Company

Executive Chair

Elizabeth Hutt Pollard

Expertise: Bringing highly specialized products to market and scaling businesses

Elizabeth has extensive experience in commercializing highly specialized genomic and healthcare-related products. She is a C-Suite veteran and has extensive experience bringing to market highly specialized technology and solutions for healthcare. She currently serves as a strategic advisor to several early-stage life science companies and holds leadership positions in YPO, the premier leadership organization of chief executives in the world. Prior to joining Applied Silver, Elizabeth was CEO of NuGEN Technologies, a global leader in genomic sample preparation products enabling scientists and clinicians to discover genetic signatures and predict disease risk and drug response, potentially shortening the path to treatment. Elizabeth has also held US and International management roles with Tripos, Affymetrix, and Life Technologies, during significant growth phases of these life science businesses. Elizabeth spent three years as a research associate at the University of Michigan in the Departments of Hematology/Oncology, where she made the decision to have a broader impact on medical research by transitioning into a career within the commercial biotechnology sector. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Michigan State University and an M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan University.

Technology Co-Founder

Sean Morham

Expertise: Identifying market needs and addressing them with novel technology 

Sean is the co-founder, Board Member and Applied Silver’s innovation leader. Sean manages the engineering, manufacturing and regulatory activities to drive innovation and product strategy. Sean is a co-inventor of Applied Silver’s SilvaClean® technology and has multiple patents to his name. In April 2018, under Sean’s leadership, the company received a ground-breaking EPA product label for SilvaClean, making it the first and only antimicrobial residual laundry additive to receive public health claims including recommended use as a helpful addition to hospitals’ infection control programs. Sean is a member of the Silver Task Force North America (STFNA), an industry-wide association created to jointly develop data to support registration review under section 3(g) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. He has expertise in materials engineering, regulatory applications and product evolution. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering.

Strategic Sports Advisor

Daniel Fells

Expertise: Sports Market Development and Public Relations

Daniel Fells is a former professional football player who played for the Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and New York Giants over the course of his 10-year NFL career. He played collegiately for the UC Davis Aggies. In October 2015, while a member of the New York Giants, Fells was treated for a chronic ankle condition that was later discovered to be a MRSA infection. Fells endured ten surgeries to rid himself of the infection before retiring from the NFL. Fells is an advocate for education and spends time speaking to children and young adults. He also advocates for the humane treatment of animals, lending his time to groups like the ASPCA and Humane Society.

Strategic Healthcare Advisor

Sue Barnes

Expertise: National infection prevention thought leader and policy specialist
Sue Barnes, RN, BSN, CIC is a National Infection Prevention Consultant and previously was the National Program Leader for Infection Prevention and Control for Kaiser Permanente’s 7 regions, 35 hospitals and 431 medical offices since 1989. She is Board certified in Infection Control and Prevention and is a nationally recognized figure in the field of infection prevention. In 2013 she established a national Corporate Director’s group and coordinates meetings and communication among the members. Sue participated in the development of the APIC Guide to Elimination of CRBSI, APIC Guide to the Elimination of Infections in Hemodialysis, and APIC Training Program for Infection Prevention in Ambulatory Care. She is the author of the KP HAI Prevention Plus Measures toolkit and is a subject matter expert consultant on HAIs. Speaking engagements have included the AORN Congress 2013, APIC Conference 2012, 2013, Decennial Conference 2012, numerous local, national APIC and national KP web presentations. Presentation topics have included SSI (surgical site infection) prevention, CDI (Clostridium difficile) prevention, IP mentoring, Scope reprocessing, Hand Hygiene, Vascular Access and CLABSI (central line associated bloodstream infection) prevention, simulation as a method of teaching infection prevention principles. In addition Sue has been published in journals including AORN Journal, American Journal of Infection Control, The Joint Commission Source for Compliance Strategies and The Permanente Journal. She served on the National APIC Board of Directors from 2010 to 2012, and was selected to represent APIC on the TAP (technical advisory panel) of the National Quality Forum (NQF) on Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and the NQF ESRD Steering Committee. She is currently (2014 – 2015) is President of the SFBA APIC chapter and Secretary for the California APIC Coordinating Council.

