Business Rockstars

Heather Holst-Knudsen, a New York City native and now resident of Sarasota, FL, is the CEO & Founder of KidBacker, a virtual innovation hub that enables student business enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to learn how to start, fund and run a business starting from idea all the way to prototype, company funding and go-to-market strategies, anytime anywhere. An avid entrepreneur and intrapreneur, Holst-Knudsen has founded and led multiple business units for large organizations. She is founder and former President of Manufacturing Enterprise Communications, a B2B media platform that connects CXOs in manufacturing with senior level leaders in technology around the world. Manufacturing Enterprise Communications was sold to Frost & Sullivan in August 2012. Prior to Manufacturing Enterprise Communications, Heather was President of Managing Automation Media and TechMatch Solutions, all divisions of Thomas Publishing Company in New York, City. Holst-Knudsen is a trusted advisor to many top manufacturing and techno

Jesse Itzler only eats fruit until noon, loves Run-D.M.C., and enjoys living life “out of the box," actually, he doesn't even have a box. He cofounded Marquis Jet, the world’s largest prepaid private jet card company in 2001, which he and his partner sold to Berkshire Hathaway/NetJets. He then partnered with Zico coconut water, which they sold to The Coca-Cola Company in 2013. He is a former rapper on MTV and he produced and sang both the NBA’s Emmy Award-winning “I Love This Game” music campaign and the popular New York Knicks anthem “Go NY Go.” When he is not out training for his next 100 mile run or being a dad to his four kids, Jesse can be found at the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games, where he is an owner of the team. He is married to Spanx founder Sara Blakely and the couple and their 4 children live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Beers, a former producer and executive with Turner Broadcasting and Paramount Syndicated Television, has produced more than 40 television series since the mid-1990s, most under the banner of his own production company formed in 1999, Original Productions, for which he serves as CEO and Executive Producer. Beers produces some of the shows on the Discovery Channel family of networks, including Deadliest Catch (for which he received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007), Lobster Wars, Monster Garage, Monster House, and Plastic Surgery: Before and After. He is the former chairman & CEO of FremantleMedia's US division, FremantleMedia North America.Also, he narrates for the show America's Port, narrates and is an executive producer for Wild Justice both on the National Geographic Channel, the pilot episodes of 1,000 Ways to Die on Spike, Pitchmen, and The Colony on the Discovery Channel. Beers was also the supervising producer for the cartoon Captain Planet and the Planeteers on TBS from 1990-1991 for 26 episodes.

Tracing its origins to the year 1960, when the Porto family made the tough decision to leave their home in Manzanillo, Cuba. After living through the drastic changes that were taking place around them, they requested permission to leave the country. Immediately Raul Sr. was terminated from his job and sent away to manual labor for the duration of the wait period. Wife, Rosa Porto was also let go. Knowing that it may take years to be able to leave the country, Rosa found herself alone and having to find a means to support her three children Betty, Raul Jr., and Margarita.Rosa, always a talented cake maker, with a passion for baking, entrenched herself in perfecting her recipes and began selling her delicious cakes to friends and neighbors not realizing that she was also building herself a loyal customer base.Porto’s Bakery & Café now serves thousands of customers and employs hundreds of team members in Southern California, with a store in Glendale, a store in Burbank, and a third in the city of Downey.

Back to the Roots was founded in 2009 by college seniors Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora after discovering how to grow gourmet mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. Since then, Back to the Roots has evolved from urban mushroom farming to a thriving business on a mission to undo food and reconnect families to it through fun, innovative, and delicious Ready to Grow and Ready to Eat products (Organic Mushroom Farm, Water Garden, Garden-in-a-Can, Organic Stoneground Flakes, Organic Breakfast Toppers, and Organic Stoneground Crisps). Back to the Roots currently sells its products in over 14,000 stores worldwide, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Costco, The Home Depot, Nordstrom, Petco, Cost Plus World Market, Loblaw, Giant Eagle, Wegmans, The Fresh Market, Crate & Barrel, Urban Outfitters, Safeway, and Kroger.

- Easy to set-up and get real-time customer or employee feedback in seconds.- Reward customers for higher feedback responses, drive loyalty and generate additional sales.- Works anytime, anywhere and on any device.- Change questions ‘on the fly’ to respond to live feedback and see the data as it come in.- 83% average response rate by using mobile devices at ‘Point of Experience’.- Grow your business and reduce costs with important feedback whilst listening to the people important to you. - Anonymous feedback (unless you decide otherwise).- No need to buy expensive databases to reach new customers through our ‘rewards near you’ function.

