The VentureFuel Visionaries

Join our Founder & CEO, Fred Schonenberg, alongside Laura Plunkett, Vice President, Startup Engagement, Head of Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, and Marc Silberman, Partner at Comcast Ventures, for a fireside chat entitled From Pilots to Portfolios: Comcast’s Integrated Corporate Growth Startup Strategy recorded earlier this year during the Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit 2025. The discussion delves into how LIFT Labs' strategic pilots with business units seamlessly complement Comcast Ventures' investment strategy in adjacent and emerging markets, with a particular focus on AI technologies. VentureFuel is proud to serve as the operating partner for the new accelerator—focused on identifying and supporting startups that align with Comcast’s strategic priorities.

Tahaji Felder, a seasoned social entrepreneur, corporate innovator and community leader. She has over a decade of experience supporting startups and founders to accelerate their emerging brands. Her TEDx on the power of embracing your unique voice is simply awesome. She has launched her own lifestyle brand, is a “Corporate Champion”, has mentored over 150 entrepreneurs, and is a champion of inclusive innovation through program leadership and social impact.

VentureFuel’s Visionary of the Year is an honor voted on by peers in corporate innovation for the change agent who seizes new opportunities that drive outsized results. This year’s winner, Charlotte Newman, is the former Global Head of Underrepresented Founder and Investor Startup Business Development at AWS, former founder, and a passionate advocate in the Senate and US House of Representatives for diversity, equity, and inclusion, driving initiatives that empower marginalized entrepreneurs worldwide. Join us to hear her inspiring journey and insights on transforming the innovation ecosystem through collaboration and access.

Valentina Assenova is the Edward B. and Shirley R. Shils Endowed Term Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is renowned for her insightful research on entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly in how cultural and societal factors influence entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. She recently released a study “Exploring the relationship between accelerator program design and startup performance.” She has a Ph.D. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the University of Cambridge and has collaborated with organizations like FINCA International and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to advance entrepreneurship globally. We discuss the dynamics of Capital and Ideas, and define what an accelerator is, why program design matters so much, and how corporates can receive and deliver the most value from their work with entrepreneurs.

On today’s show we’re excited to welcome Rick Peng, the Innovation Hub Manager and Digital Licensing Professional at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. We talk about how your organization can build an outside-in, external innovation program to deliver outsized results. Rick breaks down the secret sauce of the MSK Innovation Hub, an accelerator program designed to encourage collaborations between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and digital health companies, focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and care of cancer patients. We discuss their new Innovation Hub Challenge focused on AI Drug Discovery – and why the access to data sets, is a key unlock for ai driven solutions.

Since 2019, Kasey has been the President of both the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council and the North American Blueberry Council where he is dedicated to making blueberries the world’s favorite fruit through strategic marketing, industry collaboration, and innovation. He has led initiatives like the "Grab a Boost of Blue" campaign and launched "The Business of Blueberries" podcast to connect and educate the industry. We discuss the new Blueberry Boost Accelerator and how innovation is a growth lever to move the industry “beyond the morning” by promoting the great taste, energy, fun and health halo to help find a “home for every berry” and grab their deserved “share of stomach.”

Ethan Austin is the Founding Partner of Outside VC, a pre-seed venture fund dedicated to backing “outsider” founders. He is a seasoned entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate for financial inclusion. Before Outside VC, Ethan co-founded GiveForward, the world’s first medical crowdfunding platform, which raised over $200 million to help families cover medical expenses and was later acquired by GoFundMe. Today, Ethan shares insights on spotting Founders who think differently, that have asymmetric insights and the grit to deliver scaled solutions. Learn how he is moving outside founders to the inside track.

Maija Palmer is the Editor-in-Chief of Global Corporate Venturing (GCV), a community and media platform that helps corporations drive innovation through strategic investments and partnerships with startups., Maija is one of the top leading voices in corporate venturing and we talk about the evolution of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), how corporations best utilize Venture Clienting and the relationship between strategic and financial KPIs.

George Sauter is an accomplished healthcare executive with decades of experience driving innovation to transform legacy systems with meaningful results. As the former Chief Strategy Officer at John Muir Health, George has been at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technologies through impactful partnerships to improve patient care and operational efficiency. His expertise spans clinical transformation, strategic planning, and leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance healthcare delivery. Today, we talk about everything from finding champions internally, to navigating highly regulated industries, to driving innovation in low-margin environments as well as new technologies like AI Scribes and MuscleMatrix (a hydrogel that regenerates muscle tissue).