2012 UNC Social Business Competition Judges

Navaid is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and social activist. In the last 1990s he founded Indus Bazaar, an online mart for South Asian Americans, and Charity Click, an innovative online cause related advertisement network. In 2004 Mr Abidi started his own group at a hedge fund and became a global portfolio manager. Over the past six years he has focused his energy on creating innovative solutions to address the huge retirement savings problem facing America. His patented solutions for the retirement industry have been rolled out to some of largest financial institutions, positively impacting the lives of over a million Americans. Mr Abidi currently heads up Razor Hedge, LLC, an investment management firm focused on bringing innovative investment solutions to individual clients. He has served on the Board of Directors of Human Development Foundation that supports programs in South Asia related to education, healthcare, and micro-finance. In 2007, Mr Abidi helped organize social entrepreneurship conferences focused on Pakistan, and from the best practices launched a pilot program to bring digital K-12 education solutions to poor students in rural and urban shanty town areas of Pakistan. Navaid has also invested in number of social venture start-ups seeking to create innovative solutions.

Jeff Clark co-founded The Aurora Funds with Scott Albert in 1994. He works primarily with Aurora's life sciences poHrtfolio. He pulls from his strategic planning and operational experience to help these companies create or refine business plans, build solid management teams, develop strategic partnerships and secure key customers.

Todd is a veteran news reporter who has worked with the Raleigh News and Observer reporting on government as well as serving as the business editor. In 1999, he joined the A.J. Fletcher Foundation to develop the online Philanthropy Journal, where he serves as chief editor and publisher. Todd has also taught nonprofit reporting and media relations at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, and regularly speaks at workshops, seminars, meetings and conferences on the topics of nonprofit communications and trends in the charitable world.

Mark serves as a Managing Director at Warburg Pincus LLC where he focuses on technology, media and telecommunications. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 1991, Mark worked as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at PRIMEDIA Inc., where he ran the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Mark currently serves as a director at A Place for Mom, the Better Advertising Project and is also the Chairman of ProPublica's Business Advisory Board. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and an A.B. degree from Harvard University.

Scott currently serves as Director of the SBTDC and pursuant to an agreement between The University, The Community College System and the NC Department of Commerce. Scott also serves as North Carolina's first Commissioner for Small Business, with previous experience as a corporate attorney and senior manager with two larger rural economic development corporations.

Justin is passionate about entrepreneurship, positive impact investing and environmentally sustainable business models. He started his career in consulting and spent eight years advising Fortune 500 clients in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. In 2011, Justin founded his own company in the environmental space and subsequently led a team to successfully pitch the startup idea in the 2-month, incubator-style, Cherokee Startup Challenge. Justin has an MBA from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business, an MS in Environmental Engineering plus a BS in Biology/Environmental Studies - both from Tufts University.

Ramzan Dhanji is a successful businessman who has established and grown a number of companies over the past 25 years. In 1985, Mr. Dhanji founded Imagineering, Inc., which today is a provider of fast turn prototype printed circuit boards and assemblies. In 1987, he founded Q-Image Corp., which he later sold in 1992. In 1999, Mr. Dhanji founded Accutrace, Inc., an engineering firm currently operating in California. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Dhanji was a member of the Board of Directors of Gold Coast Bank. In 2010, Mr. Dhanji co-founded Luckpatti Investment Group. Ramzan is on the Board of Trustees for Zindagi Trust, a non-profit whose mission is to provide education to children living in poverty in Pakistan. In the past 5 years, the Trust has provided education to 5,300 children and funded 28 schools throughout Pakistan. He is also on the Board of Directors for Apna Ghar, which provides culturally appropriate, multilingual services, including emergency shelter, to survivors of domestic abuse with a primary focus on the South Asian and other immigrant communities. Mr. Dhanji received BS in Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1979 and his MBA from University of Chicago in 1985.

Ron is a former NASA astronaut and a co-founder and director of Manna Energy Ltd., a U.K. based social enterprise designed to leverage the $120B/year Carbon Market to finance humanitarian projects in developing countries. Manna developed, under contract with partner organization Vestergaard-Frandsen, the largest water treatment intervention conducted by a private organization - a four million person program operating in Kenya and funded by carbon credits. Ron is also the founder/director of the non-profit Manna Energy Foundation which is a social enterprise incubator designed to assist in the alleviation of poverty through the sustainable provision of renewable energy and water purification technologies in developing countries.

