FINAL ROUND JUDGES
Steven Brill
Co-Founder & CEO
Journalism Online
Steven Brill, a graduate of Yale College (’72) and Yale Law School (’75), was the CEO of Verified Identity Pass, an airport security fast pass provider, until he stepped away from an active role in the company to lay the groundwork for Journalism Online, LLC. The new company will offer an innovative system for newspaper, magazine and other online publishers to realize revenue from the digital distribution of the original journalism they produce.
For the last eight years, Brill has also taught a seminar for aspiring journalists at Yale College. In 2006, Brill and his wife Cynthia (also Yale College ’72) expanded that seminar by endowing the Yale Journalism Initiative – an array of non-fiction writing activities, career counseling services and supported internships aimed at channeling Yale students into the profession. In 2007, Yale Law School announced that Brill was providing significant support to a grant from the Knight Foundation aimed at establishing a similar journalism program at the Law School, and in 2009 Brill began teaching (with First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams and New York Times reporter Adam Liptak) a seminar at Yale Law School covering modern media law issues, including how the Internet has affected journalism and the media industry.
Brill worked his way through Yale Law School by writing for New York and Harper’s magazines. When he graduated, he became a legal columnist for Esquire and wrote a best-selling book about the Teamsters Union. In 1978, he founded The American Lawyer magazine, which soon expanded into a national chain of daily and weekly legal newspapers. In 1991, he launched Court TV. He sold the legal publications and Court TV in 1997 and returned to journalism full time, with the founding of Brill’s Content, a magazine about the media which ceased publication in 2001. Brill then researched and wrote “AFTER,” a book focusing on the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, which was published in 2003, while also serving as a Newsweek columnist and a consultant to NBC on the same subject.
Bobbi Brown
Founder & CEO
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics
Bobbi Brown changed the face of makeup—literally—with a handful of lipsticks and a simple philosophy: "Women want to look and feel like themselves, only prettier and more confident." As a freelance makeup artist in the Nineties, Bobbi couldn't find makeup shades or textures that looked natural on a wide range of complexions. She eventually took matters into her own hands debuted a collection of 10 lipsticks at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City in 1991. The universally flattering, brown-based lipsticks were a dramatic departure from the cosmetics available at the time, and they ushered in a new era of wearable, natural-looking makeup.
Today, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics offers skincare, face and color products, professional tools and accessories, fragrances, and New York Times best-selling beauty books. In North America, the brand is available in select high-end retailers including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Holt Renfrew in Canada. Internationally, the brand has a presence in 45 markets and 450 doors throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Women around the world appreciate Bobbi's unique approach to beauty and her ability to translate the latest trends into wearable, real-life looks. "I understand real women because I am one," she says. Bobbi regularly shares her expertise as a guest beauty editor in magazines, television, including NBC's "Today Show". She is often called on to create makeup looks for top women's magazines and New York Fashion Week runway shows.
Bobbi's impact extends well beyond the beauty and fashion industries. Committed to empowering women of all ages, Bobbi supports the Jane Addams Vocational High School in the Bronx and Dress for Success Worldwide. She is a board member of both DFS and her alma matter, Emerson College in Boston. And she most recently received an honorary doctorate degree of Humane Letters from Montclair State University acknowledging her professional accomplishments.
As the brand continues to evolve and expand into new lifestyle-oriented categories, the message from Bobbi remains the same, "The secret to beauty is simple—be who you are.”
Carlos Dominguez
Senior Vice President
Office of the COB & CEO
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Carlos Dominguez is a Senior Vice President in Cisco’s Office of the Chairman of the Board and CEO. He advocates for the broad and creative use of technologies that are transforming how companies do business and creating distinct competitive advantages and new business models for those who adopt them. Dominguez says video, Web 2.0 applications and the increasing use of social networks, at home and at work, are at the heart of the collaboration revolution that is helping companies use the power of collective intelligence to produce revolutionary ideas for new products, better customer service and greater cost reductions.
Dominguez has been with Cisco for 17 years and has first-hand experience in how Cisco deploys technology in good, and bad, economic times to drive productivity and growth. He is a key speaker for Cisco and has been the featured keynote for a wide range of audiences, from CEOs and engineers to media executives.
You can view a sample of his recent presentations from the New Jersey Connected Broadband Summit 2008 and from Networkers Brasil, where he displayed a hologram and “teleported” Cisco CEO John Chambers from San Jose, California to the stage in Sao Paolo. He was also the featured keynote at Venture Atlanta 2008, the 2008 NCA Security & Technology Conference in Seattle and Televisa’s Executive Meeting in Mexico. He frequently uses humor and video in his talks and speaks to how he himself uses many “Generation Y” tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and video blogs. He also brings a global perspective from his frequent travels to Latin America.
In addition to public speaking, Dominguez advises Cisco customers about technology strategy and direction. He spends times with startup companies operating solely on the web as well as with established companies that are interested in using Internet innovations to do business differently.
Dominguez spent most of his career at Cisco with service providers, including cable operators, mobile operators and content providers. He ran Worldwide Service Provider Operations for three years, helping to double Cisco’s service provider sales. Previously he headed U.S. Service Provider Sales and led Cisco’s Enterprise line of business in the northeastern United States.
Before joining Cisco, Dominguez held management positions at Timeplex, Inc. in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, and at New Jersey Bell/Bell Atlanticom in Newark, New Jersey.
He was recently named one of the top 50 Hispanic executives in the United States by Hispanic Engineering and Information Technology magazine. In 2008 he was elected to Cisco’s Mexico Board, which oversees new business in Mexico and the board of directors for the Cisco Foundation, which teams with nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations in making investments in technology and communications in underserved areas around the world. Dominguez also serves on the Board of Directors of Medidata, the YMCA of Greater New York (the largest YMCA in the world), and the New Jersey Institute of Technology Advisory Board.
Donna M. Winn
President & CEO
Wealth Management Group
OFI Private Investments, Inc.
Donna Winn is President and CEO of OFI Private Investments, Inc., a subsidiary of OppenheimerFunds, Inc. She is responsible for separately managed accounts, Manager Select Portfolios (MSP), 529, charitable giving services and creating investment products and packages that serve the Affluent Market.
The Wealth Management Group investment vehicles include a separately managed account business, which includes MSP, a series of diversified, separately-managed account portfolios, a 529 offering and the Legacy Program, which includes a donor advised fund and pooled income fund, as well as Portfolio Builder and the RIA Channel.
Prior to joining OppenheimerFunds in 1999, Ms. Winn worked at Merrill Lynch for 22 years holding a variety of positions in marketing and management and was responsible for product management of CMA and Retirement Plans. She began her career at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor.
Ms. Winn is a graduate of Holy Cross College and holds a B.A. in Economics. She is also a member of the Board of Trusties for Holy Cross College and a member of the Better Business Bureau Board. She is married and has two sons.
List in formation. Last updated August 13, 2009.
