Quakers & Makers

Ilona has worked in finance on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. She received her bachelor's degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Born in Havana, Cuba, she immigrated with her parents to the United States at the age of 5, and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. In her free time, she hosts "Money Memories," a podcast that's on a mission to make money conversations less taboo, one memory at a time. You can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and at www.moneymemoriespodcast.com.

Raman Brar graduated from Penn with two bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and economics. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pathwell Health, a tech-enabled home healthcare company. Before founding Pathwell, he spent a decade on wall street, primarily as a private equity investor. A true entrepreneur at heart, he enjoys building things, pushing the boundaries of imagination, and getting the most out of people. He was the first non-founding employee at CIP Capital, a middle-market private equity fund. He enjoyed rolling up his sleeves and spending time at their portfolio companies, strategizing and getting involved in various special ops projects. His time at RevSpring, DriversEd, CoAdvantage, eDriving, and Affinitiv informed his approach to solving many complex business problems by building multidisciplinary teams and leveraging data and technology. Before CIP Capital, he was an investment banker at Wells Fargo in their Technology, Media, and Telecommunications group. Besides championing home healthcare, Raman loves geeking out of history, policy, politics, Manchester United, and investing in funky trades/private investments.

Stephan Nicoleau is a conscious investor with a 15-year career oriented towards positive social and environmental impact. Stephan is also a serial entrepreneur, having founded and exited several businesses over his career, and a trusted advisor, having advised public sector and private sector on impact investments, inclusion and infrastructure development. As a partner at FullCycle, Stephan heads the firm's enterprise relationships and capital solutions for its $250M fund, which is focused on accelerating scalable solutions to the climate crisis. Early in his career he advised the executive teams at JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Barclays Capital as an embedded consultant, guiding these firms through the financial crisis and beyond. After an early exit, Stephan founded Critical Value Advisors, an advisory firm which focused on originating impact investments for family offices and institutions, based on the principles of inclusive wealth creation and capital stewardship. He later founded LaGuardia Development Partners, an investment vehicle that shaped the effort to redevelop New York's LaGuardia Airport, a $5B infrastructure project, to be climate-forward and more inclusive of minority and women-owned firms. Stephan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, an avid soccer player, enjoys classical music and resides in New York City with his family.

Leanne Huebner is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader and social entrepreneur. This first generation college graduate started a pioneering college access nonprofit Minds Matter right after her years at Penn. Now celebrating 30 years of getting 100% of its students into 4 year colleges, this now-national nonprofit serves students from low income families across the country in 14 cities and regions with over 2,500 volunteers involved. This lifelong advocate for educational equity also helped start a charter middle school in an under-resourced low income community in South Los Angeles as its Founding Board Chair and has served on various educational nonprofit boards as well. Along with serving on the Trustee's Council of Penn Women, Leanne successfully advocated for starting and expanding services for Penn's first generation college students, and was named Kickoff Speaker for the $4 billion Power of Penn Campaign in 2018. Her work has been recognized nationally, having been named a Daily Point of Light (an award established by U.S. President George H.W. Bush), a L'Oreal Women of Worth and a Distinguished Delta by Tri Delta National. She earned her B.S. in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

An accomplished social sector leader, Phil's career has spanned the public, private and nonprofit sectors, focusing on building pipelines of economic opportunity and mobility in underserved communities across the country. Since 2011, Phil has served as the President & CEO of STRIVE, one of the nation's leading nonprofit workforce development organizations, based in East Harlem, New York, and with operations in 12 US cities. During his tenure as CEO, Phil has led STRIVE through a period of significant growth and renewal, overseeing the design and launch of several innovative career pathway initiatives for both youth and adults, in partnership with leading philanthropic, government, corporate and civic partners. Immediately prior to joining STRIVE, Phil served as President of the New York City Workforce Investment Board, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to drive, coordinate, and oversee workforce development services in New York City, the nation's largest workforce investment area. Phil's deep commitment to economic opportunity and inclusive economic growthhas been informed by his prior leadership roles in the education reform arena, having led a business group focused on K12 education at the global education company Kaplan, Inc. and in driving school transformation and building a charter school network while at Victory Education Partners. Phil's private sector experience also includes working at the management consulting firm, Bain & Company, and his government experience also includes working at the Illinois Department of Human Services, where he was part of overhauling the state's human services system during the implementation of welfare reform. Phil has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including as board chair of the NYC Employment & Training Coalition and on the Workforce Development Council of the US Conference of Mayors. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Northwestern University. Phil lives in New York City with his wife Jessica and two daughters.

