Hello, I am the Program Manager for Ask an Expert, and I am here to help you get started. As you know, here at TechTown Detroit we mean business. Please make an appointment for general consultation; I can either meet in person or do a phone call.

We provide a free Linkedin audit service using a simple checklist to help you bring up your social selling potential! Let's get you started.

Liang works for IBM as a Solution Development Executive for IBM’s New Energy and Environment Global Industry. She promotes emerging solutions that leverage the IOT and analytics to better balance the distributed renewable energy supply and demand, eliminate energy waste via machine learning and reduce Green House Gas emission via cognitive computing. Her professional experience spans over 20 years in consulting, program management and emerging technology development across multiple industries.

Tarun Kajeepeta is the COO of Mobiliti, a month-to-month car subscription service. Prior to Mobiliti, Tarun founded Condor Detroit, a car subscription service, and worked as a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group. Tarun has experience building and running a start-up from the ground up as well as leading operations for a company with a national scale. He also has advised executives from leading global companies across a variety of industries, with a focus on players across the automotive ecosystem.

Dennis has 30 years of Sales and Sales Management experience in Global Telecommunications, Cloud, Security, and IT Managed Services. He has built, run, and transformed sales organizations from $30 million to $400 million plus in annual revenue. He has extensive experience in recruiting, training, and retaining top talent in sales, sales management, sales support, and presales. He has led multiple Go-To-Market (GTM) initiatives, which focused on revenue and profitability growth.

​A pioneer in the Women in Sales space, Cynthia Barnes is Founder and CEO of both Barnes Sales Institute and the National Association of Women Sales Professionals. As a Women in Sales Expert, she is passionate about advancing #WomenWhoSell and helping women entrepreneurs create, implement, and manage their sales and marketing process.

Ian is an experienced technology startup operator and angel investor. He is a founder of Assembler Labs, Detroit's startup studio, where he is on a mission to partner with the immense talent base in Michigan to build venture scale businesses. He is an alumni and mentor of TechStars as well as an investor. Ian can help with startup scaling, product (and product-market fit), recruiting, and AI.

Millie is the Director of Startups and STEM Talent at Global Detroit who helps lead the Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence (GEIR) initiative to enhance the talent pool of startup founders, and accelerate growth and job creation of immigrant-founded startups in the region. Throughout her career, Millie has aided over 400 organizations in business development and launched over 65 startups. She is also known as a mentor and complex problem solver helping organizations disentangle their greatest challenges.

Dr. Jared Grogan coordinates TechComm@TechTown, a partnership initiated in 2015 between Wayne State and TechTown pairing student teams with startups. He guides teams through diverse projects including: business plans, technical reports, website and app development, prototyping, social media, and more. Dr. Grogan brings expertise to research methods and writing processes, design thinking, persuasive writing, team formation, problem based learning, collaborative writing, editing and document design.

After a successful career in the hospitality industry, Ken Seawell joined EAM Consulting Group as Managing Partner in 2013. Since then, he has built EAM Consulting into the premier destination for those dedicated to creating benchmark sales teams.

Tom has a 25-year career in Sales and Sales Training with notable acquisition expertise, startups, world sales consulting and business ownership. As a Partner at Sandler he provides companies and individuals with advanced sales training and coaching.

Lovejeet has experience in business operations & development, most recently at Rolls Royce and Benzinga. He has particular experience in building processes to support growth of new product launches & converting customer pain points into new product strategies.

For more than 20 years, my focus has been helping healthcare systems transform business and service delivery models, technology adoption and culture transformation. With expertize in strategy, development, human capital, and technology, I have led adaptive and technical change initiatives in large and complex organizations. I have been an entrepreneur and built digital health platforms. My passion is to assist healthcare technology startups with go to market strategy and business development.

Sanjay enables clients' business & technology strategy, IoT/IIo/Digital roadmaps, use cases, deliver solutions with sensors, edge gateways, platforms and analytics/AI/ML. Recently, he has conducted 30+ workshops, 15+ proof of value projects for asset share, supply chain, connected products, smart manufacturing in automotive, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and retail. He brings extensive experience in identifying and mitigating business, technology and financial risk.

With practices in Banking & Financial Services, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions, Aviation Law & Finance, Construction, Health Care, Environmental, Enterprise Procurement, Real Estate, Intellectual Property, Data Privacy & Security, Tax, Trusts & Estates, Labor & Employment, Bankruptcy, and Insurance, we work to understand our clients' businesses and the markets in which they operate.

Catherine has over 27 years of experience in intellectual property law (IP). She focuses on preparing and filing patent and trademark applications and their prosecution in the US, as well as globally, but also specializes in IP due diligence reviews. She also handles clearance work for both products and trademarks. Her technology areas include mechanical and electrical, such as medical, automotive, semiconductor, energy, firefighting and fire protection, and material handling.

Matt is a partner in the Varnum law firm where he focuses his practice on representing startup and early-stage technology and venture-backed companies. His practice includes, among other things, corporate formation and organization, venture financings, joint ventures, securities law, and intellectual property protection and transactions.

