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The Entrepreneur Within

July 17, 2010

Hyatt Regency O'Hare


Jim MoodyFeatured Keynote Speaker - Jim Moody
Former U.S. Congressman & Director of Peace Corp (Pakistan)

Jim Moody served in the United States Congress from 1983-1993 where he was a member of the Ways & Means, Transportation and Public Works committees. Congressman Moody also served on the subcommittees of Health, Social Security, Infrastructure and Water Resources.

After his tenure with the U.S. Congress, he was appointed Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the International Fund for Agriculture Development in Rome, Italy from 1995-1998, where he was responsible for formulating and administering a $50 million operating budget in support of a $500 million loan program, as well as managing a $2.2 billion reserve fund investment portfolio. From 1998-2000, Jim served as the President and CEO of InterAction, a coalition of 165 U.S. based non-profit organizations specializing in disaster relief, refugee assistance and economic development located in Washington, D.C. Mr. Moody also served as a Field Representative for CARE International in both Yugoslavia and Iran, and as a Country Director for the Peace Corp in Pakistan where he established the first Peace Program.

Mr. Moody is on the board of Junior Achievement Worldwide and The American Committee for Human Development that raises support in the US for villages in Pakistan through the public-private program National Committee for Human Development (NCHD). Mr. Moody was also the Party Chief of the official US delegation that monitored the Parliamentary elections in Pakistan in 2008 and the Afghanistan Presidential election of 2009. He also serves as a board member for Relief International, an NGO providing humanitarian disaster relief in Iran, India and Azerbaijan. Mr. Moody was also co-founder of the predecessor organization to the National Security Archive and is on the Advisory Board for Project on Middle East Democracy. Since April 2000, Congressman Moody has served as a Financial Advisor to Merrill Lynch in Washington D.C. where he is responsible for bringing institutional, business and high net-worth individuals' assets under management. Mr. Moody received his B.A. from Haverford College; his MBA from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley. Prior to his political career, Mr. Moody was a professor of Economics at University of Wisconsin.

Firas AhmedFiras Ahmed
Director of Operations at Emergence BioEnergy

Firas Ahmad manages operations and business development for Emergence BioEnergy, a renewable energy startup firm based in Cambridge MA that is developing distributed power solutions for low-income countries. He previously worked at Abt Associates, an international development consulting firm. He also served as a member of the Human Development Taskforce, a national initiative in Pakistan to reformulate primary education and health care for the poor.  Firas is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and Georgetown University.  He serves on the board of the Human Development Foundation.


Ramzan Dhanji
Founder of Imagineering, Inc

Ramzan Dhanji is a successful businessman who has established and grown a number of companies over the past 25 years. In 1985, Mr. Dhanji founded Imagineering, Inc., which today is a well recognized provider of fast turn prototype printed circuit boards. In 1987, he founded Q-Image Corp., which he later sold in 1992. In 1999, Mr. Dhanji founded Accutrace, Inc., an engineering firm currently operating in California. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Dhanji was a member of the Board of Directors of Gold Coast Bank. In 2010, Mr. Dhanji co-founded Luckpatti Investment Group. Ramzan is on the Board of Trustees for Zindagi Trust, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide education to children living in poverty in Pakistan. He is also on the Board of Directors for Apna Ghar, which provides culturally-appropriate, multilingual services, including emergency shelter, to survivors of domestic abuse. Mr. Dhanji received BS in Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1979 and his MBA from University of Chicago in 1985.

 

Saba GulSaba Gul
Co-founder and Executive Director of BLISS

Saba Gul is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of BLISS, and a recent alumnus of MIT, where she studied Computer Science and Economics. She has a passion for international development, education and entrepreneurship. Previously, she has worked on solar lighting projects in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, taught entrepreneurship seminars in Ethiopia and designed curriculum for universities in China. She volunteers for the Association for the Development of Pakistan (ADP), and is a board member of the MIT Club of Minnesota. Saba was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, and is currently working at Thomson Reuters in Minneapolis.

BLISS (Business & Life Skills School) is a social enterprise dedicated to empowering adolescent girls in Pakistan through education and entrepreneurship training. Its mission is to retain in school girls who are at high risk of dropping out, or have never been schooled, and to make them self-sufficient via income-boosting skills. In addition to regular school curriculum, it offers business, vocational and financial literacy classes, providing the tools and training for participants to launch their own micro-enterprises. The profits fund their education and provide savings for the community, breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy.

BLISS is bringing to school Afghan refugee girls in Attock, Pakistan, who previously worked at carpet looms for up to 14 hours a day. Additional information is available at http://bagsforbliss.org.

