Judith Benardete

Judith Benardete is Co-Founder of Boro Networks, a U.S.-based provider of Internet phone systems to large government and commercial enterprises in China and other countries around the world.

Judy was formerly a Principal at Geocapital Partners, a venture capital firm based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Prior to that she was a consultant with McKinsey and Company and an entrepreneur in both software and hardware companies for ten years.

Judy holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB in Political Science from Wellesley College. She is Chairman and Co-Founder of the Millbrook Early Childhood Education Center, Chairman of the Government Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education, Chairman of the Council of Alumni for Social Enterprise, a member of the International Dean’s Council at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, and she sits on the Dean’s Council at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She and her husband, Steven Benardete, reside in Millbrook New York with their eight-year old daughter Emma.

 

Stuart Farr

Stuart Farr is currently President of Deltix, Inc. a provider of software and services for quantitative trading. Prior to his position at Deltix, Mr. Farr was the co-founder of Beauchamp Financial Technology (BFT), which he sold in 2005 to Linedata Services. He began his career by advising farmers on business planning. After several years of producing financial plans and accounts by hand, he taught himself a software package and developed an application to do this.

After studying for a Masters in this field, he then joined a software firm that developed applications for banks and brokerages. He advanced this career at NatWest Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston before co-founding a financial technology firm, Beauchamp Financial Technology (BFT) in 1998. Here Stuart worked as CEO, successfully expanding it from its base in London to a global operation with additional offices in New York, Hong Kong and Riga and a global basis of hedge fund clients.

Today, he acts as director/advisor to three companies: one in hedge fund services, two (including Little Pim) in digital and print media. Mr. Farr still oversees the family farm, and he lives in New York with his wife and seven-year old daughter.

Stuart has a BSc in Agriculture from Newcastle University and an MSc in Technology from South Bank University.

 

Abby Miller Levy

Abby Miller Levy has spent her career helping consumer-facing businesses grow sustainably and today she works as a consultant at Hearst with the Hearst Innovation Program. Prior to her independent consulting work, Abby worked at McKinsey & Company’s global Innovation Practice as an Associate Principal. Here she engaged with internal teams and leading consumer goods companies on innovation strategy, idea generation, concept development, commercialization and portfolio management. She was also responsible for coordinating innovation knowledge efforts across McKinsey and developing expertise in strategy, product development and organizational design.

Abby spent several years at OXO International, a high growth consumer products company best known for the GoodGrips brand of kitchen tools. Abby oversaw OXO’s Strategic New Products group, identifying and evaluating new technologies, partnerships and product categories. Duringher five years at OXO, the organization grew from $40M to over $100M in sales.

Ms. Levy earned her B.A. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. A native of the New York area, she lives in Manhattan with her husband and three children.

 

Victor Zaraya

Victor Zaraya is currently Chief Operation Officer/Executive Vice President of Finance & Operations at Razor & Tie Direct/Kidz Bop LLC (“Razor”). In his role he oversees all day-to day operations at one of the largest independently owned music entertainment companies in the US. Victor is part of the executive team responsible for all strategic planning and operations of the company and has spearheaded the company’s growth into digital. During his tenure, the company created and developed the hugely successful Kidz Bop line of children’s music, Kidzbop.com, the safe social network for tweens, and numerous other successful music and video projects.

Prior to his work at Razor, Victor worked at Ernst & Young LLP in their Technology, Communication, and Entertainment Group.

Victor has a degree in Business Administration from SUNY Buffalo and is a New York State Certified CPA. He is currently active with the American Association for Independent Music (A2IM), where he is a candidate for its 2011 board of directors. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and two young children.

 

Julia Pimsleur Levine

Julia is the Founder and CEO of Little Pim and the former President of Big Mouth Productions, a documentary production company that produced award-winning films airing on PBS, HBO, and Cinemax. Her documentaries have been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, South By Southwest, among other venues. Awards include recognition from the Urbanworld Film Festival, the New York Latino Film Festival and the Cinema du Reel.

Julia graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Cinema Studies from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the French National Film School. She is fluent in French and speaks some Italian, Spanish, and German. Her father was Dr. Paul Pimsleur, the renowned language professor, whose revolutionary audio teaching method made him a household name in foreign language instruction.

She now sits on the advisory board of the Global Language Project, a non-profit which brings free foreign language classes into underserved public schools.

Julia lives in New York with her husband and two young boys.