Ira S. Weiss is the managing director of RK Ventures and is a professor at the University of Chicago.  Ira is the chairman of the board of Bidshift, a portfolio company of RK Ventures, and is a director of Orly’s Treehouse. At RK Ventures, Ira has lead investments in energy technology, healthcare, and biotech, and is actively involved in each company funded by the RK Ventures.Ira has also taught at Columbia Business School, and in his academic work, he has published on valuation issues of earnings, and on tax and accounting regulation. Ira has also worked as an economic consultant specializing in tax and corporate financial strategies, for Coopers and Lybrand. Ira received both his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. 

Contact Ira Weiss at ira@hydeparkangels.com

Jeffrey Carter has been an independent commodities trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) since 1992.  Previous to that, he traded for FCT Group, Inc.  He trades interest rate, equity and agricultural futures for his own account.  From 1999 to 2001, he was a member of the CME Board of Directors. In addition to trading, Jeff has published editorials and opinions on the futures industry, and been a commentator on Bloomberg Television, and CNBC.  He has also been featured on WTTW.  

Jeff  has made several angel investments, most recently in Tallgrassbeef.com, and shuffletech.com.   Jeff has an undergraduate degree from the College of Business at the University of Illinois in Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.  He is the treasurer and co-founder of the Hyde Park Angels.

Contact Jeff Carter at jeff@hydeparkangels.com

Michelle L. Collins is an Advisory Board Member of Svoboda, Collins LLC, a private equity firm focused on lower middle market buyouts.  Ms. Collins was a co-founder and was Managing Director at Svoboda, Collins LLC from 1998 until 2006.  Prior to that, Ms. Collins was a Principal in the Corporate Finance Department at William Blair & Company, LLC, a middle market investment banking firm, from 1991 to 1997.  She began her tenure at the firm as Associate in 1986.   

Ms. Collins is a Board Member of CDW Corporation (Public), Molex, Inc. (Public), Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Illinois (Private), PNA Holdings, LLC (Private).  In addition, she is an Advisory Board Member of Parts Now LLC in addition to Svoboda, Collins LLC.   Previously, she was on the boards of Coldwater Creek, Inc. and McWhorter Technologies, Inc., both public companies, as well as several private companies. 

Ms. Collins resides in Chicago and is actively involved with several Chicago-based civic and charitable institutions. 

Steven Lazarus is Managing Director, Emeritus of ARCH Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm specializing in life sciences, physical sciences, and information technology.  From 1986 to 1994, he served as President and CEO of ARCH Development Corporation and Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.

Prior to joining ARCH, Steven was Group Vice President of the Health Care Services Group of Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc., (now Baxter Healthcare, Inc.) where he held various positions over a 13-year period including Senior Vice President for Technology.  From 1972 to 1974 he served in Washington D.C. as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for East-West Trade and was the founder and first Director of the Bureau of East-West Trade.  He served in the United States Navy from 1953 to 1973 when he retired with the rank of Captain.  Steven is a Director of the RAND Corporation and the National Association of Corporate Directors.  In 2004 Steven retired from the Board of Amgen Inc., after serving as a Director for 17 years.  

Steven received a BS from Dartmouth College and an MBA with high distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.  He is the co-author of Mind Into Matter, Gondolier, 2006.

Ellen Rudnick currently serves as Executive Director and Clinical Professor of the Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Prior to this appointment she spent twenty-five years in business management and entrepreneurial activities, primarily in the healthcare industry. Ellen co-founded and served as Chairman of Pacific Biometrics, a medical diagnostics company (1993-1999); was President of HCIA and CEO of its predecessor company, Healthcare Knowledge Resources, both healthcare information service companies (1990-1992); and held the positions Corporate Vice President of Baxter Healthcare, President and Founder of Baxter Management Services Division, and Director of Strategic Planning for Baxter (1975-1990).

Ellen received an MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Vassar College. Her governance experience includes:  Liberty Mutual Insurance, Patterson Companies (PDCO), First Midwest Bank (FMBI) and Health Management Systems (HMSY). She has previously served on the boards of Oxford Health Plans, NCCI, and NephRx.  She also serves on the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Foundation Board. She has been a venture partner for Inroads Capital

Vishal is a Partner of Edgewood Ventures, LLC.  Edgewood is a leading accelerator creating the next wave of technology companies.  Vishal has represented Edgewood’s interest in the following portfolio: Akroria, DSL Communications (Cypress), Edgewood Real Estate, Force10, HAL – Edgewood, HSMC, iLeverage (EPNY), Legal Remedies, LiquidMarket (Xoom.com), Rightworks (ICG). Vishal currently sits on the board of Edgewood Real Estate, HSMC, HAL – Edgewood, and Legal Remedies.  Prior to Edgewood, Vishal was the Founder of Akroria Networks, Inc. a well funded – VC backed optical switching company.  Akroria is creating a novel approach on solving the bandwidth clutter in the telecommunication market. Prior to Akroria, Vishal worked at Loral reporting to the Vice President of Asia Pacific.  Vishal was responsible for creating and managing relationships with Loral’s customers in Asia.

