Our distinguished Entrepreneurs in Residence are accomplished entrepreneurs and/or business professionals who have the knowledge and experience to offer valuable advice to our entrepreneurship students and recent alumni.
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Jennifer Belcher, MBA '06, JD '07 Jennifer leads the Entrepreneurship Program at The Message Trust South Africa. She is also vice president and co-founder of Go and Tell, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to implementing social entrepreneurship projects worldwide that empower orphans, widows and refugees. Jennifer is a partner for Strategic Global Law Group, offering premier legal services specifically tailored for emerging growth companies and global corporations. Jennifer received her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and completed the Hansard Society Scholars Program at The London School of Economics and Political Science. She also earned an MBA from LMU and a JD from Loyola Law School. |
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Tom Bielek, MBA '21 Tom is Vice President of International Operations at Stansport and Pacific Play Tents, brands that supply consumer packaged goods for the camping and children’s outdoor market. His responsibilities include overseeing the design, development, testing, sourcing, compliance, production and quality assurance for both companies. He created and implemented processes that improved the flow of supply chain operations and negotiated favorable trade deals that significantly reduced costs and improved quality. Tom previously held senior positions at Exxel Outdoors and Columbia Sportswear. Tom received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh, studied international business strategy at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, and received his MBA from LMU. |
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Jen Bilik Jen is the owner and founder of Knock Knock, celebrated independent makers of clever gifts, books and whatever else they can think up. Drawing from her background in book editing, writing, graphic design, and various arts and crafts, Jen was initially motivated by creative inspiration: the desire to write and design at the same time, to create products that blended words and visual presentation, as well as to bring personality and distinct sensibility to the marketplace. Jen is passionate entrepreneur who speaks about the business side of Knock Knock as often as the creative side. Knock Knock goods are carried in some 6,000 stores across the United States, from independent boutiques to retailers including Barnes & Noble and Target, as well as in 45 countries around the globe. |
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William Borzage, MBA '03 William is a founding partner at Bryant Stibel, a firm which provides strategic, financial and operational support to entrepreneurs and their companies, with a focus on the convergence of technology, media and data, as well as sports and wellness. He also serves as the chief sales officer for the Emerging Businesses division of Dun & Bradstreet where he oversees sales, operations, and support across the U.S. and Canada. Prior to Dun & Bradstreet, William was the GM/SVP, marketing and lead generation for Web.com. He has been a serial entrepreneur in the digital marketing space since 1998. William holds a bachelor's degree in finance from California State University and an MBA from LMU. |
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Marianna Burchfield Marianna is a marketing executive with deep experience in brand strategy and innovation across diverse consumer lifestyle verticals. Over the past 15+ years, she led global initiatives at multinationals L’Oréal, Johnson & Johnson and Starbucks in the U.S. and Europe and helped emerging brands grow their footprint and consumer reach. She is passionate about working with entrepreneurs and in 2016 founded her brand & marketing consultancy, through which she advises start-ups in food & beverage, health & wellness, and beauty industries. Marianna holds an MBA from NYU Stern and a BBA from LMU. |
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Khary Cuffe Khary oversees all fiscal control functions, fundraising, corporate finance and financial strategy for SoLo Funds, the fastest growing FinTech company in Southern California. Prior to SoLo Funds, Khary was head of business development for Manscaped, taught business courses at LMU, and was a marketing executive at both Procter & Gamble and L’Oreal for over 12 years. Khary is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a B.A. in social studies and holds masters degrees business administration and public policy from the Harvard Business School and John F. Kennedy School of Government, respectively. |
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Dan Doster In business and in life, we are a summation of our relationships. Businesses, small and large, function and thrive by valuing and cherishing vital interactions. Dan has endeavored to live out this belief during his 30+ year career serving in pricing, marketing, sales and executive management roles (CEO, CFO, COO) for companies you've heard of (McKinsey & Co and GE Capital), and smaller ones you haven't. Dan holds degrees from Wabash College, Yale University and the University of Notre Dame. He authored “Relationships Matter, a Practical Business Guide”, co-authored Amazon bestseller “Driving MORE Sales, 12 Essential Elements," and hosts a podcast. To affirm his belief in the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship, Dan co-founded Paper Water Bottle, owns 17 issued patents, and regularly consults with clients promoting sustainability. |
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Terry Dry Terry is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, grown and re-invented companies with a 20+ year proven track record of success. As a business leader, he has led with integrity through key moments such as offers from PE and major VCs, to an acquisition by a public company, mergers, re-orgs, rapid growth, as well as consolidations. Terry is a pioneer and visionary regarding the future of consumer engagement marketing and the emerging media/technology space. He's enthusiastic about the future and optimistic about how innovations in technology and marketing can create benefits for people and contribute positively to the world we all share. |