Board Member

James Copeland

Expertise: Creating and investing in new opportunities for social good

He is a longtime resident, community leader, and philanthropist of San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast of California. Jim began his entrepreneurial career in cooperation with his brother, by taking a single retail outlet in San Luis Obispo and building it into a 36-store sporting goods chain spanning four states. After selling the company, Jim’s attention turned to Copeland Properties, a major Central Coast commercial real estate development company. Jim’s commitment to the Central Coast extends beyond real estate into efforts aimed at improving the quality of life in the community, including projects such as the Cal Poly performing arts center, theatres, restaurants, and museums. Jim has served on the Dignity Health owned French Hospital Medical Center Community Board for over 10 years including as Chairman. A new Cardiac Care Center and Health Education Pavilion bear his name. The Pavilion is a joint effort with Cal Poly University to provide real-world exposure to students studying in medical-related fields.

Chief Operations Officer

Priya Balachandran

Expertise: Developing and commercializing innovative products and microbiology

Priya is Applied Silver’s operational leader. Under this role, she oversees all of Applied Silver’s operations including Marketing, Product, Customer Service, Field Service, Manufacturing, IT and HR.  She directly manages corporate and product marketing, customer collaborations and KOLs. Dr. Balachandran is an accomplished health technology executive with experience in commercializing disruptive innovations impacting outcomes in healthcare, biopharmaceuticals, sports medicine, and consumer products. She has expertise in brand management, product management, business development, product marketing, regulatory affairs, and global market development and product development in molecular diagnostics, microbiology, and antimicrobials. Priya is a successful researcher with peer-reviewed publications and patents and Is an active member of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Disease Society of America. She serves on advisory boards for early stage companies. Prior to Applied Silver, Dr. Balachandran held leadership positions at NuGEN Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and scientific and business roles at Life Technologies. Dr. Balachandran received her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco.

Strategic Sports Advisor

Ronnie Lott

Expertise: Mission-Driven Sports Strategy and Thought Leadership

Ronnie Lott is a businessman, philanthropist, former professional football player and member of the Pro Football, College Football, and USC Athletics Hall of Fame. Lott attended the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a degree in Public Administration. He helped the Trojans win a National Championship and was named a consensus All-American safety in his senior year. He was selected eighth overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1981 NFL Draft. Over the course of his 14-year NFL career, he excelled as a cornerback, free safety and strong safety and concluded his playing career as a 4x Super Bowl champion, 10x Pro Bowl selection, 8x First-Team All-Pro, and 2x league interceptions leader. Lott’s post-NFL pursuits, particularly as a private equity investor, led USA Today to call him “one of the most successful athletes at making the transition to business.” He first co-founded HRJ Capital, an investment management platform, serving as managing partner until the company’s acquisition. He later founded Lott Auto Ventures, which currently operates a number of car dealerships in California. In addition to being a member of Applied Silver’s Athlete Advisory Council, Lott is on the advisory board of GSV Advisors, Saama Technologies, Inc. and Eight Partners. He is a consultant for TVU Networks and H. Barton Asset Management group. His foundation All Stars Helping Kids seeks to disrupt the cycle of poverty and encourage innovation by seed funding startup nonprofits in the Bay Area.

Business Development

Shelley Machens

Expertise: Accelerating market penetration for novel products
Shelley is Applied Silver’s business development leader.  She manages Applied Silver’s commercial activities including channel partnerships and direct sales outside healthcare.  Shelley has extensive experience in introducing innovative products into the infection prevention space.  She is well-versed in navigating complex sales cycles for novel technologies to achieve accelerated customer adoption and high revenue growth. Prior to Applied Silver, Shelley led Client Services at Aerobiotix and sales leadership positions at a number of companies including Abbott Laboratories and Xenex Disinfection Services. Shelley has a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MBA from Lindenwood University.

