Alumni New Venture Challenge (ANVC)

Amalesh Sanku is currently President & CEO at Sagertech Communications – a strategic marketing consulting company. He leads strategy and marketing engagements for telecommunications and medical technology companies. He has identified potential acquisition targets, negotiated strategic global alliances, evaluated M&A prospects, and led due diligence teams for organic and inorganic growth and for portfolio management process both within and across business units at several companies.

Amalesh has worked at or partnered with some of the top technology companies in US such as Sprint, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Lucent technologies, Ciena, E.F. Johnson and Mpower communication. He has extensive experience in market intelligence, competitive positioning, channel management, creating value propositions, and pricing and brand strategy.

Amalesh currently serves as a Director and an Officer on the Board of Gateway Foundation- a $110M non-profit drug and alcohol addiction counseling service. He serves on the Board of the Chicago Booth Angels Network(CBAN) of Chicago. He also serves as a mid-market Committee member of the Professional Directors Association (PDA) Chicago Chapter.

Amalesh has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of business, an M.S. in Computer Science from Oklahoma State University, and a B. Engineering in Electronics and Communications from University of Madras, India. He holds a US Patent in multimedia performance of open systems.

Mary Beth has over 25 years of experience within the medical industry with a focus on sales and marketing. Mary Beth started her career holding multiple roles at Baxter Healthcare and Medtronic. In 2004, she founded MKT Consulting LLC, an integrated agency that specializes in marketing, strategy, analytics and project management solutions serving diagnostic, biopharmaceutical, medical-device, GPO’s, and informatics companies. Mary Beth is an active and passionate member of the Chicago healthcare start-up community and has worked with over 30 startups over the past five years. She currently serves as an active Advisor to Inference Analytics and NeuroPath and acts as a lead to the C2MP Program through MATTER Health Mentor Network. Mary Beth also serves as a Co-President to the District 113 Education Foundation that supports innovation in the public high schools within her community.

Mary Beth earned an MBA in Marketing and Economics from the University of Chicago and also holds a BA in Behavior Sciences with general honors from the University of Chicago.

Ryota Sekine is a startup founder based in Chicago. When he was an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, he cofounded Cubii, a fitness brand for baby boomers & beyond. After the business was acquired in late 2020, he has been mentoring early-stage founders, helping brainstorm their “different” that would give them a shot at being positioned in the 1% of their niches. He is currently experimenting with concepts such as space tech, web3/alt gov and bioengineering for his next venture. He graduated from the College in 2013 with a degree in Biology. Ryota enjoys sharing Japanese culture, and is a dedicated member of the U.S.-Japan Council and TOMODACHI Initiative.

Dr. Quan’s industry experience  includes telecommunications, IT, and bio/nanotechnology. She has had extensive business experience in Asia, Europe, and North America, including expatriate assignments in Hong Kong, France, and Canada. She has held senior leadership positions with large multinationals as well as entrepreneurial ventures, and is skilled at all aspects of product management, including strategy, product development, business plan development and execution, and P&L responsibility.

Dr. Quan served as Vice President, Operations for Fio Corporation, a nanobiotechnology start-up developing a point-of-care rapid diagnostics system. She led new products and business development as Senior Vice President of Fujitsu Business Communication Systems, a $150 million provider of enterprise network solutions. Zoe was also an executive with various communications infrastructure businesses at Lucent Technologies, in global product, market, and corporate development. She started her career in R&D with Bell Laboratories, co-authoring two telecommunications patents.

As president of Qingchu Thinking, LLC, she translates between the languages of business and technology by combining strategy, international business, and assessing technologies for their growth potential. With her, companies identify the right problems to be solved, begin to see the patterns among seemingly unrelated pieces of information, translate vision into executable strategies, and put in place the processes and discipline to enable implementation.

Dr. Quan holds an AB in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University and a PhD in Biophysics and Theoretical Biology from the University of Chicago.

Nancy Hayes is a current active angel investor who also serves as a mentor to women entrepreneurs and founders of color. She advises corporate and nonprofit executives in management and leadership topics.

Nancy was a senior executive of the IBM Corporation, CEO of two social services nonprofit organizations, Dean of the College of Business at San Francisco State University, CFO of that university, cofounder of a rewards-based crowdfunding site and Managing Director of Golden Seeds angel group Silicon Valley chapter.

Nancy lives in San Francisco.

Chirag is a VC/PE-backed entrepreneur with company building experience at the Founder/CEO level in each phase ranging from idea inception to liquidity events/recapitalizations. He has been involved with the Harvard Innovation Lab and the Global Insurance Accelerator. Previously he was a Management Consultant, Investment Banker and Central Banker with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.  He is a former engineer with degrees from Harvard and University of Chicago.

Chris is an active investor in venture-backed startups. He is currently a principal at Obvious Ventures where he invests in software and fintech startups.
Prior to his time at Obvious Ventures, Chris was a growth investor at Softbank’s Vision Fund and Housatonic Partners and an operator at Pango, the world’s largest VPN where he was their director of financial operations. Previously he was an M&A investment banker at Citi.

