Ashleigh Hults

Ashleigh Hults is an analyst in the Electronic Trading Group at Barclays Capital. She is in a sales group focusing on high frequency clients.  Prior to working at Barclays, she interned at International Derivatives Clearing Group and Lime Brokerage.  Ashleigh graduated from Barnard in 2008 with a BA in Economic History.

Daphne Tong

Daphne Tong is an Associate in the Corporate Private Equity Group and is based in New York. Since joining Blackstone in 2006, Ms. Tong has been involved in the execution of Blackstone investments in RGIS Inventory Specialists, Stiefel Laboratories, and Summit Materials. Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Tong worked in investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where she was focused on Healthcare clients. Ms. Tong graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a dual concentration in Finance and Accounting.

Shelley Wong

Shelley Wong is a Managing Director at Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking Division. She is the Global Chief Operating Officer for the Financial Institutions Group in the Investment Banking Department.

Ms. Wong joined Credit Suisse in 2000 when the bank merged with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. At Credit Suisse, Shelley has served in a variety of managerial positions, including the Chief Operating Officer of the Health Care and Media & Telecommunications groups. Prior to Credit Suisse, Shelley was an investment banker at DLJ, where she executed corporate financing and advisory transactions across a variety of industries. She also managed DLJ's Associate Program. Prior to joining DLJ, Ms. Wong worked at TD Bank in Toronto, Canada.

Ms. Wong received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B. Commerce Honors with Distinction from Queen's University, Canada. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.

Jennifer Sung

Jennifer joined Brean Murray Carret & Co., a research driven investment boutique, in July 2009 as an equity research associate following teen and specialty retailers. Jennifer is also co-founder of t-shirt clothing line Port & Kit (www.portandkit.com). Prior to joining Brean Murray, Jennifer was an analyst at UBS Financial Services in a two year graduate training program through which she rotated among the following divisions: UBS Investment Research (Specialty Retail), Alternative Investments (Hedge Fund Due Diligence), Strategic Analysis & Business Development, Private Wealth Management, and the Equity Advisory Group.

Outside of work, she is an active mentor through Girls Quest, a NYC non-profit mentoring program that aims to provide positive female role models for teenage girls, and serves as a member of the Young Professionals Committee. Jennifer also enjoys flying as a private pilot and contributing as a writer to View from the Front Row (www.viewfromthefrontrow.com), a website dedicated to covering the latest fashion trends, hottest designers and industry happenings.

Jennifer graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Asian Language and Civilizations in May 2007.

Julie McDermott

Anna Davydova

Anna Davydova is a research analyst at Fidelity Investments, the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, the largest mutual fund supermarket, a leading online brokerage firm and one of the largest providers of custody and clearing services to financial professionals.

Ms. Davydova joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research associate following coal, oil tankers, small cap energy services and select renewable energy companies. In May 2008, she was promoted to analyst and expanded her coverage of renewable energy – solar, wind and other clean energy stocks that she continues to follow today.

Prior to joining Fidelity, Ms. Davydova was a summer analyst at Banc of America LLC in NYC, where she worked with the FX options team. During her internship, Ms. Davydova focused on global currency derivatives trading and macroeconomic research.

Born in 1982, Ms. Davydova received a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics & economics from Wellesley College in 2005. Ms. Davydova is a CFA charterholder.

Marketing Panel

Jenna Fidellow

Bringing nearly 10 years of experience to the table, Jenna started her career first as part of global communications company Grey Global Group before its acquisition, then at WPP’s M&A group, supporting the divisions across all of their venture opportunities. During her time there, Jenna was responsible for evaluating and delivering recommendations on potential acquisition targets and strategic investment opportunities, including WPP’s eventual partnerships with the Weinstein Company and Media Rights Capital (MRC). Her ongoing exposure to new technologies and alternative approaches in the communications business eventually led Jenna to the client side of the business, where she harnessed that experience to deliver innovation and pro-active brand building on behalf of WPP clients and fostered collaborations between WPP operating companies.

Following her time at WPP, Jenna moved on to The Leverage Group (now GroupM ESP), an Entertainment, Sports and Cause marketing consultancy. While there, Jenna headed up all Business Development efforts and was responsible for the strategy, brand development and execution for clients including: National Geographic Entertainment, Tribeca Enterprises/Tribeca Film Festival, Jones Apparel Group, MetLife, SonyBMG, Dr. Pepper, Schick and Polar Electro.

