Thursday, November 12, 2009 

Networking and Speakers Forum: Business Plan Review of TextTelevision

http://www.sneef.umassd.edu/

PROGRAM

5:30 PM - Networking and light dinner
6:30 - 8:00 PM - Presentation and discussion

Dennis Downey, President and founder of TextTelevision of Falmouth will present a case study of his product, TextFlows. It offers an entirely new way to interact with the written word, using motion and light to present text as an animated flow on a simple, uncluttered screen. Reading becomes easier, more effective, and fun; writing receives an added dimension of artistic expression. Browse through some flows on the company website www.textflows.com, find one you like, and play it full screen to get a sense of what it is all about!

•  Presenter: Dennis Downey, President and Founder of TextTelevision

•  Moderator: Robert Crowley, President, Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation

•  Panelist: Carl Scholz, Chief Operating Officer, Texterity

LOCATION

Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center
151 Martine Street
Fall River, MA

Program cost: $20 with advanced registration or $25 at the door. Register at sneef@umassd.edu or call Tammy Lajewski, 508-999-9288.

Moderator

Robert Crowley

Crowley's MTDC websiteSmall Business Association of New England websiteBob Crowley was elected President of MTDC in November 2002. Prior to that, he was its Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. Crowley is an experienced venture capital investor in early-stage technology companies. A former Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, Crowley is also a Chairman of the Smaller Business Association of New England (SBANE) Educational Center. Crowley has served as director of a number of companies including Optical Micro Systems, Inc., Aspen Technology, Inc., MultiLink, Inc., Pacer Infotech, Inc., and Endogen, Inc. 
Crowley has spent most of his professional life in finance, initially as a commercial lender with Shawmut Bank and Neponset Valley Bank & Trust Company, and, for more than 23 years, as a venture capital investor with MTDC. He earned a B.A. from Fairfield University and an M.B.A. from Boston College.

3-person Panel

Lee Hower

PRINCIPALLee joined Point Judith in 2005 and focuses on internet & digital media companies.   He is a board director of Multiply and FanIQ and is involved with PJC's investments in Music Nation and Sittercity.  

Most recently, Lee was one of the co-founders of LinkedIn and served as Director of Corporate Development from the company's inception through venture funding and early growth phases.  Previously he was an early employee at PayPal (IPO, later acq. by eBay), where he worked as a Product Manager and later served as Director, Financial Services.

Lee attended the Fisher Program in Management & Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a BAS from the School of Engineering and a BS from the Wharton School.  He was selected as Wharton's Commencement Speaker.

Lee's personal blog is www.leehower.com.

Carl ScholzChief Operating Officer

Carl Scholz is responsible for the Texterity’s day-to-day operating and development activities, including revenue and sales growth, expense, cost and margin management, production and technology development, and corporate strategy. Carl joined Texterity in 1995 and has held various engineering and operations management roles.

Before Texterity, Carl worked at Houghton Mifflin Company as the Software Architect for several Corporate R&D efforts. Previously, Carl held management and software engineering positions at the Open Software Foundation, Interactive Systems Corporation and NCR Corporation, working on a variety of projects involving open source software, user interface systems, database design and web solutions. Carl has a BS in Computer Science from the University of Virginia School of Engineerin

D. STEVEN WHITE - DBA, 1996; MBA, 1991

UMASS Business School Marketing Professor

Dr. D. Steven White is the chairperson of the Department of Management & Marketing and Professor of Marketing & International Business. He joined the faculty of the Charlton College of Business in September 1998. His degrees are from Cleveland State University (DBA, 1996; MBA, 1991) and Bowling Green State University (MA, 1987; BSBA, 1985) with coursework completed through intermediate-level Portuguese at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (2004-2005).

His research interests include green business, seafood marketing and logistics, international services marketing, service exporting, global and social entrepreneurship, international marketing, global e-commerce, open source applications in global business and international business education. Dr. White is an award winning author and a prolific researcher. His research has been published in International Marketing Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Thunderbird International Business Review, Journal of Marketing Management (U.K.), Journal of Marketing Education and International Business Review. In addition, he has received the Charlton College of Business Higginson Award for Excellence in Teaching three times since joining the faculty.

Prior to entering academia, Professor White was the vice president of an advertising agency, worked in the promotion of sporting and special events, managed outdoor sporting goods stores/ski shops and served as an alpine ski instructor. He earned the rank of shodan in Uechi-ryu karate, practiced Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and is a PADI certified scuba diver. His hobbies include physical fitness and traveling.