Ramin Abrishamian's professional experience spans all aspects of the technology commercialization cycle, having held every key position in this cycle from the inventor to the investor. As a Founder and/or CEO he has been responsible for the commercialization of nine technologies. 

Currently Ramin is a Co-Founder and President of Artatech, Inc., a company with a number of innovative devices and systems for encouraging increased physical activity and healthier eating. Ramin is also a Co-Founder of Benevolent Technologies for Health (BeTH), an MIT start-up, with a technology for an innovative prosthesis system. He was the Founder and CEO of EnvaPower, an innovative company offering market intelligence to electricity market participants through analysis and modeling of large data sets. 

He has served on the Boards of four privately and publicly held companies as well as two non-profit organizations. He is a co-inventor on five pending or issued patents. He has a B.Sc. degree with honors from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland and an MS from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, both in Chemical Engineering.

Vafa Akhavan has an extensive background as a global executive and management consultant. He currently serves as the Chief Executive of the World Pediatric Project, a non-profit focused on tertiary pediatric healthcare.

He previously served as President and CEO of The Forum Corporation, a global consulting firm based in Boston specializing in leadership, sales, and customer experience development. Previously Vafa was Vice President Global Customer Operations at McGraw Hill’s Information & Media, a $1.2bil segment. Prior, he led the global consulting business of J.D. Power and Associates in the non-automotive verticals.

Vafa has worked with F500 clients around the world covering 7 sectors, 16 countries across 3 continents including Wells Fargo, T-Mobile, Mazda, SunTrust, VW, LAX, Alaska Airlines, Barclays, Comcast, Standard & Poor's, Chrysler, Telecom Italia, BMW, Ricoh, TD Ameritrade, Xerox, CapitalOne, Oracle and MetLife. 

Vafa is a senior faculty member at the Schulich Executive Education Center, Schulich Business School, York University, in Toronto, Canada.  He serves on the Board of Children Believe, a global non-profit focused on the health and education of children in underserved countries.  He also serves on the Audit & Risk as well as the Governance & HR committees of the Board.  Vafa has also been a contributing writer to Canada’s Globe & Mail.

vafa@nuebridge.com 

Dan has served as Chief of Staff with McGraw Hill Education. He was previously COO of PRIMEDIA Consumer Magazines and President of PRIMEDIA Internet. He has held senior management positions with MTV Networks and GMG Publishing, and he was a Partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton (now Booz & Co), where he worked for over 10 years. 

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing/Industrial engineering from Rutgers University School of Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Rutgers University’s Rutgers College. He also was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School. Dan is currently a Trustee with the Direct Marketing Education Foundation. 

Tom is an executive and senior management consultant specializing in organizational and process improvement driven by Voice of the Customer data and key stakeholder perspectives. In 20 plus years, across a wide range of industries, Tom has built a significant experience base and tool set to draw from, consistently leading clients to sustained top and bottom line results. 

Tom is currently Vice President of Operational at World Pediatric Project, a non-profit focused tertiary pediatric healthcare.  Most recently, Tom led the solutions team of Global Customer Operations organization for The McGraw-Hill Companies. Projects there led to world class metrics for the global contact center that supports complex B2B products from multiple lines of businesses. He also served as the primary advisor to the President of McGraw-Hill Construction on all matters related to customer care, sales support, back office systems and organizational customer centricity. 

Previously, Tom worked with J. D. Power and Associates for 15 years in their Voice of the Customer consulting practice helping global companies translate their customer feedback and data into actions that improved revenue, loyalty, costs and overall customer experience. 

With General Physics Corporation, Tom led the establishment of multi-year, multi-million dollar strategic partnerships with two Fortune 500 companies including full P&L responsibility to $20M+ 150+ person operation, creating the company’s most significant long-term accounts. 