Faraz HoodbhoyFaraz Hoodbhoy
Founder and CEO of PixSense

Faraz Hoodbhoy is a 3rd generation entrepreneur with unparalleled experience in the Pakistan-Silicon Valley corridor. With 15 years of global business experience gathered in over 40 countries, Faraz is, most recently, the founder of PixSense. PixSense is a successful mobile social media business with deployments across the globe including Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, Vietnam, and the Philippines. With significant operating experience gathered in Silicon Valley, Faraz has raised over $15M in venture capital as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. His career spans multiple functional roles from software and product design and development, to business development and sales, to executive management. Faraz has held operational roles that have varied from temp to CEO at organizations that include Microsoft, Capgemini/Ernst and Young, the United Way, Data Communications & Control, Clickmarks, NextBrick, Unisys, and PixSense.

Faraz has particularly strong ties with the Pakistani technology sector, having worked there for several years and having helped build three world-class engineering teams there. An expert in mobile and imaging software, Faraz continues to contribute to professional and trade publications and co-authored one of the first books on XML, "Applied XML - A Toolkit for Programmers" (John Wiley & Sons). Faraz lives in Santa Clara with his wife and 2 children, is a horrible but die-hard golfer, a semi-decent squash player, and is a cigar aficionado.

 

Henna InamHenna Inam
Global Head of e-Innovation of Novartis

Henna Inam is a Senior Executive with Novartis where she has built businesses and teams for over 13 years.  Her prior roles at Novartis include Global Head of e-Innovation where she worked across Divisions and functions to develop a social media strategy and drive the adoption of tools to transform internal and external collaboration.

Prior to this role, she held various positions with CibaVision (a business unit of Novartis, and the second largest global contact lens company) including Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer, and prior to that, President of the Americas Region.  Henna has a track record of business growth across Novartis businesses working as General Manager for Gerber in Mexico, VP of Sales for Walmart, and VP of Marketing in the OTC (Over-The-Counter medicines) business.  Prior to joining Novartis, Henna worked for 7 years at Procter & Gamble where she helped to drive large global brands like Pampers, Always, and Charmin.

Henna graduated from The University of Texas with an Undergraduate degree in Business Administration and got her MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  Henna is involved in various non-profit activities including the Board of Counselors for the Carter Center, the Board of Culture Connect (an organization which provides help for immigrants new to Atlanta), the Exec Board of the American Marketing Association, Atlanta chapter, and the Executive Advisory Board of DIL (Development in Literacy).

 

Amjad Kadwani
CPA, Founder of SBA Ltd.

Amjad Kadwani is the founder of Small Business Accountax (SBA) Ltd., a public accounting firm which he started in 1992. The firm represents mostly small business with focus on franchise businesses (e.g. Dunkin Donuts, Subway, 7-Eleven, etc.). SBA provides various financial, accounting and consulting services including financial reviews & audits, complete monthly accounting services, assistance with procuring various disadvantaged business status (e.g. Women Business Enterprise, Minority Business Enterprise, etc.), tax planning, retirement planning, estate planning, business financings and acquisitions. Mr. Kadwani received BS in Accounting in 1982 from DePaul University and his MBA from University of Illinois Chicago in 1987. Mr. Kadwani is also involved with a number of non-profit organizations.

 

Nadim KaziNadim A. Kazi
Partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP

Nadim Kazi is a Partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.  He practices in the Firm's Corporate Group and has represented clients in a wide variety of transactional matters including: domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies; fund formation; venture capital and private equity transactions; securities regulation and compliance; and general corporate and commercial counseling.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Kazi did a fellowship with the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago and a judicial internship with Honorable Gary M. Gaertner of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.

Mr. Kazi attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Saint Louis University. He is on the Editorial Board of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.

Mr. Kazi is on the board of directors of the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Pakistani American Bar Association.

 

Mas KhanMasroor Khan
President and CEO of Subco Foods

Mas Khan is President and CEO of Subco Foods. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with Bachelors and Masters in Engineering. Prior to Subco Foods, Mas worked for Kraft and Kellogg in various management capacities for over 20 years, including Director of Engineering and General Management.  In 1995 he acquired Subco Foods. During the last 15 years Subco Foods has grown to three facilities, located in West Chicago IL, Broadview IL and Sheboygan WI. Subco Foods was selected as one of the Top Ten Asian American businesses in the Midwest Region for 2010 by the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.  Subco Foods / Wagner Foods employs approximately 200 people and manufactures various private label dry and liquid food products, including drink mixes, hot cocoa, coffee creamer and pancake syrups, both for foodservice and retail markets. Most of Subco Foods’ customers are Fortune 500 companies. For more information visit www.subcofoods.com and www.wagnerfoods.com.  Mas is also actively involved in community service through his wife’s (Carolyn) Khan’s charitable organization, Bridges to a New Day. This organization provides counseling services for women and children of domestic violence.  You can learn more by visiting www.bridgestoanewday.org.

 

Umair KhanUmair Khan
Founder and CEO of SecretBuilders.com and Venture Partner TEF III

Umair Khan is founder and CEO of SecretBuilders.com, one of the fastest growing virtual worlds for children and young adults. Umair Khan is also a Venture Partner with The Entrepreneurs’ Fund (TEFIII), an early stage, software-focused venture fund. Previously, Umair co-founded Clickmarks Inc., a Silicon Valley based enterprise software company. As CEO of Clickmarks Umair grew the company through $27 million in venture funding from investors such as Vodafone, DFJ, and Mitsubishi to its acquisition by Semotus Inc. Umair is also founder & chairman of Verisium, a Silicon Valley based software testing tools company, and of Folio3, a services company providing offshore operations incubation to startups and small companies.

