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The Resource Center has all the info you'll need From content to user feedback, the resource center has the information you need for every level of the entrepreneurial process.
Katie Rodan, co-founder of Proactiv Solution talks about her personal journey from a resident in the medical school program to an entrepreneur. She shares the trials and tribulations of her experience in the creation of Proactiv, a globally recognized skin care product.
As leader of the Innovent team, Stephanie Keller-Bottom draws upon over 17 years of of executive leadership roles in creating new marketplaces for Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett Packard, Citibank/Citicorp and Visa. Ms. Keller-Bottom joined Nokia's venturing organization in 1998, the entity charged with corporate renewal and innovation. In 2000, she established Innovent, the entrepreneurial innovation unit within Nokia that explores emerging markets and the opportunities they create. Prior to joining Nokia, Ms. Keller-Bottom served as Director of Marketplace Creation for Hewlett Packard, where she worked closely with the CEO to utilize innovative approaches in partnership and collaboration and build market entry strategies for emergent businesses. During her tenure as Director of Consumer Credit Operations for Citibank/Citicorp, she managed consumer credit operations for the California franchise, and then moved into strategic acquisitions and corporate strategy. While Vice President, E-Commerce Marketing and Product Development for Visa U.S.A., Ms. Keller-Bottom collaborated with top U.S. financial institutions to build strategic plans that addressed the emergence of the electronic banking marketplace, and digital banking challenges such as risk management and identification, pricing models, digital authentication and identity. Ms. Keller-Bottom's solid understanding of e-commerce, consumer behavior, digital/electronic marketplaces, and financial services provides a unique and invaluable perspective into the potential diffusion of new technologies and applications in the marketplace, and the role of innovation and renewal in major corporations. Innovent's portfolio of entrepreneurs leverage her expertise in strategic planning, risk management and market research, to develop the strategies and tactics necessary to build profitable, customer-focused sales and service organizations Ms. K
Stephanie Keller-Bottom, Director of Nokia Innovent, shares experiences and lessons learned in founding Innovent, Nokia's entrepreneurial innovation unit that explores emerging markets and the opportunities they create.
Richard Jarman sees entrepreneurship as the backbone of the American economy, and he's doing his part to help by mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
Joel Peterson, founder of Peterson Partners, discusses the secret to successful negotiations. He reminds us that negotiation is how one navigates their way through life, and in order to have successful negotiations, people must be empowered, have high character, and confidence. Peterson draws from his experience as CEO of one of the world's largest real estate development firms and most recently founded Peterson Partners- an equity fund in search of talented and visionary CEOs.
Gil Penchina recently agreed to become CEO of Wikia, a start-up founded by Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia. Wikia is a community site built on open-source software that allows anyone to contribute to guides on subjects as diverse as star trek, pet diabetes and travel guides. Wikia operates under the GFDL Free content license and is positioned to become the first sustainable business built around the vision of free content. Prior to Wikia, Mr. Penchina was an 8-year veteran of eBay. Mr. Penchina worked in Europe, directing eBay's presence in Southern Europe, and oversaw the company's expansion efforts in Eastern Europe. Previously he was responsible for launching sites in Hong Kong and Singapore, and for the company's entry into India. Mr. Penchina also played a role in eBay's entry into South Korea and China. Mr. Penchina came to eBay in 1998, first working in business development and then running the mergers and acquisitions department. In 2001 he was named vice president of business development where he built business and marketing relationships for eBay with a number of the top brands in the U.S.A including Microsoft, AOL, Disney and Yahoo. Mr. Penchina began his career at General Electric in 1991, first in manufacturing and later in marketing on GE's corporate staff. He has worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co and an Internet entrepreneur, creating a content, commerce and community vertical for business travelers. An active angel investor, he has investments or advisory roles with many internet startups including: Linkedin, Flock, Wink, Vamoose, Become, Feedster, Koders, Voicestar, Reify and Betzip. A native of Amherst, Massachusetts, he holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Courtesy of Wikia
This veteran entrepreneur and longtime AOL executive explains how "interdisciplinary thinking" continues to shape his approach to succeeding as an entrepreneur and in his overall professional and personal lives.
An international expert in agricultural biotechnology and biopesticide science and business, Pam Marrone, Ph.D., is founder and former Chairman/CEO of AgraQuest Inc. which she established in Davis, CA in 1995. She recently left AgraQuest to start Marrone Organic Innovations, Inc. which is focused on finding solutions to unmet market needs, especially weed control for organic farmers. AgraQuest researches, develops and markets environmentally friendly, natural products for farm, home and public health pest management. Marrone's interest in this area began as a child, blossomed into a Ph.D. in entomology, and took flight in 1983 when she became head of the Insect Biology group for Monsanto Agricultural Co. In 1990, Marrone became president of Entotech, a Davis-based biopesticide subsidiary of Danish company Novo Nordisk. She launched AgraQuest after Entotech was sold to Abbott Laboratories. AgraQuest discovered Serenade, for controlling diseases of fruits and vegetables, and began selling the biofungicide in late 2000. Marrone and AgraQuest won the 2003 Presidential Green Chemistry award (small business) for the discovery and commercialization of Serenade and a 2004 Red Herring Top 100 company award. The company also has several other products either in development or on the market. Marrone has raised more than $50 million through private equity investments to fund AgraQuest's operations. Amid the post-September 11 stock market sell-off, Marrone postponed the company's initial public offering until the window opens again for new biotech investments. Marrone received a BS in entomology from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Courtesy of Hoover Institution
Pam Marrone, founder of AgraQuest, relates the challenges and rewards she experienced in building a successful biotechnology company that specializes in ecologically friendly agricultural products.
Marissa leads the product management efforts on Google's search products- web search, images, groups, news, Froogle, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Labs, and more. She joined Google in 1999 as Google's first female engineer and led the user interface and webserver teams at that time. Her efforts have included designing and developing Google's search interface, internationalizing the site to more than 100 languages, defining Google News, Gmail, and Orkut, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com. Several patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design. In her spare time, Marissa also organizes Google Movies- outings a few times a year to see the latest blockbusters- for 6,000+ people (employees plus family members and friends). Concurrently with her full-time work at Google, Marissa has taught introductory computer programming classes at Stanford to over 3,000 students. Stanford has recognized her with the Centennial Teaching Award and the Forsythe Award for her outstanding contribution to undergraduate education. Prior to joining Google, Marissa worked at the UBS research lab (Ubilab) in Zurich, Switzerland and at SRI International in Menlo Park, California. Graduating with honors, Marissa received her BS in Symbolic Systems and her MS in Computer Science from Stanford University. For both degrees, she specialized in artificial intelligence. Courtesy of Google, Bart Nagel
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