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Lisa Farris Lisa is a market development executive, advisor and entrepreneur with experience ranging from music and entertainment to real estate and digital media. Her focus is on strategic marketing and leveraging technology in order to transform the way consumers and brands engage. Prior to becoming a serial entrepreneur, Lisa was SVP Strategic Marketing at Universal Music Group, CMO for Move Inc./ Realtor.com, and founder of Get This, a technology that shop-enabled entertainment via audio recognition. Lisa currently serves as Chief Digital Officer for the Recording Academy | GRAMMY's. She also volunteered for the LMU Save It Forward Financial Literacy Program. Lisa majored in marketing & economics at Rutgers University. |
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Andrew Fielding '17 Andrew is a Los Angeles-based startup founder, advisor and investor focusing primarily on healthcare and the B2B space. He most recently founded Orana, a medical data collection and prediction software company, and previously founded Shrewd Travel and SMSages, an early company in the push notifications space. In addition to his role as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at LMU, he serves as a mentor at both Bunker Labs and Quake Capital, and as a coach at Startup Weekend Los Angeles. Andrew is a proud graduate of LMU's Entrepreneurship Program and a founding board member of the university's SEEDS Business Accelerator. |
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Michael Gorodisher Michael is a New Yorker who has recently moved to LA with a passion for sales and building world-class sales teams. He currently serves as Head of Sales at Meltwater. Has spent 10+ years working for a SaaS business, helping them grow from a $40mil ARR business to $350m+. He has extensive experience working with small teams, launching new product lines & new divisions while also running teams of 50+ people. Michael is still very involved with day-to-day sales processes driving upstream sales methodology. |
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Bryson Ishii '09 Bryson is founder of Growth Factor Ventures Inc., a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm supporting the life science and technology sectors. He previously served as associate director of the Fred Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship at LMU. He also served as VP of operations for Rigo International. Bryson is an experienced business consultant for multiple small businesses and startups. He earned a B.S. in accounting and a B.B.A. in entrepreneurship from LMU. |
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Michael Joo Michael is an experienced medical device executive and entrepreneur. He held leadership roles in product development and marketing in a medical startup that successfully became a public company on NYSE (ticker: NVRO) and worked on emerging and new technologies at Boston Scientific. Prior to his career in medical devices, he held roles in finance at technology companies, including Yahoo! as a director of finance. He has a B.A. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. |
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Bruce Keiser Serial entrepreneur Bruce Keiser utilizes 35 years of diverse business experience and a large network of strategic and financial resources to help entrepreneurs build companies that make a difference to consumers, businesses and the world. Bruce is dedicated to helping innovative early growth-stage companies by providing early stage funding, mentoring and other means of support. Bruce founded and worked with a number of companies in diverse businesses including biotech, social & web commerce, education, clean tech, real estate and charitable productions. Bruce earned a JD from Loyola Law School and a bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University. |
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Justine Lassoff Justine Lassoff is passionate about making a difference both as a social entrepreneur and by supporting startups and entrepreneurs. She was selected as a Los Angeles Business Journal Women's Summit Finalist and named one of top 50 tech women by Digital LA. Justine cofounded LOVE GOODLY, called "the Green Sephora" by Forbes, a fast-growing women's subscription box for cruelty free and nontoxic beauty. She was cofounder and CEO of LovingEco, a flash sales site for sustainable beauty and fashion curated by tastemakers, that was acquired less than a year after launch by a public company. A Stanford graduate, she has 20+ years experience as a marketing executive and is active with nonprofits. |
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Donna Lee Donna is an entrepreneur in residence for K5 Ventures, an early stage venture fund. She is multi-talented and brings a breadth of experience to this role with broad legal, case management and executive experiences from white shoe international law firms and a Fortune 500 company. Prior to joining K5, she was the CEO and founder of an acquired startup that focused on enhancing the in-game experience. She successfully raised multiple up rounds of funding from across the U.S. She now helps K5 portfolio companies meet their milestones, price rounds and grow. Donna earned her B.A., LL.M. and J.D. degrees from Georgetown University. |
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Ed Lee Ed Lee is a pricing and go-to-market specialist and trusted adviser to leading companies and brands. He is the founder of HelloAdvisr, a Los Angeles-based growth consultancy helping companies and leadership teams build and implement profit growth strategies. Ed specializes in international and national marketing and pricing strategies, discount optimization, and salesforce management across retail/ecommerce, marketplace and platform businesses. Previously, Ed held leadership roles with LG Electronics and Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global management consulting firm and world's leading expert in pricing. Ed received an MBA from Oxford University, MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from the UC, San Diego. |
