Alexander Alpern
Partner, Apaxys Global Ventures, LLC

Alexander Alpern is a Partner at Apaxys Global Ventures. Apaxys Global Ventures is an investment and market entry services specialist focused on helping the emerging software companies from Russia and Eastern Europe to enter the US market, providing access to capital and M&A advisory services. Alexander is a co-organizer and COO at the Moscow Venture Forum. Prior to that Alexander worked at the Russian early stage investment company, where he was responsible for generation, screening and evaluation of deals. Alexander holds M.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM).

Anna is a Founder and CEO of Entana Corp., an entrepreneurship and venture advisory firm that focuses on providing business strategy, planning, fundraising, and positioning services to the early-stage technology start-ups.  It also provides a part-time executive management and angel financing.

Anna is also a Co-Founder of Kovalsky Art Gallery, a contemporary art boutique that gives art lovers around the world unique access to some of the most famous Russian artists. The gallery specializes in art from the mid 20th century onwards with an emphasis on post-impressionism, avant-garde, primitivism, expressionism, and abstract art.

Previously, Anna was a Co-Founder and the VP of Business Development at BKP Security, a government IT security company. Prior to that, she was a Foreign Advisor at the international law firm, Coudert Brothers. Before moving into private business, Anna held academic research positions at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University) and the Moscow office of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (Harvard University).

Anna has her J.D. from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and her Master of Laws degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Anna is an active member of the Board of Directors of American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR). She was 2005 AmBAR President and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the first Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2005) Technology Investment Conference.

 Denis Dovgopoliy
Partner, Managing Director at BayView Innovations

Before BayView Innovations, Denis was working in the Venture Capital & Private Equity Industry as a Managing Director of Center for Innovation Development (CID). CID is a member of Techinvest Group that works closely with Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Techinvest manages Ukrainian High-Tech Competition and provides technology business incubator management, consulting, training, market research for Ukrainian startups.

Prior to CID Denis Dovgolopiy spent over 10 years in IT and telecommunications industry consulting. Denis was a co-owner and CEO of Profitcenter, management and consulting company and a co-owner of Mobile Marketing Research (MMR) Agency. Both Profitcenter and MMR were acquired by Center for Innovation Development. Mr. Dovgopoliy is a co-organizer of Conference "Client oriented company" (Education Management Industry). He was a commercial director at Novatek (Outsourcing/Offshoring Industry), Commercial Director at Ukrpage (Information Technology and Services Industry). Denis Dovgopoliy holds MBA degree from International Management Institute (Kiev) and MA degree in Aerospace Systems from Kyiv Politechnic Institute.

Irina Greenman has over 7 years of experience in marketing and project management. Currently, she is actively involved in the SVOD (Silicon Valley Open Door) Conference and AmBar (American Business Association of Russian Professionals).  Prior to AmBar, she was responsible for Business Development and Marketing at the The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), as well as, a major Ukrainian Trade Company.   Irina has a vast international and non-profit experience.

Originally from Odessa, Ukraine, Irina holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics and Masters in Finance from Odessa State Economic University.

Stas Khirman has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry as an architect, manager, visionary and inventor. Stas co-found Skyrider - revolutionary company developing technologies to organize and monetize peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.  Prior to founding Skyrider, Khirman founded Narus, a global leader in software and technology for the telecom industry and government agencies, where he designed the world’s most scalable network transaction analysis system. Khirman had previously served as the networking group leader at VDOnet, a pioneer in internet video. Khirman was behind the development of a number of standards organizations and participated in the early definition of the VoIP H.323 protocol. Khirman holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Kiev.

Natasha Krol 

Managing Partner, Alexander and Krol Executive Search

Natasha Krol is a Managing Partner at Alexander and Krol, an Executive Search firm specializing in the US and Eastern European Technology Markets.

Prior to that, she was a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International’s Global Technology Market, based in the firm’s Silicon Valley office.  He clients included companies like Google, HP, Audatex, TransUnion and others.  

She began her career as a Marketing Officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Krol holds an M.S. degree in Linguistics from St. Petersburg University. 

Ms. Krol has served on the technical advisory board for American Express, and has been a featured keynote speaker at more than 50 international conferences.

Alexei Kudriashov
Co-founder, President and CEO, SperaSoft, Inc

Prior to founding SperaSoft, Inc., an offshore software development and outsourcing services company, Alexei was a Channel Development Manager with the Software Marketing Group, Sun Microsystems. He was responsible for business and channel strategy and management in driving adoption and deployment of Sun's business productivity suite worldwide. Previously, Alexei founded Martak International, Inc., a manufacturer's representative and export company, distributing hi-tech and medical equipment overseas. He received an M.S. in Management and Business from MIT, Sloan School of Management and M.D. from Volgograd Medical Academy, Russia.

