Committees


Keiretsu Forum Midwest Committees serve as Centers of Excellence in their respective industries. These committees foster thought leadership, promote mindshare and are responsible for screening candidate companies before being selected to present at the Forums.

Manufacturing remains a critical and vibrant force in both advanced and developing economies. Perception of decline in this sector is completely unfounded. Manufacturing still contributes disproportionately to exports, innovation and productivity growth. Yet the role of manufacturing is changing and challenges traditional views, for example, that manufacturing and services are completely different sectors. In the U.S., every dollar of manufacturing output requires 19 cents of services. Keiretsu Forum Midwest members are interested in the changing growth dynamic of this sector and in exploring and contributing to new manufacturing approaches, policies and capabilities.

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Patrick Hood

Advanced Manufacturing Committee Chair

Patrick has founded and co-founded multiple companies in the aerospace industry as well as construction and tooling. His core competencies include Multidisciplinary Technology Development, Defense Business Services, Advanced Manufacturing, Power & Energy, Aerosystems, Medical & Sensors and Hypersonic Systems. 

Patrick is Trustee and Vice Chair of the Wright Brothers Institute and a Board Member at the Entrepreneurs’ Center.

In the mature and saturated $760-billion Consumer Packaged Goods marketplace, CPG companies are aggressively seeking new growth drivers amongst a changing landscape. With consumer shifts in buying behavior, demand for sustainable products and purchase preferences for responsible, mission-based companies, there’s an unprecedented need for CPG investment in emerging markets and early stage start-ups. The Keiretsu Forum CPG Committee will focus on investments within early stage CPGs across food, beverage and durable goods, all of which align to CPG acquisition trends that can drive triple-bottom-line returns for people, planet and profit.

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Ross Vangalis

Consumer Products Committee Chair

Ross is founder and CEO at Queue, an agency specializing in business transformation and President at Lamps Global, a network of agencies across North and South America. Fueled by 20+ years of experience, he has transformed emerging markets and consumer macro-trends into scalable CPG businesses, driven top-line growth across Fortune 500, mid-cap and venture-backed companies.

Experience metrics: 100+ CPG brands, 50+ companies, 20+ industries, 13 countries, 10+ M&A exits, 40+ industry awards, managing cross-functional teams of 30+ and $50K to $10M+ in MarCom P&L.

Worldwide life expectancy has increased significantly since the turn of the century. Improvements in medicine and life sciences has played an integral role in this important achievement. Science, and especially medical technology, has advanced radically in the last 10 years, creating an opportune environment for change and innovation. The Keiretsu Forum Midwest Chapter is focused on investments in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and digital health that utilize emerging technologies to improve health and wellbeing. We can make a difference.

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Dr. Navkaran Singh

Life Sciences Committee Chair

Dr. Singh earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and his medical degree from Ohio State University. He completed his residency at the University of Cincinnati and is board certified by, and a fellow of, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is a robotics surgeon who leads the way in his field with exploratory, innovative medical devices that span numerous sectors.

The Keiretsu Midwest Therapeutics committee supports innovative companies that are developing disease-modifying treatments, from cancer to rare diseases. Keiretsu members are interested in investing in emerging trends, breakthroughs and patient-centered solutions that are curative, minimize side-effects and increase quality of life but that are also economically viable and readily accessible to those who need it.

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Sonia Sequeira, Ph.D

Therapeutics Committee Co-Chair

Dr. Sonia Sequeira, CEO of Vitruviae, is a neuroscientist with 15 years of experience in drug development. She participated in the development of clinical trials investigational products and Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, promoting efficiency in drug development projects through a combination of teaching, advisory, project management, nonclinical study design, quality assurance oversight and regulatory compliance services. Sonia has developed >120 IND applications for small molecules, gene therapies, cell therapies, CAR T cells, vaccines, and antibodies with three products now marketed. She also has experience developing theranostics, biomarkers and nanomedicines and has applied her expertise in many leadership roles for academia and startups.

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Mahiuddin Ahmed

Therapeutics Committee Co-Chair

Dr. Ahmed is the President and CSO of VITRUVIAE, a privately held biotechnology company developing therapeutics for cancer, infectious diseases, and mental illness. He was formerly the SVP and CSO of Y-mAbs Therapeutics, a commercial and clinical stage public biotechnology company, and a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Ahmed is an expert in antibody and protein engineering and has co-invented several antibody drugs currently in human clinical trials. He received his PhD in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from Stony Brook University, followed by post-doctoral training in Cancer Immunology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

What once was primarily viewed as a support function and cost center, Information Technology functions are becoming critical strategic factors across our regional startups and boardrooms. Traditional Midwest bluechip organizations that historically followed in the footsteps of the Coasts are now leading the way, influencing a new breed of disruptive and innovative organizations that are trailblazing into new areas of unexplored tech. Keiretsu Forum Midwest members are supporting these game-changing efforts.

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Brian Specht

Information Technology Committee Chair

Brian is an accomplished business and technology executive who defines and leads progressive strategic growth initiatives. He is currently the Central Region General Manager at Artium Technologies.

