Speakers

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Candace Nelson

Founder, Sprinkles Cupcakes

Pastry chef Candace Nelson comes from a long line of culinary luminaries. Her French-American great grandmother was renowned for the distinctive desserts she made at her San Francisco restaurant during the 1930s and her own mother shared a similar passion for cooking. After graduating from the professional pastry program at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco in 2002, Candace started her own custom baking business, specializing in handcrafted special occasion cakes. However, having been raised in the tradition of her French relatives, Candace felt that dessert should be a daily pleasure rather than an indulgence reserved for the occasional celebration.

This philosophy inspired Candace and her husband, Charles, to open Sprinkles Cupcakes, The Original Cupcake Bakery. Eschewing traditional cake recipes, Candace carefully developed each recipe specifically for the delicate nature of cupcakes, using the best quality ingredients available-sweet cream butter, pure Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla and Callebaut chocolate. The result? A deliciously sophisticated spin on an old-fashioned classic. Or simply put, a moist, delicate cake topped with rich, creamy frosting.

Since opening in the heart of Beverly Hills in April 2005 and Newport Beach in August 2006, Sprinkles Cupcakes has created quite a stir, leading "The Insider" to report on the "diet dilemma that threatens to blow up Hollywood!" From media mega-stars, such as Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey, to serious epicureans, Southern Californians can't get enough of the sweet, pint-sized confections. Legions of frenzied Sprinkles addicts form lines out the door and cupcakes fanatics from around the globe make pilgrimages to these chic little bakeries. Sprinkles Cupcakes is replicating its successful formula in March with a third bakery in Dallas, and plans to open several more locations in California and Arizona in the coming year.

In the meantime, to help feed the nation's Sprinkles madness, Candace developed a line of Sprinkles cupcake mixes that were launched nationally through Williams-Sonoma and Sprinkles stores in January 2007. Already a customer favorite at Williams-Sonoma, Sprinkles red velvet cupcake mix was rated as "excellent" by preeminent New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant in her February 2007 article about red velvet cakes.

Candace's cupcakes have been featured on The Food Network's "Unwrapped," "Good Morning America," and "The Oprah Winfrey Show," as well as in numerous publications, including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and The New York Times.  Having quickly distinguished herself as the nation's foremost cupcake maven, Candace's baking tips have been published on the Oprah website, she has been a guest judge on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay and a speaker at USC's Marshall School for Entrepreneurial Studies.

 

Jessica Gilmartin

Co-founder, Fraiche Yogurt

After graduating from Cornell University in 1998, Jessica went to work at Lehman Brothers in their investment banking division in both New York and London. During that time, she completed over $2 billion in high yield loan and bond issuances for real estate, gaming, hotel and industrial companies.

After Lehman Brothers, Jessica attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a double major in marketing and strategic management. Upon her move to Austin, Texas, Jessica became the services brand manager for small and medium businesses at Dell, the world's largest computer maker. After one year managing this $300mm business, Jessica was promoted to run the small and medium business segment's $1 bn corporate laptop division. During this time, she won the Vice President's award, the highest award Dell offers, for her contributions.

Jessica has lived in the Bay Area for two years and opened Fraiche Yogurt with partner Patama Roj in June 2007. Since its opening, Fraiche Yogurt has been an instant hit with customers and media, earning unsolicited features in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, CBS' Eye on the Bay, San Francisco Magazine, and Food and Wine Magazine.

Patama Roj

Co-founder, Fraiche Yogurt

Patama Roj co-founded Fraiche Yogurt in Aug 2006 and successfully launched the concept in June 2007.   

Previous to moving to California in 2006, Patama Roj worked at Burger King Corporation to restructure the franchise system and revitalize the Burger King brand.  Patama advised distressed franchisees on improving operations, negotiating rent relief, and identifying strategic alternatives including refinancing, sale, and closure of their businesses.  She also worked in product marketing and managed both the $200 million dessert portfolio and $1 billion dollar fries/snack categories.  In this product role, Patama innovated around consumer needs to develop new food products.

Previous to her Burger King experience, Patama worked as a private equity investor at Lehman Brothers, investing on behalf of their $2 billion dollar private equity fund.   Patama has a BS in Finance from Georgetown University and an MBA in Strategic Management from the Wharton School of Business.

Kathy Chou

VP Worldwide Commercial Sales, Hewlett Packard

Kathy Chou is responsible for growing HP’s worldwide commercial business through direct and indirect channels. Key tasks include managing global accounts, increasing profitability in targeted segments such as the corporate/enterprise, small and medium business (SMB) and public sector, and improving sales efficiency for the end-user and channel sales forces. Prior to this, Kathy was director of business planning and operations for HP’s enterprise customer segment.

Kathy has more than 18 years of operations and management experience in the high-tech industry. Before rejoining HP in December 2003, Kathy was vice-president of strategic relations for Linux Networx, a linux server start-up based in Salt Lake City, UT. She also held the position of vice president of operations for Penguin Computing and was responsible for all aspects of the company's engineering, manufacturing and support functions. At Agilent Technologies, Kathy served as manufacturing manager in the start-up imaging electronics division, originators of the optical sensor in computer mice, where she was responsible for increasing production capacity which enabled revenue growth from $12M to $110M in the first year of operation.

In her prior career at HP, Kathy held positions as marketing manager for the test and measurement organization and order fulfillment and production manager for the medical products group. In addition to Hewlett-Packard, Kathy worked for General Motors, SRI International, and Monitor Company, a strategic management-consulting firm.

