Past Conference Schedules

Conference Schedules are available for the following years (click to jump):

• 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003

Please note, these conference schedules may reflect outdated speaker information. These are intended to serve as archival resources only. 

Lax Conference 2016

SwatTank–Final Judging of Student Innovation Competition

Moderated by Harold "Koof" Kalkstein '78

SwatTank Finalists:

  • AlumGo by Michael Lutzker ’19, Rida Hassan ’18, Shruti Pal ’18, and Katherine Pemberton ’18 
  • LaunchPad Initiative (formerly Level Up) by Kwate Quartey ’19, Min Zhong ’19, Neeraj Shah ’19, Omri Gal ’19, and Robert Eppley ’19
  • YenAra* by Sedinam Worlanyo ’17 and Bolutife Fakoya ’17

*Winner

Judges:

Baroness Glenys Thornton, Chris Leinberger ’72, and Nick Torres

Networking and Affinity Lunches

  • Technology and Shared Value: How Technology can be Leveraged to Create Disruptive Models in the Developing World
    • Hosted by Nick Martin ’04, founder and CEO, TechChange.org
  • Women in Entrepreneurship: Sharing "Doing Business for Good" Values in a Competitive Space
    • Hosted by Eleanor Joseph, ’07, co-founder and CEO, Ubuntu Capital
  • Managing and Transforming Your Job Search
    • Hosted by Steve Dean, ’11, co-founder, Jobsuitors

Panel Discussion: “The Reinvention of Capitalism: Is Porter and Kramer’s ‘Shared Value’ the new way of doing ‘good business’?” Learn more about Shared Value.

Discussion Groups

  • How Are "Doing Good" and "Doing Well" Blurring and What Does that Mean for Entrepreneurship in the Future?
    • Facilitated by Jude M.D. O'Reilley ’94, senior director for social entrepreneurship, Skoll Foundation and Gorka Espiau, director of places and international affairs, The Young Foundation
  • How Do Organizations, Big and Small, Embody the Concept of Shared Value and What Lessons Can We Learn Going Forward?
    • Facilitated by Eleanor Joseph ’07, co-founder and CEO of Ubuntu Capital; ​Ibon Zugasti, director of social innovation research and development at MONDRAGON Corp.; and Denise Crossan, Lang visiting professor, Swarthmore College.
  • How Do We Build Social Equity and Economic Development in Communities? A Conversation on Fostering the Narrative, Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Delivering Change at the Place Level in Order To “Do Well By Doing Good”.
    • ​Facilitated by Christopher Leinberger ’72, real estate developer, professor, and president of LOCUS and Baroness Glenys Thornton, chief executive, The Young Foundation.
  • How Can the Private and Public Sectors Collaborate to Foster Greater Social Impact Investing Practices?
    • Facilitated by Nate ​Schaffran ’00, senior vice president of lending, Root Capital and President Juan José Ibarretxe, former president of Spain's Basque autonomous community (1999–2009).

Lax Conference 2015

Watch conference highlights

Welcome and Opening Remarks by Gerry Lax '74 P'18
Interim President Constance Cain Hungerford
Katie Clark, coordinator for the Center for Innovation and Leadership 

SwatTank–Final Judging of Student Innovation Competition

Moderated by Shalom Saar ’74

Finalists:

  • Sabio by Aldo Frosinini ’15 and Mackenzie Welch ’15*
  • Ryze by Satyajit Rao ’15
  • Classic Engineering by Eduardo Umana Gomez ’15

*Winner

Judges:

  • Kevin Datoo '97, Chief Operating Officer, Dollar Shave Club
  • Kenneth DeFontes '72, retired president and chief executive officer, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE)
  • Ellen Magenheim, chair of the department of Economics

Affinity Group Conversations

  • Women in Entrepreneurship 
    • hosted by Jill Ammerman P’14 president, Yukiware LLC.  
  • Sustainability: What's happening on campus? 
    • hosted by Laura Cacho, director of sustainability, Swarthmore College 
  • Lang Scholars: Social Change Makers 
    • hosted by Jennifer Magee, associate director for student programs, Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility 
  • Pathways to Entrepreneurship for Students 
  • A Conversation on Careers in BioTech for Students 
    • hosted by Lew Shuster '77, Board member, HTG Molecular Diagnostics 