Vishal is a Charter Member of the the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Chicago Private Equity Networks, CEO Roundtable, Executive Club.

 Vishal holds a B.S. from Santa Clara University, and a MBA from the University of Chicago.

Donna Zarcone is the founder and President of D.F. Zarcone & Associates LLC, a strategic advisory firm. Zarcone is an experienced chief executive and board director, with a proven record of rapidly growing and building companies, while consistently delivering outstanding bottom line results. She is a member of the Board of Directors for CIGNA Corporation and the Board of Managers for Wrightwood Capital, and also serves as the current chair of the Northwestern Mutual 2007 Policyowners’ Examining Committee.

As the former President of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc., Zarcone led that international company through transformational growth. In her eight year tenure, managed loans grew from $1.1 billion to over $6 billion, market share grew from 20% to 50%, and annual operating income increased from $20 million to over $200 million.

Zarcone is actively engaged civically, serving on the Boards of the Economic Club of Chicago, the National Association of Corporate Directors – Chicago Chapter, and the Advisory Council for the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Additionally, she is a frequent speaker at industry and corporate governance conferences.

Thomas L. Churchwell is Managing Partner of ARCH Development Partners L.L.C., a very-early stage venture partnership which specializes in the creation and funding of high-tech companies in the Midwest.Previously, he was President and CEO of ARCH Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the University of Chicago, which commercialized technology from the University and Argonne National Laboratory.
 
Prior to that, he was President and CEO of Calgene Fresh, Inc., a 1992 start-up company which produced and marketed the MacGregor’s FLAVR SAVR tomato, the world’s first biotech food product.  Prior to joining Calgene Fresh, Thomas was Vice President of ARCH Development Corporation Development.  Thomas has held several senior management positions at the NutraSweet Company, including Vice President, Sales and legal positions at G.D. Searle & Co., American Hospital Supply Corporation and The Coca-Cola Export Corporation. Thomas is a director of the TiE Midwest, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, iBio, the Illinois Venture Capital Association, and number of start-up companies in the Chicago area.

Thomas holds a BA degree from DePauw University and JD degree from Northwestern University School of Law.  He also is a Graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Edward L. Kaplan is chief executive officer and chairman, as well as cofounder of Zebra Technologies Corp. in 1969, he and partner Gerhard Cless founded the company, then known as Data Specialties, Inc.  Eward has served as a director since 1969.  Under his guidance, the company has become the leading provider of on-demand thermal bar code label and receipt printers and supplies, Photo-ID card printers, RFID smart label printer/encoders, smart labels and digital photo printers.  Zebra became a public company in August, 1991 and trades under the symbol ZBRA on the NASDAQ.  Edward received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1965 and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago in 1971.  He is also an NDEA Fellow from Northwestern University.  Edward began his career as a project engineer for Seeburg Corp. He later joined Teletype Corp. as a mechanical engineer in the printer division where he was responsible for performing research and development.

In 1988. Edward was awarded the High Tech Entrepreneur Award sponsored by Peat Marwick.  Two years later, he received the Inc. magazine/Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  In 1996, he received the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneurial Alumnus Award. He also was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, sponsored by William Blair and Co., LaSalle Bank, Lord, Bissell & Brook, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Edward is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago, a member of the Polsky Center’s Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, and a member of the Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League.  He also is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society for the Advancement of Management, the Engineering Honorary Tau Beta Phi, World President’s Organization, and Chief Executives Organization.

Steven N. Miller is a principal and co-founder of Origin Ventures.  Prior to co-founding Origin, Steve spent 10 years at Quill Corporation, the office products company started by his family in 1956. After significant operations and P&L experience, he wrote the business plan for the company's first web site, www.quill.com, and managed the team that executed it to $15 Million in annual revenue. The Miller family sold Quill to Staples in 1998 for over $1 Billion.
Steve serves on the boards of VHT and Experiencia.   Prior to successful exits, he served on the board of iNest and as an advisor to GolfServ.com. Steve is an active board member of the not-for-profits i.c.stars and Boys Hope Girls Hope.
Steve is a 1987 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he now serves on the Dean's Business Council.  He also funds the Steven N. Miller Entrepreneurial Scholarships.

Ms. Pearl formed Ceres in December, 2005 with two partners to make early stage investments in Midwestern companies.   Ceres specializes in the areas of information technology, healthcare and business services.  She currently serves on the board of Zorch International, Inc., a Ceres portfolio company.

Prior to forming Ceres, Ms. Pearl spent more than 20 years with Frontenac Company, a leading Chicago-based private equity firm, where she served as a managing director, overseeing investments in a variety of areas including healthcare services, business services, retail and manufacturing.  Ms. Pearl served on nine boards in connection with Frontenac portfolio investments including Levy Restaurants, Platinum Entertainment, Whitehall Jewellers, Homex Healthcare Corporation, Genderm Corporation, O.N.E., Inc. and Apex Specialty Materials.

