Sontag Resources
All University students are welcome to use any and all of the resources highlight below even if they do not intend to compete in the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition.
Courses and local events
- Enroll in and attend a series of free workshops (Ozmen Center "Starting a Business" workshop series) provided through the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Nevada, Reno. These workshops occur every fall semester. Sign up for the workshop series, and we’ll email you prior to every event with an RSVP. (Note: Students are strongly encouraged take the online Udacity course "How to Build a Startup" prior to or while attending the Ozmen Center workshops.)
- Complete the free online Udacity course: "How to Build a Startup". The Ozmen Center workshop series is based on and builds upon foundations outlined in this course
- Enroll in Entrepreneurship courses at the University of Nevada, Reno, including a Jumpstart course (ENT 451) offered over two weekends during Wintermester (there is a fee associated with this course).
- Attend the Entrepreneurs Assembly, which is a free monthly meeting offered by a local non-profit organization dedicated to educating and facilitating entrepreneurs in creating and growing their businesses.
- Attend and/or present at 1 Million Cups, which provides people with an opportunity to present their business ideas, followed by a Q&A session. In Reno, 1 Million Cups begins at 9:00 a.m. every Wednesday morning at the Innevation Center, with live streaming of the event at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Arrangements to present at 1 Million Cups can be made through Mitch Winterman (mwinterman@unr.edu).
- Participate in any of the numerous video training programs available for entrepreneurs at Kaufman Founders School.
- Watch the Financial Analysis video series from the Ozmen Center.
- Join the Wolf Pack Entrepreneurship club. Meetings are every non-holiday Monday at 12:00 in the Ozmen Center (Room AB 402). Check with the Ozmen Center for more information.
- The Rural Nevada Business Assistance (RuBA) program is funded by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Applications are open now and close Friday, September 3, 2021. The program is for:
- mainstream or tech; business ideas, new businesses or established businesses
- permanent address or business address in Rural Nevada (i.e. all of Nevada except Clark County, City of Reno, City of Sparks); rural Washoe County is OK, which includes the Spanish Springs area.
- annual revenues less than $2 million per year
Entrepreneurial mentors
Entrepreneurial mentors are local entrepreneurs that have agreed to share their time and expertise with groups of individuals who would benefit from such guidance. The drop down menu below provides a list of mentors along with a brief biography and some keywords (relating to roles, areas of expertise, and industry knowledge) for each. If you believe that you would benefit from meeting with one of our mentors, please send a request to ozmencenter@unr.edu to receive a formal introduction.
Key roles
- Managing Partner, S2G Ventures LLC,
- Angel investor
- Mentor, Summit VMS
Key industries
- Medical devices
- Alternative energy
- Commercial food service equipment
Biography
Wendy Alderman is currently a mentor with the Summit VMS program at the Innevation Center. She is managing partner with S2G Ventures, which focuses on investing in early stage B2B companies. She has 25+ years of experience in operations, product development, marketing & distribution channels, and business development. Industry knowledge includes medical devices, alternative energy and commercial food service equipment. Her education includes a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Organization Development.
Key roles
- Director Of Undergraduate Laboratories, UNR Physics Department
- Founder
- Owner
Key industries
- Aerospace instrumentation
- Precision engineering
- Advanced manufacturing
Biography
Bernhard Bach’s background is in precision engineering and advanced manufacturing. He was the founder and/or owner of two manufacturing firms that produced precision optical components. These firms developed novel instrumentation for aerospace companies and governments for use in space flight programs. Dr. Bach’s firms also produced optical components for fiber-optic communications. He has taken hi-tech firms thru the process of venture capital investment and acquisition. Dr. Bach has a Ph.D. in Physics and served on the NSF’s industrial advisory board for Engineering Research in Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology. In 2018 Cambridge University press published Dr. Bach’s book A Student’s guide to Infinite Series and Sequences which focuses on applied problems.
