Rani Aliahmad

Rani is the Managing Partner of Venvest Capital. He previously served as CEO of Trend Media, an innovator in the new media and television space, incubating TV shows through an innovative and disruptive development process. Prior to Trend Media, Rani was director of Craftsman Capital Advisors, providing venture structure, financing and merchant banking services for both entrepreneurs and venture investors in the technology, biotechnology, hospitality, entertainment and fashion industries. While President of USA Link, a provider of end-to-end mobile solutions and services for the marketing arena, his team launched the first text messaging marketing campaign in the US for P&G. Rani was co-founder and Chief Strategic Officer of Enverta, a B2B platform for the US confectionery industry, where he led the corporate strategy and business development of its e-business software activities. He received his BA in Economics from Yale University and his MBA in Information Technology and Entrepreneurship from MIT. While at MIT, he worked on some of the first Internet commercial applications and on IT healthcare startups. He is still closely affiliated with the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and the E-Lab. He has also helped raise over $250 million for different ventures and investment funds and serves on the board of several companies.

George Azar

George Azar is the owner and CEO of Azar Incorporated, a private investment company concentrating on public and private equities and commercial real estate since 1988. Prior to this he worked for Arbitrage Management Company in Chicago, IL developing and executing tax-­‐advantaged equity option trading strategies for high net worth individuals. Mr. Azar received a BA from the University of Michigan and a JD/MBA degree from Indiana University.

Emrah Kovacoglu

Emrah is a strategic entrepreneurial leader respected for leveraging innovative and emerging technologies to solve business and consumer problems in small and large organizations. He has worked for several large companies including Nortel Networks, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, and Procter & Gamble. In 2007, he founded a digital media company, TotalBeauty.com, raised $16MM+, grew to 12MM unique users/month, and ascended to #279 on Inc. 500 fastest growing companies.  He has an impressive track record of not only creating products, services, and businesses from scratch but also the ability to scale them. Demonstrated talent in identifying consumer needs and bringing technology and data together to establish a winning consumer value proposition. He put himself through school at one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country by playing basketball and received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.