Panelists

Speakers, Panelists, and Moderators

Keynote Speakers:

Guy Kawasaki

Chief Evangelist of Canva
Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People Podcast
Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and an adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales.

He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He is also the author of Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta

U.S. Congressman serving the 20th District of California
Congressman Jimmy Panetta is dedicated to public service and proudly serves California’s 20th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His district includes Monterey and San Benito Counties, and parts of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties. First elected 2016, he is serving his second term in Congress.

He currently serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, the House Committee on Budget, and the House Committee on Agriculture.

Ben Jealous

President of People For the American Way
and former President and CEO of the NAACP
Benjamin Jealous is an American civic leader and politician.

He served as the president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 2008 to 2013. Jealous has also served on several boards, including the California Council for the Humanities, and the Association of Black Foundation Executives.

Today, Jealous is the President at People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation.

Speakers and Investor Panelists:

David Apgar

Lighthouse Bank
Community Capital Investor
David is Director of Venture Banking at Santa Cruz County Bank. He managed credit risk for $700M microfinance fund BlueOrchard and turned around the Inter-American Investment Corporation’s $70M Haiti SME Fund over the past decade, with extensive prior experience in small-business finance as an investment banker and a senior bank policy advisor for the U.S. Treasury.

Since moving to Santa Cruz, David has helped local businesses find better ways to grow using the GoalScreen SaaS he developed from his work as a McKinsey consultant, Corporate Executive Board managing director, and author (Risk Intelligence, Harvard Business Publishing, 2006).

Thomas Armstrong

White Summers
Venture Investor
Mr. Armstrong has over 36 years of legal experience in representing companies and investors in venture capital financings, private placements, angel financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.

His practice includes representation of companies and investors in various industries including medical devices, software, internet, consumer goods, telematics and entertainment. Mr. Armstrong is also a FINRA registered investment banker holding a Series 63 license, a Series 79 license and a Series 82 license.

Krishan Arora

Arora Project
Panel Moderator
Krishan Arora is the Founder & CEO of The Arora Project, a crowdfunding and product launchpad agency with one goal in mind: To help entrepreneurs fundraise for and scale their businesses.

The Arora Project has raised over $75+ Million for high-growth ventures around the world. Krishan’s core expertise is in scaling up innovative ventures and initiatives across industries by creating and converting global online communities (with an emphasis on data-driven decision making).

Brad Barbeau

iiED
Panel Moderator
Brad combines experience in both academic and entrepreneurial environments. He has been a university professor, entrepreneur, and advisor to multiple startup companies.

He currently teaches in the College of Business at CSU Monterey Bay, is Executive Director of CSUMB's Institute for Innovation and Economic Development and consults to and has operating roles in startup ventures, designing and implementing startup and growth strategies.

Brian Bordley

Berkeley SkyDeck Fund
Venture Investor
Brian Bordley is a startup operator turned venture capitalist. He has spent time in business roles at various startups (TechValidate, Marqeta, Remeeting), including time as a founder of a 3D printing company, Eucl3D, that went through Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator in 2015. Brian is a proud Cal Bear (BA Political Science).

Pamela Burns

Monterey Jane/Wild Plum
Keynote Chair
Co-Leader of Slow Money Monterey Bay. Proprietor of the Wild Plum Cafe & Bakery in Monterey.

Toby Corey

Zentrepreneur.life
Panel Moderator
Toby Corey is a successful entrepreneur and 10-year Stanford University lecturer. He held executive positions at Novell, USWeb (founder), Autodesk, Solarcity and Tesla.

He’s a restless soul turned Zentrepreneur, passionate about sustainability and inspiring creativity for greater good. Toby lives in Santa Cruz, California with his wife Susan and dog Cisco.

Ed Colligan

Edventures
Venture Investor
Ed came to Silicon Valley in 1985 to be part of the personal technology revolution and since that time has established himself as a leading product and marketing innovator. E

d led the transaction that reunited the Palm and Handspring teams into one company while establishing relationships with wireless carriers globally and driving Palm’s annual smartphone business to more than $2 billion.

As the CEO of Palm, Ed spearheaded the transformation that created the highly acclaimed WebOS platform and Palm Pre line of smartphones. Ed now spends his time on the Central Coast of California investing in and mentoring entrepreneurs with the goal of helping to establish the next generation of breakthrough products and brands.

