2001 High Five Class

Mark J. Ahn, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, RXi Pharmaceuticals, Portland, OR.  Mark J. Ahn, Ph.D. is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of RXi Pharmaceuticals. Prior to RXi, Mark was Principal at Pukana Partners, Ltd. that provides strategic consulting to life science companies; and Associate Professor, Global Management at Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University. He previously served as Chair, Science & Technology Management, Victoria University at Wellington, New Zealand. Mark was also founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Hana Biosciences. Prior to Hana, he served as Vice President, Hematology and corporate officer at Genentech, Inc., as well as held positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; and served in the US Army. Mark also serves on public and venture capital-backed Board of Directors for Access Pharmaceuticals, Mesynthes and Scribes STAT. He is the author of over 50 peer reviewed journal articles and books including Making the Case for Biotechnology (Logos Press). Mark received a BA and MBA from Chaminade University; and MA from Victoria University. He was a graduate fellow in Economics at Essex University, and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of South Australia. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute class of 2001.

Judith Aidoo, CEO, Caswell Capital Partners, LLC, New York, NY.  Judith Aidoo is a private investor (Caswell Capital Partners, LLC) and media and entertainment entrepreneur (Uptown Movie Network.) with holdings in radio broadcasting; television syndication; publishing; and feature film and theater production. She is also head of Capital Alliance Company Ltd., a licensed stockbroker and investment advisory firm in Ghana. Judith was previously President of The Aidoo Group Ltd., an investment bank she founded in 1991 to specialize in African capital markets and structured finance. During her fourteen years on Wall Street, first at Goldman Sachs & Co. and then in her own firm, Judith served as an advisor on transactions in telecommunications, infrastructure, financial services, and new media. She has been honored on several occasions for her professional achievements, including being named “1995 Business Person of the Year” by the Urban Bankers Association and selected by the United States Secretary of Commerce, Bill Daley, to serve as an American delegate on the U.S. South Africa Business Development Committee. Judith serves on the Board of Directors of the Constituency for Africa, the business advisory board of Opportunities Industrialization Center International, Inc., the African American Women's Fund, the African Women's Development Fund, and the Rutgers College Advisory Board. In addition, she is the publisher and Managing Partner for the Africa Financial Review. She received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Rutgers College with degrees in Business Administration and French. Judith, the daughter of a physician from Ghana and an American mother, was born and raised in the United States.  She is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.   

Diane Aigotti, Managing Director and CFO, Ryan Specialty Group, Chicago, IL.  Diane is currently the Managing Director and CFO of Ryan Specialty Group in Chicago, IL. She is the former chief risk officer and corporate treasurer for the Aon Corporation in Chicago. Prior to joining Aon in 2000, Diane served as Vice President and Director, Office of Budget and Management, at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health Systems and as Budget Director for the City of Chicago. Prior to that she served as Assistant to the Mayor and to the city's chief financial officer, and served as a member of Mayor Daley's re-election campaign team in 1995. She has also worked for the United States Department of Commerce and the U.S. House of Representatives. Diane is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Executive Club of Chicago, the Financial Advisory and Research Committee of the Civic Committee of Chicago, the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. She received her B.A. in economics and political science from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana in 1986, and her MBA from the University of Notre Dame in 1990. Diane, her husband and their children live in the city. She is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute. Diane is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.  

James Beldock, President, International and Senior Vice President, Product and Business Development, ShotSpotter, Inc., Mountain View, CA.  James is an experienced turn-around and growth entrepreneur, joined the ShotSpotter team in early 2003.  As the company’s first CEO, James developed and executed ShotSpotter’s market entry strategy and led the company from deployments in four cities to over 50, increased annual sales more than 50-fold, and led the company’s 2005 acquisition of Centurist Systems and its 2009 acquisition of the SECURES business unit of Planning Systems, Inc.  He has now turned his energies towards global market penetration as President of the company’s International efforts.  ShotSpotter is his third venture-funded or private equity-backed company, and he has raised in excess of $65m for companies he has led. Previously, he was chairman and CTO of WebPutty, an enterprise software company subsequently acquired by Charles River, of which he had previously served as the Company's president and CEO. Prior to joining WebPutty, James was Entrepreneur in Residence at SAC Capital where he performed turn-around and portfolio operations work at other portfolio companies. Previously, as President and CEO of Cogito Software, a company he founded in 1994, James delivered software and managed technology projects for well-known institutions including Princeton University and New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center. He has also served as Vice President for R&D and CTO at Primavera Laboratories. He holds patents in the fields of computer memory hardware, Internet business methods and information security and has published peer review articles in fields ranging from medical informatics to user interface design. James is a cum laude graduate of Yale University and studied Computer Science at Columbia University. In 2001, James was recognized as one of America’s leading executives under the age of 45 when he was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.  He sits on the board of directors of PAX, the nation's largest anti-gun violence non-profit organization and creator of the life-saving Ask and Speak Up! campaigns, and is a member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and the Steering Committee of the Aspen Institute Socrates Society.  

