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Judges
AiLun is the VP of Community and Capacity at the EGF Accelerator, a Leadership Fellow with the Heckscher Foundation for Children, and a Senior Strategic Advisor to NationSwell. She previously served as President and CEO of The Opportunity Network, supporting first-generation college students and young people of color to pursue education and career opportunities to…
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Speakers
Aina Fadina is a strategist, investor, and storyteller who operates at the intersection of catalytic capital, culture, commerce, and community. With a career spanning public health, biotech, media, fashion, and venture capital, she brings a unique global perspective to fundraising and ecosystem building. Most recently, Aina served as Chief Investment Officer at 10xBeta, a venture studio…
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Judges
Allie is a junior student in Pauli Murray College double majoring in Ethnicity, Race & Migration and Political Science. Born and raised in New Mexico, she has been excited to find a lot of similarity between the community organizing scenes in both states. She is hopeful that her involvement in New Haven and in New…
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Judges
Amir has over a decade of experience in private equity, reverse merger and project finance transactions in clean energy across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, having raised in excess of $1B in direct equity capital commitments for solar, wind and electric vehicle charging companies. Amir previously led all M&A and developer partnerships…
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Judges
Dr. Anne Merritt is a physician-executive operating at the intersection of generative AI, healthcare, and global regulatory strategy. As a Senior Product Manager at Google, she leads the development of AI governance architecture to enable the deployment of cutting-edge AI tools in global markets. Her technical contributions to AI safety infrastructure were recognized with the…
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Judges
Arjun Ganesan is the CEO and Founder of Ancera, where he leads the vision, mission, and strategy to deliver real-time intelligence for food protection and defense. Since founding the company in 2012, he has guided the commercialization of breakthrough technologies by integrating diagnostics, data science, and secure communications to detect threats like Salmonella, Coccidia, and…
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Judges
Arthur W. Thomas III received his Bachelor’s in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University. Upon graduation, he worked in finance for many years while preparing for the transition to investing in real estate and community development. Once transitioned, Arthur focused on residential rehabilitation and acquisition for both his personal investment company and in a…
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Judges
Dr. Ashwin Vasan, ScM, MD, PhD, is an internist, epidemiologist, and health policy leader recognized nationally for advancing innovative, data-driven public health solutions. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health and Affiliate Faculty at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, following a decade on the faculty at Columbia University….
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Judges
Audra Gibson began her startup journey as an entrepreneur herself. From there she became a startup mentor, Startup Weekend facilitator, lead organizer of 1 Million Cups, board member for Charleston Women in Tech, Yale Summer Fellows mentor, experienced ecosystem builder, and Ambassador for Right to Start. Audra is currently a Program Lead for Techstars, a…
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Judges
Bethany Park is Global Managing Director of Policy, Advisory, and Strategy at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), where she leads efforts to bridge the gap between research evidence and action at scale. With over a decade of experience in international development, her work focuses on translating rigorous evidence into scaled interventions and systems change through…
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Judges
Blake is an entrepreneur focused on building solutions for underserved populations. He previously founded a behavioural health company that delivered psychological and nutrition services through contracts with organisations such as the Salvation Army and the Veterans Affairs system. Today, he is the CEO and co-founder of Upkeep Care (the 2024 winner of the Thorne Prize),…
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Judges
Brandon Blaesser is a Vice President at the Ecosystem Integrity Fund. His responsibilities include sector research, pipeline development and tracking, investment due diligence, and portfolio company support. Brandon sits on the Yale Club of New York’s Board. He received a BA in Economics and a BA in Environmental Studies from Yale University. He also holds a LEED AP…
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Judges
Cheryl Heller, PhD, is a designer, artist, business strategist and educator. Through her design agency, CommonWise, she helps leaders around the world develop their creative capacity, navigate the future and realize their purpose in it. Her clients include Ford Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Lumina Foundation the Girl Scouts of America, Verizon, American Express, Marriott Corporation,…
