Meet the New York judges

Christine Chang
Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Glow Recipe
2024 National award winner

Since inception, Glow Recipe co-founder Christine Chang has paired first-to-market innovations with education to empower consumers to bring out their ‘glow’, while remaining hyper-focused on the Company’s core values of community, real skin acceptance, inclusivity, and sustainability. Under Christine’s leadership, these values have allowed Glow Recipe to build an engaged community of Gen Z and Millennial consumers who have embraced the brand’s core pillars. Glow Recipe has received extensive global press coverage and accolades for their market leadership, social community, and beauty content in outlets such as Forbes, WWD, Vogue, Fortune, and ABC’s Shark Tank. Glow Recipe was part of CNBC’s Upstart 100 List and has received industry honors including Allure’s Best of Beauty, CEW’s Female Founders Award, Most Engaged Brand Community at the Glossy Beauty Awards, and Best Social Media of the Year at the Beauty Independent Beacon Awards. Christine’s foray into beauty started at L’Oreal where she spearheaded global business development, retail, marketing and digital strategy. Christine's expertise in skincare formulations paired with her strategic experience in launching and growing brands is invaluable to Glow Recipe's mission. Christine resides in New York City with her husband and daughter.  Back to top

Mac Cummings
CEO & Co-Founder
Tarakeet
2022 regional award winner

MacLaren “Mac” Thompson Cummings is an American entrepreneur and co-founder of Terakeet, a search engine optimization firm. In 1998, Cummings launched Mindshark Software and Consulting from his Cornell University dorm room and served as CEO. Cummings led Mindshark to several software agreements with clients such as Forbes and General Electric. In 2001, Cummings co-founded Terakeet Corporation with business partner, Patrick Danial. Terakeet was founded as a voice-recognition software for call centers. As CEO of Terakeet, Cummings has led the company through its growth into an enterprise SEO company that impacts multiple aspects of the client’s websites, including backlinks and content strategies. In 2013, Cummings and Danial created Earned Visibility, Inc. and established Terakeet LLC as a subsidiary. The company has over 350 employees and estimated revenue of $100M as of 2022. Cummings has been active in local and national politics and has been consulted for fundraising strategies on the technology and web side of campaigns. Cummings served as Director of Internet Finance for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid from February to June 2008.   Back to top

Matan Eden
Regional Head, Capital Markets
New York Stock Exchange

Matan Eden is the Head of Capital Markets for the NYSE in the New York Region, where he leads all capital markets activities across multiple industry sectors and advises private companies on their journey towards an eventual IPO.  Most recently, Matan was an independent advisor to small & mid-sized enterprises and family offices, leading their business development and fund-raising needs.  Previously, Matan worked at J.P. Morgan for nine years in London, Amsterdam and New York, covering corporate clients across all industry segments. He started his career as a founding member of the bank’s FinTech unit tasked with offering the bank’s data assets as information products to their corporate clients.     Matan holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He has also served in the Israeli Intelligence Service, analyzing political and diplomatic data, and is fluent in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Back to top

Saeju Jeong
Executive Chairman & Co-Founder
Noom
2020 National award winner

Saeju Jeong is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Noom, a leading digital health and wellness company. Since its founding in 2008, Noom has been dedicated to empowering people globally to lead healthier lives through behavioral change. Over his 17-year tenure as CEO, Jeong raised $657 million in funding from top-tier investors like Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake, reached unicorn status and achieved sustainable profitability. His leadership has had a profound impact on millions of lives and has fostered a dynamic corporate culture at Noom. In July 2023, Jeong transitioned to the role of Executive Chairman, where he continues to guide Noom's on the global stage. He leads Noom's involvement with the World Economic Forum and is a member of the 2024 class of The Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship. Jeong's leadership has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year National Award in 2020, Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in 2022, and Goldman Sachs' Builders and Innovators Award in 2022. He contributes to fostering entrepreneurship as the co-founder and co-chair of United Korean Founders, the largest network of Korean founders in the US. Earlier in his career, Jeong founded South Korea’s first heavy metal e-commerce business. The passing of his father, a respected physician, deeply inspired him and led to the founding of Noom, a platform dedicated to transforming healthcare from sick care to preventive care. Today, Noom is a key player in holistic health, offering programs for weight management, obesity care, diabetes, and stress management. Jeong's contributions to the field have been featured in top-tier media outlets including “How I Built This,” “Masters of Scale,” an extensive brand interview in Inc., and a cover profile in Forbes Korea in Feb 2025. Through his innovative work and dedication, Jeong continues to inspire a healthier, more proactive approach to wellness worldwide.   Back to top