Kathy holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in manufacturing systems engineering from Stanford University, and a master's of business administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. She lives in California with her husband and four sons. Kathy is an active volunteer at her children’s schools and with Stanford University. In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Governors’ Award by the Stanford Associates alumni organization for her exemplary volunteer service to the university.

 

Michaela Prescott

Product Marketing Manager, Google

Michaela manages the marketing efforts for Google Maps, Google's mapping and local search service. Previously, she has managed marketing for iGoogle, Google's personalized homepage, Google's mobile products across Europe, and has had a supporting role in marketing for AdSense and Gmail. She has been at Google since 2003. Prior to Google, Michaela worked at the international non-profit organization Ashoka, where she created programs for leading social entrepreneurs around the world.

Michaela earned a BA with honors in Organizational Behavior and Management from Brown University.

Phyllis Moore

Principal, Deloitte Consulting - Human Capital Consulting

Phyllis is a Principal in Deloitte Consulting's West Region Human Capital Practice. She has extensive experience consulting with organizations in the development and implementation of Human Capital programs and processes to support operational performance and organizational transformation. With a focus on organizational development, change processes, leadership alignment, and talent management, she works with clients aligning HC programs with strategic and operational initiatives. Phyllis has worked with multiple Fortune 500 clients, addressing the impact of people and change issues unique to business. She is currently leading Deloitte Consulting's Talent Management offering for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications clients.

Sonia Nagala

Associate, Parthenon Group - Strategy Consulting

Sonia Nagala, an Associate at The Parthenon Group, joined the firm's San Francisco office in 2007. Sonia's case involvement has included work for clients in the retail, restaurant, and education industries. Her engagements for these clients have entailed corporate growth strategy, market assessment, operational improvement, and financial modeling. Additionally, Sonia has worked on several due diligence cases for private equity clients. Her leadership activities at Parthenon include serving as the Office Head for Parthenon's pro bono arm, Inspire, which is a national, non-profit consulting firm led by pre-MBA consultants. Sonia is currently leading a pro-bono strategy case for a national youth leadership program. Sonia graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology with Honors.

Minli Virdone

Associate, McKinsey & Co - Management Consulting

Sophia Tu

Founder, Gumball Capital

Sophia co-founded the nonprofit Gumball Capital in June 2007 to inspire student support for microfinance through engagement in entrepreneurship. She stopped out from college to serve as Gumball Capital's first Outreach & Operations Director, managing a team of 30 to execute the first Gumball Challenge at five universities in November 2008.

Sophia helped shape Gumball Capital's early strategy and managed external relations with corporations, nonprofit organizations, and individuals. Gumball Capital received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in September 2008, and nominated Sophia to chair its new Board of Directors. She continues to advise Gumball Capital in this capacity and is currently recruiting additional board members.

Sophia holds a BA in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford University. Her other activities while at Stanford included co-chairing the 2007 Stanford Women's Leadership Conference and co-leading the 2008 Alternative Spring Break trip on Social Entrepreneurship in the Bay Area.

Susan Bernstein

Coach Author & Speaker, Job Search Gym

Susan Bernstein, MBA PhD, coaches high-achieving professionals to create and sustain more meaningful work using creative, innovative mind-body-spirit approaches that are grounded in scientific research. Susan's original doctoral dissertation investigates the role of embodied awareness in major career transitions, focusing on the felt sense messages that the body sends, but which are often ignored. In her research, Susan has revealed the ways in which people actual feel in their bodies when they are a good fit for their work, and how they feel when they are not. Susan's personal and corporate clients increase long-term career clarity, make positively-aligned professional choices, and cultivate joy in their work. She has been a coach, author, and speaker since 2001. Before founding her career management firm, Work from Within, Susan spent nearly 20 years in management consulting, marketing, and executive development roles with large corporations, including Accenture and Intel. Susan earned an MBA at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a PhD in Somatic Psychology at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.

Kristi Phillips

Consultant, Gallup Consulting

Kristi Phillips is a Consultant with Gallup, based in the San Francisco City Center. She works closely with clients to design and implement consulting programs that maximize the potential of people in organizations.

Since joining Gallup in 2003, Phillips has consulted with clients on building strengths-based organizations, boosting employee engagement, creating customer engagement, and focusing on individual strengths to increase per-person productivity. Her aim is to promote positive change on a personal and organizational level that ultimately impacts business results. She is currently leading employee engagement initiatives and management development programs for clients in the financial services, retail and high tech industries.

Kristi has a passion for developing the next generation of women leaders and served as the 2007-2008 President of Future Women Leaders, a community of professional women who support each other’s development through mentorship programs, development seminars and networking opportunities.

Phillips earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Leeds School of Business.

Grace Lee

Accenture, Management Consultant

Grace is a Consultant in Accenture’s Management Consulting Integrated Market Practice.  She joined Accenture’s San Francisco office in 2006.   Her primary focus is in Customer Relationship Management –helping clients achieve high performance in marketing operations and developing customer-centric and game-changing strategies for response to market-changing forces.  In addition to CRM, Grace is passionate in the economics of climate change, innovations in clean tech and next generation triple-bottom-line in business operations.  Aside from client work, Grace is currently co-leading Accenture Bay Area’s Eco Team.  Grace graduated from UC Santa Barbara with B.S. in Electrical Engineering with focus in Material Science and M.A. in Economics with emphasis in Business Economics.