TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs

Tauseef ur Rehman, Co-Founder & COO, AccelerEyes; Mike Eckert, Venture Fellow, Georgia Tech VentureLab; Sig Mosley, President, Imlay Investments;  Lance Weatherby, Venture Catalyst, ATDC 

Please join the TAG ATDC Entrepreneur Society on January 7th featuring John Melonakos, co-founder and CEO of AccelerEyes. Founded in 2007, AccelerEyes is leading the software side of the movement towards visual computing. AccelerEyes' products bring a level of supercomputing power to standard personal computers.

This event will also mark the kickoff of the 2010 GRA/TAG Business Launch competition. As the 2009 winner of the $100,000 cash prize and an additional $200,000 in services, John Melonakos will talk about his experience in participating in the annual competition and will provide advice for those thinking about participating this year. Other panel members will include Lance Weatherby, Mike Eckert and Sig Mosley, who were preliminary, semi-final and final judges last year and will be adding their insight to would-be 2010 participants as well.

Three 2009 Venture Atlanta companies will be on hand for this presentation/panel discussion on this year's conference. 

Venture Atlanta will be opening its call for companies for this year's conference very soon. Last year close to 50 companies had the opportunity to participate in Venture Atlanta. Come hear about their experiences directly from some of the presenters, learn how they prepared for Venture Atlanta, and listen to their pitches. We're also bringing in members from last year's selection committee to give you a close up look at how they make the selections for Venture Atlanta and what you need to do to get prepared now! 

Recognized as one of the top three innovators in financial services today by Bank Technology News, Tripp Rackley is the former Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firethorn Holdings, LLC, (www.firethornmobile.com), a Qualcomm company. Firethorn is the mobile banking and payments enabler delivering the market's first mobile consumer wallet solution supported by the nation's leading financial institutions and wireless carriers.

Determined from the outset that for mobile banking and payments to succeed and reach mass-market adoption, financial institutions and wireless carriers would have to work together. Hear Tripp discuss how he was able to take this idea and make it a reality.

Jim Modak is an experienced financial executive with more than 30 years experience in high growth businesses. His career has included three public offerings, four sell-side M&A transactions and more than 50 buy-side M&A transactions.

As CFO of Suniva, Jim assisted in raising $130 million in capital and led the debt financing for the company's manufacturing equipment. Jim continually focuses on efforts of constant improvement for operational cost efficiencies throughout Suniva. In addition, Jim manages the human resources aspects of Suniva, which has seen steady growth since the company was founded in 2007.

As Chairman and CEO of Acculynk, Ashish Bahl sets the company's strategic direction and is responsible for P&L. Prior to joining Acculynk, Mr. Bahl founded Harbor Payments, Inc. in 2000 and served as the CEO until the company was purchased by American Express in December 2006, when he became the Senior Vice President of the EReceivables Business unit. Harbor Payments was the recognized global leader in the emerging electronic invoicing industry, and rated as one of the fastest growing technology firms by Deloitte in 2005.

Mr. Bahl holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. His civic responsibilities include Board positions in Leadership Atlanta, TIE, and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). As a recognized industry expert in emerging electronic payments, Mr. Bahl is on the Board of Moneta Corporation.

Joan Herbig has over 20 years experience in the high-tech world. She has served in many roles throughout her career and has managed her teams to consistently successful outcomes. Named CEO of ControlScan in September 2007, Joan is responsible for business operations and is focused on growing the company's revenues and expanding its position as a leading PCI compliance and security provider focused on small- to medium-sized merchants.

Joan is also active in the PCI security and payments communities and serves on the Electronic Transaction Association's Risk and Fraud committee. In addition to her by-lined articles featured in Transaction Trends and The Green Sheet publications and her blog www.esecuritydiva.com, Joan is a sought after speaker on topics related to the challenges and solutions associated with small merchant PCI compliance.

As a long standing contributor to the Georgia technology community, Joan serves on the Board of Directors for the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and served as its Chairman in 2008. She was also named 2001 Woman of the Year in Technology by the (TAG). Joan earned a B.A. in French from the University of Louisville and a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky.

Scott brings nearly 20 years of broad technology and entrepreneurial experience to the StarPound team. In his most recent position as interim-CEO, and later CEO/Chairman of PlayMotion, Inc., Mr. Burkett achieved record revenues in 2007 and grew the business by 86%. Under his leadership, PlayMotion secured new business and strategic relationships with Walt Disney, Cartoon Network, NASCAR, Bravo TV, Sanofi Aventis, SEGA, and AMC Theaters. During his tenure, PlayMotion earned a Top 10 Innovative Company award from the Technology Association of Georgia.

Mr. Burkett holds a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems from Thomas A. Edison State College, and is a veteran of the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division. Mr. Burkett is an advisor to more early-stage companies than he cares to admit.

He maintains a blog at scottburkett.com, where he writes very actively on technology, venture capital, early-stage entrepreneurship, and the Atlanta startup scene.

Abel serves on the Board of Visitors for Grady Health System, the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center, and the Board of the Technology Association of Georgia.

A member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2006, he is a former finalist for the Atlanta Small Business Person of the Year Award and was previously named to the Georgia Trend 40 under 40 list. He is a past Chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council and a previous member of the Board of the Arthritis Foundation - Georgia Chapter.

ASI's founder and chairman, Dr. Norman Geddes, has led the development and commercialization of breakthrough Associate Systems technology across a broad set of domains, contributing directly to the design and development of many of the intelligent systems algorithms and knowledge representations used in the PreAct® intelligent software suite.

Prior to founding ASI, Norman led the development of intelligent user interface technology as a part of the DARPA Pilot's Associate program as Director of Operator Support Systems with Search Technology, Inc. Prior to that position, he served as Director of System Development at Marconi Avionics, Inc., where he led business development and systems engineering activities for defense electronics products. He also developed and captured major projects that included equipment design and production for the A-7, F-16 and F-5 fighter aircraft. Norman also served as Design Engineer with General Electric Company's Simulation and Control Systems Division, and as Flight Controls Research Engineer at Systems Research Laboratories Inc.

He holds a Master of Science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida and a Doctorate degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Geddes has published numerous articles and book chapters, and currently serves on the Computer Science Industry Advisory Board of the Southern Polytechnical State University in Georgia.

Mitch Free fervently believed in an idea that struck others as crazy, impossible or worse. Why would someone with no college education or funding try to create an online marketplace when all others were crashing and burning and why do it in an industry as slow to adopt and as fractured as manufacturing? The answer - passion, and as Mitch says "a little bit of ignorance."

Mitch Free has built his career solving problems, eliminating inefficiency and not listening to conventional thinking. Mitch founded and now serves as the Chairman and CEO of MFG.com. Through his vision, creativity and persistence, Mitch has grown MFG.com to a global company that has become the platform by which the world's manufacturing economy does business. Mitch is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the company and overseeing the overall management of MFG.com. Under his leadership, the company has experienced tremendous growth and innovation in a market segment he is continuing to help define.

Mitch holds two U.S. patents (5,167,720 and 5,162,659) and is recognized among his peers for his insatiable curiosity, strategic vision, domain expertise and creative management style. INC. magazine named him an "Entrepreneur of the Year" finalist in 2005, he was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year regional winner in 2008 and under his leadership MFG.com has been consistently ranked as one of the top technology growth companies in the United.States. Mitch is an avid speaker at technology forums and conferences, including presentations to the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School, Wharton and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Mitch is an active angel investor in disruptive Internet based technologies, online marketplaces and a co-founder of Shotput Ventures. He is a general aviation enthusiast, private pilot, a member of EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) and YPO (Young President's Organization).