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Stephen Liu Stephen Liu is an award-winning social entrepreneur who has been highly successful at connecting people, companies and capital together to achieve outsized strategic results. Most recently, he launched a matchmaking app featured at TechCrunch Disrupt. He is also the founder of Privy Circle, a luxury lifestyle brand targeting transpacific affluentials. Prior, he led the turnaround of a China-based textile manufacturer in the apparel, promotional, sports, and uniform markets and sold it at an above-average multiple. His first startup was a Softbank-backed streaming video "Forbes Top B2B" digital marketplace for the film/tv industry. He's probably best known as the founder of APEX, a community service association of millennial professionals. Stephen received his MBA from USC. |
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Greg Lontok '01 Prior to joining the LMU faculty in 2019, Greg served as GlobalWide Media's vice president of data science, where he was instrumental in developing GlobalWide's proprietary technology, including data optimization, tracking and user retargeting. Before that, he served as vice president of engineering and information technology for Hi-Speed Media. He graduated from LMU with a B.S. in management information systems. |
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Mark Macedo '86, MBA '94 Mark is a principal at Geneva Street Partners. He most recently served as founding partner and COO of Hanover Financial, a leading private equity investment firm focused on real estate. He is responsible for identifying investment opportunities and managing company operations which include strategic planning, deal sourcing, structuring and negotiations, as well as overseeing due diligence and asset management operations. Mark previously served in leadership roles at Ares Management/Wrightwood and Heller Real Estate Financial Services. Mark holds a bachelor's degree in marketing and an MBA from LMU. |
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Brian Mac Mahon Brian has consulted and coached in over 35 countries bringing a global perspective to starting and growing a small business. He has been teaching the power of connecting in a community and the process of turning a pay it forward mindset into a revenue generator for years. Brian combines this teaching with the experience of working with thousands of small business over the years. Brian heads the Expert DOJO high-performance accelerator and has access to thousands of experts and mentors who will help any entrepreneur find what they need to pursue their small business dream. He has spoken all over the world about the most efficient ways to start, grow and expand any business. He is a vital partner for any small business team. |
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Mike Miller, MBA '85 Mike is the principal of Wild Horse Labs, an international advising and investment network based in Los Angeles. He is also an investor member of Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel investment group in the United States. Mike started his career in corporate America with the Bendix Corporation and Allied Signal. His next venture was management consulting, and his clients included organizations from pre-revenue start-ups to Fortune 100 public corporations. Mike also served as an adjunct professor in California Lutheran University's MBA Program and helped create CLU's first Entrepreneur Roundtable program. He earned a B.S. in industrial engineering from Lehigh University and his MBA from LMU. |
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Sara Morton Sara is the director of social media at AEG, the world's leading sports and live entertainment company. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing, with core competencies in media and technology. Sara collaborates with early-stage and growth-oriented firms on marketing strategy, execution, and measurement. She volunteers with nonprofits emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sara graduated with high honors from Smith College, where she held soccer goalkeeping records for most shutout halves in a season and career. |
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Logan Mulvey '08 Logan is vice president of customer success at STRIVR Labs Inc., a company that builds solutions for the world's greatest athletes, brand advertisers and multinational corporations. Logan's devotion to STRIVR's success follows years of innovation as a serial entrepreneur. He and his partner Jason Peterson launched their first company, GoDigital, in college and went on to launch six companies in total, five of which are still in business today. Logan graduated from LMU with a B.A. in communications and media studies and was ranked as a 'Top 35 Executive Under 35' by The Hollywood Reporter. |
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Mark Randall Mark has served in numerous executive leadership roles in the world's leading technology companies - Snap, Google, Amazon, Flex, Nokia and Katerra. He has more than 29 years of experience leading strategy, development, finance and operations at organizations across the technology sector. He has extensive experience with fast scaling startups with disruptive business models. Mark ran hardware for Snap Inc. and served as president and CEO of Katerra Inc. He's also worked at Motorola Mobility/Google, Amazon, Flex and Nokia. |
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Larry Ray Larry opened of his first health club at the age of 23. This health club concept was born in a college marketing class a few years earlier. Larry later drew on this experience to leverage his first multi-million-dollar loan to purchase a tennis barn; ultimately becoming one of the finest health clubs in the country. Larry is regarded in the health club industry as a visionary and programming pioneer. His early business success and national accolades were the launching pad for many other profitable business ventures, including a dozen restaurants, five more health clubs, a music management company based in Nashville, multiple real estate investments and developments, with more on the horizon. |
