Keynote - Charles P. García, Managing Director, Merchant Banking Division at Cabrera Capital Markets

Charles P. García previously led an investment banking group focused on the global Hispanic market. In May 2006, vFinance Investments purchased Sterling Financial Group of Companies, which Charles founded in 1997. At one point, his investment-banking firm had more than 60 offices in seven countries. In August of 2002, it was named by Inc. magazine as the # 8 fastest growing privately held company in the country and he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by three national organizations. In November 2006, he was named to the Board of Directors of Winn Dixie Stores, a Fortune 500 company that is one of the nation’s largest food retailers operating over 525 stores in the southeast.

Aetna, a Fortune 100 company, named him Chairman of an Advisory Council reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer -- the first time in Aetna’s history an external board of this type has been formed. In 2005, President Bush appointed him to the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors which oversees all operations at the military academy. In 2006, the 15-member board, which includes four U.S. Senators and four members of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected him the Chairman of the Board. Since 2003, he has served on the Diversity Senior Advisory Panel for the Intelligence Community. In October 2007 he was named Chairman of the Enlace Florida Board, a Kellogg funded statewide network promoting college readiness for Hispanic students. In February 2002, President Bush appointed him to the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, chairing the Communications Committee.

In 2001, then Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed him to two terms on the seven member State Board of Education, responsible for an annual budget of $15 billion. Through his experience as a former White House Fellow, advisor to leading businessmen including former Goldman Sachs chairman John C. Whitehead, experience working for three Presidential administrations, and participation on corporate and non-profit Boards, Mr. Garcia has built an extensive network that he leverages for the benefit of his clients. Hispanic Business magazine recognized Mr. Garcia as one of the “100 most influential Hispanics in the United States” and he received the Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez Public Service and Integrity Award for his leadership championing rights for all persons, especially Latinos. He is profiled in two recent books: Think and Grow Rich: A Latino Choice and Hispanics in the U.S.A: Making History where he was chosen as one of the 14 Hispanic role models for the nation. In October 2003, Mr. Garcia authored his first leadership book, A Message from Garcia, which was ranked # 6 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller list, and was favorably reviewed by the New York Times.

Mr. Garcia graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy achieving the rank of Deputy Wing Commander. A distinguished graduate of the skydiving program and the Army Reconnaissance Commando School, his peers elected him to serve as the Chairman of the Cadet Wing Honor Committee and he was awarded the “Class of 1983 Honor and Ethics Trophy.” In 1987, he received a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and in 1994 a law degree from Columbia Law School, where he published an article in the Columbia Law Review that was cited extensively by the Florida Supreme Court in a landmark Fourth Amendment case.

Mr. Garcia will be available to autograph his book A Message from Garcia at the Career Networking session. Books may be purchased at this time. Cash or check only.

Full Bio

Genentech Welcome Speaker - John Orwin, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, BioOncology

John Orwin is Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, BioOncology. In this role, he leads the sales and marketing activities for the BioOncology and Hematology commercial teams including the Avastin, Herceptin, Tarceva, and Rituxan businesses. He is also responsible for oncology pipeline commercial strategy.

John joined Genentech in January 2005 as vice president, HER Family Product Sales and Marketing and was promoted to his current position in August 2005. Previously, he led the development of the HER (Human EGF-Receptor) Family product portfolio, including sales and marketing activities as well as the business’s life cycle plans.  The HER Family includes the oncology products Herceptin® (Trastuzumab) and Tarceva® (erlotinib).

Prior to joining Genentech, John served as the franchise vice president, Oncology, of the Tibotec Therapeutics group within Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Biotech division. He has also held leadership roles in sales and marketing with Schering-Plough, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Sangstat Medical Corporation and Alza Pharmaceuticals.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rutgers University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Tiffany D. Showell - Senior Manager North American Diversity, Bain & Company

Pre-MBA - Workshops 1 - 3

Tiffany Showell joined Bain & Company in July 2008 as Senior Manager of North American Diversity. In her role, she oversees strategy and execution of diversity recruiting and retention efforts for all Consulting staff for the firm in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Tiffany has been committed to a career of raising awareness, directing and impacting the number of people of color who pursue careers and professional degrees in business. Most recently, she has been an Independent Consultant supporting project and program development work for MBA Programs and Executive Education Programs. She has also worked as Principal Diversity Consultant for Genentech, where she developed the first comprehensive diversity recruitment strategy for the Commercial
business unit. Prior to Genentech, she was the Director of Fellow and Alumni Programming for the Robert Toigo Foundation.

