Board
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Meet the Board:
Sharjeel Kashmir, President, Screening Co-Chair
Trevor Bond, Screening Co-Chair
Margaret E. Miao, Membership Chair
Mason Du, External Relations Co-Chair
Tom Hirschfeld, External Relations Co-Chair, VC Relations
Jim Sherman, External Relations Co-Chair, Startup Showcases
Donald Samuels, External Relations Co-Chair
Sandee Springer, Marketing Co-Chair, Social Media
Barry Goldman, Portfolio Relations
Clare Peeters, President, HBS Club of NY (Ex-Officio)
BOARD:
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Jason E. Klein is an experienced media CEO and builder of digital and traditional businesses who has led two successful turnarounds. He is founder and CEO of On Grid Ventures, an investment and advisory firm with a portfolio of 20+ early stage companies. Mr Klein is co-President of the HBS Angels Alumni Association. Mr. Klein was previously CEO of Newspaper National Network LP; and CEO of Times Mirror Magazines/Time4 Media, publisher of Golf Magazine, Field & Stream, and Popular Science. Mr. Klein is one of Alleywatch's “25 Angels Investors in NY You Need to Know,” a member of New York Angels, and mentor at several NYC-area incubators.
Jason E. Klein is an experienced media CEO and builder of digital and traditional businesses who has led two successful turnarounds. He is founder and CEO of On Grid Ventures, an investment and advisory firm with a portfolio of 20+ early stage companies. Mr Klein is co-President of the HBS Angels Alumni Association. Mr. Klein was previously CEO of Newspaper National Network LP; and CEO of Times Mirror Magazines/Time4 Media, publisher of Golf Magazine, Field & Stream, and Popular Science. Mr. Klein is one of Alleywatch's “25 Angels Investors in NY You Need to Know,” a member of New York Angels, and mentor at several NYC-area incubators.
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SHARJEEL KASHMIR, PLDA 07
PRESIDENT
SCREENING CO-CHAIR
Sharjeel Kashmir invests in companies that have a hyper-focus on the customer and use innovation to disrupt the current landscape. He brings the unique perspective of having worked at leading investment banks, asset managers, commercial banks, retail banks, private equity firms, and innovative fintech startups. He currently serves as President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater NY (HBSAANY).
Sharjeel has more than 25 years of experience working in financial services in the US, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. He currently works as an advisor to investment banks and asset managers in NYC, focusing on transformational initiatives... Read More
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TREVOR BOND, MBA '89
SCREENING CO-CHAIR
Trevor Bond is the Founder and Principal of Maidstone Investment Company, an investor in real estate and early stage companies. Until 2016 he was the CEO of W.P. Carey Inc., an $11 billion global public REIT/investment manager with Assets Under Management of $12 billion and a footprint spanning 20 countries. Prior to W.P. Carey he held roles in finance, development, asset management and principal investing at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse (First Boston) and Tishman Realty and Construction.
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MARGARET MIAO, MBA '87
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
Margaret E. Miao is an experienced marketing, strategic planning and new product development executive who has advised and led new product launches, marketing and business development initiatives while in various management positions at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, J.P. Morgan Chase, Thomson Financial Corporation and IBM Corporation. She is Founder and Principal of Rock Ridge Advisors, an investment and advisory firm.
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MASON DU, PLDA '14
EXTERNAL RELATIONS CO-CHAIR
Mason is a co-founder of Benbria, a B2B SaaS company started in 2007. Benbria works with some of the largest institutions in the world, and won multiple awards such as Profit Hot 50. A programmer since 9, Mason studied Software Engineering at University of Waterloo. Mason has extensive history investing and advising early-stage companies. In addition to being the External Relation co-chair at HBSAANY, Mason is also the software Co-Sector Lead with Dan Delmar.
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TOM HIRSCHFELD, AB '83
EXTERNAL RELATIONS CO-CHAIR
Tom Hirschfeld’s work experience includes positions as Chief Operating Officer of Halcyon Asset Management, a New York investment firm which he helped grow from $2 to $14 billion under management; Managing Director at J. & W. Seligman, where he managed a $1 billion venture capital portfolio and served as Chief Operating Officer for Investments; Partner at Patricof & Co. Ventures, where he led early investments in companies including Audible and Intralinks; Assistant to the Mayor of New York City; and Vice President in Corporate Finance at Salomon Brothers. Also a New York Times bestselling author, he has written nonfiction books with over 1.5 million copies in print. Tom graduated magna cum laude in Classics from Harvard College and received a graduate degree in Economics and Politics from Balliol College, Oxford University, on a Marshall Scholarship.
