Entrepreneurial Alliance Second Annual Spring Business Competition

Spring 2012

Career CenterColby College4140 Mayflower HillWaterville, ME 04901-8843

TEL 207-859-4140E-MAIL career@colby.edu

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The Colby Career Center’s Entrepreneurial Alliance (EA) welcomes you to the second annual spring business competition.

Entrepreneurial Alliance: Objectives and Mission

The Career Center’s Entrepreneurial Alliance provides academic and practical support for individual career exploration by providing resources that strengthen entrepreneurial endeavors. The program offers a one-year curriculum of workshops, information sessions, and collaborative programming. Partnering with the Kennebec Valley Entrepreneurial Network—including municipalities, the business community, and state government—the Entrepreneurial Alliance links students and community residents to the resources necessary to support their entrepreneurial curiosity and development. Colby alumni, parents, and friends cooperate to support both the Entrepreneurial Alliance’s mission and the one-year curriculum.

Colby students in the EA program may participate in the Spring Business Competition. The Alliance awards start-up capital to the most-promising business or businesses. Student entrepreneurs are evaluated on their business prospectus and their presentation to a panel of judges. Students who participate in the competition are strongly encouraged to consider a business in the state of Maine.

The Entrepreneurial Alliance strives to balance the following aspects:

Academic: Preserves the basic principles of an interdisciplinary liberal arts education, relying on both critical analysis and creative strategy

Cultural: Provides a network for individual entrepreneurs, securing an ecosystem of education services, service providers, peer networks, market opportunities, skill-development resources, economic development and work services providers, financial institutions, and community leaders

Economic: Promotes economic development by supporting young entrepreneurs who have a sound vision for business opportunity and employment in Maine and beyond

Entrepreneurial Alliance Competition 2012

A special thanks to the program advisory committee members for their leadership and counsel, to the judges for their time and commitment, and to those who contributed financially to the competition

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Advisory Committee

Joe Boulos ’68

As chairman of CBRE|The Boulos Company, Joe Boulos administers financial affairs of the brokerage, management, and development services of the company. He directs the development and marketing of major retail, office and industrial properties, the acquisition of commercial and industrial real estate, and the leasing and sale of downtown and suburban office space. Boulos has developed more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial property. From 1968 to 1973 Boulos was a U.S. Marine Corps pilot serving in Vietnam. From 1973 to 1975 he was a commercial pilot, flying in Laos, Africa, and South America. He is a graduate of Cheverus High School and holds a B.A. and an honorary doctoral degree from Colby. He is a former chair of Colby’s Board of Trustees and received Colby’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2003. In 2006 he was awarded the National Association of the National Guard’s Patrick Henry Award for his service to returning Maine veterans. He and his wife, Sheri, have created more than 300 college scholarships for Maine veterans through a $1-million donation announced in December 2005. He recently received the Henri A. Benoit Award for Leadership in the Private Sector and was named the Maine Association of Nonprofits’ 2008 Philanthropist of the Year. In 2010 Boulos received Colby’s Ernest C. Marriner Award for exceptional commitment and dedication to the College.

Deborah Wathen Finn ’74 P’07

Colby Overseer Deborah Wathen Finn is president of The Wathen Group, which provides strategic advisory services including business development for businesses ranging from small start-ups to global scale, as well as strategic planning, organization development, negotiations and public policy development for public and private sector organizations in areas of infrastructure and economic development. She previously served as senior vice president and global director of transit and rail for an international infrastructure firm where she developed the rail/transit practice expanding its geographic presence and industry recognition. Wathen Finn spent more than 25 years in public-sector organizations leading planning and public policy programs. She also held leadership roles in delivering public transportation operations at NJ Transit and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. She has two adult children, James and Stephanie ‘07.

Mark G. Johnson ’96

Mark G. Johnson is a senior director at Condé Nast. In April 2008 media giant Condé Nast acquired SFO*MEDIA, which Johnson had founded. This travel-related Web properties company published popular titles such as HotelChatter, Jaunted, and VegasChatter. Since 2008 he has continued to manage and grow travel properties at Condé Nast. Johnson has been an Internet entrepreneur for over 12 years. Early in his career he worked for Web giants CNET and Travelocity during their formative years, and he went on to found two Internet companies in 1999 and 2004. His travel publications have been featured in TIME magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, on the BBC and the Today Show, and in many other popular offline and online media publications. He earned a B.A. in history at Colby in 1996.