Board Member

Leopold Selker

Expertise: Developing healthcare administration best practices and policy
Leo is a Research Scholar in Residence at Cal Poly and former President of the NorthShore University Health System Research Institute, the nation’s ninth largest comprehensive hospital-based research program (NIH Funding). Prior to NorthShore, he was Dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has held over 50 national-level appointments and is a recognized authority on aging-related health policy, health promotion and disease prevention, and gerontology. A former Scholar in Residence at the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Leo has served as a member of its Committee on Health Promotion and Disability Prevention and the NAS/NRC Planning Committee on the National Information Infrastructure in Healthcare. He has held consultative appointments with numerous foundations including the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Kellogg Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Hartford Foundation. He received his MS from Duke University, Graduate Diploma (IGS) at Stockholm University, PhD from Texas A&M University, and MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management.

Board Member

Trygve Mikkelsen

Expertise: Healthcare-focused finance and management

Trygve is the founder and General Partner of T+T Holdings, LLC, a private investment company focused on private equity and hedge fund investments. He has served as the Chairman of Amkai, LLC and a Director of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Slate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Diabetica Solutions Inc. Prior to founding T+T Holdings, Trygve was a Managing Director with Citigroup (2004-2007), Deutsche Bank (1999-2002), and Credit Suisse First Boston (1987-1999). His specialty as an investment banker was M&A advisory, primarily with a focus on health care. In addition to his advisory responsibilities, he has held several management positions including Head of US Healthcare at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was also appointed to the Investment Banking Management Committee. Prior to investment banking, Trygve worked for McKinsey & Co. in Scandinavia. Trygve graduated cum laude with a BS from University of Utah, where he was an All-American skier, and he received an MBA with Honors from Columbia University.

Sports Ambassador

Ian Williams

Expertise: Sports Marketing and Public Relations

Ian Williams is a current NBC Bay Area Sports analyst and former professional football player who spent all five seasons of his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame and received a BFA in Film/Cinema/Video Studies. Williams suffered from two ankle fractures while playing in the NFL. Bacterial infections complicated his recovery, required multiple surgeries to eradicate, and ultimately ended his NFL career. He was selected to lead the Applied Silver Athlete Advisory Council and Sports Investor Syndicate in March of 2019.

Board Member

Mark Neaman

Expertise: Healthcare Business Strategy
Mark Neaman is a transformative and visionary healthcare executive who built the NorthShore University Health System (NorthShore) into a $2Bn world-class healthcare system and a leader in innovation and excellence in patient care locally and nationally.  At NorthShore, Mark drove a quarter century of continuous growth (9% CAGR) and profitability by setting his focus on driving results and producing true value for all stakeholders.  He led NorthShore’s electronic medical record system and related technology as well as its Teaching Hospital to national pre-eminence – NorthShore is a 19-time winner of America’s Top Teaching Hospitals Award (the most in the country).  During his 26-year tenure as CEO, Mark oversaw NorthShore’s development into a pre-eminent, integrated healthcare delivery system with 10,000 employees, 4 acute-care hospitals, a 1,000-physician multi-specialty Medical Group practice, 100 ambulatory care centers, and a $100M translational Research Institute.  Mark also serves as a board member of several firms, including healthcare systems, tech startups, and private equity firms.

Strategic Healthcare Advisor

J. Trees Ritter

Expertise: Nationally recognized infectious disease and infection prevention specialist
Trees is a board-certified physician specializing in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine. He is the managing partner of Central Coast Infectious Diseases Consultants where he assists other physicians daily with challenging and complicated cases of patient infection. Trees is the Medical Director of the Infection Control Programs for five California Central Coast Hospitals (Sierra Vista Medical Center, Twin Cities Medical Center, Marian Medical Center, Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, and French Hospital Medical Center). He is trained and certified as a Hospital Epidemiologist by the CDC and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. In this role, he has oversight of the infection control programs at these 5 institutions and works closely with and provides guidance to other physicians, nursing staff, administrators, and infection control professionals. Trees also serves as the chairman of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Clinical Affairs Committee where he oversees a team that sets policy and assists members with many aspects of the clinical practice of Infectious Diseases. He is a Cal Poly Bio Science graduate where he later did graduate work prior to obtaining his medical degree from Western University of Health Sciences. Trees completed his Residency at Highland Hospital/UCSF and his subsequent training in Infectious Diseases at UC Davis in Sacramento, California.

