Imran Ahmed
Columbia MBA 2013
Imraan is a second year MBA candidate at Columbia Business School. Diverse professional experiences executing mergers and acquisitions (Merrill Lynch), evaluating and managing middle market private equity investments and portfolio companies (Heritage Partners), and helping build a healthcare entrepreneurial platform (Atlantis Health Group) have provided a deeper level of strategic and operational interaction with businesses and their management teams. These experiences have instilled a passion to identify, support, and invest behind compelling early stage businesses that effectively capture opportunity and manage risk.
John Anderson
Columbia MBA 2013
Prior to Columbia, John was an officer in the US Army. John has conducted three deployments to Iraq, most recently from November 2010 to May 2011. John is currently working in a project to create an entrepreneurial class in Iraq by providing training, mentorship, and start-up capital Iraqi entrepreneurs. John received his B.A. at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he focused on Chinese studies and Maoist ideology in post-Mao China.
John Ballay
Columbia MBA 2013
Prior to Columbia, John spent almost four years in the Middle East working for investment groups in Dubai specializing in acquisitions. During the last year John also co-founded the retail startup KnotStandard.com, specializing in mens custom clothing. John is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin with a degree in Economics.
Brian Ballan
Columbia MBA 2013, Linkedin
Brian has broad professional experience in business strategy, operations, and product development. Most recently, Brian worked in Business Development and Product Management at foursquare, focusing on the Merchant Platform. Prior to foursquare, Brian worked as a consultant with L.E.K. Consulting and as a VP in corporate strategy for Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management and Citi Holdings divisions. In between, he spent a year as a line cook at Buddakan NY and co-founded A&B American Style, a condiment company which can be found online at abamerican.com.
Arunabh Batra
Columbia PHD 2015+
Arun is a National Science Foundation fellow and PhD candidate in Applied Physics at Columbia University. His research at Columbia focuses on fundamental properties of Carbon nanotubes, and applications in bio-sensing, chemical sensing, and next-generation computing devices. He is also a fellow at Columbia Technology Ventures, where he evaluates new technologies for licensing and tech-transfer opportunities. He is very active in promoting science literacy among communities and students, and leads many science education projects around the NYC area. He is also an instructor at Columbia’s Science Honors Program. Arun has a BS in Physics with a Minor in Math from UCLA, and a Masters degree in Applied Physics from Cornell University, where he worked on organic lighting devices and solar cells.
Alejandro Chahin
NYU MBA 2013
Prior to Stern, Alejandro started a real estate venture focused on developing multipurpose commercial warehousing units. Additionally, he worked as a Project Manager at Intermoda, an apparel production and wholesale firm specialized in the Central American region. At Intermoda, he led a lean management transformation emphasizing lead time reduction and supply chain optimization. Alejandro holds a B.S. in Industrial & Operations Engineering from The University of Michigan.
Austin Clements
NYU MBA 2013
Austin is a second year MBA at NYU Stern School of Business where he specializes in Entrepreneurship and Media Entertainment Technology and serves as the Co-President of the Entrepreneurs Exchange Club. While in school has had internships with the New York Angels, NYU Innovation Venture Fund, and Creative Artists Agency. Prior to NYU Austin founded and managed Pi Digital Media, a Los Angeles based firm that focused on the design and development of websites and mobile applications. Austin received a B.A. degree in Business Marketing from Morehouse College.
Andrew Ellis
NYU JD 2013, Linkedin
Andrew is a physician and a third year student at NYU School of Law interested in mergers & acquisitions, venture capital, and other corporate transactions in the life sciences industry. He received his B.S. in Biology from Baylor University and his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine as a BU/BCM Medical Track Scholar. After medical school, he deferred acceptance to NYU School of Law to complete a year of residency in General Surgery at BCM. While in college, Andrew started and ran a specialty catering company. After graduation, Andrew will join Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto as a corporate associate.
Daniel Fort
Columbia PHD 2014
Dan is a PhD student in Columbia’s Department of Biomedical Informatics. He also has degrees in Biochemistry and Health Systems Management. Prior to Columbia, he spent five years working for a federal contractor in the research and development division. There he specialized in model design and parameterization for consequence projection applications.
