Faculty and Coaches

We have a talented group of JUMPSTART NYC faculty and coaches from world-class institutions. The faculty help us provide a world-class boot camp experience, setting the stage for the 10-week (part-time) action learning project. They come from both the world of academia and enterprise, many of them bringing extensive large and small company/entrepreneurial experience to our program. Our JumpStart NYC coaches work with small groups of JUMPSTART NYC participants to help them progress through their consulting fellowships and navigate the entrepreneurial arena.

Robert E. Baensch is president of the Baensch International Group Ltd. with special focus on international publishing, start-up and turnaround management. He has served eleven years as the Associate Professor of Publishing and former director of New York University’s Center for Publishing. He was senior vice president for marketing for Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., and prior to that he was director for publishing at the American Institute of Physics from 1988 to 1991, responsible for over 60 journals, a book program, print publishing and database online information services. From 1983-1988, Mr. Baensch was vice president-marketing of Macmillan Publishing Company where, in addition to a full range of marketing/sales responsibilities, he directed the Macmillan Software Company and English as a Second Language Multimedia Program. Prior to 1983, he was president of Springer Verlag New York, and from 1968 to 1980 vice president and director of the International Division of Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. Mr. Baensch started his publishing career with the McGraw-Hill Book Company, where he was manager of the Translation Rights Department and editorial director of the International Division.

Lydia Burdick’s career has been in the employment arena, both in outplacement at Right Management and DBM, and in recruiting. At Right Management, Lydia was the Job Resources Consultant. Highlights of her tenure there were initiating, developing, and delivering pioneering webinars in social media for both job seekers and sales, and co-creating and delivering programs designed to keep long-term job seekers motivated. At DBM, Lydia conceived the idea for and produced several region-wide Networking Games which were very well-received. She also produced many job fairs for career centers. Lydia is currently recruiting at Stone Management, a boutique firm specializing in: accounting, finance, marketing, media, project management, and other corporate areas. Previously, she was a recruiter at another boutique which focused on advertising and marketing. Lydia was invited to be on JumpStartNYC’s Advisory Board in 2010 and enjoys contributing to this wonderful program. Her interest in and study of social media has resulted in Lydia being engaged to do consulting work for several organizations. Lydia is an award-winning published author. Her three books comprise the Two-Lap Book Library, a series of books especially designed for people with Alzheimer’s disease to enjoy with a reading partner. Lydia’s mother, Shirley, was the inspiration for these books.

Michael DiGiacomo is a graduate of Yale College and Fordham Law School, where he has been an adjunct professor. Mr. DiGiacomo came to the Levin Institute after a career in law and international finance, including positions at major Wall Street firms and service as the chief financial officer of a publishing company. Mr. DiGiacomo serves as a JumpStart mentor.

Mark Herschberg educated at MIT (with degrees in physics, EE/CS, and a masters in cryptography), has spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 50's, and academia. Mark has worked at and consulted to a number of startups, typically taking on roles in general management, operations, and technology. He has been involved from inception and fundraising through growth and sale of the company. These startup companies have included a wireless application platform, online advertising, lead generation, OLAP, and new language development. Mark was instrumental in launching ServiceLive.com Sear's online home services labor market; he also helped fix NBC's online video marketplace (now Hulu.com). In academia Mark spent a year at HBS working with two finance professors to create the upTick system now used to teach finance at many of the top business schools. At MIT Mark helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program at which he teaches annually. In his spare time Mark works with numerous non-profits and has become one of the top ranked ballroom dancers in the country. Currently Mark is the CEO of ZepFrog Corp. a NYC based new media company.

Dr. J.B. Kassarjian holds an MBA and DBA from Harvard University and a BS from Northeastern University and has been Professor of Management (1980 - ) at Babson. He has also been Chairman of the Management Division at Babson (1981 -1987). He has held a joint appointment, as Professor of Strategy and Organization, at IMD (1989, and as Emeritus since 2001.) Prior to joining Babson and IMD, he was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, and he was also involved in establishing Harvard-related graduate management institutes in Iran and the Philippines. He has served as consultant to organizations in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, in such areas as leading change, strategic restructuring, and senior management team building.

Linda Lehrer has spent her career in both media and education. She received her Ph.D. in English from Brown University, where she taught courses in drama and American literature. She has also taught journalism and writing at Fordham and New York University. As a journalist, Dr. Lehrer reported for the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune. She has worked in public television for programs such as “Adam Smith” and ‘Sesame Street” and, as Communications Director for Scholastic, Inc., she launched “The Magic School Bus.” As Director of Communications for the Aspen Institute, Dr. Lehrer helped organize the first Bipartisan Congressional Retreat. She also developed a “sabbatical” program for The Smithsonian which, using their unique resources, helps people discover new approaches to their personal lives. Her own program, Life Changes: The Next Step, helps people find new ways to think about taking the next step in their lives—both professionally and personally. Clients include foundations, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions. Linda Lehrer is currently the Director of New York Public Programs for the Aspen Institute.