Prior to Frontenac, Ms. Pearl spent four years at the National and Chicago offices of Ernst & Young.

Ms. Pearl evaluates business plans and coaches entrepreneurs in a variety of programs, including serving as a selection judge at the 2005 Midwest Venture Summit and the 2005 and 2003 Springboard Forums.  She has served on the judging panel for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Program for the Chicago/NW Indiana Region for 10 years and has been chairperson for the last six years.  She also served as a judge for the National Program as well.  She has served on the Entrepreneurial Advisory Board of the University of Chicago, the Campaign Committee of the University of Illinois and is on the Board of the Illinois Venture Capital Association.  She is also a member of the President’s Council of the YWCA.

Ms. Pearl regularly lectures on private equity, venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  She has also judged business plan competitions at those schools as well as at the University of Notre Dame.  She has been a keynote speaker for an MBA function at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ms. Pearl graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. degree in Accountancy (’81).  She received an MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1988.  She was the Bronze Medalist on the Uniform C.P.A. Examination in the State of Illinois as well as a recipient of the Elijah Watt Sells award.

Mr. Polsky, president and CEO of Invenergy LLC, has nearly 30 years of experience in the energy industry. He is widely recognized as a pioneer and an industry leader in cogeneration and independent power project development. Mr. Polsky possesses a unique combination of engineering and business education, experience and expertise, and has written and lectured regularly on industry topics.

In 2001, Mr. Polsky founded Invenergy LLC, a company that develops, owns, and operates large-scale electricity generation assets in the North American and European energy markets. He has led the company’s rapid growth into a major player in the acquisition, development, and ownership of wind and thermal generating facilities.

Prior to founding Invenergy LLC, Mr. Polsky founded SkyGen Energy LLC in 1991. At SkyGen, Mr. Polsky was responsible for building one of the most successful teams of professionals in the independent energy industry. Mr. Polsky established the strategic direction of the company and was personally involved in each of the company's transactions. In fewer than ten years, he guided SkyGen's efforts to develop a 12,000 MW portfolio of power generating projects. The value of this portfolio was realized in 2000 with the sale of SkyGen to Calpine Corporation. In connection with the sale, Mr. Polsky was appointed to Calpine's Board of Directors and became a senior executive at Calpine in addition to continuing in his role as CEO of SkyGen.

Prior to forming SkyGen, Mr. Polsky cofounded and was president of Indeck Energy Services Inc. There he led the development and financing of one of the first portfolios of independent power generating assets. Prior to forming Indeck Energy Services, Mr. Polsky held various positions at Fluor Engineers, Brown Boveri Turbomachinery, and Bechtel Power Corporation.

Mr. Polsky holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute. He is chairman of the Polsky Center's Advisory Board and serves on the Chicago GSB Advisory Council.

A 1972 graduate of Chicago GSB, Richards was a partner from 1981-1992 in William Blair & Company, then moved to O’Connor & Associates to build and manage an equities trading business and assume operational responsibility for a second. He has been an active private equity investor, professionally and personally, since 1989. His ties to the University of Chicago include membership on the Visiting Committees to the Humanities Division and the University’s Paris Center.

Robert Rosenberg is the Associate Vice President for Partnerships & Technology at the University of Chicago, and a Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business.  He works with corporations, state and local government, and leading research institutions to promote economic development and entrepreneurship, and to advance University missions of research and teaching. 

Robert was a founder of the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization and he served as programming co-chair for BIO2006.  He is a director of Illinois’ Technology Development Fund and he serves on the Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Futures Study Group, and the Midwest Research University Network.  A contributor to the Study Group for the Future of Chicago’s Knowledge Economy, Mr. Rosenberg consults for the NIH’s Immune Tolerance Network.

Robert received an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MA from Tufts University, and a BA from Harvard University.   He and his wife, Ellen, live in Hyde Park.

Robert Zieserl is Chairman and CEO of Vital Sensors, Inc. a venture funded intra cardiac hemodynamic monitoring company. He is also Managing Director of KB Partners, L.L.C., an early-stage venture capital firm with $100 million under management where he led the life science investments including Accumetrics, Inc., Ischemia Technologies, Inc., and Verax Biomedical, Inc. A seasoned entrepreneur and angel and venture investor, his career includes: co-founder and managing director of a boutique investment bank; president of a software development tools company; co-founder and CEO of a cardiovascular diagnostic imaging company; President and COO of a healthcare software firm where he led a successful IPO; and General Manager of a real-time data acquisition and analysis software firm.  Companies Mr. Zieserl has led have received numerous awards including:  Business Week 100, Best Small Public Companies, Forbes 200 Best Small Public Companies, and R&D 100.  Mr. Zieserl received his M.S. from Loyola University, Chicago and a B.A. from Marquette University.  He is a Charter member of TiE Midwest and his professional affiliations include the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and the World Presidents Organization (WPO).