Get to know Lorin Dixon, an Advisory Board member with Championship Labs.

View Full Profile

Tom Bachant is the founder and CEO at Everyspace, a community platform to create meaningful connection in remote teams. Previously, Tom founded Dashride, a ridesharing platform that was acquired by Cruise in 2018 and was named one of Forbes “30 Under 30” in 2019. Tom is an entrepreneur, engineer, and product expert focused on creating equitable social impact.

View Full Profile

Jaden Brodeur has always been passionate for meaningful innovation designed to address big problems. At an early age, he took an interest in the concept of eliminating plastic-bottled water, fully convinced his adulthood should be free of single-use plastic bottles. He is co-founder of Luma, a sustainability company with a hyperfocus on hydration. Luma is building the first hydration unit to simultaneously combine UV-C light with optional filtration via activated Carbon.

View Full Profile

Sumia Shaikh is a founding team member, investor, and VP of Marketing at Visible Hands VC. She leads marketing and brand for the firm and focuses on supporting portfolio companies in the digital health and wellness space. Sumia graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Allied Health Sciences, and a concentration in Public Health and Program Management.

View Full Profile

Saira Kazmi, Ph.D., is an Executive Director of Enterprise Data and Machine Learning Engineering at CVS Health. She brings over 18 years of experience in delivering advanced analytics capabilities into business workflows.

View Full Profile

Get to know Jack Tarca, the Werth Institute's new Entreprenuer in Residence with Championship Labs.

View Full Profile

Matt invented Smartwell, a flavored and sparkling water dispenser, and subsequently started his first company, Voda, around this idea. Dubbed the "next generation water cooler,’’ Matt sold Voda in 2019 and went to work on his second startup, CivilTalk.

Hearing his mom’s frustration with the combative nature of social media, Matt wanted to find a way for people to have a voice online without the noise of trolls and negative comments. Matt and his team developed CivilTalk with a mission to connect people with each other so they can listen, learn and collaborate on solutions without the fear of being shut down or drowned out. Users are required to prove their identity before joining and choose who they engage with. With CivilTalk, the focus is on issues and solutions, not political parties.

Matt got his start in entrepreneurship with guidance from the School of Business, School of Engineering and UConn’s Technology Incubation Program (TIP), which provided a home base for Voda along with support with a business plan, investor pitches and connections with potential investors and business partners. He was also one of the first graduates of the School of Business’ Innovation Quest (iQ), a competition that helps students turn their ideas into a business. (Look at the most recent iQ winners)

View Full Profile

Travis Bloom is the co-founder and CTO of Pawlicy Advisor, a pet insurance marketplace focused on helping consumers find the right plan at the best possible price. The company, which was founded in 2018, has raised more than $7.5M of venture capital and helped millions of pet parents ensure their dogs and cats get the best care possible.

Travis started his career in General Electric’s IT Leadership program after graduating from UConn in 2013. He lives in midtown Manhattan with his wife Meghan (UConn ‘13) and cat Ginny.

View Full Profile

More than 50% of all dogs over the age of 10 die from cancer. UConn alumna Ashley Kalinauskas is part of a team working to change that. Ashley is founder and CEO of Torigen Pharmaceuticals, a veterinary biotech company that is leading the way in animal oncology by harnessing the pet’s immune system to fight cancer. Torigen’s team of clinical researchers and veterinary professionals create personalized cancer immunotherapies tailored for each patient by using their deactivated tumor cells, giving them a tool to fight cancer that doesn’t involve the potentially painful side effects of chemotherapy.

View Full Profile

When Dean Mahoney and friends Pete Weil and Steve Pawlik saw people drinking Moscow mules in a Santa Monica bar, and found that liquor stores didn’t sell them pre-made, they realized they had an opportunity to create something new. By cashing out their savings, 401K’s and finding any spare change to contribute, they embarked on a mission, to build the brand from the ground up. Their mission: to deliver premium quality and ultimate convenience with the hottest cocktail on the market. After crafting the original beverage, Dean returned to the East Coast to spearhead distribution. He got a big break at the end of 2017, when a major liquor distributor agreed to add the company as a client. In 2019, the team launched their Mexican Style Mule with tequila, ginger and lime, as well as their Tropical Style Mule with rum, ginger and pineapple, as well as seasonal varieties.

View Full Profile

Leah is currently an MBA candidate at Columbia Business School (CBS) and MBA associate at SWAT Equity Partners, a venture capital firm for emerging entrepreneurial consumer brands. Prior to starting at CBS, she was a summer associate at LDV Capital and an investment associate at Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs (Techstars). Previously, she spent three years running platform and marketing for UpRamp, the industry accelerator/CVC for the connectivity industry (backed by Comcast, Charter, Cox and 60 others), and worked in business development for boutique consultancies in London.

View Full Profile

Roma is an investor at Summit Partners focused primarily on the technology sector. Her investment experience includes CoderPad. Prior to Summit, Roma worked at Citigroup, most recently in the technology investment banking team and previously as an equity capital markets analyst.