Josh Goldman
NYU JD 2013, Linkedin
Josh is a third-year student at NYU School of Law, where he is a senior staff editor on the NYU Environmental Law Journal. Before law school, he served as a staff economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he focused on energy and transportation policy, among other micro- and macroeconomic issues. Josh graduated from Cornell University in 2007 with a degree in Policy Analysis and Management. He will be leading InSITE’s clean technology focus group in 2012-13.
Jerry Hao
NYU MBA 2013
Jerry is a first-year MBA Candidate at NYU Stern focused on entrepreneurship, strategy and product management. Prior to enrolling at Stern, Jerry spent past five years at Morgan Stanley managing the internal development of enterprise technology to help growing teams and initiatives. He has an undergraduate degree in Finance, with a minor in Mathematics, from Baruch College.
Lincoln Heineman
NYU MBA 2013
Lincoln is an MBA candidate at New York University’s Stern School. Prior to Stern, Lincoln’s career was focused on public policy and finance. Most recently, he helped lead the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General’s anti-fraud oversight of the state’s federal stimulus funds, concentrating on clean energy and broadband expansion grants. He previously served in the Massachusetts Governor’s Budget Office and House of Representatives. Lincoln holds a BA in Political Science and Film Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Adam Kalamchi
Columbia MBA 2013
Prior to enrolling at Columbia Business school, Adam worked in technology private equity at ATIC, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Before that, he spent three years at McKinsey & Company focused on consumer packaged goods and private equity transactions. Adam has also co-founded a non-profit, an internet start up, and acted as an adviser to several start ups. Adam received his B.A. in economics from Harvard College.
Don Kim
NYU MBA 2013
Prior to attending business school, Don founded a mobile app company called Garlic Dumpling and developed several well-received apps. He founded the company while still employed at Nokia, where he had worked for three years as a software developer lead, managing full-time developers and contractors. He joined Nokia as part of an acquisition of a startup called Twango. Don was the first employee at Twango, a startup that provided a media (photos, videos, etc.) sharing platform in the heyday of the “web 2.0″ era. Don received a B.S. in computer science from the University of Washington.
Pallav Kosuri
Columbia PHD 2013
Pallav is a Fulbright scholar and PhD candidate in Molecular Biophysics. Prior to joining Columbia, Pallav completed his Masters in Physics at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. At Columbia, he has developed a new form of microscopy enabling the detection of biochemical reactions with atomic resolution. This research is now being commercialized in collaboration with instrumentation manufacturer Luigs & Neumann. Pallav is also a research fellow at Columbia Technology Ventures, where he works with the development and marketing of intellectual property.
Mark Krafft
Columbia MBA 2013
Mark brings to InSITE significant experience in assisting entrepreneurs achieve their financial and business goals. Prior to Columbia Business School, Mark spent five years with Barrington Associates (nka Wells Fargo Securities Middle Market Group), a boutique investment banking firm, where he advised entrepreneurs and private equity firms in equity capital raises and divestitures, among other transactions. After leaving Barrington Associates, Mark spent the summer with Innovate Partners, a venture capital and growth equity firm in Southern California. At Innovate Partners, Mark evaluated early-stage investments and provided advisory support to portfolio investments in the consumer, business services and technology segments. Mark received a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from Amherst College, where he graduated with distinction. Mark is an R.C. Kopf Fellow at Columbia Business School.
Zach Lane
Columbia JD/MBA 2013
Michael Lekas
Columbia PhD Electrical Engineering
Mike is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of electrical engineering at Columbia. Prior to coming to Columbia Mike earned his B.S. and M.S degrees in electrical engineering at Case Western Reserve University. During the past 3 years Mike has worked on a variety of research projects related to high-speed electronics for communications, and implantable biomedical devices.
David Lerman
Columbia MBA 2013, Linkedin
David is a second year MBA candidate at Columbia Business School focusing on finance and entrepreneurship. He is also the Co-President of Columbia’s Private Equity & Venture Capital Club. This past summer he interned at two New York-based starts-ups, Enterproid and Tracks. During his first year, he interned at High Peaks Venture Partners, a seed and early stage venture fund in New York. Prior to school, David was an Associate at Spectrum Equity Investors, a $4.5 billion technology-focused growth equity fund in Menlo Park, CA. While at Spectrum, David focused on investments in software, online media, information services, and financial technology. Prior to that, David was an Investment Banking Analyst at Houlihan Lokey and began his career as a Consultant at Rosetta, where he worked in their Technology and Financial Services verticals. He graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics.
