Featured Speaker(s)

SUSAN A BLOCK

Susan has over 20 years experience as an investment banker and strategic consultant- in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Montgomery Securities, as a founder and Vice President of Mercantile Capital Corporation, and most recently as a founder and principal with Block, Bowman & Associates, LLC. While a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Montgomery Securities, Ms. Block worked on larger merger assignments across all industries and was responsible for the sale of Safeway's Liquor Barn operations by Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts. Ms. Block's background also includes working with firms in turnaround situations or in the start-up or early growth phases of their lifecycle. Ms. Block has founded or co-founded three firms, held positions as CEO of a startup that went public and subsequently sold for $250 million and held management positions and/or served as a Board of Director or Advisory Board member for numerous startup and emerging growth firms. Ms. Block also coaches investor presentations, has raised over $70 million of capital for numerous firms and served on the Advisory Board for LARTA (LA Regional Technology Alliance) as well as the Chair of the Business Plan and Mentoring Committee for the LARTA Venture Forum. Ms. Block is also a judge for SEED, a nationwide university level business plan competition, and the Westmont Entrepreneurship Business Plan competition.

Ms. Block received an MBA in finance and marketing, and a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry and Medical Technology, from the University of Wisconsin. Ms. Block has taught undergraduate and Executive MBA level finance, entrepreneurship and business courses as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin - School of Business Administration, the Department of Economics at UCSB, the Technology Management Program at the University of California Santa Barbara - Engineering Department and Santa Barbara City College.

MIKE PANESIS

Mike Panesis is the Technology Management Program (TMP) Manager for UC Santa Barbara's College of Engineering. He leads the UC Santa Barbara New Venture Competition (NVC). His duties include developing a mentor network advise students, representing the TMP at community events, and innovating with the NVC to reflect best practices in the start-up community.

Mike's career spans a diverse range of industries and roles, including executive management, tech start-ups, information technology management and management consulting for companies like Semtech, Whitestone Research, DealerTrack, Church & Dwight, Deloitte & Touche and AT&T. He currently is President of the Central Coast Network of Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest accredited angel investor group in the country, and heads TCA's CleanTech Pre-Screening Panel.

Mike has an MBA Marketing from Rutgers University and a BS in Computer Science for Business from the DeVry Institute of Technology. He lives in Camarillo with his wife and two children. He is on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum Central Coast Chapter and Steering Committee of the Ventura County Greek Festival.

LEAH GONZALES

Leah Gonzales joined Women's Economic Ventures in June 2006. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a major in Global Studies and a minor in Spanish. As WEV's Program Manager and Women's Business Center Director, Leah is responsible for ensuring the delivery of quality programs and services to WEV's clients, and managing the outreach and administration of WEV's training programs.