The 2013 Duke Entrepreneurship &

Venture Capital Conference

“From Passion to Profit”

Entrepreneurship is seen as an ultra-risky endeavor or an impossible career path for many students. The 2013 Duke Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Conference will explore how students can turn their passions and interests into viable entrepreneurial careers.

This annual conference, hosted by the Duke MBA Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club (EVCC), brings together career entrepreneurs and venture capital professionals from across the globe with expertise in Energy, Healthcare, Technology, and more. In addition, the conference will feature several panelists from the Triangle’s growing entrepreneurial sector.

Please register and join us for the Pre-Conference Happy Hour on February 5^th from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Tyler’s Taproom in Downtown Durham (324 Blackwell Street, Durham, NC).

KEYNOTES & PANELISTS

Opening Keynote: Mark Rampolla (Fuqua ‘97), Founder & CEO, ZICO Beverages

Closing Keynote: Yoav Lurie (Duke ’05), Founder & CEO, Simple Energy

From Passion to Profit Panel:

• Jude Gomila, Co-Founder and President, Heyzap
• Farouk Ladha, Founder & Managing Partner, Four Rivers Group
• Howie Rhee, Managing Director at Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
• Jim Verdonik, Partner, Ward and Smith, PA; Charter Member, TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Carolinas
  
• Jesko von Windheim, Professor of the Practice of Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Duke University

Healthcare Panel:

• Greg Davis, CEO, MedCelerate Consulting Group
• Matthew Kane, Co-Founder & CEO, Precision BioSciences
• Barry Myers, M.D., Ph.D., Executive-in-Residence, Pappas Ventures
• Keval Mehta, Founder & CEO, Jaargon
• Clay Thorp, Co-Founder and General Partner, Hatteras Venture Partners

Technology Panel:

• Anil Chawla, Founder & CEO, Archive Social
• Jay Jamison, Partner, BlueRun Ventures
• Farouk Ladha, Founder & Managing Partner, Four Rivers Group
• Joe Procopio, VP Product Engineering, Automated Insights
• Jesko von Windheim, Professor of the Practice of Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Duke University
  

Energy Panel:

• Grant Allen, Senior Vice President, ABB Technology Ventures
• Sidney Hinton, CEO, PowerSecure International
• Mahesh Konduru, Principal, Potomac Energy Fund
• Steven Taub, Senior Investment Director, GE Ventures
• Scott Ungerer, Founder & Managing Director, EnerTech Capital

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

• ZICO Beverages  
• conTREEbute
• Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship

KEYNOTES:

Mark Rampolla
Mark Rampolla is Founder and CEO of ZICO Beverages, the trailblazer of today’s fast-growing coconut water category. Launched in 2004, ZICO was the first brand to bring coconut water’s benefits to the mainstream and become the replenishment beverage of choice for athletes, celebrities and health-seeking consumers alike.

Under Mark’s leadership, ZICO has grown exponentially and continues to innovate the category it created. Mark has been recognized as Bevnet’s 2010 Beverage Innovator of the Year. Mark and ZICO have been featured in major media, including the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Bloomberg, CNBC and Business Week. In 2009, The Coca-Cola Company purchased a minority stake in ZICO and in 2012 increased their stake to a majority position.

Mark gained the skill and inspiration to found ZICO from his diverse background as a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America and later as a business manager in Latin America for International Paper. He graduated from Marquette University and earned an MBA and Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University. Mark, wife Maura, and daughters Ciara and Alexis live in Redondo Beach, California.

Yoav Lurie

Yoav Lurie is the Founder and CEO of Simple Energy. In this capacity, he is responsible for the company’s overall strategy and direction. Simple Energy is changing how millions of people consume energy, by changing how utilities engage customers. The Simple Energy Customer Engagement Platform leverages the power of game mechanics and the social web to change how consumers think about and act on saving energy.

Prior to founding Simple Energy, Yoav helped build Synteractive, an IT services firm in Washington, DC, where he lead the effort to rebuild Recovery.gov. Yoav has worked as a Managing Director with Teach For America. He has also worked with Crisis Commons to build crowd-sourced disaster relief applications. As an undergraduate at Duke University, Yoav helped start Camp Kesem, a free residential summer camp for children of cancer patients, now on over 30 campuses.

PARKING:

The Science Drive Visitors Lot has been reserved for our conference guests. Per Duke University policy, guests will be charged $5 for a visitor parking pass. (If you are a Fuqua student or faculty member, you will be able to park in your designated parking lot the day of the event.) In the event that the Science Drive Visitors Lot is full, the parking ambassador will direct you to the second reserved lot.

DIRECTIONS AND CAMPUS MAP:

For more information on planning your trip to The Fuqua School of Business and directions to the Science Drive Visitors Lot, visit the link below:

http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/documents/programs/campus_map.pdf