Sarah Lee
Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Glow Recipe
2024 National award winner

Since inception, Glow Recipe co-founder Sarah Lee has paired first-to-market innovations with education to empower consumers to bring out their ‘glow’, while remaining hyper-focused on the Company’s core values of community, real skin acceptance, inclusivity, and sustainability. Under Sarah’s leadership, these values have allowed Glow Recipe to build an engaged community of Gen Z and Millennial consumers who have embraced the brand’s core pillars. Glow Recipe has received extensive global press coverage and accolades for their market leadership, social community, and beauty content in outlets such as Forbes, WWD, Vogue, Fortune, and ABC’s Shark Tank. Glow Recipe was part of CNBC’s Upstart 100 List and has received industry honors including Allure’s Best of Beauty, CEW’s Female Founders Award, Most Engaged Brand Community at the Glossy Beauty Awards, and Best Social Media of the Year at the Beauty Independent Beacon Awards. Sarah began her career at L’Oréal, leading product development and retail partnerships with a global lens. Sarah blends her deep understanding of product formulation science with years of successfully bringing brands to market to drive strategy and execution of Glow Recipe’s vision. Sarah resides in Miami with her husband and newborn son. Back to top

AJ Loiacono
CEO
Capital Rx
2023 regional award winner

AJ is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in pharmacy benefits, finance, and software development. As the CEO of Capital Rx, his mission is to upgrade America’s healthcare infrastructure to deliver the highest level of client service and patient engagement while reducing total cost of care. AJ has spent his career studying the pharmaceutical supply chain and developing solutions that have continually redefined the pharmacy benefit industry to achieve this goal. Before Capital Rx, AJ was a co-founder of Truveris, where he served for eight years as CEO, CIO, and a board member, leading the company to record growth (Deloitte FAST 500 and Crain’s Fast 50). Prior to Truveris, AJ co-founded SMS Partners, a joint venture with Realogy (RLGY), and in 2010 exited the partnership with a buyout. In his first venture, AJ started Victrix, a pharmaceutical supply chain consultancy, which was successfully sold to Chrysalis Solutions in 2007.  Back to top

Ben McKean
Founder and CEO
Hungryroot
2023 regional award winner

Ben McKean is the Founder and CEO of Hungryroot, the AI-driven grocery and recipe service that is redefining food-at-home, making it more personal, sustainable and economical. Prior to Hungryroot, Ben was a Vice President and General Manager at Groupon, overseeing their food and beverage business. Ben came to Groupon through the acquisition of Savored, which he founded in 2009. Savored was the nation’s leading provider of yield management technology to the restaurant industry. Prior to Savored, Ben worked in Merrill Lynch’s technology investment banking group. Ben is a graduate of Georgetown University and currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and kids. Back to top

Adam Nelson
Managing Director
FirstMark

Adam Nelson is a Managing Director at FirstMark Capital focusing on investments in Fintech and Vertical Software. Prior to joining the firm, Adam spent nearly a decade in Silicon Valley, investing in early stage companies as a Venture Partner at South Park Commons and a Partner at Social Capital. Before Venture Capital, Adam was an early employee at Dropbox where he built and scaled Dropbox's Partner Network and Revenue Partnerships teams. Adam started his career in investment banking and private equity at Merrill Lynch and Lindsay Goldberg. He holds both a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Back to top

