Hub, NH’s largest and oldest business incubator and innovation center. In addition, Jamie has founded and managed a variety of disruptive businesses. With that same spirit, Jamie continues to build, advise, and grow companies of value and social significance.
Jamie received his B.A. from Princeton University.
Edward Bender
For almost two years, Edward has played a unique role at Dyn by managing the Business Development Representative (BDR) team; as well as strategic integrations and alliances with major players in “the cloud.” Edward brings a diverse background in marketing and business development, specifically in the verticals of media, entertainment, and online gaming. In 1998 he joined the founding team of a Seattle-based ISP, Speakeasy as employee #20. In the following 7 years he wore many hats; from securing lead VC participation in series A & B funding, to launching major partnerships, and establishing the company’s signature niche market strategy. Nearing $100 Million in annual revenue and 350 employees; Speakeasy sold to BestBuy at which time Edward packed his bags and moved to NYC to give the ad agency world a shot. As Account Director, he produced successful online campaigns for AT&T, New York Magazine, Microsoft, MTV, and Comedy Central. After three years in “the City,” Edward is very happy to be back in his home state of New Hampshire.
Tom “TK” Kuegler
Tom “TK” Kuegler is the co-founder and general partner of Wasabi Ventures. Wasabi Ventures is an venture capital, incubator, and consulting firm that specializes in building and advising early stage technology companies. In the last 10 years, Wasabi Ventures has built, financed, and advised some wildly successful ventures like PBworks, Ustream, and Etherpad.
Prior to starting Wasabi Ventures, TK led the sales efforts at MedAptus (a handheld healthcare charge capture solution) and at Amicore (an EMR company founded by Microsoft, Pfizer, and IBM) where he was instrumental in formulating and creating the sales processes. He has also held senior positions at ClickRebates (an online advertising software company) and RightNow Technologies, a Web-based CRM company.
TK is the author of all three editions of the highly acclaimed book Web Advertising and Marketing. He has authored dozens of articles about the Internet and been published in leading publications like inc.com and ClickZ. TK spends a great deal of time lecturing at colleges, seminars, companies, and conferences about the corporate benefits of utilizing interactive technologies. He currently sits on the Board of Sponsors of Sellinger School of Business at Loyola University Maryland. He has presented at hundreds of events on a wide array of topics about economics, entrepreneurism, technology, and management.
Gregory Santos
A parallel entrepreneur, Greg splits his time between two very different companies: VerdictAdvantage, a high-tech jury consultancy, and Wellify, a turnkey health and wellness solution for small-to-midsize companies which will relaunch in early 2012. Founded in late 2010, Wellify is backed by Wasabi Ventures. Greg holds a BA in Economics from Loyola University, and a JD from the Boston University School of Law. He has a passion for startups and the start-up life. In his “spare time,” Greg acts as a legal adviser to emerging Boston-area companies, cooks the world’s greatest short ribs, and enjoys the occasional libation at MIT’s Venture Cafe.