Chris has a BA from the University of Chicago and lives in San Francisco.

Amit is a founder and principal of a boutique firm that helps B2B SaaS startups build a sustainable value based selling motion leading to higher price points, win rates and revenue.

Amit worked in customer facing senior management roles within Sales at large (SAP) and small (Coupa, Qubole) software companies. He was a key contributor to Coupa’s pre-IPO to post IPO success and growth. He co-founded a SaaS product company and sold a business value realization product to startups. He also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey.

Amit’s areas of expertise include enterprise sales, consultative selling, C-level business cases, entrepreneurship, and conversion of software feature / capability to business and f

Amit has an MBA from the University of Chicago, a Master’s in Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Derin is a seasoned startup operator and currently serves as the CFO of Simulate, a plant-based meat company based in Oakland with products in distribution to over 10,000 retail locations. He started his career working in hedge funds for Grosvenor Capital Management, but founded his first company in 2012 – DownBeats, a brand of high fidelity earplugs for concerts that still operates. He later founded Square Roots Kitchen, a technology-enabled fast casual restaurant, and most recently served as the COO/CFO for New Age Eats, a cultivated meat startup that raised $32M. Derin has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also holds the CFA designation.

Cindy Machles is the co-founder and CEO of Glue, which has been recognized as a top 20 NYC agency in both advertising and public relations since 2015. Before launching Glue, Cindy started and led healthcare-focused branding and advertising organizations for WPP and held product management roles at both Johnson & Johnson and Clorox. Cindy is also a founding steering committee member of the Chicago Booth Angels Network in NYC and an alumni board member locally as well. Cindy graduated from Chicago Booth in 1982.

Dave Weiner is the COO and CFO of VirtualAPT, which uses proprietary, autonomous robots to create interactive, 360° tours which faithfully recreate in-person experiences. Dave is also an investor in and advisor to early-stage consumer/retail-technology companies, including as a committee member of the Chicago Booth Angels Network of New York. Previously, Dave was Deutsche Bank’s lead consumer discretionary global brand analyst within equity research. Dave holds an MBA from the University of Chicago (Booth) and a BA from the University of Illinois.

Hernando Bunuan, MBA ’07, is the Founder and Managing Partner of Z2Sixty Ventures, a US venture capital firm focused on pre-seed to Series A investments. He has over 20 years experience spanning investing (venture capital, angel and public equities) and investment banking (M&A and capital raising) in the US and Europe. Hernando has an MBA from Chicago Booth and Bachelor’s from Washington University.

Hernando is an active alumni leader at Chicago Booth. He previously led the UK Alumni Club as President for seven years and organized events with Fortune 500 executives and start-ups founders. In 2018 he chaired the inaugural Chicago Booth Alumni Forum in London that featured over 40 global C-suite executives and thought leaders.

Ms. Twum-Baah brings over 20 years of experience leading high-impact initiatives and global teams with expertise in integrated marketing, loyalty, customer experience, lead generation, go-to-market, account management, customer acquisition, digital, CRM, insights, enterprise solutions, product development, and strategic alliances. She has broad experience across tech, telecom, payments, retail, customer loyalty, e-commerce, travel and lifestyle industries.

Over the course of her career, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Marriott International and American Express within Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In addition, she coaches start-ups and early stage ventures around the world.

She earned a MBA from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business where she was a Rath Foundation Merit Scholar and completed a joint program in Economics and International Business with the London School of Economics and Political Science. She holds an AB from the University of Chicago.

Chris is a seasoned executive leader, advisor & director with a proven track record of building businesses. He has set strategy, built cross functional teams and has a deep understanding of how organizations work internally and with their clients. Chris’ background includes:

►Executive leadership with direct full P&L responsibility for +$200MM in revenue business focused on financial technology solutions with over +500 employees across all functional areas including commercial, product, technology, finance, marketing, etc.

►Subject matter expert in financial markets, economies, regulatory change, market structure, financial technology solutions and data & analytics

►Deep network of relationships Institutional investors, advisory, private equity and financial technology providers

Expertise includes new products & markets, complex negotiations, geographic expansion, partnerships & M&A, GTM strategies, deep domain expertise in Capital Markets & technology.  Broad experience managing small, medium and larger workforce across all functional areas.  Client strategy and development & management, experience recruiting and hiring senior executives.

Board of Directors experience in both public and private sector, current BOD member in both.

Ines is the Head of Strategy and Business Development at Cargamos in Mexico City. Her prior experience includes consulting at McKinsey, investment banking, and venture capital. Ines earned a MBA from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a BS from Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México.

Kallie is the Head of US Go-To-Market at Prima.ai, and is the former General Manager & Director of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Perú) at DiDi, the world’s largest ride hailing business.   Her prior experience at DiDi includes time in Brazil, Mexico and China.  Prior to DiDi, her experience in the US includes venture capital, product management, start-ups, and investment banking.

