Bay Area Entrepreneur Summit speaker bios

Silver is a vice president at Google, leading YouTube engineering and shopping. He worked for 10 years in Ads, leading advertiser and publisher systems, including AdWords, DoubleClick Bid Manager, DoubleClick For Publishers, and AdSense. Silver joined Google in 2006. Prior to Google, he led the ordering system at Amazon.com over three years and four Christmas holidays. He also led the engineering team at i-drive, an internet storage startup, and has worked at Connectix, Netscape, and Apple.

Burt is a dedicated public servant and accomplished entrepreneur with a long history of leadership in both the private and public sectors. He currently serves as a council member in Palo Alto, California, where he has twice held the office of mayor, in 2010 and 2016. His extensive experience in municipal governance also includes roles as chair of the finance committee, chair of the policy and services committee, and participation in the Peninsula Cities Consortium.

In the business world, Burt is renowned for his contributions to high-tech manufacturing and medical technologies. He founded Acteron, a high-tech manufacturing company, where he served as CEO from 1984 to 2010. His leadership set the foundation for the company’s success and innovation in the industry. Burt’s entrepreneurial spirit continued with his role as CEO of Vascular Access Technologies, a company that developed safer methods for the placement of central-line catheters for high-risk patients. Under his leadership, the company was successfully acquired by Merit Medical, highlighting the significant impact of their innovations in the medical field.

Callahan is a seasoned investment banking professional with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She currently serves as managing director in sustainable finance and advisory in Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment bank. Callahan leads the team’s insights and strategy, providing differentiated solutions for corporate clients in support of their sustainability objectives. She graduated in 2005 with a degree in international studies and French, and minor in business from Washington University in St. Louis, where she remains actively involved as a member of the WashU Bay Area Regional Cabinet Council.

Callahan began her career at JPMorgan as an investment banking analyst, specializing in debt and derivative-based financing solutions for tax-exempt government authorities and nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, she helped company founders launch GreenCoast Capital Partners, a women-owned broker-dealer and investment fund. Her contributions to her field and community have been recognized with the Bay Area Young Alumni Award from Washington University 2017.

Elliott is a seasoned legal and business executive with a diverse and accomplished career spanning various high-profile roles. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and earned her JD and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Elliott is the president of Kiverdi, Inc., a synthetic biotech company that is revolutionizing the production of food and materials through innovative biotech processes. Her leadership is instrumental in steering the company towards new frontiers in synthetic biology. Elliott’s professional journey includes significant contributions across multiple industries.

She started her career at Energizer where she served in executive legal and business roles. She was part of the business launch team for SiriusXM, where she played a crucial role in establishing the satellite radio service. She then served as chief counsel in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce for four years, providing strategic legal oversight. Following her public service, Elliott joined L3Harris Technologies as general counsel for the microwave communications division, where she led the merger and simultaneous IPO to form Aviat Networks, Inc.

Peetz is an accomplished business professional with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 2001, followed by an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2006. He has held several high-profile roles, including his current role as co-founder and chief executive officer at Mirum Pharmaceuticals, chief executive officer for Flashlight Therapeutics, chief financial officer for Tobira Therapeutics, and vice president of Finance and Corporate Development at Jennerex Biotherapeutics. Since 2017, he has contributed his expertise as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier Healthcare Partners.

Alcorn is a distinguished attorney and startup advisor specializing in immigration law. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University in 2005 and earned her Doctor of Law degree from Washington University in 2008. Alcorn has an impressive track record as a business mentor, working with Alchemist Accelerator and 500 Global, where she guides emerging founders. She is the author of TechCrunch the “Ask Sophie” immigration law column. She is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law, the top Silicon Valley immigration law firm for founders, venture capitalists, and startups. Recognized for her influence and expertise, Alcorn was named one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence in 2024, and she received the TechCrunch Disrupt Audience Choice Award. She is a best-selling author of Ask Sophie: The Founder’s Guide to Visas and Green Cards, is host of the Sophie Alcorn podcast, and is based in Palo Alto.

Goldberg is a talented electrical engineer and business executive with extensive experience across various industries. He holds both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and earned his PhD in electrical engineering from UC Santa Barbara. He is currently a partner at Finistere Ventures.

Goldberg was a partner at Venrock from 2009–2020 after having served as CEO of several early-stage companies including DataRunway, Vidient, Arcwave, and CoWave Networks. Prior to that, he was vice president of research and development at Nokia Internet Communications and vice president and general manager of the wireless communications division at Cylink Corporation. Goldberg also held senior management and engineering positions at Trimble Navigation and Hewlett Packard. At Venrock, Goldberg focused on investments in connectivity, M2M/internet of things, security, robotics, and embedded systems. He is currently on the board of directors of Finistere Ventures’ CropX, Growers Edge, and Backbar. He also sits on the board of SolidPower (SLDP:Nasdaq), an EV lithium-ion, solid-state battery company. He is a company advisor to Alcatraz.ai, Bruviti, and Accern.

