John Kraft, President/CEO Clone Interactive; Chairman, Technology Council of Southern California

Prior to Pandora, Jon co-founded Stanford Technology Group, which designed and developed sophisticated On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) software for very large databases. The company was funded by Hummer Winblad and Sequoia Capital, and posted twelve consecutive profitable quarters leading up to an acquisition by Informix Corporation.  Customers included KFC, Merck, DHL, AT&T Global Information Systems, and many others.  Jon stayed for over two years at Informix to run Business Development and Product Marketing for the Data Warehouse Business Unit. Prior to co-founding Stanford Technology Group, Jon consulted to Fortune 500 companies on the design and implementation of large database management systems, and held technical positions at Oracle Corporation. Jon is currently the Chairman of the Technology Council of Southern California.  

Erik Hovanec
President/CEO LeisureLink

Erik Hovanec is President and CEO of LeisureLink, a software company in the vacation rental industry that connects travelers with vacation rental suppliers worldwide. Erik has been actively involved in consumer oriented technology companies for the past dozen years. Prior to joining LeisureLink Erik was the General Manager for the Green Dot Financial Network, a division of Green Dot Corporation, a leading player in the multi-billion dollar prepaid financial services industry. Green Dot sells and services prepaid debit cards to millions of un-banked and under-banked consumers via a retail distribution network that allows for card sales and financial payment transactions.

Prior to that, Erik spent five and a half years in the Search Engine business. He joined GoTo.com in mid-1998. GoTo changed its name to Overture Services, Inc., and was acquired by Yahoo! in late 2003 for $1.6 Billion. Erik’s efforts included leadership of the product management department, creation of key applications and services, and negotiations of various business and corporate development deals.

Prior to Overture, Erik worked as a product manager for a consumer healthcare software company building an Internet-based system to help diabetic patients work more effectively with their care providers. Erik started his career in management consulting, having worked as a Consultant for the Boston Consulting Group and an Associate Consultant for Marakon Associates. Erik received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Princeton University.

Allen Weiss
Founder and Publisher, MarketingProfs.com and co-author of Marketing Champions

Allen Weiss is founder and Publisher of MarketingProfs.com. Previously he was on the faculty in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Just prior to that appointment, he was a consulting member of the technical staff at Bell Labs (now Lucent Technologies).

He has written about technology for over 15 years in both the academic and popular press, most recently as the weekly e-marketing columnist for Upside.com. He has also acted as a consultant for a range of technology and science-based companies, including Intel, Texas Instruments, Informix, and Amgen.

Jennifer Beever
Founder, New Incite Marketing

Jennifer Beever became a Marketing Consultant in 1997 after 14 years in sales and marketing in the software industry. As founder of New Incite Marketing Analysis and Design, Jennifer and her team of marketing professionals work with growing businesses in technology and manufacturing industries to analyze their current marketing situations, plan new marketing programs, execute the plan, and track results.

She started her career in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software industry with Marcam Corporation on the East Coast, selling software to manufacturers throughout the United States. She also worked for System Software Associates, an ERP vendor in Chicago. After completing her MBA from Pepperdine in 1990, she spent six years as a product manager, programming manager, and director of marketing at a privately held software company in Woodland Hills. In 2000 Jennifer became a certified Virtual CEO consultant after seeing a need to help client companies quickly analyze and benchmark their company’s performance before planning their marketing. In 2001 Jennifer received the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation from the Institute of Management Consultants.

Jennifer is a Past-President of IMC SoCal and an active member of Professionals Network Group (PNG), the Technology Council of Southern California, Pepperdine Management Partners, The Association for Corporate Growth, and the Association for Strategic Planning (where she serves on the national board as VP of Marketing.)

Michael Pottenger
CEO Smart Wear LLC

Mr. Pottenger is Chief Executive Officer at SmartWear, LLC, a company that is developing a new class of patented smart textiles for use in consumer, industrial, automotive, aerospace and military markets. Prior to founding SmartWear in 1999, Mr. Pottenger was actively involved in R&D projects concerning sensors and actuator systems based on advanced microelectromechanical (MEMS) technology, particularly sensors used in navigation systems. Previously he was employed at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company (now part of Boeing) as a mechanical design engineer. He holds earned academic degrees from the California Institute of Technology (B.S., Mechanical Engineering), the University of Southern California (M.S., Mechanical Engineering) and UCLA (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering).

