Programs Special One-Day Events

Wednesday September 7th - 11:45am - 2:00pm @ MassChallenge, 21 Drydock Avenue, Boston

CFOs and CEOs have different views about strategizing for funding.
Get the insider perspective from experienced CFOs and CEOs who will help you answer questions such as:

- How & when do you plan for funding?
- How do you know what to raise?
- How do you manage your investors post-funding?
- How can the CEO and CFO relationship keep things moving?

(Hint: it’s about a lot more than Quickbooks and spreadsheets).

Experts:

Jim Antes is a Partner at Venture Advisers, a firm that builds, runs and supports finance organizations for leading start-up, early stage and rapidly changing ventures. Venture Advisers is responsible for initiating and executing critical capital formation and merger transactions, managing the day to day finance organization, implementing effective financial policies and controls, creating budgets and forecasts and establishing and managing service provider relationships. Their team has provided CFO services to over 180 companies such as Bit9, DimDim, EqualLogic, Glasshouse Technologies and Knewton. Through Venture Advisors, Jim has served as CFO to over 35 companies including Equallogic, Quattro Wireless, Conduiit Labs, Exagrid, Buglabs Labs. Current clients include Knewton, Inc., Open Mile, Perkstreet, and MDhub.

I’m an entrepreneur, speaker, author, executive, investor, mentor and dreamer on a mission to help people transform their lives into meaningful, fulfilling journeys.

I co-founded Happier, a wellness company that has grown into a movement to make millions of people happier through practicing gratitude and kindness. I’m grateful that through Happier we’ve been able to inspire more than 1 million people to be present for the small, awesome moments that are already part of their lives and become more optimistic, less stressed, and better equipped to deal with daily challenges at work and at home.

Before Happier I was a media executive, venture capital investor, and many times entrepreneur in Boston and New York City, which for me will always be home. My first job out of college was as a consultant with McKinsey & Co., which required that I find a way to explain what consulting is and why it’s not a horrible job to get after college to my parents and grandparents. (We immigrated from Russia to the US when I was 13 years old, an experience that has defined everything I’ve done — including forgoing most established career paths.)

I never thought I would be helping people lead happier, more meaningful lives or that I would feel it’s my destiny to do it, but here I am. I got here through many failed attempts to find happiness by chasing achievements, success, and looking for it on the outside. This led me to study scientific research on happiness, dive into yoga, meditation and Buddhism, and experiment with many different habits to create a simple methodology that leads to happiness that is genuine, lasting, and not dependent on chasing and getting “the next big thing.” I can’t think of anything more worthwhile than to share what I’ve learned with others.

As CFO, Gary oversees a wide range of strategic and tactical aspects of the company including finance, planning, legal, investor relations and commercial and operational support. Gary brings over two decades of senior financial management, high technology experience and a proven track record of developing and directing financial, operational, business development and administrative functions to Cloud Technology Partners
Before joining CTP, Gary was the Senior Vice President and CFO at FirstLight Fiber. Prior to FirstLight, Gary was the CFO at Fidelis Cybersecurity Systems through its 2012 acquisition by General Dynamics. Gary joined Fidelis from Moldflow Corporation where, as the Vice President of Corporate Development, he had the responsibility for business development activities including managing the $300 million sale of the company to Autodesk. Prior to that Gary was CFO at sentitO Networks, where he directed the sale of the company to Verso Technologies. He has also held CFO positions with Tira Wireless, Sandburst, and Bowstreet. He honed his expertise in various senior financial positions for Bay Networks/Wellfleet Communications and at Data General.
Gary began his career as a CPA for Price Waterhouse and holds a Master of Business Administration from Rider University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Susquehanna University.

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