Key roles
- Assistant Professor of Marketing, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
- Co-founder
Key industries
- Transportation; pedestrian safety
- B2G sales
Biography
Thomas Burnham is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Reno. He co-founded a start-up company that designed, manufactured and sold solar-powered, wirelessly-activated crosswalk warning light systems nationwide. In recent years, he has assisted a variety of Reno-area startup companies in operations and marketing capacities. Dr. Burnham received a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. in marketing strategy from the University of Texas at Austin.
Key roles
- Founder & President, Pacific Pharmaceutical Services
- Co-founder, Waterloo Pharmaceuticals
Key industries
- Life Sciences
Biography
Scott Chadwick is Founder and President of Pacific Pharmaceutical Services (PPS), LLC, located in Reno, NV. PPS provides warehousing and clinical support services to clients across North America, Europe, and Japan. PPS’ clients are active in developing new medicines, medical devices, and nutritionals for both human and veterinary use. In addition to managing PPS, Scott provides manufacturing consulting services to biotech clients in support of drug substance and drug product development, production, and commercialization. He has also served on the executive teams of Lyric Pharmaceuticals and Accuronix, Inc. Prior to PPS, Scott co-founded Waterloo Pharmaceuticals, based out of the University of Waterloo. Waterloo Pharmaceuticals was a start-up focused on developing novel small molecule therapies for resistant microbial infections. Earlier career experience was obtained at Anthera Pharmaceutical, Gilead Sciences, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Scott received an MBA from San Francisco State University, and his Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemistry from Syracuse University, with post-doctoral studies at Cornell University. Scott and his family are currently planning a commercial ranch, orchard and hop yard in the Sierra Valley, California.
Key roles
- Director, DeLaMare Science & Engineering Library
- Entrepreneur
- Director, Science & Engineering Library with maker space
Key industries
- High-tech private industry
- Telecom
- Information science
Biography
Tod Colegrove is a physicist, serial entrepreneur and professional librarian. He holds doctorate and Master’s degrees in physics, a master of library and information science degree with concentration in competitive intelligence and knowledge management, has over fourteen years of experience in high-tech private industry, and has taught physics, astronomy, and honors coursework at the University for over a decade.
A recognized leader of the maker movement, and a pioneer of the impact that makerspaces in libraries can have on learning, discovery, and engagement, under Dr. Colegrove’s leadership the library went on to become the first academic library in the United States to offer 3D printing and scanning services available not only to students and staff of the University, but to members of the greater community. The resulting explosion of innovation and creativity resulted in the library being named one of the Most Interesting Makerspaces in America by Make magazine, and receiving the Most Innovative Space Award from the regional economic development authority. His work is acclaimed internationally, with invited presentations ranging from TEDx speaker and congressional panels in Washington D.C. to international service that has ranged from work with the International Baccalaureate program in The Hague, to opening a makerspace/Fab Lab with the Belarus State University Fundamentals Library in Minsk, Belarus, and, most recently, work with the top colleges and libraries in China at the intersection of libraries, innovation and entrepreneurship and design.
Key roles
- Entrepreneurship Faculty, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
- Founder
Key industries
- Non-profit
Biography
Michael Cutler is a Reno native, and University alumni. As a teenager, he assisted his parents with a small retail business, where he discovered a passion for startups and ideation of business models. In high school, and through his college years, Michael started, developed, and partnered in starting up several businesses and non-profit organizations, including the Reno International House, EarthTrek Gear, International Friends of Reno, Midtown Merchants Association and others. Experience and specialties include e-commerce strategy, and local event marketing. Michael has enjoyed supporting and counseling immigrants and international students in business formation, and now University students. Mike is teaching ENT 404, Entrepreneurship Marketing, Fall semester 2018.
