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Kevin Kaiser: Hedgeye Risk Management Managing Director

Kevin Kaiser studied at Princeton University from 2006 to 2010 and earned a BA in Economics. He then began working from Hedgeye Risk Management LLC as an Analyst in November 2010 and is now Managing Director.

Kevin shot to prominence in the business and finance world when he made negative calls on two major stocks. In 2013, he reported on Linn Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company concluding that the company was overvalued and might encounter difficulties in its proposed merger with Berry Petroleum. He subsequently told his client to short the stock. The company’s stock price dropped before recovering.

In the latter part of 2013, his report on Kinder Morgan, the third largest energy company in North America also caused the company’s share price to drop. He emailed clients to advising them to short the stock. He published a full report stating that the company was overvalued. That it was not spending enough on maintenance or misclassifying money which is being really spent on maintenance. Which meant the company either had poorly maintained pipelines or the company was overstating its cash flow, in short the company was overvalued.

At that time only 26 years of age Kevin was able to rock two companies worth billions of dollars. Not everyone has done that.

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Adam Lowy: Move For Hunger Founder & Executive Directory

Adam Lowy studied Business and Marketing  at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University from 2004 to 2008. His work experience includes being Account Coordinator for GMR Marketing. His work involved day-to-day management of the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championship Golf Program. Other projects include the Mercedes-Benz National Final, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and the Masters.

What has caught the attention of many is his founding of Move For Hunger which has been established to help strengthen the efforts of the country’s food banks at the community level.  As pointed out by Forbes magazine, Move For Hunger is the first and only non-profit that works with the relocation industry to support local food banks. The organization mobilizes moving companies to collect unopened, non-perishable items during the move and delivers them to the banks. It is estimated that the organization moved more than 2.4 million pounds of food in the US — enough to feed 2 million.

Adam is a native of New Jersey, if you’re wondering why he was able to come up with this novel idea, it has to do with the fact that his family has owned a moving company in New Jersey for more than 90 years. He saw first hand how much food was wasted when people move and decided to do something about it. In his free time he often goes to the beach or jamming at the piano with friends.

The organization paints a compelling situation of hunger in the US which is supposed to be one of the most prosperous countries in the planet. There are 50 million Americans struggling to find the next meal. While we often think of the homeless man on the street as the face of hunger, there are millions living in America struggling to feed their families.

During the school year, the schools can help children who are hungry, during summer, the food banks feel most of the pressure. Fortunately it is also the time when people like to move. This gives Move For Hunger the opportunity rescue food from people’s homes that would have been thrown away and get it to the local food banks who really need them.

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Adam Kell: FlameStower Co-Founder

Adam Kell earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Design and Design and Innovation in Society with GPA’s of 3.90 and 3.78 respectively from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society) member. Adam studied at the institute from 2006 to 2009. Since September 2011, he has been pursuing a Master of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

Adam’s work experience includes being a Research Assistant at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, Denmark. He worked there from January 2008 until May 2008 focusing on corrosion of metals in a molten salt environment where he analyzed and examined the corrosive resistant properties of nickel-based alloys of Inconel.

He was a Mechanical Engineering/Process Design Intern at Paper Battery Company, Inc., in Troy, New York. Adam worked there from September 2009 until December 2009. He then worked as a Process Engineer at Twins Creeks Technologies, Inc. in San Jose, California from April 2010 to October 2012.

Adam gained national attention when he developed and commercialized a USB charger for consumer electronics, powered by waste heat from any open flame. To achieve this he co-founded FlameStower, Inc. in May 2012. The company is based in East Palo Alto, California.

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Jemima Kirke: Artist And Actress

While her main goal in life is to be an artist, Jemima Kirke has also been successful as an artist. This hasn’t changed her outlook of being an artist first and foremost.

Jemima Kirke was born on April 26, 1985 in London, England. Born to English parents, she was actually raised in New York City. Her father, Simon Kirke, was the former drummer of the rock bands Bad Company and Free. Her mother, Lorraine (nee Dellal) Kirke, owns Germinola, a vintage boutique in New York City. The store supplied various outfits for the television series, Sex and the City.

Jemima as a student majored in art and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. She held an exhibition titled, “A Brief History” through Skylight Projects in late 2011. Jemima considers herself an artist first and foremost. She is more famous though for being an actress. She became an actress because some friends asked her to do roles which she accepted.