Mickle is an accomplished economic development professional with expertise in community engagement, small business development, and project management. With over 12 years of experience as a small business owner and founder of Iveywood Consulting, she has become a driving force behind many impactful business growth and community development initiatives. Iveywood Consulting specializes in leveraging data-driven strategies to expand economic development possibilities for small business and non-profit clients. Mickle earned a Master of Public Administration from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina and a Bachelor of Arts in History and African and African-American Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. She recently completed a Data Analytics Bootcamp at University of California, Berkeley, further enhancing her analytical skills and expertise in leveraging data for informed decision-making.

Mandell is an accomplished attorney with extensive experience in technology transactions, general counsel services, and employment law. He graduated in 1999 with a degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis and later earned his JD from Tulane University Law School. Mandell serves as partner and global head of the founder practice at Withersworldwide. In this role, he provides strategic legal counsel to founder CEOs and senior executives, advising them on the creation and sale of their businesses.

Before joining Withersworldwide, Mandell was the founder and managing partner of the Mandell Law Group for 19 years, a boutique law firm specializing in technology transactions and general counsel services. His leadership at Mandell Law Group established the firm as a key player in the legal industry. His career also includes various influential roles such as general counsel to Nauto and investor and advisor to numerous startups, including LinkedIn, BloomReach, Originate, WorkGenius, 23andMe, and Brainless. His expertise as an outside general counsel has been instrumental in the rapid scaling of several companies in Silicon Valley.

I Luscri (pronounced “two”) is Washington University’s assistant vice provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the managing director of the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In these roles, he cultivates a creative and startup-oriented culture across all eight academic schools at WashU and leads the nationally-recognized new venture. The center supports all WashU students, faculty, and alumni and fosters and empowers an inclusive community that finds opportunities in problems and transforms ideas into action.

Luscri is a professor of practice in Entrepreneurship and has taught courses on innovation and entrepreneurship in five academic schools at two different institutions, including “The Endgame of Entrepreneurship: Leveraging Capitalism for Good” which was recognized as an innovative pedagogical model by the University Industry Innovation Network.

Prior to WashU, Luscri launched and built the university-wide Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship Institute at Villanova University and served as the institution’s assistant vice provost for Centers and Institutes.

Bala is an accomplished technology executive and educator with a diverse background in product management, teaching, and mentoring. He earned a double major in computer science and French in 2002 and a Master of Science in computer science in 2016, both from Washington University in St. Louis. He also holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bala is the vice president for product management at Coursera. He is also involved with the Startup Garage at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he teaches and mentors students to develop their entrepreneurial ideas.

Bala has held several notable positions in the tech industry, including vice president of product and design at Elevate K-12 and served as chief product officer for Sentropy Technologies (acquired by Discord), where he led artificial intelligence/machine learning product management, marketing, and customer success to develop content moderation products for social media companies. At Facebook, he worked as the head of product for the augmented reality/virtual reality ecosystem for two years, and at Google, he spent eight years leading product teams within the Nest and Google Docs teams. Currently, Bala volunteers as the assistant coach for men’s lacrosse at Stanford University and as an industry advisor for the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Katz is a postdoctoral researcher in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at Stanford University. She is advised by professor Mykel Kochenderfer in the Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL). Her research is focused on the design and validation of safety-critical decision-making systems, and her dissertation work specifically studied safe machine learning-based perception. Katz received her PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 2023 and her Master of Science in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 2020. Before coming to Stanford, she received her BS and BSAS in Electrical and Systems Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018. During this time, she interned at multiple aerospace companies including Reliable Robotics, MIT Lincoln Laboratory (where she worked on the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X, or ACAS X), the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the NASA Glenn Research Center.

Thaker is the co-founder of Boondoggle AI, a company that summarizes social media messages, emails, and meeting notes, then updates customer relationship manager systems. He is a dynamic force in the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and design. With a distinguished academic background, Thaker holds a degrees in computer science and mathematics, along with financial engineering, from Washington University in St. Louis.

Thaker’s expertise has driven the development of innovative AI applications across a variety of domains, including aerospace, healthcare, and technology. His work with major companies such as Boeing and Traits AI highlights his ability to deliver cutting-edge solutions and drive advancements in these industries. As a visionary leader at Boondoggle AI, Thaker continues to push the boundaries of AI, leveraging his diverse skill set and extensive knowledge to create transformative technologies that redefine the future of AI applications.

Warmbold has been a pivotal force at Absidy Holdings for the past four years, where he serves as head of AI product and engineering. At Absidy, Warmbold designed the integration of generative AI interfaces with an existing recommendation system to boost engagement. He built a multi-sided fantasy gaming platform that addresses our current political climate of hyper-partisanship. He’s currently working on augmenting medical professionals with AI. Before Absidy Holdings, Conrad worked as an AI product manager with Applied Materials where he led the development of an image classification system with genAI trained on proprietary data. Another project included a reinforcement learning-based system responsible for saving millions in annual distribution costs. His earlier roles include technical consulting with Google’s Document AI team and many years as an engineer in biotech and fintech.

Warmbold’s academic credentials are equally impressive. First in his family to attend college, he earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis, followed by his master’s degree in software engineering and his MBA from San Jose State University in 2012. He’s an insatiable learner, having earned certifications in areas including analytics, data science, and product management. Additionally, Warmbold volunteers as a court-appointed foster advocate.

