Pitch Dingman Competition

2025 Competition Tracks

Track 1: The David and Robyn Quattrone Tech Track

Open to all UMD students.

This track is targeted to students with scalable, tech or tech-enabled ventures that already have traction (revenue, users, investment and/or grants, customer interviews, etc.). No minimum revenue is required.

• Grand Prize: $25,000
• 2nd Place: $10,000
• 3rd Place: $5,000
• Audience Choice: $1000
• Tom's Industrious Entrepreneur Award: $1000
• Semifinalist Prize: $500 and $6,500 in AWS Activate Credits

Track 2: Main Street Track

Open to all UMD students.

This track is for small businesses with revenue ($1,000 minimum) and initial customers that are not necessarily focused on scale.

• Grand Prize: $15,000
• 2nd Place: $8,000
• 3rd Place: $5,000
• Audience Choice: $1000
• Semifinalist Prize: $500 and $6,500 in AWS Activate Credits

Track 3: Joan and Chester Luby Idea Track

Open to all UMD students. New prizes this year!

This track is for the early ventures and/or ideas to change the world. Students with an idea for a venture, or a venture of any industry that does not meet the qualifications for Main Street or Quattrone Tech Tracks, are encouraged to apply.  

• Best in Show: $4,500
• Best in Customer Discovery: $3,000
• Best in Product-Solution Fit: $3,000
• Best in Go-To-Market Strategy: $3,000
• Best in Innovative Solution: $3,000
• Best in Sustainability: $3,000
• Best in Social Impact: $3,000
• Elevate! Feminary (Female and Nonbinary) Founder: $3,000
• Elevate! Founder of Color: $3,000
• Terp Town Audience Choice: $1,000

Track 4: Alumni Tech Track

Open to all UMD Alumni.

In partnership with the UMD Alumni Association, this track is for alumni-founded ventures with scalable, tech or tech-enabled ventures that already have traction (revenue, users, investment and/or grants, LOIs, pilot tests, etc.). No minimum revenue is required. Ventures with more than $100K in ARR or $1 million in investments are not eligible. All graduate and undergraduate UMD alumni from any year and any major are welcome.

• Grand Prize: $20,000
• 2nd Place: $15,000
• Terp Town Audience Choice: $1000

Track 5: Alumni Main Street Track

Open to all UMD Alumni.

In partnership with the UMD Alumni Association, this track is for alumni-founded non-tech small businesses with revenue and initial customers. Ventures must have made at least $1000 in their lifetime, and less than $100K in ARR, to be eligible. All graduate and undergraduate UMD alumni from any year and any major are welcome.

• Grand Prize: $15,000
• 2nd Place: $10,000
• Terp Town Audience Choice: $1000

2025 Competition Dates

• Applications open: January 14 at 1 a.m. 
• Application deadline: February 14 at 11:59 p.m. 
• Round 1 Announced: March 6 
• Next Round Bootcamp: March 11-26 
• (Quattrone Tech and Main Street Tracks only) Round 2 Semifinals: March 28 
• Finals Prep Bootcamp & Pitch Practice: April 1-17 
• Finals Competition Day – Terp Town Marketplace, All Tracks Finals & Awards Ceremony: April 24 at Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center

Eligibility

All tracks

Ventures are only eligible to compete in one track each year. If a venture was a finalist in last year's Pitch Dingman Competition Quattrone Tech Track, Main Street Track, All Stars Track, or Alumni Track, they are not eligible to compete in any track this year; these ventures must skip a year before they are eligible again for the competition. However, Idea Track finalist ventures are welcome to compete in consecutive years and are strongly encouraged to apply to next year's Quattrone Tech Track, Main Street Track, or Alumni Track.

See the full Rules, Eligibility and Judging Rubrics.

Quattrone Tech, Main Street & Idea Tracks

All current University of Maryland – College Park (UMD-CP) and UMD-CP at Shady Grove students are encouraged to apply. This includes all current undergraduate or graduate students, as well as students who graduated during the most recent winter semester.

Applicant teams must be at least half Terp. This means the team must have at least 50% UMD-CP student founders who are also currently serving on the lead management team (e.g. CEO, CTO); or at least 50% of the venture equity must be held by current UMD-CP students. Ventures of any industry are welcome.

Alumni Tracks

All former undergraduate or graduate University of Maryland - College Park (UMD-CP) and UMD-CP at Shady Grove students are encouraged to apply. Ventures of any stage and industry are welcome.