With over 20 years of technical and executive experience, Brian has worked with firms of all sizes, from startups to Global Fortune 1000, across a variety of regulated and non-regulated industries both domestically and globally. Brian’s passion is leveraging his breadth of technical experience and personal network to help people and organizations build new capabilities, widen their perspectives and create accelerated roadmaps towards realizing visions and goals.

Keiretsu Forum Midwest is proud to host several game-changing digital product and service transformation companies, SaaS innovators and Marketing entrepreneurs.  While marketing and digital strategy are also an important aspect of any entrepreneur’s growth, some startups are purely focused product and service providers in those spaces. As digital technology continues to grow at exponential rates, digital and SaaS based entrepreneurs are racing to gain market share in an ever-changing competitive landscape. Being a part of building technology that improves and changes human lives is an exciting aspect of Keiretsu Forum and a vibrant segment of our entrepreneurial companies.

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Adam Smith

Digital, SaaS & Marketing Committee Chair

Adam Smith is the founder and principal of Sound Press, a Digital Growth Agency employing a full life-cycle marketing approach. Sound Press, founded in 2000, is a leading Cincinnati based marketing agency building brands and executing digital strategy for companies ranging from $10M to $2B+ and Fortune 500 class. Adam is called on as a guest speaker to business leadership groups presenting on business growth and the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing. Sound Press is known for creating brands and brand strategy, digital strategy & advertising, e-commerce strategy and execution in B2B and B2C, marketing campaigns, and web application development in B2B, manufacturing, automotive and multiple industry verticals.  Sound Press larger clients include General Motors, eBay, Icahn Enterprises, Canadian Tire, TriHealth, and many top multi-national manufacturing companies. As an entrepreneur, Adam is a consultant to startups and accelerators and is an active investor and member of Keiretsu Forum. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and two children. Adam serves on corporate, advisory and non-profit boards.

Real Estate touches all areas of the businesses that we work with at Keiretsu Forum Midwest. Our entrepreneurs use it to live in, work in offices, practice medicine in hospitals and manufacture in industrial space. Not only are our Keiretsu Forum Midwest members interested in all of these companies, but also the companies that make real estate valuable to those companies. We are always looking for opportunities for our members to invest in real estate funds, projects and complementary real estate services.

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Joe Calvanico

Real Estate Committee Chair

Joseph Calvanico is recognized globally as a valuation expert. He has served thousands of clients, both large and small, by providing valuation services including Business Valuation, Real Estate Valuation and Machinery & Equipment Valuation. Joseph is experienced in property valuation and taxation work involving all types of property, including commercial and industrial, multi-residential and machinery and equipment. His work has supported matters related to financial reporting, tax documentation, lending, bankruptcy, disputes and expert testimony.

Cannabis as an emerging market is one of the most exciting transformational industries and economies of our lifetime. This dynamic landscape is nuanced and a potentially incredible opportunity. The majority of Americans favor some form of legalization, and as a society we have the chance to right some of the historic wrongs brought on by the war on drugs, provide safe and clean access to both recreational and medicinal cannabis and help establish one of the fastest growing markets today. The US market alone is projected to be $43B by 2025 (according to New Frontier Data). As many as 11 new states are scheduled to come on line by 2022 with over 40 states providing licenses for recreational and/or medicinal sales. Potential investment opportunities exist across the ecosystem from supply chain to retail and medical and pharmaceutical advancements are emerging as well. Early stage investments provide substantial upside opportunities and risks. As the markets mature so will the entrepreneurs and capital entering the space. The potential banking and legal re-classification of cannabis will provide new inflection points for another wave of substantial growth for this emerging market.

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Michael Sosin

Cannabis Committee Chair

Michael Sosin is a business lawyer with over 35 years of broad legal practice. He is the owner of GC As A Service, LLC, a firm that provides businesses fractional general counsel services as a business partner while managing their daily legal affairs.

Michael is skilled at directing and performing work on a broad spectrum of legal and business issues. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisition, international business, corporate structure and governance, contracts, intellectual property, and risk management. He is a creative, practical, forward-looking attorney and counselor who works with businesspeople to find effective business solutions. Michael has broad experience in building and executing financial and organic growth strategies. Michael is an avid yoga practitioner, with a passion for the holistic health of the individual, society and the earth.

Shorthand for financial technology, FinTech is a rapidly growing industry where new technology seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services and products. At its core, FinTech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes and lives.

FinTech companies range from companies developing specialized software and algorithms used to offer new financial products, revamp old and stale processes and improve the quality of user experiences and outcomes. From payment processing to online lending, alternative data to cryptocurrency, FinTech covers a large swatch of businesses including education, retail banking and investment management.

Despite the setbacks of 2020, the global FinTech market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 20 percent between 2020 and 2025 and is expected to reach a market value of around US$305 billion in that time. Growth in venture capital investment, investor interest and private equity investment have all helped fuel innovation and investment in FinTech.

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Randy Rivera

FinTech Committee Chair

With decades of experience in executive sales, marketing and commercial leadership in public companies and the private equity sector across a broad spectrum of industries, Scott is uniquely positioned with the experience and perspective to help businesses scale. This is exemplified by the multiple roles that Scott plays today, applying his expertise to multiple businesses he operates.