Recent Pepperdine MBA Graduate - Osei Gyamfi, is the Founder and CEO of ChillHound.com, a party planning & group funding platform built for the sole purposes of simplifying and managing group event logistics all in one place. The project started as a result of many failed attempts of trying to gather friends for group events that required advanced payment or that required people to commit to potluck items. Osei knew that there had to be a better way to organize these event without taking the fun out of them due to the frustrations of planning. Him and his friends searched high and low for a platform that catered to their needs; however, the existing platforms fell short, and from there ChillHound was born. They've received seed funding, and are looking forward to their series A within the coming year. With over 3,000 users and a new beta on the way, they have a bright future ahead of them

The Grove Ecosystem is an intelligent indoor garden that enables people to grow fresh, flavorful, and healthy food year-round. Plant and Cultivate Plant your first seeds and establish your Ecosystem. Our app, Grove OS, connects to your Ecosystem to monitor and guide your growing experience. Harvest and EnjoyNaturally and sustainably grown. Grove to table is as fresh as it gets. The Grove Ecosystem learns with you, collecting data and optimizing for flavor, freshness, and yield. Intelligent and ecologically sound, it's designed to look beautiful in a home, restaurant, office, or school.Gabe Blanchet is the Co-Founder & CEO of Grove. Gabe believes that inspiring and educating people to have fun growing their own food is a powerful way to promote healthy food choices for people individually and for our planet as a whole. Gabe holds an MIT engineering degree, is a member of Forbes 30 under 30 and the Kairos 50, and previously led business development and customer learning at Boston startup GrabCAD (acquired i

Tiara Cameron is founder and CEO of Women's Protein, an organization dedicated to empowering women to embrace a lifestyle of building stronger bodies and body images, instead of depleting themselves to fit imaginary ideals. The daughter of a university professor, and one of the eldest in a family of seven children, she learned the value of building a strong body in her years of athletics and ballroom dancing. As a single mother of three exceptional children. Her message of Emancipation, not Emaciation has helped women recover from eating disorders, discover their inner athletes, and free themselves from harmful self-images that keep them from actively participating in the world. She is a corporate wellness consultant and a published author. She works with both male and female athletes who need to re-train after injuries, and focuses on a formula of building lean body strength to help them recover. Cameron is also a Director of Footsteps for Africa, an organization that builds schools and provides clothing for

Deke Copenhaver is the recent three time mayor of Augusta Georgia, where he united races and political parties by improving the quality of life for everyone. Deke currently heads his consulting company, serves as Chairman of the Board of the Augusta Warrior project and received the Commanders Award for Public Service from the Department of the Army. Deke was named by Southern Living Magazine as a “Hero of the New South” and became the first U.S. mayor to complete all three legs of an officially sanctioned Ironman.

Film and television actor and personality Dallas Page has been entertaining millions of fans for over 20 years. The athletic, 52 year-old Page knew at an early age that he was born to entertain. His grandmother called him “energetic”—truly an understatement. Whether it was barreling through his grandma’s kitchen on his tricycle, swinging from chandeliers at the babysitter’s house, or cannonballs at neighborhood pool parties, Page knew how to grab an audience and have them eat out of the palm of his hand.In addition to acting, Page is the co-developer of DDP YOGA, a revolutionary fitness program that takes the principles of yoga and supercharges them with old school calisthenics, core stability training and isometric and Dynamic resistance training to give an intense, complete body workout. Page also conducts inspirational seminars in the corporate and educational environment, guiding audiences through branding and goal-setting using his own formulas and self-taught techniques. Page regularly visits the troops

We believe - that anyone can help spark and shape technology competitions that change the course of humankind. From simple products that make life better to large scale human challenges.Genius - We view genius as the unique backgrounds and experiences we all have. These experiences cause us to look at the world differently and that is exactly where innovation comes from. Right now you may have the answer to a challenge that you don’t even know exists.HiddenGenius is really about three things: Visibility, Visibility, VisibilityVisibility - for people with real technology challenges and how their lives might be improved. Some might be orphaned challenges that currently have little public attention.Visibility - for entrepreneurs and technologist to address challenges they didn’t even know about, maybe from a completely different industry.Visibility - to provide resources (capital and human talent) for innovators to address these challenges.

The Underdog of Silicon Valley, Misa Chien is the Co-founder and CEO of Fosubo, which stands for ‘forget the suggestion box’, and provides real time customer feedback in an insightful manner. Still in it’s infancy, Fosubo is now in almost 1000 telecom stores and is currently surveying over 2 million customers/year. A former model and serial entrepreneur, Fosubo is Misa’s third start-up venture. Previously Misa founded a jewelry making business and a wildly successful L.A. based food truck, Nom Nom truck. Her food truck was runner up on the Food Network’s ‘The Great Food Truck Race’ season 1, and received tons of buzz in many mainstream publications, including the New York Times and Forbes Magazine. Misa has an incredibly diverse background, and is exceptionally well traveled. She has a degree in French and Global Studies from UCLA, and had the opportunity to work in many exotic locations such as Bangkok, Budapest and Hong Kong during her long-term modeling career.