At United Entertainment Group (UEG), Jenna leads the agency’s Client Services team to continue to deliver business results through innovative marketing practices, while exceeding ROI expectations.

Caroline Morgan

Caroline is a Client Director on the Nokia account at Blast Radius, a digital marketing company owned by WPP. In this role Caroline is responsible for guiding Nokia to create innovative online marketing programs to launch new devices in North America and gain market share. Prior to this role Caroline was the Business Development Manager for the WPP Strategy Group and WPP Digital where she helped build and manage an investment portfolio of 16 tech start ups and network them among WPP's advertising, media and PR agencies. As part of the WPP Fellowship Program Caroline also worked in advertising in London, brand strategy in South Africa and branded entertainment in New York. Caroline is on the Advisory Board of Ad Nectar a start-up which provides new ways for advertisers to reach consumers through social networks. Caroline is also on the Junior Board of Step Up Women’s Network, a non-profit which connects professional women with underserved teens in New York City. Caroline received a BA in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

Kimberly Fisher

Kimberly Dawn Fisher, a 2000 graduate of Columbia College, now heads Ericsson's marketing department for one of the company's largest customers, Verizon. Ericsson is the world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators. Kim and her team at Ericsson support Verizon's key initiatives, namely the rollout of the 4th Generation wireless cell phone network, also known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Prior to joining Ericsson, Kim was focused on the enterprise communications technology space. She was the Director of Capital Markets at a NYC based consulting firm, Exenet LLC. Kim began her career at Cisco Systems (CSCO), the leading supplier of networking equipment and network management for the Internet. During her years at Cisco, she represented the Fortune 500 company in its sales communications with Fortune Magazine.

At Columbia, Kim majored in biology and had a concentration in pre-medical studies. She ran for Columbia's Track and Cross Country team. Today, in her spare time, she trains for marathons and runs competitively in races throughout the country. Her closest friends remain the ones she met during her studies at Columbia.

Bonita Coleman Stewart

Bonita C. Stewart brings more than 20 years of marketing, technology and industry expertise to Google, where she oversees strategy and sales for the finance, entertainment, automotive and travel categories. Prior to joining Google, she served as the Director, Chrysler Group Interactive Communications for DaimlerChrysler AG. In 2005 Advertising Age named the Chrysler Group Interactive Marketer of the Year. Bonita also enjoyed a 10-year career with IBM and co-founded Nia Enterprises, a web-based company, in 2000.

Bonita is a frequent speaker at numerous marketing and interactive conferences such as iMedia, eTail, AD:TECH and Automotive World Congress and has been quoted in such publications as Automotive News, Advertising Age, Brandweek and USA Today. In 2005, she co-authored “The Fifth P of Marketing,” an article for CRM Magazine.

Bonita graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Howard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for Cranbrook Art Academy based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She resides in New York City with her husband.

Jill Scalamandre

Jill Scalamandre is a prominent marketing executive in the beauty industry. As Chief Marketing Officer, she is responsible for all aspects of marketing, product develop- ment, and creative for the Chrysallis portfolio of innovative beauty brands, including StriVectin, Niadyne, Inc. and its physician-dispensed skin care line NIA 24, and a prestige skin care collection launched under the Canyon Ranch banner. At Chrysallis, she is tasked with devel- oping and executing strategic business initiatives to build the brands through multiple distribution channels, product innovation and international growth, while also providing strategic input for potential future acquisi- tions. Ms. Scalamandre joined Chrysallis from Avon Products, Inc., where, as Senior Vice President, Global Beauty Brands, she led the growth of that company’s beauty brands across color, skin care, personal care and fragrance categories worldwide. With a focus on innovation, she led brand-building strategies across the Anew skin care brand, Masstige fragrance portfolio, and the revitalization of Avon Color. Before joining Avon, Ms. Scalamandre created Prada’s beauty division and led all phases of planning, developing and launching the famed fashion house’s award-winning beauty brand from 1999 to 2003. Prior to that, Ms. Scalamandre was senior vice president, global marketing at Revlon, where she directed global marketing initiatives for the company’s beauty cat- egories. She joined Revlon in 1980 and advanced through a succession of roles in marketing and product devel- opment. During her tenure, she was credited for developing and launching the Colorstay brand, and revitalizing the Almay brand. Ms. Scalamandre is Chairwoman of the board of directors of Cosmetic Executive Women.

