Featured Speaker(s)

Moderator:

Kathy Elliott is a private equity investor and a partner in 8Wings Enterprises, a firm that invests in early stage, women-led companies. Kathy is a Board Member of the Technology Capital Network at M.I.T., a non-profit organization that matches entrepreneurs with investors and provides educational forums for entrepreneurs. She is a Forum Committee member for Springboard/New England, a venture capital conference for women entrepreneurs, and a Steering Committee member of the Commonwealth Institute's Emerging Women Entrepreneurs Program, an innovative program that helps women entrepreneurs launch high tech companies.

Elliott was formerly a Director and Senior Vice President of David L. Babson & Co., Inc., a leading investment counsel firm specializing in the management of institutional pension assets and mutual funds. As Director of Research, she was responsible for the oversight of the equity research efforts of the firm. David L. Babson was acquired by MassMutual in 1995. Elliott received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Economics from Northeastern University, her MBA from Boston University, and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Elliott and two of her 8Wings partners are the authors of a newly published "how to" book for aspiring entrepreneurs entitled The Old Girls' Network: Insider Advice for Women Building Businesses in a Man's World (Basic Books, August 2003).


Speakers:

Ann Bilyew, partner at Advent International, joined the company in 1999 and has nine years of venture capital and healthcare operations experience.

Before joining Advent, she was a managing director at Health Business Partners, a boutique investment bank and venture capital fund focused on healthcare. Her portfolio companies included More.com and Integrative Medicine Communications. Prior to Health Business Partners, Bilyew spent five years with APM Inc., a large healthcare-oriented strategic consulting firm. As a project manager, she led a number of large turnaround and restructuring projects at premier medical centers. In a subsequent role as director of business development for CSC Healthcare, she was responsible for the firm's acquisition and alliance strategy, investments in evolving technologies, marketing and sales, major client strategy and new market development.

Ann has led or managed Advent's investments in five companies: Health Hero Network Inc., MDeverywhere Inc., Med e-Manager Corp., MedVantx and SmartMouth Technologies Inc. She received a BS degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Harvard Business School.


Sarah Reed is General Counsel at Charles River Ventures, a 33 year old venture capital firm with offices in both Massachusetts and California that has raised eleven funds to date. Reed is recognized as a national authority on legal aspects of venture capital financings. In addition to publishing articles in business periodicals such Business Law Today and The Boston Business Journal, she has lectured at national industry forums hosted by the National Venture Capital Association (“NVCA”) and the American Bar Association, and to students at MIT’s Sloan School of Business and Villanova Law School. Reed is the founding Chairperson of an industry-wide, NVCA-endorsed initiative to create model venture financing legal documents. She has also appeared as an industry representative on the PBS television program “Debates, Debates,” and was profiled in The Industry Standard. Prior to joining CRV, Reed was general counsel at Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed laser medical device manufacturer. Prior to Palomar, she was with the Boston firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP where she covered a variety of areas including venture capital financings, private placements, IPOs and SEC reporting, as well as commercial litigation. Reed earned her BA from Harvard College in East Asian Studies (she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese) and her JD from Harvard Law School, both cum laude. She is a marathoner and a mother of two boys, and finds the latter more physically challenging than the former.

Dr. Monika Vnuk is an Associate with Oxford Biosciences Partners (OBP). While at Oxford, Dr. Vnuk has been instrumental in helping Oxford start portfolio companies such as Descartes and Cyberkinetics, and is currently an active observer on their boards of directors. Prior to joining OBP, Dr. Vnuk was a Fellow at the Health Care Entrepreneurship Program at Boston University, where she focused on business analysis and funding strategies while serving as a liaison to the business community. Dr. Vnuk has significant experience in the healthcare data industry where she completed internships with Quintiles Transnational and McKesson HBOC. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy, Magna cum laude, from Boston University and an M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Vnuk is a 2000 Inductee to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.

Claire Wadlington is partner and Chief Financial Officer at FA Technology Ventures. Wadlington joined FA Technology Ventures after a series of operating roles at venture-backed companies, most recently as VP of Finance & CFO of Cayman Systems, Inc. (telecommunications equipment). Wadlington was a member of the management team that sold Cayman to Netopia, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTPA). Prior to joining Cayman, she was CFO of a publishing and an Internet company. There Wadlington played a primary role in the sale of the publishing company to United News & Media PLC (UNMPC). In addition to her multiple operating roles, as an investment banker for nearly a dozen years, Wadlington has extensive experience handling public and private market transactions at First Albany Corporation, Lazard Freres & Co. and The First Boston Corporation. She also serves on the Boards of Christopher House, Inc. and Christopher House Assisted Living. Wadlington earned her BA from Yale University and her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.