Foundations


Thom Ruhe (Co-Chair)

  Thom Ruhe is Director of Entrepreneurship for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In addition to managing a joint venture between the Foundation and the office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the U.S. Department of Commerce, he likewise oversees collaborative projects between the Foundation and other innovative groups such as Invent Now (parent organization of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Camp Invention and Collegiate Inventors Competition), the Angel Capital Education Foundation and the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative. Ruhe also curates the online content/resources and communities for Kauffman’s flagship resource for entrepreneurs: www.entrepreneurship.org.
 
Prior to joining the Foundation, Ruhe was the founding chief marketing officer for JumpStart, a nonprofit economic development organization and seed stage investment fund created to invest in and accelerate the growth of high-potential, early stage companies.

 

Michael Hennessy (Co-Chair)

Michael Hennessy moved through the ranks of Fannie May Candy Company leading to his service on the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Hennessy was CEO in 1991 when the company sold. He also served as Director for the Coleman Foundation and assumed Presidency in 1993. The Foundation’s goal is to support innovative, sustainable programs that help create the next generation of business owners.

 

Entrepreneurs

Brien Biondi (Co-Chair)

Brien Biondi, CPA, MBA, is currently Executive Director of the Chief Executives’ Organization (CEO) in Bethesda, Maryland. CEO is a Young Presidents Organization (YPO) leadership organization by invitation only. Brien served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO), and the World Entrepreneurs’ Organization (WEO). In addition to past service on the YEO and WEO Board of Directors, he serves or has served on the boards for: Junior Achievement’s Strategic Planning Task Force, Communications Committee for the Forum of Regional Associations of Grant makers, the National Governors’ Association Entrepreneurship Advisory Group, the Research Institute for Small and Emerging Business, Social Entrepreneur Awareness for Change, The Advanced Management Institute, Exchange City USA, Echoing Green Foundation Reading Committee, and most recently joined the Greater Washington Area Board of Directors of The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Mr. Biondi has been featured by CNN, CNNfn, CBS Radio; articles in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily and USA Today; and features as Inc. and Smart Money. He was also selected as one of three national finalists in the 2002 and 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards “Support of Entrepreneurship” category.

Naveen Jain (Co-Chair)

 

Naveen Jain founder of Moon Express and Intelius. Previously, Jain founded InfoSpace and took it public in 1998 on the NASDAQ and served as CEO until he left to start Intelius. Prior to InfoSpace, Mr. Jain was a senior executive at Microsoft Corporation. He currently serves as Co-Chairman of “Education and Global Development” at the X Prize Foundation, and as a trustee of the board of Singularity University. Mr. Jain has earned the “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, “Albert Einstein Technology Medal” for pioneers in technology, “Top 20 Entrepreneurs” by Red Herring, “Six People Who Will Change the Internet” by Information Week and was awarded People’s Choice “Light of India” award for Business Leadership. His success with Intelius has earned such accolades as “Best New Company” by the American Business Awards, Puget Sound Business Journal’s “One of Washington’s Top Three Best Workplaces”, “Rising Star” in Deloitte & Touche’s Technology Fast 500 Program, “America’s Top 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies” by Inc. Magazine and has been listed amongst the top 15 Corporate Philanthropists in the community. Naveen is in the process of setting up an incentive prize challenge to develop “Digital Doctor” (AI based expert system), exploring ways to develop a Neurometric system to create better learners and to develop Neuroscience based multi-sensory video games that are effective and additive to teach students skills like math, science and history.

Media

Rieva Lesonsky (Chair)

Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and president of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company specializing in covering small businesses and entrepreneurship. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Lesonsky has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. In addition, Lesonsky is an editor-at-large for AllBusiness.com, the editor-in-chief at GrowSmartBusiness.com, and also writes about small business for SCORE, Small Business Trends, SBA.Gov, AT&T Small Business, American Express OPENForum and BusinessonMain. In 2009, she was named to Folio Magazine’s “Folio 40” list, which honors publishing’s top innovators. Ms. Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox Business News, The Martha Stewart show and Oprah, and can regularly be seen on MSNBC’s Your Business.

Secondary Education

Julie Kantor (Chair)

Julie Silard Kantor is a veteran in the field of entrepreneurship education and has taught entrepreneurship to urban youth since 1992. After a brief tenure at Inc. Magazine, Julie launched NFTE-New England in 1992. She established and personally taught NFTE classes at numerous public schools and youth programs. In 1995, she took over operations of the Greater Washington, DC Division where she serves as Executive Director, responsible for enhancing and expanding NFTE programs throughout the region and building ‘best practice’ templates for the organization both locally nationally and internationally. Kantor was featured as Top 100 Leaders to Watch Under 40 in Washingtonian Magazine’s Millenium Issue, Top 20 Leaders Who We Most Admire in SmartCEO magazine, Brava Women’s Leadership Award, and NFTE Executive of the year in 2005 & 2007.

Higher Education

Jeff Reid (Chair)

Jeff Reid is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Finance Initiatives at the Georgetown McDonough School of Business .

Jeff is a proven strategic leader in the arenas of entrepreneurship, venture capital, education, technology, and economic development.

Reid has previously held leadership roles at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, DigitalBridge Communications, DLA Piper, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Trammel Crow. At UNC-Chapel Hill, Reid grew an educational organization entrepreneurially from its inception to a No. 1 national ranking and was chosen by his peers as one of the top five entrepreneurship center directors in the United States. He served as chairman of the North American Entrepreneurial Studies Leadership Group and was recognized with the USASBE National Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education. He was instrumental in the creation of numerous entrepreneurial education programs and entrepreneurial companies that continue to thrive today, and has been a trusted advisor to many students and alumni.

International

Steven Koltai (Co-Chair)

Steven Koltai is an executive with thirty years’ experience in investment banking, strategic planning, business development, and entrepreneurship gained in some of the world’s leading media, technology, consulting, and investment banking organizations, as well as two successful start-ups.

Most recently, he was the Director of the State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Program, which he conceived, launched and managed. GEP is a key, new policy initiative of the Obama/Clinton foreign policy that seeks to promote entrepreneurship in emerging market countries as a way to further economic development, spur job creation and promote the political stability and civil society that rely on these foundations.

Previous to GEP, Steven founded and sold a venture-backed company and was the founder & general manager of Warner Bros. Interactive.

Jennifer Kushell (Co-Chair)

Jennifer Kushell has lead a movement inspiring young people to pursue their professional dreams for more than a decade. As the president and co-founder of YSN.com (Your Success Network) , she spearheaded development of the first professionally focused network dedicated to supporting emerging adults (Gen X and Millennials) as they transition from home and school into the real world. As co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, “Secrets of the Young & Successful,” (originally Simon & Schuster), author of The Young Entrepreneur’s Edge (Random House) and Solo Para Emprendedores (Grupo Norma), Kushell is a leading professional speaker, corporate strategist, and generational expert whose greatest experience comes from having worked internationally with over ten thousand young people. Called a “guru” of her generation by US News & World Report and “The Career Doctor” by Cosmopolitan, Kushell has appeared in front of over 200 million people throughout the world via major media such as CNN, CNBC, BBC, NPR, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Brandweek, Entrepreneur, Seventeen and Cosmopolitan.
 

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