Chi-Hua Chien
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Goodwater Capital
Chi-Hua Chien is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Goodwater Capital. Prior to co-founding Goodwater, Chi-Hua was a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Chi-Hua serves on the Board of Directors of Path, Tilt, Zaarly, and Zumper. He also invested or served on the Boards of Chegg (CHGG), Chill (acquired by Tinder), Inspirato, Karma Science (acquired by FB), Klout, Level Money (acquired by COF), Lithium, Massdrop, Spotify, and Twitter (TWTR). Previously, Chi-Hua was an Associate at Accel Partners, where he originated Accel’s investment in Facebook (FB). Chi-Hua was an early employee or co-founder of four startups including Coremetrics (acquired by IBM), where he led the marketing and inside sales teams, served as interim CFO, and was appointed to the Office of the President.
Chi-Hua fell in love with startups at Stanford University where he earned a BS in Industrial Engineering, a BA in Economics, an MS in Industrial Engineering, and an MBA. At Stanford he was named a Mayfield Fellow, President’s Scholar, and Arjay Miller Scholar. He enjoys staying close to the Stanford community and co-teaches an undergraduate Technology Entrepreneurship course at the Engineering School. Chi-Hua also serves on the board of charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Jeff Sandefer
Founder, Acton School of Business
Jeff Sandefer started his first business at age sixteen. After earning an MBA, he founded Sandefer Offshore, an oil and gas company that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits in less than five years. He then ran Sandefer Capital Partners, a half-billion dollar energy investment fund.
Over the last fifteen years, Sandefer has worked with entrepreneur-teachers to build a nationally acclaimed entrepreneurship program, winning numerous teaching honors in the process. But ask him about success, and he makes it clear that money and awards aren’t what matter.
“My great-grandfather found his calling as president of a small college and is buried on the campus he worked so hard to build. On one side of his tombstone it says: ‘If you would see his monument, look around.’ This reminds me each of us wants to contribute something meaningful with our lives. On the other side of the tombstone is inscribed, ‘A good name is rather to be had than great riches.’ This reminds me that leading a good life is even more important than what you contribute.”
“We want students who have the intelligence and drive to change the world, and the integrity to change it for the better. If we can awaken in each student a sense of their God-given gifts, and help them to use these gifts to make a difference, the Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship will change the world, one student at a time.”
Henry Kaestner
Managing Partner, Sovereign's Capital
Henry Kaestner is the Managing Partner at Sovereign's Capital as well as the Chairman, Co-Founder and previous CEO of Bandwidth.com, a company that together with his business partner, David Morken, he has grown from $0 to $200 million in revenue. The values of Bandwidth.com have always been: Faith, Family, Work and Fitness (in that order). Bandwidth.com was the 4th fastest growing privately held company in the country from 2003 through 2007, a position it achieved without acquisition or institutional funding. Prior to co-founding Bandwidth.com Mr. Kaestner founded Chapel Hill Brokers (a predecessor to ICAP Energy), an institutional energy derivatives broker that became the top ranked electricity broker in the country. Mr. Kaestner has also been involved in a number of ministry and philanthropic activities. He co-founded and serves as Chairman of the Board of DurhamCares, and sits on the Board of Visitors at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Central University School of Business. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Kimberley and their three sons.
Dr. Andres Panasiuk
President, Global Freedom Concepts
Dr. Andres Panasiuk is one of the most renowned Hispanic international leader and conference speaker in the United States and Latin America. As a writer, teacher and speaker, he reaches millions of people through his books, programs and conferences, which involve concepts related to consumer education, finances and interpersonal communication skills. In addition, he also is an expert in topics such as family, religion and society.
Dr. Panasiuk is President of Global Freedom Concepts and founder of El Instituto para la Cultura Financiera -The Institute for Financial Culture. These non-profit organizations continue to advance the vision of Dr. Larry Burkett, his mentor, and entrepreneur Howard Dayton, founder of Compass. These organizations are dedicated to do financial literacy, teaching solid and proven principles on handling money.
Andres is a prolific author. His books have been recommended by leading Latin American figures and have been either nominated or won international awards over hundreds of other works in the Western Hemisphere.
In 2000, his first book, ¿Como Llego a Fin de Mes?, won the "Original Language Book of the Year" Award in one of the most prominent international book fairs in the United States. His next five books have also been among the most popular financial books in Spanish.
His voice has become well known among the Latino community through his programs on radio and TV aired in more than 20 countries by hundreds of broadcasting stations. Many of his teachings and articles can also be found on the Internet and in a large amount of Spanish language publications.
