Officers 2009 - 2010

 

Paul Danielson - President

 

Paul is a first year MBA student at The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. His vision for the EVC includes expanding membership to the CMU community to encourage a collaborative environment for students to share and develop their diverse ideas, innovations, and technologies. Paul's passion for start-ups led him to Tepper where he plans to concentrate on marketing and entrepreneurship. Prior to Tepper, Paul spent the last eight years playing professional golf in the United States and Canada. He holds a BS in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and is a current Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow. Paul holds additional leadership positions in clubs such as Net Impact where he is a member of the Pro Bono Consulting Initiative Executive Committee and the Golf Club where he is the incoming VP of Strategic Planning. He also volunteers as an assistant coach at the First Tee of Pittsburgh.

 

 

 

 

Jordan Garbis - VP, Business Development

 

Jordan Garbis is an entrepreneur and media content strategist focused on innovation in the media, entertainment and technology industries. He is the founder of Haystack Media, a venture funded music social network and digital music distribution and licensing company and most recently served as the Entrepreneur-In-Residence advising media investments at Tipping Point Partners, a New York City technology incubator. Jordan has won numerous accolades for his contribution to technology in the

entertainment industry including speaking engagements with Wharton Business School, Syracuse University and Digital Hollywood. Additionally, Jordan was honored in 2008 with the Young Gun award, presented to the most promising young person in the media and technology strategy field in New York City. Jordan currently serves as a representative to AlphaLab, a division of Innovation Works, a Pittsburgh area venture capital firm and is an MBA candidate and Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.  Jordan holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture and Society from Emory University.

 

 

 

Mona Abdel-Halim - VP, Social Initiatives

 

Mona Abdel-Halim is a Forté Fellow, Consortium Fellow and Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a scientist at a government contractor and was a board director of a women's professional non-profit in Austin, TX. At CMU, she is currently part of a research group studying the best practices of social enterprises. As a dual degree candidate, Mona will be graduating with her MBA and MS Public Policy & Management in August 2010 with a concentration in social entrepreneurship. Mona's long-term goal is to pursue a career in international development.

 

 

 

 

Christian Witt - VP, Competitions/Campus Collaboration

 

Christian Witt is an entrepreneur and product development specialist with over 8 years running internal entrepreneurial endeavors within Fortune 500 companies such as Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, and Northrop Grumman as well as several startups. An enthusiastic and innovative problem solver, Christian has applied his skills to fields ranging from semiconductor devices, internet applications, custom software, and custom hardware. At Boeing, Christian is credited with transitioning a $6MM patent portfolio into several developed next-generation military vehicles. The development of one of these technologies, a wire detection system for helicopters, led to the acquisition of a $12 Billion contract from the US Government in 2005. Following this success, Christian was named program manager of a new Boeing initiative and led his team to receive a $25MM grant in 2007 to invest in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. Christian is currently a founding Managing Director of Beyond Lucid Technologies which specializes in high-tech products for treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) and other sleep disorders.

 

 

Prathib Skandakumaran - VP, Apprenticeship

Prathib Skandakumaran is an MBA student at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. While at Tepper, he has been active with the angel investment group BlueTree Capital Group where he performs due-diligence and manages deal flow for various early-stage companies. Prior to business school, Prathib was an R&D scientist at the carbon and graphite materials company GrafTech International. Prathib also has startup experience at the voice-over-IP company VxTel Inc., which was acquired by Intel Corp. He holds a BS in Bioengineering from University of California, Berkeley and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona. In addition, Prathib holds 4 issued US patents and 2 pending US patents in the area of advanced materials and heat transfer.

 

 

 

Nick Desimone - VP, Finance

 

Gary Gardiner - VP, Marketing

Gary Gardiner is an aspiring entrepreneur with a love for technology (always and forever) and interactive social entertainment. He is an avid dreamer and has used his dreams to drive him in the acquisition of numerous skills and experiences. For instance, he has written and hosted numerous murder mystery dinner group parties, launched an online business to market his party hosting kits, designed full-immersion simulators for group entertainment, and published two indie video games. He's a designer, artist, and engineer in an MBA student's body. Concurrent with his studies at Tepper, he works at Idea Foundry helping numerous Pittsburgh startups strengthen and grow their businesses. Gary's special powers include talking with animals and getting things done by making them fun.

 Aaron Todaro - VP, Communications and Flex-time

Aaron has developed considerable experience in new business creation, long term strategic planning, and managing people with technology during his career. For the past year, while pursuing his MBA, he has worked with three significantly different start-up companies, evaluating their current marketing and financial situations and designing long-term strategies to guide them in a direction for continued growth.

Prior to entering graduate school in 2007, Aaron worked as an Information Technology Manager at Carnegie Mellon University. For this position, he was responsible for the continuous monitoring of emerging technologies, assessing and evaluating current high-tech trends, and overseeing part of the IT infrastructure. While at CMU, Aaron developed a diverse network of professors, alumni, and researchers.

Currently, Aaron is a partner at RedMaple Growth Partners, LLC. He is seeking to acquire and operate a small to mid-sized Western Pennsylvania based manufacturing or business services company with revenues between $5 and  $15 million. Post-acquisition our focus is to organically grow sales and position the acquired company for strategic acquisition within 5 years.

Bill McIntosh - VP, Technology

Bill is the founder and co-owner of a startup company, Synergy Media Group, LLC. Synergy is an audiovisual design and installation company located in Pittsburgh, PA and has acquired a large number of customers in the Pittsburgh area including Ariba, the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and the Holiday Inn. Bill plans to expand Synergy's business model both in Pittsburgh and addition cities upon graduation.

Additionally, Bill is also employed as the Director of Technology for the MSCF program. In this position, he is responsible for all MSCF technology in Pittsburgh and their branch campus in New York City.

Lastly, Bill recently created TreeRing Capital. TreeRing will provide capital to a very small number of entrepreneurs in exchange for equity.