Carmel is a founding member of the Manna Energy Foundation and Manna Energy Limited. She manages and oversees Manna Energy Limited's day-to-day operations, coordinating efforts between US, Isle of Man and Rwandan operations.

Christopher Gergen is founding Executive Director of Bull City Forward, a non-profit focused on catalyzing sustainable enterprise in Durham, NC. Chris also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Duke University's Terry Sanford School of Public Policy. Christopher's entrepreneurial credentials include co-founding SMARTHINKING which became the leading online tutoring provider in the United States, serving over 200,000 students from more than 1,000 universities, colleges, and high schools, before being acquired by Pearson Education. Christopher received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Duke University, a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the George Washington University, and his M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Dan Gerlach has served as President of the Golden Leaf Foundation since October 2008. Prior to that, he served seven years as Senior Fiscal Advisor to N.C. Governor Mike Easley and served as Founding Director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center.

Bobby oversees the day-to-day operations of the fund, and joined Rex Healthcare in 2010. Previously, Bobby worked for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in the Corporate Development group. He also worked for an angel investor group in Columbia, S.C., Citigroup and KPMG. Bobby received his International MBA from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina where he studied in Germany, England and Australia. He received his undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Allen Johnson has been editorial page editor of the News & Record since May 1999. He also has been an adjunct professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. Central University, UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T. In 1996, he taught a management course to newsroom executives in Zambia, Africa.

My father's lifetime work "Entrepreneurial Revolution" and the Net Generation at The Economist converges with Dr Yunus as they both define the core purpose of economics as investing in next generation's productivity out of every community. Foundation projects include helping Adam Smith scholars edit Journal of Social Business and celebrating http://jobscompetitions.ning.com

Dr. Miles Palmer is a co-founder of Palmer Labs and 8 Rivers Capital.

A distinguished innovator, engineer, and scientist, Dr. Palmer has four patents and over 40 publications in a broad range of fields, including biomedicine, aerospace, optics, communications, transportation, automotive technology, robotics, power, energy, fuels, and environmental chemistry.

After earning both an Electrical Engineering and a Chemistry degree at MIT, Dr. Palmer earned his PhD at the University of California, San Diego. He earned scholarship and academic society honors at both institutions. His bachelor’s thesis at MIT led to advances in artificial skin materials for burn victims, and his PhD thesis included a credible alternative theory for the early evolution of the Earth’s atmosphere that was published in the national press. Dr. Palmer was selected by NASA for final interviews for astronaut selection at Johnson Space Center while in graduate school.

Dr. Palmer joined the Air Force in 1981 to gain experience in flight testing and advanced aerospace technology. He received numerous awards in the Air Force and was nominated for astronaut duty in 1984. He left the Air Force in 1986 and joined SAIC.

Dr. Palmer’s pioneering work in advanced aerospace technology at SAIC has been recognized nationally by his peers, and resulted in a press conference hosted by Sandia National Labs. His work has been cited by Business Week, the Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and other media outlets.

Dr. Palmer served on the MIT Curriculum Committee, The Department of Defense Strategic Defense Initiative Rocket Technology Advisory Panel, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace Committee on Lasers and Plasmadynamics. He is married and has two sons, one working on top box office Hollywood movies and one in high school Significant Achievements

• 2010 Won DOE award as part of $70M largest ever US algae R&D project
• 2009 Won Tennessee economic development award for advanced electric vehicle development
• 2008 Developed proposal and awarded largest government contract for algae bio-fuel research, $25M
• 2007 Developed and awarded project for zero-emissions coal plant technology
• 2006 Developed proposal to convert Army artillery shells to GPS guidance
• 2005 Awarded congressional budget allocation to convert civilian airliner into UAV
• 2004 Credited by Navy with significant role in restructuring Navy major ship programs
• 2002 U.S. Defense Department top high technology project of the year
• 2002 SAIC technology project of the year award
• 2001 Won and led project directly awarded by U.S. presidential executive order
• 2001 Fastest development time ever achieved for a U.S. Defense Department aircraft.
• 2000 Longest ballistic range achieved by a Navy standard 5 inch gun fired artillery shell
• 1988 Designed, built, and tested the highest power battery system in the world
• 1984 Most junior officer ever nominated by the U.S. Air Force for astronaut duty
• 1980 Selected by NASA for final interviews for space shuttle astronaut positions
• National Science Foundation grant for advanced mathematics program in number theory at Ohio State University as a high school sophomore
• Varsity letters in football, track, and basketball in junior high and high school

