Team

Hosts, TEDxStanford

Co-host June Cohen is director of TED Media and has been at the forefront of innovative media for nearly 15 years.

As Executive Producer of TED Media, June Cohen was responsible for bringing the TED Conference online, ultimately growing its audience from 1000 attendees per year to 1 million viewers per day. In 2006, she launched TEDTalks, the online video series, followed by TED.com (2007) and the TED Open Translation Project (2009). Cohen also co-produces and co-hosts the TED Conference in California. Previously, she was VP of Content at HotWired.com, the pioneering website from Wired Magazine, which introduced many of the web’s now-common conventions, including — for better or worse — the ad banner. Before that, in 1991, she developed the world’s first networked, multimedia magazine. She holds a BA from Stanford University, where she was Editor-in-Chief of The Stanford Daily.

Co-host David Hornik has worked for more than a decade with technology startups throughout the software sector as a founder, teacher, and lawyer. David served as primary advisor and co-organizer of TEDxStanford.

David Hornik lectures at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he teaches intellectual property, and at Harvard Law School, where he teaches entrepreneurship and venture capital. Hornik is the author of VentureBlog, the first venture capital blog, and VentureCast, the first venture capital podcast. He is the founder and executive producer of The Lobby conference, an annual gathering of thought leaders in digital media. Hornik is a partner at August Capital, where he invests in information technology companies, focusing on enterprise application and infrastructure software and consumer-facing software and services. Prior to that, Hornik was an intellectual property and corporate attorney at Venture Law Group and Perkins Coie, representing high tech startups such as Yahoo!, Evite (Ticketmaster) and Ofoto (Kodak). Before that, he was a litigator in New York City at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Hornik has an eclectic educational background with an AB in Computer Music from Stanford University, an M.Phil. in Criminology from Cambridge University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Curator and Producer, TEDxStanford

Melinda Sacks is director of Media Initiatives for the Stanford University Office of Public Affairs, where she develops multi-media programs to share content from across the university with the world beyond campus.

In her role she has produced The Roundtable at Stanford University, a world-class forum of multidisciplinary experts on topics such as climate change, education reform, world affairs and our aging population. Held on Stanford’s Reunion Homecoming Weekend, The Roundtable attracts an audience of 5,000 and is broadcast on PBS. Sacks also produces Stanford’s popular Open Office Hours, a Facebook forum for global conversations with faculty and visitors to campus, in addition to numerous other media outreach endeavors. Before coming to Stanford, Sacks worked as a television producer for ABC and CBS in San Francisco, and as an award-winning reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, where she wrote about education, news, family, community and social issues. Sacks loves bringing together great people with great ideas to tackle the most pressing issues and tell the most important stories of the day.

Advisors, TEDxStanford

Nicole Laubscher is the team leader for Learning at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. With 15 years of experience in agency, corporate, non-profit and academic organizations, Nicole Laubscher focuses on solving business problems through strategic communications. She is currently the team leader for Learning at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, creating in-person and online opportunities for thoughtful faith and life conversations. Laubscher developed the Stanford Story Bank in 2006 to tell stories of multidisciplinary innovation and problem solving. She was previously vice president and director of communications at Bank of America Investment Management, and has done public relations work in pharmaceuticals, global engineering, real estate development, private and commercial banking. Laubscher headed the communications team on the Woodside School Foundation board, served as a board advisor to the Ravenswood Education Foundation, and was on the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee.

Fabian Beckers is the founder of The Invention Factory, a multidisciplinary environment dedicated to inventing product or services, and launching companies by bringing great minds from the valley and Stanford to work together on the biggest problems. The first company, which focuses on Heart Failure, is Morpheus Medical, a “google earth for cardiologists” giving doctors a full comprehensive 3D non-invasive interactive tool on what is happening inside the heart of the patients. Fabien started his entrepreneurial and inventing career by creating a guiding system for blind people and then founded and led a mobile marketing agency (Kameleon Technologies) in Paris for seven years as a Founder and CEO with brands’ operations in Dubai, New York, Shanghai and all across Europe. Fabien earned a PhD in Physics (Quantum Mechanics) from Cambridge University and a Master in Business from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Steve Brown is directing a feature documentary for Spark Pictures. He is the co-organizer of TEDxBlackRockCity and an entrepreneur and active board member in innovative software and Internet businesses. In 2008, Steve co-founded Catch.com, a popular collaborative notes application for capturing ideas and managing projects on smartphones, tablets and online. Before Catch, Steve was founder and CEO of Health Hero Network, a pioneer of personal health monitoring acquired in 2007 by Robert Bosch. Steve graduated from Stanford in 1991 in physics.

