The Best Support
Elite Experts with Stellar Credentials
Our experienced mentors have deep industry, investment and entrepreneurship experiences. They volunteer their time to work with our business accelerator startup companies throughout the program. If you want to become a mentor for CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center please fill out the form.
Brian Jessup
Co-founder
Cybele Microbiome
Brian Jessup
Technical product developer and customer advocate with a recent focus in deep learning artificial intelligence solutions. I’ve been a coder, a growth hacker/marketer, project manager, UX/UI designer, writer, public speaker, community advocate, salesperson, leader, researcher and customer.
What do you like most about mentoring?
Seeing the growth of the companies and the development of the entrepreneurs from dreamers into leaders.
Cassandra Schaeg
Founder
SIP Wine & Beer
Cassandra Schaeg
Cassandra’s career encompasses a unique blend of experience in program management, community engagement, and the delivery of social services to marginalized and indigent communities. Working in nonprofit, public and private environments prepared her for a career in entrepreneurship, advocacy and leadership. In 2015, Cassandra founded SIP Wine & Beer in Escondido CA. She has created a platform of community, culture and conversation while elevating the wine experience for novice and expert wine and beer consumers.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
As an entrepreneur and woman of color, I have a social responsibility to close the generational wealth gap by sharing knowledge, resources, and insight to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Chris Loryman
Manager
UC San Diego Office of Innovation
Chris Loryman
Chris the senior manager in UC San Diego’s Office of Innovation & Commercialization and one of the co-founders of ThioLogics Ltd, a London-based antibody-drug conjugate company. Co-founder of the San Diego Innovation Council and currently a board advisor for a local tech startup, Chris is experienced in technology development, working with universities, forming companies and raising funding.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
San Diego is an innovation super-cluster, and one of this region’s strengths is the breadth of resources available, and CAJC is one of those key resources. Being a founder is never easy, but having a strong entrepreneurship community increases all our chances for success.
Debbie Chen
Founder & CEO
Hydrostasis, Inc.
Debbie Chen
Debbie is a scientist turned entrepreneur. She is the founder, CEO of Hydrostasis, Inc., building personalized hydration monitors. She is a supporter of under-represented founders and a mom of two.
What do you like most about mentoring?
I’m always inspired by the founders I meet at CAJC. Everyone has amazing ideas and burning passions, they just need a little bit of help clarifying their business or access to the right network. I love helping founders unlock personal challenges and show them that it can be done, and it can be done using their unique strengths to build better businesses.
Marc Barron
Co-Founder & VP of Operations
CourseKey
Marc Barron
Marc is co-founder and VP of Integration & Operations at CourseKey. He is an inventor of two US patents for facilitating a meeting or education session using location-based technologies. Marc brings an executive perspective to enterprise software implementation, mobile and web-based software development, cloud operations, and system integration. He has successfully partnered with proprietary solutions that allow CourseKey to operate with exclusivity in the education sector. Marc specializes in cloud operations and assists operators with planning and implementing new technology solutions.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
Our company was founded out of a local accelerator in San Diego and we were fortunate to have access to a brilliant group of mentors that guided us and helped us implement industry best practices that we still have in place today. I truly believe that it is because of them that we were able to avoid mistakes commonly experienced by young companies that kept us on the path of success. Their experience shortened our learning curve in areas that it mattered most. So a goal of mine has always been to give back to the San Diego community and local ecosystem in hopes that my efforts have just as much of an impact as my mentors had on me. I consider it an honor to be a part of such a talented and driven group of entrepreneurs.
Neal Bloom
Founder & CEO
Fresh Brewed Tech
Neal Bloom
Neal Bloom previously was an aerospace engineer and co-founder of Portfolium (acquired in 2019). He has a passion for talent platforms, two-sided marketplaces, and tech ecosystems and supports tech/startup ecosystems through mentorship, community evangelism, and angel investing. He runs a blog called FreshBrewedTech.com that shares daily news about the San Diego tech ecosystem.
What do you like most about mentoring?
Neal enjoys chatting with a founder deeply about their business, brainstorming new tests to run, and a few weeks later, seeing immediate progress from the founder in implementation and iteration.
