Baltimore Innovation Week 2018

Mark is the Founder/CEO of IsItGood, the social community and personalized recommendation platform for podcasts. IsItGood was 1 of 7 companies selected to the Accelerate Baltimore 2018 cohort and was awarded the program's grand prize of $125,000 in seed capital in June 2018. As part of the management team of his last local startup, Parking Panda, he led the company from zero to $30M+ AGR, 40+ employees, 2+ million paying customers, $11M+ in venture capital raised, and successfully acquired in 2017. Mark has a JD/MBA from the University of Baltimore and a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Corinne Militello advises on trademarks and copyrights, advertising, and internet issues, as well as on privacy and data security matters relating to the collection, use, sharing, and safeguarding of data, including information of consumers, patients, and employees. Corinne advises on all aspects of brand protection—from trademark clearance through registration and enforcement, domain name strategy and protection, and license and settlement agreements. She advises both creators and users of copyrightable works on copyright ownership, registration, enforcement, licensing, and related contract negotiation and drafting. She also counsels clients on conducting IP audits and due diligence investigations, and has represented clients in copyright litigation matters. Corinne's privacy and data security practice is focused on managing risks by developing privacy policies and procedures and establishing training and compliance programs. She advises on regulatory inquiries and investigations as well as breach investigations and response.

Brandon joined Slalom Consulting in Philadelphia from AstraZeneca, where he worked globally with its risk management teams to build solutions that would perform analytics on the organization’s data to assist in identifying and managing risk. In his role, he combined his extensive knowledge of the regulations that Life Science companies faced along with his skills in data analytics to focus on building out a data strategy, collecting user requirements, designing and developing data models and visualizations, and deploying the solutions.

Brandon is a part of the Data Visualization team within Slalom’s Data and Analytics practice where he works with clients to help them gain valuable insights through the development of data analytics strategies and implementation of those strategies by connecting to various data sources, building data models and designing data visualization dashboards.

Claire Pillsbury is Deputy Director for the Global Innovation Forum, a nonprofit that connects startups with corporations and governments to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace in the digital age. Claire joined GIF after receiving her M.A. in International Trade and Economic Diplomacy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

Boris Vishnevsky joined Slalom Consulting in Philadelphia from IBM, where he led business transformation initiatives and translated complex business requirements into actionable systems. His focus was on execution of strategic go-to-market initiatives, cyber security and hybrid cloud projects for Fortune 100, Big Four, and Management Consulting Companies.

Boris is leading Cyber Security within Slalom’s Technology Enablement practice in Philadelphia with focus on designing and building innovative solutions that deliver new, differentiating and long-lasting value to Slalom’s clients. He will partner with Slalom cyber security teams from other markets to grow Philadelphia-based cyber security practices and to increase market awareness of Slalom’s cyber security capabilities.

Boris is a Board member of Cloud Security Alliance Delaware Valley (CSA-DV) , where shares his experience and often presents at cloud security conferences and events.

Gabriel is a digital tech evangelist, community builder, and people connector. He is also the co-founder of AudioStaq, a publishing and monetization platform for podcasters. Gabriel is a contributor to Technically Baltimore and former Editor in Chief at BaltimoreGamer.com

Delali Dzirasa is the founder and President of Fearless, a digital services firm based out of Baltimore, MD with a mission to create software with a soul: innovative products that power the things that matter. The designers and developers at Fearless work closely with customers to build sleek custom products that meet individual needs and maximize user potential. Delali’s passion for entrepreneurship and outreach is reflected in Fearless’ devotion to customer support. Delali graduated with a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2004 and has over a decade of experience leading agile software teams and programs. 
 Delali strives to make a difference in technology and in his surrounding community. He serves as a Board Member on the UMBC Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Visiting Committee as well as the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. He chaired the inaugural DevOpsDays Baltimore and is a founding member and current actor on the governing board of the Digital Services Coalition. He is passionate about increasing the rate of city youth heading into STEM fields and works closely with Dent Education and Code in Schools to provide funding and mentorship programs, as well as other education initiatives.

Delali currently lives Baltimore City with his family and when he isn’t busy running Fearless (rarely), he enjoys working out and hanging out with friends and loved ones. He can be reached at ddzirasa@fearless.tech.

Johns Hopkins University Professor James E. West has over 250 patents to his name. He is best known for his work at Bell Labs and  his invention of the electret microphone. Ninety percent of microphones produced annually are his, and can be found in everyday items such as your cellphone. West was inducted into The National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999 for the invention of the electret microphone. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a Fellow, and past President, of the Acoustical Society of America, and a Fellow of the IEEE. West was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2006 by President George W. Bush, and is also the proud recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Engineering. In addition to his scientific contributions, West has also served as an advocate for greater diversity in STEM fields serving on the board of countless philanthropic organizations including The Ingenuity Project. Jim is currently working with a local startup, Sonavi Labs, on developing a life- changing smart digital stethoscope with machine-learning algorithms to diagnose respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.