Rama Aysola, CEO, Intersection, Inc. & former CEO, AirFlash
Ben Horowitz, VP & General Manager of Business Technology Optimization, Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
Tuoc Luong, EVP of Engineering for Yahoo!, Inc.
Mariam Naficy, VP, Global E-Commerce, The Body Shop
Phil Nelson, Chief Technology Officer, Spark Networks

Rama Aysola Rama Aysola
CEO, Intersection, Inc. & former CEO, AirFlash
Rama Aysola served as the CEO of Intersection, Inc. from 2003 to February 2006. Previously, he was CEO at AirFlash, Inc. for five years, and, from 1995 to 1997, the Founding CEO for Vicinity Corp. He has worked in the internet, wireless, and semiconductor industries, with experience in growing startups to revenue and successful exits.

Mr. Aysola has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Ben Horowitz Ben Horowitz
VP & General Manager of Business Technology Optimization, Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
Ben Horowitz manages the $3 billion BTO organization for Hewlett-Packard (HP), a position he was appointed to after HP acquired Opsware, Inc. for $1.6 billion in 2007. Mr. Horowitz co-founded Opsware (formerly Loudcloud) and was the CEO for over seven years. Prior to that, Mr. Horowitz was VP and General Manager of America Online, Inc.'s E-commerce Platform division, where he oversaw development of the company's flagship Shop@AOL service.

Previously, Mr. Horowitz ran several product divisions at Netscape Communications, where he was frequently recognized for his results-oriented management style. As VP of the Customer Relationship Applications group, he delivered applications that help companies strengthen customer relationships and create new revenue streams through customer self-service and targeted marketing. He also served as VP of Netscape's widely acclaimed Directory and Security product line. Before joining Netscape in July 1995, he held various senior product marketing positions at Lotus Development Corporation.

Mr. Horowitz received a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.S. from Columbia University.
Tuoc Luong Tuoc Luong
EVP of Engineering for Yahoo!, Inc.
Tuoc Luong is the EVP, Engineering for Search Technologies at Yahoo!, Inc. Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer and VP of Engineering of Zazzle.com, as well as the Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer at IAC Search & Media (formerly Ask Jeeves, Inc.), which includes such popular destinations as Ask.com, Bloglines, Evite, and more.

Prior to Ask.com, Mr. Luong was VP of Engineering at Octopus Software (acquired by Ask.com in 2001). He also previously worked with Microsoft Corporation, where he managed the company's BackOffice/Small Business Server and Hosted Services Division. In this position, he was one of the key executives driving Microsoft's "Software as a Service" initiative, the precursor to .NET.

With more than two decades of engineering experience, Mr. Luong has also worked with Baan/Aurum Software, Borland, Pyramid Technology, Oracle Corporation, and Informix Software, where he was the eighteenth member of the team.

Mr. Luong is also the author of the book, Internationalization, Developing Software for the Global Market, published in 1995.
Mariam Naficy Mariam Naficy
VP, Global E-Commerce, The Body Shop
Mariam Naficy launched The Body Shop’s e-commerce business in the U.S. in 2003 and managed it to profitability within 12 months of launch. She currently manages the channel, and is newly responsible for developing and implementing global e-commerce strategy for The Body Shop.

Prior to The Body Shop, Naficy launched and managed two e-commerce ventures. First, she was the founder and co-CEO of Eve.com, an online retailer of cosmetics, accessories, and jewelry. Ms. Naficy built the company successfully, from concept to launch, and produced an innovative online destination that offered more than 200 prestige makeup, skincare, bath and body, and haircare brands to women across the U.S. Eve.com was named by Fortune in February 2000 as the “sixth best site in the universe of e-tailers,” just behind Amazon.com. She sold Eve.com to Idealab in May 2000.

Ms. Naficy also worked for Movielink, a joint venture of Sony, MGM, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros., to sell downloadable feature-length movies over the internet. Here she was VP of Marketing and Product Management, again launching the company’s website and overseeing its marketing, website development, public relations, and customer service.

Previously, Ms. Naficy worked at Gemini Management Consulting and was a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York.
Philip Nelson Philip Nelson
Chief Technology Officer, Spark Networks
Philip Nelson has served as Chief Technology Officer of Spark Networks since October 2004. Previously, he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, from June 2003 to October 2004. In May 2001, he founded and became the CEO of Anteros, which offers innovative integration technology to connect personal productivity tools to enterprise applications. From January 1998 to May 2001, he was technical co-founder of Impresse Corp., a provider of hosted marketing collaboration and spend management solutions. At Impresse, he served in a technical and customer-facing role. He held a similar role earlier in his career at Verity Corp. As a software engineer with Advanced Decision Systems, he won awards for his work at Harvard Medical School improving the design of artificial hip and knee implants.

Mr. Nelson holds an S.B. in Computer Science from MIT.

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