Discussion Groups 

  • Impact Investing: Hope, Hype, and Here to Stay 
    • Julie Abrams P'15, managing director, Impact Investing Analytics
    • Michael Chodos ’80, senior fellow, Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, Georgetown University 
  • Pathways to Growth
    • Jill Ammerman P’14, president, Yukiware LLC 
    • Kevin Datoo ’97, chief operating officer, Dollar Shave Club 
  • Building an Entrepreneurial Mindset 
    • Duleesha Kulasooriya ’97, head of strategy and research, Deloitte Center for the Edge 
    • Gehan Talwatte ’87, Former CEO, Ascend UK
  • The Intersection of Business, Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts 
    • Kirk Dornbush P’15, co-founder and president, Iconic Therapeutics 
    • Mark Handwerger ’85, president, Bedrock Management
  • Technology and Innovation: Intrapreneurship Across Sectors 
    • Ken DeFontes ’72, retired president and CEO, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE)
    • Dan Hammer ’07, presidential innovation fellow, NASA

SwatTalks 

  • Entering the World of Your Customer by Noël Theodosiou ’94
  • Social Entrepreneurship for the Base of the Pyramid by Julie Abrams P’15
  • Why We Work by Professor Barry Schwartz

Lax Conference 2014

Watch conference highlights

Welcome and Opening Remarks by Joseph Turner ’73 

SwatTank–Final Judging of Student Business Plan Competition

Finalists:

  • Wall.It by Brennan Klein ’14*
  • Lectern.co by Jason Heo ’15
  • On the Spot by Dakota Pekerti ’16, Thomas Kim ’16, Patrick Han ’16, Haseeb Bajwa ’16 
  • BackPack by Andy Lee ’16

*Winner

Discussion Groups

  • “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Exploring the World of Technology through the Eyes of an Entrepreneur”
  • “Bringing Swarthmore Values to the Entrepreneurial Experience”
  • “The Business of Art, The Art of Business”
  • “Social Impact Ventures: What Constitutes a Successful Start-up?”
  • “Current Models for Life Sciences Start-ups” 

Swat Talks

  • “Games for Good: Entrepreneurs and Gaming’s Double Bottom Line”
  • “When is a Nudge Enough? Using Behavioral Economics to Understand and Influence Decision Making”
  • “Will Someone’s Life be Better Because You Were Here? Setting a ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’ (BHAG) and Using It to Work Toward Success”
 

Lax Conference 2013

Keynote

“ ‘When You’re Finished Changing, You’re Finished’—Entrepreneurship in the Current Economy” by Terrence Hicks ’73, Vice President of the Investment Group for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

About the keynote
Hicks’s keynote address drew inspiration from Benjamin Franklin (who is quoted in the title). Hicks discussed how the current economy motivated entrepreneurs to be more creative, adaptable and nimble than ever.

Discussion Groups

  • Funding Sources, New and Traditional: Which is Right for Your Venture?
    • Gus Alberelli ’00, managing director at Palo Alto-based Trident Capital
    • Feng He ’03, co-founder of China’s first crowdfunding site, DemoHour
  • Incubating Innovation
    • Ali Usman ’91, founder of Credit Market Intelligence and Sunergix
    • Omar Mencin ’97, director, investment group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
  • The Many Faces of Entrepreneurship
    • Michael Bertuch P’14, president and CEO, ViaTech
    • Way-Ting Chen ’94, partner and co-founder of consulting firm Blue Garnet
  • How to Tap into Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
    • Grace Bulger ’88, vice president of marketing for Forsythe Technology
  • The Latest Entrepreneurial Trends in Technology
    • Michael Silton ’86, executive chair, UCLA Capital Venture Fund
    • Nick Martin ’04, founder and president of TechChange
  • The Latest Entrepreneurial Trends in Sustainability
    • Robert Cleaves P’14, co-founder and managing director, Stratex Energy LLC
    • Claire Hartten ’91, co-founder of Dirt Café and Hungry New York

Swat Tank–Final Judging of Student Business Plan Competition

Finalists:

  • The Cocoon by Jalisa Roberts ’13*
  • Pierce + Axel by Kyle Pierce ’14, Chelsea Hicks ’14, and Ian Anderson ’13
  • Rise Desk by Chris Fortunato ’14

Judges:

  • Terry Hicks ’73
  • Karen Meidlinger
  • Iqbal Quadir ’81
  • Joe Turner ’73

Moderated by Shalom Saar ’74

*Winner

Lax Conference 2012

Keynote

“My Year of Living Dangerously: How I Became an Entrepreneur to Tell the Story of Climate Change” by David Gelber ’63, co-founder of Roaring Fork Films and co-creator and co-managing director of “Years of Living Dangerously” 

About the keynote

David Gelber was a veteran producer at “60 Minutes” when he decided to leave the venerable show to do something completely different. Believing that climate change is the most urgent issue of our lifetime, Galber followed his passion to create a multi-platform, multi-media project that would highlight the disastrous effects of climate change to the public in a way that has never been done before. 

