Highnote Foundry Announces Executive Leadership Council
July 07 2015 - 7:05AM
Business Wire
New venture development firm taps accomplished
industry leaders to help build and scale startups in transforming
industries, including healthcare, wealth management,
media/entertainment and education
Highnote Foundry, a venture development firm, today announced an
Executive Leadership Council that will support Highnote Foundry in
building new companies in transforming industries, such as
healthcare, wealth management, media/entertainment, and education.
The nine council members are all industry pioneers who have led and
transformed leading global corporations.
“The members of our Executive Leadership Council recognize the
massive disruption happening across a number of industries and want
to participate,” said Chirag Patel, managing partner of Highnote
Foundry. “We are excited to have their experience, perspective and
leadership to help ensure the success of our companies.”
The Executive Leadership Council is comprised of industry
leaders that collectively bring many years of business experience
to help drive tomorrow’s transformational companies. "These
individuals are all exceptional and highly accomplished business
executives. There is no better way for these great leaders to bring
their collective wisdom and experience to bear than collaborating
with Highnote," said Marv Berenblum, Executive Chairman of the
Executive Leadership Council.
The Executive Leadership Council includes:
- Andrew Prozes. Andrew is the
former global CEO of LexisNexis Group. He served on the Board of
Directors of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV, parent
entities to LexisNexis, until his retirement from LexisNexis Group.
Previously he was EVP and COO at Thomson Reuters Legal. Andrew
serves on the boards of many public and private companies including
Transunion, Cott Corporation, ACAMS, Ethoca, Asset International,
Interactive Data Corp (IDC), Scribestar, and Synaptive.
- Barry Rand. Barry is the former
CEO of AARP. He was chairman and CEO of Equitant, Inc. and chairman
and CEO of Avis Group Holdings. He currently serves on the Board of
Directors of Agilent Technologies and Campbell Soup. Barry also
spent 13 years as a member of Howard University’s Board of Trustees
and served as Chairman for 8 of those years. He began his career
with Xerox, where he held a number of executive positions,
including EVP of Worldwide Operations.
- Jeffrey Lynford. Jeffrey is
co-founder of the Wellsford group of public and private real estate
companies and has served as chairman of three exchange-listed
corporations. He is currently a Commissioner of The Port Authority
of New York & New Jersey. He has served as an independent
director on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards, including New
York University (NYU) and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton
University. Earlier in his career, he held a number of senior
investment banking positions on Wall Street.
- Jonathan Klein. Jon is former
president of CNN/US and is currently CEO of Tapp Media. He led CNN
to the network’s highest ratings ever and has won every major
broadcast honor, including multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and
DuPont-Columbia awards. Previously, Jon was the founder and CEO of
The FeedRoom - a pioneering online video aggregation business.
Earlier in his career, he was an EVP at CBS News where he oversaw
programs including “60 Minutes” and “48 Hours”.
- Gretchen G. Teichgraeber.
Gretchen is the CEO of Leadership Directories, Inc., a premier
information services company. She currently serves on the Board of
Directors of Forrester Research, Inc. Previously, she was the CEO
of Scientific American, Inc. Gretchen also held senior roles at CMP
Media, Inc., a leading provider of technology news and information,
the New York Times, and Time Warner.
- Marv Berenblum. Marv is
Executive Chairman of the Highnote Foundry Executive Leadership
Council. Marv was the Chairman and CEO of the National Executive
Service Corps and served as Area Managing Partner for the Northeast
region of Heidrick & Stuggles. Prior to that, he served as SVP
of Knight Ridder and was SVP and on the Board of Directors of
Continental Grain Company.
- Robert E. Evanson. Bob is the
former president of McGraw-Hill Education and on retirement was an
advisor to companies including Apax Partners, Inc., and The
Parthenon Group. He previously held various posts at Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, as well as at Sea World Theme Parks where he was
Chairman and CEO. Bob held senior financial positions at Harper
& Row, Conrail, and Amtrak and was a Partner at Arthur Andersen
& Co.
- Robert Selander. Bob was the CEO
of MasterCard Incorporated and MasterCard International, and held
several senior positions at Citicorp/Citibank N.A. He currently
serves on the Boards of Directors of Western Union Company and
Fidelity Equity and High Income. Bob also served on the Board of
Directors of MasterCard Incorporated, MasterCard International and
the Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
- Vin Cipolla. Vin is a former
president and CEO with Fidelity Capital. He is an entrepreneur and
civic leader noted for his contributions in both the private and
public sectors. Vin is the founder of six companies, spanning
marketing, information technology and media, and he is an
eight-time corporate CEO. Among his nonprofit leadership, he served
as the head of the National Park Foundation, and is the founder of
the Committee for Urban Entrepreneurship (CUE-NYC).
Highnote Foundry builds, operates and funds new businesses in
partnership with entrepreneurs, Global 1000 companies and strategic
partners. The Executive Leadership Council will participate in
these activities in an integral way by supporting Highnote
Foundry’s work in identifying venture partners, building
businesses, and finding ways for established corporations to
achieve new growth potential in partnership with start-ups. The
management teams of each Highnote Foundry company will benefit from
the advice, wisdom, mentorship, and immeasurable knowledge and
experience of these exceptional business leaders.
The new Executive Leadership Council members were selected
specifically to support industries being transformed by the
Consumerization Effect:
- Healthcare. The Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Acts and dramatic changes in
technology are radically changing the industry by providing
consumers with more choice and transparency - ultimately leading to
new business models for providers and payers.
- Wealth Management. High fees and
low returns, combined with an unprecedented transfer of wealth, are
putting pressure on existing business models. This younger,
self-directed, digitally-savvy, mobile-first client base demands
radically different solutions. The days of old people managing old
money are over.
- Education. The economic and
academic model of education in the US is under intense pressure. By
almost every measure, our young students are behind the rest of the
developed world. Our college students have taken on more than $1.2
trillion in debt. We've reached a tipping point. Unprecedented
educational choices and the opportunity to bypass traditional
institutions altogether is causing incumbents to seek out new
business models.
- Media & Entertainment. Media
is no longer imposed by large monoliths; it's a constellation of
services, devices, and interactivity dictated by consumers. We now
live in a world where pictures, text, video, audio, graphics,
search, and social all blend into a single, highly-personalized
experience. The era of distinct channels is over.
“Our mission to build and launch disruptive new businesses in
these industries will be greatly enhanced by the hands-on
contribution of these remarkable executives. The Highnote Foundry
team and all of our current portfolio companies are excited to
begin working with the members of the Executive Leadership
Council,” said Bob Howe, managing partner of Highnote Foundry.
For more information about Highnote Foundry and the Executive
Leadership Council, visit www.highnotefoundry.com/ELC
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Highnote FoundryRuth Davis,
973-479-1372rdavis@highnotefoundry.com