 

Rafiq MohammadiRafiq Mohammadi
CEO of Autonomy Interwoven

Rafiq Mohammadi is CEO of Autonomy Interwoven, a software developer of next-generation solutions that enable businesses to understand and act on all forms of customer information. This unique Autonomy approach is called Meaning Based Marketing.

Rafiq has more than 15 years of experience in the content management space and he is highly respected in the industry. Rafiq served as Group CTO of Autonomy, after the completion of Autonomy's acquisition of Interwoven. He co-founded iManage, Inc. in 1995. Rafiq also played the role of CTO at iManage, where he was a key member of the team that successfully built the company from a start-up to a profitable and growing publicly traded software company that went IPO within four years. After Interwoven's acquisition of iManage in 2004, Rafiq was CTO of Interwoven for four years, where he helped the company to establish its dominant market leadership in both Web Content Management and Document Management. As an entrepreneur, Rafiq has enjoyed contributing to both technology and business.

Rafiq holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
 

Matt McCueMatt McCue
Vice President of Hopewell Ventures, L.P.

Matt McCue is a Vice President with Hopewell Ventures, L.P., a $110 million venture capital fund based in Chicago. Prior to joining Hopewell in 2002, Matt founded a vehicle for the development and support of seed-stage business ventures. He is a Director on four portfolio companies: VHT, a real estate marketing technology firm; Emergent Game Technologies, a developer of video game development middleware; Helios Coatings, a provider of environmentally friendly metallic coatings; and Mersive Technologies, a developer of large-scale, high-resolution display environments. Matt received his BA in Economics magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago and his MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

Irum MusharrafIrum Musharraf
Co-founder & COO of NAYA JEEVAN

Irum Musharraf is Co-founder and COO of NAYA JEEVAN, a not-for-profit social enterprise, dedicated to providing low-income families in Pakistan with access to quality, catastrophic healthcare.  NAYA JEEVAN’s micro-insurance product offering targets the corporate sector, non-profits and schools to instill a mindset change in their relationship with their low-income employees. She currently manages all day-to-day operations for the organization, overseeing finance, legal, audit and strategic growth. Irum holds an MBA with past experience in corporate banking and risk management at State Street Bank in Boston, MA.

Misbah NaqviMisbah Naqvi
Business Development Manager of Acumen Fund

Misbah Naqvi is Business Development Manager at Acumen Fund, a global non-profit social venture fund which invests patient capital in enterprises that bring affordable goods and services – healthcare, housing, water, energy, agriculture – to the poor in Pakistan, India and East Africa. Acumen Fund raises philanthropic funds from individuals and institutions in the US, Pakistan and other countries and directs it as patient capital towards investments which are high risk, with expectations for outsized social impact and near-market financial returns, over a long time horizon. Investments are combined with a significant amount of management support, to build capable and competent management teams to sustain these companies.

As Business Development Manager, Misbah's primary responsibility is building an engaged community of partners around Acumen Fund's work and fundraising to support Acumen Fund's mission. Misbah joined Acumen Fund in Pakistan in 2006, focusing on managing portfolio investments and building an investment pipeline. She also led Acumen Fund’s community building initiatives in Pakistan, managing fundraising, business development and knowledge and communications activities, before joining Acumen Fund in 2008.

Prior to joining Acumen Fund, Misbah spent over 8 years in a variety of positions at Citigroup Pakistan, most recently as Public Affairs Officer, managing external and internal communications, community affairs and PR activities. Misbah also worked in Citigroup’s Corporate Banking and Transaction Management and e-Banking Groups. Misbah holds an MBA and a BA (Honors) in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration at the University of Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Mahmood PanjwaniMahmood Panjwani
Chairman and CEO, Infinisim

Mahmood Panjwani is the Chairman & CEO of Infinisim, an under the radar EDA startup. Mahmood was co-founder, President & CEO of iManage Inc. (NASD: IMAN) that merged with Interwoven Inc. (NASD: IWOV) in November 2003. During his tenure at iManage, he led the company from its inception in 1995 to its IPO in 1999 and finally its merger with Interwoven.  Post iManage’s merger, Mahmood stayed on as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Interwoven, to ensure a successful transition.

Before iManage, Mahmood was the founder and CEO of Q-Image Corporation, a privately held software consulting company for 7 years where he built a prestigious customer base of companies such as Verizon Wireless, Intel, IBM, Cisco, and Apple Computers. His prior experiences include working in Software Engineering with companies such as Northern Telecom and AT&T Bell Labs.

Mahmood holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of Illinois. He currently serves as an investor, an advisor and on the board of early stage technology ventures.
 

 
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