Matt Ridenour
Managing Director Momentum Venture Management LLC

Matt has been a principal in more than 25 private market transactions with an aggregate value of more than $200 million and has been active in private equity and venture capital and as a successful CEO in early stage companies. Prior to founding Momentum Venture Management in 2004, he served as CEO of Powerfile, Inc., a Silicon Valley based optical storage technology firm where he successfully led a turn-around and raised funding from Sequoia Capital. Prior to this, he was CEO and Executive Chairman of UNX, Inc., a venture-backed developer of equity trading software. In this role, Matt grew the company from start up to more than $20 million in sales in three years and led all aspects of fundraising through multiple institutional rounds and an add-on acquisition valued at $40 million. In 1999 he founded Gazelle TechVentures, a $60 million VC firm where he continues to serve as a venture partner. Previously he was a principal in Blue Capital, a mid stage private equity firm spun out of McKinsey & Company, and spent two years focusing on private equity advisory at Bain & Company. Matt holds a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and graduated with High Honors as a Baker Scholar (top 5% in his MBA class) from Harvard Business School

Albert Schneider
Director, Pasadena Angels and Tech Coast Angels

Al is an active angel investor, start-up board member and mentor to early stage companies. He is a co-founder and Vice Chairman of Pasadena Angels, executive committee member of Tech Coast Angels, and board member of Pasadena Entretec, a non-profit which supports technology companies in the San Gabriel Valley.

Most of Mr. Schneider's career was spent in the real estate and healthcare property investment, finance and development industries. He was Vice President of the B.F. Saul Company, a diversified real estate organization which then advised the public REIT now known as Saul Centers (NYSE-BFS). Later, he was the COO of The Canterbury Group, a private real estate company which developed rental apartments, condominiums, and other residential and healthcare properties. His earliest private equity investments outside the real estate field, in the mid 1990's, included Clifton Mining (NASDAQ-CFTN). Al has a B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard

Donald S. Lee, BuchalterNemer, Donald Lee focuses his practice on general corporate and securities law including the formation and structuring of business entities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity financing and general corporate advice. Mr. Lee has represented private equity clients in numerous equity and debt investment transactions including the lead investor in a $125 million preferred stock investment in a technology company. He has advised a private equity fund acting as a lender to a borrower who purchased assets of a gaming company from a bankruptcy trustee. Mr. Lee also represented several privately-held technology companies in both preferred equity and subordinated debt offerings. He provides general corporate advice to the U.S. subsidiary of a Taiwanese import/export concern.

Mr. Lee received his B.A. with honors in Political Science from Stanford University in 1988. He received his J.D. in 1994 from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Lee served on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Bob Dole in Washington, D.C. (1988-91). He serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Business and Corporations Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Andrew M. Apfelberg, Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Incorporated, is a corporate attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions. A third generation Los Angeles-based lawyer, Andrew's clients benefit from his strong business and finance background gained from working for investment and commercial banks prior to attending law school. He is a Partner of the Firm and Chairman of its Marketing Committee. Andrew was named a "Super Lawyer" in the field of Business Law by Law & Politics and the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine in 2005 and 2006. Only 5% of lawyers in a region earn this designation via independent research and polling of their peers. In addition to his mergers and acquisitions practice, Andrew serves as primary outside counsel to companies and entrepreneurs, advising on issues such as entity formation, finance and securities, licensing of intellectual property, and critical agreements with employees and third parties. He also is experienced in the area of insolvency, enabling him to provide counsel on asset acquisitions of insolvent or bankrupt entities and to represent creditors' interests in bankruptcy proceedings.

Andrew earned his Juris Doctorate from the Boston College Law School, and was honored with the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Business and Finance from the University of Southern California, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, Alpha Lambda Delta and Golden Key national honors societies.

Louis R. Dienes, Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP, is a partner in the Transactional Department. Louis is a widely-recognized Los Angeles corporate attorney representing investors, entrepreneurs, and businesses in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and other business matters. He has extensive experience in corporate finance transactions, ranging from seed round to pre-IPO mezzanine round financings, as well as mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. He currently serves as primary outside corporate counsel to more than 50 U.S. and foreign businesses, ranging from start-ups to multinationals.

Louis received his B.A. in 1990 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. in 1994 from Stanford University, where he was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and an officer of the Moot Court Board. Louis is the Chairman of the Business Transactions Section of the Century City Bar Association and a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California. He previously was the Editor-in-Chief of The Business Law News, the official publication of the State Bar of California’s Business Law Section. He also is a member of the Advisory Committee of The Business Technology Center ( Los Angeles County’s business incubator) and of The Pasadena Angels, a private early-stage investment group.

Andy Torosyan, Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt LLP, joined HCVT in January 2006 after spending over 9 years with the international CPA firm of Deloitte & Touch LLP. Andy was a member of the Merger & Acquisition Services group where he advised private equity and strategic clients on tax diligence and structuring. Andy also worked in Deloitte’s national tax services group for three years specializing in corporate tax and accounting methods. Andy started his career in the general tax services group where he served partnership, S corporation and multinational clients on federal, state, local and international tax planning and compliance, including FAS 109 reviews. Selected M&A clients include Forstmann Little & Co., Goldman, Sachs & Co., KSL Capital Partners, Leonard Green & Partners, Prudential Capital Group, Spire Capital Partners, TCW, GKN Aerospace, Intuit Inc., News Corporation and VCA Antech.

Andy has an undergraduate degree in Accounting from Pepperdine University and a Master of Taxation from the University of Denver. Andy obtained his California CPA license in August 2001.

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