It’s speaker announcement time again for TechCrunch Disrupt NY! Each week we’re sharing more of our all star cast of speakers — here’s the latest peek into our program.
Even more of New York’s own will represent at the Pier in May including John Borthwick, the founder and CEO of Betaworks. John Frankel will bring his wisdom from years spent in the heart of the finance world to his broad portfolio of investments ff Venture Capital. New York’s fashion powerhouse entrepreneurs will be in the room with the likes of Alexis Maybank, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Gilt Groupe, Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and CEO of Warby Parker, Katia Beauchamp, CEO of Birchbox and Jennifer Hyman, co-founder and CEO of Rent the Runway. We’ll round out this week’s announcement with Cyrus Massoumi, the co-founder and CEO of one of New York’s hottest companies, doctor-finding service ZocDoc.
Early bird tickets are still available. Disrupt NYC kicks off on May 19th with our 24-hour Hackathon, with the main event starting May 21st and going through the 23rd. Stay tuned as we’ll reveal more of what’s in store for Manhattan next month. Get your tickets now.
If you’d like to become a part of the Disrupt experience and learn about sponsorship opportunities, please contact sponsors@beta.techcrunch.com for more information.
John Borthwick
CEO, betaworks
John Borthwick is CEO of betaworks, a new form of Internet media company. Prior to betaworks John was Senior Vice President of Alliances and Technology Strategy for Time Warner Inc.
John’s company, WP-Studio, founded in 1994, was one of the first content studios in New York’s Silicon Alley. John holds an MBA from Wharton (1994) and an undergraduate degree BA in Economics from Wesleyan University (1987).
John Frankel
Partner, ff Venture Capital
John Frankel has been an early-stage venture investor since 1999. Mr. Frankel was one of the earliest investors in Quigo Technologies, which was purchased by AOL in December 2007, and in Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD on NASDAQ) which had a successful IPO in March 2011. He has also served and/or now serves on the boards of 500px, Apparel Media Group, Alerts.com, ClearPath Immigration, Infochimps, Klout, Patents.com, Phone.com, Quigo Technologies, StrongTech, The Goldman Sachs Trust Company, Track.com, and Voxy. He is also a Mentor with the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator program.
He worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. for 21 years in a variety of roles that involved technology development, re-engineering, and capital markets. In particular, he established Goldman’s Cayman offshore administration business, its London global custody business, and re-engineered its global prime brokerage business. In capital markets, he worked closely with some of the world’s leading hedge funds, and developed a keen understanding of portfolio risk/return management. He started his business career with Arthur Anderson & Co. in the audit and insolvency divisions.
Katia Beauchamp
Co-founder, Birchbox
Katia Beauchamp is the Co-Founder of Birchbox, the discovery commerce company changing the way women shop for beauty and lifestyle products. Through its multi-channel platform, the Birchbox experience features personalized sampling, informative editorial content and a hand-picked online store. Katia began her career as an entrepreneur after graduating from Harvard Business School in 2010, where she met Hayley Barna, her Birchbox Co-founder. Their connection grew into friendship and the pair’s collaborative idea for Birchbox inspired the company’s debut in September 2010.
Prior to founding Birchbox, Katia worked in structured finance and commercial real estate for three years. Katia’s love for all things beauty and style combined with her skills from a deal-focused and finance background are instrumental in forming partnerships with brands as well as in growing and scaling the Birchbox business.
Neil Blumenthal
Co-founder and Co-CEO, Warby Parker
Neil Blumenthal is one of the founders of Warby Parker. As the former director of non-profit VisionSpring, Neil spent the better part of 5 years giving glasses to people living on less than $4 per day who otherwise would not be able to see. A native of New York City, Neil is a Leo, enjoys long walks in the park and is a big Hall and Oates fan.
Jennifer Hyman
CEO, Rent The Runway
Jennifer Hyman has been the Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway since the company’s inception in November 2009. She is responsible for all areas of the business including technology, fashion, sales, marketing, operations, customer service and team management.
Jennifer co-founded Rent the Runway with her Harvard Business School classmate Jennifer Fleiss. After receiving approximately $31 million in venture capital from Bain Capital Ventures, Highland Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, they quickly built the company to include over 2 million members, 120 employees and 160 designer brands.
Alexis Maybank
Founder & CSO, Gilt Groupe
Alexis has dedicated her career to building and launching innovative and compelling e-commerce experiences for consumers. In 2007, Alexis, along with a founding team, launched Gilt Groupe. She served as Gilt’s Founding CEO, and today she serves as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Prior to founding Gilt Groupe, Alexis served as General Manager and Business Development Director for AOL’s e-commerce businesses. In 1998, she became an early member of the eBay team, where she helped launch the company’s first strategic planning group working for Founder Jeff Skoll, and later launched and ran eBay Canada, which grew to become Canada’s largest e-commerce business. She later helped found eBay Motors, which grew to over $2.5 billion in gross sales in its first two years and continues to be the largest category of goods sold on eBay today.
Cyrus Massoumi
Founder & CEO, ZocDoc
Cyrus Massoumi is founder and CEO of ZocDoc, which he created in 2007 after rupturing an eardrum. Massoumi struggled for four painful days to find a doctor, and became convinced that a better healthcare system is possible. He has extensive experience in the healthcare-technology nexus, web commerce and management.
Prior to ZocDoc, Massoumi served as an Engagement Manager at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he focused on healthcare and technology. Massoumi’s four-year tenure at McKinsey & Co. began soon after his 2003 graduation from Columbia University, where he earned an MBA and received the Heffernan Award for Outstanding Service.