Key roles
- President, Drone America
- Chief Technology Officer, Apex Revenue Technologies
- Co-Founder, Fireball Information Technologies
Key industries
- Healthcare financial services
- Information technology
Biography
Ryan Dotson is the Chief Technology Officer of Apex Revenue Technologies, a healthcare financial services company that has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies for 11 years in a row. His responsibilities there include product development, technical operations and information security. Prior to joining Apex, Ryan co-founded Fireball Information Technologies, a garage company that develops geospatial software and integrated airborne mapping systems. Fireball's real-time, infrared mapping system has been used for over 15 years to map active wildfires for the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and CalFire. Fireball has also developed several large area, high resolution mapping systems for NASA, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Over the past four years, Ryan has been involved with NASA's Curiosity rover, using 3-D imaging techniques to create the first sub millimeter-scale topographic maps of Mars. He has recently been funded to extend similar techniques to NASA’s InSight Mars Lander. Ryan has an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Key Roles
- Affiliate Manager/Marketing Project Launch Manager, Debe Enterprises
- Entrepreneur, Crowdfunding Live, Debe Enterprises
- Consultant
Key Industries
- Music
- Publishing
Biography
Debe is an entrepreneur and a consultant to entrepreneurs, having launched and grown her own businesses (Crowdfunding Live, Debe Enterprises), and assisted other entrepreneurs in the same processes. Her expertise includes marketing new products and services, especially in the world of social media, webpages, and email marketing. Debe has extensive experience in raising funds, especially through crowdfunding. She has helped entrepreneurs hone their IPO pitches, done video/media training, and worked with legal teams to set up new entities. Debe’s prior work experience is in the music business BMG/Sony, Curb Records and Magnatone (VP Promotion) and book publishing industries, and she attributes her ability to think more globally, understand client bases and expertise about how to scale up to her prior experience. Debe is currently working with clients to help them grow their influence/list of buyers, find key partners and set up cross-promotion arrangements for affiliate marketing.
Key roles
- Owner, Silver and Blue Outfitters
Biography
Mark Glodowski is the owner of Silver and Blue Outfitters, a locally owned retail firm that sells University of Nevada Wolf Pack licensed apparel and goods. Mark attended the University of Nevada and graduated in 2004 with a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing). He also attended Texas A&M for graduate school and earned his M.S. in Marketing. Mark started Silver and Blue Outfitters in 2006 as an online retail store. Since 2006 he has grown the company into two physical store locations, a web store and the company holds the official concessions contract for Nevada Wolf Pack games. Mark is married and has two children, he and his family love living in Northern Nevada and serving the Wolf Pack community.
Key roles
- Senior group manager, launch and capabilities, commercial program operations, Microsoft
- Founder/CEO, Dogma Solutions
Key industries
- High-tech industry
- Management consulting
Biography
A corporate executive offering 25+ years of extensive operational expertise to include organizational restructuring, strategic planning, budgeting oversight and a relentless commitment to continuous improvement. With multinational experience, primarily in the hightech industry, I have been particularly effective in the areas of programmatic development and implementation, increasing efficiencies, lowering costs, and ensuring compliance to programmatic and industry standards. One of my many strengths is my passion for growing, motivating, and leading global fast-paced talented teams, including remote domestic and international employees. I initially came to Reno in 1998 as Microsoft opened their North American Operations Center. The move gave me the opportunity to work in a global supply chain operations capacity and in the process allowed me to see the world. Thereafter, I decided to shift my focus to project management oversight in the areas of fulfillment and transportation wherein the experience gained brought me the opportunity to act as the Chief of Staff for a Microsoft General Manger / Partner. I ended my tenure with Microsoft as a Senior Manager within the Launch and Capability Licensing segment. Driven by continued opportunities, my current focus is to help entrepreneurial upstarts through medium sized businesses optimize strategies and execute more efficiently. Thus, in December of 2015, I started my own consulting firm via Dogma Solutions, of which I am the founder and CEO.
