Diverse panel of technology and healthcare professionals to advise presenters from ValChoice and Eversound
The New Hampshire High Tech Council (Council) selected the six panelists to advise presenting companies ValChoice and Eversound at its Entrepreneur Forum on Wednesday, February 10 at 5:30pm at FIRST Headquarters, 200 Bedford Street in Manchester. ValChoice will be advised by: Peter Milnes, chairman and CEO of INEX Capital & Growth Advisors; Mark Smith, founder and CEO of miEdge; and Maureen Manning an attorney with Manning & Zimmerman PLLC. Advising Eversound, a Manchester-based startup, will be: Mark Latham, executive director of Genesis’ Pleasant View Center in Concord; Marc Smith, member of the Council’s board and president and CEO for XMA Corporation in the United States and XMA, Asia; and Harold Baldwin, president and owner of Secure Care Products, LLC.
“We look forward to hearing the advice and feedback our Entrepreneur Forum panelists will be offering to our presenting companies ValChoice and Eversound,” said Matt Cookson, executive director of the Council. “The panelists bring a broad range of experience from the high tech sector and it’s always interesting to hear the perspectives and expertise they can offer to the business challenges the entrepreneurs are facing.”
Peter Milnes has been a leader in the insurance industry for over 25 years and currently oversees the long-term planning, new business development and all financial aspects of INEX Capital & Growth Advisors. Milnes is active in real estate development and other business ventures, and has extensive experience in agency operations, mergers and acquisitions, deal structure, due diligence and capital funding. He has served on a number of insurance advisory boards including Hartford, Peerless and Hanover. Additionally, Milnes serves as a director for the New Hampshire Center for Non Profits, Salem Cooperative Bank, the Marketing Alliance and a variety of other insurance entities.
Founder and CEO of miEdge, Mark Smith brings experience in providing high tech solutions to the insurance industry. In his role at miEdge, he played a key role in developing a user interface that manages, organizes and saves the public data available from the Department of Labor Health/Welfare Employee Benefits. Prior to his work at miEdge, Smith was CEO of USI New England, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, sales management, financial analysis, recruitment and cultural change.
Attorney Maureen Manning has experience in all areas of civil law and specializes in personal injury, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, wrongful death and Social Security disability. She is an experienced trial attorney with a proven record representing injured victims. In 1997 Manning was appointed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen to serve as the commissioner on the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission and served until 2004. She has also served on the Board of Governors of the New Hampshire Bar Association and the New Hampshire Bar Foundation and was chair of the New Hampshire Women’s Lobby and vice-chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Mark Latham is a licensed and career-long healthcare administrator with 28 years of industry experience, overseeing seven facilities, two large corporations – Sunrise and Genesis HealthCare – and was named Administrator of the Year at both. Latham has been with Pleasant View Center in Concord for 16 years, where he has focused on making long-term care less institutionalized. In 2011, he received the Judith D. Griffin Advocacy Award from the New Hampshire Long Term Care Ombudsman, and in 2012 presented “Culture Change – Creating Home,” at the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.
As the president and CEO of XMA Corporation, Marc Smith is responsible for the vision and mission development in both the United States and Tanjin China to ensure stakeholders, customers and employees are offered performance excellence and advanced product development within the radio frequency and microwave industry. Prior to his work at XMA, Smith held several key executive positions, namely at Gentex Corporation and Loral Telemetry and Instrumentation Systems (L3). He also served as vice president for Electro Acoustic products, specializing in process controls, quality engineering, sales, marketing, business development and finance. Smith also serves on the Board of Directors for the Council and chairs the Governance Committee.
Harold Baldwin has 15 years’ experience as a licensed nursing home administrator followed by 30 years building the team at Secure Care Products in Concord. As president and owner Baldwin played a key role in creating a company known for its international world class design, manufacturing and marketing facility. Through its group of international distributors, Baldwin and Secure Care have brought leading-edge healthcare products to the marketplace for 35 years.
ValChoice and Eversound will each have 15 minutes to present their business plan and receive feedback from the panel of experts and the audience. The panel acts as venture advisors for an evening and provides potential solutions to challenges faced by entrepreneurial companies based on their own professional experiences and expertise. In addition to the presentations, the event includes a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres and networking opportunities, as well as an opportunity to engage the evening’s presenters in question and answer sessions. A second networking opportunity occurs between the two presentations, as well as a brief “sky dive” presentation by Dealici.
Entrepreneur Forums are held three times a year at FIRST headquarters at 200 Bedford Street in Manchester from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The cost for the event is $15 for Council members, $30 for non-members, and $10 for students. Sponsors for the event include Autodesk, Cook, Little, Rosenblatt and Manson, Dyn, TD Bank, Entrepreneur Foundation of NH, Howe, Riley & Howe, and NH Business Review. Register here or call 603.935.8951.
