Jeevan Padiyar
Jeevan Padiyar is a bio-defense researcher turned technology entrepreneur and investor who has, over the past 14 years, successfully built and exited several technology companies. He brings to the table 8 years of experience in financial and competitive analysis, corporate re-structuring, private placements for early stage corporations, branding / brand management, new media, project management and operations. Jeevan serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Intersuasive, Inc. Padiyar's role inssures that Intersuasive's operational and financial goals are consistant with the high standards of its partners, customers, investors and the community at large.
Prior to joining Intersuasive, Padiyar helped shape the podcasting revolution as Chairman and CFO of RawVoice, Inc, which created one of the first podcasting networks and was among the first to monetize the medium. RawVoice properties totaled more than 10 million downloads/month 2 years after launching in 2005. At Rawvoice, Padiyar also oversaw the company’s first acquisition and established landmark agreements with GoDaddy, Citrix and Nokia.
In 1994 while still a freshman at Kansas State University, Jeevan founded and led Simply Blimps, a maker and seller of arena blimps to over 150 employees and a 30M dollar exit within 5 years.
In addition to his role with Intersuasive, Jeevan also serves as co-founder, board member and SVP of Technology for Charity Group Corp, and is a Principal in element^n. He is also an advisor to Design2Share, LLC, AskDrMao, LLC, and venture capitalist Dane Atkinson.
Padiyar graduated Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in Chemistry /Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from Kansas State University in 1999.
Chris Briseno
Chris Briseno is currently a Principal at technology firm element^n and a managing partner of internet marketing and design at Intersuasive, Inc.
Prior to joining element^n and Intersuasive, Mr. Briseno co-founded YourDay.com which was developed, brought to market and sold to Deltathree in an eight-figure deal in under six months. In 1995 Mr. Briseno was a founding partner of Sensenet, Inc., one of the premier web design firms at the dawn of the internet era. It was responsible for the original Proctor & Gamble, Crest, Hugo Boss, and Rogaine websites. In addition, Sensenet created sites for Pfizer, Sprint, Metamucil, Olean, Captain Morgan and Showtime.
Chris Briseno has a B.F.A. in Art History and Medieval and Renaissance Studies from New York University.
Benjamin Horst
Benjamin Horst completed public high school in three years, entering Vassar College at 16 under the Early College Admissions program. He studied Mandarin Chinese and Geography and taught himself web design. Horst spent the fall of 1997 in Beijing for his semester abroad, and celebrated his 19th birthday within days of arrival there.
He graduated from Vassar in 1999 with a BA in Geography and backpacked North America for seven weeks, covering everything from Boston to Chicago to Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, and Southeast Alaska and reached a northernmost point of Dawson City in the Yukon Territory of Canada.
From 1999 to 2001, Horst studied Urban Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he was President of the Mac Computing Group and Webmaster of the Harvard Urban Planning Organization (HUPO). He studied GIS, green design, real estate and international urban development.
With his 2001 Master in Urban Planning degree, Horst worked as a GIS Analyst for civil engineering firm Chazen Companies in Poughkeepsie, NY, moved to Los Angeles where he wrote and published “The Tiny Guide to OpenOffice.org” and then worked for startup SharedBook Inc in New York City from 2004 to 2007. He came on board as the company's fourth employee in the US, and by the time he left, it had grown to 25.
Currently, he is the Technology Evangelist for Intersuasive, and also provides software consulting and web development with a focus on open source software, where he has helped many small and large companies migrate from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org, collectively saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in software licensing fees.
Public Speaking:
Horst has spoken about OpenOffice.org, open source software and Free Culture on a number of occasions:
- Vassar College Media Cloisters
- Comdex 2003
- University of Southern California Linux User Group
- National Hispanic Women’s Leadership Conference
- Free Culture National Summit 2006 at Swarthmore College
- OpenOffice.org Conference 2007 in Barcelona, 2007
- FOSS Camp 2007 at MIT: “Guerrilla Marketing for Open Source”
