Speaker

Marie Berry

CEO, Co-Founder, Kara

Marie Berry is a startup founder, angel investor and business strategist. Since arriving in the US in 2015 Marie has launched herself into the martech sector, built two companies, and established herself as an entrepreneur to watch in the New York startup and marketing scene. She is currently focused on growing her company Kara, an enterprise SaaS platform that delivers brand-perfect marketing assets at scale. Prior to founding her companies, Marie has built business units for brands like Adidas, Chanel and Ford in Europe, Asia and North America, including spearheading digital operations for Chanel in China and setting up Ford’s brand communications teams across 14 markets in Asia Pacific. Originally from Bolivia, Marie was raised in Germany, received a Triple Master’s Degree in International Business from ESCP Europe, has lived in 6 countries and speaks 5 languages fluently.

Speaker

Brandon Barton

CEO, Bite Kiosk

Brandon Barton is a leader in hospitality technology, having served the restaurant industry for nearly 2 decades. After getting his “masters degree” in Enlightened Hospitality at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, Brandon found a way to blend his love for hospitality and innovation via the world of hospitality technology. As Bite’s CEO, Brandon is leading the industry’s most exciting self-service, AI-driven ordering platform, working with Quick Service Restaurant and Fast Casual Restaurant partners such as Chick Fil A, Veggie Grill, and By Chloe.

Prior to Bite, Brandon was the first non-tech hire at Resy, a restaurant reservations platform that disrupted Opentable. As Head of Sales, Brandon led the sales and operations team for the company’s first 3.5 years prior to its acquisition by American Express in Spring 2019. Brandon has also held leadership roles at Avero, an industry leading business intelligence platform for restaurants, and Local Bushel, an online farmers market, which was acquired by Hudson Valley Harvest in 2019. Brandon holds a BS from Cornell University’s School of Hospitality, where he also played Varsity Basketball. When not advising restaurant leaders on how to use technology to better their operations, Brandon is home in Brooklyn with his wife and two children, either cooking a great meal or teaching his 2 year old son how to shoot a jump shot.

Speaker

Joanna Dai

Founder & CEO, Dai

Joanna Dai is the founder and CEO of innovative womenswear brand, Dai. Dai is tailored performance wear for the modern woman at the intersection of eco-certified technical fabrics, elegant tailoring and minimal, functional design. The brand is committed to sustainability and social impact that empowers women. Since launch in 2017, Dai has been on a tremendous growth trajectory, and a pioneer in sustainable materials innovation and tech-enabled fit optimization. Joanna is a US expat based in London and was previously an investment banker for 8 years at J.P. Morgan in New York and London. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and hails from Southern California which could explain her obsession with comfort and ease

Speaker

Johnny Hill

President, The Grey Dog

Equal parts entrepreneur and operational-investor, Johnny Hill is the President of The Grey Dog – a group of beloved NYC-based all-day cafes serving new takes on American classics with something for everyone. The Grey Dog has been the neighborhood’s best friend since 1996, and with a growth plan that calls to take the brand from four locations in NYC to every major college-town and metropolitan market across the country, while also obtaining B-Corp certification, The Grey Dog is committed to sharing its love of community and using business as a force for good wherever it goes. Leveraging his unique mix of private equity and operational expertise developed at L Catterton and Tacombi, and a desire to take a more socially conscious approach to business and brand building, Johnny is able to dig deep to find early stage brands with massive market potential to deliver outsized returns while positively impacting communities, people and the environment. In 2018, Johnny led an investment in The Grey Dog, executing much of the same playbook he developed at Tacombi, where here he successfully scaled an early-stage restaurant concept into a category leading, high-growth hospitality brand. Since closing on the initial investment in The Grey Dog, Johnny has been largely focused on optimizing the business, assembling the Senior Management Team and refreshing the brand for new audiences. The Grey Dog is now turning to growth mode and will be opening two NYC locations in 2020 with plans to enter its first college-town market in 2021.

Speaker

Ranga Jaywardena

Co-Founder, Beam Health

Co-Founder & external face of Beam, the first medical marketplace with an inherent telemedicine capability. We’re helping physicians connect with patients via HD video consults on our HIPAA compliant mobile app. Beam is building Earth’s largest healthcare store. We have a two-sided marketplace where medical practices and healthcare providers can connect with patients via HIPAA-compliant video consultations. Beam provides a telemedicine mobile app, marketing services to acquire patients for our network of providers and billing services (insurance & cash). Beam will win by owning the largest distribution network in healthcare; one that contains hospital systems, private practices and telemedicine practices that compete with each other, all in one centralized telemedicine marketplace. We have three main revenue streams: $10 per consult, $70 per new patient acquired & B2B sales directly with employers, TPAs, insurance plans, pharma companies and data aggregators.

Award winning National Sales Trainer & Sales Manager @ Bristol Myers-Squibb, helped launch $5BN brand, trained 400+ sales managers, sold to 300+ doctors
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranga-jayawardena-56884046/