Lydia's multicultural background and international business experience have propelled her to create Blended Collective, a multicultural marketing, branding & strategy company. There, the values of authenticity, culture, and diversity define the core of who they are and what they do. Her experience spans from the entertainment and music industry to project work with Deloitte and L’Oréal.

Shelly and Bret have a combined 35 years of experience in marketing communications, working with a multitude of companies across a variety of industries to help them reach their goals through smart, well thought-out marketing strategies and solutions in two critical areas: sales and human resources. WayPoint places an emphasis on establishing measurable goals that are directly aligned with desired business outcomes to help ensure that key objectives are met.

Kevin is President of Kyrris Marketing, a strategic marketing and communications agency. He has more than 23 years of experience in strategic planning, branding, marketing and communications. Kevin helps his clients define their brand narrative and express it across a wide range of digital and traditional marketing channels.
Kevin is also an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business.

April has been developing and working with entrepreneurs for more than 15 years. As CEO of Breakout Marketing Group, April Davis works to set reasonable sales and marketing goals to gain your first customer. By utilizing strategies to maximize and leverage KPI, Key performing indicators that help create the path to success. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University April holds B.A. degree in Marketing Communications. and a PhD in the life of an Entrepreneur school of hard knocks.

With more than 15 years of experience in the public relations and social media sectors, Jennifer Cherry Foster is the Founder and President of Catalyst Media Factory. The company provides media relations (public relations) and social media support to small and growing businesses in Detroit and beyond.

Gaurav was an award-winning artist at a young age, which included winning a medal from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Gaurav then spent years teaching himself the arts of graphic design, photography, videography, website design, and last but not least- marketing. Today, Gaurav holds over ten certifications in digital marketing as he leads his agency Team Valiant Detroit. He holds the title of entrepreneur, CEO, certified digital marketer, speaker, content artist, and an unapologetic nerd.

Mary Aviles is the principal consultant of Connect 4 Insight, an insight-based strategic marketing consultancy. Mary offers marketing subject-matter expertise to include categories like: developing a one-page marketing strategy, social media strategy and tactics, website marketing, email marketing, event marketing, and basic marketing research (DIY surveys, polls, and customer satisfaction).

Elizabeth Mays is the CEO of MCS Multimedia formed in 2011, after inheriting Mays Printing, founded in 1946 by her late grandfather, J. Caulton Mays. Mays is a 3rd generation printer, entrepreneur and visionary who works closely with entrepreneurs and executives by using branding, printing, graphics, web design and marketing tactics to overcome roadblocks to increase provability. Mays is president and co-founder of Entrepreneur & Executive Magazine and Chief Consultant of Valley Publishing.

Phil Wrzesinski is an award-winning retailer whose store was named “One of the 25 Best Independent Retailers in America” in the book Retail Superstars by George Whalin (Penguin 2009). Phil takes what he has learned in a lifetime of retail and teaches other indie retailers better ways to succeed in the highly competitive retail landscape. Phil knows how to help both the start-ups and veterans find more customers and get the most out of their marketing and HR budgets.

I am a seasoned professional with a combined 20 years experience in retail management and operations at Pewabic Pottery and the DIA, two of Detroit’s most significant arts and culture organizations. During my 14-year tenure at Pewabic, I created a multi-faceted retail program from the ground up that grew retail sales 450% ($1.35m) over 14 years. I led all aspects of
retail operations including: visual merchandising; staff management; customer service; budgeting; employee morale and incentives; and more.

Retail Advisor and brand developer, Geneva teach strategies to independent retailers (e-commerce & brick and mortar) focusing on business operations, branding, and customer experience. Her goal is to deliver tailored creative concepts and curations that would effectively align their businesses to their highest potential. Geneva is backed by over a decade of education and experience of the apparel, retail, and marketing industry, with some of the most impactful companies in this industry.

Entrepreneur, product designer, and software developer that has worked with startups in diverse industries across the nation from seed-stage concepts to established market-leaders. He runs GhostLab.io, a full service UX/UI design and digital development agency in Columbus, Ohio working with startups to build innovative products and apps for mobile and web. Nafis is looking to provide feedback and analysis on products/ventures through a casual discussion offering guidance in product, design, growth, and more

Avery serves as Delivery Lead at Atomic Object with a focus on ensuring clear communication between clients and teams, and that everyone is on the same page throughout the project. She graduated from Harvard with a degree in Visual Arts.
Jonah is one of Atomic Object's Managing Partners, working with our global leadership team to further the firm's reach in Southeast Michigan. He is a designer by trade, aiming to create processes and practices that empower teams to excel in custom software project work.

We’re all aware of the security breaches and cyber-attacks going on in the world today. Trevor’s expertise are in keeping medical practices and companies efficient by making sure their IT infrastructure is simple, secure, safe and stable. Advantage Technologies provides small to medium sized businesses with hassle free IT. Advantage Technologies is a managed IT services company who has over 18 years of experience, over 800 clients and 0 security breaches.

Dawn Verbrigghe is an entrepreneur and marketer with a passion for helping small business owners achieve their dreams through creative and inexpensive marketing that attracts just the right customers. Currently founder and CEO of Jottful, an Ann Arbor-based software company that makes and maintains affordable websites for small businesses, Dawn has nearly 20 years of marketing experience, primarily at early-stage companies.