Andres was the Administrator of one of the most important nonprofit broadcasting stations in the US with its headquarters located in Chicago. He also was deeply committed to serve the needy as a community leader for almost 10 years in one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city of Chicago.
Panasiuk has a degree in Communications, with a focus on Interpersonal and Group Communications. In the year 2000, he received a Doctorate in Divinity, honoris causa, in the Republic of India. He, his wife Rochelle and his three children live near the city of Atlanta.
Troy Carl
Vice President, Faith Comes By Hearing
Revolutionary initiatives and programs led by Troy Carl include the development of the 40-day MP3 Bible program called You've Got The Time, the BibleStick, the Military BibleStick, the Audio Bible Ambassador software system, and the Digital Bible Platform, which features API Scripture distribution in nearly 800 languages via radio broadcast, digital download, SMS, streaming, and its premier mobile app network Bible.is. This platform has reached over 100 million unique users in 246 countries in under 36 months. Troy brings a strategic understanding of how to employ Internet and mobile technology in the service of God’s kingdom. He manages diverse teams of professionals across multiple disciplines including, fundraising and development, marketing and communications as well as digital technologists. Troy has sought out and developed Bible engagement campaigns that use state-of-the-art tools to bring people closer to God. One of these Bible listening initiatives is You’ve Got The Time, which is designed to combat biblical illiteracy and raise awareness of the need for Audio Scripture outreach to the world’s poor and illiterate people. Since 2006, nearly seven million men, women, and children in over 16,000 churches from 140 denominations have participated. Troy was also the president and CEO at eStarNetwork, a telecommunications Internet company. He also served on the board of directors of Cognigen Networks Inc. (OTC:BB CGNW), a publicly traded Internet company with gross sales of more than $50 million a year. Prior to that, he was the senior vice president/director of sales for WorldConnect Communications Inc.
Mariam Varghese
Vice President of Research, One Hope
Mariam is Vice President of Organizational Development for OneHope. She immigrated to the United States from India at the age of ten with her family. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Master of Arts in Christianity and Culture as well as an MBA. As a Systems Engineer and Project Management Professional she accepted the role of Director of Administration for OneHope. In 2012 she transitioned to the role of VP of Research and Design and currently is VP of Organizational Development. She is passionate about God’s Word and seeing the next generation of children and youth come to know His Word and His power. She enjoys mission trips, writing, attempting to blog, painting, cooking, reading and spinning.
Genine Fallon
Executive Director, Ocean Accelerator
As executive director, Genine oversees all programming and fundraising, and works to build connections within the business and faith communities to fuel OCEAN’s mentoring and training opportunities.
She brings more than 15 years of experience in brand development, public relations, strategic project planning and philanthropy, including serving an executive role for one of the nation’s largest in-home marketing brands, where she also developed the company’s foundation to support women’s health.
Pastor Dave Kenney
Lead Pastor, International English Service, Indonesia
Dave Kenney serves as a missionary in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has lived in Jakarta for the last 20 years, along with his wife Gigi and daughter Isabel. His primary ministry is serving as lead pastor for International English Service (IES), an English speaking church in Jakarta that targets English speaking people from all different backgrounds.
Each weekend about 1,800 people attend one of the IES services in 3 different locations in Jakarta, a city of 15 million people. Through IES, the Kenneys are involved in missions all over Indonesia, working with orphanages, helping kids from poor families attend school on scholarships and many other kinds of ministry, including evangelistic outreaches in different parts of the country. IES also sponsors students who are training for the ministry in several Bible Schools in Indonesia and also young people from IES are training for ministry in schools and seminaries in different parts of the world.
Laura Slezinger
Partner, Venture Gained Legal
Laura is a startup attorney from Silicon Valley. She counsels entrepreneurs and early stage companies on intellectual property, advertising and internet law issues. She has a passion for the intersection of law, technology, and the creative, entrepreneurial spirit.
Laura has a heart for women and the unique challenges they face today. She was Managing Director of Girls in Tech, San Francisco from 2009-2014, where it was her pleasure to promote women’s innovative and entrepreneurial achievements in technology.
Some of her speaking engagements include: “Intellectual Property for Startups” at Stanford University Technology Ventures Program; “Women Entrepreneurs: Founders + Successful Brands” at Social Edge Summit; “Top Legal Mistakes Startups Make” at MobileMonday Silicon Valley; Keynote at Pitch Mixer Entrepreneur Forum; Guest Attorney on “This Week in Law” episode #142; and TedxConstitutionDrive.
