THE BEN FRANKLIN LEARNING CENTER - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Investor
• Director of Finance for Array

Alec Galanti is an angel investor and serves as a finance and operations advisor to a number of start-ups. His general focus is in the software/tech space where utilizing his background in finance, economics, and data analytics, he develops financial models and assists executives on analyzing key performance metrics and making operational decisions that drive company growth. Much of Alec's professional experience comes from working with Brandyourself.com where he serves as the Director of Finance. In his time there he has had the opportunity to help lead the company through multiple rounds of financing, an appearance on Shark Tank, and numerous operational changes including an office move from NYC to Lancaster, PA. Alec is a graduate of Penn State where he was a student in the Schreyer Honors college and graduated with a degree in Finance and Economics. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Computer Information Technology from the University of Pennsylvania. In his free time he enjoys playing soccer with his local pick-up team, "attempting" the occasional round of golf, or finding a local court where he can play squash.

Job Titles:

• Owner of Mighty Creative and Blogger at MightyMrs.Com

Angela Gast is owner of Mighty Creative and blogger at MightyMrs.com. Angela holds a bachelor's in Mass Communications from VCU and has been working as a creative in advertising for more than 15 years. She started out working on Circuit City's ecommerce site where she learned that better quality product photography ultimately led to increased online sales. Angela has since worked with a variety of online companies to help promote their products and services using visually appealing ads and online experiences to attract and convert sales. She currently uses photography to attract viral (free!) traffic to her blog. Angela recently completed a photography workshop in Minneapolis taught by food-blog-famous Lindsay Ostrom of Pinch of Yum, and will be sharing some of the same tips and tricks she learned there, with the eMLC audience.

Job Titles:

• Creative Director and Co - Founder of Werkbot Studios

As Creative Director and Co-founder of Werkbot Studios, Brian has more than 17 years experience in digital strategy and web production. He's worked as a designer, developer, instructor and adjunct professor teaching UX/UI design, web development, and the creative process. Brian was President of the Erie Ad Club (the regional chapter of the American Advertising Federation), served on the board of the Erie Philharmonic, Young Erie Professionals and spoken at several design conferences.

Job Titles:

• Executive Director
• Executive Director of the Ben Franklin Technology Partner 's EMarketing Learning Center

Cathy von Birgelen is the executive director of the Ben Franklin Learning Center. She is a certified email marketing professional and strategic marketing consultant with more than 20 years of experience in e-marketing and business development efforts. She has consulted with a wide range of regional and national clients including, General Electric, (GE) Choice Hotels, Proctor & Gamble, Holcombs, Howard Industries, Troyer Farms, Gannon University, Blair, Penn State Erie - The Behrend College and many more.

Job Titles:

• Family Physician
• CEO of AcousticSheep

AcousticSheep LLC was founded in 2007 by Dr. Wei-Shin Lai, a family physician, and her husband Jason Wolfe, a video game developer. Dr. Lai struggled with getting back to sleep after taking patient phone calls in the middle of the night. She needed to listen to some meditative music to help her relax, but headphones were bulky, and ear buds were uncomfortable. Since there were no headphones specifically designed for sleeping on the market, she invented her own and called them SleepPhones. They worked so well for her that she decided she had to offer them to all of her patients taking sleeping pills. Her husband soldered and she sewed the first 500 pieces themselves on their kitchen table. Initial feedback was phenomenal. One woman was able to come off of sleeping pills after taking them for 10 years. Another saved her marriage because she could finally sleep in the same bed as her snoring husband. Dr. Lai and her husband decided to patent their invention and start a real business. They completely sold out in their first year. For the first six years, Jason and Wei-Shin ran their business out of their house. After selling 100,000 pieces they decided to take their business to the next level, hiring their first full-time employee and setting up their warehouse in Erie, PA. Since leaving their day jobs in 2013, Jason and Wei-Shin have won numerous awards as Entrepreneur of the Year in PA (SBA), Entrepreneur of the Year in Western PA & WV (Ernst & Young), and Small Business of the Year with the Consumer Technology Association. They have won 8 Consumer Electronics Association Innovation Awards for their products, 2 Pennsylvania ImPAct Awards (Entrepreneur and Exports), and a Red Dot Design Award. Locally, they have won the Disrupt Erie Award, Ben Franklin Award, and the Commitment to Erie Award.

Job Titles:

• Founder and Designer of DOHQ, School of Action, Flavors.Me and Goodsie

Jack Zerby is obsessed with details. But mostly one thing - ad copy - specifically advertising copy that drives action. Jack is the Founder and Designer of DOHQ, School Of Action, Flavors.me and Goodsie. His products have appeared in Forbes, NY Times, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and Time Magazine. He was the former Design Director at Vimeo, and was a designer at Pentagram Design, Frog Design and RG/A.

Job Titles:

• Accountant and Coordinator of Administrative Services for Ben Franklin Transformation Business Services

Jennifer L Wingard joined Ben Franklin Transformation Business Services Network in May 2018 as an Accountant and Coordinator of Administrative Services. As part of her mission to help businesses grow, she works with clients to provide them with proper accounting skills and office procedures. Jennifer, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA, previously worked in governmental accounting, public accounting and private industry.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• VP and Partner of Protocol 80, Inc

Josh Curcio is VP and partner of protocol 80, Inc., an inbound marketing agency located in Bradford, PA. Josh has helped businesses of all sizes succeed online, from Fortune 500s to small local businesses. Josh is Inbound Marketing certified, HubSpot certified, and AdWords certified. Day-to-day, Josh is usually working on inbound marketing, website creation, project management, and client communication.

Job Titles:

• Director of Human Resources and Training for Ben Franklin Technology Partners' Transformations Business Services Network

Kate Alward is the Director of Human Resources and Training for Ben Franklin Technology Partners' Transformations Business Services Network. She has experience as an HR consultant and formed the HR division for specifically for tech startups. In her current position, Kate partners with organizational leadership to act as a change agent and helps implement effective HR solutions for the most pressing business challenges. She's also responsible for developing and implementing performance management processes, training and organizational development programs, employee recognition programs and enhancing HR operations processes to capitalize on new HR initiatives. In addition to her HR expertise, Kate has owned two small businesses where she was responsible for all HR functions, along with her management responsibilities.