Cocktail Reception & 2022 Dealmakers Award Winners

Nehal Bhojak has been an early investor, EIR and board member at Lumis since its inception in 2017 and brings over 20 years of experience in early-stage investment, new venture creation, technology commercialization and corporate innovation to the company.

Prior to joining Lumis, she ran Silicon Valley based OneValley's innovation center in Pittsburgh. She continues to be engaged with the group as Senior Advisor assisting them with strategic ecosystem development activities. She is also Adjunct Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering teaching Medical Product Entrepreneurship.

Ilana is currently the Managing Partner at 412 Venture Fund. Previously, Ilana was the Managing Director of Hardware and AlphaLab Gear at Innovation Works. She has served as President and CEO of Sima Products, an international consumer electronics accessory manufacturer, which she led to a successful exit. Through her work, Ilana has strong experience in new product development, manufacturing, supply-chain management, and retail distribution. Ilana is an active angel investor and advisor in Pittsburgh’s startup community.

A third-generation member of the Hanna real estate family, Hoby Hanna has held many roles with the company since the beginning of his career in 1994. He currently serves as President, leading the third-largest real estate company in the nation, which posted a closed sales volume of $23.6 billion and a record 112,448 closed transaction sides in 2018. Managing business and operational efforts throughout the company’s 300+ offices across Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Virginia, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Indiana.

Allison Howard is the founder and CEO of Nollapelli, a new company merging beauty science, textile technology and sleep discovery to help you sleep well and wake up ready to face your day. With her background in engineering and materials, Allison invented Nollapelli’s first patent-pending fabric for bedding. Nollapelli allows for more restorative sleep while also protecting skin and hair, creating a new wellness category for home, hotel and spa in the $8B bedding industry.

Gabriela (Gaby) is a serial entrepreneur, innovator, experienced CEO, and founder of two high-growth successful SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) technology companies that were ultimately sold to Fortune 500 companies. Gaby possesses a unique combination of passion, curiosity, and discipline, making her one of the few women in STEM who has led bootstrapped companies to successful exits. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Gaby earned her MS in Information Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh and her BS in Computer Systems Engineering from the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas.

Kelauni Jasmyn is the Founder and Executive Director of Black Tech Nation (//BTN) - a national network of 1600+ Black technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs. She’s also the Founder & CEO of Olivia Wayne - a startup Black tech talent and recruiting agency. And lastly, Kelauni is co-founder and one of three General Partners at Black Tech Nation Ventures (//BTN.vc), a $50 million fund supporting Black entrepreneurs and startups.

Aaron Johnson is President, Renewable Natural Gas for Kinder Morgan. Aaron was the former CEO of Kinetrex Energy, which was acquired by Kinder Morgan in August 2021. Aaron created Kinetrex in 2013 and thereafter grew it into one of the country’s leading integrated RNG and small-scale LNG companies. Aaron has more than 30 years of diverse energy industry experience.

Rodney King is the President of Automotive Systems Warehouse with over 25 years of experience and proven success in the Automotive aftermarket. Understanding how to build relationships in all areas of business from employees, suppliers, and customers has been the key to personnel growth as well as business growth. Own the opportunity not a perceived relationship is the key to evaluating your position of the relationship and success of that relationship. Graduate of Pensacola Christian College, Rodney resides in Pittsburgh, Pa area with his wife, Heidi and their four children.

Dan L'Herbier is a second generation owner of Air Duct Maintenance, which was established in 1996. Dan, and his business partner Lauren have been working in the business full time for almost eight years. Before Air Duct Maintenance, Dan received a finance degree and MBA from Penn State; he also worked in Commercial Underwriting at Erie Insurance for a couple of years. Air Duct maintenance, as a company, is a pioneer in the indoor air quality industry; they currently lead the market in western Pennsylvania.

Lauren L'Herbier is a second- generation owner of Air Duct Maintenance, Inc. Founded in 1996, they pioneered the air duct cleaning industry in the Pittsburgh area. Lauren graduated from the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown with a degree in Business Marketing in 2015, that same year she entered the family business. Since her start, Lauren has helped grow the organizations online presence through social media, new website development, and generate more online reviews. Lauren, alongside her brother, has helped create a culture that people want to be a part of and a place where people enjoy coming to work.

Matt Mastarone attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accounting. Matt was recently honored as the Pittsburgh Business Times 2019 CFO of the Year – Manufacturing. Matt since joining TTG Imaging Solutions, LLC in November of 2019, as EVP and CFO, has been deeply involved in the daily operations and strategic decision making. Matt was pointed President & CEO, of TTG Imaging Solutions, LLC by the Company’s Board of Directors on November 1, 2021.

A native New Yorker, Nadyli is the executive director of Ascender, an incubator and a hub that helps founders start and build their companies. She also serves on the advisory boards for SXSW Pitch and Canada’s Inventures Startup Pitch, identifying promising startups worldwide. Additionally, Nadyli is on the Community Forge advisory board, building an equitable economy for underrepresented residents through entrepreneurship.

Ted Rogers is the President at Aero Tech Designs, a 2nd generation family business, where he works to produce the highest quality cycling apparel on the market and to help customers experience joy in the outdoors. In the past two years, a company succession plan has been implemented seeing the next generation of business owners and leadership take hold and arise to the challenges of US manufacturing in the modern world.

Patrick oversees corporate accounting, finance operations, corporate data analytics, and legal. He has over 30 years of expansive professional experience including his time at Net Health. Previously, he served in a consulting role with a publicly traded company performing acquisition integration services and as the CFO of a start-up in the solar energy industry, where he was part of the executive team effort of raising over $150 million in funding. Mr. Rooney began his career at Deloitte, one of the largest professional services firms in the world, where he had numerous leadership roles as a Partner.

Chris Simchick has over 30 years of experience in the IT consulting industry and is a co-founder of SDLC Partners and CyLumena. He is responsible for business strategy and operations, vision and direction of the firm, building the leadership team, and developing strategies for employee development. Chris is an active member in the business community, participating with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and serving on the Business Climate and Tax Committee. Since 2009, he has been an active board member of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, which is the largest council of its kind in the U.S. He serves on their executive, public policy and finance committees.

Chris has visited lawmakers in congress and the presidential staff at the White House, speaking on the importance of a robust technology community and championing for issues related to immigration reform, taxation, and the creation of incentives to support a strong innovation and start-up technology community in the Pittsburgh region and throughout the U.S.

Chris is an experienced leader with a significant portion of his career focused on building and scaling businesses, sales strategy, and operational execution in the highly competitive consulting services sector. He has gained an exceptional understanding of the challenges and constraints faced by clients and brings a breadth of industry experience, enabling him to provide informed and hard-won guidance and advisory services to other leaders building and executing sales and operational strategies.

Matt Spettel is the co-founder and CEO of CoPilot, a Pittsburgh-based remote coaching startup. With a robotics engineering background from Carnegie Mellon University, Matt specializes in designing and building innovative consumer products and experiences, and won the hackathon world championships in 2018. In his free time, Matt enjoys soccer, piano, strength training, and competitive gaming.

With decades of executive experience creating biotech service ventures, he is a leader in the health care industry, an innovator in specialty pharmacy (SP), and a pioneer in the field of Rare Pharmacy/Hubs. Dr. Vanscoy is the founding Chairman & CEO of RareMed Solutions, and prior PANTHERx Rare. In 2020, Dr. Vanscoy was distinguished by the winning the EY Entrepreneur of the Year National Award.