Her film debut was in the short indie film Smile for the Camera. As a favor for her friend Lena Dunham, she made her feature-length debut in the independent film, Tiny Furniture (2010). She became friends with Lena while they were both studying at Saint Ann’s School in New York City.

Since there wasn’t enough money to pay for professional actors Lena asked a favor from Jemima and other friends to play the roles. The film turned out to be profitable, although Jemima never received payment. Then next she played Jessa Johansson, in another of her friend Lena’s project, Girls, which has become an HBO hit series.

In the season finale of the first season of Girls, her character Jessa wore a wedding dress from her mother’s Geminola store.

Jemima is married to Michael Mosberg who is a lawyer. They live in Brooklyn and East Hampton. The couple has two children daughter Rafaella Israel who was born in 2010 and son Memphis Kirke who was born in 2012.

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Gregory Kimball: Caskers Vice President For Marketing & Public Relations

Gregory Kimball studied at the University of Connecticut. He was a Writer & Producer at the University of Connecticut Television Station from September 2007 to May 2009. Among other jobs he was also an Analyst at American Express from November 2009 until February 2011. While there he worked on various independent projects and supported two Vice Presidents and did market research and analysis as well.

Greg was an Interactive Marketing Consultant at L’Oreal from December 2010 until January 2012. In this role he created and implemented digital strategy across websites.  He co-founded and was CEO of Crowdscore Labs from July 2011 until April 2012. He was Assistant Marketing Manager - Digital for L’Oreal from December 2011 until March 2013. Greg was Manager for Corporate Communications at L’Oreal from March 2013 until November 2013. In this role he launched the company’s first mobile intranet as well as developed and wrote all strategic corporate content for website among other initiatives. He then headed Digital Strategy and Communications at L’Oreal where he created the first Digital Strategy for the company.

In March 2014, Greg joined Caskers as Vice President for Marketing and Public relations. Caskers is an online site that sells rare, hard-to-find craft spirits.

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Carolyn Penner: Head of Comms & Marketing at Vine

Carolyn Penner holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University, studying there from 2003 to 2007. She worked at Google and was Associate for Global Communications and Public Affairs staying with the company from July 2007 until April 2010.

Carolyn then joined Twitter and was Head of Products Communications. She was the chief spokesperson on the product side during the run-up to Twitter’s huge IPO. She held one of the most high-profile communications jobs in American business. Not many people can claim to have such as job and experience. Carolyn didn’t stop there, in early 2013, she began handling communications for Vine when the app was launched.

In that role it wasn’t a full time job yet. Then in October 2014 Carolyn was appointed Head of Comms and Marketing at New York City-based Vine. She still has her connection with Twitter.

Carolyn has been in companies which are in the forefront of things, from Google to Twitter. Now she is involved with Vine, which although not as popular as Google or Twitter but judging by her past work involvement, may also take off to become the next big hit in the likes of Google and Twitter. Vine’s main feature is a six-second video sharing service.

As the company states Vine makes video fun. One can watch, create, and share short looping videos — anytime, anywhere. Through these videos, called Vines, people have an entirely new medium to express themselves and their creativity. Vine empowers anyone to share stories with the world and is a space where people can connect, entertain, and be entertained.

With Vine one can: Find, follow, and interact with people close to you; Simply touch the screen to record a Vine, or import videos from your phone; Editing tools help you get your Vine just the way you want it; Following channels get hand-picked Vines in you home feed; and Exploring trending tags, popular posts, and editor’s picks.

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Amie Stepanovich: Access Now US Policy Manager

Amie Stepanovich earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication, Advertising at Florida State University. She studied there from 2003 until 2007. She went on to earn her J.D. at New York Law School, studying there from 2007 until 2010.

With new technology comes new challenges including how they impact on ones right to privacy. This is the area where Amie has devoted her career to. She was a National Security Fellow at Electronic Privacy Information Center from September 2010 until September 2011. She then became a Counsel at the same institution. She then became an Associate Litigation Counsel in the same institution from April 2012 until March 2013. Amie became Director, Domestic Surveillance Project: IPIOP Program Director at Electronic Privacy Information Center from March 2013 until February 2014.

On February 2014, Amie joined Access Now as Senior Policy Counsel and held the position until February 2014 when she was appointed US Policy Manager in the same institution. She is based in the Washington DC, Metro Area.

Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world.

