Entrepreneur Society
ADVISORY BOARD
The Entrepreneur Society is fortunate to have an outstanding team of regional professionals serving as advisors and mentors. The Advisory Board consists of business leaders and entrepreneurs who have experience growing and managing their own companies and who represent a cross-section of different industries, including venture capital, finance, the non-profit sector, consulting, and academia.
Dan Bassett
Venture Partner
InnoCal Venture Partners
Dan Bassett is a graduate of SDSU with a bachelor's degree in finance. Mr. Bassett joined InnoCal in December, 1999. Mr. Bassett brings to InnoCal more than 9 years of strategic and financial advisory experience focused on emerging growth technology companies. Immediately prior to InnoCal, Mr. Bassett founded Imperial Bank's (now Comerica) venture leasing group, providing -leasing services to Imperial Bank clients nationwide including Multilink Technology Corp, X:Drive, and Dot Wireless. Before Imperial Bank, Mr. Bassett was a co-founder of Truxton Financial, an equipment leasing company that was acquired by FirstCorp of Portland Oregon. Mr. Bassett stayed with FirstCorp for five years after the acquisition. He managed the company's Southern California venture leasing division, providing services to many successful emerging growth companies, including EarthLink Networks, CommQuest Technologies, GeoCities, Ipivot, and Stamps.com. He is active in the Southern California technology community and currently serves as a board member of the Orange Coast Venture Group.
Arthur Friedman
Dr. Arthur D. Friedman combines extensive experience in both academic and business worlds in the areas of computer science & computer engineering. He was the chairman of the department of electrical engineering & computer science at George Washington University for four years. He is currently professor emeritus at George Washington University and is also a visiting professor at UCSD.
Dr. Friedman co-founded a publishing company of computer science & engineering books and served as its chairman and CFO as well as editor-in-chief for fourteen years. For the past 6 years, he has been a general partner of a family limited partnership, which invests in hedge funds as well as private equity fund
Barbara Friedman
Barbara Friedman is an active investor in private equity funds, hedge funds and venture capital funds. She is vice president of ABF Enterprises Inc. She co-founded and was president and CEO of Computer Science Press Inc., a technical publishing company specializing in cutting edge text and reference books in computer science and electrical engineering.
Nepi Ilgaz
Director of Entrepreneur Services
Test Country Inc
Nepi Ilgaz received a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Management and Entrepreneurship from San Diego State University. Before moving to San Diego, Ms. Ilgaz worked at Deloitte & Touché in Turkey for several years. There she gained experience in auditing multiple engagements and providing expertise to domestic and international clients including General Motors, Microsoft, and P&G. While in San Diego, Ms. Ilgaz has gained extensive experience in business and entrepreneurship. While pursuing her MBA, she worked at Timeline Ventures conducting due diligence and valuation analysis. She also worked at the Entrepreneurial Management Center, assisting students and entrepreneurs with business related issues. Ms. Ilgaz worked as a business consultant at Alitum following her graduation. There she assisted high-tech early stage companies with business planning and their funding process. Prior to receiving her master’s degree, Ms. Ilgaz earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Bosphorus University, a top ranked business school in Turkey.
Tony Medrano
General Manager
Inflow
Tony Medrano is an experienced software entrepreneur and executive. He joined Inflow, a $50M application hosting and business continuance and IT services company, as its General Manager in 2004. He currently manages Inflow's San Diego Data Center and its Sales and Operations teams which serve clients throughout California like Kintera, Profitline and AMN Healthcare. Prior to joining Inflow, Tony was President of SEED Enterprise LLC where he worked as an interim executive focusing on high growth, turnaround and buyout/spinout opportunities with technology services companies such as SAIC and 3E Company. At 3E he developed the company's growth strategy which led to a $25M MBO in 2002 and led the implementation of rapid revenue growth with a large national sales team, and at SAIC he led the strategic efforts surrounding a hardware spinout.
Previously, Tony co-founded and served as President of DoDots, Inc., a business-to-business software infrastructure company in Silicon Valley. Tony grew the company to over 120 employees and 50 paying customers. Tony also initiated, negotiated and closed numerous public company customers to revenue generating licensing contracts, even before product release. He personally raised over $25M in venture capital and managed all company efforts on all day-to-day operational and strategic sales & alliances matters. He is a recognized expert in entrepreneurship and operations for VC funded companies, and for the past 4 years has co-taught Stanford Graduate School of Business class titled "Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital." He was named one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" in 2000 by Hispanic Business Magazine, and one of the top 30 Up-and-Coming Entrepreneurs in 2000 by Silicon Valley Magazine. Mr. Medrano has a BA from Harvard, an MA from Columbia, and an MBA and JD from Stanford.
Brigand Kline
Young Alumni Advisor
Financial Services of Southern California
Brigand Kline received his BS in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, and graduated from SDSU with his MBA emphasis in Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Management. Upon graduation from USNA in 1995 he served aboard the USS Vincennes (CG 49) as the Damage Control Assistant. Following his overseas tour in Japan, he was stationed on the Coastal Patrol Craft, USS Zephyr (PC 8), in 1998 as the Executive Officer. He completed his military commitment in 2001 and began working with Financial Services of Southern California as a business and personal financial advisor.
We are always looking to add to our Advisory Board. If you are interested in serving as an advisor, please email us at es@rohan.sdsu.edu.
