2011 Final Judging Panel

Sean Madnani

Sean V. Madnani is a Managing Director at The Blackstone Group L.P. and a founding member of the firm's Technology Investment Banking practice. Mr. Madnani maintains an office in both Boston and New York.

Since joining Blackstone in 2005, Mr. Madnani has been involved with several watershed M&A transactions, including: Blackstone's acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor (the largest Technology LBO in history), the cross-border combination of Reuters with Thomson, the dissolution of Comcast's joint venture with Insight Communications, the sale of Tribune Company and subsequent Chapter 11 reorganization, along with several others. Mr. Madnani has notably also advised companies like: Adaptec, Akamai, American Express, Avid Technology, Emulex, Microsoft, Motorola, Opnext, SeaChange International, Sycamore Networks, and Yahoo.

In addition, Mr. Madnani has helped to structure many venture financing and M&A transactions involving early-stage companies such as: ATI Technologies, Casa Systems, Escient, Global Tower Partners, Gracenote, Highwinds, Intcomex, Touchstone Wireless, Vanu, and VividLogic, amongst others.

Before joining Blackstone in 2005, Mr. Madnani worked at Lazard Frères & Co. LLC in San Francisco, New York, and London. During his career as an investment banker, Mr. Madnani has advised on over 50 completed M&A transactions totaling more than $100 billion in aggregate value.

Mr. Madnani received a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated as an IBM Thomas J. Watson Scholar and a Cal Alumni Scholar.

Dan Nova

Dan joined Highland Capital Partners in 1996 as a General Partner to establish and build the firm's internet investment practice. He also co-founded the Highland Consumer Fund, and he is leading the firm's expansion efforts into China.

He continues to be an active investor focusing on technology and consumer investments with specific experience and interest in internet, digital marketing and media technologies. His current portfolio includes Beyond the Rack, CMI Marketing, Rent The Runway, SmallRivers, UUSee and Yoga Works. Dan has been recognized by the prestigious Forbes Midas List as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry.

Prior to joining Highland in 1996, Dan was a Partner at CMG@Ventures where he co-led the partnership's investment activities in early-stage internet companies. While at CMG@Ventures, Dan co-founded Lycos, Inc. in June of 1995, and played an integral role from its inception to its IPO in April of 1996 and finally through its sale to Terra Networks in 2000.

Prior to joining CMG@Ventures Dan was a Senior Associate at Summit Partners focused on later-stage technology and environmental investments. He also worked at Wang Laboratories from 1983 through 1989 in a variety of sales management and sales positions.

Greg Dracon

Greg Dracon joined .406 Ventures in 2007 and is involved in all aspects of the investing and portfolio management process. He brings 18 years of venture investing and technology operating and management experience.

Prior to joining .406, Greg was a Vice President of Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage venture and small to mid-sized growth technology companies. At Core, Greg focused on software, digital media, technology-enabled services and wireless applications.

From 1995 to 2005, Greg held various operating and management roles at Texas Instruments, including positions in worldwide sales, business development, product distribution and digital signal processing applications.

Greg received his MBA, with majors in Entrepreneurial Management and Finance, from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his BS in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.

James Kasinger

James Kasinger, a partner in Goodwin Procter's Technology Companies, Corporate and Private Equity Groups, concentrates in general corporate and securities laws and has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, private placements of debt and equity securities, public offerings, securities law compliance and technology transfer and strategic licensing. Mr. Kasinger represents companies in all stages of development, from start-up through initial public offering or acquisition.

Mr. Kasinger represents private and public companies in a wide range of industries, including software, digital media, security, Internet, life sciences and biotechnology, communications and networking equipment, and information services. He spends a significant amount of time working with early stage and start-up companies assisting them with formation, seed financing and intellectual property protection.

Mr. Kasinger also represents several venture capital and private equity firms in connection with portfolio investments in operating companies, and investment banks in connection with underwritten offerings and their activities as financial advisors to companies engaged in financings or strategic transactions.

Mr. Kasinger has been recognized as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer "Rising Star" by Law & Politics and Boston magazines. He is a member of the American and Boston Bar Associations.

Michael J. Naughton

Michael J. Naughton is a Professor in and Chairman of the Department of Physics at Boston College. After received his Ph.D. from Boston University in 1986, Naughton worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania before becoming a faculty member at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He joined the faculty at Boston College in 1998 and assumed the chairmanship of the Physics Department in 2006, after serving for one interim year as Associate Vice President for Research. Naughton is an APS Fellow, a (long) past NSF Young Investigator, and a past member of the Executive Committee of the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics (DCMP). An experimentalist with 175 publications and 20+ patents, Naughton's research concentrates on experimental condensed matter & materials physics and nanoscale integrated science. His particular interests lie in the nanoscale manipulation of light and in organic superconductivity.

He cofounded two technology companies, Tau Sensors LLC and Solasta Inc.