Our panel of executives will address the rapid growth of cloud computing and expansion of mobile consumer and enterprise applications and how this has changed the software industry with significantly shorter development timelines, lower production costs, simpler distribution channels, and new revenue models. How does NM fit into this new and rapidly evolving landscape? What are the state’s unique advantages?

Our All-Star panel of NM-based software entrepreneurs:

Andrew Van Luchene
Founder and CEO of Jackrabbit Systems
Having already successfully started-up five organizations, Van Luchene is a proven entrepreneur and specialist in inventing technology systems for the e-commerce applications industry.

• JackRabbit Systems – customized search engine allows visitors to book lodging directly through its flagship product, BookDirect™
• Leviathan Entertainment – an intellectual property development and licensing company
• VL Properties – the business purchases and leases commercial property in Santa Fe, NM
• Blue Lava Group – an online retailer that sold hard goods in a number of categories
• RetailDNA – the company sells a software product called the Digital Deal

Today, Van Luchene is President and CEO of JackRabbit Systems, which he founded in 2003. JackRabbit Systems is the pioneer search engine which allows visitors to book lodging properties directly through its flagship product, BookDirect™. The company’s goal is to eliminate the middleman costs that other online travel providers incur for hotels, while enhancing the visitor’s experience and increasing room nights in selected destinations. The BookDirect™ search engine is live on over 200 top destination websites throughout North America.

Doruk Aytulu
Co-Founder and CEO, InBox Fever, and recent participant in Tech All-Stars, Boulder, CO
Doruk has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He got his MBA at San Diego State University, where as a graduate assistant, he worked with DARPA and CCAT on market assessment projects for early stage technologies. Following his passion for early stage technology and innovation commercialization, he worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. At LANL, Doruk identified commercially viable technologies, spun out companies, licensed technologies, and administered an internal technology maturation fund. As part of his regional economic development responsibilities he worked with over 200 Southern California and New Mexico high-tech companies. Doruk happily takes the meetings so that others don’t have to.

Marshall Monroe
Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Marshall Monroe MAGIC
Marshall Monroe MAGIC is a strategic visioning consultancy and studio headquartered in New Mexico. The firm leverages Monroe’s pioneering research into the new science of “Quantum Leap Mechanics™,” with clients ranging from HBO and Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures, to NASA and the DoD. The firm’s venture arm just completed a successful mobile strategy and development partnership effort (native iOS app) with leading internet retailer wine.com, and they have two follow-on mobile development efforts in works. Monroe spent 14 years as a Creative Executive with the Walt Disney Company and was a founding member of the Disney Research and Development Division. He holds 14 patents for entertainment technologies in use literally all over the world. Monroe is active in entertainment as well as federal R&D communities, having chaired the New Mexico Governor’s Council for Film and Digital Media, and as a member of the Director of National Intelligence’s Intelligence Science Board. He is also a delegate to the exclusive Forbes Global CEO Conference, held each year in various Pacific Rim and ASEAN host nations.

Discussion Leader:

Todd Hand
Managing Partner, Talent Capital Group
Todd Hand, a CVF Board member since 2006, is the Managing Partner at Talent Capital Group, a venture capital-backed executive search firm in Boston. Consulting with company boards and founders, Todd specializes in identifying “high impact” leaders to drive the success of technology start-ups. Todd stepped away for two years to be COO & VP of Sales & Marketing at CleanSwitch, a solar technology integrator. CleanSwitch was a client of the company of Talent Capital Group. Prior, Todd recruited management teams for Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies. He moved there from the Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology market research firm, where he opened sales offices throughout the US, hired and managed the inside sales and marketing teams, and built the company’s recruiting department. Since 1994, Todd has filled hundreds of technology management positions. Todd has been invited as a guest writer for NetworkWorld. He holds a BA from Penn State and is a two-time Ironman finisher.

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012
Time: 6-8 pm (5:30 pm cocktails)
Venue: Prairie Star Restaurant
288 Prairie Star Rd
Santa Ana Pueblo, NM 87004
Directions: Map
Cost: $22.50 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009
Time: 6 – 8 pm

Venue: Prairie Star, 288 Prairie Star Rd, Bernalillo, NM
Map: Google Map
$20 in advance (credit cards payments)
$25 at the door (cash and check only)

Event Details

• 6:00 – 6:30 pm: Hors d’oeuvres & Networking
• 6:30 – 8:00 pm: Presentation
• $20 per person in advance; $25 at the door (Cash or Check only)

About the Speaker

Bill Plummer, former Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia North America

Bill Plummer, featured on CNBC, CTIA, & CNET, joined Nokia in May of 1997. From 2007-2009 he served as GM and Vice President of Nokia’s North American Multimedia Business and then Nokia Americas-wide Go-to-Market, responsible for product roadmapping, program management and launch.

From 2004-2007 he was Nokia’s Vice President, External Affairs, responsible for Corporate Communications and Government and Industry Relations activities in North America. From June 2002 through January 2004, Bill was Nokia’s Vice President of Strategic & External Affairs, responsible for strategic corporate planning and execution in the Americas. Prior to June 2002, Bill was Vice President of Government and Industry Affairs, acting as Nokia’s lead representative to the U.S. Government and coordinating Nokia’s interaction with national and international industry associations.

Prior to joining Nokia, Bill served from 1990 through 1997 as a career officer in the United States Foreign Service, with positions in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs, the Office of Multilateral Trade, and the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Republic of Ecuador.