Monday, November 8th, 2021

Massey Masterclass Series featuring RMU's 2021-2022 Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Priya Amin Former CEO and Co-Founder of Flexible
Venue: Wheatley Atrium | 6:00 PM- 7:30 PM

RMU Welcomes 2021-2022 Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Priya Amin

Priya Amin is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and mother to two boys, Ronin and Kirin. She holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, and worked as a product and brand manager at corporations such as IBM and Nestle. In 2012, she left her high powered career to be home with her two boys, and never looked back. After successfully launching and running a marketing consulting firm called ROKI, she began looking for ways to continue fostering creativity and entrepreneurship among women. She launched Flexable, LLC in 2016 and was accepted to the 16th cohort of the AlphaLab Accelerator program in 2016. Flexable gained regional and national attention for providing innovative childcare solutions, most notably on-site childcare at offices and events. Sadly, Flexable closed its doors in 2021.

Child Care is Part of an Inclusion Strategy | Priya Amin | TEDxPittsburghWomen

Tuesday, November 9th, 2021

In collaboration with the  Nursing Department's Community Speaker Series, hosted by Dr. Janice Sarasnic "Lunch with Alphalab Health Accelerator", featuring Megan Shaw, Managing Director of Innovation Works
Venue: Virtual | 12 Noon - 1:00 PM

Megan serves as Managing Director, Life Sciences at Innovation Works (IW) and AlphaLab Health. In this role, she works to build the life sciences ecosystem in Southwestern Pennsylvania, identify promising startups, and mentor entrepreneurs.

Megan is an entrepreneurial leader in the life science space with almost 20 years of experience in business strategy, M&A,  fundraising and product development. Most recently, she led projects for the NIH’s RADx program to accelerate COVID-19 diagnostic testing. In this role she evaluated potential technologies and supported companies in rapidly de-risking their technology, scaling their manufacturing, and developing optimal commercial and regulatory plans.

Megan has worked with several early-stage companies where she held a variety of roles in a leadership capacity. She was VP of Marketing and Business Development at HemoSonics, a point of care diagnostics company, where she led the Commercial Leadership team that took HemoSonics from a university spin-out through product development, fundraising, and commercialization, resulting in a successful acquisition by Diagnostica Stago. Her background in management consulting at Monitor Group and prior experience in private equity gives her a deep foundation in strategy development, growth initiatives, and investment diligence.

She holds a BA with honors from Amherst College, where she majored in Economics. She is an active community member, currently serving as a mentor at Hello Neighbor and participating in Women in Bio.

and later that day...

The 2nd Annual Rockwell Speaker
Jason Wolfe CEO, and Founder of Giftya  and Chair of the Pittsburgh Technology Council
Venue: Virtual | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Jason Wolfe grew up in the Milton Hershey School – mhskids.org  (school for disadvantaged children) where he lived with 16 other boys in a home from 1980 to 1987.  He put himself through college, somehow, and afterward was in an accident and had two major neck spinal surgeries.  While recovering in 1995, Jason was not able to drive so he taught himself how to write code (Perl/HTML/CGI/Photoshop) and built the first coupon website online.  Jason was living in his Jeep at the time.  This is how Jason became interested in technology, by circumstance.  He built that coupon site to eventually raise $500k in VC, got it to 20m visitors per month and sold it to a public company right before the bubble burst in 2000.  Jason then went on to build another company Direct Response Technologies, to 70 employees and track billions of transactions per month and sold to public firm in 2006.  Jason next focused on GiftCards.com starting in 2008 and built that to 120 employees and billions in card sales and sold that to a public firm in 2016.  Today Jason is building the next generation product for the gifting market, we have 60 people currently working at company.  Jason has received several awards over his career but is most proud of being named the Alumni of the year of the Milton Hershey School in 2014.

Wednesday, November 10th, 2021

2nd Annual Workplace Innovation Speaker Series featuring The Inaugural Workplace Innovator-in-Residence, Andrea Stanford Vice President and Regional Manager of BNY Mellon, Pittsburgh
Venue: Hopwood Hall | 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM

As Pittsburgh Regional Manager, Andréa oversees employee engagement, communications, and government affairs for BNY Mellon’s Pittsburgh Regional campus, the largest employee base across the firm’s footprint. She strengthens BNY Mellon’s community affairs in the Greater Pittsburgh region by leading employee volunteerism efforts, cultivating academic partnerships and advancing talent recruitment strategies. 

Previously, Andréa spent two years serving Allegheny County as Assistant County Manager. During her tenure, she worked across federal, state and local government to lead major initiatives, including southwestern Pennsylvania’s preparation for the 2020 Census.

Prior to her work in the public sector, Andréa managed digital strategy at PNC Financial Services, Inc. and media relations at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Andréa is actively engaged with non-profit organizations in the local community and is currently on the board of directors for the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh.  Additionally, Andréa represents BNY Mellon as a member of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Outside of Pittsburgh, Andréa serves on the Alumnae Association Board for Sacred Heart Greenwich, an independent, all-girls college-preparatory school in Connecticut. 

Andréa is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a Master of Public Policy and Management and a Bachelor of Science in business administration. She is also a graduate of the Executive Leadership Academy, offered by Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

Thursday, November 11th, 2021 

The First "Strivers, Drivers, and Doers" Speaker Series featuring an esteemed student entrepreneur Inaugural Student Entrepreneur Speaker  Elena Kazas, CEO and Co-Founder of Calithea Goddess Skincare Line RMU Freshman, Class of 2025
Venue: Wheatley Atrium | 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Ever since she was a young girl, Elena Kazas was fascinated by the health, skincare, and beauty world.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a little girl. I remember staying overnight at her house and going to church with her. I would watch her get ready for bed in the evenings. She had such beautiful skin and I admired it so much,” recalls Elena fondly.

Elena’s yia yia put Extra Virgin Olive Oil on her skin daily, which kept it so soft and delicate. Of Greek descent, Elena also has gorgeous, glowing skin and natural beauty. “I recall my grandmother telling me how important it was to always take care of my hair and skin, to eat healthily, and wear sunscreen. She also felt strongly that all women old and young should appreciate what they have, and to focus on and nurture their inner beauty and not to feel jealous of others,” explained Elena.

Inspired by this, Elena, an astute follower of natural skincare and cosmetics, started to think very seriously about the need for, and the importance of, a clean, natural, authentic Greek skin and body care line for women and men.

“From following social media and YouTube videos to talking with skincare bloggers, as well as my friends and classmates, I researched this topic, as well as my target market, and then brought this unique opportunity to my baba’s (father’s) attention. I not only wanted to develop an organic Greek skincare line but perhaps more importantly, I was also on a mission to help people feel better about themselves and to strengthen their confidence. Regardless of race, age, ethnicity, size, or shape, I want everyone young and old, woman and man, to feel confident about themselves and embrace their inner, natural beauty and strength without comparing themselves to others,” said Elena.

“From the initial concept to the research, branding, website development, and supplier discussions, Elena has been involved in every aspect of the company and has been very instrumental in the evolution of CALITHEA. She will continue to play a major role in our company, business, and skin and body care line,” explained her baba, George Kazas.

“At CALITHEA, I am most excited about developing and sharing clean skin and body care products that are designed to encourage and support women, men, and teens, increase their confidence, and improve their self-image. Our goal at Calithea is for you to embrace and enjoy the benefits of Clean, Natural, Organic Skin & Body Care”.