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JIM SHERMAN, MBA '91
EXTERNAL RELATIONS CO-CHAIR
Jim is a serial Internet entrepreneur, angel/seed stage investor, and author. He founded and exited three companies -- WestEnd New Media in the late 90s focused on providing Internet strategy advice to media firms; ShermansTravel Media (2002 to present), a leading publisher of hand-picked travel deals, and Hamptons Lane, an e-commerce venture targeting foodies. He has deep experience in digital media, advertising & marketing, and e-commerce. His former corporate roles include strategy consulting (Bain & Co.) and publishing (Time Inc.; Pearson; Martha Stewart Living). He loves travel, the theater, and international politics.
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DONALD SAMUELS, PPL '08
EXTERNAL RELATIONS CO-CHAIR
​Donald was the President and Managing Director of Pictorial Corporation. Pictorial was a large-scale manufacturing firm in the communication/marketing industry. The company had an industrial real estate footprint and logistics subsidiary under management. He is currently an angel/seed stage investor with over 40 companies in the portfolio. Donald currently holds a US Coast Guard OUPV Masters License as well as a New Jersey Real Estate License.
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Sandee Springer, MBA '89
MARKETING CO-CHAIR - SOCIAL MEDIA
Sandee Springer is an experienced marketing, brand development, and retail consumer products executive with a successful track record of driving sales and margin growth across a wide range of product categories in a highly entrepreneurial environment. In her current role as the Chief Marketing, Merchandising and Commercial Officer for Marijuana Doctor.com, Ms. Springer is highly focused on digital marketing, e-commerce, social media engagement, and telehealth services. Previously, Ms. Springer held senior executive positions in buying, merchandising, and strategic planning for major retailers in the US and Europe, including Toys R Us, Macy’s, and Bergdorf Goodman.
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BETSY ODITA, BA, JD/MBA '98
DEAL CO-CHAIR
Betsy Odita is a business strategy, risk and operating leader with over 15 years of experience in the asset management industry. She is currently Executive Director of Ultra-High Net Worth Strategy in Morgan Stanley's Wealth Management Risk Department. Prior to Morgan Stanley, she served as Head of Investment Risk Assets Oversight & Special Projects at AIG Investments, where she oversaw a $7 billion alternative investment portfolio. At AIG, she also restructured investment functions, lead global business expansion planning teams, initiated new business ventures, and managed deals for division-level strategic investments, alliances, and joint ventures.​
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Barbara Miller, MBA '92
DEAL CO-CHAIR
Barbara is a senior portfolio manager with Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds in New York and has been with the firm since 2002. Earlier, she was an investment research analyst at Goldman Sachs and Alex. Brown, and prior to that worked as a public relations professional and broadcast journalist. Barbara is a graduate Harvard Business School (MBA) and Brown University (AB, Economics).
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RICHARD A. DAVIES, MBA '83
DEAL CO-CHAIR
Dick Davies currently serves an angel investor in startup financial technology and other companies and as an independent strategy consultant to asset managers and investors in the investment management industry. Until 2016, Davies was a Senior Managing Director with AllianceBernstein, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of AB’s global defined contribution and multi-asset businesses. Davies holds a BA in Economics and Political Science, with honors, from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a past Trustee of the Employee Benefit Research Institute and was a founder and served on the Executive Committee of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. Davies was named one of “Forty Under 40” business leaders by Crain’s Chicago Business and “Fund Marketer of the Year” by Institutional Investor newsletters. He chairs the Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin’s Economics Department.
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ANTHONY GELLERT, AB, MBA '97
TREASURER
Anthony is the President and Founder of Livingston Capital Management, an investment partnership based in New York City. Prior to his founding of Livingston Capital, he covered healthcare services and industrial services at Cobalt Capital Management and before that was an analyst at Kingdon Capital Management.
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BARRY GOLDMAN, MBA '79
PORTFOLIO RELATIONS
Barry Goldman spent just under 30 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He ran the New Products group for most of his career, and reviewed all new business proposals on a global basis to ensure operational readiness prior to go-live. After the firm went public, Barry also led the controls reviews of due diligence for proprietary acquisitions made by the firm. Before moving to Wall Street, Barry was a management consultant with Touche, Ross & Co (now Deloitte), where he supported small to large companies and government agencies in a variety of industries and functions.