Panels

  • Twists, Turns and Rewards of Entrepreneurial Success
    • Brian Heaney ’83: CEO of InnerOptic Technology
    • Robert Lamb P’12: President of PSSI Global Services, LLC
    • John Mercer ’65: Founder of Digital Control, Inc.
  • Who Really Makes It as an Entrepreneur: Can You?
    • Davia Temin ’74: President and CEO of Temin and Company Inc.
    • Menno Van Wyk ’67: Entrepreneurial Investor
    • Phil Weiser ’90: Dean of the University of Colorado School of Law and Co-Chair of Startup Colorado

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Leveling the Playing Field” with Rueben Canada ’99
  • “New Media, Old Media and Climate Change” with David Gelber ’63
  • “From Swarthmore to a Technology Entrepreneur” with Brian Heaney ’83
  • “Persistence Is Critical, and Capital Is Helpful, but Is your Entrepreneurial Idea a Good One?” with Robert Lamb P’12
  • “Bootstrapping a Startup” with John Mercer ’65
  • “The Importance of Self-Knowledge and Awareness in Starting One’s Own Business” with Shalom Saar ’74
  • “Resilience—Surviving, Thriving Through the Tough Times” with Davia Temin ’74
  • “From Book Smart to Street Savvy: Postcards from the Entrepreneurial Ledge” with Menno van Wyk ’67
  • “Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy” with Phil Weiser ’90

Lax Conference 2011 

Social entrepreneurs at this year’s Lax Conference have tackled social issues from potable water to genocide, from empowering low-income workers to microfinance. In addition to panels and roundtable discussions, the conference will feature a poster session by student social entrepreneurs that will be facilitated by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.

Keynote

“Social Entrepreneurship: The Business of Transforming the World” by Edgar Cahn ’56, creator of Time Dollars and the founder of TimeBanks USA, as well as the co-founder of the National Legal Services Program and the Antioch School of Law

From the keynote:

 “Social entrepreneurs [are] transformative forces: people with new ideas to address major problems who are relentless in the pursuit of their visions, people who simply will not take no for an answer, who will not give up until they have spread their ideas as far as they possibly can.”

Panels

  • Initiative, Creativity, and Investment in Social Entrepreneurship
  • Tralance Addy ’69: Founder and Chairman, Plebys International
  • Ted Chan ’02: CEO, Upward Mobility
  • Lynne Randolph Patterson: Co-Founder and Director, Pro Mujer
  • Starting, Growing, and Sustaining a Social Venture
  • Michael Caplin ’73: President, Turtle Island Group
  • Ann Starrs ’84: Co-Founder and President, Family Care International
  • David Zipper ’00: Director of Business Development and Strategy, Office of the Mayor, Washington, DC

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Building Meaningful Scale in Entrepreneurial Ventures: The Need for Serious Capital” with Tralance Addy ’69
  • “Currency for Social Entrepreneurship: Applications and Implications” with Edgar Cahn ’56
  • “How Can You Tell if You’re Getting Anywhere . . . and Is That Where You Want to Be?” with Michael Caplin ’73
  • “Mobile Technologies for Social Change” with Ted Chan ’02
  • “Energy, Sustainability, and Innovation” with H. G. Chissell ’96
  • “Current Issues in Microfinance: Are Loans Alone Enough to Address Poverty?” with Lynne Randolph Patterson and Jenny Hourihan Bailin ’80
  • “Social Entrepreneurship from a Global Health Perspective” with Ann Starrs ’84
  • “Driving Social Change through Business, Government, and Non-profits: Why It’s Getting Harder to Tell Them Apart” with David Zipper ’00

Lax Conference 2010

Keynote

“Sailing in Any Wind: Risk and the Entrepreneur” by Peter Schwartz P’12, co-founder and chairman, Global Business Network 

About the keynote:

Business always faces risks that they can control and ones beyond their control. There are creative ways for the entrepreneur to anticipate and prepare for those uncontrollable risks. With a bit of discipline and imagination the leaders of a start-up can anticipate whether they will be sailing with the wind or against it. And what is the weather ahead for new ventures setting sail today. 

