Carol heads the marketing and communications for the Institute team. She is an Adobe Creative Suite wiz and a stickler for efficiency. She graduated from NYU Steinhardt, with a major in Media, Culture, and Communication and a minor in Web Development and Applications. Carol is also a professional photographer and a vintage camera enthusiast.

Dee is a Venture Associate for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, focusing on investment opportunities in life science and healthcare. Prior to joining the Fund, Dee did product development and intellectual property strategy in therapeutics and diagnostics for Ludwig Cancer Research. Dee holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics /Developmental Biology from Columbia University.

Emily is Programs Manager for the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute where she coaches and supports early-stage entrepreneurs. She is also the Managing Director of Reboot Democracy, a non-profit bridging the worlds of tech, business, and democracy. In a prior life, Emily founded a wearable tech company in San Francisco while serving as an EIR at Citrix where she co-created the curriculum and taught the Citrix Startup Accelerator’s Innovators Program.

Frank heads the Entrepreneurial Institute and is the Managing Director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund which invests in early stage NYU startups. He is a member of the national teaching team for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program and an Adjunct Faculty at the NYU School of Engineering. He has been a venture capitalist for over 15 years.

Jen Curtis is the Associate Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute where she manages the Leslie eLab, the Institute's finances, and leads events & operations, including the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival. She is also the Treasurer of the NYU Administrative Management Council, which fosters University-wide relationships that inspire thoughtful engagement, innovative progress, and professional excellence. Jen is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Benin '14-'15) and previously worked at the UN World Food Programme in Rome, Italy. She holds a BA/MA in International Relations from St. John’s University. She recently received her MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management & Policy from NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

Rani is a first year MBA at NYU Stern, where she is focusing on finance and entrepreneurship. Rani leads angel syndicates and has previously invested in mission-driven startups across the circular economy, healthcare, and fintech. She also held operating and investing roles at EquityZen, Anthos Capital, and Raymond James. At Stern, Rani sits on the boards of the PEVC Club and the Entrepreneurship & Startup Organization. Outside of Stern, she is a passionate opera singer and wine connoisseur. Rani graduated cum laude with a BA in International Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis.

Rebecca serves as the Associate Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, where she leads operations and major programs, and supports entrepreneurs focused on socio-environmental challenges. Rebecca is also adjunct faculty at both the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School for Design, teaching entrepreneurship, design and sustainability.

Sarah is the Senior Program Manager for the Entrepreneurial Institute where she leads educational programs for NYU startups, manages the mentor network and grows external partnerships. Prior to joining the Institute, Sarah worked at General Assembly and Stanford University. Sarah holds an M.A. in Comparative International Education from Columbia University.

Sergei Revzin is a Venture Associate for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund where he leads all technology investments. He is also a co-host of The Mentors podcast, and has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs through his work as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at national nonprofit Venture for America where he ran the organization's accelerator and first venture fund. Prior to this, Sergei was a founder and early employee at several high growth startups.

Aliyah is a senior at NYU Stern studying marketing and entrepreneurship. She is extremely passionate about entrepreneurship, travel, and fashion and is interested in creating social enterprises in order to create large social good in the world. A two time recipient of the NYU Stern Social Impact Stipend, Aliyah is interested in meshing social justice and entrepreneurship together in order to uplift and empower low income communities within New York City.

Chris is a Venture Fellow at the NYU Innovation Venture Fund and is completing her MBA at Stern. She started her career as a buyer for Macy's, Inc. After years of selecting the companies to be stocked in stores, she wanted to work more closely with the entrepreneurs behind the labels. During her time at Stern, she's been an MBA Associate for a consumer fund, The Ember Company, and an MBA Fellow at Cleo Capital. She's a Chapter Co-Lead for the SoGal Foundation, an Advisor to Caribbeans in Tech and Entrepreneurship and a Committee Member at BLCK VC.

Daniel is joining us for a second year as a Venture Fellow. He is a Venture GM at Create, a venture studio based in New York City, and invests in software at Harlem Capital, a diversity-focused fund. He is an InSITE fellow and a deal lead at New York Angels. He is completing his MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business. Previously, he worked with Draft Ventures, an early investor in Notion, Dfinity, Thrive Market, and many other companies, and at Antler and Alpaca VC. He also co-founded Upkey, an EdTech company.

Ellie is a senior in Steinhardt studying Media, Culture, and Communication with minors in Web Programming and Food Studies. This is her 4th year involved with the Leslie eLab and she’s excited to be the Chair of this year’s NYU Entrepreneurs Festival. Ellie is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and NYU’s Bite Club. Combining her interests in food and design, Ellie has worked in marketing at several startups and media agencies.

Graham is a junior in Courant studying Math with minors in Computer Science and Italian. He's a second year intern working on community programs and engagement. He's been involved with the startup community at NYU since freshman year and is looking to start his own... as soon as he gets an idea. Graham spends his free time with an NYU club called Bite Club, a food publication that runs events for the NYU community. He's a hobby botanist and ice cream enthusiast!