Tiffany has also served a seven-year tenure as an MBA Admissions Officer for the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Tuck School at Dartmouth. During her role as an MBA Admissions officer, she lead the development of programs and opportunities to increase diversity within the business school community. She launched her career serving as the first Executive Director of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). Additionally, she is co-founder of the Ten School Diversity Alliance
("TSDA"); a former Advisory Group member for the Diversity Pipeline Alliance (DPA); serves on the Board of Directors for the Bay Area Black United Fund; a member of NBMBAA and NSHMBA; and an informal mentor/professional development counselor to hundreds of students and MBA alumni/ae around the country.

Tiffany is a graduate of Dartmouth College and received her AB in Government and Environmental Studies. She resides in San Francisco.

Martin Cinke, The Princeton Review, East San Francisco Bay

Martin Cinke earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and received his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in marketing management and finance from the Santa Clara Leavey School of Business.

In addition to teaching for The Princeton Review, Martin has spent eight years in the marketing and product management industries throughout the Silicon Valley and also worked as a research scientist at NASA Ames.

A Premier GMAT Tutor, Martin was recently promoted to the position of GMAT Trainer, which takes him across the nation training future GMAT instructors.

Martin is a premier tutor of GMAT and a master tutor of the SAT.

Dr. Howard Fuller has served as Corporate Executive for Organizational Excellence and Quality in multibillion dollar, world-wide Contract Manufacturing and OEM organizations including Solectron and SanDisk. He is recognized throughout the industry for development and implementation of business transformation programs including Organizational Excellence, Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma and Lean. Dr. Fuller, along with Mr. Jones, is co-founder of Fuller, Jones and Associates (FJA), a business management consultancy firm to Fortune 100/500 companies including PeopleSoft, Bayer and SonyBMG. Dr. Fuller holds a B.S. In Mathematics, M.S. in Statistics from SIU-E, and Ph.D. in Quality Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has published over 25 articles in leading journals and has served as the keynote speaker at several events.

Andrew Jones holds an MBA in International Business and has served as a Senior Examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Program. Mr. Jones is an expert in the content and application of Performance Architecture standards and systems worldwide. Mr. Jones is also widely recognized for his notable successes in implementing Process Reengineering, Six Sigma, Lean, and Benchmarking programs. Over the span of his noteworthy career, Mr. Jones has led numerous Performance Improvement initiatives for FJA’s distinguished clients and previously managed Performance Improvement programs at SONY Pictures Entertainment, GMAC Mortgage, Intuit, and Cisco Systems.

Randall Rodriguez is an attorney that specializes in technology, financial and commercial transactions, and he has practiced in these areas for over 20 years.  In addition to practicing law, Mr. Randall successfully planned, implemented and managed several projects relating to legal and business processes.  Mr. Rodriguez was Assistant General Counsel and Director at Intuit, Inc., and Senior Vice President and Counsel at California Federal Bank, and he also served at Blackhawk Network, Inc. and Varian Associates, Inc.  Mr. Rodriguez is a certified Green Belt.  In addition, Mr. Rodriguez received a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Haas School of Business) and a Juris Doctor degree from University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall).

Lisa Munoz, Human Resources Professional Development Representative

Lisa Munoz is a Human Resources Professional Development Representative for Corporate Safeway Inc. In this role, she designs and facilitates workshops on professional development topics such as conflict resolution, communication skills, coaching and a variety of other topics to entry through manager level employees. She also provides career counseling and professional development consulting services to individuals and teams within Safeway. Most recently, Lisa has been involved with the implementation of a learning management system and the rollout of an individual development plan program for corporate employees.

Prior to joining Safeway Inc., Lisa worked with adult learners in a variety of settings. She was an Associate Professor at San Jose State University where she guided students through the assessment process. She also was an Instructor at De Anza College (Cupertino, California) in the Language Arts Department. She taught English-as-a-second-language in a number of non-profit organizations throughout San Jose, California where she focused on assisting newly arrived immigrants establish and achieve career goals.

While completing her own education programs, Lisa worked in the field of human resources for over seven years. She was promoted to Human Resources Manager in 1997, but left that position to pursue a career in education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics with a concentration in second language acquisition and a Master of Arts in an Education related field with a concentration in adult learning theories. Both of these degrees were completed at San Jose State University. She also holds a California teaching credential specifically for educating adults.