Richard Liang
Columbia MBA 2013
Before attending Columbia, Richard was an associate at Sentinel Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm with $1.25 billion of capital under management. Here, he worked with founders of growing companies in the aerospace & defense, business services, and healthcare industries to reach the next stage of development. Prior to Sentinel, Richard was an investment banking analyst at Jefferies & Company in their Consumer Products practice, where he advised on mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, and debt & equity financings. Richard graduated from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, where he earned a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Financial Mathematics.
Maya Mandel
Columbia MBA 2013, Linkedin
Prior to attending Columbia Business School, Maya was the Product Manager for Charging and Smart Energy Management at Better Place, the leading global service provider for electrical vehicles. In addition to her responsibilities for the end-to-end charging solution to be commercially deployed in Israel, Denmark and Australia, Maya also had a leading system-architecture role in stabilizing the system and preparing it for real-world operations. Prior to her work at Better Place, Maya was a captain in the Israeli Defense Forces, where she received the IDF Chief of Staff Outstanding Officer Award for the Israeli 60th Independence Day. Maya graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan College of Engineering (2004), where she was also a member of the Women’s Swimming & Diving team and served as a student-athlete representative on the Advisory Board on Intercollegiate Athletics.
David MacCallum
Columbia JD / MBA 2013
Dave is a J.D./M.B.A. candidate at Columbia University. Prior to enrolling at Columbia, Dave worked as a development manager for PCRE Group, a Vancouver-based real estate development firm. Since coming to Columbia, Dave has been a member of the Science and Technology Law Review and worked over the summer in the legal department at Microsoft Corporation. Dave is a graduate of the University of British Columbia where he earned a B.A.Sc., in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business.
Megan McGill
Columbia MD/PHD 2013
Megan is an MD/PhD candidate at NYU School of Medicine in the department of Biomedical Imaging. Her research focuses on using both structural and functional MRI to identify brain abnormalities in patients with epilepsy. She has also worked in several clinical settings throughout New York. Megan is CEO and co-founder of DiabeticWin, a mobile gaming application that is being developed to help patients with Diabetes improve disease control. She graduated magna cum laude from University of Pennsylvania where she studied neuroscience, chemistry and music.
Victoria Mo
Columbia MS Computer Science 2013, Linkedin
Victoria is a M.S. in Computer Science candidate at Columbia University. Prior to Columbia, Victoria earned a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, San Diego and has worked as a trading assistant and a freelance SEO consultant. Victoria is a nationally ranked fencer and hopes to make the national team.
Christopher Moore
NYU MBA 2013
Prior to business school, Chris was stationed overseas as a Special Operations Intelligence Officer in the United States Air Force working on counterterrorism and crisis response operations. While deployed to Afghanistan, he led targeting missions against Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership cells for multinational special forces. Chris graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University’s ROTC program where he studied modern languages and worked as a legislative aide in the Florida House of Representatives.
An Nguyen
Columbia PHD 2014, Linkedin
An is a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at Columbia University. Her current research focuses on bone cell biomechanics with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets for bone loss disorders, such as osteoporosis. Outside of the lab, An has gained experience in large firms, start-ups, and venture capital funds, including the New York City Investment Fund, University City Science Center and Celera Genomics. In pursuing her passion in translating technologies from bench to bedside, An has received master’s degrees in medicine and mechanical engineering from Stanford University and bachelor’s degrees in finance and bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lila Pla Alemany
Columbia MBA 2013
Lila is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in raising funds for media and artistic projects. Prior to her MBA, she founded and run an independent film and theatre production company in Barcelona for 4 years. She wrote and produced several films, documentaries and theatrical shows including a documentary feature film that was nominated to Best Catalan Film in 2007, a global campaign for Amnesty International featuring U2 and Peter Gabriel, and the first live-action 3D film in Spain of a circus show ‘Beds’. Some of her company’s clients included the Catalan National Public broadcasting network, Comunicalia, Amnesty International, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Catalan National Theatre, among others. Lila holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University (First Class Degree) and a MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics. For her summer internship, Lila worked at the global consulting firm Bain & Co. In her spare time, she collaborates with the Catalan Foundation for Children with Cancer and Amnesty International.