Sarah Paiji Yoo
CEO & Co-Founder
Blueland
2023 regional award winner

Sarah Paiji Yoo is CEO and Co-Founder of Blueland, which is reimagining cleaning and personal care products to eliminate single-use plastic packaging. Launched in 2019, the brand was the first to bring the unprecedented tablet form factor to market across a range of refillable cleaning products that promise no single-use plastic, ever. With over 40 patents and patents pending, Blueland's innovative products have helped divert over 1 billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans. All products are designed in dry tablet or powder formats, to be mixed with household tap water or used directly — saving consumers money and space while helping to reduce emissions and plastic.  Sarah is a serial entrepreneur passionate about sustainability and innovation, who's journey to founding Blueland started when she became a mother. Prior to Blueland and parenthood, she was a founding Partner at LAUNCH, a leading startup studio, and launched and operated several consumer brands. She was previously co-founder and CEO of Snapette, the largest mobile platform for local fashion shopping, which was sold to leading e-commerce platform Pricegrabber in 2013.   Sarah was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Finalist and Winner for New York for 2023. She is the author of "Wake Up, World," a newly released children's book on climate action, and was featured on Shark Tank’s 11th season. She attended Harvard College and Harvard Business School and currently lives in New York City with her husband and two children – the inspiration behind Blueland.   Back to top

Bharani Rajakumar
CEO
Transfr
2024 regional award winner

Bharani Rajakumar, founder and CEO of Transfr Inc., is an entrepreneur transforming job training through virtual reality. Driven by a passion for education, he leverages immersive technology to bridge the skills gap and empower individuals for success in high-demand fields.  Bharani's entrepreneurial journey began with the co-founding of LearnBop, an intelligent math tutoring software that garnered significant recognition and ultimately led to its acquisition. This early success fueled Bharani's ambition to push the boundaries of technology-enabled learning and create meaningful solutions to address the evolving needs of the workforce.  Driven by a vision of democratizing access to quality job training, Bharani founded Transfr with the goal of equipping individuals with the critical skills required for well-paying careers. Transfr's innovative approach combines virtual reality with immersive, hands-on training, providing learners with realistic experiences and empowering them to excel in fields such as manufacturing and skilled trades. Through strategic partnerships with community organizations, workforce development groups, and educational institutions, Bharani has positioned Transfr as a catalyst for economic development, working towards a future where all individuals have opportunities for upward mobility.  Bharani's exceptional leadership and commitment to excellence have garnered industry recognition. Furthermore, Bharani's unwavering dedication and entrepreneurial acumen earned him a finalist spot for Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award in the New York City region in 2024. In 2024 Transfr was recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the world by Fast Company in the field of education and ranked 106th on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list, which recognizes the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.  Bharani holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Florida and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.   Back to top

Julie Samuels
CEO
Tech:NYC

Julie Samuels is the President and CEO of Tech:NYC, an organization representing New York’s fast growing, entrepreneurial tech industry, which she founded in 2016. She is also a Venture Partner at Hangar. Before that she was Executive Director at Engine, a nation-wide nonprofit focused on technology entrepreneurship and advocacy, where she remains a member of the Board. She previously worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she was a senior staff attorney and the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. Before joining EFF, Julie litigated IP and entertainment cases. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Julie spent time as a legislative assistant at the Media Coalition in New York, as an assistant editor at the National Journal in D.C., and she worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Champaign, IL. Julie earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University and her B.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the Boards of Engine, NY Forever, Chamber of Progress, 5Boro, the Freelancers Union, and the Internet Education Foundation, and on various Advisory Boards. She has been named one of Crain’s New York 40 under 40 and one of New York City’s 50 Most Powerful Women. She lives in New York City with her family.   Back to top

James Simmons
CEO
Asland Capital Partners

James H. Simmons III is a veteran investment professional with 20 years of experience managing innovative private real estate funds for two of the industry’s most prominent asset managers, Ares Management and AREA Property Partners/Apollo Real Estate Advisors, in addition to previous public sector experience leading the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation.  Mr. Simmons now serves as CEO and Managing Partner of Asland Capital Partners, an institutional investment management platform he founded in January 2019, serving as head of the investment committee with responsibility for the strategic direction and investment strategy of the firm. He also serves on several public, private and philanthropic boards including Regency Centers and Apollo Asset Backed Credit Company.   Back to top