Panels

  • Financing Your Business Venture
    • Rebecca Voorheis ’93
    • Ali Usman ’91
  • Using Social Networks to Build and Sustain a Business
    • Ted Chan ’02: CEO, Upward Mobility
    • Dom Sagolla ’96
    • Noël Theodosiou ’94
  • Your Company: The First Five Years
    • Amity Cox ’99
    • Tracy Korman ’86
    • Chris Pearson ’95

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Business Tools and Technology for Social Change” with Ted Chan ’02
  • “Discover the Soul of Your Business Inside Yourself” with Amity Cox ’99
  • “The Patent Market” with Robert Cox ’03 and David R. O’Steen’03
  • “The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma: How Do You Create Value When All You Have Is Vision?” with Tracy Korman ’86
  • “Creating Focused Milestones and Operating Cost Effectively to Increase Your Chance of Success” with Chris Pearson ’95
  • “American-Style Bootstrapping” with Dom Sagolla ’96
  • “Climate Change and Business” with Peter Schwartz P’12
  • “Prepare Yourself for Entrepreneurship at Swarthmore and Beyond” with Ali Usman ’91
  • “What Is a Woman with Brains, Talent, Drive, and a Good Idea to Do?” with Rebecca Voorheis ’93

Lax Conference 2009 

Keynote

“Building a Strong Enterprise: Critical Skills for Successful Entrepreneurs” by Richard Teerlink P’83, former chair and CEO, Harley-Davidson, Inc.

About the keynote:

 “Join us as we focus on skills entrepreneurs need in order to be successful in any economic climate. Keynote speaker Richard Teerlink led Harley-Davidson’s fabled turnaround, fueled in part by his belief that people are the most important resource in any company. At Harley-Davidson, that process included creating clear performance benchmarks, constant communication and feedback, and a culture built on trust.”

Panels

  • Balancing Leadership with Management
    • Matthew Riffkin ’83
    • Cecile Roesch-Giannangeli P’12
  • Building a Sustainable Competitive Advantage
    • Diana Royce Smith ’68
    • Gehan Talwatte ’87
  • Connecting with the Marketplace
    • Sam Awuah ’94
    • Richard Teerlink P’83
  • Developing High Performance Teams
    • Ronda Muir ’74
    • Daniel Werther ’83
  • Transforming Ideas into Reality
    • Arnold Newman ’73
    • Lewis Shuster ’77
  • Putting It All Together
    • Shalom Saar ’74

Lax Conference 2008

Keynote

“Sustainability for Competitive Advantage” by Chris Laszlo ’80, co-founder of Sustainable Value Partners

About the keynote:

“The environmental and social impact a business has on the world around it is a rapidly growing source of competitive advantage. CEOs of some of the world’s leading companies are now tackling global challenges such as climate change and the widening rich-poor gap, not as cost constraints but as business opportunities. Based on his new book, Sustainable Value, Chris will discuss sustainability-driven business leadership and emerging sustainability practices based on case studies at DuPont, Wal-Mart, and other global industry leaders.”

Panels

  • How Venture Capitalists and Investment Managers View Entrepreneurs for Environmental Sustainability
    • Jenny Hourihan Bailin ’80
    • Sohail Bengali ’79
    • Drew Clark ’87
    • Pete Hamilton ’97
  • Corporate America: What’s Green Got to Do with It?
    • David Hochschild ’93
    • Gerry Lax ’74
    • Ruth Perry ’78
    • Marty Spanninger ’76
  • Carbon Trap Technologies: A Case Study
    • Robert B. McKinstry, Jr. ’75
    • Chris Plum ’75
    • David Vinjamuri ’86

