2009 Global Technology Symposium Organizers:

Alexandra Johnson, Managing Director
DFJ VTB Aurora

Alexandra Johnson is a Managing Director of DFJ VTB Aurora. She is a Silicon Valley-based partner and focuses on early stage companies in communications, media, and technology industries headquartered both inside and outside of Russia and CIS.

Prior to joining DFJ VTB Aurora, Alexandra was a founder and managing director of Landbridge Capital LLC, an investment firm targeting US-based companies commercializing Russian technology. For the past decade, she has provided executive management, investment, and corporate strategy services to multi-national companies. Prior to forming Landbridge Capital, Ms. Johnson was CEO of Libritas, Inc. (acquired by Next Web), a venture-backed provider of IT products and managed telecom services for small, medium, and Fortune 500 corporations.

Piotr Moncarz, Ph.D, P.E., SCPM
Exponent, USPTC

Dr. Moncarz is a Corporate Vice President and principal Engineer at Exponent, a Silicon Valley science and technology public corporation, a Consulting Professor at Stanford University, a co-founder and chairman of US-Polish Trade Council, a Board member of the Polish National Center for Research and Development, a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Science and of the Russian Academy of Technological Science, Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers, an Advisory Board member of Forum Obywatelskiego Rozwoju, a Board member of San Francisco Global Trade Council. He is active in international business from power plant development projects, energy technologies and economics, to high-tech ventures. For over 15 years Piotr has worked on projects associated with energy from development of power plants to the development of regional and national energy strategies.

Ilya Vinogradsky, Founder & C.T.O.
SysIQ

Ilya is SysIQ's technology guru, managing SysIQ's infrastructure and client implementations. He brings years of Internet technology experience to SysIQ. Prior to co-founding SysIQ, Ilya served as a Senior Software Engineer at Kana Communications. Ilya also held senior positions at Net Dialog and Intuit Corporation.Ilya earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from University of California at Davis.

Christopher B. Stone

Christopher B. Stone is co-founder of the Global Technology Symposium. He has served policy advisor to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D NM) in the areas of international trade, foreign affairs, and intellectual property. Before that, Chris practiced securities law at Cleary Gottlieb in London,where he advised on international debt and equity offerings by companies such as Rosneft, Amtel-Vredestein, and MegaFon, and at Sullivan & Cromwell in Silicon Valley, where he focused on the biotechnology and ICT sectors. Chris has also worked on several new business ventures, including Ironwood Holdings, a small Western-run merchant bank in Moscow.

Chris is a member of the California and the District of Columbia bars and has passed Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) examination. He is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Alex Gurevich, Principal
DFJ VTB Aurora

Alex Gurevich is Principal at DFJ VTB Aurora and is based out of the Silicon Valley office. His areas of interest and expertise include online consumer media, mobile applications, consumer electronics, clean energy, and nanotechnology.

Prior to DFJ VTB Aurora, Alex was the first employee and Director of Business Development at Ooma, a DFJ portfolio company in the voice over IP space, where he led his company's initial product roll out, customer acquisition and channel distribution strategy. Alex was also co-founder of Say-Hey-Hey.com, one of the web's first free video dating sites, where he was in charge of all product development, fundraising, and business development efforts and took the company from initial concept to revenue generation. He and his work have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, ABC News and Forbes. Alex also serves as a key advisor to several Silicon Valley early stage start-ups, and is an organizer of the Global Technology Symposium. Alex earned his M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds a B.A. in International Relations and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Sonia Kedzierski
VerticalResponse.com

Sonia Kedzierski graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in International Business and German. She has substantial international experience from studying economics at Albert Ludwigs University in Germany, working abroad, and traveling to 6 continents.

Personal and professional experience has made her culturally aware and socially sensitive to the mechanics of globalization. Through her fellowship at The San Francisco Global Trade Council, Sonia was able to put her organizational and multitasking skills to use for the Symposium. She is currently living in San Francisco and working at VerticalResponse.com.

Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, PR Specialist
Stowe Consulting

Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, a recent graduate of St. Mary’s College of California, is Public Relations specialist currently working at Stowe Consulting, a Silicon Valley PR and Marcom Agency where he works with hi-tech clients including DisplayLink, InFocus, and Lucid Logix. Before he took his position there, Michal interned at OutCast Communications, the PR agency responsible for clients such as Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo!, Mozilla, Xerox, and Salesforce.com. His communication pieces can be viewed on the BusinessWire. Michal earned his B.A. in Communications at St. Mary’s College and plans to attend San Francisco State in the Fall in line for his M.A.

