Professional Development

MindShare kicks off its 20th year with a cohort of 59 local CEOs

The 21st class of the selective, invite-only program includes some familiar names.

What do the locals do around here? (Photo by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier)

Back in 1997 some local business leaders launched MindShare, an invite-only organization for promising local tech CEOs. In the 20 years since, 20 hand-picked classes of CEOs have come together over the course of a given year to network, hear panel discussions and learn from one another. This month, MindShare kicked off its 21st class.

It works like this — CEOs of local tech companies get “nominated” to take part (this year there were over 200 nominations, the organization said), then the organization’s board chooses the most promising of those nominated and invites them to take part in the program. For 2017, 59 CEOs were invited into the fold.

The mission of the whole thing is, according to MindShare, to “help CEOs build long-term, sustainable companies by creating opportunities for growth, building a sense of community, and fostering teamwork in a collegial environment.”

New MindShare members are generally first-time CEOs of fast-growing companies, and this year’s list includes a lot of familiar names. There’s Kristian Bouw of NotionTheoryRachel Koretsky of the UpaceappStacie Whisonant of PYT (Pay Your Tuition) Funds Inc. and many more.

When the newest class graduates they’ll join MindShare’s network of around 1,000 alums — a roster that includes successful exits like Reggie Aggarwal, who sold Cvent to Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion, and more.

Here’s the full list of the 59 participants in MindShare 2017:

  • Anwar Allen, Revecent.com
  • Justin Antonipillai, WireWheel
  • Naren Aryal, Mascot Books
  • Scott Balwinski, Propane Taxi
  • Ed Barrientos, Brazen
  • Eric Bednash, Racktop Systems
  • Mary Ellen Beliveau, Knowledge to Practice (K2P)
  • Scott Berg, Authentag, LLC
  • Marla Blow, FS Card Inc.
  • Kristian Bouw, Notion Theory
  • Pavol Cekan, MultiplexDX Inc.
  • Jonathan Chashper, Wolfpack
  • Harish Chidambaran, IHealthEngines
  • Kendall Clark, Stardog Union
  • Marie Crump, Datum
  • Sunil Dorairajan, Pype.io
  • Veronica Eklund, Orate
  • Richard Faulkner, IQ Exchange
  • Amit Ganjoo, ANRA Technologies
  • Neal Gupta, KiwiTech & KiwiVenture Partners
  • Vernon Howard, NextGig (fka Clinchr)
  • Justin Howell, Rize
  • Param Jaggi, Hatch
  • AJ Jaghori, Solebrity
  • Hao Jiang, BigSpool
  • Brian Johnson, DiivyCloud
  • Brian Kathman, Signal Vine
  • Aden King, Mplace
  • Rachel Koretsky, Upaceapp
  • Michael Madon, Ataata
  • Karen McCord, Breezio, Inc
  • Mack McKelvey, The Credentialed
  • Charles Miller, NexGen Space LLC
  • Chip Moldenhauer, LawIQ
  • Shawn Olds, Campaign Partners, Inc.
  • Tony Orlando, DubLabs
  • Jeb Ory, Phone2Action
  • Shy Pahlevani, Hungry Marketplace
  • Greg Parchment, ValBoost
  • Mano Pillai, Nikaza
  • Tricia Ratliff, Scaled Markets
  • Adam Rogas, NS8 Inc
  • Steven Schneider, Logi Analytics
  • Neil Shah, Aspire
  • Michael Shinn, Atomicorp
  • Chris Skelly, Chatlogix
  • Rob Sobhani, Sparo
  • PV Subramanian, Visybl
  • Adam Sutherland, Applications Technology (AppTek) LLC
  • Pawel Swiatek, LOKL
  • Yedidiah Teitelbaum, Huddle Parenting
  • You Mon Tsang, ChurnZero
  • Sarah Van Dell, Plum Relish, LLC
  • Stacie Whisonant, PYT (Pay Your Tuition) Funds Inc.
  • Laurie Wiggins, Sysenex, Inc.
  • Brent Wrisley, Avalon Cyber
  • Will Yafi, TidWiT
  • Shaofeng Yang, Locus Social
  • Jeehye Yun, RedShred

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