Key roles
- Owner and Startup Enabler, Karol Hines Consulting
- Executive Director, Entrepreneur’s Assembly
- Executive Management, various startups
Biography
Karol spent five years volunteering and supporting the development and growth of the entrepreneurial community in Northern Nevada. In addition to being a volunteer mentor with EA, she was board member of both NCET and Entrepreneurship Nevada; was the Director of Program Support at the Cube @ Midtown; curated the Reno/Tahoe Startup Digest; participated as a preliminary judge in several Sontag Business Plan competitions and as a final judge for the Governors Cup Business Plan competition. Karol’s professional career, spanning over thirty years in New York and Silicon Valley, included technical leadership and executive management positions in several startup companies. Most notable was 15 years (as first employee) in leadership roles with Ross Systems, which began as a professional services firm and pivoted twice to become a timesharing services, the precursor of the cloud, and SaaS company and finally a software product company delivering ERP solutions to Fortune 1000 companies.
Key roles
- Co-Founder COO, Yawye, Inc.
- Senior VP, Server Technology Inc.
Key industries
- Real estate
- Electronic products
Biography
Mr. Holman is most recently the Senior Vice President of Server Technology, Inc., the worldwide leader of intelligent power solutions for the data center and telecommunication industries. He was responsible for business development, government affairs, patent protection, litigation, licensing, leveraged lending, human resources, employee engagement, financial and strategic planning. He was also the Secretary and General Counsel to the Board of Directors, and he managed and led the sale of the Company to Legrand SA in November 2017. Mr. Holman is a graduate of Wofford College and the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Key roles
- Director of Entrepreneurship Initiatives, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
- Corporate principal/venture capital partner
- CEO & Principal, Northstar Investors
Key industries
- Pet products
- Active outdoor wear
- Medical services
Biography
Chris Howard is the Director of Entrepreneurship Initiatives and is also a faculty member overseeing the entrepreneurship academic curriculum in the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno. Over the past 37 years as a corporate principal or venture capital partner, Chris has bought, sold, and/or invested in 28 companies. He is the current CEO and Principal of Northstar Investors, specializing in the provision of operational guidance and devising technical, financial and economic strategies. Chris teaches BADM 794 Value Creation Measurement.
Key roles
- Associate Professor of Biology, College of Science, University of Nevada, Reno
- Associate Professor
Key industries
- Biology
- Biotechnology
Biography
Thomas Kidd is an associate professor in Biology. He worked at the biotechnology company Exelixis Inc. for four years that included the initial public offering in 2001. He led a program modeling diabetes and cancer in fruit flies to identify new drug targets and participated in business development presentations on diverse aspects of modern biology. He was the inaugural fellow in the Research and Innovation Office’s Leadership program in 2017. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin, Oxford University and UC Berkeley and holds several patents related to nerve growth and cancer.
Key roles
- Director of Advising, Recruitment & Retention, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
- Co-founder & Chief Operating Office, MyCombine
Key industries
- Sports and recreation
- Consulting
Biography
Jeremy currently holds a position as the Director of Advising, Recruitment and Retention within The College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno. He also serves as an adjunct instructor within The College of Business where he teaches courses focusing on entrepreneurship. He previously served as Co-Founder and the Chief Operations Officer for MyCombine. In his role with MyCombine, he was responsible for the development and management of organizational strategies, objectives and operations. Jeremy has previously worked in collegiate athletics at two Division l universities, and was a Division l student athlete himself, in track and field at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication, and a Master of Science in Administrative Leadership: Focusing on Collegiate Athletics, both from the UWM.
