Mentors are the key to JSF’s success. These are the brightest entrepreneurial minds around, and they are all part of the Jumpstart Foundry working for your company. They’ll push you, open doors, ask questions, give advice, provide feedback and generally leverage their experience to help your company succeed. Get to know them from their area of expertise.
Expertise Categories:
Marketing | Design | Technical Development | Finance | Management | Legal | Sales / Business Development
Tawn Albright
Tawn Albright is an Executive Vice President with the international Web-based ticketing company Etix which processes each year over 50 million tickets in over 40 countries.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Finance, Management, Legal, Sales / Business Development.
Patrick Altman
VP of Engineering, Lean Startup Coach/Consultant, Open Source Developer, Former College Athlete. Eldarion.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
Mark Bacurin
18+ years of experience analyzing/investing in public/private companies leveraging skills in accounting, finance, marketing, strategy, and problem solving.
Expertise: Marketing, Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
David Bartley
Senior Director, Product Development at Medsolutions, Inc. Healthcare product development guru with a passion for transforming data into meaningful experiences for healthcare consumers.
Expertise: Marketing, Management.
Chris Blanz
Creative Director: Brand Strategy, Customer Engagement & Story/Tech-centric Product Development. Helping companies develop concepts that move, motivate, inspire and/or teach. More.
Expertise: Marketing, Design.
Germain Boer
Germain has worked with startup companies for over ten years, and he started and helped run a company for three years before moving to Nashville. He runs the Owen Entrepreneurship Center at the Owen School at Vanderbilt.
Expertise: Finance, Management.
Gary Brandon
30-year expert at recognizing, naming, positioning, packaging and marketing great ideas and brands. Lewis Communications.
Expertise: Marketing, Design.
Carl Brasser
Madison Financial, EVP, Private Business Insurance, Chm, Goldleaf Financial , Chm.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Bill Brennan
Bill is a serial entrepreneur founding and co-founding over a half dozen companies.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Management.
Howard Bright
Technologist specializing in product development and product launch especially in the healthcare IT space. More.
Expertise: Technical Development.
Michael Burcham
I am the President & CEO of the Entrepreneur Center: a public-private partnership helping the creative class turn ideas into real businesses. A serial entrepreneur, I’ve focused most of my career in the healthcare services space.
Expertise: Finance, Management.
Mike Butera
CEO at Artiphon, a musical electronics company in Nashville. Mike also teaches Sociology at Belmont U. and holds a Ph.D. in Sound Studies.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development.
Matt Cheuvront
Founder, Proof Branding. Entrepreneur. Writer. Craft Beer Drinker. Marathoner.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Technical Development.
Andy Chick
Founder and Principal Designer at 2nd Look Studio, a Nashville based design firm specializing in product design, graphic design, and interface design.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Technical Development.
Chris Cigarran
Market President, Employer Division at Healthways.
Expertise: Management, Sales / Business Development.
Bryan Clayton
Founded Peach Tree Landscaping in 1998 growing the business from myself to over 100 employees with annual sales of 7M . I am also the co-founder of GreenPal, an web/mobile application connecting homeowners with pre-screened home service providers.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Corey Cleek
Co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Uloop, Inc., an online news and classifieds platform for colleges and universities.
Expertise: Marketing.
Tony Corley
Tony is a veteran in healthcare business development. He currently is the CEO of StrategyHealthcare, LLC; a firm providing advisory services to the Nashville start-up community.
Expertise: Finance, Sales / Business Development.
Jeff Cornwall
Jack C. Massey Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Co-founder and CEO of Atlantic Behavioral Health Systems. 2013 Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year. Author of eight books.
Expertise: Marketing, Finance, Management.
Matthew Cox
Registered patent attorney at law firm Waddey & Patterson, focuses on helping both startup and established companies protect their IP.
Twitter | LinkedIn
Expertise: Legal.
Laura Creekmore
Content strategy, information architecture. Focus on health care but have experience in many industries.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Management.
Susan Culkin
Interaction Design & User Experience professional. Passionately believe that UX is the key to a successful product and a successful team. Skulkin.
Expertise: Design, Management.
Hemant Dandekar
Experienced business leader with background in technology, manufacturing, supply chain and finance and corporate venture capital. Porcelain Industries.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Finance, Management.