Van McCormick, GTS Master of Ceremonies, Director
International Economic Alliance

Mr. McCormick is Director of the International Economic Alliance "IEA". Before IEA, he was Director of Investment Symposia and Harvard-Kommersant Program lecturer, both at Harvard's Belfer Center. Prior to the Belfer Center, he was Principal Lecturer for the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH). Before Harvard, Mr. McCormick was involved in various start-up, turn around, and private equity ventures including Qeyton Systems -sold to Cisco, President of acquisition holding companies that partnered with First Data (FDC) and Stonington Partners and Managing Director at US Digital that increased shareholder value tenfold. He started at Hubbard Broadcasting and lead new media for KOB-TV (NBC), ran Cityline Inc., and assisted with the start-up and programming for USSB, that merged into DIRECTV. Mr. McCormick served on the Bush/Quayle Presidential Council and the US Department of Commerce committee on high technology. He received a BA from the University of New Mexico and an AMP from the Harvard Business School.

Advisors:

Hon. Barbara Pivnicka, C.E.O.
San Francisco Global Trade Council

Barbara Pivnicka is President and Chief Executive Officer of the San Francisco Global Trade Council, an organization founded in 1992 by Harry Orbelian. Ms. Pivnicka served as Chief Executive Officer of the International Diplomacy Council, the San Francisco-based organization that developed programs in conjunction with the US State Department for over 1000 international professionals a year.

In 2001, Ms. Pivnicka was appointed Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic by the Foreign Minister of the Slovak Republic. She is the first woman in the US to hold the post. She was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Consular Corps, the third-largest consular community in the US, whose members represent 78 countries.

George Orbelian, Principal
Orbelian Properties

George Orbelian is a Principal in Orbelian Properties, a San Francisco-based firm with a commercial and multi-family real estate portfolio. He is co-founder of Ojingo Labs, LLC, a web 2.0 technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley. A surfer for over 35 years, Mr. Orbelian has authored the standard reference of surfboard design, “Essential Surfing,” and is currently at work on a book about the legendary surfboard designer, Dick Brewer. Passionate about the ocean and the environment, he was appointed to the San Francisco Mayor's Ocean Beach Task Force, and serves as a member of the Board of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association. A fluent Russian speaker, Mr. Orbelian assisted in the translation from Russian of Nicolai Levashov's "The Final Appeal To Mankind." He holds a BA in Art from San Francisco State University.<

Carl Pezold, Sales Manager
NetSuite

Carl Pezold brings 15 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience to the GTS. At San Mateo based NetSuite he manages sales efforts to mid-market companies seeking cost effective business software solutions. Previously, he has held sales and business developments at Citrix and Scala Business Solutions in Europe and the Former Soviet Union. He was founder of Adventure Spirit Tours, leading ecologic tours to Lake Baikal. Carl graduated with BA in Political Science from Ohio University.

Jeni Franco, CMP, Partner
ROAR Design & Events, LLC

Jeni Franco is a Partner and Event Director at ROAR Design and Events.  Jeni is an accomplished and respected Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) with substantial achievement in leading major conferences, meetings and events from initial planning phases through successful event conclusions. Jeni has produced successful domestic and international events including executive level corporate conferences, annual meetings, user conferences, tradeshows, sales meetings and special events. Besides working on the Global Technology Symposium since 2006, some of her clients include Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, Security Innovations Network, August Capital and deCarta, to name a few.  Jeni is on the Board for Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity and is the Executive Producer of the Think Green-World Music Festival, a green event which focuses on environmental awareness and sustainability.  She holds a B.A. from the California State University, Chico.

Diana Moldavsky, Director of Russia and CIS
OLX, Inc.

Diana has been at OLX for 2 years, during which she launched OLX in Russia and Russian speaking countries and grew OLX to become one of the 3 largest classified sites in Russia. She brings years of experience Business Development, Sales and Marketing in the Internet and IT sector, both in the US and Russia. Prior to OLX Diana was a Senior Manager at Yandex, where she was responsible for key partnerships and top international advertising accounts. Before moving to Moscow in 2004, Diana worked for Google Headquarters where she focused on the premium advertising accounts and before that she held various marketing and account management roles at leading IT corporations, including Sun Microsystems as well as at internet startups. She is also a co-founder of the Global Technology Symposium. Diana received her degree in Commerce with an emphasis in Marketing and International Business from Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business.

Mike Knych, Chief Financial Officer, Asset Management Company

Mr. Knych is a financial services professional with over twenty years in venture capital, private equity, startup company management and investment banking.   He has experience in corporate finance, operational turnarounds and exit strategies. Currently, Mike is the Chief Financial Officer of Asset Management Company, a seed and early stage venture capital company focused on the information technology and life sciences sectors.  He holds a B.A. in Economics from Colgate University.

Dmitriy Afanasyev, Senior Consultant
Capgemini

Dmitriy is a Senior Consultant at Capgemini, specialising in IT Strategy. His past experiences include venture capital work, event coordination, and a lot of international engagements. He is a native of Moscow, Russia and a graduate of the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Dmitriy is always looking for exciting opportunities and is wide open to suggestions.