Keep an eye out for more speakers and mentors being posted!
2019 Current LINEUP
Sidhant Pai
Born and raised in India, Sidhant is the CEO and founder of Protoprint, a social enterprise that empowers waste pickers in India and drives innovation using 3D printing technology. He is interested in low-cost technology solutions to large scale problems and, prior to his work on Protoprint, has worked on development projects in Nicaragua, Tanzania and India. He also founded the Indian non-profit, Social Seva, that works to provide broad access to educational instruction for underprivileged communities. Sidhant has a degree in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B. '14). His academic interests focus on air quality, atmospheric modelling and climate change. Sidhant is a 2014 MIT D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow.
Shuya Gong
Shuya Gong is a maker at heart and is finishing up her undergrad in mechanical engineering at Harvard University. She is a venture designer and creative engineer at IDEO coLabs and can be found hacking away at code or covered in sawdust at the shop. She is passionate about design thinking, innovative startups, emergent technology, and human-centric products.
Hayden Couvillion
Hayden Couvillion is a Senior Analyst at the Center for Effective Philanthropy – an organization that seeks to improve foundation effectiveness through data. Hayden works directly with foundations of all types, helping them design and administer surveys that gather feedback from their key stakeholders – namely grantees, but also donors, board members, and community stakeholders. Through this feedback Hayden works collaboratively to provide foundations succinct feedback to help them become even more effective in their work. Prior to working at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Hayden was interim program coordinator for an urban gardening initiative and a program associate for a multi-million dollar urban development/capital campaign.
Trevor Pollack
Trevor Pollack joined the Barr Foundation in 2014 to staff a range of work across the institution. He manages Barr’s efforts to strengthen the region’s nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, as well as other Cross-Program Initiatives and Special Initiatives grantmaking. He also supports the Foundation’s board and executive leadership. A proud Cleveland native, Trevor earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Brown University and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at Northeastern University.
Jacob Fohtung
Jacob Fohtung is currently an MBA student at Babson College, and Founder & Chief Happiness Officer of Impactful Ideas. Impactful Ideas is a one on one and consultation platform for young working professionals who are ready to turn their part-time projects into a business. Additionally, we consult startups in re-evaluating their value proposition and understanding their target market to increase profits and thus overall sustainability.
Michael Martin
Michael is co-founder and CEO of RapidSOS, an advanced emergency tech startup, that commercializes technology to predict and preempt emergencies before they occur, dynamically warns people in harm’s way, and ensures that, globally, first responders are one touch away. Previously, Michael worked at Braemar Energy Ventures, a New York-based firm that focused on both traditional and alternative energy industries, as well as efficiency-related IT areas. Michael also co-founded MS Consulting, a start-up strategy, financing, and operations consulting company with clients in the internet and mobile sectors. Michael holds an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he received the R.F. Jasse Distinguished Award in Entrepreneurship and Leadership, the top entrepreneurship award for class of 2015, and was named one of the “World’s Best & Brightest MBAs” and one of the top two HBS ‘15 graduates by Poets & Quants. Michael received his BA Summa Cum Laude from Carleton College, where he was a Rhodes Scholar Finalist. In 2017, Michael was named to the top of Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list.
Brad McNamara
Brad McNamara is the CEO and co-founder of Freight Farms, an agriculture technology company that provides physical and digital solutions for creating local produce ecosystems on a global scale. Brad and his co-founder developed the company’s flagship product, the Leafy Green Machine™, a vertical hydroponic farm in a shipping container, to allow any business to grow a high-volume of fresh produce in any environment regardless of the climate. He has big expectations for the future, envisioning Freight Farms scattered across the globe making a dramatic impact on how food is produced. Brad has an MBA and Masters in Environmental Science from Clark University. Follow him on twitter at @CarFreeBrad.
Mary Caraccioli
Mary Caraccioli, MBA, is the Chief Communications Officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), a presenter of artistic programming and national leader in arts and education and community relations. In her role, Mary oversees the communications for the world’s leading performing arts center, including all public relations matters, social media, video and editorial content. Mary joined Lincoln Center in 2015. Since then, she has led the organization’s communications strategies to broaden the impact of the institution’s arts and education initiatives, community programs, and performance series. Mary oversees campus-wide initiatives, including crisis communication planning for Lincoln Center’s 11 world class resident organizations. Mary holds a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from Drexel University, and an MLA from the University of Pennsylvania. She and her family live in New York.
Matt Segneri
Matt Segneri is the Director of the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI). SEI's mission is to educate, support, and inspire leaders across all sectors to tackle society's toughest challenges and make a difference in the world. Prior to returning to HBS, Matt was a senior leader on the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies and a senior advisor to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, whose office he joined as an HBS Leadership Fellow. He also worked in the Special Advisor Program at the FBI and led projects at Monitor Group for clients across the private, public, and social sectors. Matt was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of Boston’s “Top 40 under 40” and by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce as one of Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders.” Matt holds an A.B. with honors in Psychology from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Newton with his wife and three children.
Sarah Rosenkrantz
Sarah Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Y2Y Harvard Square, the nation's first student run homeless shelter for young adults, which opened in December, 2015. Sarah is a graduate of Harvard College '14, where she studied psychology and global health. Sarah served as the Resource Advocacy Director at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, as a Health Leads Advocate, and as a Peer Counselor. Sarah is a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Entrepreneur, PBHA Stride Public Service Fellowships recipient, a member of Boston’s City Awake Delegates Leadership Council, and has been named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Social Entrepreneurship and honorable mention for the Boston Globe Magazine’s Bostonian of the Year.
Scott Overdyke
Scott Overdyke is the Associate Director for Social Enterprise at the Harvard Innovation Labs where he advises students and teams from across the Harvard community to design and launch new solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Prior to the Innovation Labs, Scott worked with a number of social enterprises in various capacities – as founding team member of the crowdsourcing platform Razoo.com, strategy consultant at FSG, director at the impact investment fund Root Capital, and the role that first ignited his interest in this sector – as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Panama. Scott is a graduate of Columbia Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, and Vanderbilt University. A native Texan, he has now complained his way through 10 Boston winters.
Natalie Bartlett
I have had the good fortune of working with founders in multiple capacities: as part of a four-person start-up team at Socrative (acquired by MasteryConnect), as a student Venture Fellow with Rough Draft Ventures, and as a platform manager at venture capital companies on both coasts where I focused on building strategic partnerships and scaling portfolio resources.
My background includes directing the inaugural Mobile First Summits in 2014 and 2015 and leadership roles at Women in Wireless, a non-profit that aims to develop female leaders in technology. These inspiring examples left an early, strong impression on me regarding the impact women are capable of making in the tech world, and I am bringing this advocacy with me to General Catalyst.