Dave Delaney
Founder & CEO Delaney Digital Marketing Consulting. Consulting / Coaching / Speaking. Specializing in social media strategy and online marketing.
Expertise: Marketing.
Jim Dickson
Jim Dickson is a Vice President with international Insurance broker Willis. Prior to Willis, he was president and a Board Member for Direct General. He also is a past-president of EO.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Ben Dolgoff
I’m a serial entrepreneur and lover of start-ups. I have created 8 companies since 2007, raised 2 angel rounds and had our first mobile app acquired. I love being an entrepreneur and helping other start-ups. ByteVentures.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Brian Dougherty
Director of Engineering/Co-Founder of OptioLabs, a mobile security research lab and development shop. Computer Science PhD, Vanderbilt 2011.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
Brad Dumke
Spent my first 20 yrs in healthcare IT – mostly EMR companies. Plan on spending my next 20 in Healthcare 2.0 projects and helping other small companies.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Drew Fassett
Drew Fassett is the Regional Vice President and General Manager for the overall operations for the Central Region of Peak 10 including Nashville, Louisville, and Cincinnati Datacenters.
Expertise: Management, Sales, Business Development.
Tod Fetherling
A successful health tech entrepreneur whose startups include The Health Network, Galaxy, and Relegent. Current company is Stratasan.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Stephanie Fletcher
Focus=Business Development: creating initial revenue stream, strategic partnerships, developing sales strategy, channel sales, building sales teams.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Brian Fox
CPA, MBA, Founder of Confirmation.com and Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt. He holds 2 patents and his company was #96 and #169 on the Inc. 500 list.
Expertise: Marketing, Finance, Management.
Tim Franke
Started in technology. Grew up in operations. Rounded out as an executive. Now President of DueNorth and VP/IT at NFIB. Prior CEO ReadyPoint.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
Sharon Frazier
Serial entrepreneur, agile builder, disrupter; champions technology for innovation. Loves exploiting niches and roots for underdogs.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
David Frederiksen
CEO of PatientFocus, has 17-years in healthcare including credit, finance, lending, workouts, strategy, analysis, and project management.
Expertise: Finance, Management.
Vic Gatto
Partner – Solidus Company. Co-Founder and Managing Director, Jumpstart Foundry.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Douglas Ghertner
Healthcare executive with more than 15 years of experience in corporate strategy, M&A and product innovation and management. Proven leader with track record for delivering results, managing teams and driving growth in both mature and entrepreneurial business environments. Change Healthcare.
Expertise: Management, Sales / Business Development.
Landon Gibbs
Landon Gibbs serves as a director at Clayton Associates, a holding company that is most well-known for its private equity division which invests in early stage growth companies and selected real estate ventures.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Legal, Sales / Business Development.
Harris Gilbert
Marketing consultant helping companies start, develop strategies for growth, launch new products and build market presence. Co-Founder Jumpstart Foundry.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Shawn Glinter
Entrepreneur and so much, much, more…would love to help mentor this year’s JSF class. You want to learn more about me…come check me out. NANOferix.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Robert Goldstein
I am a passionate business problem solver and “Ops Guy” who has had sabbaticals in Product Marketing & IT Consulting.
Expertise: Marketing, Management.
Scott Gordon
Partner, Vaco. 15 years of experience in staffing some of the best development shops that Nashville has ever seen.
Expertise: Technical Development
Rajiv Gupta
Healthcare finance executive with 14 years of investing, operating, advisory, and consulting experience with over 30 portfolio and client companies. MedSolutions.
Expertise: Finance, Management.
Jamin Guy
Jamin is a relentlessly curious and detail-oriented technologist. As a software developer, he keeps up with the latest, from iOS to AWS. More.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Zachary Hamilton
Co-founder & certified coach at JAZ Marketing LLC, entrepreneur, guerrilla marketer, author/speaker.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Andy Hardin
Attorney, retired USAF Colonel, experienced manager/leader, angel investor.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Legal.
Mark Harris
Mark has a broad range of experience in scientific research, data analytics, product design, and technology commercialization. NextGxDx.
Twitter | LinkedIn
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Management.