Key roles
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence, UNR College of Business
- Founder/Co-founder, various startups
- Serial entrepreneur
- Investor
Key industries
- Scalable software
- Horticulture
- Graphics
- Promotional products
- Scalable non-profits
Biography
Matt Westfield is a Serial Entrepreneur/Investor. His specific startup acumen is in: Scalable software, Horticulture, Graphics, Promotional Products, Scalable non-profits. He has been a Founder/Co-Founder in 7 startups with 4 cash Exits, and 3 interesting experiences! His 1st cash exit was @ 28, when he sold his debt-free design/build company. Matt is an Owner/Partner in 3 unrelated for-profit companies, and on 4 Board’s. His latest software venture as cofounder of LezGo.io – the 1st ERM -Entrepreneurial Relationship Management software. He is the founder of Entrepreneur’s Assembly – Award-winning Nevada non-profit dedicated to mentoring startups with systems and accountability, and six Nevada chapters and six African Affiliates. He has raised over $5M for early stage startups. He was the charter Judge for the Reynold’s Governor Cup Biz Plan Competition and charter policy member for the Sontag Business Competition. As a business plan mentor, his winners include 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018. He is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence, University of Nevada Reno College of Business, as well as the Adams Hub incubator, Carson City. Matt holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing from City University, Seattle. Matt is an Adjunct Professor for the University of Nevada, Reno – College of Business since 2011. He is the Chairman Emeritus of JOIN Inc., a $5M private non-profit with eight chapters around Nevada (2006 to 2012).
Key roles
- Sontag Competition Winner 2016
- CEO/Founder, Instally
- Strategic Account Manager, Bombora
Key industries
- Technology
- Advertising technology
- Marketing technology
Biography
From his experience as a past Sontag (2016) and Pack Pitch (2015) winner, to his time running his own company (Instally), and now working with one the area’s fasting growing tech startups (Bombora); Ryan has become one of the most well-informed entrepreneurs in the Reno/Tahoe area regarding startup development and strategy. He is a past member of Entrepreneur’s Assembly, Summit VMS, and The Adam’s Hub Pre-Accelerator program. Ryan also holds an MBA with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Key Roles
- CEO / Founder Tahoe Blue Vodka
Biography
Tahoe Blue founder and CEO Matt Levitt grew up in Maryland and graduated with honors from a University of Maryland satellite school in 2000. Armed with an undergrad business degree, a lifelong entrepreneurial spirit and a thirst for adventure, he moved into his blue Ford Econoline van and headed out to see the country. After several months of wandering, Levitt stumbled into Lake Tahoe and immediately fell in love with the clear, blue sky and water and clean mountain air. He decided to stay first for a few weeks, and then a few months which became years as Tahoe got into his blood and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Matt owned & ran a retail house paint business in Tahoe and Carson Valley where he learned the ins and outs of managing a business and B2B sales. He went back to school for his MBA at the University of Nevada, Reno which he finished in 2005.
The idea for Tahoe Blue came to Levitt in a flash of inspiration years later as he was sitting on the beach in South Lake, enjoying some cocktails with friends and looking out at the lake. The idea was a vodka that captures the essence of Tahoe’s clear, pure and smooth waters and embodies the Tahoe lifestyle. He wanted a vodka that whisks the consumer away to Tahoe’s sunsets and sailboats and ski slopes, no matter where they may be. He quickly became obsessed with the idea and he more he thought about it the more sense it made. So, he dove into the spirits industry to learn all he could. Matt teamed up with a master distiller and together they reinvented vodka: they devised a plan to get better tasting vodka with fewer than average distillations by blending several base ingredients. Grapes, corn and sugarcane are distilled separately first and then together, and when coupled with some of the best water in the world created a vodka that quite simply tastes better than the competition. They blind taste-tested their recipe against every gold-standard vodka brand on the market. Tahoe Blue them all away.
The business began as just Levitt selling those first batches out of the trunk of his car, nights, weekends and whenever he could make time.
Fast forward eight years and Tahoe Blue has been the recipient of more than 20 tasting awards, validating the premise that Blended Vodka tastes better. The company now employs approximately 20 people. Tahoe Blue is a proud partner of both the SF 49ers and Sacramento Kings, has a branded bar in downtown Sacramento and has been featured on the travel channel. Out of 200 brands, Tahoe Blue is in the top 10 best-selling and THE fastest growing brand in the state of California with more than 2,000 retailers and nearly 40,000 cases sold in calendar year 2020.
