Here are some of the exciting things our 2012 fellows are up to. Scroll down for a full list of fellows!
CURRENT FELLOWS
Venture for America fellows are selected from a large group of applicants based on intellectual ability, accomplishment, demonstrated leadership and initiative, communication and interpersonal skills, and mission-orientation. Learn more about each fellow’s background, VFA experience, and future aspirations below.
2012 FELLOWS
Cincinnati
Chelsea Koglmeier
Chelsea graduated from Duke University with a degree in Public Policy and was the President of Duke’s Triathlon Team. She spent a summer in Uganda working in microfinance, a semester in Bolivia, and a year working with urban schools in Philadelphia. Chelsea took a year off between high school and college to work for City Year (Americorps program) in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to the Triathlon team, she was a member of the DukeEngage Student Advisory Committee and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Learn more about Chelsea’s VFA experience. Contact: [email protected] Jim Kahmann
Jim graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Economics and Political Science. His academic interests have also included computer programming, finance, philosophy, and East Asian history. Jim’s work experience during college and over the summers has spanned everything from cleaning and painting boat hulls on the Norwalk River, to constructing model investment portfolios at Merrill Lynch in Honolulu. He has competed all four years for Columbia’s Varsity Lightweight Rowing Team and raced with his crew at the national championships in June 2012.
Jim is currently working to found his own company, ActionBoot, an adventure camp that teaches "Action Hero skills" to local Cincinnatans. Contact: [email protected] |
Dan Bloom Dan graduated with honors from Wesleyan University in 2010 as a history major. At Wesleyan, he was captain of the varsity wrestling team, a Resident Advisor, and he wrote his senior thesis about dance in colonial America. Wrestling at 125 lbs, Dan was a two-time New England Champion for Wesleyan. After graduating, Dan worked in the Wesleyan Development office, where he helped to raise over $10 million dollars towards financial aid in 2011. As the assistant wrestling coach, he led the team to its first New England Championship title in nearly 30 years. Daniel enjoys lifting, playing all sports, dancing, reading fantasy novels, and eating good food.
Learn more about Dan’s VFA experience. Dan is currently working to found his own company, The Port OTR, the first sandwich shop in Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine neighborhood. Contact: [email protected] Max Eisenberg
Max graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, where he majored in Urban Studies and Commercial Entrepreneurship, and originally hails from Birmingham, Michigan. Max led Bear Discounts LLC, providing a discount card to the WashU Community, and started Savvy Savings LLC to reach other colleges and universities in the area. He spent last summer working in private equity for FTL Capital Partners LLC in St. Louis. Max also helped found the Chamber of Commerce within the WashU Student Entrepreneurial Program (StEP) and was nominated for a Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA). He enjoys playing softball and basketball, cheering on Detroit sports teams, boating, and traveling.
Contact: [email protected] |
James Fayal
James graduated with a degree in Finance from the University of Maryland in the Robert H. Smith School of business. He was an active member of the Accelerated Financial Fellows and Private Equity and Venture Capital Fellows programs. He has worked as an intern at a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage office in Connecticut and as an analyst at First Annapolis Consulting in Baltimore. During his first semester of senior year, James contributed to a white paper titled The “New” New Deal: A Pragmatic Approach for Stabilizing the Ailing Economy, which was distributed to over 400 politicians and received national attention on Thompson Reuters' website. Some of his interests include sailing, tennis, lacrosse, and SCUBA diving.
Contact: [email protected] Rickey Ishida
Rickey is a 2010 graduate of Cornell University where he majored in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. Rickey was a lab tech at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and has used his Engineering skills to demolish and rebuild a house in his hometown in Maryland. In addition to his experience in metal and wood machining, he is also proficient in qPCR, ELISA, SDS-PAGE, Gel Electrophoresis, Protein Extraction, SolidWorks, Mill/Lathe/CNC Machining, Java, C++, and MATLAB. As if that weren’t enough, he is currently learning Android programming as well! Rickey is fluent in Japanese, and some of his interests include: consumer products, fishing, guitar, stock trading, personal development, and the future of this country.
Learn more about Rickey’s VFA experience. Contact: [email protected] |
Roanne Lee
Roanne (@RoanneCLee) graduated from Georgetown University, double majoring in Finance and International Business at the McDonough School of Business. She grew up in Los Angeles developing a refined taste for tamales and fish tacos. Roanne traveled to Paris and Berlin to work with an indie artist and in the Fall of 2010, she studied abroad in Barcelona. She also worked with entrepreneurs in the pharmaceutical, entertainment, and restaurant industries and helps friends with local ventures such as farmers markets and charitable concerts. With the help of VFA, Roanne aspires to build her own technology start-up, going beyond convention and measuring success through net impact.
Learn more about Roanne’s VFA experience. Contact: [email protected] |