Jon Haworth
VP of Product Innovation and Plant Operations at Des-Case Corporation with responsibilities for manufacturing operations, supply chain, and product development & engineering.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Alan Huffman
13 years of development, architecture and management in Finance and Healthcare at startups, large and international companies. I love technology and business.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Rob Humphreys
Curiositeur. Head RecruitTalker by day – cyclist, brewer & daddy by night. Startup enthusiast and founder sharing my experience as a former corporate CEO to help grow young companies.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Robert Jaeger
Finance & Investment Banking Professional, Entrepreneur and Engineer. Assistant Vice President at Ziegler.
Expertise: Finance, Sales / Business Development.
Rigved Joshi
MBA / Engineer with 10 years of cross-border exposure and hands-on transaction experience in PE / VC, structured finance, valuation methodologies, restructuring, start-up advisory, corporate development and strategy, due diligence, modeling, technology and business management. Vanderbilt.
Expertise: Marketing, Finance, Management.
Kris Kelso
Business owner with deep technology expertise, writer, speaker, and business advisor. More.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
Brian Lapidus
Kroll Advisory Solutions, Senior Executive with extensive experience leading and growing multiple business functions: Product Management, Client Management, Operations, Marketing and Sales.
Expertise: Marketing, Management.
David Klements
Re-founder of qualifacts, a 2012 inc 5000 company and NTC 2011 CO of the year. JSF mentor to 2011 alum Wannado.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Laureen Kuzur
Corporate and Securities lawyer.
Expertise: Legal.
Don Lazas
Physician leader. Practice & surgery center owner. Medical sales force training expertise. Investor & consultant in medical technology businesses. Associates In Gastroenterology, PLC.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Shane LeAnna
Owner/Partner at Kryptek Outdoor Group. I started my first business in 1997. I have been consulting for free for years and appreciate and support the entrepreneurial spirit.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Sales / Business Development.
David Ledgerwood
Chief Operating Officer at Jumpstart Foundry.
Expertise: Management, Sales / Business Development.
Baxter Lee
Director of Corporate Development at Emdeon. 10+ years of experience in the finance arena, having executed a broad array of transactions including mergers & acquisitions, debt financings, restructurings and strategic alliances.
Expertise: Finance.
Don Leyrer
Experienced Entrepreneur, Chairman of the Nashville Social Enterprise Alliance. Health and Workforce Development Teams Nash Poverty Initiative, CASA volunteer.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Rich Lockwood
Startup CPA. Co-founded @impellr and @joyous (see on angel.co) – both on hold. I love helping companies grow. decosimo.com
Expertise: Finance, Management.
Alison Lynch
Serial entrepreneur with focus on operations and strategic relationships. Director, Entrepreneurial Growth & Engagement Nashville Chamber of Commerce.
Expertise: Management, Sales / Business Development.
Julie May
Julie May is the CEO of bytes of knowledge, a full-service provider of technology solutions for small to large businesses and corporations.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Technical Development, Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Chris McIntyre
I love product development & engagement. I’m a founder of PodcastAlley, Mevio, CHC, Checkd.in & Curious as well as managing director for the Jumpstart Foundry. www.chrismcintyre.com
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Cary McNamara
Investment banker and private equity guy by background │Passionate about entrepreneurship, investing & golf.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Paul Mikos
Publishing industry in-house entrepreneur specializing in product development, marketing, technology productization and monetization.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Mark Montgomery
Mark Montgomery is a nashville-based music and technology entrepreneur and rabble rouser who was the co-founder and visionary behind a multi-faceted digital music marketing force known as echomusic. For more info, visit hellomarko.com and findyourflo.com.
Expertise: Technical Development.
Matt Mueller
Co-Founder and CTO of checkd.in, passionate about web development and APIs. More.
Expertise: Technical Development.
Matthew Musser
Matthew is a president’s award winning sales executive with more than 15 years experience as a sales and marketing leader. Currently an Account Executive with United Data Technologies,
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Clayton Nicholas
Clayton Nicholas has experience at Walgreens, IBM, Healthways and Change Healthcare; founded and sold Giving Tree. Harvard, West Point.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Sal Novin
Sal Novin is a specialist in efficiency and productivity techniques using information technology and software automation tools. With 10 years of experience in this specialty, his focus has been in the healthcare industry since 1999. Director of Product Development at The TriZetto Group.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Kate O’Neill
Founder and CEO of [meta]marketer, a marketing optimization agency in Nashville. Vegan (mainly raw) foodie, cat wrangler, lazy gardener, sometime songwriter, beer snob, film buff, sweetheart and smartass.
