Yasmin Abdulhadi

MBA 2023

Grow Together

Yasmin currently is working on her venture, Grow Together, and with a local nonprofit in Memphis called Slingshot. During her recently completed MBA program, Yasmin interned with the global consulting firm Bain & Company. Prior to her MBA program, she spent four years working in education through Teach for America. She taught elementary school in Memphis' Innovation Zone before transitioning to teach high school financial literacy at KIPP Memphis. 

Yasmin is committed to improving educational and economic equity. In addition to teaching, she contributed to projects for the Cowrie Initiative's BankBlack USA team and the National Bankers Association, mentored young girls as a Kode with Klossy web development instructor, and worked with the EdTech startup Rhymes with Reason. Yasmin holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance & Economics) from The Ohio State University.

Alina Alam

BSE 2013

Paradise Street Eats

I showcase my creativity through my Paradise Street Eats partnership, in which I juggle various

roles like public relations and product development. My name is Alina Alam and I am the brand ambassador and logistic director, effectively communicating Paradise Street Eats

narrative to the wider public and focusing on operational efficiencies in house. I graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor in material science engineering, I worked with a startup company at the beginning of my career. At the moment, I am working as in Li-ion battery and I am a local foodie influencer, food brand promoter, and host large-scale food events

organizer.

Shibani Baluja

LSA 1996; MBA 2004

lil'gourmets

Shibani Baluja is the founder & CEO of lil’gourmets. lil'gourmets strives to provide the best nutrition for lil’ones today, while inspiring healthy & adventurous eating for life. With flavors like Sweet Potato Curry and Moroccan Squash, all of our fresh & organic, deliciously authentic global recipes deliver 100% of babies’ and 50% of toddlers’ daily veggie needs—all with no added sugar or salt! 

Before being consumed by creating healthy food for kids, Shibani spent 11 years at Kraft Foods, most recently as a Director on their Mergers & Acquisitions team where she led a number of acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic initiatives, with key highlights of co-leading the PMO for the closing of the Kraft-Heinz merger, being an integral team member of the split of Kraft and Mondelez, and executing an innovative JV between a strategic and a PE firm. She holds her BA in Economics and MBA in Finance & Strategy from the University of Michigan and lives in Chicago with her husband, Mike, and children, Jayden and Mira (her Chief Tasting Officers).

Shyam Bhakta

BS Honors 1996; MBA 2018 

American Gene Technologies, Inc. 

Shyam Bhakta, MD, MBA, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI is Associate Professor of Medicine and Co-Chair of  the Cardiology Section at Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine in Rootstown,  Ohio. He is a fellowship-trained, board-certified interventional cardiologist with over 15 years of  

practice experience at Steward Healthcare, LLC in Warren, Ohio. Dr. Bhakta received his  undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, graduating with honors and  majoring in cellular and molecular biology in 1996. He received his medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 2000. He returned to the University of Michigan in 2016  and received an Executive Masters of Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School  of Business in 2018. 

Dr. Bhakta is an investor in American Gene Technologies, Inc. (“AGT”), based in Bethesda,  Maryland, a privately-held, early-stage biotechnology company on the forefront of gene-based  therapies for cancer and inborn errors of metabolism such as phenylketonuria. AGT has  developed a candidate gene therapy treatment for human immunodeficiency virus infection that  has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and has completed phase  1 testing demonstrating safety and feasibility. AGT is partnering with 10x Capital Venture  Acquisition Corp. to form a spinoff company, Adimmune, for commercial development of this  potential gene-based cure for HIV infection. 

Crystal Brown

BA 2010 (MBA 2020)

CircNova

Crystal serves as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder to CircNova. She most recently served as CEO and Co-Founder at Great Lakes Biologics and served in leadership positions with Ocuphire Pharma, Inc., General Motors and FCA Chrysler. Her accomplishments include the AT&T Excellence in Leadership Award, as well as Alta Resources Program Launch Frontrunner. Crystal earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and her Executive MBA. from Michigan State Eli Broad College of Business.

Kait Brown

MBA 2014

Savorista Coffee Co.

Kait believes everyone deserves to live a life worth savoring and, when it comes to food and drink, no one should have to choose between flavor and feeling their best. That’s why her disappointing switch from caffeinated coffee to decaf inspired her to start Savorista, a caffeine conscious coffee company. After traveling across multiple continents in search of great decaf, she is excited to be building a company for caffeine conscious coffee lovers. 