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Jeremiah Kittredge:  Families For Excellent Schools Co-Founder & CEO

Jeremiah Kittredge holds a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University, studying there from 2004 until 2008. Jeremiah has held a number of jobs including as a public school teacher and union organizer in New York, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. He has held positions with SEIU, Obama for America, and Change to Win.

In 2011, he helped establish Families for Excellent School and is the CEO. This is a partnership between schools and families which has built power in communities by engaging parents in the transformation of their schools.

As a member-driven organization, parents are at the heart and soul of Families for Excellent Schools’ work. It membership is increasing steadily each year because of its commitment to organizing and winning on behalf of kids. Its hybrid organizing/mobilizing model is unique in the sector. The organization develops neighborhood chapters that support parent-to-parent organizing, training and campaign work so that America’s schools are, once again, the best in the world.

The mission of Families for Excellent Schools is to ensure that every child attends and excellent school by building coalitions of families and their allies and running campaigns that change education policy.

With the commitment of parents and through public policy changes, the organization envisions an America where schools, community organizations and government leaders work together to guarantee a great education for every child. Currently, Families for Excellent Schools serves more than 50,000 families from over 90 schools in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

The organization’s values include: Collaboration: They believe that no one person or organization can single-handedly create excellent schools for all children. Their team works collaboratively with each other, their schools, their families, and their allies; Results: They simultaneously pursue short-and long term-term wins on behalf of their families and schools; Grit: They persevere, adapt to changing circumstances, and are constantly upping their game; and Respect: They treat each other and the communities they serve with dignity and respect.

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Aleksandar Kostic: Germ And Disease Studies

Using both computer and experimental biologist skills, Aleksandar Kostic has helped scientists gain a better understanding of how germs directly affect the health of humans which could one day lead to better treatment or cure for certain diseases.

Aleksandar Kostic is a Postdoctoral Fellow jointly in the laboratories of Ramnik Xavier and Curtis Huttenhower at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. He is trained as both a computational biologist and experimental biologist. Aleksander studies the human microbiome, the ecosystem of microorganisms that live in and on human bodies, and the role of this ecosystem in human health and disease. His goal is to gain systems-level understanding of how microbiome enterfaces with the immune system of humans in order to develop new approaches to diagnose and treat disease.

Based on his studies germs are a root cause of some cancers. This computer scientist’s cloud-based methods argue that it is so. Having found the sequences of a germ Fusobacterium nucleatum, in many colorectal cancers. Similar work has identified another pathogen, Bradyrhizobium enterica, in colitis, another intestinal disease.

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Keith Guerrette: Visual Effects Standout

Keith Guerrette received an Associate of Science in Computer Animation from Full Sail University studying there from 2003 to 2004. He went on to earn a Baccalaureate of Science in Entertainment Business from the same university continuing his study there from 2004 until 2005.

Keith held a number of jobs and it was during his stint at Naughty Dog where he was Lead FX Artist that he gained national attention. He worked at Naughty Dog (part of Sony Computer Entertainment) and his credits include the realistic graphic effects seen in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Unchartered 3: Drake’s Deception, as well as the studio’s acclaimed 2013 title, The Last of Us, winner of a number of industry accolades and considered one of the best games of 2013. Kieth worked at Naughty Dog from August 2008 until September 2014.

Then from October 2014 until December 2014 he worked at MPC as Realtime TD & VFX Artist. He worked on the Chrysler 200 Oculus experience where he developed pipeline and create art for VR experience within Unreal Engine 4.

Keith then worked for Kite & Lighting as Visual Effects Artist from December 2014 to March 2015. He worked on Shatter Realty: Insurgent VR Experience where he developed special effects and art for experience within Unreal Engine 4. He earned nomination for three Proto Awards, including Best Live Action Experience.

Keith has been working as a freelance Visual FX Supervisor, Artist, and Compositor since September 2014 to present.  Since December 2014, he has worked at Santa Monica Studios (SCEA) as Technical FX Artist & Consultant. In this role he guides pipeline and render technologies for new engine on Playstation 4 and helps build custom shader pipeline and solutions for various FX challenges.

Since February 2015, Keith has also been Sr. Technical FX Artist & Consultant at Visceral Games (EA). In this role he guides FX pipeline and render technologies for new franchise on Frostbite Engine.