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Judges
David Femi currently serves as M&T Bank’s Regional Manager for Business & Professional Banking for Fairfield County and Southern Connecticut. From January 2020 to January 2024, he built the framework and infrastructure as the Head of M&T Bank’s Multicultural Banking & Diverse Market Strategy. David is well sort after nationally and internationally as a diverse…
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Judges
Deniz Basar, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Art & Design at the University of New Haven, where she also serves as director of the Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in User Experience Design and the Master of Science in Information Science programs. Her work focuses on advancing interdisciplinary education that integrates design,…
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Speakers
Erin Ollila is a sought-after content strategist, SEO expert, and storyteller who believes in the power of words to transform audiences and create authentic connections. Her approach centers on understanding audience psychology and brand values, ensuring every word drives meaningful impact. In addition to her work with small businesses, she’s helped major brands like Oracle,…
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Judges
As founding partner of AWSM LABS (”awesome”), Fritz is a strategic design leader, designer and educator with over 25 years experience serving in executive design roles at DDB, Digitas, New York University, IBM, McKinsey & Company and most recently with Boston Consulting Group as NA Head of Strategic Design. Linkedin
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Judges
Genevive Goubourn-Walker was raised in New Haven, Connecticut. She attended Educational Center for the Arts and studied theater and graduated from Wilbur Cross High School and subsequently attended and graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies. She later received her MA in Elementary Education at Teacher College,…
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Judges
Dr. Ingrid T. Katz, MD, MHS, is a nationally recognized physician-scientist and global health leader currently serving as Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) beginning January 1, 2026. She holds a joint appointment at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health, with a secondary appointment at the Yale…
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Judges
Jamal Robinson is the Director of Sales and Marketing at New England Brewing Co. With over 20 years of experience in the brewing industry, he has successfully helped develop, launch, and manage sales for both national and regional breweries. A champion of diversity, Jamal has spearheaded the establishment of two African American Brewers Scholarships for…
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Judges
Jongnic “JB” Bontemps is a distinguished film composer whose critically acclaimed work reverberates around the world. His score for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr., a longtime collaborator of Bontemps, was recognized with the inaugural NAACP Image Award for Outstanding TV/Film Score and received a nomination for a Hollywood Music in…
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Judges
Joshua Espinoza is a Baltimore-based performing musician, recording artist, and entrepreneur whose work bridges creative practice, education, and arts-driven enterprise. An active pianist and collaborator, he maintains a performance career that spans solo work and ensemble projects, with a particular emphasis on jazz adjacent and cross genre repertoire. His recordings and performances reflect a commitment…
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Judges
Justine is the CEO of ClimateHaven, a climate tech incubator. She is an active early-stage venture investor and advisor focused on sustainable transportation and the energy transition. From 2019-2022, Justine was a partner and Chief Operating Officer of 25madison Ventures, where she invested in and advised early-stage technology companies across fintech, sustainability and health-tech. Justine…
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Judges
Kelsey is an independent consultant focused on social and economic justice. She helps organizations scale their impact through partnerships, capacity building, and capital deployment. Currently, she works with Brocade Studio on the firm’s business development, strategic planning, and business planning verticals. Previously, as Senior Director of Business Development and Program Design at Possibility Labs, she…
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Speakers
Kofi Ampadu is the founder and General Partner of SKU’d Ventures and a former Venture Advisor with the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY). He is an entrepreneur, startup advisor & investor with over 10 years of professional experience. As a two-time founder, he is well-versed in the pitfalls and rewards of…
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Judges
Lana Graf, PhD – is an impact investor and principal industry specialist at Disruptive Technologies and Funds dpt. at IFC, a private sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), where she leads Ai/ML and Deep tech verticals. At IFC, Lana is helping to bring advanced technologies to clients and industries across emerging markets, utilizing…