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Ron Rishagen Ron, a native of British Columbia, Canada, played ice hockey for Colorado College and graduated with a degree in economics. After retiring from sports, he started several entrepreneurial ventures in the travel industry. A desire to enter the world of education resulted in Ron teaching economics and business courses at St. Bernard High School in Los Angeles for 12 years. During his last year of teaching, he partnered with LMU's Entrepreneurship Program on a new entrepreneurship class. Ron lives in Playa Del Rey and volunteers as a docent on the USS Battleship Iowa berthed in San Pedro, acts as advisor to the Entrepreneurship Society at LMU, and instructor of the LMU Financial Literacy Program. He is married with two adult children. |
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Jon Roepke Jon Roepke is a creative and curious product innovator committed to helping people realize the full potential of technology. As director of product management, he leads the creation and fulfillment of Belkin's strategy to serve B2C markets and B2B verticals including Education, SMB, Corporate, Hospitality, Healthcare, Government, and Mass Market. Jon partners with end users to better understand the challenges they are facing and uses that knowledge to define and develop solutions that deliver the best technology experiences for their particular environment. Combined with his prior product leadership roles with General Electric and Electrolux, his product launches have netted over $6 billion globally. His favorite measurement is collecting high fives and hugs from end users who delight in using his products. |
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Bill Sanders '88 Bill Sanders spent the past 20 years working as a sales and marketing executive in the sports and entertainment industries. He began his career in motion picture sales at Trimark Pictures, eventually becoming VP of Theatrical Sales. After a short stint at LionsGate Pictures, Bill worked as VP of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at BDA Sports Management where he was considered one of the pioneers in "personal brand management", helping numerous NBA icons build and monetize their personal brands. Today, Bill serves as SVP of Athlete Marketing at Excel Sports Management, whose clients include Derek Jeter, Danica Patrick, Blake Griffin, Tiger Woods and Taylor Swift. Bill has spent the last 10 years teaching sports marketing at Loyola Marymount University and UCLA Anderson. He has co-founded several companies including The Shave of Beverly Hills, Playmaker Nutrition and Yao Family Wines. Bill earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science from LMU and an MBA from UCLA Anderson. |
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Mylen Yamamoto Mylen is founder of Cropsticks, an innovative chopstick with a built-in rest made from sustainable bamboo. Cropsticks was recently featured on ABC's "Shark Tank" and can be found at Roy's Restaurants, The District by Hannah An in Beverly Hills, MW, and Far Bar. In addition, she runs a talent management company called CliqueNow based in Los Angeles that helps to build the careers of popular YouTube celebrities. Mylen previously served as a clinical professor/associate director of the Fred Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship at LMU. A teacher at heart, Mylen enjoys mentoring entrepreneurs and has led workshops on brand development for YouTube, McDonald's, Hawaii International Film Festival, and Startup Weekend by Google. She earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in communications from Cal State Los Angeles. |
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Justin Yoshimura Justin is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is currently the CEO of CSC Generation, backed by China Science & Merchants Investment Group (China's 2nd largest PE fund), Khosla Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Maveron, and Quest Venture Partners. Prior to this, he was SVP at Merkle (acquired by Dentsu for ~$2B) via the acquisition of his company 500friends, a provider of SaaS loyalty marketing solutions backed by $12M+ from Crosslink Capital, Quest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, and YCombinator. Justin began his career when he dropped out of high school to found his first company, which was acquired when he was 19, after exceeding $10M in revenues. |
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Clive Zickel Clive is semi-retired and lives on the island of Culebra in the Caribbean where he and his wife operate a 5 star AirBnB island retreat. In addition to this, he will consider advisory work for young companies who have solutions to major social and economic problems. He was an international banking executive at JP Morgan Chase for 20 years in Milan, London and Manhattan before pursuing multiple entrepreneurial endeavors. Clive was an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University College of Business, and a clinical professor at Loyola Marymount University where he taught entrepreneurship, finance and international business. |
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John Zimmerman '96 John is an experienced entrepreneur, operator, angel investor and startup advisor. In 2008, he co-founded DataPop, where he was the COO responsible for all product management, engineering, R&D and technical operations. He led finance & planning and raised $16MM of venture capital before successfully selling the company to Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) in 2015. He has since held various executive roles at Criteo. Prior to DataPop, John held a variety of leadership roles at bellwether internet companies like Amazon.com, Overture and Yahoo. John also teaches a class on new product development called "The Internet of Things" at LMU. John holds a B.S. in biomechanics from LMU and an MBA from USC. |