Expertise: Marketing.
Julia Polk
Serial entrepreneur – builds companies – prevents smokin’ holes. Permanent/interim executive team member, investor, financial/legal/strategic advisor.
Expertise: Finance, Management, Legal
Alexander Poston
Experienced Technology, Healthcare and Startup Entrepreneur.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Michael Powers
Loves to help people figure out “what’s next” for growth. Engineering & marketing background results in unique left/right brain thinking. Vice-President – Marketing, Des-Case.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
John Prather
I am a serial entrepreneur passionate about helping startups get off the ground with strengths in building effective company cultures, business strategy, M&A and IT infrastructure. More.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Jon Shearer
Right-brain-left-brain business technologist passionate @ developing teams to create remarkable user experiences that positively impact lives. daveramsey.com
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Salil Shibad
URGE | my startup. Ingenuity | my day job. Helping startups | evenings & weekends. Dad | full time gig.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Brian Shore
President and CEO Rock Royalty and ZOOM International.
Expertise: marketing, finance, management
Chris Sloan
I’m an attorney at @Baker_Donelson in Nashville, TN for start-ups, entrepreneurs, and tech companies. More.
Expertise: Legal.
Tim Stafford
Managing Partner/Richland Group. Tim Stafford served on the management team that grew a tech firm from 12 employees to 250 and sold it for 8x cash flow.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Bob Strachan
Bob solves business problems with the creative use of technology. Along with his talented team, develops & implements practical solutions that deliver goodness at Metacake.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management.
Don Stratton
Don created Griffin Technology’s R&D department, managed and helped design many of their most popular products such as the iTrip, and helped grow the company from a garage to a billion-dollar firm. Co-founder and CTO at Evermind, Inc.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Ben Stucki
Ben is a developer, designer and founder of DAIO, Inc. He believes business models take good developers and great design to be businesses.
Expertise: Design, Technical Development, Management.
Michael Summar
Analytics Consultant, Adobe. A recognized expert in digital analytics. Michael has worked as a consultant and trusted advisor to some of the world’s largest brands.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Management.
Chris Thompson
Chris’s company, splitsecnd, is an alum of the 2010 JSF class. In addition Chris has worked as an consulting expert for software patents.
Expertise: Technical Development.
Page Thompson
I am a natural communicator and leader with strong motivational skills and a proven ability to develop companies, grow clients, produce revenue and create successful businesses. UL PureSafety.
Expertise: Management, Sales / Business Development.
Tanner Tuttle
I work with entertainment, product and engineering organizations to bring about creative solutions and continuous improvement. SCRUM, Kanban. Huge.io.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management.
John Wark
40 yrs in tech, 3 software startups, 1 IPO, founder Nashville Software School.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management.
Henry Watson
Hank is passionate about understanding healthcare entrepreneurs’ strategic goals and working with them post investment to create value beyond the investment of capital. Edgpartners.com.
Expertise: Finance.
Jason Weaver
Founder and CEO of Spendship, LLC. Seasoned entrepreneur with recent exit in tech space.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Technical Development, Finance, Management, Sales / Business Development.
Katrina Welty
Welty joined Change Healthcare Corporation in 2007 as the company’s second employee. Her original role with Change Healthcare included the successful reinterpretation of medical, technical and insurance terminology into consumer-friendly content.
Expertise: Marketing.
Marcus Whitney
CTO and Co-Founder of Moontoast. Founder and Chairman of SouthernAlpha. Co-Founder and Managing Director of JSF. More.
Expertise: Marketing, Technical Development, Management.
Jacques Woodcock
Founder, Kite Web Consulting. Experienced web developer, programmer, designer, strategist, manager and entrepreneur who works to raise the quality of the Nashville community.
Expertise: Marketing, Design, Technical Development.
Stephen Woolverton
Fifteen Years Experience in New Product Development, Manufacturing, and China Sourcing.
Expertise: Technical Development.
Brendan Wovchko
Known for his Agile/Lean expertise, Wovchko supports many of Nashville’s best-known product co’s as a tech adviser & Scrum coach @ HUGE I/O.
Expertise: Technical Development, Management
Shawn Yeager
Partner at music industry think tank, Back Porch Group. 18 years in business development for tech and media, from bootstrapped startups to Microsoft. More.
Expertise: Marketing, Management, Sales / Business Development.