Ed is a board member of Numenta, Inc., POPS Worldwide, and is on the board of advisors for a number of other start-up companies.

Richard Ferrari

De Novo Ventures
Venture Investor
Richard Ferrari is a Cofounder of De Novo Ventures which has $650 million under management and is one of the premier firms dedicated to Medical Devices and Bio-Technology, Richard has raised approximately a billion dollars for companies and he has directly influenced and participated in over a billion dollars in acquisition everts.

Previously Mr. Ferrari held the positions of Executive Vice President and General Manager of ADAC Laboratories. In 1996 he founded Saratoga Ventures, a venture capital partnership that has provided seed financing to startup medical technology companies.

Frank Gerber

Blueshift Partners
Panelist
Investor and business builder with substantial background in private investments, business valuation, leadership transitions, operational improvement, and board level advising.

Strong experience in real estate, technology, publicly traded markets, and retail and consumer businesses including athletic wear and food. Significant additional work and leadership with not-for-profit organizations.

Paula Groves

Impact X Capital
Discussion Panelist
Paula has decades of private equity and consulting experience working with highly-motivated extraordinary entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities.

She is also an expert in developing and deploying targeted investment funds, having helped create funds in London England, the City of Oakland, the States Connecticut and California, and for the US Small Business Administration.

She is currently a Founding Member and General Partner launching Impact X Capital a London-based venture capital company investing in European underrepresented communities of technology and creative professionals.

Arno Hesse

Slow Money Northern California
Community Capital Investor
Arno Hesse is dedicated to financing a sustainable and equitable future with thriving food systems and regenerative technologies.

He co-founded the community capital services Credibles and Investibule. As a co-leader and investor with Slow Money Northern California, Arno has led multiple investments in food businesses, with a focus on climate change and social justice. Previously, he was Executive Vice President for Retail Markets at MUFG Union Bank.

Arno grew up in Europe where he worked as a journalist and activist in the environment and peace movements. He is easily distracted by new ice cream flavors and typefaces.

Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt

Powerful Women
International Connections
Discussion Panelist
Born in Sacramento, California, Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt began her teaching career with the San Francisco Unified School District.

After working with S.F.U.S.D. for three years, she joined City College of San Francisco (CCSF) in 1972 and has served in a number of positions, including Dean of the Southeast Campus, Acting Dean of the Southeast Campus, Acting Dean of Students, Dean of the Office of Student Affairs, Chair of the African American American Studies Department, Diversity Calendar Coordinator, Coordinator of the Partnerships to Achieve Academic Success Program (PAAS) and Instructor in both the English and Engineering Departments.

She also served as Chair of the Sustainability Subcommittee, a Shared Governance entity, for the college.

Shyam Kamath

CSUMB COB Dean
Panel Moderator
Shyam Kamath, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized scholar and educator who has gained recognition as a global innovator and expert in the area of community development, experiential learning, and business program innovation. His distinguished career has also focused on building programs and institutions that benefit those who are underserved and underrepresented while focusing on economic opportunity and human excellence.

He is the founding Dean of the College of Business at CSU, Monterey Bay and has held academic and administrative positions at leading universities in the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe. He is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards including the Distinguished North American Lasallian Educator of the Year in 2012, the prestigious Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education and multiple outstanding professor and educator awards. He teaches classes in international business, global management, and economics.

Previously, he was an entrepreneur, as a co-founder of three start-ups, has pioneered a number of academic start-ups, and has worked for leading international firms in the energy, equipment, and consumer goods areas. He has been a consultant to four governments and over 100 companies and non-profits worldwide.

Bob Kavner

Idealab
Venture Investor
Bob has had 3 distinctive careers in his life. He began his career at Price Waterhouse Coopers becoming a Partner in 10 years After 18 years at PWC, Bob was recruited to be CFO of AT&T and during 10 years at AT&T was promoted to CEO of the digital businesses of AT&T and member of the Executive Committee.

In the mid 1990s, Bob moved to Ca to start Idealab with Bill Gross and others. Idealab was the first incubator of technology based companies and continues to do so after over 25 years of operation. Bob has been a member of large corporate boards, in his mid career.

Over the last 25 years Bob has focused his attention exclusively on start-ups...mostly in the role of Chairman and investor. Most notably he helped start and chaired the board of Pandora Media, Ticketmaster-Citysearch, Overture Technologies, Earthlink Networks and now BigFoot Biomedical.