Paul Hibler sees restaurants as so much more than food on a plate. Instead, he has made a career out of creating community-focused gathering places. From ingredients to chefs, service, décor, and ambiance, Hibler conceptualizes comfortable, but unforgettable dining experiences. Nearly 25 years ago, Hibler started his food service career as co-founder of Deluxe Catering with business partner, David Sanfield. With a home base in Los Angeles, their company was focused on feeding motion picture crews. They catered meals for over 300 film sets around the world, with heavy hitters like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron eating their food during takes. When Deluxe Catering launched its private event division in 1994, A-list clientele like Bill Clinton were instantly hooked. Soon after launching their private event business, Hibler began exploring his interest in making pizza and set his sights on opening a casual eatery. Together with Sanfield, they launched Pitfire Pizza in North Hollywood in 1997. Hibler wanted to

Born and raised in California while spending winters and summers with his family in Hawai'i, Ryan Emmons gained an incredible appreciation for the environment and the active lifestyle these unique places offer. This, and his longstanding charitable efforts in Africa, led him to begin developing the concept for Waiākea Hawaiian Volcanic Water after discovering his Hawaiian family had access to one of the most naturally healthy, pure, and sustainable water sources in the world.Emmons graduated early to launch Waiākea and its unique triple bottom line platform into what it is today- one of the fastest growing beverage companies, and the fastest growing premium bottled water, in the United States. Emmons was selected as a Bridge Entrepreneur by SVN (Social Venture Network) in early 2014 for Waiākea 's initiatives and groundbreaking social platform. He remains committed to Waiākea's vision to sustainably provide healthy, delicious, Hawaiian Volcanic Water, while contributing to and promoting clean water access to

The name - 8 - The number between 7 & 9. The atomic number of Oxygen. A lucky or holy number in Asia. More importantly, it's the number of packages of made-to-measure clothing you’ll receive in a year. 2 packages per quarter.o·ma·ka·se - Walk into a nice sushi restaurant, push aside the menu and say “Omakase.” You just told the chef “I trust you, do what you do best.” He’ll serve you his signature dishes, only the freshest cuts and maybe even a special surprise, all in thoughtful sequence. It’s the perfect service experience. 8/o has brought this same service to men’s fashion.

Colorado native Ross Marquand received his BFA in Theatre from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Los Angeles and quickly garnered attention in several film and television projects. Before Marquand's breakout role on The Walking Dead, he portrayed screen legendPaul Newman on AMC's Mad Men.Also an accomplished voiceover actor, Ross has lent his unique vocal talents to countless productions such as Phineas & Ferb, Conan, and video games like Battlefield Hardline. He is especially renowned for impersonating a plethora of celebrities including Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Matthew McConaughey and over 50 others. This expertise led to a starring and producing role on Pop TV's Impress Me, helmed by Ben Shelton and Rainn Wilson.

We created DigiPuppets to spread joy, love and learning to the mobile generation.The mobile device is officially the most popular kids toy - more than dolls, action figures, arts & crafts, blocks and all other play types. We created DigiPuppets to harness this opportunity to use the mobile device as a force for good. How? By creating an engaging, educational, socially-conscious character brand and play experience specifically designed for mobile.DigiPuppets was conveived in 2013 in an Innovation class at the Wharton School by MBA students Brendan Green, Dan Clay and Matt Newcomb. Since then, we've assembled a passionate team of illustrators, animators and storywriters; an experienced team of teachers and childhood development experts; talented designers, videographers and marketers; and best-in-class supply chain and manufacturing partners.

Emily Chalk is Founder and Senior Managing Partner at East of Ellie, a Stamford, Connecticut based events agency. After spending more than 6 years as global brand manager for Westin Hotels & Resorts, she realized her passion for events and started East of Ellie, an events company. She now thrives on creating unique and personal experiences that help her clients build their brands. In just the past five years, Emily has planned events for major clients including Bvlgari Parfums, Nestle Waters North America, the MDG Awards, and the Jack Brewer Foundation – to name a few. As an accomplished young industry professional, she’s received two 40 Under 40 Awards, and has been published in YFS Magazine, BizBash, Business Rockstars and more.

Appetize's Co-Founder and VP of Biz Dev, Kevin Anderson, met his two Co-Founders while in Jr. High in Los Angeles, but it wasn't until a Laker game in 2011 where the three reconnected that Appetize was started. Seeing an inefficient way of getting product in-seat and bonding over their passion for sports and music, Appetize was born. Today, the company boasts 60 employees and 350 entertainment, education and leisure properties served, in addition to 4 core enterprise POS products and it's original consumer facing app. Anderson leads strategy, fundraising and partnerships for the company. A lover of golf, Kevin's background in beverage distribution and sales has been a natural compliment to his Co-Founders' experiences in operations and tech.