Richard Gonzalez
Virtual CIO
DIGITALVISION
Ricardo Gonzalez
With over 14 years of experience, Richard Gonzalez is an industry thought-leader in information technology, who was named as a San Diego Business Journal “I.T. Executive of the Year 2013″ awardee. Richard’s expertise in process development, enterprise computing, telecommunications and telemedicine has led companies to a feasible and efficiently streamlined IT organization.
Richard has expanded IT organizations with leading technology solutions to synchronize health centers, school-based health centers and dental clinics in San Diego County.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
Giving back to the community and helping to develop it into the source it deserves to be. Being the son of a Mexican immigrant field worker I know what it is to create paths that future generations need to succeed.
Robert Swisher
Director of Engineering
Platform Science
Robert Swisher
Robert Swisher is a seasoned technology executive with 15+ years experience leading development of applications and systems running some of the most high traffic sites on the web. As a startup veteran and serial entrepreneur, Robert has unique experience in taking a company from early stages into rapid growth.
Robert is director of engineering at Platform Science, an Internet of Things and telematics startup operating in the transportation space. Robert co-founded Frendli, a friendship and experiences marketplace, and FestPop, a music festival and travel startup. Previously Robert served as CTO at Business.com. Robert was instrumental in both the capital raise and acquisition of Business.com from Dex One Inc., as well as the sale to strategic buyer, Purch — the only member of the executive team to do both.
What do you like most about mentoring?
I really enjoy seeing entrepreneurs grow and chase their dreams. It’s fulfilling to see them making progress and hitting milestones. It’s so difficult to get a company moving from a standing start. I really respect what they’re trying to do and love being a part of it.
Elke Patton
Co-founder
Bird Rock Coffee Roaster
Elke Patton
Elke has worked with a variety of organizations, and shown the ability to improve operations, customer experiences, and employee performances in Fortune 500 companies, as well as small start-ups. This includes the three successful award-winning and nationally acclaimed coffee businesses she co-founded with her husband in San Diego.
What do you like most about mentoring?
Being a mentor is challenging. I strived to find the right words and questions to help illuminate an entrepreneur’s path, while ensuring that the entrepreneur’s vision is always theirs. Wherever the business outcome of the process leads, I enjoy seeing the individual growth of these amazing entrepreneurs.
Rhonda Brown
Founder
Seven Brown
Rhonda Brown
Rhonda is a marketing maven with roots in the commerce and fashion industries, and an affinity for health and wellness. With a BSc in Communications and an MBA, Rhonda has worked for large companies such as FranklinCovey, Westfield Corporation and Bloomingdale’s.
In her many years in public relations and marketing, Rhonda has proven skill as an event engineer, designing high-profile soirees and campaigns, from store openings and product launches to fundraisers. Her experience has yielded strategic partnerships with notable organizations in hospitality, lifestyle, fashion, sports and media. Her cultural and civic activities include the board of trustees for the Mingei International Museum to promote the arts.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
It’s our responsibility to help one another on our life’s journey. I welcome the opportunity to encourage and coach mentees on how to accomplish their goals strategically.
Sandeep Shah
Sr. Customer Solutions Manager
Amazon Web Services
Sandeep Shah
Sandeep loves to create simple innovative solutions to solve complex problems. He supports a diverse portfolio of companies from Cocoa to Thrill, to high tech (e.g. autonomous driving and vehicle solutions). As a former entrepreneur, a father of three, and technology enthusiast, Sandeep brings creative go-to-market strategies, a network of investors and partners to scale companies.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
I was a minority owned Fintech entrepreneur. An entrepreneur’s hustle to raise a team, capital is difficult enough; as a minority, selling to a highly regulated industry, I know what it takes to break through. I failed many times along my journey, had to turn my cheek too many times, but I also survived and became stronger because of my experiences. I believe my background and this experience makes for me to become a great mentor and agent of change.
Lauren Lathrop
Business Development Manager
Avero
Lauren Lathrop
Lauren Lathrop is a San Diego native with nearly 20 years of experience in food and beverage operations and hospitality technology. She consults on food and beverage operations with a wealth of experience in diverse markets and service styles, specializing in beverage and bar operations, optimizing profitability, improving efficiency and automation with data-driven decision making.
Why did you decide to become a mentor at CAJC?
I’m a San Diego native and love to see local small businesses thriving and growing, so the opportunity to work side by side with local entrepreneurs to focus their passion and scale their business to the next level really spoke to me. We are so lucky to have a program like this in our community.