Igor brings more than 15 years of experience in software engineering as an engineer, project manager and architect. At Kaiser Permanente IT Igor's major role is to assess performance and scalability of software applications that serve 3.5 million of North California region members. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Igor worked at two Silicon Valley startups: Attest Systems and Softchain Inc.

Before coming to the United States in 1999, Igor devoted 10 years of his life to Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology, where he studied, developed educational software, conducted scientific research and taught engineering classes.

Before joining Microsoft Leonid founded IOnKey Systems, an early-stage technology company where he was responsible for operations and product management. Prior to that he co-founded CallTheShots, an internet infrastructure company acquired by Akamai Technologies and worked for Financial Engines and Morgan Stanley. Leonid holds B.S. from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and M.S. and Ph. D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University.

Ilya is a social entrepreneur and a marketing/business strategy professional. Currently, he oversees operations at Satori Academy, a VC funded national chain of martial arts schools.

Also, Ilya is a Strategic Advisor to Vision and Execution, a marketing and business strategy-consulting firm. In this role, he provides marketing expertise to companies from the former Soviet Union.

Earlier in his career, Ilya held a variety of marketing, consulting and research positions with Bering Group, the International Monetary Fund, Kroll Associates and Intermark Group. Ilya holds a BA in Intercultural Communications from Moscow State Linguistic University and a certificate in entrepreneurship from Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy.

Julia Pogodina
Principal, IBCI Law Group

Julia Pogodina is a business attorney with over 10 years of legal experience and is qualified to practice law in California and Russian Federation. She is the Principal at IBCI (International, Business, Corporate and Intellectual Property) Law Group and is "of counsel" at Intellectual Property Law Group. Ms. Pogodina specializes in business, corporate, international and intellectual property law. She represents domestic and foreign companies in various corporate, legal and business transactions, including structuring and negotiating cross-border deals.  Besides legal, Ms. Pogodina also has an extensive business experience. She was the Director of the Moscow's North-Western Branch of Miel Real Estate Agency, major real estate agency in Russia, where she managed legal, financial, and sales activities. Prior to Miel she worked for Trud Joint Stock Company, where she handled a variety of legal and business matters including international business transactions and real estate.

Albina Nikkonen
Executive Director, Russian Venture Capital Association (RVCA)

Since 1998 Albina Nikkonen is an Executive Director of RVCA. The main goal of RVCA is to promote formation and development of venture capital industry in Russia. Albina Nikkonen is one of the organizers of the first Russian "fund-of-funds" Venture Capital Innovation Fund which was established in 2000 under the Government Decree. The main goal of VIF is to promote the appearance of venture funds with national capital in Russia. Also she is the Founder & Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Russian Venture Fair. Mrs. Nikkonen previously worked as a Deputy Manager of the Provisional Science Group PULSE at the USSR Academy of Science and the State Committee for Science & Technology.

Vera is in charge of a diversified portfolio of loans to emerging growth companies, primarily in the technology and life sciences industries. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, she was a portfolio manager with GE Capital and a trader with Goldman Sachs in Menlo Park. Before coming to US in 1998, Vera was a relationship manager with Citibank Moscow where she worked with institutional foreign investors, including Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs and Union Bank of Switzerland. Vera holds B.S. from the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages and MBA from the Finance Academy of the Russian Federation.

Maxim Shekhovtsov is author of several researches and public essays on venture capital and innovation industry. He holds Ph.D. from Institute of World Economy and International Relations of Russian Academy of Sciences and diploma in corporate finance from Finance Academy under the Government of Russian Federation.

Ekaterina provides outsourced services to several start-ups in the Silicon Valley. Her area of specialization is companies that either already have offices in both US and Russia, or plan to do it. Before moving to the United States in 2007, she held a position of Senior Accountant in Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT). There she was responsible for financial statements consolidation and control over North-West Region. She was responsible for tax accounting in that region and for international accounting of fixed assets. Prior to that, she was working as a Chief Accountant Officer and Financial Manager in Russian SMBs. 

Dr. Evgeny Zaytsev joined Asset Management Company in 2001 bringing diverse professional experience in operations and biomedical research.
He has been Chief Scientific Officer of Medico-Ecological Institute in Barnaul, Russia, which was responsible for studying the health and environmental effects of the former Soviet Union's nuclear testing program. The Institute developed into an internationally recognized research center during his seven-year tenure in that position. Evgeny is an author of 39 scientific and business publications, including 8 books. He received his M.D. cum laude and a Ph.D. from Altai Medical University, Russia in 1991, and his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2002.

At Asset Management Company, Evgeny focuses on early stage investments in biotechnology and medical device companies. He is a Board Member of a number of private life sciences companies. Evgeny is an active business community leader. He is a founder of the US-Russia Technology Symposium at Stanford University, and the annual Silicon Valley Open Doors technology investment conference. Evgeny is a Board member and past president of the American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR).