20MinuteLeaders

Alex's background is in mechanical engineering at Stanford, investment banking at Morgan Stanley, and then at NEA working on early-stage software investments. While at NEA he became an expert in the SaaS business model and spent significant time with the portfolio companies on key strategic operational initiatives in addition to making investments. He has been able to leverage his network and skillset to get access to great early-stage companies as well, so decided to also raise a small venture fund.

Tara joined Teamwork in February 2021 as Chief Marketing Officer and has over 20 years of global experience leading award-winning marketing and sales teams. With a passion for growth and results-driven marketing, Tara is experienced in managing full-funnel marketing strategies that drive both customer acquisition and retention. Before Teamwork, Tara was the Head of Customer Marketing at Sprout Social and helped bring the company public in 2019.

Michelle Taylor Willis is the founder of Gagnant Media. A Florida native, she is married with four sons and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a proud graduate of the University of Florida, and an award-winning entrepreneur, author, speaker, and ​master strategist​. Michelle recently launched her first book, “Raising Significance: A Guide to Well-Rounded, Independent, and Confident Kids.” She has appeared on the nationally syndicated Tamron Hall Show on ABC to discuss the book and on the Fox affiliate in Atlanta, as well as being featured in several publications.

Elie is co-founder and partner at PICO Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital fund headquartered in Jerusalem. His investments include Vroom (Nasdaq VRM), Spot.io (acquired by NetApp), Gloat, ChargeAfter, and AutoLeadStar. Prior to PICO, Wurtman was a general partner at Benchmark Capital from 2006 to 2012. Prior to that, he worked for three years with JVP, where he led early-stage media technology and enterprise software investments.

After suffering temporary blindness through stress, Linda sold everything she owned and changed her life completely.  For over two decades, she has been on the humanitarian frontline, working tirelessly to forge creative and sustainable economic solutions that empower and uplift vulnerable communities around the world.  To this day, Linda still only owns the contents of one suitcase. She has also created an innovative platform Race4Good where the best and brightest minds - students and business leaders - compete to solve critical frontline issues, with solutions being implemented within days. 

Carina Bauer is CEO of UK-based IMEX Group which organizes the two leading global shows for the international business events industry - IMEX in Frankfurt held in Germany each Spring and IMEX America taking place in Las Vegas each Fall. Each show typically attracts 14,000 business event professionals for the opportunity to do business with 3,400-plus destinations, venues and suppliers from 150-plus countries. 

Ira is a self-taught filmmaker who in 2016 co-founded the music licensing platform, Artlist, together with 3 friends. As the company’s Co-CEO, Ira helped develop Artlist into a leader in the creative stock licensing industry. In 2019, The company launched the stock footage site Artgrid, and in 2020 they released a new sound effects library and purchased the creative asset marketplace Motion Array for $65 million. Today, Artlist is the go-to licensing provider for content creators in over 160 countries.

Ari scales Israeli startups globally through brand building. He has successfully positioned countless companies to succeed in crowded markets, land Fortune 500 customers, attract significant funding, and exit. He currently serves as VP Marketing at Audioburst, the Audio Search & Discovery Platform. Before that, he was Head of Communications at marketing analytics leader AppsFlyer, VP Marketing at video platform AnyClip, and VP at leading tech PR firm Finn Partners.

Noam Gabison is the Vertical Manager for Digital Health at Facebook, an Ex-Microsoft, Venture Capital Fund (Singulariteam), and startups executive.Passionate about marketing, growth, business development, and purpose-driven companies.

Quinn Fitzgerald is an entrepreneur, advocate, and co-founder of Flare. Founded in 2016, the company was created from a passion for innovation, breaking down stereotypes and her personal experience with assault. She attended the College of the Holy Cross, where her passions led her to be the first person to design her own major in Conflict Resolution. Quinn later attended Harvard Business School, where she met co-founder, Sara Dickhaus de Zarraga. She previously served as the Assistant Director of the White House Business Council during the Obama administration. She currently resides in Boston.