Business Operations

Joyce Wang

Expertise: HR, finance and office administration

Joyce serves as Applied Silver’s HR and administrative leader. In her role, she serves a cross-function roll for managing all administrative needs of the company including executive support, human resources, accounting, facility management, document control, sales and marketing support, and purchasing & procurement. Joyce has a diverse professional background serving multiple industries. Prior to join Applied Silver, she held management positions in the consumer product, hospitality, interior design, and luxury retail industries. Joyce received her MBA from St. Mary’s College of California.

Product Design

Austin Carey

Expertise: Product Design & Mechanical Engineering

Austin is Applied Silver’s lead Design Engineer.  In his role, Austin is responsible for the design, testing, and execution of all product development activities including hardware and software systems for industrial and consumer applications.  Austin works closely with Sales, Marketing, Regulatory and Legal/Intellectual Property to determine customer needs and requirements for new product development.  Austin also works closely with the Technical Support Team to ensure customer success in the field and the Manufacturing Team to ensure product quality.  He joined the engineering team at Applied Silver in 2015 after graduating from Stanford University with a B.S. Mechanical Engineering.  Outside of Applied Silver, Austin is very passionate about sports & the outdoors.  Austin played Rugby for several years both at Stanford and for the Olympic Club in SF, and spends most of his free time camping or hiking.

Board Member

Richard DeSchutter

Expertise: Providing operational oversight
A native of Detroit, Dick has been Chairman of the Board of Incyte Corporation since 2004. He was also a director of Ecolab, Inc. from February 2004 until May 2010 and a director of Varian, Inc. from 2001 until its acquisition by Agilent Technologies, Inc. in May 2010. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, from July 2000 to October 2001. He served as Chief Administrative Officer of Pharmacia Corporation between April 2000 and July 2000. From January 1999 through March 2000, Dick served as Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer of Monsanto Company, which he joined as a Process Design Engineer in 1964. He served as Chief Executive Officer of G.D. Searle & Co. from April 1995 to December 1998. He has also served as a Director of ING Group NV, General Binding Corp, Reliastar Insurance, Smith and Nephew pic and the MedPointe Company. Dick is also a director of several privately held companies. He holds a B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona and completed the Executive Management program at Columbia Business School.

Systems Integration

Brandon Chadwell

Expertise: Systems design and engineering

Brandon is Applied Silver’s lead Systems design and testing engineer.  He is responsible for integrating hardware and software product requirements, execution and testing of product prototypes and streamlining the transfer into manufacturing.  Brandon comes with deep knowledge in developing commercially ready product configurations, cross-product integrations, engineering-manufacturing interface, database systems integration, systems, and board designs, compliance testing, and board firmware and diagnostics.  Prior to Applied Silver, Brandon has held principal engineer positions at Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Intel. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a degree in engineering technology with a specialization in electronics.  Brandon is an avid traveler and spends his free time exploring different parts of the world.

Strategic Business Advisor

Dave Whorton

Investor and Advisor

In 2006, Dave founded Tugboat Ventures to invest in very early stage software and technology companies led by talented entrepreneurs and actively support them through their entire business lifecycle. Prior, Dave co-founded four companies including drugstore.com and Good Technology. He also invested at TPG Ventures and KPCB—working closely with Amazon, Google, Successfactors, and others in their earliest days. His career began with HP and Bain. Dave has a BS Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and MBA from Stanford GSB.