Applicant teams must be at least a third Terp. This means the current team must have at least 30% UMD alumni founders or lead management team members (e.g. CEO, CTO); or at least 30% of the venture equity must be held by UMD alumni. The UMD alumni must have been on the leadership team for at least one year, or if the venture idea is less than a year old, on the team for the lifetime of that venture to date.

You must complete an application for your team to be considered for the Pitch Dingman Competition. The application will guide you to the right track for your venture, based on your student status and venture stage.

All tracks' applications consist of a series of questions about you and your business as well as a pitch deck.

The short pitch deck (no more than 5-10 slides) will be read by the judges, and should provide a brief overview of your venture. Feel free to be creative in how you communicate this information, and to share your passion and enthusiasm. It is meant to help you—as an entrepreneur—to practice and hone your ability to verbalize and sell the idea to early-stage investors such as friends and family, angel investors and venture capital firms.

Some topics to consider for the application questions and your pitch deck are:

• What problem are you trying to solve?
• How big is your problem? How many people have this problem?
• What is your solution to the problem? What is the value proposition for the customer?
• Previous attempt(s) at solving this problem and why is your solution better?
• How will you make money? What are your revenue stream(s)? 
• What are your marketing and distribution strategies?
• Management team – What backgrounds and experiences do they bring?
• Current traction – Do you have existing revenue?
• Use of prize funds
• Plan moving forward – What are your milestones for the next three months

Teams will also want to submit materials that will be used in print, web, and other media including:

• Team descriptions
• Team/team member photos
• Product or prototype photos (if applicable)
• Company logo (high-resolution files)

See the full Rules, Eligibility and Judging Rubrics.

2024 Pitch Dingman Competition Winners

Joan & Chester Luby Idea Track

Best in Show ($4,500): MyUniventure – Brandon Fung ’24; Jake Blum ’24; Caleb McClatchey ’24; Megan Nee
Best in Customer Discovery ($3,000): Matching Students Abroad – Maryann Vazhapilly ’24; Miranda Song ’24
Best in Product-Solution Fit ($3,000): Cloudola – Yifan Zhang ’27
Best in Go-To-Market Strategy ($3,000): Strapt – Emily Ciardiello ’24
Best in Innovative Solution ($3,000): Nerve Systems – Cartor Hancock ’26
Elevate! Feminary Founders ($3,000): Exchange Roots – Evie Scott ’26
Elevate! Founders of Color ($3,000): M’Elyon Organics – Adeuwnmi Agagu ’25
Terp Town Audience Choice ($1,000): Chai Shai – Ismaeel Ibrahim ’25

Main Street Track

Grand Prize ($15,000): StreetLoveDMV – Jeffrey Kyei-Asare ’25
2nd Place ($8,000): Dawson’s Detailing – James Dawson ’24 
3rd Place ($5,000): Cookies By Drew – Drew Haas ’24
Audience Choice ($1,000): Dawson’s Detailing – James Dawson ’24

Quattrone Tech Track

Grand Prize ($25,000): Iffirm, LLC DBA Journiy – Mildred Diggs ’24
2nd Place ($10,000): Vyne – Shaurya Saran ’25; Vaughn Hatfield ’25
3rd Place ($5,000): Engauge – Rodrigo Sandon ’24; Marie Brodsky ’24
Audience Choice ($1,000): Engauge – Rodrigo Sandon ’24; Marie Brodsky ’24
Tom's Industrious Entrepreneur Award ($1,000): Sociable AI – Thomas Noh ’24

Alumni Pilot Track

Grand Prize ($15,000): BrightWave Partners LLC – Paula Henry ’84; Tim Shaw; Ken Peretti 
2nd Place ($10,000): JUUCE – Jake Taub ’20; Pouya Susanabadifarahani ’19; David Greenfield ’20
Terp Town Audience Choice ($1,000): NotUrAverage Candles – Courtney Johnson ’23

All Stars Track

Grand Prize ($20,000): NextStep Robotics – Bradley Hennessie ’09 (Towson University)
2nd Place ($15,000): Fem Equity – Adeola Ajani ’20 (Towson University); Malir Burks
Terp Town Audience Choice x2 ($2,000): Xeddy – Basil Udo ’22 (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) & Biochemical Analyzer – Chad Sundberg ’25 (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

2024 Finals Judges

Main Street and Quattrone Track Judges

Chris Ballenger, Founder & CEO at APEX Strategies
William J. Fishlinger, Chairman & CEO at Gramercy Risk Holdings
Vishal Khera, Founder and Managing Director of Khera Ventures
Tom Parsons, President at Parsons Ventures
Stacey Price, Co-Founder and Chief Localist for Shop Made in Maryland
David Quattrone, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Cvent, Dingman Center Board Chairman