Pre-Savorista, Kait was a Case Team Leader at Bain & Company, collaborating with clients in a variety of industries, including retail, consumer products, private equity, healthcare and social impact. While at Ross (MBA 2014), she was on the Social Venture Fund, leading due diligence and consulting projects. Before business school, Kait was in the social impact space, as a Peace Corps Volunteer building a cooperative and business with small-scale sesame farmers in Burkina Faso (West Africa) and working for Ashoka, a social entrepreneurship organization. She is also an independent consultant and advises businesses on strategy and other challenges. She enjoys traveling and creating adventures big and small with her husband Daniel and baby Jaden.

Noah Chatman

BBA 2023

Plannit AI

Born and raised on the north side of Chicago, Noah Chatman is an accomplished black, first- generation Alumnus of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. He concentrated his studies on business strategy and entrepreneurship earning honors. During his time at Michigan, Noah actively engaged in various extracurricular activities. He demonstrated his leadership skills by raising funds and spearheading  DEI initiatives for a minority business club. He was also nominated for the Frank S. Moran Leadership Award by his classmates for his outstanding contributions to improving the business school experience for students, staff and faculty, and being active in the Ross community. He also mentored high school minority students in Detroit, imparting his knowledge and inspiring them to pursue their professional goals. He has gained valuable professional experience in both consulting an wealth management industries, developing a versatile skill set and a keen understanding of business strategy. He will start as a Business Analyst at Kearney in the Winter 2024.

Emily Copeland

MPH 2020

 ActivEnergy Nutrition

Emily Copeland, MPH, RD, ACE-PT, is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, and founder ActivEnergy Nutrition, a private dietetics practice specialized in human performance and healthy aging. She brings more than a decade of experience working athletes of all ages, busy professionals, active seniors, and many on-the-go moms. She provides practical nutrition coaching and encourages flexibility in eating patterns and training routines to help clients perform better, age healthfully, plan meals practically, and achieve a better relationship with their food. Emily earned her Masters of Public Health in Nutrition from the University of Michigan in 2020 and completed her dietetic internship with the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 2021 to become a registered dietitian. She is also a Fitness Nutrition Specialist and Senior Fitness Specialist with the American Council on Exercise. She enjoys teaching and sharing her love of physical activity, food, and active living. Emily served as an adjunct professor at DePaul University and Nutrition Instructor with Cooking Matters at Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit prior to relocating to Colorado to found her private practice.   

Julie Corwin

MBA 2018

Birdie & Claire

Julie Corwin is the founder of Birdie & Claire, a direct-to-consumer apparel brand. Her  previous work experience includes roles in leadership development and human resources  in the education sector. She received her MBA from Michigan Ross School of Business and  BA from Dartmouth College.

Hugh Davis

IEO MSE Undergrad (2019) Design Sci MS (2020) 

Revolin Sports

Hugh Davis is no newcomer to the sports equipment space - in fact, he made his first foray into high-performance product development at just 15 years old. During his years as a competitive tennis and lacrosse player in high school, Hugh invented a lacrosse ball degreaser that could refurbish old lacrosse balls in seconds, tripling the life of each ball. After learning about pickleball at the age of 16, falling in love with the sport, and winning a few local tournaments, Hugh was sponsored by an up-and-coming pickleball company that had the most expensive paddle on the market. But, he soon realized that these paddles did not live up to the performance claims they made. So, two years later, in 2015, Hugh went off to the University of Michigan to study Engineering, knowing he wanted to make a paddle that did have the performance he desired. Since making his first prototype that fateful freshman year, he has made over 150 prototypes, won countless tournaments, and launched Revolin Sports in 2020. Revolin combines Hugh’s longtime passion for pickleball, material science, nature and innovation. Through Revolin, Hugh has brought the first ever high-performance and sustainable pickleball paddles to market.

Tony Ehrbar

MBA 2010

American Tent / Renegade Plastics

Tony holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and MBA from the University of Michigan.  After spending 3 years at Bain as a strategy & private equity consultant, Tony took the leap into entrepreneurship and bought Elite Tent Rentals (an event rental business) in 2013 off Craiglist.  He quickly realized he loved being a small business owner and bought American Tent (a commercial event tent manufacturer) in 2014.  Since that time, he and his amazing team have grown the business 50x - in fact, American Tent was recently listed as the 3rd fastest growing private company in Wisconsin by Inc 5000.  