Field Service

Michael Walker

Expertise: Engineering

Walker is an ex-Marine who served in the military for 4 years. He attended DeVry University in Chicago, earning a degree in Electrical Engineering. He went on to work with Applied Materials in Santa Clara, CA, gaining the opportunity to do field work. Since then, Walker has worked for companies such as Pacific Scientific Instruments, Dage Precision Industries, Cellomics/ThermoFisher and ProteinSimple, all as a field service engineer/supervisor. He’s well traveled, and spends his free time vacationing with family and friends, camping and hosting gatherings around the barbecue.

Marketing

Seth Donrovich

Expertise: EPA-registered Technologies, Product Development, and Marketing Analytics

Seth is Applied Silver’s marketing manager. His responsibilities include designing and executing marketing campaigns, measuring KPIs for marketing initiatives, and supporting sales and business development. Seth has experience in the marketing and commercialization of early-stage aquatic technologies and is skilled at designing programs to maximize customer value. He holds a category F (Aquatics) California Department of Pesticide Regulation Qualified Applicator License (QAL) and is knowledgeable on the use and management of EPA registered products. In his most recent role, Seth served as the product manager for an aquatic biopesticide and was responsible for marketing, sales, and project management. Using his industry expertise, he advised executive level management on strategies for developing the company’s aquatic pesticide portfolio. Seth earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in Ecology and Nature Conservation from the Czech University of Life Sciences, where he published award-winning research on the topic of aquatic species management and conservation. Seth is currently an MBA candidate at the University of California Davis, specializing in business analytics and marketing.

Strategic Hospitality Advisor

Debbie Shepard

Expertise: Hospitality & Tourism

Debbie assists Applied Silver in building relationships, driving revenue and creating strategic partnerships after a 25+ year career in the recruiting and hotel sales, operations and international tourism industries representing brands such as Hilton Worldwide, Caesars Entertainment, and Tourism Toronto.

Her background spans multi-property and multi-branded luxury, full service, boutique, resort, convention, gaming, extended stay and select service hotel brands. She draws upon her experience in multiple sectors within the hospitality and tourism industry including on-property and above property global group sales, BTS, account and revenue management, operations, marketing, and international destination (CVB/DMO) sales.

She’s currently the Managing Director behind Shepard Consulting, an ultra-niche search firm specializing in the Hotel/Tourism/Events and Electric Utility industries.

When she’s not focused on building relationships, Debbie enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Customer Success

Jim Lake

Expertise: Customer Success, Equipment Management

Jim is Applied Silver’s Head of Customer Integration and Success.  He oversees program management of SilvaClean system installations, field service and customer success.  He also serves as a technical sales liasion supporting Business Development.  Jim spent over three decades climbing the ranks of the equipment department with the former St. Louis, now Los Angeles Rams. Having overseen all aspects of equipment, uniforms, apparel, and protective gear to create an environment of optimal performance and safety, Jim is a deft problem-solver in high pressure, quick turnaround situations. He’s a detail-oriented project manager and highly skilled in finding creative solutions and creating efficiency. Most recently, Jim oversaw NCAA and NFL sales for GameBreaker, a producer of soft shell protective gear for athletes of all ages across all sports.

Strategic Laundry Advisor

Frank Dargavage

Expertise: Commercial Laundry Operational Leadership
Frank is an executive with extensive achievements in the chemical and medical industries.   He has expertise in laundry chemistry industry R and D pipeline. He is a Vice President at Angelica Corporation with focus on strengthening customer relationships and supporting commercial growth in the western United States.  Prior to that, Frank served a key role as Vice President, Sales and Channel Partners at Applied Silver, cementing the relationship between Applied Silver, Medline Industries and Angelica to drive product adoption in healthcare.  With a diverse background, including sales, operations, service, and supply chain management, he has a strong history of multi-dimensional achievements.  Frank is a Pennsylvania State University graduate with a B.S in Mineral Economics.

