Rob Ryan earned national attention when he grew his 1989 start-up company, Ascend Communications, Inc., to more than $500 million in sales by 1995. Lucent Technologies acquired Ascend in 1999 for $23 billion, in what was termed at the time, the "largest technology merger ever."
Back surgery sidelined Ryan from Ascend in June of 1995, but soon after his recovery he reinvented himself as a "boot camp mentor" at his Montana ranch and began helping budding high-tech entrepreneurs formulate winning business plans and teaching them how to sell their ideas. Since Entrepreneur America began, Ryan has counseled dozens of aspiring entrepreneurs and as a result, 18 companies have been founded and mentored by his organization. Three of those companies rose to billion-dollar valuations.
Ryan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
Pamela Marrone founded AgraQuest in 1995. AgraQuest discovers, develops, and markets safe, environmentally friendly, and effective natural products for farm, home, and public health pest management. Prior to founding AgraQuest, Marrone was founding president of Entotech, Inc. Under her tenure as president of Entotech, the company discovered, developed, and marketed microbial pesticides. Before Enotech, Marrone was in charge of the Insect Control group at Monsanto Agricultural Company. Pamela Marrone holds a B.S. in entomology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University.
Steven Belkin is founder and chairman of Trans National Group (TNG), a privately held company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Belkin pioneered the concept of using direct mail marketing to provide products and services to the Affinity Group marketplace and TNG is currently the world leader in Affinity Group marketing.
In September 2003, Belkin realized a lifelong dream by becoming the largest of several owners of a professional sports enterprise consisting of the Atlanta Hawks, an NBA team, and the Atlanta Thrashers, an NHL team, as well as leaseholder for the Philips Arena in Atlanta.
Belkin was awarded Cornell University's 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Belkin graduated from Cornell with a bachelor of science in Industrial Engineering and from Harvard Business School with a master of business administration.
Robert Milligan is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. His area of focus includes Human Resources Management especially as it pertains to the agricultural industry.
Robert Milligan received his BS and MS from Michigan State University. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from University of California - Davis.
Dan Miller is Managing Director of the Roda Group. He is the former president of Ask Jeeves, Inc., a Roda Group affiliate company. He is currently working with a number of Roda Group affiliated companies to assist them with their business development efforts.
At the end of 1994, Mr. Miller retired from his position as Executive Vice President of TCSI Corporation (Nasdaq: TCSI), a company he co-founded with his Roda Group partner, Roger Strauch. Mr. Miller retired from the Board of Directors of TCSI in June of 1997. TCSI is a leading provider of integrated software products and services for the global telecommunications industry.
Prior to TCSI, Mr. Miller was a systems engineer at Hughes Aircraft's Space and Communications Group where he was responsible for designing communications payloads for commercial communications satellites.
Dan Miller received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, with distinction, from Cornell University and his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He holds three patents in the areas of compression technology and wireless communications systems.
Miguel Morales is an area market manager with Monsanto. Miguel Morales is a veterinarian from Mexico who graduated with honors from the National University in Mexico City. After 3 years in practice focusing on milk quality and research, he joined the Monsanto Company in 1990. He currently resides in California where he serves as a technical services specialist with Monsanto. One of his roles is to support dairies with employee training and development.
Dan Simpkins founded Hillcrest Labs in 2001 with a team of experienced technical and business professionals to create a revolution in entertainment.
Prior to founding Hillcrest, Simpkins was vice president and general manager of the SALIX Switching Division of Tellabs, Inc., which was established in 2000 when he sold Voice over IP leader SALIX Technologies to Tellabs for $300 million. Simpkins founded SALIX in 1990 and continued as president and CEO through the sale.
Dan Simpkins received undergraduate and Master's degrees in engineering from Cornell University.
<p>Patricia Warner is the founder of Global-eze Inc. Prior to founding Global-eze, Warner held progressive management positions with Corning.</p> <p>Patricia Warner holds an undergraduate degree from University of Connecticut and a MBA from Cornell University.</p>
<p>Peggy Hart Earle has spent her career designing children's wear. Earle first worked at Cinderella, a Pennsylvania children's design house, for a short time before pursuing her dream of owning her own children's wear company. </p> <p>She founded Hartstrings in 1979 and began to sell her designs in a booth at the local farmer's market, as well as small and large retail stores. Hartstrings is known for an "uncorporate" but efficient business style. The company was recently acquired by Keystone Trading Company.</p> <p> Peggy Hart Earle graduated from Cornell University as a Textile and Apparel Design major in 1974. </p>