Columbia Venture Community is thrilled to invite you to our inaugural venture conference, Multicultural Mainstream : Reimagining Humanity and Technology. Join us on March 5th and 6th, 2021 for compelling content, conversations with industry leaders, and opportunities to connect with fellow CVC’ers.

Expect content that challenges you, and gets you ready for the big restart. Expect conversations that engage tough and necessary questions about equity, justice, how we interact as a society and at work, plus how we start up companies.

We promise a conference that stimulates thought long after the event ends.

You’ll leave the conference with:

• New ideas inspired by our keynote speakers and panelists,
• Thought provoking conversations with other community members,
• A better understanding of how to innovate and implement your ideas, and
• New friends and contacts to grow your network

Conference Agenda:

• Keynote:

• Creating Corporate Diversity Programs, with William Crowder, Aperture VC Founding Partner and Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab Entrepreneur in Residence
• Diversity in the Venture Capital Community, with Richelle Parham, Managing Director at WestRiver Group, ex-CMO at eBay

• Select Panels：

• Future of Women in Venture - moderated by Stacy Tarver Patterson, Managing Director at West Ventures, Entrepreneur in Residence at Columbia Startup Lab, and joined by Kate Brodock, CEO of Women 2.0, Joanna Rees, Managing Partner at West Ventures, and Melanie Strong, Partner at NEXT Ventures
• Startup Landscape For Diverse & Female Founders - moderated by Shanita Nicholas, co-Founder of Sip & Sonder and LA Black Investors Club, and joined by Eda Henries, founder of Henries & Co., Tracy Gray, Founder and Managing Partner of The 22 Fund, and Adio Akuffo-Afful, lead at Wefunder for community partnerships & inbound
• Social Entrepreneurship - moderated by Michelle Kwok , Co-founder & CEO at FLIK, and joined by Alana Mann, principal at Cultivation Capital, and Sarah Burgaud, COO at StartOut
• Digital Health - moderated by Kingsley Ndoh , Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Health, Co-Founder at Regista, and joined by Sumit Mukherjee, Ph.D, Senior Applied Scientist / Researcher at Microsoft AI for Good Research Lab, Crystal Evuleocha, CEO & Founder of Kiira Health, and James Murray, CEO of Therify
• Innovation in Wholesale Banking, moderated by Akrati Johari, Co-Head of North America Digital Innovation at JPMorgan Chase & Co, joined by Sabrina Cao, Principal, Digital Partnerships at BNY Mellon, Cathrine Anderson, Co-founder and CEO of Roger.ai, Sarah Shenton, Growth Investor and COO of Goldman Value Accelerator, and Sarah Parsons Walter Principal at FinTech Collective
• The Next Normal: Sneak peek into the Post Pandemic World of Retail - moderated by Lindsay Trombley , CEO and co-founder of Wovn, joined by Rebecca Saunders, Founder & CEO of Seekology, Isabela Chick, Chief Strategy Officer at Founders Factory, and Angela Chou, investor at Felix Capital
• The ROI on UN SDGs - moderated by Steven Rochlin, CEO of Impact ROI, and joined by Esther Kim, Founder & CEO of ConsiderBeyond, Jim Gowen, VP Supply Chain Operations and Chief Sustainability Officer, Verizon, and Luis Neves, Global CEO of GeSI⠀ ⠀⠀⠀
• New Business Models in Sustainability - moderated by Lane Jost, 10 year veteran of impact investing, joined by Sue Yang, VP at Orion Energy Partners, Mark Tracy, CEO at Cloud Agronomics, and Mark Huang, Co-founder at SeaAhead, Inc.

• Virtual Wine Tasting and Breakout Session - unique opportunity to meet and network with fellow CVC'ers

Conference Presenting Sponsor

Reitler is a New York-based full-service boutique law firm that delivers responsive, high quality legal services to sophisticated business clients. Reitler possesses leading capabilities in venture capital and private equity financings, fund formation, mergers and acquisitions, and securities offerings. Reitler is also widely recognized in the fields of intellectual property, executive compensation, domestic and international taxation, corporate governance, commercial litigation, real estate, hospitality and maritime.

Some of Our Marketing Partners

Moonshots Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in extraordinary leadership. Great leaders are hard to come by. We believe the best ones are military-trained or trial-by-fire entrepreneurs who have the ability to motivate others to action, inspire trust, and plan heuristically. We invest with conviction when those attributes are present.

Moonshots Capital, with offices in Los Angeles and Austin, was founded by a team of veterans in 2017. We have collectively founded and operated 14 companies, and have personally invested in over 80 ventures. Beyond capital, we deploy our military and entrepreneurial experience and network to help world-changing companies grow. Learn more about us.

Strong Ventures is a seed fund, based in California, that finances, supports and mentors Korean-Global entrepreneurs, empowering them to build strong ventures and to break successfully into the global market. With proven experience as operators, executives and entrepreneurs, we provide hands-on assistance and guidance. On top of our financial investment, we aim to provide tangible value to our entrepreneurs, through network reach, strategic thinking and executional collaboration. And, as we engage together with others in our venture endeavors, we hope to make the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which we call home, a better, stronger and more vibrant place for all.

Apertu Capital is an early stage fund that focuses on helping creators of open source projects launch startups. Typical portfolio company forms a SaaS business following on building a large audience with an open source software project.

CSforALL is a central resource for individuals and organizations interested in K-12 computer science (CS) education. We connect providers, schools and districts, funders, and researchers working toward the goal of providing quality CS education to every child in the United States.

CSforALL’s mission is to make high-quality computer science an integral part of the educational experience of all K-12 students and teachers and to support student pathways to college and career success.

SocialSocietyU, Inc. is a hub of college prep resources that engage and motivate high school students towards finding their purposes. We do what we do through faith, entertainment, and college prep workshops by providing a taste of college culture.

More about CVC

Columbia Venture Community is a network of more than 6,000+ Columbia alumni interested in all aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation. Founded in 2006, CVC has hosted more than 400 events around the world. Today, CVC hosts multiple global programs, in-person and virtual events, and an online community for members to share resources.

Click here to become a member via Meetup.com, our member management platform.

CVC is officially a "shared interest group" (SIG) under the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) and works closely with the University.

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