Adam Cahan
Adam Cahan currently serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence, splitting his time between Lightspeed Ventures and Lux capital, where he is advising and developing opportunities in early stage technology companies.

Adam was most recently Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering for Yahoo under Marissa Mayer. In this role, he oversaw product development, design and engineering with P&L responsibilities for Yahoo’s global Mobile efforts, Video and Emerging Products.

Adam’s background spans over 20 years of experience in technology, media and communications. He joined Yahoo in 2011 with the acquisition of IntoNow, where he was the Founder and CEO. Prior to creating IntoNow, he was CEO of Auditude, which was acquired by Adobe. He has served as EVP Digital for MTV Networks, and has had leadership roles at Google, McKinsey & Company, and NBC Universal. Adam started his career as a wildlife filmmaker for National Geographic, based in Zaire, Africa.

Adam currently serves as a Director on the Supervisory Board for ProSiebenSat.1, one of Europe’s (Germany) largest public media companies. Adam holds several patents with an undergraduate degree from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School with Beta Gamma Sigma Honors. He is trilingual in French, Spanish and English and an avid kitesurfer and traveler.

Adam lives in San Francisco with his wife Anne and three daughters Tabitha, Lucinda and Alaska. He is active in STEM education and conservation.

John Huntz
John Huntz has served as a director of Manhattan Associates since January 1999 and as chairman of its board of directors since May 2003.

John also serves as managing director of Huntz & Co., LLC, a venture investment and advisory firm. He is a board member of the American Heart Association, the Piedmont Hospital Foundation, and Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures at Georgia Tech.

John founded and is chairman of the Southern Capital Forum, and is an advisor to Balentine, a wealth management firm. From 2005 to 2013, he served as executive director, Venture Capital Investments, of Arcapita, Inc., and from 2009 – 2013, served as its president. From 2006 until 2010, John served as chairman of the board and member of the audit committee of CardioMEMS, Inc., the designer of a heart failure monitoring system.

John’s previous positions included that of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Fuqua Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer of healthcare products. John also has had principal or senior management positions with several private investment firms. He also is past chairman of the Georgia Logistics Innovation Council.

susan pravda
Ms. Pravda is managing partner of the Boston office of Foley & Lardner LLP and serves on the firm’s national management committee. She is also chair of the Technology Industry Team, and member of the Private Equity & Venture Capital and Transactional & Securities Practices and the Health Care, Food & Beverage, and Energy Industry Teams.

Ms. Pravda focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, initial public offerings, and related securities transactions. She is a frequent keynote presenter for Vistage International meetings nationwide, and her articles on mergers and acquisitions, creative financing tools, and negotiating techniques appear in a variety of business publications.

Ms. Pravda received her J.D. from Harvard Law School (cum laude, 1983) and a B.A. from Wesleyan University (magna cum laude, 1980).

Ms. Pravda has received several awards and accolades, including Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, a “Top 50 Female Massachusetts Super Lawyers®”, “The Best Lawyers in America®”, and many more.

Ms. Pravda is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and New York. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and Boston Bar Association, where she is co-chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions Committee.

todd krasnow
Todd Krasnow is an operating partner at Porchlight Equity, a consumer venture capital fund. Prior to joining Porchlight, he was part of the founding management team at Staples from 1986 until 1998, and was Executive Vice President of sales and marketing.

Following Staples, Todd was co-founder and, from 1998-2003, CEO of Zoots dry cleaning chain. He was Chairman of Zoots until its sale in 2008. He was on the faculty of Harvard Business School as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the 2006/2007 academic year.

Today, Todd is a director of Carbonite (NASDAQ: CARB), Tile Shop (NASDAQ: TTS), Bakkavor (London exchange: BAKK), and an advisory board member of private companies C&S Wholesale Grocers (a $30 billion wholesaler), Symbotic (a warehouse automation company) and Optics Planet (an on-line retailer).

Todd is on the National board of the Smithsonian, and on the board of the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Todd holds an A.B. Degree from Cornell University and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.

franco lodato
Franco Lodato (ADI / IDSA) is a provocateur and visionary. He pioneered “bionics,” the theory and practice of nature-inspired design, and is an expert in the interplay between human centered design solutions and advanced technology implementation.

He served as Master Innovator of wearable technologies for Google-Motorola; MIT Media Lab Motorola's Liaison, and led global design for Motorola, Herman Miller and Pininfarina. He holds more than 70 patents ranging from personal grooming, mobile and medical devices, wearable technologies, transportation and healthcare.

Franco is the subject of the Book “Bionics in Action” by Jens Bersen published by Danish Design Foundation and is founding member of the US National Academy of Invention. Franco helped shape design and innovation agendas for Dupont, Gillette, Motorola, Ferrari-Maserati, Bombardier and Boeing, among others.

He is currently Senior Vice President Global Design and Innovation at Kids2 where he leads the creation of the next generation of product solutions and experiences for parents and children worldwide.

Franco holds an Industrial Design and MSc. in Bionics Design Summa Cum Laude from Istituto Europe di Design IED , Milan.

rochelle wainer
Rochelle Wainer is currently the Vice President of Global Insights & Analytics for Kids2. She leads a team that represents the voice of the consumer and shopper and delivers market place trends for all cross functional teams.

Rochelle is a strategy and insights leader with more than 25 years of experience spanning industries, retail channels and brands. She has first class research knowledge and expertise in qualitative and quantitative methods as well as moderating. Rochelle is skilled at using research to answer complex problems and story-telling with strategic insights. She has a history of developing actionable consumer and shopper insights that lead to successful programs, new products and opportunities.

Rochelle has worked in insights leadership roles for Mattel, PepsiCo and TracyLocke and started her own consulting business, Real World Insights, Inc. Rochelle’s role at Kids2 allows her to incorporate her love of toys and consumer products with her expertise in child development.

Rochelle began her career as a trained child and developmental psychologist, earning a Bachelor of Arts from University at Albany and both a Master’s and Ph.D. from The University of Connecticut. She is an experienced presenter and recognized for her expertise in families (kids, teens, parents), generational theory and consumer psychology. Her research passion is applying family psychology to the real world.

Rochelle is from New York but currently resides in Johns Creek, GA with her husband, 3 boys and 2 beagles.