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Forming an International Private Equity Fund? The Nuts and Bolts of Achieving Success” with Sohail Bengali ’79
  • “What Swarthmore Should, and Should Not, Be Doing to Green Itself” with Professor Carr Everbach
  • “Can Capitalism Save the World? Empirical Evidence Presented” with Pete Hamilton ’97
  • “Stimulating and Humanizing the Process of Connecting Thinking with Doing: Enabling Eco-Entrepreneurs Using Iterative Design Methods” with Claire Hartten ’91
  • “Getting Clean Energy Policy Passed” with David Hochschild ’92
  • “The Role of State Efforts in the National Climate Change Program” with Bob McKinstry ’75
  • “Blue Is the New Green: Attacking the Global Water Crisis with the Mind of an Entrepreneur” with Lisa Diaz Nash ’80
  • “The Entrepreneurial Spirit Within A Corporate Environment” with Ruth Perry ’78

 

Lax Conference 2007

Keynote Speaker

Cheung Kwai Kong ’86, CEO of Giro and Bell

Panels

  • Entrepreneurship and the Global World
    • Ronald Krall ’69, Senior vice president & chief medical officer, GlaxoSmithKline
    • Becky Voorheis ’93, group director, finance and corporate development at Cadence Design Systems
    • Theresa Williamson ’98, founder and executive director, Catalytic Communities
  • Buzzword or Power Shift
    • Jona Gold ’04, producer, The Electric Sheep Company
    • John Hammond ’82, senior director, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
    • Jeff Schon ’73, partner, The Cheyenne Group
    • Christophe Watkins ’87, vice president, Icarus Studios

Roundtable Discussions

  • “After Law School: A New Vision in the Resolution of Disputes” with Alan Symonette ’76
  • “Considering Consulting as a Career Starter?” with Mike Bernstein ’96
  • “The Start-up Lifestyle: Tales from the Trenches” with Jonah Gold ’04
  • “What is Entrepreneurship, and How Does it Create Value?” with Martin Hunt ’90
  • “Managing the Soft Stuff – The Achilles Heel of Entrepreneurs” with Shalom Saar ’74
  • “Fundamentals and Sacrifice: The Secret to Starting and Growing a Market-Leading Company with No Outside Funding” with Jagath Wanninayake ’96
  • “From Seed to Demise to Success: A Rollercoaster VC Ride” with Christophe Watkins ’87
  • “Social Entrepreneurship + New and Old Issues in Philanthropy” with Theresa Williamson ’97
  • “How Product innovation Changes Consumer Behavior and Creates New Markey Opportunities” with Cheung Kwai Kong ’86
  • “Is It Possible to Be an Entrepreneur Inside a Big Company?” with Ron Krall ’69 

Lax Conference 2006 

Keynote 

“Turning into the New Digital Media World” by Peter Bart ’54, editor-in-chief, Variety 

Panels

  • Investment Professionals: Choices and Challenges
    • Nicole Crawley ’80, former managing director, GE Corporate Financial
    • Christopher Niemczewski ’74, principal, Marshfield Associates
    • Neil David Yelsey ’80, investor, Madoff Securities 
  • Entrepreneurship and Social Responsibility
    • Way-Ting Chen ’94, founder and partner, Blue Garnet Associates
    • David Meyers ’75, president, Eastern Research Group
    • Peter Murray ’00, president, Center for Progressive Leadership
  • Innovation, Technology, and Corporate Culture
    • Chuck Groom ’00, co-founder and developer, Billmonk.com
    • Sarah Marsh ’00, marketing manager, Discovery Communications, Inc.
    • Ken Schneider ’83, chief architect, Symantec Network and Gateway 

Roundtable Discussions 

  • “Having It All vs. Having It All At Once – Women in Business and Entrepreneurship” with Way-Ting Chen ’94
  • “The Basics of Real Estate Entrepreneurship” with Adam Dickinson ’00
  • “Leadership and Management: Is Everyone a Star?” with Ari Gabinet ’79
  • “The Startup Cookbook: The Not-So-Hard Steps to Creating” with Chuck Groom ’00
  • “Nature vs. Nurture” with Eliot Ingram ’94
  • “Your Career: An Entrepreneurial Journey” with Sarah Marsh ’00
  • “Nonprofit and Political Entrepreneurship: Changing the World” with Peter Murray ’00
  • “Peep and the Big Wide World – From Conception to Broadcast” with Jeff Schon ’73
  • “Career Entrepreneurship: The Need to Manage a Corporate Career Using Entrepreneurial Techniques” with Lauren Suter ’55 & Pat Key
  • “Leveraging the Corporation as a Platform for Entrepreneurship” with Neil Yelsey ’80 