Key roles
- Venture Partner of DFJ DragonFund
- Investor
Key industries
- Venture capital
- Private equity investments
- Internet
- Biotech
Biography
Born in Japan, raised in Thailand, and possessing profound knowledge of the Chinese language and culture, Tony spent his professional career in both Asia and the US. Tony has over 25 years of experience in capital markets, sales, strategic alliances and business development. In doing mostly venture capital and private equity investments for the last 15 years, Tony accumulated broad based experience in many industries. During that span, Tony also helped coach many successful CEOs, learned from even more failed CEOs, and worked on various boards (private and public alike). Tony can help you diagnose your problems or even help you determine your suitability to be an entrepreneur because he believes not everyone is an entrepreneur. The earlier you choose to talk to Tony, the likelier you’ll retain solid footing as an entrepreneur.
Key roles
- Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development at the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN)
- Founder, Hookava, Filthy McNasty’s
- Senior Dealer Rep, Windspire Energy
Key industries
- Renewable energy
- Restaurant
- Service
Biography
Bryan McArdle (University of Nevada, Reno B.S. 05’, MBA 10’) is currently Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development at the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN). Bryan has been a small business owner and entrepreneur. Upon finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Nevada Bryan went on to open Reno’s first hookah lounge, Hookava, and later the popular Irish bar Filthy McNasty’s. Bryan has worked in and around startups for the past decade. His first true startup experience was at Windspire Energy (formerly Mariah Power), a venture capital backed cleantech startup company that designed and manufactured the Windspire, a vertical axis wind turbine designed for use in small wind markets. From there he joined the Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization (NIREC) where he was the Director of Program Management. NIREC focused on moving research based innovations from their early stages and into the market, which lead to a virtual mentoring website www.TheSparknv.org and Project Vesto, Nevada’s largest statewide business competition with over 200 new companies participating. At EDAWN Bryan has led local Startup Weekends, Reno’s Mini Maker Faire and created the Summit Venture Mentoring Service (Summit VMS), a mentoring program for startups through a partnership with MIT. Summit VMS brings together experienced executives to mentor founders of high growth startup ventures. Most recently Bryan has been focused on developing the angel capital ecosystem throughout Northern Nevada with the goal of creating new angel investment funds. Bryan expertise is focused on business development, business modeling, pitching and validation.
Key Roles
- Founder, Audacity Fund
- Angel investor
- Entrepreneur
Key Industries
- Corporate services
- Fashion
- Biotech
- Health tech
Biography
Kelly Northridge is an angel investor who has worked with, started and grown several entrepreneurial ventures over the past 20 years across industries including corporate services, fashion, biotech and health tech. She has a background in finance including venture capital and mergers and acquisitions; economic impact; international strategy; change management and organizational development. She holds a B.S. in International Business and Economics, cum laude, from the University of Nevada, Reno, an MBA focused in International Sustainable Development from Cornell University, a Master’s in Public Health focused in International Health Management from UCLA, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford researching how and why investors invest in women and girls. Kelly is an avid supporter of the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and is pleased to serve as the CEO-in-residence at the Innevation Center, as well as the leader of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative at the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship.
Key Roles
- Professor of Entrepreneurship and Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative Coordinator, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
- CEO & Founder, Pinch This
- Consumer Marketing, eBay
Key Industries
- Online retail marketplace
- Management consulting
Biography
Jeannie Reeth is a global Marketing leader and General Manager with more than 20 years of experience growing companies and brands of all sizes. She spent over a decade at eBay where she led Consumer Marketing for North America, managed eBay’s International Marketing team across 30 countries outside the US, and built eBay’s Social Business Unit from the ground up. Ms. Reeth brings a combination of strategic insight and operational rigor to everything she does and is passionate about developing the next generation of entrepreneurs and marketers. Ms. Reeth received her BA from Harvard University and began her career at Bain & Company in strategic consulting before helping to build multiple start-ups in the Bay Area in the late ’90s. She currently serves as the President of the Harvard Club of Northern Nevada and is CEO and founder of a small gourmet spice business.
