Tracey Welson-Rossman
Tracey is the founder of TechGirlz. She is also a founding member of, and Chief Marketing Officer for, Chariot Solutions, a Philadelphia-based Java and open source software development and consulting firm. Tracey has created the branding and marketing strategy for Chariot, helping it to grow from 10 employees in 2002 to 50. She is also responsible for managing the strategic planning process, as well as spearheading Chariot’s sales efforts.
After graduating from Drexel, Tracey started her career in retail management and advertising sales. She learned about lead development, marketing, and distribution in these roles, but what she really learned was that she’s an entrepreneur at heart. In 1996, Tracey bought a New Jersey-based child transportation company called KangaKab. In 1999, with revenues at $2.5 million and having started a branch in Pennsylvania, Tracey sold KangaKab. As the director of sales & marketing for accounting software provider Skylight Systems, Tracey developed and executed marketing and channel efforts around one of the first-ever hosted accounting products. This program supplemented the existing sales of RFS, Skylight’s server based flagship product. It was very early on for the web-hosted software concept, but several firms began to use this product for their clients.
Tracey is also the founder and current chair of the Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference, (ETE), which is held in Philadelphia each year. ETE attracts world-renowned thought leaders in cutting-edge technologies and serves as a community forum for regional technology companies. Tracey is one of the founding board members of Philadelphia Startup Leaders, a regional organization dedicated to growing technology startup businesses (www.phillystartupleaders.org).
Anita Garimella
Anita Garimella Andrews is a senior Internet and software product management executive with almost 15 years e-commerce experience – most recently she was VP, E-commerce at Nutrisystem. She has expertise in building B-to-B and B-to-C platforms, social gaming and viral metrics optimization, search and advertising, user experience design, online marketing, and social networks. She currently is CEO of Sepiida, an Internet marketing optimization and product management services company, whose clients include Zynga Games Network, Haymarket Media, Coveroo, and Real WaterSports.
Anita holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. She earned her B.A. from New York University majoring in Politics with a minor in Mathematics. She is a member of the Mayor Nutter’s Digital Philadelphia task force and also on the Board of the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE). She teaches product management and online marketing internationally.
Neelan Choksi
Neelan Choksi is the President and COO of Tasktop Technologies where he manages sales, marketing and business development for a open source infrastructure software company.
Neelan has extensive technology management experience and recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of Lexcycle, the company behind Stanza, which became the most popular ebook reader for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Lexcycle was acquired by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in 2009. Prior to Lexcycle, Neelan served as the COO of SpringSource, the venture backed open source infrastructure software company behind the Spring Framework. SpringSource was acquired by VMware (NYSE: VMW) in 2009. Before joining SpringSource, Neelan served as co-founder and President of SolarMetric, a leading object relational mapping provider, which was acquired by BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) in 2005. At BEA, Neelan was instrumental in the open sourcing of the acclaimed object/relational mapping tool Kodo as OpenJPA. Prior to SolarMetric, Neelan worked for Andersen Consulting Strategic Services (NYSE: ACN) and Exxon Research & Engineering (NYSE: XOM).
Neelan is a graduate of MIT (and was part of the often-publicized MIT Blackjack team) and holds graduate degrees from Stevens Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
Steven R. Rossman
Steve began practicing public accounting in 1988. Currently, Steve is a Shareholder at Drucker and Scaccetti, P.C. (www.taxwarriors.com), where he performs tax services, as well as business and financial planning for individuals and closely held businesses. He frequently works with clients in the real estate industry and in the legal profession, including both law firms and individual attorneys. In addition, Steve manages the mortgage division, D&S Mortgage Programs, Inc. (www.dsmortgages.com)
Steve is very active in community service. He is currently the VP of
Finance for the Terri Lynn Lokoff Childcare Foundation. Previously,
he has been on the board, and served as treasurer for the Theatre
Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition, Steve has volunteered
for Habitat for Humanity and MANNA.
Steve majored in accounting at Drexel University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He also received a Master of Science degree in Taxation from Philadelphia University. He is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.