Joan & Chester Luby Idea Track Judges

Alex Castelli, Managing Partner in Emerging Industries at CohnReznick
Akash Magoon, CEO of Adonis
Sarah Miller, Vice President of Economic Development Terrapin Development Company
Paul Mudahar, Co-Founder and CEO of Bobtail
Markus Proctor, Executive Director of Innovators of Progress
Bryan Swann, Vice President of Enterprise Data Risk at Capital One

Alumni Pilot Track Judges

Shelly Kapoor Collins, Founding Partner of The Shatter Fund
Brian Ludwig, Senior Vice President of Sales at Cvent
Akash Magoon, CEO of Adonis
Rick Rudman, Founder and CEO Curbio

All Stars Track Judges

Harry Alford, Co-Founder of Humble Ventures
Alex Castelli, Managing Partner in Emerging Industries at CohnReznick
Sarah Miller, Vice President of Economic Development Terrapin Development Company
Paul Mudahar, Co-Founder and CEO of Bobtail
Markus Proctor, Executive Director of Innovators of Progress
Bryan Swann, Vice President of Enterprise Data Risk at Capital One

2023 Pitch Dingman Competition Winners

Specialty Prizes ($1,000)

1. Best Graduate Founder or Team: Pet Passport - Dorian Stephens ’23, Dorian Stephens ’23, Alex Sonnie ’22, Shahriar Jahanbani ’22, Ogugua Obii-Obioha ’23, Musangu Bukasa ’23
2. Best Maryland Smith Student Founder or Team: Exercise Network - Candace Austin ’23
3. Ladies First Founders: Visionergy - Terry Goolsby ’25
4. Social Impact: Frontground - Kenneth Yeaher Jr. ’24, Kenneth Yeaher Sr.
5. Sustainability: ARCH DASH - Ina Kovacheva ’25, Brian Godsey
6. Tom’s Industrious Entrepreneur Award ($1,000): Sustainabli - Kevin Tu ’23, Telon Yan ’23 and Oliver D’Esposito ’26
7. Founders Showcase Audience Choice ($1,000): Rent My Closet - Ariyan Khana ’23, Arvyn Garchitorena ’23, Jamil Mailk ’23

Idea Track

Grand Prize ($3,000): Tessen - Celine Liptrot ’24 and Kilian Liptrot ’23

2nd Place ($2,000): Spray - Connor Hartzog ’23, Mari Ortega ’24, Jason Fotso-Puepi ’23 and Ajitesh Kaladi ’25

Main Street Track

Grand Prize ($20,000): Around the Block - Gabrielle McLaughlin ’23 and Joelle Anselmo ’23

2nd Place ($7,500): NotUrAverage Candles - Courtney Johnson PhD ’23

3rd Place ($1,000): Room 242 - Kang Ewimbi ’24

Audience Choice ($1,000): Room 242 - Kang Ewimbi ’24

Quattrone Tech Track

Grand Prize ($30,000): Sustainabli - Kevin Tu ’23, Telon Yan ’23 and Oliver D’Esposito ’26

2nd Place ($10,000): Lingo AI - Pranav Shikarpur ’23 and Ian Costello ’22

3rd Place ($1,000): WISE Cities - Marie Brodsky ’24 and Katherine-Aria Close ’23

Audience Choice ($1,000): WISE Cities - Marie Brodsky ’24 and Katherine-Aria Close ’23

All Stars Pilot Track

Grand Prize ($10,000): Meridian Health (UMD) - Aishwarya Tare ’22 and Deep Mehta

Audience Choice ($1,000): Exclusiveekicks (BSU) - Johnathan Russell

2023 Finals Judges

Main Street and Quattrone Track Judges

• David Quattrone, Co-Founder & CTO at Cvent
• Tom Parsons, President at Parsons Ventures, Inc.
• Adriana Avakian, Founder and CEO at TheIncLab
• Chris Ballenger, Founder & CEO at APEX Strategies
• Holly DeArmond, Executive Director, Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship
• Jennifer Hsin, Vice President at Clark Enterprises, Inc. and a Partner at CNF Investments LLC