Kallie earned a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she was a Siebal Scholar & Wallman Scholar, and a BA from Yale University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and also played lacrosse.

She lives in Mexico City, Mexico, where she is a mentor and angel investor in start-ups in LatAm.

After an early career in management consulting, Ricardo co-founded an online printing platform and later launched and scaled the Brazilian operations of two unicorns: BlaBlaCar (France | Mobility) and BYJU’S (India | Education). He’s currently part of the founding team of carecode, an early stage healthcare startup, focusing on operations, business development and general management.

Ricardo holds a BSc. in Computer Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA). He lives in São Paulo, Brazil.

Magdalena is an investment executive with 22 years of experience in senior leadership and entrepreneurial roles within the principal investment space and capital markets. She has a successful record of advising on and managing global multi-asset class portfolios, building successful organizations from the ground up, growing and restructuring businesses to deliver rapid increases in valuation, leveraging emerging technologies to optimize processes and enter new markets, and raising mission-critical funding.

Magdalena’s experience spans across the investment spectrum – from private investments to capital markets. She is the Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Catalyst Capital (C2A) – a principal investments and advisory company with clients across the US, Europe, and MENA. She holds several board & advisory positions with private equity & technology companies. Her focus is on growth strategy & new markets entry, facilitating access to multinationals and sovereigns (as clients and investors), financial engineering/deal structuring and negotiations. Previously, Magdalena headed an Equity & Hybrid Derivatives desk at JPMorgan & Deutsche Bank – building an institutional client base across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Magdalena holds a MBA (2000) in Analytical Finance & Econometrics, and BA (1996) in Economics from the University of Chicago. She lived and worked in various cities in the US, Europe and the Middle East. She is an avid reader, passionate about science, technology, and human development.

Whitney Morgan is the Head of Partnerships at Coinfirm, a blockchain analytics company for crypto players. Prior to working in crypto, she led growth and partnerships teams for various fintech and tech startups, spent time in VC investing in digital media and health technology companies, and was an engineer in the cyber security and systems engineering spaces. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Systems & Information Engineering from the University of Virginia. Whitney lives with her husband and daughter in Paris, France.

Ana Vasques has 10+ years of experience in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital. She started her career at an early age as a marketing analyst in the family business, then led growth initiatives at Uber, managed the investment team of a VC fund, and, more recently, started a company of her own – that she brought to break-even. She is passionate about growth and impact. Ana holds a bachelor in Mechanical Engineering at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, a masters in Engineering Management from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from Chicago Booth. After many years in Brazil, she recently relocated to London.

Brian’s international career stands at the intersection of entrepreneurship and management consulting. He has spent over a decade leading at a global consultancy: launching and managing a corporate finance practice in Southeast Asia and a financial institution practice in the US, helping C-suite executives at the most complex companies embrace, invest in, and integrate emerging technologies.

As an early-stage tech investor and a venture partner of AngelHub, Brian enjoys mentoring and judging at various startup competitions. He has shared his favorite topic “what’s missing in your perfect pitch?” with 1,000+ founders, intrapreneurs, and university students. The annual BóLè Forum, which Brian organizes, is attended by 200+ angel investors, VCs and family offices.

Brian holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He serves on the leadership committees of the UChicago Alumni Club, Chicago Booth Alumni Club, and Chicago Economics Society, in Hong Kong. He is also a business advisor to Junior Achievement Hong Kong.

Gaurav Gulati is the Head and Chief Investment Officer of Aroa Ventures, a fund which invests in growth-stage businesses in the consumer, technology, and leisure infrastructure sectors. Gaurav is also the Founder and Managing Partner of ScaleX Partners, an early stage investment and startup advisory firm. Gaurav’s entrepreneurial journey started in 2010 and over the past decade he has been involved in various startups in India. He was part of the founding team and COO of Innov8 Coworking which in 2019 was sold to OYO Hotels & Homes. Prior to Innov8 he Co-Founded Purist, a corporate food services company, which in 2018 was sold to Cure.Fit.

Gaurav has spent his formative years living in the United States, Argentina, Czech Republic, Malaysia, and India. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in Chicago and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

As Director of Education, Prachi heads the foundation’s India education portfolio, which focuses on large scale school system transformation and high quality education service providers.

Prachi is on the board of several for-profit education companies and advisory committees to state governments and education departments. She is passionate about the area of data driven education and has spearheaded the foundation’s work in multiple ways, including: incubating service providers, creating role model states and embedding student learning based accountability in all portfolio companies.

Before joining the foundation, Prachi worked at Boston Consulting Group in Gurgaon, India and in the telecommunications sector at Qualcomm and Motorola. Prachi has over 15 years of diverse set of operational and leadership experience in India and US.

Prachi has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, a master’s degree from University of Southern California, Los Angeles and MBA from the University of Chicago.