He is a Director of Aon PLC, a Global Insurance Brokerage (NYSE:Aon). His previous firm, Nasdaq Insurance Group, LLC owned by the Nasdaq Stock Market was sold to Aon in 2009. Mr. Heldfond is also the Managing Partner of eSEED Capital, LLC, a technology-focused merchant banking firm since 1999.

Mr. Heldfond serves on the Board of Mendocino Brewing Company (NASDAQ:MENDO). He also serves as an advisor to UB Group(India) and Kingfisher (India). He also served as a Director of HomeGain, Inc( sold to Classified Ventures), a private venture backed company and UBICS, a NASDAQ traded firm that provides information technology staffing and solutions for domestic and international businesses. Mr. Heldfond has also served as a Director of Galoob Toys, NYSE;GAL, which was sold to Hasbro.

Mr. Heldfond holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and completed graduate studies at the University of San Francisco Law School. He is a Commissioner and the President of the Civil Service Commion for the City and County of San Francisco. In addition he serves as an advisor to or on the Board of Directors of a number of local, statewide, and national charitable and community service organizations. Mr. Heldfond is the retired Honorary Consul General to the U.S. for the Republic of Rwanda.

Deepa Misra Harris, Senior Vice President – Global Sales & Marketing, successfully leads and enhances critical sales and marketing initiatives in India and abroad for the Taj Group.

Deepa oversees the sales and marketing function for Taj Group worldwide encompassing the worldwide sales force, distribution, central reservations, brand marketing, public relations, social media, marketing communications and advertising functions. Taj Group consists of 122 hotels globally under four brands: 27 hotels in the Luxury brand Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces which includes the iconic flagship – The TajMahal Palace in Mumbai, landmark city hotels in key gateway cities across the world, idyllic beach resorts, authentic royal palaces and Taj Safari Lodges; 41 Vivanta by Taj Hotels & Resorts; 27 Gateway Hotels & Resorts in India and 27 Ginger hotels in India.

She has over 30 years experience in hospitality sales and marketing. She was Vice President Marketing prior to taking on her current role in November, 2011. She is the only specialist to have served separately as Vice President Sales and Vice President Marketing before taking the lead job to oversee both functions. She has worked across most markets in India and abroad and has played an integral role in the growth of the Taj brand, including the recent Brand Architecture exercise and the roll-out of the new Vivanta by Taj and Gateway brands. As global head for Sales and Marketing, she is responsible for formulating the strategic framework and deployment whilst driving top line growth for Taj to its current market leadership position. The Taj brand architecture is a case study at the Harvard Business School.

Deepa is on the board of several group companies – Taj GVK Hotels and Resorts Limited, Piem Hotels Limited, Northern India Hotels Limited, Piem International (H.K.) Limited, Taj Karnataka Hotels and Resorts Limited, GVK EMRI and TAL Lanka Hotels PLC. She also serves on key industry boards, including Hotel Association of India, PATA, Experience India Society (the India Ministry of Tourism’s private/public think tank partnership), the Luxury Marketing Council of India, the marketing advisory board for Leading Hotels of the World and the Advisory board for CMO Council India. She is also on the board of Trustees of Taj Public Service Welfare Trust.

Deepa is also the first hospitality executive representative to be named by a leading business publication to India’s prestigious list of the top 50 women, for two consecutive years, whose proven leadership skills have helped them successfully break through the glass ceiling to triumph in their fields. She is also amongst the Impact list of 50 most influential women in Media, Marketing and Advertising.

Matthew Goudeau serves as Director of Protocol for the City and County of San Francisco.Through the last three mayoral administrations, Matthew has been responsible for implementing San Francisco’s international affairs and civic event programming. In this capacity, Matthew works to enhance the City’s status as a global center for culture, trade, commerce, and tourism. Matthew attended the University of San Francisco, graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts. Degree in Politics and a certificate from the St. Ignatius Institute.

Sergio Garcia serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed medical technology company. Sergio has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” in Northern California for several years, and is a leader in the legal and business community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In his executive role at ZELTIQ, Sergio advises on a variety of corporate and transactional matters, including strategic transactions, intellectual property matters, international compliance, SEC regulation, employment matters and litigation. Sergio also regularly counsels the board of directors on corporate governance matters.