Key roles
- Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, HIDEit Mounts
Key industries
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Consumer products
Biography
Chuck Shirley is COO and co-founder of HIDEit Mounts, a leading vertical wall mounting company for all TV electronic components including cable boxes, gaming consoles, streaming devices and more. A self-proclaimed tinkerer, recreational gamer and natural-born entrepreneur, Chuck along with his wife, Relina Shirley, turned their passion and a simple DIY home solution into a thriving small business and globally distributed one-of-a-kind product! With three young kids – and a whole lot of gaming systems – Chuck and Relina first created HIDEit as a personal home solution. With no quality wall mounts on the market, they were determined to find an easy way to keep their consoles safe from kids and spills, out of site and secure. From there, HIDEit was born and today, hundreds of thousands of homes around the world as well as major businesses -- even hospitals and schools around the U.S. -- have chosen HIDEit Mounts for their personal and professional spaces. At HIDEit, Chuck is responsible for the company’s back-end operations, product development, customer service, and more. Under Chuck’s direction, HIDEit has expanded from one sku to over 40 skus and counting. Operationally he has been key in growing HIDEit from out of the garage and into a facility with plenty of room for continuous growth. He resides in Reno, Nevada (also HIDEit’s headquarters) with his beautiful wife and charismatic three sons. When he’s not busy building his business or keeping up with the kids activities, he enjoys learning about new gaming devices, capturing over the air HD signals, and playing with new media streaming players.
Non-entrepreneurial advisors
Non-entrepreneurial advisors are University professors with subject matter expertise who have agreed to share their time and expertise with groups of individuals who would benefit from such guidance. While these individuals may not have firsthand entrepreneurial experience, there is no doubt that they will be able to help you along your journey. The drop down menu below provides a list of advisors along with a brief biography for each. If you believe that you would benefit from meeting with one of our advisors, please send a request to ozmencenter@unr.edu to receive a formal introduction.
Key roles
- Lecturer of Economics, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
Biography
Anne Carpenter graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance at Missouri State University and received her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California, Irvine. She has experience in the banking industry and extensive expertise in business loans, acquisitions, financial reporting, and cash flow analysis. Her research interests are in financial and economic decision-making, workplace incentives and compensation, and business strategy.
Key roles
- Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno
Biography
Professor Wesley A. Chalifoux was employed for four years at Raylo Chemicals (currently Gilead Sciences, Edmonton) while completing his undergraduate degree. At Raylo Chemicals he gained experience pertaining to the business of large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing. Dr. Chalifoux is currently an associate professor at the University of Nevada in the Department of Chemistry. His research focus is the synthesis of semiconducting organic materials and their use in applications such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and as organic photovoltaic (i.e. solar cell) materials. He has filed three patent applications to date and has partnered with private industry to develop new technologies that utilize the organic materials developed in his laboratory.
Key roles
- Chief Strategy Officer, Alice Heiman LLC
- Founder Regarding Sales, LLC
- Sales & Strategy Consultant
Key industries
- SaaS
- Medical
- Construction
- Professional Services
Biography
Liz Heiman, Chief Strategy Officer at Alice Heiman, LLC, is a structural thinker, strategist and sales consultant focused on building B2B sales organizations for start-up and mid-size companies to achieve extraordinary growth. Liz meticulously creates a roadmap of the stepby-step processes for sky-high results. Liz has a master’s degree in International Political Economy from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is well-schooled in digging through data to find meaningful information. Her extraordinary background delivers clients concrete solutions to often amorphous sales problems. As the former Director of Asia Pacific for Miller Heiman, Inc, Liz is excelled at selling to Fortune 500 companies, and helping their sales teams improve their enterprise sales results. For the last 20 years, Liz has been guiding entrepreneurs to build B2B sales organizations that excel at the complex sale. Liz is currently a mentor with both Entrepreneur Assembly and StartUpNV.