Entrepreneurship Panel

Amanda Hofman

Amanda Hofman is the founder and CEO of Urban Girl Squad, the social group for women in their 20s and 30s who love to try new things, spend time with friends, and meet new people in New York City. Urban Girl Squad provides interactive and fun events for its members, including food and wine tastings, beauty and fashion nights, dance and fitness classes, sports events, cocktail parties and more. Over the course of this past year, Amanda doubled Urban Girl Squad's membership and number of events. Urban Girl Squad events have been featured on NBC, Gothamist, and BBC America. ‪Before embarking on entrepreneurship,‬ Amanda graduated from Barnard with a degree in Economics and worked as a Market Research Analyst at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions and Columbia Business School.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson

With over a decade of international experience in luxury goods and retail, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Founder and Chief Merchandising Officer of Gilt Groupe, is on the forefront of revolutionizing and innovating the landscape of luxury e-commerce. Gilt Groupe is a members-only luxury goods website known by fashion insiders as today’s most exciting online shopping experience. Since Gilt Groupe’s November 2007 launch, Alexandra has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Crain’s, The Wall Street Journal, Women's Wear Daily, InStyle, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Observer in addition to on-air appearances on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. Prior to Gilt Groupe, Alexandra oversaw retail operations at Bulgari, managing 15 North American stores and managed Leather Goods Sales Planning for Louis Vuitton North America. She began her career in retail as a consultant for retail guru Marvin Traub at Financo Inc on top of a three year tenure in investment banking at Merrill Lynch. Alexandra holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard University in addition to fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian.

Teresa Carleo

Over 20 years ago, Teresa Carleo played a hunch that she might ‘be good with plants’ and took a minimum wage job tending flora for several A-list properties. Today she is the president and owner of Plant Fantasies Incorporated, a full-service landscape contractor and a certified WBE (woman-owned business enterprise) serving a client roster that reads like a who’s who in real estate development: Macklowe Properties; The Trump Organization; World-Wide Holdings Corporation; Spitzer Engineering LLC; Jack Resnick & Sons; O’Connor Capital Partners; and many more. Plant Fantasies has created and installed all from a highly innovative, tenant accessible green roof at 250 Hudson Street; to the courtyard gardens at Casa 74, the Milan, Miraval Living, the Corinthian, and Manhattan House; to the 25 ft. high holiday tree and Atrium display at Trump Tower.

Carleo has been profiled and quoted in The New York Times, Success for Women, NY Inc., Real Estate New York, The Terrain Newsletter (from the American Society of Landscape Architects), Real Estate Weekly, The Mann Report, New York Real Estate Journal and other publications.

Sherri Sparaga

Sherri Sparaga is a Region Manager for The Coca-Cola Company's new Venturing and Emerging Brands team. The Venturing and Emerging Brand Team is responsible for identifying and developing the next set of billion dollar brands through internal incubation, strategic investments and importation.

Sherri leads the entrepreneurial team that is responsible for incubating Coca-Cola's first two emerging brands in New York. In 2009, the team launched illy issimo, a ready to drink iced coffee in a joint venture with illycaffe (www.illyissimo.com), and Cascal, an all natural, fermented soda that was co-developed with Whole Foods Market (www.cheerscascal.com).

Prior to joining the Venturing and Emerging Brands team, Sherri was with The Coca-Cola Company for eight years in a variety of marketing, media and customer management roles. Sherri graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Outside of work, Sherri enjoys cooking, baking, traveling and getting in a good workout.

Lourdes Lopez

Lourdes Lopez is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Morphoses, a new and dynamic ballet company based in New York and London. She is a former New York City Ballet principal dancer, as well as the former Executive Director of The George Balanchine Foundation. At the Foundation, Lourdes oversaw the Balanchine Centennial Celebration in 2004, which featured events held worldwide, including an historic symposium in St. Petersburg, Russia, called "Balanchine: Past, Present and Future." Born in Havana, Lourdes is also a founder of the Cuban Artists Fund, which supports emerging Cuban and Cuban-American artists in a variety of fields.