Jackie Einstein Astrof, CAS'93, is the founder and executive director of PennPAC (Pro bono Alumni Consulting), a nonprofit organization (www.pennpac.org) that harnesses the intellectual talents and professional skills of Penn alumni in NYC, Philadelphia, the Bay Area, and beyond to help nonprofits with their business issues through short-term, well-defined, team-based consulting projects. In its first 10 years of operation, PennPAC has delivered pro bono services valued at over $7 million by engaging 1,000+ alumni-volunteers who have dedicated over 35,000 hours toward assisting 150+ nonprofit clients. Prior to establishing PennPAC, Jackie spent 15 years in strategic planning, business development and marketing roles in the health care and nonprofit fields. Jackie's other Penn commitments include serving on the Trustees Council of Penn Women where she co-chairs the Student Life Committee; Penn Hillel's National Board of Governors and its Executive Committee; and Community Service co-chair of her Penn class. Beyond her Penn-related work, Jackie is involved in various other philanthropic initiatives, many of which are focused on poverty and food insecurity. For her commitment to civic engagement, she has been named a NY1 New Yorker of the Week and received various other awards including a Daily Point of Life Award and Volunteer Service Awards from the White House and NYC Mayor's Office. Jackie graduated Penn in 1993 and also holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. Jackie and her husband Josh live in New York with their two sons.

A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, Cynthia is a peak performance consultant and an engaging speaker and author on ‘unleashing the power of social capital'. She founded Sea Change Networking to address the demand for “new thinking” required for unlocking the gold deep within the goldmine of our network of relationships. Cynthia was the founder of both the Fort Lauderdale and Miami regions of Business Network International (BNI), the world's leading referral organization. In addition, she is a contributing author of the New York Times best seller, Masters of Networking, and the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Masters of Success. For more info: www.SeaChangeNetworking.com

Rich Bilotti joined P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP. in July 2010. P. Schoenfeld Asset Management (PSAM) is a leading global alternative asset management firm with a focus on investing in catalyst-driven transactions to generate absolute returns. At PSAM, Rich focuses on event driven equities and special situations. He also works with PSAM's existing distressed debt team on companies that are in the process of reorganizing. Prior to joining PSAM, Richard was a Managing Director with GSO Capital Partners where he focused on public and private investments in the media and telecom sectors. From 1994 to 2006, he worked at Morgan Stanley where he held positions as an equity research analyst, Executive Director and most recently Managing Director, focusing on the communications and entertainment industries. Rich also held positions at Prudential Bache Securities, L.F. Rothschild and Kidder, Peabody. Mr. Bilotti holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. On a personal level, he has put a lot of energy into community work through both at NY Cares as well as La Salle Academy.

Fred Ronnau is a strong business development professional with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Health Care Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an experienced Chief Operating Officer with a demonstrated history of growing healthcare organizations through services and technology management. Fred has extensive experience in healthcare technology integration, data analytics, business development and sales force management, applying agile and lean techniques to drive strategy, and innovation and business process improvement. Since September of 2019, Fred has been the Chief Technology Officer of RubiconMD. Founded in 2013, RubiconMD is a web-based eConsult service that enables primary care providers to quickly and easily discuss their cases with top specialists, so they can provide better care—improving the patient experience and potentially reducing costs. To ensure the quality and responsiveness of their panel, Rubicon's specialists represent over 120 specialties and subspecialties and possess a teaching ethos and commitment to democratizing medical expertise with eConsults. Rubicon prides itself on being supported by a best-in-class specialist panel, having strategic partnerships, top investors, and a smart, passionate team.