William F. Browder, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hermitage Capital, London, England. For the past eight years, Bill Browder has been running Hermitage Capital Management, the leading international asset management firm specializing in the Russian financial markets, which currently manages $1.4 bn. Bill started Hermitage Capital in 1996 in partnership with the late Edmond Safra. In 1997, Hermitage Fund was ranked "Best Performing Fund in the World" by Micropal and "Best Russian Fund" by Lipper (1997-1998.) Bill's position on corporate governance practices in Russia has made him a leading shareholder rights activist and outspoken fighter for better corporate governance. He serves as a member of the OECD/World Bank roundtable on Corporate Governance in Russia and as a member of the Corporate Governance Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum. He often reports on shareholder rights issues to international financial institutions, and was named a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2001. Bill is a regular speaker at Bloomberg, CNBC, Euromoney conferences and serves as a Russia expert to FT, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Prior to starting Hermitage, Bill was a Vice President at Salomon Brothers where he managed the firm's proprietary investments in Russia. Before that, he was a management consultant within the East European practice of the Boston Consulting Group. He received an MBA from Stanford Business School and a BA in Economics with highest honors from the University of Chicago. Bill and his family make their home in London, England.  He is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.  

Charles Conn, Advisor, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Ketchum, ID. Charles Conn joined the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as an advisor in 2002. He is now a Senior Program Officer, focusing on the Foundation's Wild Salmon Ecosystems efforts. Prior to that, he co-founded Citysearch in 1995 and as CEO led the company through its mergers with USA Network's Ticketmaster Online (1998) and Ticketmaster (2001), as well as its public offering (1998) and acquisitions of Microsoft Sidewalk, Ticketweb, 2B Technologies, Match.com, and One and Only, Inc. Ticketmaster operates three major businesses, Ticketmaster, the world's leading ticketing service; Citysearch, a leading online local network enabling people to get the most out of their city; and Match.com, the premier online matchmaking service. The company won many awards, including selection as one of Fortune's "Top 25 Cool Tech Companies". Charles has been a member of the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the TechNet public policy group, and The Industry Standard's Publisher's Advisory Group. In 1997 he was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Southern California Software Industry Council. Prior to starting TMCS, Charles was a partner with McKinsey & Company, and a leader of its Growth Strategy Practice. He has also worked with the Boston Consulting Group and with Canon in Japan. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School, Oxford University (where he was a Rhodes scholar), and Boston University. Charles, his wife and their three children make their home in Ketchum, ID.  He is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.  

Arjun Gupta, Chief Believer and Founder of TeleSoft Partners, Aspen, CO. Over the last two decades, Arjun has overseen investing in and helping build 61 private companies, resulting in 37 acquisitions and IPOs to date. At TeleSoft, he manages capital commitments of $625+ million and has established Corporate Partnerships in the US, Europe, and Israel with Bechtel, Deutsche Telekom, Intel Capital, Salesforce.com, Verizon and Vodaphone. Arjun serves on the Boards of Calient, Validity Sensors, and Nexant. He is also President of his Community Foundation, which supports projects in education, medical research, the environment and the arts. Earlier in his career, Arjun was a Strategy Consultant for hightech clients with McKinsey, and a Software Engineer with Tektronix, Inc. He holds a BA (honors) in Economics from St. Stephen’s College (India), an MS and BS, Phi Beta Kappa, in Computer Science from WSU, and a MBA from Stanford. Arjun is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows and a Trustee of the Aspen Institute. 