Bruce A. Maxwell

Bruce Maxwell is an associate professor of computer science and the current Computer Science Department chair. He earned a B.A. in political science with a concentration in computer science and a B.S. in engineering from Swarthmore, a master’s in computer speech and natural language processing from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon. His areas of expertise include robotics, computer vision, computer graphics, and scientific data analysis. Maxwell is also a successful entrepreneur.

James W. Meehan Jr.

Herbert E. Wadsworth Professor of Economics Jim Meehan has taught at Colby since 1973. He earned his B.A. in economics from St. Vincent College and his Ph.D. in economics from Boston College. His areas of expertise include antitrust policy, economics of industry and organizations, economics of professional baseball, mergers, takeovers, leveraged buyouts, vertical integration, and regulation.

Judges

Todger Anderson ’67

After graduation Todger Anderson moved to Denver, Colo., and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Denver in 1969. In 1975 he joined Denver Investments, a company investing in stocks and bonds for institutional clients. Today the company manages $10 billion in assets for institutions, wealthy individuals, and its family of Westcore Mutual Funds. Anderson is chairman of Denver Investments and president of the Westcore Mutual Funds. He is also founder and principal shareholder of Tokyo Joe’s, Inc., a quick-service restaurant chain with 23 stores located in Colorado founded in 1996. He recently started Aspire Recovery LLC, a sober-living home in Carbondale, Colo., for women with addiction problems. He is a director of Marx-Okubo, a privately held firm specializing in assessing the physical condition of buildings and providing construction management services. Anderson lives with his family in Vail, Colo.

Leslie Biddle ’89

Leslie Biddle recently retired as a partner of Goldman Sachs. During nearly 10 years in Goldman’s commodity business, she was the chief financial officer of its merchant mining effort and global head of commodity sales. She also held positions as head of power, metals/industrial, Latin American and environmental commodities. She was responsible for many of the structured transitions in the private equity and power spaces including the monetization of Allegheny and California Department of Water Resources contract, the structuring of Calpine Construction Finance Company hedge, the Texas Genco acquisition, and the TXU leveraged buyout. Biddle was a member of the firm’s finance committee, business practices committee, firm-wide new activity committee, structured investment products committee, and European audit and compliance committee. She was named managing director in 2004 and partner in 2006. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs she was vice president at AES Corporation, focusing on project finance and power plant development. She also served as vice president at the Overseas Investment Corporation, providing political risk and financing to U.S. companies expanding overseas. Biddle earned a B.A. in economics from Colby and a M.A. from American University.

Entrepreneurial Alliance Competition 2012

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Christopher W. Bradley ’78

Chris Bradley was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and lettered in both alpine and Nordic skiing. An American Studies major, he worked as a waiter at Snowbird ski area in Utah before earning an M.B.A. in accounting and finance from the University of Utah. Bradley started his career in finance in 1983 as a municipal bond underwriter for Shearson Lehman Brothers in New York. At Chase Manhattan Bank he served as a securities trading manager in the international private bank, responsible for the profitability of nondiscretionary accounts holding a total value of $400 million in equity and fixed-income securities. In 1988 he formed an investor group to acquire the assets of Cuddledown Inc., a manufacturer and national catalog retailer of home textiles. He led the turnaround of the company, where he is now president and CEO, growing sales, expanding product lines and manufacturing capacity, and moving into the wholesale and hospitality markets. In 2007 he launched Maggie’s Direct, a pure-play retailer pioneering in social network shopping. Employing more than 110 people, the company has facilities in Portland, Yarmouth, and Freeport, Maine. He is past president of the National E-tailing and Mailing Organization of America, a past director of the American Catalog Mailers Association, and a current director of the Direct Marketing Association.

