Team
Founder and CEO of HealthTap, and formerly founder and CEO of Wellsphere (acquired by HealthCentral), Ron is the Curator of TEDx Silicon Valley – inspiring innovation for social change, an advisor to early and late stage technology and health companies, and an angel investor focusing on early stage technology startups. A life-long entrepreneur, Ron has always been passionate about making people’s lives better. After starting his career at the age of 17 by founding and growing several businesses in the wine and dine industries, he decided to return to academia to learn about and conduct research on technology, social entrepreneurship and health. As a graduate student at Stanford, he became a leader of the Business Association of Stanford’s Engineering Students, and organized a multidisciplinary group of graduate students and faculty from the schools of Medicine, Engineering, Business, Law and Psychology to research ways to help people live healthier happier lives. The group initially focused on personalized medicine, and later expanded its research to personalized health information. After graduating from Stanford Ron founded Wellsphere based on an innovative model using technology, information, and the power of communities to help millions of people improve their health and well-being. Wellsphere has grown to become the leader in online health 2.0, and one of the largest health sites on the Internet and was acquired in early 2009. Ron recently founded HealthTap to help you and your doctor make better decisions about your health and well being, using data.
Andrej is a Slovenian entrepreneur active in the field of social media and advertising. He started software, online media and social gaming companies in Europe, Japan and the U.S. He is a co-founder of Noovo, a social recommendation engine and Httpool, with 14 offices a leading global online advertising company focused on emerging markets. He founded YES, an non-profit organization representing successful young people in Central and Eastern Europe. Together with USAID Andrej also co-founded CEED, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development, a leading educational and networking program for entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe. Andrej also served as Vice President of Young European Entrepreneurs, an organization representing over 50,000 entrepreneurs from EU. Andrej helped found RSG, the first VC found in Slovenia and is an advisor to many start ups and an angel investor. In 2009, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader, an honor bestowed each year to recognize outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. He lives with his wife and two boys in Palo Alto, California. Andrej is a TEDster 2009, 2010.
Drue Kataoka is a modern artist based in Palo Alto, CA. Her artistic vocabulary incorporates both the refined techniques of her ancient Zen art form and cutting-edge conceptual innovations inspired by life in Silicon Valley. She creates expressive, experiential works of art that convey highly nuanced products and ideas or uniquely powerful portraits. Her clients are leading companies, organizations and individuals in Silicon Valley and beyond. Some of her projects have been covered by CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, and in print by San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Entrepreneur Magazine, CNET and many others. Drue’s non-private commissions include: cover art for Wynton Marsalis’ album A Fiddler’s Tale (SONY/Columbia), original estate wine labels for Au Bon Climat, over 29 commemorative prints, and numerous high-profile projects for clients like Nissan, Cisco, SUN Microsystems, Nordstrom, Fenwick & West LLP, The Koret Foundation, The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. Drue recently participated in the first zero-gravity art exhibition in space at the International Space Station. Through her art, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for numerous charitable organizations. In 2001, Drue established the endowed Rotary Foundation Drue Kataoka Arts Scholarship. She co-moderates a blog called ValleyZen with Bill Fenwick and recently launched a web video show called CultureLick.
Silvia Console Battilana, Operations
Dr. Console Battilana is a young italian entrepreneur and economist specializing in game theory and interest groups. Currently she is a co-founder at auctions software and desing company Auctionomics, jointly with Professor Paul Milgrom. She holds a Ph.D. from the Stanford Economics department and has taught graduate students as a Visiting Professor at Bocconi University. She has been a speakier at major US universities such as Harvard, Caltech and Berkeley, as well as universities in Turkey, China, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Italy, Messico and Spain. Her co-authors include Harvard Professor Kenneth Shepsle and Stanford Professor Douglas Bernheim, and her entrepreneurial experience began during graduate school, when she successfully started a C-corporation in the higher education industry. Silvia is also very active in the Silicon Valley, organizing networking events that bring together experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, engineers, and start-up rookies.
Lorenzo Thione, Sponsorships and Video
Lorenzo Thione founded Powerset, Inc., an innovative search startup, in 2005 with the vision of bringing to consumers a more natural and effective type of Internet search than conventional keyword search. Funded by notable Silicon Valley VCs and angel investors, Powerset was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2008 to complement and innovate its own search technology and offering. Currently, he is a Principal Program Manager in charge of the Powerset division of Bing, Microsoft’s innovative “Decision Engine”. In addition, Lorenzo is an investor, board observer and advisor to Dolores Labs, an exciting and energetic San Francisco startup building a scalable platform for human-based computing and crowdsourcing. In addition to his technology endeavors, Lorenzo is as a producing partner at Sing Out, Louise! Productions, a theatrical production and investment company, and is currently busy in bringing several new works to the Broadway stage. His current project, Jay Kuo’s original musical Allegiance, starring George Takei and Lea Salonga, follows the story of a Japanese American family during the years of the WWII Japanese American internment, and is currently aiming for a 2012 Broadway debut. Lorenzo holds a M.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and has co-authored several publications in Computational Linguistics. He is a named inventor on 7 issued and over 24 pending patents in the US and world-wide. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, David Palmer.