Strategic Business Advisor

Scott McNealy

Expertise: Thought Leader on Technology Business Scalability and Strategic Development

Scott was a founder of Sun Microsystems in 1982 and assumed the role of CEO in 1984. In its first six years, Sun grew to over one billion dollars in annual revenue, attaining the status of the fastest growing company in the US from 1985-1989 and in 1995, it was voted one of the 100 best-managed companies in the US. In 2006, with revenues at $14 billion and nearly 38,000 employees, Scott relinquished the CEO title. Mr. McNealy continues to advise Fortune 500 companies and is Chairman of the B2B social networking company, Wayin. He has served on the boards of major multinational companies such as General Electric. Scott holds a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford.

Strategic Technology Advisor

Dr. Greg Lowry

Expertise: Developing next generation materials and environmental processes

Greg is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT). Greg conducts multidisciplinary laboratory and field research in the emerging field of environmental nanotechnology. His work is aimed at understanding how a nanomaterial’s properties affect their reactivity and fate in the environment, and how these properties map onto their potential for exposure risk. He also exploits the novel properties of nanomaterials to develop new technologies for environmental remediation. Greg teaches courses on physicochemical processes of organic chemicals in aquatic systems, environmental engineering, and environmental nanotechnology. He currently serves on the National Research Council committee to develop a federal research strategy for environmental health and safety research for engineered nano materials. He earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Strategic Marketing Advisor

Josh McQueen

Expertise: Developing and positioning global brands  

Josh McQueen is the founder of McQueen, Mackin & Associates and the author of “Building Brand Trust: Discovering the Insights Behind Great Brands.” He served as the Executive Vice President and Director of Research and Planning Worldwide for agency powerhouse Leo Burnett, leading one of the largest agency planning, research and database teams. He later was a member of the private Worldwide Board of Leo Burnett, until it was acquired by Publicis, a publicly traded company. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Interactive Advertising and is a member of the board of Allendale Residential Homes for disadvantaged children. He was an Advertising Research Foundation Board member from 1988-1998, and a trustee with the Marketing Science Institute from 1986-1996. He is currently on the College of Media Leadership Council at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Strategic Sports Advisor

David Joyner

Expertise: Sports Medicine Strategy
Dr. Joyner has served as a physician, leading sports health executive, and decorated athlete. He joined Baptist Health Care in 2015, and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the orthopedic service line, including sports medicine, physician alignment, strategic business partnerships and affiliations, branding and recruitment.  Dr. Joyner is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with a sports medicine emphasis. He is a former chairman and senior member of the United States Olympic Committee sports medicine team and, most recently, was the athletic director for Penn State University and a member of the Penn State University Board of Trustees.  Dr. Joyner is a two-sport All-American and was captain of the football and wrestling teams at Penn State. He also is an Academic All-American at Penn State. Dr. Joyner earned his medical degree from the Penn State College of Medicine and served residencies in general and orthopedic surgery at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