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Kei Nishikori: Japanese Tennis Star

Kei Nishikori was born on December 29, 1989, in Matsue, Shimane, Japan. His father is an engineer while his mother is a piano teacher. Kei began playing tennis when he was 5 years of age. In 2001, he won his first All Japan Tennis Championships for Kids. He finished high school at Aomori-Yamada High School. Kei’s pastimes include football, reading, golf, and listening to music.

Over the years he would win minor tournaments that would eventually land him in the professional tour. At the age of 17  he qualified for his first ATP main draw event at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, California. Kei has won 10 singles titles. At the 2014 US Open he finished as runner-up. This made him the first every male player from an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles final. Kie also became the first man from Asia to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals and reached the semi-finals in 2014.

He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015 and as of November 23, 2015, was ranked world No. 8.

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Ryan Lewis: Musician & Producer

Ryan Lewis was born on March 25, 1988, in Spokane, Washington. He has two older sisters. Ryan played guitar in rock bands at an early age. When he was around 15 years of age he began to have a growing interest in music production. Ryan studied at Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington and graduated at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington. Majoring in Comparative History of Ideas he graduated from the University of Washington.

Ryan formally began his professional career as a photographer and videographer. He launched his debut extended play in 2008, entitled, “Instrumentals”, featuring four alternative hip hop songs. Also in 2008, Ryan collaborated with American duo Symmetry in a self-titled work, released as an LP.

He became friends with rapper Macklemore on MySpace in 2006. In 2009 they formalized their collaboration as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and released the EP The VS. EP. Ryan in October 2010 produced the VS. Redux EP, and in December, their debut single “My Oh My”. On January 21, 2011, “Wings” was released this was followed in August 16, 2011, with the released of “Can’t Hold Us” featuring Ray Dalton. In October 2012, their album “The Heist” was released. It debuted  on the US Billboard 200 at number 2. In June 2012, “Can’t Hold Us” was used as soundtrack for a Miller beer ad in the UK and Ireland.

Ryan appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on October 30, 2012, performing their single “Same Love” and then again on January 18, 2013, performing their single “Thrift Shop”, which they had previously sung on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December 11, 2012. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, giving them their first number 1 hit in the US. The Heist World Tour started in August 2012 to promote “The Heist”. On January 26, 2014, Macklemore performed “Same Love” at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, where Queen Latifah read marriage vows for 33 couples who line the aisles.

Since befriending Macklemore, Ryan has continued his successful career as a DJ, musician, record producer, videographer, photographer, graphic designer and music video director.

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Khalil Fuller: Learn Fresh Education Co. CEO

Khalil Fuller is a graduate of Brown University where he studied Education and Social Innovation. While in college he was a member of the Varsity Ruby Team, and was captain of the Club Hockey Team. He is an African American National Merit Scholar and a winner of MassChallenge - the largest startup competition in the world.

Khalil is an Echoing Green Black Male Achievement Fellow, and the youngest Echoing Green Fellow in the history of the organization. He has been honored by Ebony for “Manifesting Youth Leadership Now” and The Washington Post’s The Roots named him one of the nation’s 25 “Young Futurists”.

The young social entrepreneur is the CEO of Learn Fresh Education Co.  This firm is behind NBA Math Hoops. A curriculum developer and math teacher founded NBA Math Hoops 17 years ago. It is a basketball board game, school curriculum and now mobile app that makes math fun for kids.

Learn Fresh Education is a 501(c) nonprofit that provides a fresh take on academic exploration through Student Centered Design, sparking students’ curiosity in the educational value of the ordinary and the extraordinary in their lives.

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Meron Gribetz: Meta Founder

Meron Gribetz grew up in Israel. While in the Israel Defense Forces he worked in the elite technological unit, in a project which would one day lead him to his current venture. Meron studied computer science and neuroscience at Columbia University.

The venture that Meron is into is a startup company called Meta. It is developing the so-called augmented-reality glasses that combines the power of a laptop and smartphone in a pair of fashionable eyeglasses that map virtual objects into the physical world. Similar to what was seen in “Ironman” and “Avatar” the application is controlled by using your hand through gestures.

Meta came out of Columbia University  and is attempting to bring in the next era of computing. The company wants to spearhead the transition from mobile to wearable, augmented-reality computing. It wants to do what Apple did ushering the modern personal computer revolution with the Macintosh and the mobile revolution with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

In December 2012, Meta came into being with $1 million in seed funding, and the blessing of Paul Graham, Y Combinator startup guru. Wearable computing pioneer Steve Mann also came into the scene becoming the chief scientist of Meta.