T.J. Burke - Peopleflex Accounting Professionals

T.J. is a Business Development Manager for Peopleflex Accounting Professionals, a Bay Area executive search and consulting firm that specializes in finance and accounting.  He started his professional career in software sales, specializing in eCommerce and data encryption solutions for Fortune 500 companies.  His ability to quickly establish trust and rapport with clients, coupled with his consultative sales approach have been the key to his success both in software sales and in the recruiting field. T.J. enjoys spending as much time as he can with his wife and four children.  He is an active member of Toastmasters, and he is also a drummer and an accomplished singer/songwriter.”

Rodrigo Soto, Vice President, State Street Global Advisors

Rodrigo is a Vice President of State Street Global Advisors and Head of Institutional Sales in the Western United States. He is responsible for sales and marketing of the firm's investment management services to institutional investors in the 13 Western States. Prior to joining SSgA, Rodrigo was with Standish Mellon Asset Management where he was a Vice President, responsible for sales and marketing on the West Coast. Prior to Standish Mellon, Rodrigo worked at State Street Corporation in the Mutual Fund Services Division.

Rodrigo graduated from Boston College with a BA in Economics and attended the Universidad Catolica de Chile where he wrote a thesis on Free Trade Agreements. Rodrigo holds the NASD Series 7 and 63 licenses. 

Milton Balbuena, Chief Investment Strategist

Milton Balbuena oversees the development of investment strategies and products. Mr. Balbuena brings to Contango a decade of high-profile investment management experience at institutions including Prime Capital Corp., a New York-based family office where he served as vice president of investment strategies. Prior to Prime Capital, Mr. Balbuena was research manager at Charles Schwab, where he developed portfolio strategies and supervised fund selection. He is the co-author of several research studies examining portfolio construction strategies. Mr. Balbuena has been with Contango for 5 years. He has 17 years of investment experience.

Mr. Balbuena earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. He received his BSc in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1990.

Jeff Slayter, Head Trainer, World’s Hidden Masters
As an entrepreneur and investor Jeff started his first company at 22 years old. Growing it into a thriving real estate investment and consulting firm, managing portfolios and assets valued at 15M. Jeff deepened his consulting practice, becoming the Acquisitions Manager of a private trust fund for commercial acquisitions in  California and eventually consulting as an International Executive Consultant for a $60M dollar development project in Dalian, China.

As someone devoted to top leadership and communication in his business endeavors, Jeff has over a decade of training in leadership practices including: NLP, Fearless Wealth (an Investment Education Group), Fortune 500 Executive Training Seminars, and holds a business management degree from Menlo College. He has also intensively studied with Landmark Education (Leadership and Communication Training Corporation) and Anthony Robbins.

Kane Minkus, Head Trainer, World’s Hidden Masters

For over a decade, Kane has been an entrepreneur and new venture investor. He has bought, run and sold over 2 dozen companies between $5‐50M in varying industries including entertainment, technology, real estate, internet, education and coaching.

Kane consults with CEO’s & executive teams on leadership skills, as well as, leads workshops in the Bay Area. Combining his background in NLP, Laban Movement Analysis, Landmark Education and Fortune 500 Executive Training Seminars, Kane lectures frequently on organizational behavior, increasing ommunication effectiveness, customer driven leadership, sales team development and brand messaging.

Krisna Hanks, MS, MBA has more than 17 years living and working abroad in Europe. As a global communication specialist Krisna has ten years of experience with Executive Performance Training, (EPT) an international company specializing in communication and coaching courses for CEO’s and senior level executives. She has led communication courses for the following companies; McKinsey and Company, ABN/AMRO Bank, Corus Steel, Findus, Bank Insinger De Beaufort NV, DSM, EQT private equity group and most recently Sabic. Krisna is founder/principle of East Bay Pilates and currently the Director of Wellness for The Health Trust in Silicon Valley. She holds a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology from Indiana University, a Master in Business Administration from University of San Francisco, in addition to being a certified instructor in both Power Pilates and Iyengar Yoga. Her background also includes an extensive career as a professional dancer/choreographer in the US and Europe. In addition to the AWM, Krisna is a member of the Park Avenue Advisory Committee of the Emeryville City Council and USF-MBA Alumnae Association.

