Sherry Coutu
Chair

Sherry Coutu pursues a portfolio of interests which include early stage technology investing, advising and serving on the boards of companies, universities, and charities. more

Chris Clarke
Website Lead

Web developer within the University of Cambridge working for the Millennium Mathematics project on the nrich.maths.org rich mathematics education site. Also co-founder of clubbed.tv more

Benjamin Wirtz
Website & Co-organiser Appathon Cambridge

Founder of Handy Elephant. Passionate about social computing, relationship management and efficiency. Blogs about strategic networking and social analytics. more

Claire Thiveyrat
Logistics Guru

Claire is a professional from the tourism industry currently holding an Account managers’ position at Booking.com as well as being the Director of Operations at the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC). Graduated in 2004 with a diploma in Catering & Hotel Trade management, Nice (France) and First BA (Hons) in International Business Strategy, Cambridge (UK), her strong aspirations remain to emphasis her work on sustainable corporate strategies and entrepreneurship via an MBA course in the US.

Daniel Tomlinson
Event Manager Judge Business School

Dan has spent six years in various roles within the solar industry. This includes renewable energy project finance, technology commercialization strategy, market research, focused industry consulting, and working with start-ups through large multinationals to develop innovative solar solutions. In October he began reading for his MBA at the Cambridge University, Judge School of Business.

David Rosenberg
Appathon Lead, Editor

David is a recent graduate of Cambridge University where he studied law. He is serving as Appathon lead and Editor of this year's Silicon Valley Comes to the UK. Whilst at Cambridge he served as online editor of Varsity, the University's oldest and most prestigious student publication. more

Genna McKeel
Project Manager - National Appathons

Genna McKeel is the Project Manager for the SVc2UK Appathons. She is currently a second-year MBA student at the London Business School and recently completed her internship at Google UK as part of the policy/communications team. Genna is focused on supporting entrepreneurship as a mechanism for sustainable economic development and is interested in open government data. Prior to business school, she spent five years in various positions at the U.S. Department of State including as an advisor on Darfur policy and a member of Secretary Rice’s advance team. She has a B.A. in International Business from Georgetown University. more

Jon Bradford
Trouble Maker

Jon Bradford is the co-founder and CEO of Springboard, a 13 week accelerator programme based in Cambridge. He has also co-founded ignite100 and the Difference Engine. more

Kate Parashina

"Kate is a Cambridge graduate with an MPhil degree in English and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge and an MA degree with distinction from the Moscow Linguistic University. Before moving to Cambridge, for two years she was working in the marketing department at Teva Pharmaceuticals for the biotechnology group. Since October 2010 Kate has been working at Cambridge Network. She was appointed as an interim Vice President of the Marketing team for the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise club (CUTEC). A positive ""just do it"" attitide to life is what Kate tries to achieve – economics, psychology, technology marketing, photography and fitness are among her many hobbies. She speaks professional English, German, native Russian and also knows some basics of Chinese.

Kate was appointed the SVc2UK Marketing lead and her opinion is that this project and the team she works with are one of the most exciting and greatest things she has ever experienced."

Kosta Mavroulakis
NACUE Appathon Lead

Kosta Mavroulakis is the East England Director of the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) and Chair of its National Student Advisory Board made up of the leading young enterprise catalysts and entrepreneurs across the UK. Previously he was President of Warwick Entrepreneurs Society and an Enterprise Officer for the Warwick Business School Enterprise Hub. Kosta holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer and Business Studies from the University of Warwick and an MSc in Information Systems and Management from Warwick Business School.

Liz Williams
CUTEC President

Liz is in the final year of her organic chemistry PhD, working on the total synthesis of novel natural product analogues as anticancer agents. She is the current President of the student entrepreneurial society CUTEC, leading over 4000 members. Liz was the Technology Showcase Lead for TVC 2011, and a member of the Sponsorship team in 2010/11. Her appetite for business was fueled by her participation in the 'Emerging Ventures Technology' course, looking at the market potential of novel applications of Plastic Electronics for healthcare. Liz is passionate about the application of organic chemistry to solve global issues, such as renewable sources for fuels, batteries and sustainable plastics. Liz is keen to focus her career on uniting chemistry and business to provide much-needed solutions to today's growing population requirements.

Neil Rzechorzek
Event Manager, Big Data Keynotes

Neil is a PostDoc in the Biochemistry Department, Cambridge, having completed his PhD at the Institute of Cancer Research, London. He has a particular interest in the commercialisation of academic ideas and discoveries. In keeping with this, Neil is also a London Technology Network (LTN) Business Fellow for the University of Cambridge, a role that involves improving the links between SMEs and the University. Neil is also the Director of Development for the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC). more

Nicholas Heller
Co-Chair

Nick Heller is the Head of New Business Development, Europe, and a Principle at Google EMEA. He is based in Zurich, Switzerland and is focused on new product incubation and exploratory efforts in technology, meta-data licensing, strategic partnerships, special projects, and alternative distribution for existing and new business initiatives.

Nick is a serial entrepreneur, a board member of several tech start-ups, and is the current Chairman of the SVc2C event. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Patrick Stirling
Media Guy

Pat has 8 years experience in the new media world, mostly in advertising and publishing as a Product Manager. There is also in his speckled past an engineering degree, an MBA, a PRINCE2 qualification, several start-ups and the management of AV at dozens of events from industry conferences to live-streamed AGMs. Lord knows what he'll do next, but it may well involve breeding.

Philipp von Bieberstein
Project Manager SVC2UK/Cambridge 2011

Philipp has just completed his MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School. Prior to his MBA, Philipp worked for 7 years at Google in various functions and locations, including the integration of DoubleClick, where he worked on aligning, redesigning and implementing business processes, contract templates and training programs. After Silicon Valley comes to the UK comes to the UK, Philipp will return to Google to work in New Business Development.

Shailendra Vyakarnam
Director, CfEL

Shai is Director for the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) part of University of Cambridge Judge Business School. He started his working career in small companies, leaving to complete his MBA and PhD at Cranfield School of Management, where he stayed on the faculty for ten years, before taking up a Chair in Enterprise at Nottingham Business School. Since 2001, Shai has been closely involved in building the curriculum for a practitioner-led approach to education for entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. Shai has published five books and several papers on entrepreneurship. His current research includes work on social capital, entrepreneurial learning, opportunity recognition and risk taking and decision making e.g. ‘The Innovative Brain’ with Prof Barbara Sahakian, Nature, November 2008). He co-authored a World Economic Forum report published in 2009 entitled 'Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs' with specific responsibility for the chapter on Social Inclusion. more

Sheldon Hanai
Appathon - Corporate Platform Liaison

Sheldon Hanai is the Corporate Platform Liaison for the SVc2UK Appathon events. He recently completed an MBA summer internship at Google in London as part of the New Business Development team. Prior to business school, Sheldon was an engineering program manager for the United States Department of Defense focusing on network security and digital communications projects across Asia-Pacific. Sheldon holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University (IL, USA) and is currently an MBA student at London Business School.

Steve Dowd
Event Manager Computer Lab

Stephen is an Event Manager for Silicon Valley Comes to the UK 2011. He recently completed his MBA at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and he is passionate about tech and how it can change society. Stephen has 11 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he led teams and projects at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to this, Stephen discovered 2 human genes implicated in cancer during his Ph.D.

Vaibhav Kalway
Marketing Team

A Mechanical Engineer passionate about Marketing and Technology. Vaibhav has 4 years of experience in Indian automotive industry. He loves to talk to and get inspired from bold entrepreneurs over a cup of tea. Vaibhav is currently reading for an MBA degree at University of Cambridge.