As Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Michelle K. Lee provides leadership and oversight to one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world.

Ms. Lee serves as a principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on both domestic and international intellectual property matters, and provides leadership and oversight of the day-to-day management of the policy, budget, and operations for an agency of over 12,000 employees. She also promotes innovation domestically and drives international harmonization efforts, in support of the administration's top economic priorities to increase economic growth.

Prior to her role as Director, Ms. Lee was Deputy Director, and also served as the first Director of the Silicon Valley United States Patent and Trademark Office where she was responsible for establishing and leading the Silicon Valley office as well as advising the USPTO on a variety of policy matters.

Before becoming the Director of the Silicon Valley office, Ms. Lee served by appointment of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on the USPTO's Patent Public Advisory Committee, which advises the USPTO on patent policies, goals, performance, and operations. The San Francisco Business Times and San Jose Business Journal recognized Ms. Lee as Best Bay Area IP Lawyer in 2012 and one of the top 100 most influential women in the Silicon Valley in 2013. Ms. Lee has spent most of her professional career advising some of the country's most innovative companies on technical, legal, and business matters.

Prior to joining the USPTO, Ms. Lee served as Deputy General Counsel for Google and was the company's first Head of Patents and Patent Strategy. She also served as a partner at the Silicon Valley-based law firm of Fenwick and West, where she specialized in advising a wide range of high-technology clients from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies on patent law, intellectual property, litigation, and corporate matters. Prior to her career as a legal advisor to technology companies, Ms. Lee worked in the federal judiciary, serving as a law clerk for the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California where she worked on the precedent-setting Apple v. Microsoft copyright infringement case. As a law clerk for the Honorable Paul R. Michel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Ms. Lee worked on many patent and trademark appeals.

Before building her legal career, Ms. Lee worked as a computer scientist at Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories, as well as at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. She holds a B.S. and an M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from M.I.T., as well as a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Founder and Partner, Fontinalis Partners

Chris is a Founder and Partner of Fontinalis, where he is responsible for a wide range of critical processes ranging from deal sourcing and execution to corporate operations and business strategy. Chris also acts as a business development executive on behalf of Fontinalis’ portfolio companies.

Prior to Fontinalis, Chris worked at Ford Motor Company in Sustainable Business Development and Treasury, where he conducted financial and strategic analysis. Previously, Chris served in the U.S. Army as a Communications Officer in Iraq where he was responsible for data communication systems and organizational change management. Before joining the military, Chris worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at UBS in San Francisco and New York within its Technology and Energy groups. He was responsible for due diligence, financial analysis and execution on a broad range of transactions.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of one of Fontinalis’ portfolio companies, LocoMobi, and is the Chairman of Read to a Child, a national children’s literacy and mentoring nonprofit that inspires adults to read aloud to children regularly, increasing their chances to lead healthy, productive lives. Additionally, he serves as a Board Observer of five of Fontinalis’ portfolio companies: Life360, Masabi, ParkMe, SQLstream, and Zagster. He is also a member of the Global Cleantech 100 expert panel and a former member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Personal Transportation Systems.

Chris earned his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management with a concentration in strategy. While at Yale, he served on the Honor Committee and graduated with distinction in former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s seminar on Faith and Globalization. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and International Relations from Michigan State University. Chris is a staunch advocate of urban redevelopment and the revitalization of the City of Detroit.

Jim is Co-Founder and Managing Member of Riverstone and a member of the firm's investment committee. He is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and managing investments. Jim has been the managing member and majority owner of Riverstone Communities, LLC ("Riverstone Communities") since its formation in 1998 and has acquired and operated a portfolio currently made up of over 65 manufactured home parks and RV communities. In 2012, Jim co-founded Peas and Carrots Hospitality, LLC, a restaurant holding company that currently owns 3 restaurants in the Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 2007, Jim became an organizer and board member of Level One Bancorp,a bank holding company headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan which has grown to over $700 million in total assets in seven years. Jim currently serves as the Lead Director of Level One. Prior to forming Riverstone Communities, Jim served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Arcadia Services, Inc. ("Arcadia"). Arcadia is a national health care provider in 21 states that was sold in 1997 to Integrated Health Services, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange company. Jim continued to run Arcadia as a division of Integrated Healthcare and later helped facilitate a sale to Addus Healthcare in 1999. Jim graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Economics. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego, College of Law, and became a bar-certified attorney in the State of Michigan. Jim is also active in a number of civic and charitable organizations.

Kara is Managing Director of SeedInvest Chicago and Detroit. She joined the SeedInvest team to help expand the startup ecosystem in the Midwest and thereby fill a gap she herself saw in the process of investing in early-stage companies. She is an attorney who decided to forgo practicing for finance; formerly on the trading floor at Moore Capital Management and later doing due diligence to help sell companies to private equity firms. She graduated from Miami University with a BA in Political Science and received her J.D. from The University of Toledo.

Sandy currently serves as CEO of Locqus and as a Partner of Ludlow Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on investments in early-stage tech companies. His entrepreneurial success began by founding Netarx – a network integration and services provider to large enterprises. Netarx focused on advanced technologies including Business Intelligence (BI), Network & Information Security, Virtualization, Storage Area Networks, Unified Communications and Data Center Services. In 2009, Netarx acquired the VAR business of Analysts International (including Sequoia and Entree Systems). In 2011 Netarx was acquired by Logicalis (a division of Datatec - Symbol LSE: DTC) and Sandy joined as its Chief Technology Officer. Sandy continues his entrepreneurial success by founding Yottabyte and Locqus. Sandy contributes to the community via lectures, publications and develops new technologies - he currently holds five U.S. Patents.

Chris Seago works closely with Bizdom entrepreneurs to bring a sense of speed, agility and decisiveness to their daily roles as CEOs of their companies. Chris helps teams develop strategies and the critical skills necessary to seek and secure rounds of seed and growth funding. He leads businesses in the pitch process for closing capital-raises from private and public sources and helps create investor confidence that Bizdom businesses can scale, increase shareholder value and produce high returns on investment.

Chris is an accomplished creative and business leader with significant P&L experience running businesses and managing projects. His diverse background includes founding and successfully operating his own group of diversified companies including several marketing communications firms and a flight simulation company. Prior to that, Chris was a creative principal at several national ad agencies and produced & directed marketing and ad campaigns for many national brands. Just prior to joining the Bizdom team, Chris was envoy to the U.S. State Dept. as Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer to the International Joint Commission, a bi-national organization between the United States and Canada focused on economic and resource matters between the states and provinces bordering the two nations.

A University of Michigan engineering & screenwriting alum and startup fanatic, Chris thrives at brainstorming innovative solutions, matching addressable market needs with disruptive startup technologies, energizing clients and empowering team members. Outside of Bizdom, Chris is a script and visual advisor on theater productions and feature movies, and he teaches drone piloting to industry and the military.