Marc Slafsky – CEO

Certified Insurance Councilor (CIC); Entrepreneur; Business Coach Insurance and Networking Specialist/ Startup Catalyst

Marc Slafsky has built an extensive book of clients throughout the East Coast by becoming a trusted business advisor and mentor.  He has over thirty years of commercial insurance experience.

Prior to WWLC, Marc owned his own insurance agency and, later, worked for large regional insurance agencies.  Marc now works for bank owned insurance agencies where he helps startups with their funding and insurance challenges.

Marc has a passion for networking & teaching, and a particular interest in helping startups thrive.  In his spare time he is a business coach.  March is writing a book on business networking.

Marc has multiple degrees from Bentley University.

Peter Dragone – CFO

Co-Founder WWLC – Co-Founder – Keurig Inc. | Financial Planning | Fundraising
Startup Advisor

Mr. Dragone has spent the past fifteen plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of start-ups in a wide range of industries.

Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects, including DB Thin Films, Sulzer Metaplas and Monsoon Kitchens.   He was a co-founder of Keurig, Inc., now the multi-billion dollar Keurig/Green Mountain Inc. owned by JAB Holding Co.

Previously, Mr. Dragone was a senior financial/operational manager for Chiquita Brands International.  He moved to Chiquita after working in international banking at BankBoston.

He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA (in Spanish) from Middlebury College and a BA from Colby College.

Hans van Putten – CMO

Co-Founder WWLC – Owner 40ParkLane,llc – Digital Marketing| Web Design | Operational Mgt. – Startup and Small Business Quarterback.

Hans van Putten owned and ran operations of his food manufacturing company for 17+ years building the Carolyn’s Handmade brand under the umbrella of 40ParkLane,llc.

After the successful sale of the food business, he took advantage of the years of digital marketing, web design, operations management, photography and graphic design experience , to help startups and small businesses, and has been involved in a number of start-up ventures since.

Prior to founding 40parkLane,llc Hans worked for the Gillette Company for 10 years in various financial roles of increasingly bigger responsibility, culminating in his last position as Director of Business Planning for The International Group at Gillette HQ, Boston. Hans has an MBA (Marketing & International Business) from Aston University, and a BA in Business Administration from IHBO de Maere.

Kelly Martin – Art Director

Kelly is an experienced creative with a history of projects completed on various platforms, including print, web design, signage, photography and video. With a variety of expertise, in education, retail and biotechnology, her well rounded knowledge of various industries, and platforms is an asset to any project. She has experience leading teams, recruiting and developing talent.

Technical 

Photoshop, Illustrator, Web Design, Print Design,  Photography, Video Editing

Education 

Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 2001, Webmaster Certification, Moraine Park Technical College, 2002, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Digital Multi-media 2006

Jerlin Joseph – Senior Software Engineer

With over a decade of industrial experience as Software Engineer in Java and Oracle Technologies, Jerlin is experienced in all phases of development – from requirements to implementation. He has work experience with clients, as well as development teams. A natural leader, he is versed in mobile applications development, as well as web development . He also possesses a strong knowledge of Object Oriented Concepts. Well acquainted with SDLC and Agile methodology, he excels at problem solving and critical thinking. With the ability to learn new technologies quickly, and to use existing technologies at an optimal level, he is an asset to any team. With strong analytic and problem solving skills, no challenge is too great. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills round out his skillset.

Technical

Java, plsql, javascript, perl, VB SOAP Web Services, Maven, Ant Oracle, DB2 Windows, UNIX. Struts, Struts2 Jdeveloper, Eclipse, Sql developer, CVS, SVN, Toad, Autosys, Sonar, Jenkins, WordPress

Education 

Master of Computer Applications Jun 2003 — Dec 2006 Bachelor of Computer Applications Jun 2000 — May 2003 M.A College of Engineering B.P.C College Piravom 

Jaap Zandbergen – Go 2 Market Strategist

Owner RINT bv – Textiles / Design / Go2Market Strategy / Re- and Upcycling / 

Entrepreneur in the Creative Industry / Scale -and  Startups / Local to Local

Jaap Zandbergen worked his 25+ career in the Textile and Design Industry and was CEO in weaving mills and printing mills in interior textiles, the clothing industry and technical textiles for the (petro) chemical Industry. He has a huge background in working with different cultures because of his broad sales -and sourcing experiences within Japan, China, Asia, Europe and North America.

Recently Jaap works for EASME  (European Small and Medium Enterprises)  under the EU Program H2020, Phase I and Phase II in pure eco-innovative products. He has mentored several companies all over Europe during their scaling up and worked with plastic recycling companies, improving Go2Market for fashion and design companies preventing waste and minimizing design time and developing international strategies for upcycling companies in cellulosic waste and combining with algorithm for local to local production facilities.

During his career in textile Jaap was more than 10 years Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Design Academy Eindhoven. The DAE was named as the most important Design Institute in the world by the New York Times. Jaap has a BA in Business Administration from IHBO de Maere and followed entrepreneurial courses at Rotterdam Erasmus University. Jaap was elected Chairman of the International Mohair Association and CITA (an European Producers Organization to stop counterfeit in textiles and fashion)