 

Lax Conference 2005

Keynote 

“A Life in Business – It’s Not as Bad as You’ve Heard” by Mike Sweeney ’79, managing partner of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, a Minneapolis private equity firm 

Panels

  • Alchemy: Turning Science into Business
    • Rick DeGolia, chairman and chief strategy officer, Apptera, Inc.
    • Corinna Lathan ’88, founder, president, and CEO, AnthroTronix, Inc.
    • Iris Miroy Ovshinsky ’48, vice-president & co-founder, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.
    • Stan Ovshinky, president and chief technology officer, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.
  • Marketing: The Language of Successful Communication
    • Susan Lavine Coleman ’76, president, NCI Consulting
    • Joel Kier ’86, managing partner, Kier Group Holdings, LLC
    • Lisa Diaz Nash ’80, president, LN Marketing Associates
  • Added Values: What the Swarthmore Experience Brings to the World of Business
    • Mark Harmeling ’74, independent real estate professional
    • David McElhinny ’75, president, SIGGO, Inc.
    • John Montgomery ’77, founder and portfolio manager, Bridgeway Funds, Inc.

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Management Consulting After Swarthmore: You’re More Qualified Than You Think You Are” with Susan Levine Coleman ’76
  • “Building an Early Stage Software Company: How to Work with Venture Capitalists, Succeed at Team Building and Still Have Fun” with Rick De Golia P’07
  • “Eyes on the Stars & Feet on the Ground: Entrepreneurs as Creators, Evangelists and Capitalists” John Hearn ’93
  • “Entrepreneurial Personality: Just Who Do You Think You Are?” with Peter Hess ’81
  • “Entrepreneurship in Corporations: How to Drive Change” with Simon Kahn ’90
  • Private Equity Investing: A Perspective on Mergers and Acquisitions in the Retail World” with Joel Kier ’86
  • “Rethinking the Entrepreneurial Career Path” Bringing Entrepreneurial Spirit to the Corporate Enterprise and Corporate Maturity to the Entrepreneurial Startup” with Tracy Korman ’86
  • “Top 10 Reasons to Be an Entrepreneur” with Cori Lathan ’88
  • “Venture Capital: How to? How Long? How Much?” with Charley Lax
  • “Making Money Is an OK Thing” David McElhinny ’75
  • “Three Non-traditional Models for Making a Difference in Business and in Life” John Montgomery ’77 
  • “How to Be an Entrepreneur in Any Job” Lisa Diaz Nash ’80 
  • “How Do You Choose Which Way to Go in Business” Michael Sweeney ’79
  • “Building Your Own Brand” David Vinjamuri ’86 

 

Lax Conference 2004

Keynote

“Taking the Crum to the Boardroom” by Randall Larrimore ’69, former president, CEO, and director, United Stationers Inc. 

Panels 

  • Internet Prophets Talk Net Profits
    • Roger Holstein ’74, president and CEO, WebMD
    • Arthur Obermayor ’52, president, Moleculon Research Crop.
    • Barbara Mather ’65, chair, litigation department, Pepper Hamilton L.L.P 
  • Working Green: Business and Environmental Responsibility
    • Margaret Halfand ’69, architect, Helfand Architecture
    • Margaret Redmon ’79, president, Honey Locust Valley Farms Inc.
    • Dick Senn ’56, real estate developer and investor
    • David Singleton ’68, secretary of finance, state of Delaware
  • Business Without Borders
    • Stephen Schwartz ’84, president and COO, Lion Apparel
    • Susan Levine ’78, managing partner, Quince Hill Partners
    • Adrian Merryman ’80, former CEO, Screen plc
    • Fred Kyle ’54, retired president, Worldwide Commercial Operations, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals

Roundtable Discussions

  • “Cultivating New ideas in a Corporate Environment” with Denise Cisternino ’94
  • “Venture Capital: Sexy and Exciting or Hard Work?” with Stuart Cornew ’80
  • “Embedded Values: Building a Responsible Software Company” with Alan Gershenfield ’84
  • “Entrepreneurial Personality: Just Who Do You Think You Are?” with Peter Hess ’81
  • “Why Do Entrepreneurial Companies Bloom in Silicon Valley?” with Koof Kalkstein ’78
  • “Selling Yourself, Your Idea, & Your Vision: Being Cool is Not Enough” with Andy Lax ’77
  • “Challenges Facing the Overseas Entrepreneur” with Adrian Merryman ’80
  • “Life Lessons on Starting a Company Fresh Out of Swarthmore” with Seth Murray ’98
  • “How to Profit From Failure” with Dick Senn ’56
  • “How to Join You Family’s Business” with Steve Schwartz ’84
  • “Socially Responsible Investing: Potential and Pitfalls” with Morgan Simon ’04  

Lax Conference 2003

Keynote 

“Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?” by Marc Reinganum, vice president, director of quantitative research, and portfolio strategist for equities at Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.

