Steve Moore
Steve Moore is co-founder and past CEO of WatchGuard, which grew into a leading provider of integrated security appliances for small to mid-sized companies. A seasoned and versatile executive, Moore held several positions at WatchGuard, including Executive Vice President of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Treasurer, and a director. He has also served as Director of Finance of Legent Corporation, a provider of systems software and services. Moore currently serves as a director of WatchGuard Technologies and BioPassword Inc.

Mr. Moore holds a B.S. in Finance from Central Washington University.

Donald Palmer
Don Palmer, Principal of Prime Capital, actively invests in public and private consumer companies and related financial instruments on behalf of Prime Capital's investors.  Previously, Mr. Palmer invested for Goldman Sachs as a Vice President in GS' most profitable proprietary investing group.

Leading up to Mr. Palmer's professional investing roles, he advised Global 500 clients as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.  Mr. Palmer began his business career at Procter & Gamble in brand management and previously served as an infantry officer in The Canadian Armed Forces.

John M. Steel
John Steel is a Partner of the law firm Piper Rudnick Gray Cary with over 25 years of experience in structuring and negotiating a wide range of financing transactions, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. He has managed hundreds of private equity financings for issuers and investors and served as lead counsel on more than 30 public offerings.  Mr. Steel is also experienced in a broad range of commercial transactions, including commercial finance, licensing and distribution arrangements. 

Mr. Steel holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from University of Washington.

Gennady Teplitsky
Textra Group’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Gennady Teplitsky, has more than 20 years of experience working in Manufacturing, CPG and Financial Services industries.

Prior to Textra Group, Mr. Teplitsky was a Vice President of LabMorgan, a unit of JPMorgan Chase, where he led the Strategic Technology consulting organization. In this capacity he managed a group of senior business and technology consultants whose mission was to help accelerate measurable business performance leveraging reengineering and technology innovation. The areas of focus include business automation, knowledge management, CRM, information effectiveness and business process utilities. Mr. Teplitsky also provided advisory services to the firm’s investment bank and venture capital business partners.

Prior to this role, Mr. Teplitsky was a CRM and Data Warehousing practice leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He managed large programs and provided thought leadership in the area of Marketing Automation and Analytics. His leadership and expertise helped several large retail banks with combined footprint of 20+ million clients in US, Europe and South America.

Mr. Teplitsky has presented at multiple Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management and Project Management Methodology seminars and conferences at PricewaterhouseCoopers and various financial services institutions.

Mr. Teplitsky holds a Master degree in Engineering Mathematics and Computer Science from University of Louisville, Kentucky

Karl Vesper
Karl Vesper is a professor of Business Administration, Mechanical Engineering, and Marine Studies at the University of Washington and a nationally recognized chronicler of entrepreneurship education in U.S. colleges and universities.

His books include New Venture Experience (Vector Books, 1996), New Venture Mechanics (Prentice-Hall, 1993), The Washington Entrepreneur’s Guide (University Press, 1993) and New Venture Strategies (Prentice-Hall, 199).

From 1982 to 1985, Vesper served as Chairman of the Management and Organization Department at the University of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1969. He has held endowed professorships as a visitor at Baylor University, Babson College, and the University of Calgary. As the first Babson Professor or Entrepreneurship he suggested and helped start the Babson Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, founded the Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference, and edited the first 10 volumes of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, the proceedings of that conference.

Prof. Vesper holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.