Christina Jones, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Extend Fertility, Inc., Boston, MA. As a professional woman, Christy Jones is keenly aware of the increased opportunities available to today's women, and the conflict these opportunities can create with the reality of the female biological clock. Christy set out to tackle this conflict by developing medical options to extend a woman's fertility and make fertility preservation a viable option. Out of this research, she founded Extend Fertility in 2003 to bring to market a revolutionary science and service that can effectively prolong a woman's fertile life. Christy is a seasoned entrepreneur with a successful track record of bringing new technologies to market. From 1996 through 2001, Christy served as President of pcOrder, successfully leading the company from start-up to a NASDAQ-listed public corporation. Prior to founding pcOrder, Christy served in numerous management roles at Trilogy Software, the company she co-founded as a Stanford University student in 1989. In 1999, she was honored as Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" in the Young Entrepreneur catagory. Forbe's magazine has featured Christy on three covers, most recently for her role in transforming the computer industry. She was also named one of the "Top 20 Leaders Under 30" by Working Woman. She currently serves on the Board of Fertile Hope, a national non-profit providing reproductive information, support and hope to cancer patients whose medical treatments present the risk of infertility. Christy received a BA in Economics from Stanford in 1991 and an MBA from Harvard in 2004. She and her husband live in Seattle, WA.  She is a 2001 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Andrew R. Kassoy, Co-Founder, B Corporations, New York, NY.  Andrew is a Co-Founder of  B Corporations.  B Corporations are a new type of corporation which use the power of business to create public benefit.  There are over 185 certified B Corporations, representing a diverse $1 billion marketplace.  B Lab is the non-profit 501(c)3 organization that certifies and promotes B Corporations^TM, as well as capital markets and policy initiatives to accelerate growth of this emerging sector of the economy.  Prior to co-founding B Corporations, Andrew spent 16 years in the private equity business; as a Partner at MSD Real Estate Capital, an affiliate of MSD Capital, the $12 billion investment vehicle for Michael Dell, and as Managing Director in Credit Suisse First Boston's Private Equity Department, a founding partner of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, and President of its international business. He is a Board Member of the Freelancers Union and the Freelancers Union Insurance Company, a Board Member of Echoing Green, an Advisory Board member of Wall St. Without Walls, and a member of the investment committee of the Patient Capital Collaborative, and an Advisor to the NYU Reynolds Fellows Program.  He was raised in Boulder, Colorado and graduated with Distinction from Stanford University where he was a Truman Scholar and President's Award winner.  He is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.  Andrew lives in New York City with his two sons, the Emperor Maximilian (five years) and the Boy King Jedidiah (two years).   

Robert E. Knowling, Jr., Chairman, Eagles Landing Partners, Centennial, CO. Bob Knowling is currently the Chairman of Eagles Landing Partners. ELP specializes in helping senior management formulate strategy, lead organizational transformations, and re-engineering businesses. ELP serves as an advisor to chief executive officers. He was formerly with Telwares (formerly Vercuity), a leading telecommunications expense management provider. Prior to joining Telwares, Bob was chief executive officer of the NYC Leadership Academy, an independent non-profit corporation created by Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and chartered with developing the next generation of principals in the New York City public school system. He was previously Chairman and CEO of SimDesk Technologies (formerly Internet Access Technologies), and prior to that he served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Covad, a leading national DSL provider. He began his career in 1977 at Indiana Bell, and when the company became a part of Ameritech, he assumed positions of increasing responsibility in marketing, product development, large business marketing and network operations. He was assigned to Ameritech's re-engineering breakthrough development team in 1992, and was named Vice President of Network Operations in 1994. Bob then joined U S WEST in March 1996 as Vice President of Network Operations. In 1997 he was named Executive Vice President of Operations and Technologies, responsible for a 30,000-member team serving more than 25 million customers in 14 states. He has received numerous business and community service awards, and has been featured in such publications as Forbes, The Industry Standard, and Fast Company. In Dec. 1999, he was named Business Week's "Entrepreneur of the Year." Bob currently serves on the board of directors for Ariba in Sunnyvale, California, where he is the lead director; Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois; Bartech in Livonia, Michigan; and Roper Industries in Sarasota, Florida. Knowling has been a YMCA volunteer for more than 20 years and served as chair of the National Services group for the YMCA in 1993. He maintains an active nationwide corporate and public speaking schedule. Bob received a B.A. in Theology from Wabash College in 1977 and an MBA from Northwestern University in 1996. He and his wife and their four children make their home in Centennial, CO.  Bob is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Timothy M. Marquez, Founder and CEO, Marquez Energy LLC, Denver, CO and CEO, Venoco, Carpinteria, CA. Tim Marquez founded Marquez Energy in October 2002. Prior to that he served as co-founder, chairman and CEO of Venoco, Inc., one of the top 50 independent oil companies in the United States, and resumed his position there in June 2004. He and his partner founded Venoco in 1992 to identify, acquire, and operate underdeveloped oil and gas properties throughout the United States and Latin America. Prior to founding Venoco, Tim spent 13 years with Unocal serving as an engineer and manager in both California and the North Sea. He has served on the Boards of the Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and Partners in Education as well as being a member of the Fighting Back Advisory Council, the Hispanic Business Council, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, and the Gervitz Graduate School of Education Dean's Council. Tim graduated from the Colorado School of the Mines with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. He and his family currently live in Denver, CO.  Tim is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