All Star Pilot Track Judges

• Kate Heath, Director of Student Entrepreneurship at GWU
• Kendall Hobrock, Chief Executive Officer, Dev Technology Group Inc
• Vishal Khera, Founder and Managing Director of Khera Ventures
• Markus Proctor, Executive Director, Innovators of Progress
• Lindsay Ryan, Interim Executive Director of Economic Development/Venture Development Director for University System of Maryland
• MaryCatherine Wright, Vice President of Talent, Venture For America

2022 Winners

Thomas Savransky Entrepreneurial Award ($10,000): Quandary - Bryan Houlton ’23, Ryan Downing '22

Specialty Prizes ($1,000):

1. Best Graduate Founder or Team: Gelectric Medical INC - Leah Borden PhD ’22, Matthew Dowling PhD '10
2. Best Maryland Smith Student Founder or Team: Pet Passport - Dorian Stephens MBA ’22, Alex Sonnie MBS '22, Anthony Small MBA '22, Ogugua Obii-Obioha MBA '22, Shahriar Jahanbani MBA '22, Dorian Stephens MBA '22, Musangu Tanguy Bukasa MBA '22
3. Ladies First Founders: Crys & Co Cosmetics - Crystal Pinckney ’22
4. Social Impact: WISE Cities, LLC - Marie Brodsky ’24, Katherine-Aria Close '23
5. Sustainability: Repurpose Farm Plastic LLC. - Krisztina Christmon ’22, Benjamin Rickles PhD ’23

Founders Showcase Audience Choice Award: Tap In - Zach Lefkovitz ’24, Samai Patel ’25, Robert Castro ’24, Nathan Tablang ’24, Corben Vorheees ’25, Matthewos Gashaw ’25, Joseph Beckman ’25, Edward Awe ’25, Neil Kundagrami ’24 and Amrit Magesh ’25

Fearless Ideas Track:

Grand Prize ($5,000): Reglass - Bennett Greenspun ’24

Main Street Track:

Audience Choice Prize ($1,000): MatMate - James Dawson ’24

3rd Place ($1,000): North Star Creations - Mat Parsons, MBA ’22

2nd Place ($7,500): MatMate - James Dawson ’24

Grand Prize: ($20,000): Omega 3 LLC - Edwin Bright Djampa ’22

The David and Robyn Quattrone Venture Track:

Audience Choice Prize ($1,000): Vitalize - Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Veeraj Shah ’21

3rd Place ($1,000): Quandry - Bryan Houlton ’23, Ryan Downing '22

2nd Place ($10,000): Chat Health - Aishwarya Tare ’22

Grand Prize ($30,000): Vitalize - Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Veeraj Shah ’21

2022 Finals Judges

David Quattrone MBA '05

Co-Founder & CTO, Cvent

David Quattrone is co-founder and CTO at Cvent, for which he designed and supervised the development of Cvent's original beta product as well as all of Cvent's subsequent product releases, upgrades and redesigns.

Chris Ballenger

Founder & CEO, APEX Strategies

Tom Parsons ’93, MBA ’10

President, Parsons Ventures, Inc.

Thomas formed Parsons Ventures, Inc. and purchased B&R Associates in 2012, an automotive equipment company. He has established himself as a respected leader in the automotive equipment industry, having been named to several manufacturer distributor councils, and he is a board member on the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association (WANADA). 

Ngozi Azubike '82

Chief Operating Officer, OBAN Corporation

Ngozi is an entrepreneur/consultant with 25+ years of experience in business startup, growth/acquisition, and operations with major U.S. corporations and governments. Her areas of expertise are business strategy, business transformation, and entrepreneurship. Her clients include executives in commercial firms and billion dollar federal agencies. 

Sarah Frimpong

CEO & Founder, Wellfound Foods

Sarah Frimpong (Frim) is the CEO + Founder of Wellfound Foods in Washington, D.C. Since 2013, Frim has grown the Wellfound from humble beginnings in a local food incubator to providing full-scale wholesale distribution of its fresh grab and go sandwiches, salads, grain bowls, and breakfast items to over 50 different sites in the region each week. 

Akash Magoon ’18

Co-Founder & CTO, Nayya

Akash Magoon is the co-founder of Nayya, a healthtech company based in New York City that personalizes the way that Americans choose and use their medical insurance and employee benefits. Nayya was founded in 2019, and they most recently announced their $55m series-C funding in March of 2022 - bringing total funding to north of $100m since inception. Akash was named 2022 Forbes' 30 Under 30, holds multiple patents in the domains of machine learning and healthcare, and is a University of Maryland Computer Science graduate in the 2018 class. Prior to founding Nayya, Akash started another healthtech company as a student at UMD, and also led software teams at Amazon Web Services and Enigma Technologies after graduating. Akash was born and raised in Baltimore, MD, and he is proud that Nayya has a growing team of Terrapins and Maryland natives.