Jennifer Kuyper

Pacific Valley Bank
Community Capital Investor
In her 20 years in commercial banking, Jennifer has helped hundreds of visionary business owners access the capital necessary to launch, scale or grow their business.

She has a passion for community banking and making funding more accessible across a broader base of the population.

Brooks McChesney

Institute for Innovation &
Economic Development
Advisory Council Member
Panel Moderator
Brooks McChesney has been an entrepreneur and senior executive in technology companies spanning multiple vertical markets and industries. He has demonstrated repeated success in developing market-based competitive advantage in emerging technology markets.

He is a Founder of the Start-Up Challenge Business Plan Competition and a member of the Advisory Council for the CSUMB Institute for Innovation & Economic Development.

Angie Mertens

ONE WORLD
Panelist and
Community Capital Investor
Angie Mertens has been spearheading ONE WORLD Training as the Program Director since 2015, where she is convening and educating social entrepreneurs, investors and corporates in the Bay Area.

ONE WORLD provides organizations training and capital to profitably increase their social impact. Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, we leverage our expertise in developing leaders to deliver innovative approaches to increase social impact in a way that it is profitable, sustainable, and scalable.

She has curated and produced 50+ social impact events and enterprise showcases in collaboration with organizations such as Social Venture Circle, toniic, Nia Impact Capital, Spero Ventures etc.

Ullas Naik

Streamlined Ventures
Discussion Panelist
Ullas is a seasoned venture capitalist, angel investor and entrepreneur with over two decades of entrepreneurial and early stage investment experience across nearly 350 companies.

Ullas is currently spending his time in areas including Data Science, Applied AI Technologies as well as new Computing Technologies including Block Chain based models, Quantum Computing, AR and VR.

Prior to founding Streamlined Ventures, he co-founded investment firm Cota Capital. Prior to that, Ullas was a senior member of the investment team for 12 years at Globespan Capital and helped build that firm.

Carrie Nikitin

Powerful Women
International Connections
Panel Moderator
Carrie is currently CEO of Avatekh, Inc., a high tech company developing and monetizing Intellectual property in noise filtering and power management industries.

With strong skills in constructing, and negotiating licensing agreements, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, raising capital and collaborative development and research agreements, in both domestic and foreign markets in various industries.

She is an expert on working with companies in various stages, such as start-up, expansion, downsizing, turnaround, branding and rebranding phases. She has written federal SBIR, NIH and NSF grants, state economic development grants and not for profit grants.

Gary Peterson

FarmLink
Community Capital Investor
Gary Peterson grew up in a farm community in western Minnesota, and brings nearly 25 years’ experience in sustainable agriculture, rural development, and land conservation to California FarmLink.

His career has focused on fundraising, communications and program development advancing beginning farmers and sustainable agriculture.

He has teamed up to raise more than $21 million for this work. Prior to joining California FarmLink in 2016, he worked at the Big Sur Land Trust for nearly four years, and at the Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) near Salinas for eight years.

Jonny Price

Wefunder
Panelist and
Community Capital Investor
Jonny is originally from the UK, where he started his career in strategy consulting with Oliver Wyman. In 2011, he joined the non-profit Kiva.org as the Founder and Director of its U.S. lending division, leading that team for seven years.

In early 2018, he joined Wefunder (a PBC and B Corp) as Director of Business Development. His primary role is recruiting great companies that are excited to use crowdfunding to raise capital and gain customers.

He serves on the Federal Reserve Board's Community Advisory Council, and has a degree in History from the University of Cambridge. His proudest accomplishment is to be the dad of Felicity and Carlyle.

Eric Quick

The Town Kitchen
Community Capital Investor
Eric has thirty years’ experience in management and has held senior leadership positions with start-up ventures and notable companies including McDonald’s, Disney, Safeway and Revolution Foods.

Eric (CoFounder & CEO of PocketCFO) is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for developing emotionally intelligent teams. His track record demonstrates his ability to nurture and accelerate big ideas from inception to hypergrowth opportunities.

Eric recently launched and is Co-Host and Producer of Bathtime 2 BoardroomTM, a Podcast focused on working parents or parents to be and how they balance work, life and the challenges that come with it. Eric currently holds the role of Chief Executive Officer of The Town Kitchen PBC, a Social Mission Food Technology Company focused on the B2B Food Delivery Segment.