Team Leadership, TEDxStanford

Anna Cobb, Graphic Designer, Print and Digital Media, University Communications

Christina Farr, Marketing and Communications, TEDxStanford

Michael Aaron Godinez, Technical Supervisor, Stanford Event Services

Ian Hsu, Director of Internet Media Outreach, Social Media and Music for TEDxStanford, Office of Public Affairs

Ava Reich, Event Manager, Stanford Event Services

Karen Sutton, Video Production, Stanford Video

Lisa C. Simpson, Venue Manager, Graduate School of Business

Elaine Enos, Executive Director, Office of Special Events and Protocol

Student Coordinators

Jay H Patel, TEDxStanford’s 2012 Co-Chair of the Student Organizing Committee, is a sophomore at Stanford. Jay loves coding. He took a year off before joining Stanford to work as Lead Developer at PlayMoolah, a startup set to redefine financial literacy for kids using games. Jay likes to work on passion projects with friends. One such project, FroSoCafe, made it to the Stanford Daily recently. Currently, he is spending all his free time on helping to make the first-ever TEDxStanford a success. Jay does yoga every morning, and constantly seeks to improve himself as a friend, son and student. He is always open to meeting interesting people over a cup of coffee (or tea); just email him.

Sukrit Narula, TedXStanford’s 2012 Co-Chair of the Student Organizing Committee is a sophomore at Stanford. He is a Political Science major. He is very interested in international affairs and public policy. His activities range from working on projects like FroSoCafe, to dorm government, to being a staff member on the Stanford Association of International Development (and a panel head at their annual conference). He is actively involved in a project where he is helping develop strategies for cardiovascular health promotion through dietary and lifestyle changes in Harlem, New York.

Student Creative Team

Roger Chen, TEDxStanford’s web developer, is a freshman at Stanford University who likes to build, break, and fix things. Interested in using technology to make social impact, he enjoys building and fostering communities through online media. When he is not worsening his carpal tunnel syndrome through intensive coding in his quest to major in computer science, Roger enjoys going outside and shooting photos, mostly for the Stanford Daily. Follow him on Twitter @rcchen.

Brandon Ly is a second-year product design student from Los Angeles, California. Having undergone a formal arts education at both USC and UCLA (rivalries aside), he has translated that experience to product, visual, and interactive design and strategies. Brandon believes that although technology’s integration into humanity may be slightly unsettling at times, he hopes to incorporate these behaviors and interactions to spark social change. Follow him on Twitter @brandonkit.

Student Finance Team

Audrey Ho is a Chemistry major at Stanford who enjoys mountaineering, classical arts, and planning surprises. On campus, she is involved with the Solar Car Project, which builds and races solar cars in the World Solar Challenge. Her favorite book is “The Great Gatsby,” and she lives life by the words laughter and inspiration.

Student Entertainment Team

Spencer Nam is a junior majoring in Chemistry and minoring in History. He counsels at Stanford’s peer counseling center, does chemistry research, and performs regularly as a violinist throughout the year. In his free time, he enjoys eating copious amounts of food and playing with dogs.

Student Marketing Team

Andrew Martin is working on TEDxStanford’s marketing. Cofounder and CEO of Kept, a mobile micro-journal for couples, he is a member of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, where he has helped Fortune 500s, small businesses, and campus organizations innovate. Andrew created his own major in Interaction Design Engineering, and you can follow him on twitter@amartinsu13.

Brandon Powell is helping to execute TEDxStanford’s social media strategy. He is a sophomore from Rancho Santa Margarita, California pursuing a degree in English with a Creative Writing emphasis. His background in social media includes a summer marketing internship at Getaround in San Francisco. At Stanford, he loves being involved with student theatre, onstage and behind the scenes. To pass the time, he reads, writes, cooks, plays his cello, and watches way too many movies and TV shows. You can follow him on Twitter at @bpowell48.

Brian Pesin is working on TEDxStanford’s social media strategy and execution. He is a senior at Stanford this year and will get his BA in Science, Technology & Society this upcoming June. He loves experimenting with the multitude uses of social media personally, academically, and professionally, and has worked at innovative companies such as Twitter and Wildfire Interactive. When he’s not glued to his laptop or iPhone, he loves hanging out with his friends in the sunshine, people watching from the Sigma Nu balcony, electronic dance music, swimming, and playing with dogs. You can follow him on Twitter at @bpesin.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the following individuals for their invaluable contributions in getting this event up and running: Charlotte Burgess Auburn, Bernadette Clavier, Steve Eglash, Michael McCullough, Bronwyn Saglimeni, Adam James Smith, Amy Arnold.

Tamer Shabani is the student photographer whose photo makes the beautiful backdrop for this page.

Special thanks to Zazzle for handling the creation of TEDxStanford apparel.