Major is a senior in Steinhardt studying Media, Culture, and Communication with minors in Computer Science and Web Programming. He has been a member of the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival for two years. Major is excited to help introduce the festival and its mission to those who are curious about entrepreneurship at NYU. He is passionate about human-centered design, media studies, disability studies, and how entrepreneurship takes place in these areas of interest. Major has experience working with both smaller tech startups such as LeanDNA and working at large corporations such as NBCUniversal.

Is a senior at Courant student Computer Science with minors in Mathematics, Economics, and Business Studies. He co-founded CoStudy two years ago and has been involved with the startup community at Boston University and NYU since his sophomore year. He follows European soccer religiously and loves exploring New York's museums, parks and shows.

Rani is a first year MBA at NYU Stern, where she is focusing on finance and entrepreneurship. Rani leads angel syndicates and has previously invested in mission-driven startups across the circular economy, healthcare, and fintech. She also held operating and investing roles at EquityZen, Anthos Capital, and Raymond James. At Stern, Rani sits on the boards of the PEVC Club and the Entrepreneurship & Startup Organization. Outside of Stern, she is a passionate opera singer and wine connoisseur. Rani graduated cum laude with a BA in International Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ash is the Founder and CEO of Actifio, a provider of storage software solutions. A serial entrepreneur and founder AppIQ and Serano Systems, Ash was previously a partner at Greylock Capital and served as VP and Chief Technologist at HP.

Clayton Bryan (Stern MBA '15) is an early stage venture investor and operator. Clayton has spent time at some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley. He has built expansive online communities, scaled marketplace businesses, and facilitated million dollar deals. At Yahoo he worked on award winning products and helped lead a team pioneer a new set of tools that started the social commerce movement. With Diversity as a guiding principle, Clayton has spent the entirety of his career within venture capital focused on supporting underrepresented founders.

David Hirsh (SPS '90) is a real estate investor with more than 30 years of experience across all major real estate product types in most major US markets. David has completed in excess of $30 billion in transactions. His skills include: portfolio management, leasing, asset sales/dispositions, lending, and workouts/restructuring.

David (Law ’06) is the Managing Partner of BoxGroup, a New York City-based early-stage investment fund. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Spring, director of the Startup Studio at CornellTech and co-founder of TechStars NYC.

Di-Ann (Steinhardt ‘94) started the US office in 2009 and is now the CEO at byCore, where she is supporting the construction workforce of the future. Previously, she was the Director of Growth for crowd-sourced navigation and real-time traffic application at Waze (acquired by Google 2013).

Jay is the Global Head of External R & D Innovation for Neuroscience, Pain and Sensory Disorders at Pfizer, and a serial entrepreneur having founded and led Cypress Biosciences and Cytel Corporation. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at NYU School of Medicine.

Jessica (CAS '00) is a biopharmaceutical executive with 7+ years of experience in strategic advising, R&D, commercialization, and business development. She is a leading expert in regenerative medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and pain, and is a member of NYU's Board of Trustees.

Nedal (CAS '00) is a Co-Founder and the Chief Strategy Officer of CityMD Urgent Care. He has served in several academic and administrative roles, with appointments at both Saint Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital and The Valley Hospital. He continues to serve as an associate professor at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Paul is a Distinguished Scientist in Residence at NYU, and previously served as NYU's Senior Vice Provost for Research and Senior Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship, Tandon School of Engineering. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the NY Academy of Science and is a founding partner of Venly Corp. He previously served as Senior VP and Director of Research at IBM.

Stacie is Vice Provost of Research at NYU. As Vice Provost, Dr. Bloom works closely with the president, provost, deans, faculty, and senior administrators to facilitate, energize, and grow the University's research enterprise and its impact.

Josh (Stern '14) is a Founding Partner of Moving Capital, an early stage investment fund focused on mobility and logistics. He led Uber's New York metro area business, overseeing the company's largest market for more than five years. Josh was previously a Managing Partner at Tusk Ventures and is a prolific angel investor.

Mark (Heights-UCAS ’66, Trustee) is the Managing Director of Leslie Ventures, a private investment company. Previously, he ran three Silicon Valley startups, including Veritas Software where he was founding CEO. He is also a lecturer in management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Nobu Nakaguchi (Tisch '10) is the Chief Design Officer and Co-Founder of Zola, the wedding company reinventing the wedding planning and registry experience. Prior to Zola, Nobu worked in user experience design and product management for over 15 years.

Ragy Thomas (Stern MBA '03) is the CEO & Founder of Sprinklr. Over the past 15+ years he has played an instrumental role in the evolution of two business-critical channels for the enterprise: social media and email. As founder and CEO of Sprinklr, the leading Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform, his mission is to enable every organization on the planet to make their customers happier.

Steve (Tisch '84) is a gaming industry expert, investor, and serial entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Golden Hearts Gaming, Inc. Previously, he was the co-founder and CEO of digital games and database marketing platform developer LuckyLabs, which was acquired by InfoScout, Inc. in 2014. Steven has also been a Director, Advisor and investor in various media, tech, consumer products and financial services companies.

Bill (Heights '58) serves as an Advisory Director at General Atlantic LLC, a leading global private equity firm. Previously, he was a Managing Director at the firm, and before that was a VP and corporate officer at IBM.