As President and CEO of Sales Growth Advisors & ESG Core Advisors, Scott brings a breadth of operational experience, visionary thinking, and interpersonal skills to build or upgrade the sales infrastructure of small and medium-sized businesses, while guiding sustainability and ESG strategies. With proven success in navigating the complexities of business environments, Scott serves as a trusted advisor who delivers measurable value for his clients. As an advisor to many companies in various industries, Scott has guided them to accelerated growth, profitability, and purpose. Scott is known for his personable, collaborative, hands-on style, with many trusted and long- term business relationships developed worldwide. He focuses on developing strong alliances with business owners and executives, as well as talented individuals building their careers.

Scott has affiliations and certifications with Vistage Worldwide, the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), the International Six Sigma Institute (green belt), and Scrum Alliance. He has an MBA degree from Roosevelt University of Chicago and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Roosevelt’s Walter E. Heller College of Business.

The world of Alternative Energy, Clean Tech and Sustainability is exploding with growth. This isn’t just because these areas have become very attractive for investment, but because supporting them is increasingly becoming the right thing to do.

Alternative Energy includes such sources as solar, wind, geothermal and others that are being infused with passionate new ideas, innovative engineering solutions, significant influx of capital, and creative new collaborations between unlikely partners including government and private enterprise. The world is also seeing the development of new carbon measurement and capture technologies, and energy monitoring and management services that not only reduce carbon output, but often provide rapid paybacks for those who invest in them.

CleanTech has become a commonly-used term for the transitioning of mature, “dirty industries” that have inefficient use and disposal of resources into those that are cleaner and more efficient.

Sustainability has come to mean just more than being responsible with increasingly scarce resources, but also being responsible with the way companies manage people – perhaps the most valuable capital of all. Part of this focus is the drive for companies to find their true purpose, so that it is equal to the profit they generate.

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Scott Rosenzweig

Alt Energy, CleanTech & Sustainability Committee Chair

With decades of experience in executive sales, marketing and commercial leadership in public companies and the private equity sector across a broad spectrum of industries, Scott is uniquely positioned with the experience and perspective to help businesses scale. This is exemplified by the multiple roles that Scott plays today, applying his expertise to multiple businesses he operates.

As President and CEO of Sales Growth Advisors & ESG Core Advisors, Scott brings a breadth of operational experience, visionary thinking, and interpersonal skills to build or upgrade the sales infrastructure of small and medium-sized businesses, while guiding sustainability and ESG strategies.  As an advisor to many companies in various industries, Scott has guided them to accelerated growth, profitability, and purpose. Scott is known for his personable, collaborative, hands-on style, with many trusted and long- term business relationships developed worldwide.

Scott has affiliations and certifications with Vistage Worldwide, the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA), the International Six Sigma Institute (green belt), and Scrum Alliance. He has an MBA degree from Roosevelt University of Chicago and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Roosevelt’s Walter E. Heller College of Business.

Smart Cities are no longer a thing of the Jetsons. We are seeing technologies permeate into our homes, our streets, our airports and our cars. All these technologies have baseline interests in common: to simplify and streamline the way things are done in our cities; to increase sustainability and efficiency; and to improve our quality of life. Keiretsu Forum Midwest members are interested in establishing a platform for growth of companies drawn to this space and promoting their rapid advancement in the ecosystem.

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Sotiris Pagdadis, PhD

Smart Cities Committee Chair

Sotiris is a strategist, problem solver and entrepreneurial investor. He is president of Keiretsu Forum Midwest and Lambousa Enterprises. He previously served as a Principal at PwC in a variety of global and national roles and Managing Director at the law firm of MLA, focusing on procurement advocacy, governmental affairs and PPPs. Earlier he was Global VP of public sector strategy at CA Technologies, Inc. He began his career as a university professor at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, where he created his first technology innovation lab.

Ever since the Wright Brothers took to the skies, aviation has captured our imagination. The world has become much smaller and accessible. Private rockets cost 1/20th of their predecessors. Jets burn half the fuel as before while creating a minuscule noise and pollution footprint. Engines come with intelligence that can mitigate disasters and significantly decrease operational cost. Drones are being used in ways that were unimaginable 5 years ago and tourists are orbiting the earth. Keiretsu Forum Midwest members are interested in supporting high-growth technology companies drawn to this space and promoting their rapid advancement in the ecosystem.

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Park Burrets

Aerospace Committee Chair

After Park wrote the instructions for astronauts to deploy 11 satellites from the Space Shuttle and monitored their activities as the youngest NASA front room Mission Controller, he moved into the commercial arena where he assumed leadership roles on a multitude of projects with a special interest in those that were declared impossible by the experts, had an entrenched competitor and those that others couldn’t seem to finish.

Other Markets


AgTech


Fashion Tech


Hospitality


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Contact Us


phone: (917) 653-9490
email: midwestinfo@keiretsuforum.com

Forum Cities


Cincinnati/Lexington/Louisville
Chicago
Detroit/Ann Arbor/Minneapolis/Kansas City

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