Consulting Panel

Maria Mumm

Maria is a Manager with ZS Associates, based in their New York office. Since joining ZS in 2005, Maria's experience has spanned strategic marketing, marketing research, sales force effectiveness, and operations in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Her work includes qualitative, quantitative and observational research, marketing strategy and long-term brand planning, product & portfolio optimization, messaging, patient level data analysis, and incentive compensation management and operations in the US and globally.

Maria's prior career was in advertising, most specifically direct and relationship marketing, focusing on the strategy and development of direct to consumer communications, compliance and persistency programs for customer retention, market research and behavior profiling, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry.

Maria earned her MBA with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Marketing and Health Care Systems. Maria completed her BS in Marketing at La Salle University Maxima Cum Laude. Maria is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing education, leadership and community service in young women.

Mary Rozenman

Mary (CC’03) is an Engagement Manager in the New York office of McKinsey & Company, a leading management and strategy consultancy, where she specializes in the pharmaceutical space with some focus on healthcare private equity. Prior to joining McKinsey in 2007 Mary received her PhD in organic chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard where she authored nearly a dozen patents and publications in leading journals including Nature. As an undergraduate at Columbia College, Mary studied Biochemistry and Russian Literature and was a John Jay Scholar as well as an active participant in many campus organizations. Mary credits Columbia not only with nurturing her passion for science but also in pushing her to think broadly, play well with others and fostering an addiction to New York city. In her free time Mary is an obsessive foodie, loves the theater and has recently endeavored to beat her boyfriend at tennis by bringing her game back to life.

Siheun Song

Siheun Song (CC’07) is a Brooklyn native, and in her third year as a Financial Consultant at AXA Advisors. Following in the footsteps of her mentor, who also transitioned from the arts to finance, Siheun has found the perfect synergy for her BA in Comparative Literature & Society and her classical music education (The Juilliard School). Siheun's clientele includes artists, freelancers, as well as foreign nationals (Korean & Spanish). Siheun focuses on four areas: Financial Planning, where she helps individuals and their families develop a road map to financial success; Asset Management; Risk Management (such as life/disability/health insurance); and Assisting small businesses and organizations to find and implement cost-effective benefit packages for themselves and their employees. Siheun serves on the Board of Columbia College Women, and during her downtime, she can be found recording, performing, and touring internationally with her band Ava Luna, which was formed with fellow Columbians.

Michele Pesanello

Michele Pesanello is the Practice Area Leader for IBM's Global Business Services America's Distribution Sector Strategy and Transformation Practice. Michele is currently directly responsible for over 300 professionals and has over 18 years of experience in the life sciences, managed markets and healthcare industries, having worked as a clinician/manager for several health systems before receiving her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Since joining IBM in 1994, Michele has worked with the major pharmaceutical, biologics and medical device manufacturers and retailers in the areas of strategic planning, new business development, integration activities, product positioning, State Compliance, pricing and contracting management transformation and systems implementation, and scenario analysis and planning. Several of Michele's key clients include: Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Abbott, Medco, Roche and Cardinal Health.

Sarah Decker

Sarah Decker (CC ‘07) is a Senior Consultant at SMART Business Advisory and Consulting. Her experience includes managing large, global, multi-depart- ment projects at multi-national investment banks. Specifically, Sarah’s work has included analyzing and improving internal controls and processes; imple- menting appropriate communication strategies to enhance current business practices; and providing Lean methodology training and oversight to improve business capability. Sarah’s work has allowed her direct interaction with key stakeholders in strategizing how to best adapt their varying concerns and expectations with the best plan and approach to deliver the greatest results.At Columbia, Sarah majored in Economics and Political Science and was captain of the Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field teams. She was also heavily involved in the Columbia Women’s Business Society (including the founding of the annual Women’s Business Conference), Columbia Community Outreach, Undergraduate Athletic Council and 85 Broads Broad2Be. In her free time Sarah competes on an amateur running team, enjoys spending time with friends and family and takes in all that NYC has to offer.