Kirk Laughlin

Kirk Laughlin is a writer, moderator, video correspondent, and subject expert in information technology and also founder and editorial director of Nearshore Americas, the leading online news magazine dedicated to cross-border trade, outsourcing, and investment in Latin America.

He has served in a variety of strategic roles during his 18-year career in journalism and media management. Previously, he was vice president and managing director at Ziff Davis Events, publisher of PC Magazine. Prior to joining Ziff Davis, Laughlin served as editor-in-chief of several media organizations, including America’s Network Magazine and TeleProfessional.  He has directed the launch of several tech industry publications and has won awards for editorial excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors and the Western Publications Association.

Saurabh Mallik

Saurabh Mallik is currently an MBA student at the University of California, Irvine. Saurabh has experience in enterprise technology, having worked as an engineer on data center and cloud computing technologies at Dell, in Austin, Texas and Bangalore, India. He has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from PESIT Bangalore. His interests include Saas, cloud computing, and understanding IT customer priorities. Connect with him on his Linkedin profile.

Shaloo Shalini

Change is the essence of existence.

Change can’t be any more evident than in the constantly evolving world of technology. From her engineering graduate school days at Delhi Institute of Technology, India, Shaloo Shalini has been chasing and realizing dreams to harness cutting-edge technology to solve real-life problems in the form of enterprise software products.

With a career spanning two decades from the 1990s handheld device era of Windows CE, Palm PDAs, and Apple Newton to the latest iPhones and iPads, Shaloo has been conceptualizing and deliving software products and solutions for the enterprise. She has played key roles in technology startups as well as Fortune 500 MNCs such as Cadence, Veritas, and Symantec in several product R&D areas, both in pure technology and senior engineering management. In her quest to get a well-rounded perspective on technology and business aspects of the software industry, she transitioned into technical product management and marketing roles, working closely with engineering and sales teams and evangelizing opportunities for her clients.

Shaloo works as a freelance consultant with cloud computing startups, helping them with technology and product strategy. She is based in Pune.

Dhiraj Kumaar

Dhiraj Kumaar is a technology consultant and entrepreneur who has over 15 years of industry experience. He founded EAIVision LLC (www.eaivision.com), which provides “technology vision” to companies and has worked on several projects with Fortune 500 companies and projects from around the world. He has an MBA in finance and a bachelor’s of engineering. Interests include reading and yoga.

James Heinzman

James Heinzman is Managing Director of Securities Solutions at Actimize and has 20 years of compliance experience. He leads the development of a technology-based risk management strategy for brokerage compliance. Prior to rejoining Actimize, Mr. Heinzman was a managing director at Bear Stearns, where he was responsible for business supervision and surveillance in the Global Equities division. He was previously a product manager for Actimize and developed many of its surveillance and supervisory protocols. Mr. Heinzman is a member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) and SIFMA Legal and Compliance Division; he holds the Series 7, 24, 4, 53, 63, and 65 securities licenses and has completed the FINRA/Wharton Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional certificate program (CRCP).

Praveen Kumar

Praveen is working with Sramana on the 1M/1M Incubation Radar series. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering (electronics and communication) from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, and is currently studying for his master’s in business economics at Delhi University. You can contact him at praveenk1985@gmail.com

Irina Patterson

Irina Patterson  was a medical doctor and tech PR executive in the past. Irina’s current passion is entrepreneurship. She is one of volunteer ambassadors for the global initiative 1M/1M that Sramana Mitra launched out of Silicon Valley to offer free online guidance to entrepreneurs working to reach their first $1 million in revenue. Irina is based in Miami, Florida, and focuses her entrepreneurship development efforts on the Southeast of the United States and on Russia, the country she grew up in. Irina is also in charge of seed financing research and development within 1M/1M, so she often dives into the world of angel investing and records her conversations with angels. Irina records her personal 1M/1M journey here, on her blog.

Nari Kannan

Nari Kannan is CEO and co-founder of dunnitt, a start-up company that enables family, friends and colleagues coordinate their activities and do “micro-collaboration” from any browser or smartphone. His previous company, Ajira Technologies, Inc., built BPO analytics tools and counts top BPO companies as its customers. Nari has over two decades of experience in information technology and started out as a senior software engineer at Digital Equipment Corp. He has since served as VP of engineering or CTO of five Silicon Valley startup companies dealing with a variety of problems in IT consulting, automotive claims processing, human resources and logistics applications. Contact Nari Kannan at narikannan@gmail.com or visit www.dunnitt.com.