Rishad Tobaccowala is the CEO of Denuo, a futures "think-do" company that helps its clients get to the future first in ways that make Tomorrow Tangible Today.

Tobaccowala simultaneously serves as the Chief Innovation Officer of Publicis Groupe Media (PGM). Formed in 2004, PGM is a management board that oversees two major media networks: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) and Zenith Optimedia, which together allocate over $45billion in global media spending.

Prior to his current roles, Tobaccowala was the founder and President of SMG Next, the first and most comprehensive futures practice in the media industry. The development of SMG Next resulted in the launch of several successful practices for SMG including: SMG Play, the first company to leverage videogames as a marketing platform; word-of-mouth practice Reverb; and Digitis, a leader in mobile marketing. The TV 2.0 practice he developed focuses on the future of consumer engagement with video marketing messages. Tobaccowala was also responsible for developing SMG Search, which specializes in leveraging search applications in new ways for leading spenders in the category, including General Motors.

Before conceptualizing SMG NEXT, Tobaccowala was president and founder of SMG IP, the digital and interactive arm of SMG. As such, he played a central role in shaping the agency, which was selected by Media magazine as both 2002 and 2004 interactive Agency of The Year.

Tobaccowala has over 25 years of marketing and strategy experience across a wide spectrum of clients and companies. He was named by Business Week as one of the top business leaders in 2005 for his pioneering innovation, and Time magazine once dubbed him one of five "Marketing Innovators." He was appointed to the Advertising Age's Interactive Hall of Fame; named Adweek's 2000 Media All-Star for Interactive Media; dubbed OMMA magazine Media Strategist All-Star for 2005; and named one of 2005's Best Leaders by Business Week. He has written for (or been featured in) a host of news outlets, including Wired, Business Week, Fortune, Fast Company, MSNBC and Slate.

Tobaccowala is a much sought after speaker who has present to several board of directors and senior leaderships of companies as diverse as Nestle and Reuters as well as at Industry events put together by Forbes, Microsoft, Fairchild and many others.

In addition to the PGM board, Tobaccowala serves on the board of directors of leading behavioral marketing firm Revenue Science, the next generation search company Snap (an Idealab Company), Honeshed (founded by David Droga) and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.

Tobaccowala holds a bachelors degree in mathematics from the University of Bombay and an M.B.A from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.

 

Matt joined Borealis full-time in 2005 after serving as an advisor to the firm from its inception.

Before Borealis, Matt was the COO of Efficient Frontier, a venture-funded marketing services company that applies portfolio optimization techniques from financial markets to the marketplace of online advertising. Partnering with the two technical founders, he served as the initial externally-facing member of the team and assumed responsibility for the company's sales, business development, and operations as it grew to more than 30 employees, brand-name customers (incl. eBay, Amazon, and Yahoo!), and over $10 million in annual revenue.

Matt began his Internet career as an early member of the team at Yahoo!, which he joined in 1995 when the company was still pre-revenue with roughly 10 employees. Over the next seven years, he held a variety of product development and business development positions and played a critical role as the company grew to 4000 employees and more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Along the way, Matt managed Yahoo!'s acquisition of three software companies and led the integration of the geographically disparate operations of Broadcast.com, Yahoo!'s largest acquisition at the time. When he left Yahoo! in 2002, Matt was the Vice President and General Manager of Media and Entertainment, one of three business units at the company, where he oversaw 120 employees across every important functional area of the business and was responsible for $100 million in annual revenue.

Matt is also a member of the Board of Directors for Grassroot Soccer, a non-profit leading the effort to educate youth in Africa about HIV/AIDS. Matt earned his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he received the Julia Stell Award for leadership. He also received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

A proven CEO and entrepreneur, George brings a wealth of experience in building and running successful businesses and creating shareholder value.

Prior to Jingle Networks George was President and CEO of Wine.com, the Internet's largest wine retailer. During his tenure there he successfully executed a sales turnaround and put the company on a 40% growth track including major partnership deals with Amazon and HSN. Before Wine.com, George was CEO of PlaceWare and subsequently negotiated PlaceWare's acquisition by Microsoft for $200 million (4x revenues) in May 2003. PlaceWare is now Microsoft Office LiveMeeting.

Earlier, George was CEO of Flycast Communications, the Internet's first direct-response advertising network, taking it from startup to a $500 million IPO in 1999 and then negotiating its sale for $2.3 billion in early 2000.

Prior to these Internet successes, he was CEO of North America for Information Resources Inc., the nation's largest consumer marketing information company, which he helped grow from startup to $300 million in revenues. George also served as CEO of the AC. Nielsen Company in 1994. He holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and engineering and a master's degree in management from Purdue University, as well as two patents: one in the field of high-intensity lighting and the other in website optimization.