Then in 2019, Tony discovered a novel polypropylene (PP) fabric being manufactured in Korea that was a direct substitute for the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fabrics used in his tents.  However, as opposed to PVC, the PP fabric was recyclable, non-toxic, 40% lighter and had an 80% lower CO2e footprint.  Considering the hundreds of uses of PVC and the $5B North American industrial fabric market, he founded Renegade Plastics in 2021 to commercialize this first to market fabric in North and South America.  In addition to industrial applications, Renegade’s fabrics can replace weak, disposable polyfilms (PE) throughout the agriculture value chain.  Renegade has raised a pre-seed round and is actively raising a seed round.

Tony is actively engaged in economic development, normalizing mental health and building positive change in Green Bay. He was selected as the Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019.

Natalie Fang

MBA 2020

Nochi

Natalie Fang is the Founder/CEO of Nochi, a studio creating anime games for women, made by women. 

Natalie first started her career in the retail and luxury goods industry, working on household brands as a global sourcing professional. Wanting to make an impact closer to end-users, Natalie decided to pursue her MBA at Ross. At the time, she noticed a lack of quality gaming titles made for women and decided to pursue a startup that is not only a women-led gaming studio, but also could challenge the status quo by putting stories and relationships first. Since then, she’s been involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ann Arbor and at the University - including programs such as the Desai Accelerator and Ann Arbor SPARK.

When Natalie's not throwing ideas about female gaming experiences at the whiteboard, she's probably planning the team's next virtual happy hour.

Bingchen Ji

MS IOE & DS 2022

Reccer

Bingchen Ji is the founder, CEO, data scientist of Reccer, leading the development of Resufitter.ai, an AI career copilot that tailors resumes for every job application.

Bingchen has professional background work as operations research analyst @American Airlines. 

Bingchen holds his dual-master’s degree in Industrial & Operations Engineering and Data Science from the University of Michigan, and B.Eng in mechatronics & robotics from McMaster University. 

Jessica Liang

MBA/MPP 2023

Steadfeather Capital

Jessica Liang is the founder and managing director of Steadfeather Capital. She comes from a family of public servants and is pursuing her dream of paying it forward by owning and running one business critical to American society. 

Jessica is the daughter of immigrants and is a first-generation US college graduate. She majored in Political Science and Education Studies at Yale University.

She began her career in the anti-money laundering compliance department at M&T Bank in Buffalo, NY, where she managed an offshore contractor team and facilitated quarterly training to adjust to the Bank Secrecy Act and PATRIOT Act rules. Jessica also has experience in project management and process improvement from M&T's credit division, creating a pipeline reporting dashboard that pinpointed $160M in deal gaps.

Jessica obtained her MBA and Master of Public Policy dual degree in three years on full scholarship from the University of Michigan. During grad school, she interned at Anacapa Partners, PIMCO, and Goldman Sachs private wealth management. Jessica co-founded the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Club at the Ross School of Business and was awarded Club President of the Year by the Ross MBA Council.

Pedro Matthei

MBA 2003

Baysten

Full-scope business development, leading global teams from conceptual idea to successful implementation, including market entry strategy, financing, and scaling up. Leads renewable energy company specializing in photovoltaic and wind projects and transmission lines.

Past president of APEMEC, www.apemec.cl, Chile´s Small Hydropower Association. "Introducing Baysten: Revolutionizing Recruitment. As the first global AI-assisted collaboration platform, Baysten enjoys a first-mover edge.

I bring 30 years of entrepreneurial insight, creativity, and maturity.

Alexander Mills

BSE CSE 2017

Fluity2

Alexander studied software, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering at UMich, graduating with a BSE in Computer Science Engineering in 2017. During his academic journey, he "accidentally" launched a software startup, Fluity. Driven by a lack of available automation tools, Fluity leveraged computational geometry to streamline the labor-intensive setup and programming for CNC-machining of metal parts. Fluity was backed in part by Founders Fund and Desai Accelerator at ZLI, and Alexander is a 2017 alumnus of the Zell Entrepreneurs Program.

Alexander is still obsessed with the opportunities in modern manufacturing. He's now onto his next venture, obsoleting the flawed ways in which software products structure manufacturers' data. Context? Alexander believes it has been missing, and that it's the key for step-change improvements to productivity and reliability throughout the industry.

Emily Morgan

BBA 2023

Volta Homes

Emily Morgan is a recent 2023 graduate from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Her initial interest in business stemmed from the creation of her own wellness brand in high school that led her to opportunities within the startup space throughout college. Working alongside founders in marketing, strategy, operations, and consultant positions across the health, CPG, and real estate industries, Emily likes to embrace the term “jack of all trades.” She is currently working in real estate development at Volta Homes, an Ann Arbor-based startup building all-electric, net-zero energy homes and communities that are accessible to mainstream homebuyers.