Eric Rinder
Columbia JD 2014
Eric brings a diverse background of knowledge to InSITE, with experience in both finance and project management. Prior to attending Columbia, Eric worked at Madhouse Munchies, a regional healthy snack foods producer, on a small team dedicated to overhauling the company’s operational structure. Eric’s role was concentrated on revising the company’s sales and marketing efforts. He then went on to work as a financial analyst at Headwaters MB, where he specialized in sell side advisory work for middle market companies. Eric holds a B.A. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from the University of Virginia.
Amrish Singh
NYU MBA 2013
Before joining Stern, Amrish was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte advising clients in financial services and healthcare. He has experience in strategic roadmap development, technology-enabled enterprise finance transformation and enterprise data governance. Prior to Deloitte, Amrish worked at SAP Research and focused his efforts on strategic projects in SAP’s on-demand line of business. While at SAP, Amrish also filed three patents for innovations in the application of cloud-based technologies to support enterprise software services. Amrish is an avid technologist and has previously published research papers in machine learning, written a book chapter on social aspects of information organization and founded Testmojo.com. He holds a Master of Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Information Technology from Germany.
Kevin St. John
NYU MBA 2013
Rajan Ramchandani
Columbia MBA 2013
Ranjan is a first-year MBA candidate at Columbia Business School. Prior to school, Ranjan worked for several years in the New York office of the Boston Consulting Group, a management consultancy. His primary industry focuses were financial institutions and biopharmaceutical firms, with particular emphasis on strategic due diligence and M&A. Ranjan graduated from New York University with a B.A. in Latin American Studies.
Abigail Robinson
NYU MBA 2013
Prior to Stern, Abby worked in Strategic Operations at Rent The Runway – an e-commerce fashion startup considered “the Netflix for fashion.” Abby also spent three years as an analyst in Investment Management at Lehman Brothers and Barclays. Abby is a graduate of Tulane University where she earned a B.A. in International Relations.
Zak Schwarzman
Columbia MBA 2013
Jonathan Taylor
Columbia MBA 2013
Jonathan is a first year student at Columbia Business School interested in investing in media and technology businesses. Prior to attending Columbia, Jonathan was a senior financial analyst at American Express, where he worked on a turnaround strategy for the Global Travel Services business unit. Prior to American Express, Jonathan spent two years at Morgan Stanley, where he performed due diligence and evaluated early-stage financial technology investments for a $400 million fund. Jonathan received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University.
Marije Van Mens
Columbia MBA 2013
Marije is currently pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School. Before starting her MBA, Marije worked as a Project Leader at the Amsterdam and Mumbai offices of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), for which she managed strategic projects in a variety of industries. Before working at BCG, she worked a year running a small business in the student recruiting market. Next to her work at BCG, Marije conducted a consulting project for a group of NGO’s in Kenya. Marije holds an M.A. in Political Science/International Relations from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Visnu Vijayaraghavan
Columbia MBA 2013
Vishnu is currently pursuing an M.B.A in entrepreneurship and finance at Columbia Business School. Prior to Columbia, Vishnu worked as a senior engineer for Qualcomm, designing chips for 4G smartphones. He also worked part-time for Qualcomm Ventures, doing business development and opportunity assessment for wireless services/devices in emerging markets. Vishnu began his career at Silicon Graphics Incorporated, building high-performance supercomputers for commercial and government clients. In addition to completing entrepreneurial management classes at Stanford, Vishnu holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His interests lie in the area of social technology entrepreneurship and venture capital.
Marianna Zaslavsky
Columbia MBA 2013
Marianna joined InSITE in Fall 2011. Prior to Columbia Business School, Marianna worked for four years at Citi Private Bank, first as an Investment Strategy Analyst and later as an Associate Banker. She advised and evaluated investment portfolios, including private equity and hedge fund allocations, for clients in the ultra high net worth market. In addition, she advised on structured lending strategies and trust and estate planning. Marianna has also been involved in two mobile app start-ups, managing their strategic development and capital raise efforts. Marianna is originally from Ukraine and was raised in Boston. Marianna has a B.A from Columbia University, Columbia College.