Roma holds a BS in finance and a BA in human rights, summa cum laude, from the University of Connecticut.

View Full Profile

Werth Watching is an extension of Justin’s vision as a Business student at UConn. In 2014, Justin founded the UConn Consulting Group (UCG), a strategy consulting group bringing together top students with alumni who attended elite business schools and consulting firms. UCG was founded on the belief that given the resources and training, UConn students can compete and land jobs at top companies around the world.

View Full Profile

Jamison Yaffa ’14 is a co-founder and portfolio manager at 6Beacon Capital, based in Boston, MA. He previously spent time at Crestline Investors and Balyasny Asset Management. Jamison started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at UBS. He graduated from UConn in 2014 with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Real Estate Finance.

View Full Profile

Dr. Leila Daneshmandi is an Assistant Professor in Residence of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UConn School of Engineering and within the Biomedical Engineering Department. She is the co-founder and COO of Encapsulate, a biotech startup in cancer precision diagnostics that has raised over 1M in non-dilutive funding and that is conducting preclinical studies in partnership with Hartford Healthcare. Encapsulate has received numerous awards and accolades nationally and internationally including the prestigious Technology-in-Space Prize for $653k from the International Space Station US National Laboratory and Boeing. Leila is a Women of Innovation finalist, selected by the Connecticut Technology Council and Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology; has been awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year for Scalable Venture Award by the Connecticut Entrepreneur Awards; and was invited to give a TEDx Talk on her professional and personal journey. She holds five patents and has authored over 12 peer-reviewed publications. Leila currently teaches Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship I & II, an experiential entrepreneurship course open to all students in Engineering, Business, and Digital Media and Design, and develops programs for student and faculty entrepreneurial growth and development within the school.

View Full Profile

Cassandra Bodzak is a thought leader, best-selling author and sought after on-camera personality and speaker in the mindfulness and personal development world. She is also the host of the popular spiritual podcast, "Divine Downloads.”  You may have seen Cassandra on ABC’s “The Taste” with Anthony Bourdain as the “happy, healthy living guru” or in her work with SHAPE, Eating Well, Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Thrive, Fabletics, Lululemon, SoulCycle and many more. She has been called “an award-winning thought leader and intuitive coach” in Forbes and “a spiritual leader” by Well + Good. Cassandra helps people all over the world learn The Process for bringing their soul's desires into their everyday reality through her online group program, “Divinely Design Your Life,” as well as through all the free content she shares on her YouTube and social media.

View Full Profile

As a Director at Clark Construction, covering Southern California, Joss Tillard-Gates ensures Clark Construction wins work in the region, delivers on Clark’s commitment to maximizing its opportunities to partner with small and diverse business entities for each of its projects, supports workforce development programs, and grows existing relationships while creating new relationships with industry partners throughout Southern California. Prior to joining Clark Construction in 2022, the bulk of Joss’s experience was in policy and government as he spent time as a registered lobbyist representing Los Angeles County, held the role as Legislative Director for a State of California official, while also leading in various capacities on political campaigns, including serving as Deputy Director of Policy for Mike Bloomberg 2020. Joss holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Connecticut, a Juris Doctor and Real Estate Law certificate from Western State College of Law, and a Construction Management certificate from UCLA. He also serves on the following boards: Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, Los Angeles Business Council, Build California, ACE Mentor Los Angeles and Orange County, Crete Academy, and Urban Alchemy. While Joss has made Los Angeles his home, he is from Kansas City, Missouri and loves going back home to enjoy his family’s barb-b-q restaurant, Gates BBQ.

View Full Profile

Mike Parker graduated from UCONN in 2001 with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration and is now the owner and creative director of Lowbrow Studios, a full-service animation studio in Fairfield, CT.  Lowbrow has produced, written and directed animated shorts and series for TV, web and streaming.

View Full Profile

Geoff is President and Chief Commercial Officer at Wellinks, a virtual-first care company on a mission to help the 25 million Americans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) live fully and breathe freely. Through its personalized approach to care, Wellinks partners with health plans and value-based care delivery organizations to help members live well with COPD and break the cycle of frequent hospitalizations. Wellinks has been named a Connecticut “Innovator of the Month” by Senator Chris Murphy and was recently awarded the Next Gen Telemedicine Rising Star Award from the UCSF Digital Health Hub Foundation. 

Over the course of Geoff’s six-year tenure with Wellinks, he has raised over $40 million in venture capital funding and has built partnerships with leading health systems, including Hartford HealthCare in Connecticut, and national payers.

A 2022 Hartford Business Journal “40 under Forty” honoree, Geoff is a founding member of the Digital Medicine Society’s IMPACT initiative for virtual-first care, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Connecticut Innovations, and serves on the regional Board of Directors of the American Lung Association and the Executive Committee for the New Haven Chapter of the American Heart Association. He resides in West Hartford with his family and is a proud and active alumnus of UConn. Go Huskies!


View Full Profile