Panels

  • On the Technological Horizon: Intertwining Intellectual Property, Finance, and Technology
    • Maggie Habib Gorse ’73, director/consultant, Gorse Analysts
    • Iqbal Quadir ’81, founder, GrameenPhone and lecturer, Harvad University Kennedy School of Government
    • William Squadron ’77, CEO, Sportvision Systems, LLC
    • Douglas Winneg ’89, president, Software Secure Inc.
    • Bruce Maxwell ’91, assistant professor of engineering, Swarthmore College
  • Biotechnology: Bridging Science and Business
    • Emily Levy ’80, principal/management consultant, and clinical professor, Division of Immunology, Stanford University
    • Joseph Turner ’73, CFO, Myogen Inc.
    • Amy Cheng Vollmer, associate professor of biology, Swarthmore College
  • Ethical Conduct vs. Profit Maximization: A Dilemma for Corporate Governance?
    • Linda Ambrus Broenniman ’77, director, HFS Capital
    • Samuel Hayes III ’57, Jacob Schiff professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School
    • Alan Gershenfield ’84, co-founder and co-CEO, Netomat
    • Philip Jefferson, associate professor of economics, Swarthmore College 

Workshop Leaders

Timothey “Tim” Sibley ’98

Recognized by Washington Techway Magazine as one of D.C’s top young technology executives, Tim is founder and chief scientist of StreamSage Inc. Founded in 1999, StreamSage provides a software platform to automatically personalize, index, search, and serve audio/video content. Tim is a leading researcher in advanced computational linguistic and statistical techniques for analyzing audio, video, and text. Tim has received multiple grants from leading research organizations such as NIST and the Lemelson Foundation to conduct research into natural language understanding techniques and artificial intelligence. Prior to joining StreamSage, Tim co-founded the Journal of Young Investigators, the first international, peer-reviewed publication for undergraduate science research. Featured in the New York Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Journal of Young Investigators enjoys a readership in the tens of thousands and is advised for editing purposes by Science Magazine.

Emily McHugh ’90

USAToday.com recently featured Casauri as “the first laptop case to be sold at the Museum of Modern Art Design Store in New York, a Mecca for trendy as well as timeless consumer products that merge design and practicality.” Casauri, the company founded by Emily and her sister, Helena McHugh, designs sleek laptop and PDA cases, as well as customized accessories. Emily started the company from a class project while at Columbia Business School. Casauri is now one of the top selling laptop cases for women on ebags.com, the largest online store for bags. Casauri is also now available at Casuari.com, Sony Style, The Apple Company Store, and other specialty stores. Fluent in French and Spanish, Emily worked for the Banque Nationale de Paris in New York and Mexico City prior to business school. Emily is now the CEO and creative director of Casauri and writes a monthly column on entrepreneurship for the New Jersey Small Business Development Center and the Caribbean Business Journal.

Walter P. Blass ’51

In the eighteen years since he retired as director, strategic planning, for AT&T, Walter has put on three new hats: as founder and president of Strategic Plans, UnLtd., he consults for various clients in the United States and overseas in strategic planning and telecommunications regulation and privatization; as Executive-Fellow-in-Residence at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus, he taught the capstone Business Policy course to graduating MBAs from 1986 to 1990 and now continues to teach as a Visiting Professor in Grenoble, France, and has taught in China, Poland, Switzerland, and Russia; and as President of BLASS AG, he serves as the head of a patent holding company in Basel, Switzerland, coming up with biochemical solutions to difficult pharmaceutical problems and licensing or selling the resulting patents to manufacturers or distributors. Walter speaks German, his native language; French; and some Persian, picked up while directing the U.S. Peace Corp in Afghanistan in 1966-68.