Thomas Moebus is the co-creator of the JumpStart NYC program, and regularly serves as a mentor. Mr. Moebus served for 17 years at MIT, including as Director of the MIT Industrial Liaison Program and Office of Corporate Relations. Following four years as Vice Chancellor at the University of California, Irvine, Moebus co-founded the Orange County Technology Action Network (www.octaneoc.org) to fuel technology entrepreneurship in Southern California. He also founded and led a consulting firm, Strategic Advancement, prior to coming to Levin Institute as Vice President in 2006

Steve Roehm is an executive education, facilitation, and strategic innovation consulting expert who has helped business leaders in all parts of the globe integrate innovation, strategy, and execution to help their organizations achieve greater success. As founder of his own company, in his work as an IBM line operations executive, and as a senior consulting faculty member of IBM’s Executive Business Institute, Steve brings real-world practicality to his consulting. His framework for discussing, evaluating, and selecting successful innovative products, services, and business models has been used worldwide to help clients both small and large achieve greater success

Dr. Lynne Rosansky is the co-creator of JumpStart NYC, and regularly serves on its faculty. Currently Provost of the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, Rosansky is a cultural anthropologist with a rich experience of leadership in business schools. The original and very highly rated JumpStart NYC boot-camp curriculum is her creation, and her enthusiastic teaching style continues to make her an important member of the JumpStart family. She served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Levin Institute from 2006-9.

Victor Rosansky holds Masters degrees in Economics (Boston University) and Psychology (Brandeis) as well as an MBA (Boston University). He has taught Organizational Behavior, Managerial Economics, and Microeconomics at Boston University School of Management; Consulting Skills to MBA students at the Hult International Business School, and was an invited lecturer at the International University of Japan. Victor co-founded Organizational Dynamics, Inc. (ODI), a leading consulting and training company that grew to several hundred people serving the global market, and later developed LHR International, Inc., a consulting company that focuses on rapid business alignment.

Helene Rude is Director of Educational Programs at Levin Institute. She joined Levin in 2010 after a long career at the IBM Corporation, most recently at the IBM Executive Business Institute. She is responsible for all phases of the JumpStart NYC program, including curriculum development, project identification and matching, and overseeing the coaching/mentoring process. She also regularly serves as a mentor.

Bill Sobel began his career at NBC/New York as a Page and then went into production planning. From there to ABC, MTV, and The Walt Disney Studios to name a few. Currently Bill is principal of SobelMedia, a digital media connections company and founder of a group of media professionals who meet monthly in NYC in order to explore the transitions in the media industry. SobelMedia members stay abreast of industry changes, providing a forum for continuing education.

Dr. Chris Trimble of the Tuck School at Dartmouth University has dedicated the past ten years to studying a single challenge that vexes even the best-managed corporations: how to execute an innovation initiative. His work came to fruition with the 2010 publication of The Other Side of Innovation—Solving the Execution Challenge, written with Vijay Govindarajan. Chris and Vijay have also published three lead articles in the Harvard Business Review, including “Stop the Innovation Wars” in July 2010 and “How GE is Disrupting Itself” in the October 2009, with GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. Chris first broke into the forefront of executive consciousness with his December 2005 book Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators – from Idea to Execution. In June 2006, the Wall Street Journal published a Top Ten Recommended Reading list that included Ten Rules alongside Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, and Blink. Strategy & Business magazine recognized Ten Rules as the best strategy book of the year.

Dr. Sheldon Weinig spent five years as a professor at Columbia University before founding Materials Research Corporation (MRC) in 1957. MRC, a company supplying materials and equipment to the semiconductor and computer industries, became a public corporation and was listed on the American Stock Exchange. Weinig was chairman and CEO of the company for more than 20 years. Sony acquired MRC in 1989 and following the merger, Weinig remained with Sony America for seven years as vice chairman of engineering and manufacturing. In 1996, he retired and accepted Adjunct Professorships at Columbia University and The State University of New York at Stony Brook, N.Y. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 1984, and in 1988, the Government of France awarded him the rank of Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur. In 1990, he was elected to the International Technology Institute’s Hall of Fame for Engineering, Science and Technology. Weinig served two terms as a member of President Reagan’s Board of Advisors on Private Sector Initiatives. As a Senior Fellow at Levin, he is actively involved in the JumpStart and FastTrac programs, and Chairs the Advisory Panel for JumpStart NYC.

Dr. Irving Wladawsky Berger is Chairman Emeritus at the IBM Academy of Technology and Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT. At MIT, he is involved in multi-disciplinary research and teaching activities focused on how information technology is helping transform business organizations and the institutions of society. He is also a Strategic Advisor to Citigroup on innovation and technology initiatives and an Adjunct Professor in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Imperial College Business School. Dr. Berger worked at IBM for 37 years where he was responsible for identifying emerging technologies and marketplace developments in the IT industry.

Ken Zolot is a senior fellow for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he is working with senior Kauffman leaders to develop the Foundation’s new initiative, Kauffman Laboratories for Enterprise Creation. Combining a wealth of experience teaching innovation and entrepreneurship in academic settings with first-hand, practical experience as a serial entrepreneur, Zolot is uniquely positioned for this role. Zolot is the founder of MIT's Innovation Teams program—a partnership with MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation—where multidisciplinary teams of students collaborate with MIT lab directors, evaluating go-to-market strategies for breakthrough discoveries. He also co-teaches the X-Prize Lab class at MIT, in partnership with The X-Prize Foundation. Zolot's teaching and mentoring have guided numerous MIT-spawned companies, including A123 Systems, Arch Therapeutics, Brontes3D, HubSpot, Myomo, QD Vision, Robopsy, Saaf Water, Semprus Biosciences (fka SteriCoat), Vertica Systems, and Visible Measures.

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