2020 Crummer Rollins Venture Plan Competition | Finalist Pitches

Venture Plan Competition Introduction

Pitch #1: Young Innovators Technologies

Pitch #2: mTrack

Pitch #3: Precision Periodics

Pitch #4: ClienTell

Vote for your Favorite Pitch:

2020 Venture Plan Competition Finals Judges

Judi Awsumb

Awsumb Enterprises, Inc. founded in 2003, provides business growth strategies and initiatives to help businesses achieve identified growth objectives. The company offers a full spectrum of advisory services that are measurable to achieve the client’s desired success. Judi has worked with CEO’s and executives in innovative and high-growth companies including software companies, renewable energy, retail, engineering and a variety of other industries. Her prior experience as a Corporate Vice President in a large company that she grew from $16 million to over $200 million, provides the necessary background and skill set to understand each threshold of growth. Awsumb Enterprises assists CEO’s and business leaders in examining all facets of their business in order to take it to the next level of growth.

Judi is also the founder of WE- Women Entrepreneurs, powered by CEO Nexus which focuses on growth strategies, operations, leadership and succession planning. This group of women owned businesses are generating a minimum of $1 million plus in annual revenues. A proven community leader, Judi continues to serve on various boards and has been guest faculty for strategic planning in the Rollins College Business Accelerator program.

Mike Gallagher

Mike Gallagher is a 30-year telecommunications industry veteran who has the ability to both operate complex entities and devise strategic direction. He has proven leadership experience, having built several successful and highly performing management teams. Currently, Mike consults for various Private Equity clients, most of whom were at one time investors in his entrepreneurial telecom enterprises. He is currently working as Executive Chairman for Hosting, which is a Pamlico Capital backed Datacenter and Managed Services/Unified Cloud provider. Mike also serves on several boards including Pamlico’s rural broadband provider Vast Broadband, Momentum Telecom, and C&D Technologies. He is also the owner of a telecom focused consulting firm, Eldora Partners. Mike has a degree in Mathematics and Physics from Rollins College, and has attended a certificate level course in Data Communications from Washington University.

Suneera Madhani

Suneera Madhani, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fattmerchant, is a payments and technology innovator who has catapulted her business idea from startup to $5B — disrupting the payments ecosystem as we know it. Under Madhani’s strategic leadership, Fattmerchant has reached record high numbers since its existence; attaining triple-digit growth year after year, scaling operations in multiple cities across the United States, raising $20M in venture capital, and employing over 100 employees. Fattmerchant was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2018 Top Company Cultures and Suneera was recognized as Ernst and Young’s winning women of 2019. Before founding Fattmerchant in 2014, Madhani held a variety of successful positions, one being with a larger merchant services provider.

John Riley

John Riley founded Legacy Fund in 2006 for the purpose of investing in privately held businesses and the development of commercial real estate projects. Mr. Riley founded ZeroChaos in 1999 and sold the company in 2005. ZeroChaos, with annual revenues of 3.8 billion dollars, pioneered a new staffing model changing the way Fortune 200 companies source, manage and administer their contract labor workforce. Prior to ZeroChaos, Mr. Riley founded and held several positions in Transworld Services Group in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Riley received his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Rollins College in 1982 and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1984.

Richard Licursi

Richard Licursi is Managing Partner and co-founder of
venVelo, a fully committed early stage venture fund located in Winter Park, Florida. Prior to venVelo, Mr. Licursi was a co-founder, President and CEO of MeshNetworks Inc. Upon Motorola’s acquisition of MeshNetworks, he served as Vice President and Director of Operations for the Mesh Network Product Group at Motorola. Mr. Licursi has worked with early stage companies for most of his 35-year career. He has raised more than $70M from venture capital investors and has provided those investors over 8 times the return on their capital. He has successfully exited 4 companies, 3 of which he co-founded and 4 of which he was president and CEO. He is a graduate of St. Peter’s University.

Richard Powell

Co-founder & Sr. Managing Director of APC Holdings, LLC., Richard Powell’s key strengths are in finance, management and e-business. Prior to forming the firm in 2003, Mr. Powell was an Associate in the Emerging Markets Group at Bear Stearns. He has also worked in Corporate Finance at UBS Warburg. Mr. Powell currently serves on the boards of each APCP portfolio company. He is also a board member of the ACG Orlando chapter and the 1420 Foundation, a non-profit leveraging education to advance sustainable global economic development. Mr. Powell has been recognized as a rising star in global finance, and has spoken at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Business, and the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. He has been featured in publications including Inc. magazine, the Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal. He graduated with an AB in Economics from Harvard University.

Natalie Hayes Schmook

Natalie Hayes Schmook is the founder and owner of Hayes Wealth Advisors LLC, a financial planning and investment management service for employed optometrists, practice owners and their families. Natalie is also a Certified Valuation Analyst™ and has developed expertise in business valuations with a specific focus on optometry practices.

Natalie graduated with Honors from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL and also received her Masters of Business Administration there. She and her husband Eric live in Atlanta, Georgia with their two fun, spunky little girls and enjoy playing league tennis in their free time.

Diana LaTour

Diana LaTour currently serves as an Operating Partner for LFE Capital, Naples, FL and the Managing Partner of LaTour & Associates, an international consulting firm focused on innovative business development, and is currently the interim CEO of eMindful Inc, a company providing live online training in mindfulness. Previously she served as President & CEO of World Telehealth Corporation, CEO of ContourPak International, Founder & CEO of RedCreek Communications, President & CEO of Cross Access Corporation, Vice President and General Manager of the Data Communications Group at AST Research, International Consultant and Partner of Latco International, and Founder and Vice President of Tra-Tech. Ms. LaTour holds a Bachelor Science degree in Mathematics from University of California, Los Angeles, Master of Science degrees in Mathematics and Behavioral Psychology from University of Southern California, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management School at Harvard University.

Kathy Chiu

Kathy Chiu is a Founding Partner of DeepWork Capital, formerly the FAN Fund, an early stage investment fund that launched in November 2015 that invests in high growth early stage companies in Florida. Prior to DeepWork Capital, Kathy was the president and founder of Venture Catapult, a strategy and business development consulting practice that specializes in new market entry and has clients ranging from US based Fortune 500 to Asian technology companies. She was also a wireless venture capitalist with Denver-based iSherpa Capital, and served in a variety of roles at Lefthand Networks, Cornerstone Research, and Compaq Computers. Prior to her business roles, Kathy was an electrical engineer and worked in technical positions at Superconducting Supercollider Laboratory, Tektronix, and MIT’s Media Lab. Kathy has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an BS and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Thank you to the 2020 Venture Plan Competition sponsors!

Diamond Sponsor

Hayes Family Foundation

Platinum Sponsors

Bay4 Energy

James T. and Diana P. Barnes Foundation Inc.

Gold Sponsors

SunTrust Foundation

Arsenal

Eldora Partners

Silver Sponsors

HashLynx

National Christian Foundation Orlando

RVR Consulting

Florentine Strategies

Fattmerchant

Legacy Fund

In-Kind Sponsors

venVelo

Ferrell & Kelly

Seedfunders Orlando

Idea Fund Partners

VentureScaleUp