Meet the New England judges

Tanya Bakalov

CEO & Founder, HelloTeam
2016 regional winner

Tanya Bakalov is the CEO and Founder of HelloTeam, a modern employee engagement and performance management platform that is redefining the way companies engage and retain top talent. In 2005, Bakalov left her position as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte to co-found SevOne, where she served as COO and Chief People Officer. Under her leadership, the company grew to more than 500 employees worldwide and generated nearly $100M annually, making it the industry leader in digital infrastructure management software. Using her experiences in scaling SevOne, Tanya created HelloTeam in 2016 to address a growing problem in the workplace: providing business leaders with data and insights needed to build strong and data-driven people strategies. In collaboration with her global team, Bakalov advances the mission to empower each individual within an organization, boosting productivity, transforming the employee experience, and enhancing overall business and company culture. Her groundbreaking work as a two-time female founder earned her several awards, including the prestigious 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year® award. Bakalov is also Managing Partner at VT Technology Ventures and a member of the Horn Entrepreneurship National Advisory Board at the University of Delaware. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and MIS from the University of Delaware. Back to top

Jay Calnan
CEO & Founder, J. Calnan & Associates
2023 regional winner

Jay Calnan believes in "doing well by doing good" and that success is not about following one's passion but rather finding one's purpose. In 1996, he founded J. Calnan & Associates (JC&A), a relationship-oriented construction management firm deeply committed to instilling this philosophy across its people, projects, and the community. Under his leadership, JC&A has fostered countless lasting relationships, establishing a solid reputation as a leading construction management firm in the Northeast. This success is underscored by the Boston Business Journal's recognition for 17 consecutive years as a Top Charitable Contributor and seven times as the Best Place to Work. Transitioning from core business achievements to fulfilling a deeper purpose, Jay's commitment to giving back propelled the creation of Team IMPACT, a nonprofit he co-founded that matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams, creating a long-term, life-changing experience for everyone involved. Evolving from two cubicles in JC&A's headquarters to three regional offices, Team IMPACT has facilitated over 3,000 matches at more than 750 colleges and universities nationwide. In addition to his work with Team IMPACT, Jay actively supports various causes, including Boston PAL, The Corey Griffin Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, The One Hundred Club, Champions for Children’s Hospital, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and The Greg Hill Foundation. JC&A and Jay received prestigious accolades, such as the Boston Globe Top Place to Work (2022, 2023) and the Construction Management Company of the Year (2022). In 2023, Channel 4 News recognized Jay as a CHANGEMAKER, emphasizing his authentic nature, tenacity, and unwavering commitment to giving back. He also received the RFK Embracing the Legacy Award, the Navy SEAL Foundation Patriot Award, and was recognized as New England's EY Entrepreneur of the Year. Jay is a resident of Boston and proud father of Christopher, Daintry and Jake.  Back to top

Hadley Douglas
Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder, The Urban Grape
2021 regional winner

With a background in marketing, events, business development, and philanthropic management, Hadley has been creatively developing and running her own businesses since graduating from Wesleyan University. She and her husband, TJ Douglas, co-founded The Urban Grape in 2010, and the store quickly became one of the most successful independently owned wine stores in the country. The Urban Grape was named the 2021 US Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year. In her marketing role at The Urban Grape, Hadley translates intimidating wine speak to UG’s customers in a clear, fun, and vibrant way. Hadley also oversees new business opportunities and partnerships for the company, all with an eye toward making The Urban Grape “so much more than a wine store.” Additionally, she directs all of the store’s charitable giving. Together, Hadley and TJ are the authors of the wine education book “Drink Progressively: A Bold New Way to Pair Wine and Food”, and are the co-founders of the Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color: a wine education, paid internship, and mentorship program that creates access for BIPOC to the wine industry. Hadley is a frequent panelist at conferences focusing on women founders and entrepreneurs, most recently speaking on the importance of inclusion and allyship in the workplace for the US Chamber of Commerce. She was named one of Inc Magazine’s Top 100 Female Founders in 2020 and was named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year winner in 2021. She is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Metropolitan College at Boston University.   Back to top

Katherine Kostereva
CEO & Founder, Creatio

Katherine Kostereva is the Founder and CEO of Creatio, a global vendor of a no-code platform to automate workflows and CRM with the maximum degree of freedom. As a leader who has been in the tech industry her entire life, Katherine has always envisioned creating a world where any business idea could be automated in minutes. With this in mind, she bootstrapped Creatio without any external capital in 2014. Under Katherine's leadership, Creatio has been consistently delivering strong results, maintaining market-leading growth. Today, Creatio, headquartered in Boston, has 700 employees in seven offices and local representatives in 25 countries of the world. Creatio's success is a testament to the exceptional time-to-value that Creatio no-code platform delivers to its clients in 100 countries around the world. Creatio is recognized as a Leader and a Strong Performer by top analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester and has some of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry. To educate the world about no-code, in October of 2022, Katherine published a vendor-agnostic book, The No-code Playbook, that empowers teams to deliver business applications of any complexity with no-code. Katherine has been named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 in New England, Top 50 SaaS CEO in 2018 - 2023, Stevie Award Winner, Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS 2018 - 2023 and more. Back to top

Jeff Luber
CEO, binx health
2022 regional winner

Jeff has served as CEO of multiple life science companies in emerging healthcare markets with both public and private venture- backed companies. Prior to binx health, Jeff served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Good Start Genetics, a commercial stage provider of advanced genetic testing in reproductive health, with operations in all fifty states in the U.S. Under Jeff’s leadership, the company grew testing volumes by double digits, established transformative industry partnerships, and led the company’s successful sale to Invitae Corp. (NYSE: NVTA) in August 2017. Prior to Good Start, Jeff co-founded SynapDx, Corp., a venture-backed developer of blood-based testing solutions for the early detection of autism. From 2002 to 2009, Jeff held numerous leadership roles with EXACT Sciences Corp., ultimately serving as its President, CEO, and Director. He led the company’s early commercial roll-out and won medical society endorsements for the company’s technologies, providing a strong platform for the company’s rapid growth and a transformative, high value partnership with Genzyme Corp. in 2009, Jeff has served on numerous boards of directors of both public and private companies and earned his Juris Doctor and MBA from Suffolk University.  Back to top

Bob Pan
Partner, ABRY Partners LLC

Bob Pan joined Abry in 2007. He is currently a partner focused on leading Abry’s deal origination efforts in North America for all Abry fund strategies. In his time at Abry, he has invested in and been a board member of numerous companies in the media, professional & managed services, and information services space. Some notable recent deals include: Edgile (cybersecurity consulting for enterprises), Thomsons Online Benefits (benefits administration software), and CafeMedia (ad optimization platform for bloggers). Prior to joining Abry, Mr. Pan was an investment banking analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of UBS Investment Bank. Mr. Pan is a graduate of Duke University.  Back to top