2021 Winners

Main Street Track

Audience Choice ($1,000): Hana's Cake Bar – Hana Bekele ’21
Hana's Cake Bar is a bespoke bakery that tailors to every customers' needs for baked goods.

2nd Place ($5,000): STEPS Inc. – Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Uzair Chaudhary ’23
STEPS connects volunteers with paying K-12 families seeking personalized, 1 on 1, and long-term tutoring.

Grand Prize ($15,000): Fancy & Spicy – Brin Xu ’22
Fancy & Spicy started from a popular Chinese Sichuan food blog, providing authentic Chinese food recipes, cookbooks, cooking events, and cooking consultation.

The David and Robyn Quattrone Venture Track

Audience Choice ($1,000): Technica – Hugo Burbelo ’22, Utsa Santhosh ’22
Technica sells an innovative online event platform that is custom-built for hackathons to other technology events and corporate partners in order to improve the experience and engagement of their attendees in a virtual format.

2nd Place ($10,000): Technica – Hugo Burbelo ’22, Utsa Santhosh ’22
Technica sells an innovative online event platform that is custom-built for hackathons to other technology events and corporate partners in order to improve the experience and engagement of their attendees in a virtual format.

Grand Prize ($30,000): Blimp Logistics – Camilo Melnyk ’21, Spencer Yaculak ’23
Blimp Logistics is developing a drone delivery system that will provide last-mile delivery services to businesses shipping packages under 30 lbs. in both suburban and rural areas.

Fearless Ideas Track

2nd Place: Cooli – Reshad Berki ’22
Cooli is an app to help college students diversify their personal and future professional networks, aiming to end racial segregation and biases that affect hiring decisions.

Grand Prize ($5,000): North Star Creations – Mathew Parsons, MBA ’22, Daniel Yu, MBA ’22
North Star Creations aims to help children with emotional and social development by providing inclusive dolls and other educational materials.

2021 Finals Judges

David Quattrone, MBA '05
Co-founder & CTO, Cvent

Chris Ballenger
Founder & CEO, APEX Strategies

Tom Parsons '93, MBA '10
President, Parsons Ventures, Inc

Athena Abbott, MBA '91
Director, Pharma Data Product Strategy, CVS Health

Shelly Kapoor Collins
Founding Partner, The Shatter Fund

Manpreet Singh '03
Chief Investment Officer, Singh Capital Partners

Danny Wright
Chief Operating Officer, 1863 Ventures

2020 Winners

Grand Prize ($15,000): Hydraze – Charles Grody '20, Jack Sturtevant '20, Tuvia Rappaport '20
Hydraze Inc. is a sustainability-oriented venture that develops disruptive automatic toilet flushing technology with the ability to reduce average toilet water consumption by 45% which would save UMD at least half a million dollars annually.

Second Place ($7,500): AlgenAir LLC – Dan Fucich, PhD '20, Kelsey Abernathy
Indoor carbon dioxide accumulation is detrimental to our health and productivity. The aerium is the world's first natural air purifier that uses algae to reduce carbon dioxide and produce oxygen as effectively as 25 house plants.

Third Place ($3,500): Door Robotics – Joshua Ermias '20
Door Robotics is at the intersection of drones, virtual reality, and photography. We are launching a drone with an integrated virtual reality camera system.

PPE Award ($1,000): BraceLint, LLC – Daniel Raithel '20
BraceLint is a completely flat, single-use, and patent-pending version of the lint roller that allows anyone to freshen their clothing once they are out of the house.

PPE Award ($1,000): SweetsbyCaroline – Caroline Ta '21
SweetsbyCaroline is a catering business that specializes in custom french macarons, cakes and cupcakes for your parties and events. We value and aim to bring your ideas into unique and delicious products while using the best quality ingredients.

2020 Finals Judges

David Quattrone, MBA '05
Co-founder & CTO, Cvent

Matt Fishlinger '07
Founder & COO, Gramercy Risk Holdings, LLC

Aurelia Flores
Managing Member, Athena Digital Media Group

Tom Parsons '93, MBA '10
President, Parsons Ventures, Inc

Angela Singleton
Director, TEDCO Builder Fund

Becky Smith
EVP, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, SECU

Prize Breakdown

David & Robyn Quattrone Grand Prize: $15,000

Parsons Ventures, Inc Second Place Prize: $7,500

Third Place Prize: $3,500

2020 PPE Award (Pandemic Perseverance in Entrepreneurship): $1,000

Audience Choice: $500 at Semifinal Competition

SECU Finalist Award: $500

Other sponsored Prizes: various amounts

2019 Winners

Grand Prize ($15,000): Aurora Tights - Jasmine Snead '18, MBA/MPP '21, Imani Rickerby ’17, Sydney Parker ’18
Performance sports apparel for women of all skin tones and sizes.

