Portfolio 1 Col

Andrew Phillips

Andrew has always had a passion for technology ever since he was a teenager. He is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a degree in Management Information Systems. He began his career at Factset Research Systems where he provided client support to financial professionals, as well as being instrumental in building and maintaining Factset’s internal infrastructure. He continues to further his education in IT, recently obtaining the Comptia A+ certification and plans on obtaining more IT certifications in the future.

Andrew is instrumental in assisting SME with internal IT infrastructure and call center implementation

Alan Brody

Alan Brody is the founder of the iBreakfast.com and SAVVE – Silicon Alley Vision Venture for Executives – brainstorming events. As executive program director of TECHmarketing, he has a long history of creating firsts in high technology media events which now includes eTV World the Digital TV/Internet Conference and Hollyweb, a major conference event at both the Consumer Electronics Show and the National Association of Broadcasters. He created the mar.com awards, the first awards program for online advertising & marketing. He has appeared on the Charlie Rose show and speaks at many Industry conferences.

He developed CreaTECH, the first interactive advertising conference and numerous new events including Web 2.0 NY and Job Generation that have launched the careers of Internet Indsutry stars. He has been a columnist with divisions of Advertising Age and ADWEEK. He is also the co-founder of the first Macintosh expo in New York and was a columnist with MacWEEK.

Prior to forming TECHmarketing, Mr. Brody was the Business Development Manager at the Computer Factory, a 60-store east coast computer retail chain. As an advertising consultant he is noted for a pioneering study on cigarette brand marketing and is the head advisor of a new transmedia publishing network.

Peter Chmiel

Peter is a life long entrepreneur who is focused on working with and creating new tech startups by building cloud based software-as-a-service solutions and mobile applications. He brings years of experience in business development, systems design and architecture, and best practices for managing development teams.

He graduated from New York University’s Stern School of Business with a double major in Information Systems and Management, In the early 1990s Peter started a management and IT consulting business doing business process engineering and building custom software for small, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies. In 2003 he co-founded a stock and commodities trading business that automated the strategies of day traders. He grew both businesses to 7 figures in revenue on positive cash flow.

Over the past few years he has designed and programmed a handful of mobile applications. Titles include: The Vegan Guide to NYC, Best Dive Bars, Beer Gardens NYC and MovieMash. His first and best mobile app was the one he wrote to propose to his wife.

Mario L Castellanos

Mario’s career spans almost thirty years in hands-on sales, marketing, business development and operations within technology, energy, security and surveillance, broadcast media communications and telecommunications sectors.  His knowledge of global markets and repeated travels within the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe has rapidly generated new revenue, opened new channels, improved recognition and increased share for hardware manufacturers, software developers and services providers  in a variety of vertical industry including Video, Data, WiFi, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, LTE, OFDM, Broadband, Broadcasting, Television, Radio, and Solar Energy. 

In 2002, Mario founded New Ventures Technologies (NVT), a business services company specializing in acquiring new customers on behalf of brands in these sectors.  His focus with NVT includes immediate revenue generation, front-line customer engagement, (re)structuring operations, increasing market share, project development, product management, marketing and strategy, partner/channel marketing, trade shows, technical and sales training, distribution/supply chain establishment, service and installations management, OEM agreements, alliances & strategic partnerships, mergers & acquisitions assistance, banking & finance direction, import/export, international risk analysis, business and cultural practices guidance and change management.  His business clients have included legacy concerns, new ventures, start-ups and green field.

Mario was born and raised in Miami, Florida.  He was also formally educated in Miami at MDCC and FIU.  Mario received his first degree in Criminology and continued his studies in Industrial Technology, a combined discipline of engineering principles and operations. In his personal time, Mario previously founded and led a non-profit group affiliated with several local religious organizations dedicated to assisting individuals seeking and maintaining employment.

Joseph Ori (Chairman)

Joseph Ori, Chairman of the Board, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Capital Corporation, a real estate finance and advisory firm. Mr. Ori is a highly accomplished real estate executive with significant knowledge and experience is all facets of commercial real estate including; investment, finance, capital markets, development, capital raising, management, brokerage and advisory services. Mr. Ori has completed more than $2,200,000,000 in real estate transactions since 1981. As a real estate executive, Mr. Ori has been a decisive leader with proven success in capital raising, deal structuring, investment strategy and strategic planning for producing profitable growth for both start-up and large real estate organizations.

Prior to forming Paramount, Mr. Ori was Senior Vice President of NRC Realty & Capital Advisors, Chief Investment Officer of Rhodes Group, LLC, a Las Vegas based land and home developer, President and Managing Partner of Rochdale Property Ventures, the real estate investment group of Rochdale Investment Management, a New York based investment management firm, Practice Director of the Chicago Real Estate Advisory Group of BDO Seidman, LLP, a National Accounting and Tax firm, Founder and President of Paramount Securities Corporation, a real estate investment bank and broker dealer, Senior Vice President of Southmark Funding Corporation, the financing subsidiary of Southmark Corporation, a Dallas based Fortune 500 Company, Assistant Vice President Acquisitions of VMS Realty, Inc., a Chicago based real estate investment and syndication firm and Senior Auditor of Laventhol & Horwath, a Chicago based and national CPA firm.

Mr. Ori has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Southern Illinois University, an MBA in Finance from DePaul University and completed an executive program in Financial Management at Harvard Business School. He is a licensed real estate broker in California, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Mr. Ori is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Accounting at the University of Phoenix.

Mr. Ori has authored numerous articles on real estate financing, deal structuring, portfolio diversification and industry trends in leading real estate and finance periodicals and is an active speaker at industry seminars and events.