Cheryl Booker Gorman ’74 P’08 P’12

Cheryl Booker Gorman is executive vice president of Harvard University Employees Credit Union in Cambridge, Mass. A former Colby overseer and and American Studies major, she was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority and worked on the Echo as women’s sports editor. She earned her master’s degree in management at Simmons College and has spent her career in the financial services industry. For 15 years she was co-owner and principal of Compass Consulting in Providence, R.I., specializing in strategic planning and market research related to consumer and small-business banking. Gorman and her husband, Doug ’73, have been active in many Colby-related activities and are current co-chairs of the Class of 2012 Parents Executive Committee. She received the Colby Brick Award in 1999 and her loyalty to Colby is demonstrated by her license plate, “Colby4”.

Robert Hoopes ’89

Robert Hoopes is President of VOX Global, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm and subsidiary of Omnicom, one of the world’s largest communication firms. Five years ago Omnicom/Fleishman-Hillard acquired Hoopes Strategies, LLC and appointed Hoopes to run VOX. Hoopes has directed the firm to five consecutive years of growth, increasing the team from 12 people in 2007 to more than 50 in 2011 with offices in Washington, Boston, Indianapolis, Little Rock, Dallas, and Portland, Maine. The company focuses on providing bipartisan advocacy and communications counsel to clients looking for partners who appreciate their organizational objectives and the way political advocacy can promote and protect the interests of the organization, employees, and stakeholders. Hoopes has been active in electoral politics for more than 25 years and has worked at every Democratic National Convention since 1992. He provides regular political commentary for Fox News, NPR, MSNBC, and BBC World News and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. Since 1999 he has been an adjunct professor at the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. Hoopes now serves on the Council of American Politics at GWU and is on the Board of Trustees at Colby. He earned his B.A. in government at Colby and a master’s in legislative affairs from GWU. Hoopes lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife and family.

Mark G. Johnson ’96

(See bio under Advisory Committee)

James Satloff P’15

Jim Satloff is an experienced chief executive and senior manager with a track record of global leadership in financial services, technology, and entrepreneurship. He has led numerous companies through growth, change, and challenges. He has been a successful CEO and president of multiple broker-dealers, a conscientious director of financial services firms and hedge funds, and a leader in the use of technology in financial services and media. Satloff is executive chairman of InvestorForce, a financial software concern, and chairman of Liberty Skis, an alpine ski manufacturer he helped to found. Previous positions include CEO and president of the investment bank C.E. Unterberg, Towbin; executive managing director and president of Standard & Poor’s institutional market services, CEO of Inform Technologies, and vice president of both Salomon Brothers and Bankers Trust. Satloff has a B.A. from Columbia College in New York City and a MBA from the Columbia Business School. He is trustee of the James (C’84) and Aaron (C’56) Satloff Scholarship fund at Columbia College. He and his wife, Emily, are the parents of Dustin ‘15, who is employed by Colby’s Athletics Department as a professional sports photographer. The Satloffs also serve on the Parents Executive Committee.

Entrepreneurial Alliance Competition 2012

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Student Entrepreneurs

BlockstepWill O’Brien ‘12Major: Computer Science

Blockstep is a web and mobile application for tracking and improving personal productivity. With the rapid adoption of mobile devices, it is now easier than ever to collect and analyze data surrounding productivity. Blockstep plans to cut its teeth in the personal productivity app market place and gradually move into analysis and iterative improvement of business processes.

BloomNicholas Papanastassiou ‘13Majors: Environmental Studies and Economics

Bloom seeks to revolutionize the way that people commute in cities. We will provide professional folding bicycles to companies for use by their employees to travel to and from work. The bicycles will be of a unique folding design that can be customized to companies’ wants and needs. They will be sold to companies who want to save money on health care and transportation costs, as well as to those who want to interact with their city and environment in a more socially responsible manner.

BRAMS:digitalDaniel Abrams ‘13Major: History

BRAMS:digital is developing a customizable GPS tracking wristband for children to wear in crowded environments such as amusement parks, resorts, beaches, and ski slopes. The wristband sends a signal that shows the child’s location on both Smartphone and web app. The wristband allows parents to find their lost or separated children quickly and with less worry, making a potentially traumatic experience more bearable.