Strategic Sports Advisor

Joanne Pasternack

Expertise: Professional Sports Industry Strategic and Market Development

Joanne Pasternack is a dynamic and visionary philanthropic impact strategist who, over the past two decades, has galvanized community engagement with internationally recognized brands including the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, ServiceNow, City of Mountain View, and Special Olympics. As the President + Chief Impact Officer (CImO) of Oliver+Rose, she works with professional athletes, legends, entertainers, philanthropists, corporate executives and high net worth individuals to amplify their impact to inspire change around their areas of passion, commitment and expertise. Joanne is also the Executive Director of the Golden Heart Fund, serving 49ers alumni who are in need of financial, medical, physiological or emotional support. Joanne lead philanthropic efforts for NBA and NFL franchises for 12 seasons, most recently as Vice President of Community Relations for the Golden State Warriors and Executive Director of the Warriors Community Foundation. At the Warriors, Joanne increased the Foundation’s charitable fundraising by 110%, to $9.2M; developed framework for the largest corporate/professional sports team charitable partnership activation to date (Kaiser Permanente’s $295M Generation Thrive program); oversaw 300+ events; opened basketball courts; and amplified CSR engagement with partners such as JPMorgan Chase, Rakuten, Verizon, Pottery Barn and Oracle. Under her leadership, the back-to-back NBA Champions completed two NBA Finals Legacy Projects and received the San Francisco Business Times 2018 Beyond the Check Award. In September 2018, Joanne was named one of 35 women in SportsBusiness Journal/Daily’s “Game Changers: Class of 2018.” She also supported NBA All-Star Kevin Durant’s successful bids for the 2018 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award and NBA Community Assist Award and facilitated the social justice awareness programming in Washington, DC following the Warriors’ 2017 NBA Championship. Previously, Joanne was the Vice President and Executive Director of Community Relations and 49ers Foundation for the San Francisco 49ers, creating and managing high visibility philanthropic partnerships. Under her leadership, the 49ers were ESPN’s 2017 Humanitarian Team of the Year, Beyond Sport’s 2015 Sport Team of the Year and received the 2013 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Sports Philanthropy. In October 2016, Joanne was one of 200 delegates at the “Sport in the Service of Humanity” convening hosted by Pope Francis at The Vatican. She also launched a $4M partnership with Chevron to create the ground-breaking 49ers STEM Leadership Institute. Joanne played a pivotal role in augmenting engagements with Levi’s®, Intel, BNY Mellon, Optum/UnitedHealthcare, United Airlines, Dignity Health, and boutique vintners. At ServiceNow, Joanne served as Head of Global Impact – a newly created role where she developed and launched a global corporate social responsibility portfolio for the $10B cloud computing company. She created a purpose-driven portfolio, positioning ServiceNow as a global innovator in high-impact social responsibility programming through the company’s first corporate advised fund, matching grant and volunteer time-off programs; branding and marketing, and programming around developing opportunities for marginalized populations in an AI-centered future. Joanne holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, JD from Santa Clara University, and completed the Executives in Non-Profit Leadership program at Stanford GSB. She is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown, the University of San Francisco, and John’s Hopkins. Joanne resides in San Jose with her husband, Robert Bardin, of the San Jose Earthquakes, and her children, Kira (12) and Reid (10). She is on the boards of Special Olympics, the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, Figure Skating in Harlem, Wender Weis Foundation for Children and Ubuntu Football Academy. A retired competitive figure skater and passionate advocate for girls, women and gender parity, she speaks regularly on a variety of topics, including raising awareness for younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Strategic Hospitality Advisor

Frank Belzer

Expertise: Hospitality strategic sales

As the SVP of Portfolio Sales at Universal Parks and Resorts, Frank oversees all domestic and international sales strategies for all four current and soon-to-be five theme park destinations. This oversight includes managing all trade partner relationships, development of unique programs for youth, military and other specialized groups, supervision of the call center, the hotels and the Universal Parks and Vacations Travel Company. The international sales and marketing offices in London, São Paulo and Mexico City are an exciting part of his responsibility and he oversees partner relationships, PR efforts, marketing campaigns and more as the international markets continue to be an integral part of the parks’ strategy. Frank sits on the Board of Directors for Visit Florida and he is chair of the marketing council. He is part of the IPW planning committee formed by US Travel and sits on the Advisory Round Tables for Brand USA.

Prior to joining Universal, Frank was the VP of Corporate Training at Kurlan and Associates and as such had developed and trained some progressive and fast growth companies in the technology, biotech and media space. He’s worked within the inbound marketing community and worked as a sales advisor to Hubspot partners and resellers. The fastest growing company since Salesforce, it was primarily this work that led to his book Sales Shift – how inbound marketing has turned sales upside down making it more difficult and more lucrative at the same time. He was also a featured speaker at conferences and trade shows around the world speaking about the changing face of sales and has continued to translate these messages to travel and tourism in his role with Universal. He has been a featured speaker at World Travel Market, Tourismo Cancun, AEX São Paulo, Travel Leaders Edge Conference Las Vegas and Jornada Orlando to name a few.

Strategic Hospitality Advisor

Thomas Klein