Paul Brunson – EMCEE
Paul Brunson is an entrepreneur, TV host, and one of the world’s most successful matchmakers. A former investment banker and business executive with an MBA from Georgetown University, he is the first African American matchmaker, and founder of the PCB Agency, a leading matchmaking firm that has created over 100 marriages. His best-selling book entitled: It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have to Be), was optioned this year by Sony Pictures to bring both his book and Paul’s personal story to the big screen. Paul also hosts the nationally syndicated TV show Our World with Black Enterprise and serves as a contributor to Good Morning America and Nightline.
Cheryl Dorsey
Cheryl Dorsey is a pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement, and the President of Echoing Green, a global organization seeding and unleashing next-generation talent to solve the world’s biggest problems. An accomplished leader and entrepreneur, she has served in two presidential administrations as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor; Special Assistant to the Director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Labor Department; and currently Vice Chair for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.
Aaron Gillum
Aaron Gillum is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Caerus Investment Partners. He has over ten years of experience in tech start-ups and strategy and turnaround, and restructuring consulting to Fortune 500 and middle market companies. A recipient of the 2011 Turnaround Managements Association’s, Turnaround of the Year and M&A Advisor’s 2012 Top 40 Under 40: Aaron assists portfolio companies with strategic planning, sales and marketing strategy.
Aaron Holiday
Aaron HolidayCo-founder and partner of 645 Ventures, is an experienced early stage investor and technologist. He has been instrumental in pioneering Cornell Tech’s Studio Culture as the first Managing Entrepreneurial Officer and he worked directly with Managing Directors at Gotham Ventures. Aaron also spent 6 years building advanced equity trading software at Goldman Sachs and derivative systems at GFI Group. Aaron received a BS in Computer Science from Morehouse College and an MBA from Cornell University.
Tony Monk
Tony Monk is the Senior Partner of The Monk Group at Morgan Stanley. The Monk Group is a High Net Worth Wealth Management Practice based in Dallas and New Orleans. The Monk Group specializes in providing comprehensive wealth management and planning solutions for wealthy individuals and families. They also provide Institutional Investment consulting for charitable endowments and other nonprofit organizations, as well as providing Corporate retirement plans for Corporations and Governmental Organizations. Mr. Monk has over 20 years of experience within the financial services industry
Charles Rice
Charles Rice has served as President and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, Inc., a $750 million electric and gas utility, since June 2010. After his first legal private practice position in Louisiana with Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, L.L.P, Rice joined Entergy in 2000 as senior counsel and then served as manager of labor relations litigation support. Rice joined New Orleans city government in 2002 as the city attorney and later served as chief administrative officer for the City of New Orleans. Rice holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Howard University, a Juris Doctorate from Loyola University’s School of Law and an MBA from Tulane University.