2nd Place ($7,500): Solr Tech - Alex Onufrak ‘21
Solar-powered charging stations that can retrofit to any patio umbrella.

3rd Place ($3,500) & Audience Choice ($1,000): Synapto - Chris Look ’20, Megha Guggari ’20
A device using AI and portable EEG to streamline Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.

2019 Finals Judges

David Quattrone, MBA ’05
Co-founder & CTO, Cvent

Bill Boyle ’81
Founder, FiberGate Inc.

Cassie Costin
Community Market Leader, SECU

Gloria Jacobovitz
Technology Manager, Applied Physics Laboratory

2018 Winners

Grand Prize ($15,000) : Symbiont Health (Emergency Detection Systems, LLC)- Erich Meissner ’18, Maria Chen ’19, Kyle Liu ’20
An innovative technology to detect falls for seniors and nursing home patients. 

Second Prize ($7,500): BEEQBOX - Brianna Queen ’19
A vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics company featuring feminist branding.

Third Prize ($3,500): Dark Sonar Technologies - George Lee ’18
A cybersecurity company that prevents synthetic identity fraud on websites and mobile apps. 

Audience Choice ($1,000): Flee - Didac Hormiga ’19
A mobile app that helps students discover events and entertainment around campus.

2018 Finalist Judges

Robert Hisaoka ’79
Investor and Philanthropist

David Quattrone MBA '05
Co-Founder & CTO, Cvent

Rob McGovern ’83
Founder & CEO, PreciseTarget

Michele Moore
Vice President of Retail Banking, SECU

Dick Patterson
President & CEO, RR Automotive

Connie Weaver ’75
Co-Founder & CEO, Tracker Group

2017 Winners

Grand Prize ($15,000) and Audience Choice ($1,500): Curu- David Potter ‘18, Abb Kapoor ‘18
A website and mobile application that assesses spending habits and offers ways to optimize the user’s credit score.

Second Place ($7,500): CourseHunter - Aaron Bloch ‘17, Benjamin Khakshoor ‘18
A platform that interfaces with school registration systems to help students get into classes they need.  

Third Place ($3,500): Gravity LLC - Richard Kong ‘20
An online publishing platform for Chinese and Korean fantasy stories translated into English.

2017 Finalist Judges

John Czupak ‘89
President and CEO, ThreatQuotient, Inc.

Christopher Groshko, MBA ‘05
Vice President of Retail Banking, SECU

Warren Harris
CEO and Managing Director, Tata Technologies

Julie Lenzer
Associate Vice President, Economic Development & Co-Director, UM Ventures, University of Maryland

David Quattrone, MBA ‘05
Co-Founder & CTO, Cvent

Liz Sara ‘80
Founder & CEO, Best Marketing LLC

2016 Winners

Grand Prize ($15,000) and Kimberly Marie Scholastic Achievement Award ($1,000): WeCook - Ryan Pillai ‘18
A tech company that brings personal chefs into people’s homes, at a low price to stock their refrigerators.

Second Place ($5,000) : ICOW – Jonathan Kau ‘16  
A web app to simplify the higher-ed application process for international students.

Judge’s Choice ($2,000): Embitterment – Russell Garing, MBA ‘16
A craft cocktail bitters company.

Judge’s Choice ($2,000): VentureStorm – Tyler Denk ’16, Taylor Johnson ’16, Tommy Johnson ‘16
A web platform connecting entrepreneurs and student developers.

Judge’s Choice ($2,000) and Audience Choice ($500): uBoard – Natalie Urban ‘18
uBoard transforms student dorm beds with customized headboards that are stylish and comfortable.

2016 Finalist Judges

David Burd
General Manager, Uber

Paul Capriolo
CEO, Social Growth Technologies Inc.

Malcolm Gillian
Managing partner, Syndicate Group NYC

Jennifer Meyer
CEO, Betamore

Carmen Mirabile
Assistant Vice President of Marketing, SECU

David Quattrone, MBA ‘05
Co-Founder & CTO, Cvent

Greg Vetter
CEO, Tessemae's All Natural