Mike Mittleman received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988. Mike is a former investment banking professional for Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse. For over 15 years, Mike assisted companies who wanted to borrow money connect to investors who needed to lend money. He also mentored hundreds of junior people, educating them on finance and how they can help their clients. Interviewing candidates and recruiting for both companies is what Mike genuinely enjoyed while being on Wall Street; so, it makes sense he started his own career coaching company about 10 years later. Mike Mittleman Career Coaching is committed to supporting mid to senior-level financial services professionals to gain stability, increase confidence, and land a job they love. He enables his clients to step up into a new title, to level up into a higher compensation tier, and to earn what they deserve while pursuing a long-term career. Mike works with every type of financial services professional including retail and institutional bankers, analysts, technology experts, project managers, and many more. He crosses boundaries from traditional buy-side/sell-side/PE shops to the largest FinTechs, Fortune 500, and startups. His clients come from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Cerberus, Blackstone, BlackRock, and a host of smaller firms. One financial services sales/marketing expert said, "after spending 5 minutes with Career Coach Mike, he described me better than I could describe myself, giving me confidence in interviews to stay focused; I'm no longer looking!" Mike has been career coaching since June of 2017.

Jordan Hudson received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in Finance and a minor in History. Jordan began his career in investment banking at GCA Savvian Advisors in San Francisco, providing M&A and capital raising advisory services for technology companies. He then went on to be a part of the strategy and business development team at Fox Filmed Entertainment. At Fox, he managed strategic planning across Fox's theatrical, home entertainment, television and digital businesses. Prior to joining Apeel, Jordan was a Principal at Upfront Ventures, the largest and longest-serving venture capital fund in Los Angeles, where he was heavily involved in both investment and operating initiatives. Jordan is currently the VP of Strategy at Apeel. Drawing from his experience across venture capital, business development, and investment banking, Jordan focuses on planning, implementing, and maintaining strategies. Jordan's experience serves a big part in his aim to achieve Apeel's business goals while establishing an analytical framework to drive decision-making and optimize business operations. Briefly, Apeel Sciences develops plant-derived technology to help USDA organic and traditional fresh food providers maintain quality, reduce waste and ensure an abundant future for our planet.

A native of New Jersey, Dr. Douglas Clayton earned his doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Wharton Business School alumnus. His doctoral dissertation topic, Total Recall: Using Film to Enhance Learning, involved a global experiment that resulted in real evidence that using film in a company setting can enhance learning. Doug is currently the SVP and Head of Leadership and Development at SES, the world's leading provider of satellite services. Doug earned an M.S. in Human Resources Development from Villanova University. During his diverse 30-year HR career, Doug was fortunate to work in every HR function. One of the highlights, however, was producing training videos in the form of parodies of mainstream movies such as James Bond, The Godfather, Star Trek and Mission Impossible. Upon retirement from SES in the Spring of 2021, Doug will pursue his film making passion by running FilmDoc, LLC. In this role, he will provide coaching to firms who wish to maximize their films' effectiveness, speak in public on film's impact, and will continue producing inspiring documentaries. Doug blogs on the topic of film and learning/inspiration at www.thefilmdoc.com Doug loves making documentary films that tell touching and inspiring stories. He is the director of two documentaries to date. Dovere for Camden has won several awards and has been featured in multiple international film festivals. The Heart of Camden – The Story of Father Michael Doyle is narrated by Emmy award winning actor Martin Sheen.

Magali Haas attended Penn to receive her bachelor's degree in Bioengineering before pursuing her doctorate degrees in Medicine and Neuroscience. After spending twelve years conducting neuroscience research and development at Johnson & Johnson, Magali founded and is now the CEO and President of Cohen Veterans Bioscience Inc. Her non-profit research organization is dedicated to fast-tracking diagnostics and therapeutics to advance brain health through cutting-edge research. Through the generosity and support of Steven A. Cohen, Cohen Veterans Bioscience launched targeted translational research initiatives in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with a special focus on improving the detection and treatment of these conditions and related co-morbidities, so the burden may be lessened on service members, veterans, and their families. To ensure the future holds improved care for all individuals with brain disease, CVB assembles high-dimensional biomarker, biosensor, and phenotypic data to build computational predictive models of disease to enable an understanding of the biological mechanisms of disease that will accelerate the time to next generation diagnostics and treatments.