Like any other start up  as far back as two years ago Meron and his team made up of 25 people, worked out of a Lost Altos mansion, which had mattresses, cable and aluminum binds for takeout food, building glasses, and operation systems and apps to show off the capabilities of the platform.

According to Meron what he is building is different for the Google Glass which he says is a basic “notification machine” that can take videos and pictures. Meron states that Google Glass is an accessory to the phone, while Meta replaces these things.

He calls what Meta is developing as a “natural machine” which is another way of saying “augmented reality”. They are creating a device that overlays computer-generated object in the physical world and allows users to interact with the projected images using their hand.

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Tom Leach: Media RED Founder & President

Tom Leach graduated magna cum laude from Loyola Marymount University earning a Bachelor of Arts in TV Product at the School of Film & Television studying there from 2004 to 2008. He went on to earn an M.F.A., Producers Program, Graduate School of Theatre, Film & Television at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then held a number of jobs in the media an entertainment industry.

One of his more prominent jobs and where he got national notice and received accolades was his time at One Three Media a Hearst|Mark Burnett Company. Tom was Vice President for Development & Current Programming. While with the company from July 2011 to December 2013, he created, developed, produced, and sold series at one of the leading TV production companies in the world. During his tenure One Three Media produced and/or sold a record number of primetime broadcast hits including: The Voice, Shark Tank, Survivor, Sing Off Celebrity Apprentice, The Bible, and the upcoming series SPACE RACE.

In January 2014, Tom decided he was going to be his own boss, founding production company, Media RED where he is also the President.

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Cameron Horwitz: U.S. Capital Advisors Managing Director

Cameron Horwitz graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting and Finance. He became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 2013. He joined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey as an Associate in 2007 and left the company in 2010 as a Senior Associate of equity research. Cameron then joined Canaccord Genuity Inc in 2010 and stayed there for two years until 2012 and was Senior Associate for equity research covering the Exploration and Production Sector.

He joined U.S. Capital Advisors in 2012 and now holds the position of Managing Director, Head of Exploration and Production Equity Research. Cameron has stood out from his peers with his work. For the second consecutive year Institutional Investor Magazine named Cameroon to their All-American Rising Stars list in October 2014. Forbes Magazine in January 2014, selected Cameron as part of the 30 under 30 lists as one of the top performers in the financial sector. Cameron is a contributor to Bloomberg, Dow Jones News, the Wall Street Journal and various other financial and energy-related publications.

U.S. Capital Advisors (“USCA”) is headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices in Dallas and Austin, Texas and Greenwich Connecticut. It is an integrated financial services boutique with primary business line in Wealth Management and Capital Markets. The company’s Wealth Management division provides a full range of advisory services and solutions to high net worth individuals and family offices. Its Capital Markets division, which includes the USCA’s Equity Research, Institutional Client, Investment & Merchant Banking and Public Finance businesses, advises corporate, institutional and municipal clients.

USCA was founded in 2010 and is privately owned. Securities offered through USCA Security LLC; Investment advisory services offered through USCA RIA LLC and Condera Advisors LLC; Municipal advisory services offered through USCA Municipal Advisors LLC; Insurance products offered through USCA Insurance Agency LLC; Tax planning and family office services offered through USCA Family Estate LLC.

Cameron is a standout and it won’t be a surprise if he gets another promotion and it certainly won’t be a surprise if other companies try to lure him away for USCA.

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Oliver Kremer: Dos Toros Taqueria Co-Founder

Oliver Kremer holds a bachelor of science degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Oliver and his older brother Leo are West Coast natives. They grew up in Berkeley, California. According to the two their favorite activity there was eating burritos at Gordo Taqueria, a local establishment that serves subtly season, brick-sized burritos stuffed with beans, rice salsa and melted cheese.

Oliver and his brother moved to New York in 2008. Their friends who came or lived in New York were often asking where they could get a decent burrito. Oliver and his brother saw a business opportunity. It was all in thought until 2009 when they opened their first location off Union Square using their savings  and investments from friends and families.

Having no experience at all, they played it by ear, got an experienced contractor and a restaurant lawyer as well. The tastes of the food is based on Oliver’s and Leo’s taste preferences.

They seemed to have hit the jackpot with various branches opening including outside of New York. Now the challenge is how to manage an ever growing business.