Tom holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marine Engineering from the United States Naval Academy, served as a submarine officer in the United States Navy and is a retired Commander. 

tom@nuebridge.com

Doug has 42 years of experience in the insurance industry having served in senior executive positions with AEGON, AIG Life Insurance, Sun Life Financial, and Aetna.  An actuary by training and background, Doug moved into general management when he became the head of Asia operations for Aetna in 1987.  At various times in his career, he has been on the Board of Directors and/or had direct responsibility for company operations in twenty countries on five continents.

Notwithstanding his financial background, Doug’s work with start-up and turnaround operations has focused on building strategies and high performance teams.  Most recently his six-year stint with AEGON culminated in a comprehensive digital-based strategy for disrupting the staid life insurance marketplace in Asia.  AEGON's India life operations, for example, from which Doug recently stepped down as Chairman of the Board, have had top awards for digital prowess for all four years of the award’s existence.

Doug is currently Chairman of Asia Corporate Governance Association and has previously served as Chairman and CEO of Aegon Asia, Chief Financial Officer of the Baha’i World Center, President of Sun Life Financial Asia, and Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong.

Beth is a seasoned marketing executive who has achieved considerable success by placing the customer at the center of the business enterprise.  She led marketing worldwide for Kaplan Inc., the $2 billion diversified education company operating in over 200 countries.  She was charged with building a premium global brand and advancing Kaplan’s digital and customer experience capabilities.  Hirschhorn was a member of Kaplan’s Executive Team and served on the Investment and Capital Allocation Committees. 

Prior to joining Kaplan, Hirschhorn was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of MetLife, Inc. and a member of its executive group. She led several major initiatives for the company that dramatically improved the customer experience and strengthened MetLife’s reach and market share.  These included a reinvention of the life insurance buying experience with a patent-pending underwriting process and expanded web and phone distribution, as well as a multi-year transformation of MetLife’s marketing mix from traditional channels to industry-leading digital, sports and entertainment marketing.  Hallmarks of this include the acquisition of naming rights for MetLife Stadium - home to SuperBowl XLVIII – as well as the reinvigoration and expansion of MetLife’s advertising and blimp marketing programs internationally. 

At JPMorgan Chase, Hirschhorn was the Senior Vice President leading its consumer financial services marketing unit.  Her P&L responsibilities encompassed all fee and net interest income generated by the retail product portfolio.  She established a new product development function and re-vamped pricing and rate setting activities in managing the bank’s $60 billion deposit portfolio and proprietary money market funds.

Beth has served on the board of Maestro International, the online debit network owned by MasterCard.  She served as an Advisory Board member at the Wharton School’s Pension Research Council.  She also served as a Director and Chairperson of LL Global, the parent of insurance industry trade groups LIMRA International and LOMA.   

Rajesh Jolly is a global business executive with expertise in creatively solving complex problems in diverse industries. As a progressive leader with an exceptional blend of operational, marketing, finance and human resources skills, Rajesh has been a senior c-suite executive at some of America’s business icons.

An experienced leader in domestic and international markets, Rajesh has a proven track record of achieving sustainable results in emerging markets including China, India, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in North America and Europe. He is an acknowledged leader with an excellent mix of strategic and operational skills and is adept at developing high performing teams and building strong global businesses. 

Rajesh was CEO and Executive Advisor with Friendly Franchisees Corporation, a $250 million multi-brand franchise organization with established brands Carl’s, Jr., Denny’s, and Papa John’s. Earlier, he was SVP of Operations with Regus Group, a $1.1 billion global provider of outsourced workplace solutions; President International at FedEx Kinko’s; Vice President of North American Operations at Budget Rent-a-Car; Vice President of Asia/Pacific at Wendy’s International; President and CEO at Pancho’s and Regional Vice President at Pepsi Co.

Rajesh has an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Memphis and a degree in Accounting and Economics from the University at Bombay. He was a fellow of the National Institute of Bank Management in Bombay and completed a Pacific Rim Management Program at the University of Southern California.