Gayle Jennings O'Byrne is a builder capitalist, investor, and podcast host. She works with entrepreneurs to help them build and grow successful companies and with investors/allies who are investing in diverse/inclusive companies. She hosts “VCs off the Record,” a podcast that provides real talk by real investors for both entrepreneurs and investors. With over 20 years of Wall Street, technology, and philanthropic experience, she trains entrepreneurs on investor pitches and accessing the right capital at the right time. Gayle invests in women of color entrepreneurs “WOCstars” and diverse teams through the WOCstar Fund, an early stage venture fund that she co-founded. She is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, the University of Michigan and attendee of the National University of Singapore and City of London Polytechnic.

Rosina Racioppi attended Penn to receive both her master's degree and doctorate in education. Although Rosina studied education at Penn, she previously received her bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University. Rosina found a passion for bringing value to businesses by working in human resources for several years. In 1998, Rosina had the amazing opportunity to become the President and CEO of her own company and still holds these titles present day. WOMEN Unlimited Inc. is a leadership development organization focusing on high-potential women in major corporations. Because of its ability to pinpoint, develop and retain diverse leadership talent, WOMEN Unlimited, Inc. is the "go to" development partner for over 160 leading organizations.

Lenore Kantor attended Penn to receive her bachelor's degree in business administration. After spending many years working for large corporations, Lenore took a big leap and started her own business in 2013. Growth Warrior helps companies and leaders to manage growth through leadership. They help companies find solutions to help focus on growth through high impact strategy sessions, business analysis and growth coaching. Lenore prides Growth Warrior on being experts at aligning visions and values with brand, messaging, strategy, and culture. During our conversation, we went into detail about starting her business, how starting a business is different for everyone and some advice she would give a person starting their own business today.

Hewson Baltzell attended Penn to receive both his bachelor's degree in international relations and his master's degree in finance and real estate. Prior to finding his passion for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) research, Hewson spent 12 years in real estate finance at JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and other private investment companies. Having co-founded what is now MSCI ESG Research, Hewson spent 17 years building the dominant firm in the ESG research field from a two-person start-up in 1998 (Innovest). The ESG unit now has 300 employees, over 1,000 clients, research on over 9,000 equities, 250,000 bonds, and 35,000 mutual funds and ETFs, covering over 1.6 million securities, and revenue of $100 million. Currently, Hewson is the President, COO and initial investor in Helios Exchange, a SaaS business focused on energy efficiency in commercial buildings that has significant potential for reducing carbon emissions. Helios is the world's first commercial real estate platform for energy retrofit project development, insurance, and financing, with analysis of over 300,000 commercial properties nationwide.

Sharon Lee Thony attended Penn to receive her master's degree in Business Administration. After working for both big and small companies in the digital marketing space, co-founding her own startup and running her own blog, Sharon is now the Founder and Principal of SLT Consulting; this digital marketing consultancy unlocks possibilities for brands, companies and organizations of all sizes. SLT Consulting partners with organizations to drive brand and marketing strategy development, customer acquisition, content strategy, and much more. Sharon prides herself on connecting with others and lending her support wherever she can.

Todd Rovak is a fellow UPenn alum and the Managing Director of Innovation & Strategy at Capgemini Invent and Head of Fahrenheit 212. Capgemini & Fahrenheit 212 help envision change across organizations, helping to imagine, design and build the products, services, and business models of the future. Capgemini Invent, the digital innovation, consulting and transformation brand of the Capgemini Group, helps CxOs envision and build what's next for their organizations. Located in more than 30 offices and 10 creative studios around the world, its 7,000+ strong team combines strategy, technology, data science and creative design with deep industry expertise and insights, to develop new digital solutions and business models of the future.

Galina Espinoza is a highly-creative and innovative media leader with a strong track record in driving editorial excellence and business success. She is a University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Alumni. Galina is the President and Editor in Chief of Rewire.news (https://rewire.news/). Galina is also an award-winning writer and editor, whose varied journalism experience ranges from interviewing political figures such as President Barack Obama and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, to writing and starring in PEOPLE's first-ever digital video from the Oscars red carpet. Her personal essays have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, and Marie Claire, and I was a #2018 WeNeedDiverseBooks Fellow.