Bio

Mark joined Intel in 1997 in Silicon Valley and relocated to the Research Triangle, NC area in 2001. Before joining Intel, Mark marketed Turner Broadcasting's cable networks in South America, practiced law as trial and litigation counsel for Haynsworth, Sinkler & Boyd in Charleston, SC and was an analyst at Bank of America. Mark's investment portfolio includes AppIQ (acquired by HP), DeNovo, Enpirion, Groove Networks (acquired by MSFT), mFormation, Motricity (NASDAQ: MOTR), PowerPrecise (acquired by TI), Relativity (acquired by MicroFocus), Sandburst (acquired by BRCM), Skycross, VirtualIron (acquired by Oracle) and Virtustream. Mark has a BS in Accounting/Finance, a JD and an International MBA from the University of South Carolina.

Communities Program (RCP) for The Conservation Fund which helps North Carolina's rural communities address persistent poverty by tapping natural resources to create jobs and strengthen economies. Sager and her team train community leaders and foster peer-to-peer learning to help communities create new economies that work on the so-called "triple bottom line"-environmental, economic and social returns on investment.

Rajan Shamdasani has been in the manufacturing, distribution and sales of public safety uniforms for the past 35 years and in the real estate development business for over 25 years. A visionary, he is talented in discovering the needs of the market place and finding ways to satisfy those needs. A world traveler and always on the go, he still finds time to serve his community where he has lived for the past 41 years. He has served on the Fayetteville Regional Airport Commission, Fayetteville Arts Council, Fayetteville Symphony, Center for Entrepreneurship, Fayetteville State University besides various other civic organizations. He is a very active member of his church and volunteers substantial amount of time to it.

Mark Thornton is the former Chief Operating Officer for JPMorgan Private Bank in London. Since 2004, Thornton has dedicated his life to creating the world’s first management consultancy that does one thing: teach Leadership and ethical reflective practices to elite business schools and corporate leaders. The result is MBA, EMBA and Executive Education graduates with less stress, increased productivity, improved health and stronger ethical foundation.

He teaches Leadership Insight to global business schools, MBA's, EMBA's and Executive Education programs at Harvard Law School, the Program on Negotiation, Wharton Business School, the Leadership Development Program McGill International Executive Institute for Executive Education and numerous other elite institutions.

He has appeared on national TV shows including Fox Business News, ABC TV, CNBC, MTV as well as more than 60 national and regional radio shows.

Clay B. Thorp is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. Since 1995, Clay has co-founded four companies in the life science arena and co-founded Hatteras in 2001. As part of his work with Hatteras, Clay was a co-founder and served as CEO and Chairman of Synthematix Inc., a chemistry informatics company that was acquired in April 2005 by Symyx Technologies (SMMX) for $13 million in cash. Prior to Hatteras, clay was the co-founder and head of corporate development for Novalon Pharmaceutical Corporation, where he led financing efforts and was head of business development from inception until Novalon's sale to Karo Bio for $106.7 million in May of 2000. Clay also serves as Lead Director of the Board for Pathfinder.

Colin has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, marketing consultant, senior marketing executive and college lecturer at The University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Prior to his work at UNC, Mr. Wahl founded Client Opinions, Inc. a market research firm that helps senior management teams conduct client, employee and market research. The firm's clients include Standard & Poor's, The Vanguard Group, The University of North Carolina and Clarkston Consulting.

Since 2006, Patrick Woodie has been the Vice President of Rural Development Programs at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. He oversees capacity-building programs in the areas of Physical Infrastructure, Business Development, Workforce Development, and Civic & Social Infrastructure. Patrick is a native of Alleghany County, located in northwestern North Carolina, and a graduate of Wake Forest University and Wake Forest School of Law.