Gimena Peña is currently the CEO & Co-Founder of Pier 2 Marketing. Previously she held different positions in the areas of Marketing, Business Development and Strategic Planning, in companies like: Logitech, Dell, Satmex - Loral Space Communications, and Deloitte & Touche. She graduated from Stanford in 2005, where she got her MBA. She also holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from ITESM in Mexico City. In addition to the AWM, Gimena is an active member of the Stanford Entrepreneur Club, Future Women Leaders, Women 2.0, Ladies Who Launch, San Francisco Opera BRAVO! Club, Palo Alto Entrepreneur Club, American Marketing Association, Launchers Café, and Stanford Women Alumnae in Management. She enjoys playing the piano, all sorts of sports, being outdoors, reading, painting, dancing (as a good Latin-American) and having fun with her friends.

Kathleen Gilligan, Partner & Co-Founder, Clean Tech Open

For over 25 years, Kathleen’s leadership has built successful organizations. During her career, Kathleen has consistently demonstrated an ability to drive revenue and gain market share in very competitive environments, ranging from early stage, venture backed start-ups to public companies.  She has built and managed sales teams in multiple industries, and she has led global teams through significant change efforts.

As a co-founder of EcoStrategy Group, Kathleen has combined two lifelong passions — environmental issues and technology — by helping companies develop business-oriented sustainability strategies and bringing clean technologies to market.

Kathleen’s experience includes executive positions at Symantec, AMR Research and OnDemand, as well as deep expertise in enterprise and channel sales, marketing, and communications. As a partner in  Array Partners, she focused on revenue acceleration for small businesses, serving as an interim executive and advisory to technology startups and mid-sized enterprises.  Kathleen has managed teams as small as two and as large as sixty.

In the past, Kathleen has worked as an executive coach and mentor through the Growth and Leadership Center and Small Business Incubator. She served as a member of the board of directors for Kurant Corporation from 1999-2001. Most recently, she completed an assignment as an interim-CEO for an enterprise software company. Kathleen is the chair of the Alumni Program for the California Cleantech Open, a non-profit organization to accelerate the development of clean technology startups.

Eric van Gestel, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Clean Tech Open

Mr. van Gestel brings over twenty years of environmental industry experience. The wide scope of Mr. van Gestel's experience will prove invaluable in forging crucial partnerships within the environmental industry and in the recruitment of the highest caliber personnel. Most recently, he was the Managing Director of Environmental Resources Trust's (ERT) Clean Power Program. Mr. van Gestel acted as the Chief Executive Officer of the program reporting directly to the Board. His responsibilities included building, coordinating and overseeing all strategic and operating aspects of this global green power marketing and consulting firm.

From 1996 until 1999, Mr. van Gestel was the Director, architect and founder of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Buildings Ally Partnership. While there, Mr. van Gestel worked to create profitable opportunities for non-competing industry companies to cooperatively promote energy-efficiency and renewable energy. Mr. van Gestel's duties with the Energy Star Program required him to network extensively with, and solicit, a large number of Fortune 1,000 companies (including many Fortune 50-500 industry leading corporations). Mr. van Gestel maintains a wealth of relationships in the corporate community, paramount to Enverity's successful acquisition of a broad and diverse client base. While at the EPA, Mr. van Gestel was also responsible for the development and implementation of the EPA's first interactive Internet directory of products and services, effectively linking businesses with product and service providers.

In 1995, he was recruited as a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, DC to support the efforts of an international team of environmental and project implementation experts seeking to design and develop a new clean water system and wastewater treatment plant to be replicated across the Republic of Belarus. From 1988 through 1994, he worked for the US EPA as a Project Manager under CERCLA ("Superfund"), working very closely with corporate America in the environmental compliance, pollution-control and waste-management arena. He has been a highly sought after invited speaker and has participated as a board member in the related areas of environmental compliance, energy efficiency and renewables.

Mr. van Gestel received his MBA from the Yale School of Management with several Letters of Commendation in 1996; he received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Colby College in 1984.

Mike Aguilera is the CEO of Aguilera & Associates, a communication expert specializing in subconscious communication techniques and strategies. He is a speaker, author of 'The Art of Networking', and an executive coach. Mike has been a constant guest of radio and TV programs across the country. In addition, he has been invited to conduct over 1,000 international presentations and workshops at many major conventions, associations, and companies such as: Sun, Cisco, IBM, Netscape/AOL HP, PG&E, McDonald's Restaurant, Hilton Hotel, Lockheed, NSHMBA, SHPE, MAES, and ALPFA. Mike is a Certified Seminar Leader (CSL), a Certified Action Coach (CAS), and a Master practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (MNLP), which is an advanced communication system modeled after therapist. You can find out more about Mike by visiting his website at: http://www.MikeAguilera.com