William R. McLaughlin, President and CEO, Select Comfort Corp., Minneapolis, MN. Bill McLaughlin joined Select Comfort Corporation in March 2000. Under McLaughlin's leadership, Select Comfort has become the official bed provider to Ronald McDonald House charities across the U.S.. Prior to joining Select Comfort, Bill served as President of Frito Lay Europe, Middle East and Africa, and was responsible for integrating and accelerating growth in a portfolio of over $2 billion in sales in 17 countries. When Frito Lay's Turkish operation suffered heavy damage in the 1999 earthquake, Bill organized a world-wide, internal PepsiCo fundraising program to support the recovery of affected PepsiCo families and their communities. He also led Frito Lay businesses in Mexico and the Caribbean as well as marketing operations in Brazil. Bill began his career in marketing in 1981 with the Pillsbury Company. He currently serves as a Director for Orion Safety Products, Minnesota Public Radio, Blake Schools and Select Comfort. He received an MBA from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School in 1981 and his baccalaureate degree from Dartmouth College. He and his wife and their three children make their home in Minneapolis, MN. Bill is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Ali A. Mufuruki, Chairman and CEO, Infotech Investment Group, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.  Mr. Ali Mufuruki is the Chairman and CEO of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) based Infotech Investment Group LTD which has business interests in real estate, retail, advertising, IT and telecommunications services. He is an investor and partner in East Africa Capital Partners (EACP), a Nairobi, Kenya based USD 100m private equity fund dedicated to ICT, Media and Telecoms investments in the East African region.  Ali is the Founding Chairman of The CEOs' Roundtable of Tanzania, a policy dialogue forum that brings together CEOs of the top 50 companies in Tanzania. He is also a member of the Presidential Investors Roundtable that advises the President of Tanzania on a wide range of economic policy issues. Ali is Chairman of Mwananchi Communications Limited-the publishers of leading Kiswahili (Mwananchi) and English (The Citizen) daily newspapers in Tanzania. He sits on the boards of Nation Media Group LTD of Kenya, Serena Group of Hotels (TPSEA) also of Kenya and AngloGoldAshanti's Geita Gold Mine LTD. In 2002, he became the founding Chairman of Air Tanzania Company LTD.  Ali sits on the boards of a number of non-profit and philanthropic organizations in Tanzania and the United States including Technoserve, Inc. of Washington, DC, and The Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF) based in California, USA. In January 2008, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Tanzania. Ali is a 2001 Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and Co-Founder and Chairman of The Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) - East Africa.  Ali is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering Design from The University of Technology and Economics in Reutlingen, Germany, 1986. He lives in Dar es Salaam with his wife and four children. 