Rachel Masters is the former Vice President of Strategic Relationships at Ning, Inc., social networking service. Previously she was the Associate Director of Strategic Relationship and Business Development at Warner Music Group. In this role, she launched new relationships with innovative digital media companies such as YouTube. She also oversaw WMG’s investments in digital media and advised Warner Music Group International on new companies and strategic relationships. Prior to Warner Music Group, Rachel was an Associate at StarVest Partners, L.P. a New York-based venture capital fund whose portfolio companies include NetSuite and ComparisonMarkets. Rachel was also a television producer at Cablevision, Fox and MTV Networks. She holds a B.A. from Brandies University, where she was named a University Scholar and graduated cum laude and with High Honors. She also received a MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Daniel Kraft is a physician/scientist and entrepreneur with over 20 years experience in both biomedical research and clinical practice. He is a member of faculty at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, on clinical faculty for pediatric bone marrow transplantation at UCSF and serves as the medicine track chair for the recently launched Singularity University. Dr. Kraft is also the founder of StemCor Systems, a company that develops tools to enable adult stem cell based regenerative therapies. Through StemCor, he has developed and implemented original ideas and designs for new medical devices that have been granted FDA approval including the ‘MarrowMiner’ which he unveiled onstage at this year’s TED conference. Today, he serves on the company’s board and is the consulting Chief Medical Officer. Daniel obtained his B.A. in Biochemistry from Brown University, an M.D. from Stanford, completed a Harvard residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and fellowships at Stanford in hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation. D He is an avid pilot, serves as a flight surgeon for an F-16 squadron in the California Air National Guard and was a NASA-Astronaut selection finalist. Daniel is a TEDster 2006 thru 2010, and was a speaker at this year’s TEDMED.
From early 2006 through August 2009, Gregory Miller was Managing Director at Google.org leading its philanthropic investments, grants and legal teams. He also was CFO/Treasurer, Secretary and General Counsel of the Google Foundation and chair of its investment committee. Alongside Executive Director Dr. Larry Brilliant, Greg was a member of the senior leadership team helping to develop program and funding initiatives addressing global economic development, global public health and climate change. During that 3+ year tenure, Google.org grew to 42 persons, awarded approximately $100 million with 120 grants, led 11 philanthropic investments, and was recognized in widespread news articles, blogs and conferences recognizing its data-driven, outcome-based approaches. Beginning 2007, Greg led executive production of “The Final Inch”, a film documentary about current polio eradication efforts in India and Pakistan, which film was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Prior to Google, Greg worked with start-up companies, principally with businesses competing in the Internet, networking, communications, and software markets, including as an equity partner with Silicon Valley’s Gunderson Dettmer law firm and Of Counsel with Latham & Watkins. In his corporate finance career, he has closed over 100 significant transactions, including over 25 public equity offerings exceeding $3.8 billion, over 30 debt financing transactions exceeding $13.5 billion and more than a dozen acquisitions and reorganizations collectively exceeding $2.5 billion, and has served on boards of directors / advisors with several for-profit and non-profit organizations. Greg as a JD from University of Virginia Law School and has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Colgate. Gregory is a TEDster 2010.
Gary A. Bolles is CEO of Xigi Inc. (ZIG-ee), a San Francisco-based company developing communities of impact using software and events. Xigi’s unique software engine integrates dynamic publishing and social networking, powering sites like Nokia’s IdeasProject.com. Xigi is also spearheading Kanect.net, an initiative to create a global information-sharing platform about entrepreneurial efforts to impact local and global problems. Bolles is a co-founder of the Social Capital Markets conference, which brought together 1000 social entrepreneurs and investors in September ‘09. For the past five years, Bolles has served as consulting producer for Google’s annual partner conference, Zeitgeist, and he has been the producer or co-producer of events for London Business School, Nokia, and the United Nations. He is the former COO of Evolve Software; VP Marketing for Network Products, and the former editorial director of Interactive Week, Network Computing, and Yahoo! Internet Life.