Laura earned her B.A. from UC Berkeley; her J.D. from the University of San Diego, where she was Editor-in-Chief of Motions. She earned an LL.M. in Intellectual Property & Technology Law from the University of San Francisco, School of Law where she worked on the Intellectual Property Law Bulletin and participated in the IP & Internet Justice Clinic, advocating for students being sued by the RIAA.
Dave Travis
Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Network
Dave Travis is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Encouragement Officer of Leadership Network, leading a large field team that works with innovative churches and ministries across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Leadership Network helps innovative churches and leaders move from ideas to implementation to impact. It has helped to nurture the megachurch and other movements in American Christianity through its many programs over the last 30 years. Dave has been with the organization since 1995 and served in several roles there before assuming his current role in 2011.
Throughout his tenure at Leadership Network he has had the privilege of working with hundreds of pastors and leaders of large churches in the U.S. and Canada and is known as a trusted advisor to many of them.
Prior to joining Leadership Network he was a denominational leader, pastor, church staff member and even an engineer in addition to consulting with multiple congregations on issues of growth and development.
He is frequently consulted and quoted by major news outlets on the topic of Megachurches, American Christianity and Church Innovation. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, AP and other papers as well as appearing on CNN and NBC Nightly News.
He is the co-author of three books, Beyond the Box: Church Innovations that Work; Beyond Megachurch Myths: What Leaders can Learn from the Largest Churches; and What’s Next: A look over the hill for innovative churches and leaders.
Dave is a graduate of Georgia Tech and of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Lynne have two daughters, Stephanie and Claire and reside outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
He currently serves on the board of the Pastors Retreat network and is also a fellow in The Wodehouse Society and member of The Churchill Centre.
He twitters almost every day and you can follow him @davetravis.
Nnena Ukuku
Partner, Venture Gained Legal, CEO, Black Founder's Startup Ventures
Nnena is an attorney who works with early stage startups. Her focus has been on issues as diverse as formation to intellectual property. She works with them because, like her, they believe they can change their world and are passionate.
Nnena advises startups in a wide variety of matters regarding incorporation, initial founder and corporate documents, financing, copyright, and trademark. She also provides general business advice for our clients in areas such as setting up advisor agreements, privacy policies, and employment/contractor agreements within their company.
Her clients encompass a wide range of industries that are atypical such as construction technology and Bitcoin payment platforms to those that are more common such as social networking and fund formation.
She views the goal of her practice is to redefine what typical legal counsel is, which has been to provide just legal representation for her clients. She also constantly create new connections for our clients such as strategic partnerships, future employees or ways to finance their business.
She speaks frequently on matters from law to the startup ecosystem.
Nnena is also the CEO and co-founder of Black Founder's Startup Ventures LLC. Nnena founded Black Founders because she wants to see minorities and women thrive and not simply survive in Silicon Valley.
Chad Causey
Vice President of Global Ministries, OneHope
Chad Causey joined OneHope in 2001 after seven years of full-time youth ministry. For the past 10 years, he has served as the Vice President of Global Ministries and in more recent years has worked with his team in transitioning the ministry into an outcome-based ministry orientation, with the integration of market, program and outcome research in program design and evaluation. Chad is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Talbot School of Theology. He has previously served in the military, taught in school, worked in business, and pastored a local church. Chad has been married for 20 years to Jeannine, and is the proud father of four children: Abigail, Charles, Katherine and Caleb. The Causeys reside in Coconut Creek, Florida.
Kenneth Finsaas
Strategic Development, Thrivent Financial
Ken has worked within the technology space for a couple of decades. Along the way, he has held executive positions both in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, creating innovative and disruptive solutions for organizations of all sizes and shapes. Recently he was the Executive Director of the Table Project, a social media tool that helps churches create a more connected environment. Currently he is the Director of Strategic Development for Thrivent Financial, a not-for-profit Fortunate 300 organization dedicated to helping Christians be wise with money and live generously. He has three grown children and lived with his wife, Anne-Marie, in Plymouth, Minnesota.
Nils Smith
Innovation Pastor, Community Bible Church, San Antonio
Nils Smith lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and 2 daughters while serving as the Innovation Pastor at Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas. For years Nils has been an early adopter of new technologies as a ministry leader and has become a leading voice to the church in pioneering new ministry initiatives as an author, speaker, and consultant. Nils helped launch the ministry of OnlineChurch.com which helps gather more than 12,000 worshipers online weekly from more than 150 different countries around the world.