Joshua Resnick

Parallel Flight Technologies, Inc.
Discussion Panelist
Joshua Resnick began his career in Alaska developing high efficiency drivetrains for fishing vessels, and teaching in rural communities. Following this, he led system architecture for the Tesla Semi Truck program.

In 2018 he co-founded Parallel Flight Technologies, which is developing heavy-lift autonomous systems for firefighting, search-and-rescue, construction, and agriculture applications.

Nina Robinson

The Runway Project
Community Capital Investor
Nina is an impact capital convener with over 10 years of experience working with mission-driven entrepreneurs and innovative investment models including The Runway Project Oakland, Buen Vivir Fund, Homestake Ventures, and as a RSF Integrated Capital Fellow in 2017-2018.

Nina has advised numerous small businesses on strategic growth, capital raising, impact and organizational development which has resulted in creation of 400+ local good jobs, and the facilitation of over $10M in capital investments.

John Seabern

Ridgecrest Investments
Venture Investor
Mr. John H. Seabern, CFA, is General Partner at Ridgecrest Investments.Prior to founding Ridgecrest Investments in 2009, Mr. Seabern worked as an analyst and portfolio manager for several years at RS Investments, a San Francisco based investment advisory firm.

While at RS, he served on the management team of small and midcap growth funds. He also worked as an Analyst at Duncan-Hurst Capital Management, Inc.Mr. Seabern holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Colorado and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Hillary Talbot

Sail Community Capital
Panelist and
Community Capital Investor
Hillary is a community capital advocate and local investor at heart. She founded Sail Community Capital to help startups and small businesses raise the funds to bring their dreams to life.

She guides clients through the maze of crowdfunding to select a crowdfunding platform, build their debt or equity offering, and market their raise. Hillary is also building a coalition of local investors who want to create vibrant local economies.

Miaja West

The Law Office of Maija West
Discussion Panelist
Maija West is the owner of the Law Office of Maija West, and founder of Moxie Lab, a leadership company for emerging visionaries. She is also the founder of the Healing and Reconciliation Institute, a non-profit consulting firm.
</brProfessionally, she is dedicated to supporting businesses in building a forward-thinking strategy as part of their mission.

Richard De Andrade

Solare, Inc.
Investor
With more than 30 years of experience in international finance and business, Richard has provided advisory expertise on aspects of Corporate Governance/Compliance/Audit, Startup Investment/Acceleration, Business Consulting and Advisory consulting to US and International companies ranging in size from less than $2MM to greater than $5BN in annual revenue.

Richard is currently the founder, member, and CEO of Solare Holdings LLC, (www.solareholding.com), and is actively involved with the startup and entrepreneurial community locally and internationally, focusing on technology and agribusiness opportunities.

David Apgar

Lighthouse Bank
Panelist
With more than 30 years of experience in international finance and business, Richard has provided advisory expertise on aspects of Corporate Governance/Compliance/Audit, Startup Investment/Acceleration, Business Consulting and Advisory consulting to US and International companies ranging in size from less than $2MM to greater than $5BN in annual revenue.

Richard is currently the founder, member, and CEO of Solare Holdings LLC, (www.solareholding.com), and is actively involved with the startup and entrepreneurial community locally and internationally, focusing on technology and agribusiness opportunities.

Richard De Andrade

Solare, Inc.
Investor
With more than 30 years of experience in international finance and business, Richard has provided advisory expertise on aspects of Corporate Governance/Compliance/Audit, Startup Investment/Acceleration, Business Consulting and Advisory consulting to US and International companies ranging in size from less than $2MM to greater than $5BN in annual revenue.

Richard is currently the founder, member, and CEO of Solare Holdings LLC, (www.solareholding.com), and is actively involved with the startup and entrepreneurial community locally and internationally, focusing on technology and agribusiness opportunities.

David Apgar

Lighthouse Bank
Panelist
With more than 30 years of experience in international finance and business, Richard has provided advisory expertise on aspects of Corporate Governance/Compliance/Audit, Startup Investment/Acceleration, Business Consulting and Advisory consulting to US and International companies ranging in size from less than $2MM to greater than $5BN in annual revenue.

Richard is currently the founder, member, and CEO of Solare Holdings LLC, (www.solareholding.com), and is actively involved with the startup and entrepreneurial community locally and internationally, focusing on technology and agribusiness opportunities.