FichiniJenny Chen ‘13JMajors: English and International Studies

Fichini is a social enterprise that helps small and mid-sized nonprofit organization market efficiently to young people. Launched in 2010 by sister- brother team Jenny and Jack Chen, Fichini believes in empowering young people by developing confidence and work-related skills.

MuleMarketWill Hochman ‘14Major: Economics

Clay McMickens ‘12Majors: Government and American Studies

The MuleMarket is a virtual market place tailored for college students. Students will be able to buy and sell goods ranging from textbooks to futons. The MuleMarket has already launched one branch at Colby College and plans on opening additional branches at other NESCAC schools in the near future.

NXT LEVEL Music GroupGriffin Zucosky ‘12Major: Sociology

NXT LVL Music Group is a full service music management and production company founded by Griffin and Dylan Zucosky. NXT LVL provides artists with inventive, forward thinking and highly personalized representation in all facets of their music careers. NXT LVL is highly tuned in to the new music model and subsequently represents several gifted up and coming artists such as Chuck Revere and SkylR.

PhitclubVictor Chen ‘12Major: Economics

Ben Darr ‘14Major: Psychology

Phitclub leverages the growing health trend among young professionals by providing an alternative to traditional bars and nightclubs. Phitclub elevates the conventional bar scene by serving higher quality, lower calorie alcoholic beverages and bar foods along with entertainment and presentations that focus on current trends. Emphasizing healthier habits and new trends, Phitclub will be the favored option for socializing and holding private functions. Our target customers are willing to pay a premium to enjoy healthier drinks and food in an entertaining environment with like-minded young professionals. Phitclub.com complements the bar with a virtual space for members to share their own workouts, recipes and experiences, further building the Phitclub community.

Entrepreneurial Alliance Competition 2012

Competition Finalists (in order of appearance)

Qponify

BRAMS:digital

MuleMarket

RentPrefs

Phitclub

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Qponify, LLCBrandan Rivard ‘14Major: Economics: Financial Markets

Jonathan Sommer ‘14Majors: Government, East Asian Studies

Qponify, LLC is dedicated to bridging the gap between college students and the Greater Waterville community by promoting local businesses at the surrounding college campuses. At Qponify, we believe that the Greater Waterville Area has much more to offer than meets the eye. Qponify’s goal is to increase the revenue of its clients while at the same time providing students with the benefit of discounted rates and a better overview of the goods and services provided by local establishments.

RentPrefsMatthew Boyes-Watson ‘12Major: Economics

RentPrefs collects comprehensive renter information through its apartment preference survey. An algorithm uses the survey responses to provide the renter with compatible matches from realtor inventories across the city of Boston. The renter responds to the best matches. RentPrefs aggregates all of the renter’s information, including their availability for a showing, and delivers it to the realtor.

Entrepreneurial Alliance Competition 2012

Entrepreneurial Alliance Administration

Erica L. HumphreyErica Humphrey, an associate director of the Career Center, manages employer relations including on-campus recruiting and co-directs the Entrepreneurial Alliance program. She has worked at the College for five years, having held a previous post in College Relations. Humphrey began her career working for a technology incubator/executive education firm, Cambridge Technology Group. Since then she has worked in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, gaining experience in software development, marketing and public relations, program and project management, academic advising, and fundraising. In addition she has developed her own business communications course, which she has taught as an adjunct faculty member at colleges in central Maine. Erica earned a B.A. in English summa cum laude from the University of Maine, a M.Ed. from Harvard University, and a M.B.A. from Boston College.

Roger W. WoolseyRoger “Rog” Woolsey, director of the Career Center, is a former corporate executive and award-winning college professor experienced in integrated marketing communications, including new business, marketing research, branding, public relations awareness, website development and promotions, and print advertisements for both profit and nonprofit businesses. As a professor he taught courses in management, leadership, advertising, public relations, public speaking, and rhetorical theory at Boston College, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. At Boston College he was also responsible for career counseling, internships, academic advising, study abroad, and department communications. Woolsey earned a B.A. in communications at San Diego State University and a M.A. at Emerson College.