• Thursday, February 16, 2006

Loans, grants, angel investments, or venture capital - if you're thinking of any of these as a way to fund your business, this LAUNCH seminar is for you. Our panel of experts will discuss the different ways to fund the start-up and growth of a company, including which option suits your stage/type of business, how to position your company to receive funding, and what the panelists look when they are funding ventures.

PANELISTS:

Mark Collantes is the CEO/President of PilotHedge Corporation based in Chicago; and a member of DePaul's Blue Angel Network. PilotHedge specializes in hedging for companies with commodity and currency exposure. He began his career as a trader during college. His experience includes equities, options and futures, on and off the floor in the American and overnight European Eurex markets. He has a series 7, 63 and 55.

As a consultant, he has served in several capacities. He was a competitive analyst to CK and Associates, a firm that dealt reverse rollups during the early 1990's. He led the small business development team for Bootcamp Fitness. He created quantitative trading strategies LOLA LLC, an options market-making firm, and wrote a transition and evaluation guide for Spike LLC. Presently he works with Tilebase Incorporated out of Tucson, Arizona and Pilot Investors in Russellville, Arkansas.

Mark holds a Masters in Science in Financial Markets and Trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jason Jacobsohn is the director of the Small Business Development Center and a business advisor at the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Jason is an entrepreneurial business professional with cross-functional expertise in consulting, research, strategy, relationship management, due diligence, and financial and business analysis. Jason has performed consulting assignments for emerging growth firms by helping entrepreneurs with strategic plans, raising capital, and competitive analysis. Prior to CEC, Jason was a senior business analyst with the National Association of Realtors, an associate with Vcapital, a financial analyst with Equity Office Properties, and a senior consultant with Realogic Analytics.

In addition to Jason's professional experience, he is a seasoned networker believes relationship building as a key component to entrepreneurs success. Jason currently serves as the president of the DePaul Entrepreneurs Association (DEA) and sits on the board of the DePaul Business & Technology Alumni Network. Further, Jason writes the networking column, "Tech Connect" for ePrairie.com, the Midwest's number one technology business publication. Lastly, Jason received his MBA from DePaul University and BBA in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Darrin Bacon is the Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking at Royal American Bank, and manages the bank's Naperville Branch.

MODERATOR:

Kevin Gross is currently president of two firms, KMG Consulting; which specializes in outsourced sales and marketing management solutions for emerging enterprises; and Opportunityfinder Marketing, which designs, cultivates, educates and maintains referral networks on behalf of its client companies. He is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and directed two multi-million dollar training and technology companies, as well as served as director of sales and marketing for 3 others.

Kevin was a University Scholar at Northern Illinois University (BS, Finance); and received his MBA in Entrepreneurship from DePaul University, where he was "Graduate of the Year". He is familiar with all stages of start-up, growth, restructuring, and harvest. He has taken his own ideas, and those of his clients through all stages of growth. He has proven expertise in finance, legal, management, operations, technology, personnel, marketing and business strategy and analysis; all areas critical to any business' success.

Kevin's talents and achievements have been highlighted in numerous print publications and TV and radio broadcasts including; Entrepreneur Magazine, Workforce Magazine, Success, HR Direct, CLTV and The Chicago Tribune. Kevin is dedicated to supporting and fostering entrepreneurs through his business and philanthropic efforts. He is a frequent guest speaker at DePaul, at entrepreneurship organizations like C.E.O., and at various Chicago-based business resource groups. He has been an active member of the Chicago chapter of Y.E.O. International, served on the board of The Center for Creativity and Leadership, and the Sales Advisory Board of Northern Illinois University.