Areas of Expertise
- Project Management
Biography
Bill holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and is a graduate of the University of Southern California with an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Operations Research. He retired from NASA HQ, Washington DC as a Program Executive where he directed the development of science-instrumented spacecraft manifested on the Space Shuttle and Expendable Launch Vehicles including managing budgets in excess of one billion dollars. Bill also provided management and technical guidance pertaining to supporting NASA organizations, served a technical expert for assessment and resolution of cost, schedule, and performance issues encountered in the development of science missions, and was a member of Independent Review Boards providing programmatic assessments and launch readiness recommendations. Prior to his NASA position he was a project manager supporting the development and logistic support for air-launched weapon systems at the Naval Air Systems Command, Washington DC and China lake Weapons Center.
Bill is currently a Professor of Project Management at Mount Saint Mary’s University (MSMU), Los Angeles, California where he teaches project management as a specialty within the MBA program while providing an opportunity for students to augment an MBA degree with professional certification in project management. As a professor at MSMU he also serves as a mentor and coach for Title V (minority) students, Faculty advisor for MBA Capstone projects, and creator of the Research Associate in Project Management program providing MBA alumni the opportunity to acquire PM experience while optimizing the MSMU PM program content and structure.
Key roles
- Associate Professor of Education and Division Director, College of Education, University of Nevada, Reno
Biography
Jean Jeon (Ph.D. University of Oklahoma) is an associate professor of Marketing at the University of Nevada Reno. She has experience with family businesses in various service sectors including restaurants, retailing, and construction. Her primary research interests are strongly influenced by her experiences with family businesses and involve business-to-business issues such as franchising, marketing distribution channels, sales management, and international business. Her research has previously appeared in forums like Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and Journal of Marketing Channels.
Key roles
- Professor of English, College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno
Biography
William J. (Bill) Macauley, Jr. is a Professor of English and Director of the Composition and Communication in the Disciplines program at the University. Bill has taught business writing, professional/technical writing, academic writing, and creative writing. He has worked closely with undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and professionals in fields ranging from Business to Theater, Psychology to Engineering, and Art History to Computer Science. In all of these fields, Bill has worked with writers to improve flow, clarity, precision, concision, organization, and efficiency. Bill has considerable experience working with proposals, planning documents, and pitches both written and presented, as well as documents that must move between alphabetic and numeric and/or between graphic and textual information. The foundational principles of successful communications are the same regardless of the medium; what makes each instance unique are the participants, purposes, exigencies, and contexts.
Key roles
- Associate Professor of Marketing, UNR College of Business
Biography
Igor Makienko received his masters’ degrees in mechanical engineering, journalism, economics and mass communications and a Ph.D. degree in business administration (Louisiana State University). He has extensive experience in advertising and marketing industry. His research has been published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Marketing Education and others. He has also presented his research at numerous U.S. and international conferences.
Key roles
- Assistant Professor of Business Management, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno
Biography
Mark Packard is a California native who studied computer engineering in Utah at BYU and got his Ph.D. in management at the University of Missouri in 2016. Mark’s research has studied the theory of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial judgment under uncertainty, innovation and its diffusion, and demand-side (customer) knowledge and value. He has published at top entrepreneurship and management journals, including the Journal of Business Venturing, Organization Science, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He teaches Strategic Management and Managing Entrepreneurial Ventures at the University.
Key roles
- Senior Tax Manager, Eide Bailly LLP
Biography
Dexter Ramsey is a Tax Manager at Eide Bailly LLP here in Reno and has more than 10 years of accounting industry experience. He enjoys assisting clients from all industries with all of their accounting needs, more recently focusing on tax and startup strategy. Prior to joining Eide Bailly, he had worked at a few public accounting firms with focus in both tax and audit. A few years back he left public accounting to work as a technical accounting manager at a high-growth software startup, and helped prepare financial statements, clean up high-risk areas, along with the formation and tracking of key metrics in route to filing a successful IPO in October 2016. This experience recently led him back into the public accounting sector at Eide Bailly with the goal of helping small and developed companies adopt sound tax and financial strategies.