Kim Polese, Chairman, ClearStreet, Inc., Santa Clara, CA. Kim Polese is a leading Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator. She is currently Chairman of ClearStreet Inc., a social finance startup focused on helping people eliminate debt and achieve long-term financial health. She also serves as an advisor, board member and investor to early stage companies, helping to found and scale a new generation of startups. Previously, Kim served as CEO of software company SpikeSource Inc., a pioneer in the automation of open source application management which was acquired by software company Black Duck in November 2010. Prior to SpikeSource, Kim co-founded Marimba Inc., a leader in the first generation of systems-management software for the Internet age, which automated the management of software and computing resources. Kim served as President, CEO and Chairman of Marimba, leading the company to profitability and a successful public offering. Marimba was acquired by BMC Corporation in 2004. Earlier, Kim worked at Sun Microsystems where she was the founding product manager for Java and led its launch in 1995.  Prior to joining Sun, Kim worked on expert systems at IntelliCorp Inc., helping Fortune 500 companies apply artificial intelligence to solving complex business challenges. Kim earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and studied Computer Science at the University of Washington, Seattle and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business and Economics from California State University.  Kim is the recipient of the 2010 National Center for Women and Information Technology Innovator Award and is a leading voice in advocating public policy to increase America's innovation capacity. In 2011 she was named to President Obama's Innovation Advisory Board which guided the Commerce Department's study of US economic competitiveness, delivering a report with recommendations to Congress in January 2012. In May 2012 Kim was named to the San Francisco Business Journal's list of "Most Influential Women". Kim serves on several boards including the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, TechNet,  the University of California President’s Board on Science and Innovation, UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering, the Long Now Foundation, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Global Security Institute. Kim is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Simon B. Rosenberg, President and Founder, New Democrat Network, Washington, DC. Founded in 1996, the New Democrat Network acts as a political venture capital fund, working to develop a new generation of modern Democratic leaders eager to tackle the emerging challenges of the 21st Century and the Information Age. Under Simon's direction, NDN has become a potent national political force, raising over $10 million, helping elect 46 new Members to Congress and building the House and Senate New Democrat Coalitions into the largest caucuses in either chamber. Simon has served as a key member of two Presidential campaigns, working for Michael Dukakis in Iowa in 1987-88 and for Bill Clinton in 1991-92. He also worked at the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Leadership Council before founding NDN. Simon is widely viewed as one of the nation's top political strategists, and he and his work have been featured in several books and articles as well as two well-known movies about the 1992 campaign, Feed and War Room. Simon is a 1985 graduate of Tufts University. He currently lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two children.  Simon is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Kelsey Wirth, Co-Founder and Director, Align Technology, Santa Clara, CA. Kelsey Wirth co-founded Align Technology with Stanford Business School classmate, Zia Chishti, in March 1997. Align's core product, the Invisalign System, uses advanced 3-D computer graphics technology to design and manufacture customized clear, removable orthodontic appliances. The company has raised over $250 million from the private and public sectors and introduced its technology, Invisalign, to the orthodontics community in May 1999. In November 2001 Kelsey resigned her position as President to focus on new ventures, but continues to serve on the company's Board of Directors. Prior to founding Align, Kelsey served in Robertson Stephens' (now BancBoston Robertson Stephens) investment banking division. From 1993 to 1995, she worked for the Environmental Working Group and World Resources Institute as an environmental consultant, and in 1992 for the Lamm Senate campaign as Director of Constituency Outreach. She currently serves on the boards of the Center for Environmental Citizenship, the Environmental Working Group, and the Wnislow Foundation. Kelsey received her MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and her BA from Harvard University. She and her husband Sam live in Cambridge, MA.  Kelsey is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Linda Yates, Co-Founder and Former CEO, Strategos and General Partner, Painted Wolf, L.P., Palo Alto, CA. Linda Yates is the co-founder & former CEO for Strategos and is currently a general partner for Painted Wolf, L.P. She is also a founding partner of Building Bridges LLC, a unique partnership focused on building long-term relationships and providing customized services to an elite group of Global 1000 corporations and the top-tier venture firms. Linda spent six years with the Mac Group/Gemini Consulting during which time she became Vice President, Head of the San Francisco office, and co-leader of the technology and telecommunications practice. Having successfully led the West Coast organization, Gemini moved her to Amsterdam to lead the high-tech practice in Europe. Three months later she co-founded Strategos (in 1996) and became the company's CEO. She has also worked as a corporate finance analyst for Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. In August 1999, Yates left Strategos to focus on emerging companies and corporate venture groups. She joined her first public company board, NYSE-traded Sybase, in April 2000. Linda holds a BA with high honors in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and an MA summa cum laude in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Stanford University. She and her husband Paul Holland have been featured together in Fast Company, Fortune, and on NPR, and are currently writing a book titled Non Linear Living: A Lifestyle for the 21st Century. They have three daughters and make their home in Palo Alto, CA.  Linda is a member of the 2001 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.