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Judges
Lindsay Greene is the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. Previously, Lindsay was chief strategy officer at New York City Economic Development Corporation and for Economic Development and Housing in the New York City mayor’s office. She started her career by shaping policy decisions at food startups, and in finance at…
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Judges
Luis is a New Haven native who believes that civic innovations strengthen communities. Luis has facilitated civic innovations throughout his career as an AmeriCorps Service member, Co-creator of New Haven’s Cultural Equity Plan, and non-profit board member supporting New Haven’s food system. Since 2016 Luis has worked at the New Haven Free Public Library and…
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Judges
Malik brings the technical acumen of a multidisciplinary chemistry background and an adaptable generalist in the broad-ranging space of business operations. Prior to joining Connecticut Innovations, Malik was manager of business operations at the early-stage biotech EvolveImmune Therapeutics, where he delivered valuable insights on strategic workstreams in competitive intelligence and market analysis, coordinated the intellectual…
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Judges
Dr. Mehta is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Public Health, where his work focuses on innovation and the application of AI in healthcare delivery. He is the co-founder of MCCM, a novel distributed healthcare entity expanding in Canada through a Public-Private Partnership model. He serves as an advisor and board member…
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Judges
At Material Impact Fund, Melissa brings a unique mix of scientific and business acumen applicable at both the strategic and tactical levels and has a passion for developing and commercializing early-stage scientific innovations. She recently led an investment in and joined the board of Ripple Foods. Melissa has enjoyed an extensive career as an operator….
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Speakers
Nkem is a fractional COO/Chief of Staff who partners with pre-Series B founders to streamline operations and execute GTM strategies that unlock growth. She has 12+ years of experience as a startup operator, founder, and management consultant. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale and an MBA from Harvard Business School. LinkedIn
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Judges
Dr. Padron is a portfolio manager within J.P. Morgan’s Commercial & Investment Bank in the Innovation Economy team, partnering with founders and investors of early-stage deep science and emerging technology companies to accelerate growth. Previously, Dr. Padron founded EmpiricaLab, a Techstars-backed enterprise software startup; helped scale digital health technologies on Anthem’s new ventures team; and…
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Judges
Rashmi Pendse is an impact investing specialist whose work has centered of directing private capital into sustainable and socially responsible initiatives. She is currently a member of New York City’s Urban Design Forum’s “Lifelong” Forefront Fellow Cohort, focusing on helping older adults age in place. Formerly, she was Director of North America Social Impact at…
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Judges
Samantha Sweig is the founder of Calmware, a tactile mindfulness brand creating beautifully crafted tools that support stress regulation through everyday rituals. Her work bridges design, mental well-being, and creative entrepreneurship, with a focus on making nervous system care more accessible and human-centered. Samantha is an alumni of the Yale School of Management MBA program (’25) and the Tsai…
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Judges
Stafford (Staff) Sheehan is an American scientist and entrepreneur. He has founded, co-founded and developed core technology for companies that have generated more than US$250 million in investment and revenue, and employed over 300 engineers, scientists, operators, and other professionals. LinkedIn
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Judges
Tai Hutchinson currently serves on various boards including serving on the board of directors for the Housatonic Community College Foundation; Vice-Chairman of the Greater Bridgeport Business Regional Council and, also serves on the leadership committee of the American Bankers Association Black Banker Employee Resource Group. LinkedIn
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Judges
Tomo Matsuo is a seasoned fintech and SaaS executive with over a decade of senior executive experience in global lending, payments, and analytics. He is the Founder & CEO of AdvanceIQ.ai, a data intelligence platform delivering portfolio and risk insights for the SMB alternative lending sector. Previously, he co-founded Yardline Capital (acquired by Thrasio) and…
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Judges
Wendy Jiang is the Director of the Yale Angel Initiative, a venture capital fund managing $2.5M annually to support and scale Yale-affiliated startups. She is also a former venture-backed startup co-founder in health-tech and gov-tech. She was part of the Founding Team at health-tech startup Upkeep Care, where she led go-to market strategy and partnerships….