Shelton is a globally-recognized Silicon Valley-based adviser, author, and speaker on scaling and innovation excellence. Over the past 40 years he has served as trusted partner and adviser to hundreds of board members, CEOs, and senior executives at leading organizations and startups in Silicon Valley and around the world. Shelton is the methodology creator and co-founder of the scaling and replication program at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley—a social impact leader for 25 years. He led the innovation consulting practice at PwC and was founder and leader of PwC’s global financial service innovation program. Prior to that, he was a senior executive and led innovation global programs at Stanford Research Institute (SRI International) and Arthur D. Little.

Shelton was designated an Innovation Champion by the World Economic Forum and co-authored Making Innovation Work, a best-selling book in its second publication.

Helfand, JD ’94, is the founder and managing partner of VIVE Venture Capital, specializing in pre-mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financing for venture-backed companies. Helfand attended Tulane University, King’s College (London) and graduated from Michigan State University. He went on to earn his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1994. Before Vive, Helfand spent 12 years as a partner at VantagePoint Capital Partners. He has served on the board of directors for several venture companies including as director and CEO of InnoPath Software for its sale to Qualcomm.

Helfand was general counsel at the private equity firm Everest Group and at Thomas Weisel Partners, an investment bank focused on internet, technology and life sciences companies. He played a lead role in the bank’s own IPO in 2006. Helfand began his career as a securities and capital markets lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, CA where he completed numerous financings, capital markets offerings, and M&A transactions. He has extensive experience and expertise in all facets of venture capital, including structuring investments, executing corporate transactions, and advising and supporting entrepreneurs with corporate operations and preparations for sale.

Mason has over 25 years of operating management and venture capital experience. She is managing partner and co-founder of Aligned Partners, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm that invests in highly capital efficient start-ups in the IT area. Prior to co-founding Aligned Partners, she spent 15 years with ONSET Ventures, a venture capital firm with $1 billion under management that is focused on early stage investing. In 1996 she was named a Kauffman Fellow and joined ONSET Ventures, where she specialized in investing in the information technology area, specifically communications and security. Prior to joining the venture world, she held positions in high-technology engineering, marketing, and business development. She led a highly-successful consulting practice, helping Fortune 1000 corporations capitalize on emerging markets and technologies. Early in her career, she held positions in the marketing and engineering of high-performance systems and microprocessors for Fujitsu Microelectronics, Fairchild Semiconductor, and NCR Microelectronics.

Stein graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship, marketing, and human resources and organization. He is now starting a new venture firm and serves as a general partner at Cartography Capital. Prior to this, he worked as a marketing manager for ionGrid, which was acquired by NetApp. Following that, he spent nearly four years at Square, leading quality assurance, product, and various sales initiatives. Post Square, he worked on business development at Opendoor, and was the first hire at SMBX.

Xia is a scientist and entrepreneur turned VC investor. She invests in the healthcare, enterprise AI, and deep tech space at Fusion Fund. Xia started her career as a materials scientist at Formlabs in its early days, now a $2B unicorn company. There she led the research and development effort to ship the company’s first-generation FDA-approved products, benefiting millions of patients. Her love for healthcare led her to the next startup journey, where she headed a research team to build an AI and digital health solution for one of the oldest industries—dentistry. Xia holds an undergraduate degree in material science and engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, complemented by a master’s degree in material science and engineering from Stanford University.

Mern is the founder and CEO of Terra AI, a venture-backed technology startup building AI systems to accelerate the discovery and development of critical minerals and clean energy resources. Mern completed his PhD as a member of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Lab (SISL), where he developed artificial intelligence algorithms to solve large, complex problems. At Stanford, he was an Accel Innovation fellow and a Prime Movers Lab AI Venture fellow where he helped build technology ventures from new technology innovations. He has spent five years applying state-of-the-art AI to improve natural resource developments, from wind farms, to geothermal energy, to mineral exploration. He was awarded the Stanford TomKat Center Grant to help found Terra AI. Prior to Stanford, he earned his Bachelor of Science from Washington University in St. Louis in mechanical engineering and finance and worked as a systems architect at Boeing Phantom Works in St. Louis.

Coleman earned his Bachelor of Arts in urban studies from Morehouse College in 2001. He continued his academic journey, earning a master’s degree in public administration from Texas A&M University. Coleman’s professional career spans over a decade, primarily focused on nonprofit work. For eight years, Rasheen served as the special assistant to the director at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Washington, D.C. Following this, he spent two years as the assistant director of development at City Montessori Schools. He then transitioned to Maryville University, where he spent three years, ultimately serving as the director for strategic partnerships.

Coleman has spent the past five years at WashU, most recently serving as the director of advancement for the Skandalaris Center. In this capacity, he oversees all fundraising strategies for the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His responsibilities include collaborating with the Skandalaris Center director on strategic planning efforts, identifying fundraising priorities, and managing the Skandalaris Center National Council and Elliot Society Committee. For the past nine years, Rasheen has served as an associate board member for COCA-Center for Creative Arts.