Nancy May is President and CEO of The BoardBench Companies, a corporate governance advisory and director succession services firm. She has over 25 years experience as a strategic advisor to high-growth, mid-cap and Global 100 public and private companies and their boards worldwide on issues impacting financial health, rapid growth and corporate sustainability. Nancy has worked with some of the most recognized global institutions, public and private companies and investment firms in such industries as automotive, banking, insurance, chemical, energy, natural resources, technology, healthcare, consumer goods, education, financial services, industrial manufacturing, media, communications, bio-tech, communications and more.

Early in her career, Nancy was known for her work in emerging technologies where she developed and implemented advanced business, marketing and consumer applications for such clients as Burger King, CitiBank, CocaCola, Ford Motor, Kodak and others. 

In addition, Nancy is known for her work in support of diversity initiatives. She has been honored by the SBA for her support of women as Women's Business Advocate of the Year, and she was invited to meet President Clinton as one of the nation's top business leaders. In addition, she has served on the boards of a number of private and not-for-profit corporations and actively supports international organizations including the International Women’s Forum, Economic Club of New York, the Financial Women's Association, HR People & Strategy, the World Affairs Forum, Economic Ventures and others. 

Nancy has been a guest lecturer and presenter for numerous business and professional organizations, including the Baltic Institute of Corporate Governance, George Washington University, Financial Executive Institute, The Conference Board, National Geographic Films and numerous well known college and university graduate programs. 

 

Hilary Potts is a business executive and global management consultant with an expertise in transforming and growing businesses and leaders. She advises executives across many sectors including CPG, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and financial services. She is recognized by colleagues and clients for her ability to quickly size up the business, people and the environment and create strategies and plans to turn delicate, complex situations into non-events. She advises executives on how to best deploy changes, from identifying the best practices for successful merger integrations to deploying new strategies to crafting executive onboarding plans. 

Prior to joining NueBridge, Hilary served as President and CEO at CLG (Continuous Learning Group), a global leader of behavior-based performance management consulting. Additionally, she was on CLG’s board for eight years. During her fifteen year career at Union Carbide, she held various sales and marketing positions across the Fortune 500 Company, including leading the Polyethylene Film business. Hilary earned her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University. 

Author of : The Executive Transition Playbook: Strategies for Starting Strong, Staying Focused, and Succeeding in Your New Leadership Role

Derrick served as President of Greater Asia for Colgate-Palmolive, a $17billion global consumer products company. His 29 years of operational excellence spreads across Africa, South Pacific, South Asia, Eurasia, ASEAN and China. Additionally, based in the US, Derrick led the Global Supply Chain and Global R&D for Colgate over 4 years, embarking on significant change. He has strong expertise in management, international strategy especially in emerging markets, corporate governance, M&A, brand marketing and crucial development and resourcing of top talent. 

Derrick has served on the boards of several industry associations straddling manufacturing, personal care and advertising in Australia and India. He was also Chairman of Colgate-Palmolive, India (a public company). He is an Electrical Engineer and has a Masters in Management Science from the University of Stirling Scotland. 

David is a C-suite general management and finance executive in predominantly privately held or state controlled companies. He has extensive experience in North/Central America, Europe (all – including the Western Balkans), as well as the Middle East and South-East Asia. He was CFO International for a privately held diversified group in Minneapolis, VP and CFO for an Olympia and York group company in Toronto and Exec VP for a Monaco-owned diversified services company in Canada. 

More recently, he has been Exec VP and Deputy CEO, as well as Director of International Operations in East European companies. He returned an Indian manufacturing company to stable operations after years of losses, restructured a Malaysian manufacturing company, completed P/E financing in an East European company and directed divestiture of US assets for a Canadian company – divesting sole shareholder realized in excess $120mm. He has completed start-up venture financing in a J/V Portuguese manufacturing company and completed IPOs and LBOs in New York and Toronto. 

David participates regularly in Corporate Social Responsibility, Civil Voice in Society, PPP and Anti-Corruption panels, round-tables and conferences. He is an advocate for, and supporter of, responsible and ethical business practices. David attended McGill University, is a Management Accountant and a member of the Planning Executives Institute.