J. Peter Bardwick is broadly experienced leading, building, fixing and financing businesses. Peter's history includes direct responsibility for multiple P & L's, sales, marketing, technology, business development, human resources, finance and accounting and investor and public relations. Direct knowledge includes start-ups, turn-arounds, managing and financing public and private companies, IPO's, venture financing, and M&A.

Peter is the former CFO of Reactrix Systems, Inc., a venture backed alternative out-of-home media network based in Redwood City, CA. As CFO, Peter drove a $45mm funding round led by Menlo Ventures and DE Shaw.

According to Venture One, the November 2006 financing was one of the 12 largest non bio-tech financings since 2001 (download PDF). Reactrix is also backed by Mobius Venture Capital, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, and Worldview Technology Partners. Reactrix's board includes Tim Koogle, former President & CEO of Yahoo!.

In 2005, Peter completed the sale of Digitalpath Networks where he was President, CEO and a member of the board. Peter joined the company as CFO and became CEO at the board's request. Digitalpath is a leading wireless ISP with financial backing from Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson and financial and operational backing from Earthlink, Inc. Peter's accomplishments included raising bridge financing and $5.7mm in venture financing, focusing strategy, reducing burn 60% and recommending and managing the sale of the company.

Peter served as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and member of the board of infoUSA.com. infoUSA.com is one of the leading providers of data to Internet portals, customer relationship management and sales force automation vendors, wireless applications, and direct marketing companies. Peter was an early employee and was the sole report to the CEO, with responsibilities for all divisions. In addition to his board and operating roles, he oversaw two rounds of private fundraising totaling $32.6mm with the primary investors being Trident Capital, meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Yahoo! and General Motors Investment Management.

Prior to joining infoUSA.com Peter served as Chief Financial Officer of CBS MarketWatch.com (purchased by Dow Jones in 2004) where he was again an early employee and helped build the company and its team. He led its highly successful IPO and managed strategic planning, corporate development and customer satisfaction. MarketWatch became public in January 1999 and at that time its IPO achieved the highest one-day rise in value, pricing at $17 and closing at $97.50. MarketWatch continues to be the leader in the online delivery of financial news and investing information.

Mr. Bardwick's other corporate experiences include significant corporate turn-arounds. He served as EVP and Chief Financial Officer of the Beasley Broadcast Group (NASDAQ BBGI) and VP Finance for Westwood One Inc. (NYSE WON).

Peter is the Board Chair and a founding investor in Health Care Data Solutions, and an Advisory Board Member of Glam.com, and Personiva. He is also a board member and former Chair of San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Mr. Bardwick is an experienced public speaker and has been interviewed by CNBC, CNNfn, CCBN, national radio and in a variety of print publications including the The Industry Standard and Business Week.

Peter holds an MBA in Finance and BA in Political Science (cum laude), from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Kurian joined OSV in 1997, with a focus on new business development, technology alliances and strategic venture. His current interests are primarily wireless opportunities including UWB, WiMax, RFID, wireless sensor networks as well as tele-health related healthcare opportunities.

Mr. Kurian is a technology strategist and has worked in the technology industry since 1986 in three regions: Bangalore, Massachusetts, and Silicon Valley. His background has been in various roles in new ventures as well as corporate venture capital and M&A. His academic background is in technology strategy, and he holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts. He has also attended Sloan Executive Programs on Innovation and Technology at MIT.

In 2007, Aaron Ross founded BlackBox Revenue ("We create sustainable revenue for b2b companies") and PebbleStorm ("Make money through enjoyment"). Previously, he was an EIR (Entrepreneur-in-Residence) at Alloy Ventures. Prior to that he was at salesforce.com, where he built a 'Cold Calling 2.0' sales team that has sourced $100 million in recurring revenue, and spent a year in the acquisitions and investments team, helping acquire and launch the AppExchange Mobile and Salesforce for Google AdWords products. Aaron was CEO of LeaseExchange (now eLease.com), an online equipment leasing marketplace. As an entrepreneur, he has been in Time, Businessweek and The Red Herring. Prior to LeaseExchange, Aaron worked at Pandesic, an Intel/SAP joint venture, did M&A at the investment bank Robertson Stephens, and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Environmental Civil Engineering. Aaron is on the advisory boards of Clickability, 4INFO, ConnectAndSell, Personiva, AfterCollege and Flywheel Ventures. He is an Ironman triathlete, graduate of the Boulder Outdoor Survival School and volunteer mentor at SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business".