Michael O'Brien

MBA 2023

Verso

Michael O’Brien (MBA ’23) is the founder of Verso, a service that connects freelance arts and culture workers with employment opportunities. Prior to his MBA, O’Brien served as director of an art gallery where he saw firsthand the industry’s labor market pains. Freelancers find work almost exclusively via a word-of-mouth network, which leads to under employment despite a demonstrated need on the part of employers for their services. While at Ross, O’Brien experimented with the concept that became Verso, and he launched the venture upon graduation. 

Carlotta Pham 

MBA / MS Sustainaibility 2022

Carlotta Pham, LLC

Carlotta Pham combines her deep commitment to sustainability with her expertise in designing transformative experiences for organizations and gatherings. With her training at the Center for Socially Engaged Design, 200+ hours of facilitation experience, and professional coaching training, she excels in driving meaningful change. Carlotta holds both an MBA and an MS in Sustainability from the University of Michigan and five years of consulting experience at Deloitte Consulting. At the heart of her work is a passion for sustainability, which she engages with by supporting clients on these issues and through continual examination of sustainability in her own life.

Michael Speigl

BA 2003

Werk & Me

Michael Speigl is just like you!  He started in the car business at 22 years old and has never had another job in his adult life.  His father is a truck driver for Spartan Nash grocery chain and his mother is full time grandma to her nine grandchildren.  Like you, Michael worked his tail off starting at a small Chevy dealership in Mishawaka, Indiana right out of college to owning two of his own stores in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Michael spent seven years working for an awesome family in Bradenton, FL at Cox Chevrolet/Mazda and then spent the next eleven years as Managing Partner/President in the Williams Automotive Group in Wesley Chapel, Florida which was eventually bought out by a Fortune 150 company, Lithia Motors.  Michael stayed on with Lithia Motors for almost two years as a Group Vice President before buying his own stores, Toyota of Ann Arbor and Subaru of Ann Arbor.  Toyota of Ann Arbor is the largest volume Toyota dealer in Michigan and Subaru of Ann Arbor is the second largest volume Subaru dealership in the state.  Their mission statement is to create an organization that inspires people to grow, making their families, team, and community proud.

Outside of the automotive world Michael is very passionate about family, education, culture, and community.  Michael met the love of his life while she was a customer at a car dealership in 2004.  Michael and Ashley have five young kids who are frequently getting into trouble (got that from their mom!!!).  Being passionate about education, Michael and Ashley started a nonprofit in Tampa called Prep and Me (www.prepandme.org).  P&M provides resources to hardworking, yet underprivileged students needing support.  Another way that Michael fuels his passion for education is by being a marketing professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.  Michael is a passionate alumnus of the University of Michigan and loves giving back to UofM.  He credits the university with a lot of his professional accomplishments.  Finally, Michael is the founder of dealership culture software Werk&Me.  This passion project is designed to help great teams create great culture through employee engagement, gamification, training, team events, and volunteering opportunities.  You can learn more about W&M at www.werkandme.com.  NOW LET’S GO TO WERK!!!!

Joshua Sum 

BE Computer Science, 2023

0xKnowledge

Joshua is the founder and CEO at 0xKnowledge, a platform at the intersection of AI and Blockchain. He also co-founded College DAO, currently leading the organization as its core team lead, and was previously an early employee at Treehouse Finance as it raised its pre-seed and seed rounds.

Ali Wazne

BS Economics / Biopsychology (BCN) 2017

Paradise Street Eats

Meet Ali Wazne, the visionary behind Paradise Street Eats, where he's transformed his UMICH adventures into a thriving business venture. Ali's on a mission to revolutionize the food industry with his Indian fusion franchise concept. 

At Paradise Street Eats, Ali's all about blending the bold flavors of India and the Middle East. Imagine digging into dishes like Chicken Chaat, Zaatar cheese Dosa, Indian tacos, dessert Dosa, and paradise rice bowls that flawlessly mix Lebanese and Indian culinary traditions. It's a mouthwatering journey that celebrates both community diversity and togetherness.

Chris Nung Yoo

BBA 2015

Resi Finds

Chris Yoo is a product lead at KKR & Co. He manages the development of the firm’s treasury and liquidity systems and led the discovery phase of the firm’s real estate management software. Chris also leads KKR’s product management group and PRIDE ERG. Before KKR, Chris worked at Capital One, managing the commercial deal management platform, and U.S. News, re-developing the travel website. Before his career in product, he worked in finance at J.P. Morgan and Black Square Capital. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and exploring new countries and towns. He graduated with a BBA from University of Michigan.