Sergio has extensive experience advising technology companies. Prior to joining ZELTIQ, Sergio was a partner at global technology law firms, Reed Smith LLP and Fenwick & West LLP, where he advised clients on corporate, transactional, and regulatory compliance matters. He also served as outside general counsel to early-stage companies on intellectual property matters, strategic alliances, licensing and collaboration agreements.

Throughout his legal career, Sergio has assumed leadership and policy role positions in the legal profession and in the business community. He has served on several bar and nonprofit boards, including the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Opportunity Fund, a Silicon Valley-based community development financial institution.

Sergio also previously served as General Counsel of a public biotechnology company, where he was responsible for overseeing all legal matters, including SEC reporting and compliance, corporate governance and strategic transactions.
Sergio has taught law as a Fulbright Professor of Law, and has written and presented on intellectual property law, international trade and policy, antitrust law and technology issues.

Sergio earned a JD from U.C. Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelors of Arts degree with distinction from Stanford University.

B.A., Stanford University in International Relations (specializing in Southeast Asia), J.D., Northwestern University. Bob Friese specializes in the structuring and funding of new ventures, and in dealing with business-related disputes, including taking them into formal legal proceedings. His firm, Shartsis Friese LLP, founded in 1975, deals broadly in business matters. Bob is Board Chair of the charity, San Francisco Beautiful and Board Vice-Chair of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC. He has founded or co-founded several companies other than his law firm, including a language institute in Geneva, Switzerland and the International Plant Research Institute.

B.S., Chemistry, Loyola College, India; M.S., Chemical Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan; Founder/Treasurer Cross Border Entrepreneurship; Managed 2 funds in Silicon Valley investing in more than 25 companies; Served key management roles in Tandy Corp. and ASCII Corp., as well as on the boards of several companies, including ASCII, Nexgen, 8×8, Information Storage Devices, Power Computing, Salon.com, CyberBills, Kiwi Ventures, and currently serves on the boards/committees of Vendevor, IQTP, USTA NorCal, the Palo Alto Tennis Club.

BA in Economics from University of California, Davis; MBA in International Marketing from University of California, Berkeley; Mark Chandler is the Director of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of International Trade and Commerce. Mark has been a member of the Mayor’s Office for over twenty-five years and has worked for six mayors. During his tenure,Mark has been responsible for the international business programs of the City of San Francisco, including Sister City ties, trade and investment projects, trade missions, import and export promotion and international business attraction. Mark has coordinated over thirty overseas missions to locations diverse as Mexico, China, France, Israel, Vietnam, Ireland, Australia, The Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Japan.

Vijay is a well-known restaurateur and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. His noteworthy success, branded as Amber, represents Indian cuisine at its finest level and on par with other global standouts. The Amber group of award winning Restaurants in Northern California therefore represents a class of distinctive and innovative culinary offerings. In addition to the overseeing of the restaurants, Vijay devotes his time to continually study and engage in the innovations in the Indian cuisine, with the objective of articulation in North America and elsewhere. While he continues to build on his restaurant success, he helps improve the world’s perception of Indian cuisine prepared in the United States. He is a Charter Member of TiE and is affiliated with culinary and hospitality professional groups. He is engaged in mentoring of aspiring entrepreneurs and devotes considerable time and resources to social, charitable and political causes.He is a Charter Member of TiE and is affiliated with culinary and hospitality professional groups. He is engaged in mentoring of aspiring entrepreneurs and devotes considerable time and resources to social, charitable and political causes.

B.S. Finance and Accounting from the University of Bombay, India; MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduated as a foreign student scholar. Vijay C. Advani is Executive Vice President for Franklin Templeton Investments – Global Advisory Services. He is responsible for Franklin Templeton’s global retail and institutional distribution strategies and initiatives, including sales, marketing, client service and product development. He is an officer of Franklin Resources, Inc., a member of several Franklin Templeton committees and a board member of various Franklin Templeton subsidiaries. Mr. Advani is a board member of Jumpstart, U.S – India Business Council (USIBC) and the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a committee member of the India Advisory Committee at the Santa Clara University (SCU) and former Board Member of Lok Foundation.

B.S., Finance, Accounting and Economics, Karnatak University; DMA, Finance, University of Bombay, India; Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Accountant; Executive Vice-President, Finance Administration and Operations and Chief Financial Officer of VL, Inc., 2003-2005; Presently Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee and Member of Nominating Committees of the Board of Versant Corp & Back Web Tech. Also on the Board of TriVium Systems &Verifaya Corp. Previously Chief Financial Officer of Atrica, Inc.; Previously CEO of Wortal, Inc.