Chris McCann, Social Media Strategist
Chris McCann coordinates all social media initiatives for TEDxSV. He is an entrepreneur, writer, and general activist in the entrepreneurial community of Silicon Valley and San Luis Obispo. He has led the entrepreneurial programs at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, started Innovation Quest an alumni led incubator at the University, and is the founder of the [Startup Digest] with BASES, the Business Association of Stanford’s Engineering Students, and soon to be New York City.
As the founder of the [Startup Digest], Chris goes to an average of 5 tech and entrepreneurship events a week and makes sure to stay on top of all the exciting things happening in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco areas. If you want to subscribe to the list, check out www.thestartupdigest.com.
Jen McCabe, Social Media and Marketing Coordinator
Jen McCabe is CEO/Founder of Contagion Health, an early stage San Francisco health software startup born in 2009 to design personal tools enabling individual engagement in participatory medicine. @contagionhealth’s first web application, Get Up and Move, launched just after Thanksgiving, allows Twitter users to challenge each other to small, random acts of daily ‘microfitness.’
A Kisaut Fellow at the Health Strategy Innovation Cell, Massey College, University of Toronto, McCabe’s projects include work on service-oriented design from the patient perspective. Jen’s first large-scale project, “Redefining Patienthood,” explores how individuals are ‘owning’ e-Patient nomenclature at various points along the experiential illness/wellness spectrum.
Jen has presented at Mayo Clinic Transform, BIL:PIL, Health 2.0, Medicine 2.0, HealthCamps, Ignite Boulder 2, SciBarCamp Palo Alto, Eli Lilly’s Health 2.0, and BIO 2009. Jen writes the Health Management Rx Blog and has contributed to The Health Care Blog (THCB), Disruptive Women in Healthcare, The World Health Care Blog, and Healthcentral.com.
Named one of FierceHealthcare’s 2009 Five Fierce Female Bloggers to Watch, @jensmccabe is a prolific “tweet” and advocate in the mobile, tech and HIT startup spaces. She frequently consults on the use of social media sites and services for healthcare organizations, hospitals, and insurers.
Kathleen Donahue, Interactive and Graphic Designer
Kathleen Donahue is a user-interface/user-experience designer and visual creative. Her background includes dance and theater on the East Coast and extensive film and video work on the West Coast. With the advancement of the web, she saw a new potential of combining creativity and technology to make a social impact. In 2000, Kathleen began designing interfaces, initially as a consultant for Apple, Inc., then as a User Interface Designer/Analyst for Aaron Marcus and Associates. For AM+A, she worked on a variety of projects including: Development and design of intranets, web applications, web portals, handheld device applications, heuristic evaluations and reports for Visa U.S.A.; GUI redesign of critical reporting systems for NetIQ; and, human factors research and analysis for computerized car functionality for BMW. In 2004, she began user-interface and creative design consulting through Ova Works, her ongoing consulting business. Projects include: UI and visual design of a Flex/Flash web-based, back-end reporting system for eBay, Inc.; printer hardware/software user interface and experience research for Epson Corporation; Web, Intranet, report and graph design for the University of California, Office of the President. In 2007, Kathleen wanted to expand her work to include social media design and joined Wellsphere, a health and healthy living consumer website. As Director of Design and User Experience, she defines innovative user interfaces and interaction styles, and oversees the conceptual development to the interactive implementation. She continues to be excited and ignited by the unexpected, multi-directional path of the web, inspired by technological and scientific leaps and the creative application of ideas.
It took three quarterlife crisis for Mona T. Brooks to figure out she wasn’t meant to be working in corporate America. So in 2003 she quit her job and started her journey in San Francisco. She finished a second undergraduate degree in documentary photography three years later from the Academy of Art University. Mona has photographed for the Democratic National Convention, Obama for America, Speaker of the House, and SFDA Kamala Harris. She’s been published internationally in Augenzeuge, Le Monde and Europa. Her work can also be spotted in over 40 issues of San Francisco Magazine.
Dr. Michelle Kraus is a veteran of the political blogging community. She has written on regulatory and political issues concerning the environment, the economy and the political landscape. After pioneering the use of advanced search and data applications for the 2004 political campaigns, she is often referred to as a “Google Ninja” working behind the scenes to build communities, craft messaging and reach out to voters with new and innovative technologies. Covering the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007, Dr. Michelle started the “quiet voices”series illuminating the monumental work of many of the participants across the globe who are quietly affecting change in health care and poverty alleviation. Invited to help with the grassroots outreach for the Dali Lama and the human rights community, she has covered the initiatives at www.humanitariandream.com.
