Keynote Speakers

Mike Tokarz
Tokarz Group

Mr. Tokarz is an investment professional with over 30 years of experience. Prior to founding The Tokarz Group (in 2002), a private merchant bank of which he is Chairman, Mr. Tokarz was a General Partner with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. ("KKR"), which currently is on of the world's largest and most experienced private equity firms. Mr. Tokarz spent 17 years at KKR, specializing in leveraged buyouts, financings, restructurings, and dispositions. Apart from work with the Tokarz Group, Mr. Tokarz serves on many corporate boards including Walter Industries, Inc., Stonewater Control Systems, Lomonsov, Athleta, Inc. and Apertio Ltd. Prior to work at KKR, Mr. Tokarz was a commercial banker at Continental Illinois where he was extremely innovative and revolutionary in the field of buyout financings. He received his undergraduate degree with High Distinction in Economics and MBA in Finance from the University of Illinois and is a Certified Public Accountant.



Rohini Dey, Ph.D.

Rohini's career spans four legs. She taught in academia and has a Master's degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India's premier institute, and a Doctorate in Management Science from the University of Texas. She worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. where she managed projects in foreign investment policy and co-authored a book on infrastructure privatization. At McKinsey & Co., Rohini's strategic consulting project experience and knowledge development (practice documents authored) spanned a range of industries (primarily hi-tech and telecom) with a focus on growth and business building. As an entrepreneur, Dey has combined her business savvy with her passion for food. She developed the Vermilion concept and has been responsible for each phase of its establishment and growth in Chicago including raising the debt and equity investment, finalizing the location, securing the legal structure, designing the interior, building her professional team, leading the menu design, and the launch. As founder and owner, Rohini continues to oversee all aspects of operations and stays deeply involved in the crafting and evolution of the entity.

A former management consultant for McKinsey & Co., Rohini was inspired to break away from her consulting career by a fervent belief that Indian food in Chicago, indeed in most of the United States, was poorly executed and confined to stereotypes. Rohini dreamt, originated and executed the Vermilion latin-indian fusion concept and restaurant.. Since its inception, Vermilion has received local and national attention, including honors as "Best New Restaurant" by Chicago magazine; Travel & Leisure; Town & Country; USA Today; Bon Appetit; Wine Enthusiast and many others. It has also been featured in O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine; Fortune; FSB; Business Week; Esquire; Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune, among others. By placing a contemporary spin on Indian cuisine and pioneering an entirely new fusion, Dey has centered Vermilion's evolution around innovation (www.thevermilionrestaurant.com).

Rohini is a staunch supporter of women in business, which is evidenced by her female management team at Vermilion, still viewed a novelty in the male-driven national restaurant industry. Dey has hosted, supported, served as a keynote speaker, and been featured on themes around entrepreneurship, small business, women in business, career change, and the restaurant business (Kellogg Women's Business Conference, McKinsey Senior Women Forum, Kellogg Entrepreneur in Residence, the National Restaurant Association Convention , NY Expo Comida Latina/All Asia Food Show, Columbia University Women's festival, Network of Indian Professionals Conference, Indus Women's League, Culinary Historians, Crain's Business, Fortune Small Business, Chicago Tribune, IACP). A mother of two, Rohini is equally passionate about all three of her babies...Vermilion included! She continues to stay involved with women's recruitment for McKinsey & Co. and is featured on their recruitment brochure.

Breakout Session Speakers

Advertising - David H. Sheehan
NBR will be welcoming David H. Sheehan.

As president of Hoffman York, a $90 million full-service, independent advertising agency, David has helped guide the company through the rapidly changing marketing and communications landscape. Joining the firm in 2002 as part of the merger of leading creative boutique Tom Reilly Advertising based in Chicago and Hoffman York based in Milwaukee, David oversaw the consolidation of the two agencies and led the development of new business initiatives that would see Hoffman York increase revenues 47% in the last four years. The agency was also recognized in both 2004 and 2007 as one of three finalists for the prestigious O'Toole Award for creative excellence awarded by the governing body of the advertising industry - the 4A's.

David's inclusive and decisive leadership style helped him reposition Hoffman York as one of the leading independent agencies in Chicago and the Midwest. Prior to his role at Hoffman York, David Sheehan started and built a $90 million advertising agency that today operates as Chicago Creative Partnership.

David resides in Evanston, Il. with his wife Cheryl and three children. He is a member of the Board of Directors of TextTruth, an online textbook seller, and a member of the advisory board for Signature Bank in Chicago. He is also active with the Special Olympics of Illinois, Hunger Task Force and the past Vice Chairman of University of Dayton Alumni Fundraising. He also is a member of The Executive Club of Chicago where he serves on both the Communications and Mentor's Program Committees.

Technology - Troy Henikoff
Troy Henikoff is an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University. He is also piloting the "Entrepreneur in Residence" program at the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He spent most of the last two years as the President of Amacai, a consumer and business data to company, that is known in the industry as the premier source of telephone intelligence.

Previously, Troy co-founded SurePayroll.com, an Internet based payroll service bureau focusing on companies with under 100 employees. Under his leadership as President, SurePayroll grew from an idea on paper to a nationally recognized payroll service bureau in less than three years. Today, SurePayroll is the largest Internet payroll provider and the fifth largest payroll company in the country, managing billions of payroll dollars annually. A two time Inc. 500 honoree, SurePayroll is one of the fastest-growing companies in the country.

Prior to SurePayroll, Troy was at Jellyvision, Inc., recruited specifically to build a software development capability from scratch. Within 18 months, Troy managed to build a team and set of tools for quickly creating highly interactive multimedia experiences. Troy's team used these tools to build products like "You Don't Know Jack®" for Jellyvision, and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire®" for Disney Interactive.

Before Jellyvision, Troy founded Specialized Systems and Software, which focused on creating custom database applications. They quickly developed a national presence, with a client list that included several Fortune 500 companies. In 1992, Medline Industries purchased the business, and it became the Systemetrics Division of Medline Industries, the largest privately-held US manufacturer and distributor of medical products. Within five years, Systemetrics' software was installed in nearly 10 percent of the nation's hospitals.

In addition to his "day job," Troy serves as a board member at Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago.

Minorities in Business - Carneil Griffin
Carneil Griffin is the Founder and CEO of Intricate Dopeness, Inc. a fashion boutique on The northwest side of Chicago in the Wicker Park neighborhood. He is a junior at University of Illinois at Chicago with a triple major in International Relations, African American Studies, and Religion. Currently he serves as Assistant Director of National Programming for the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues. In the past, he has served as the youth Coordinator for Barack Obama's campaign where he analyzed and consulted the concepts and theories behind youth and their involvement with the American politics.

Communications - John McCarthy
Communications will be welcoming John McCarthy, head of InterImage in Evanston.

After receiving a B.A. at Northwestern, John worked as a planner, grantwriter and spokesperson for criminal justice-related non-profit organizations in Ohio and Chicago. During that time he began writing articles for national legal-oriented magazines, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Reader.

In 1982 John moved to television. For more than a decade he toiled in the newsroom at Chicago's CBS-owned television station. There he held positions as a "leg man" for one of Chicago's most influential commentators, a newswriter, a show producer, and an award-winning special projects producer. In the process John hammered out stories with nationally-known network correspondents Bill Kurtis, Lester Holt, Elizabeth Vargas, Brian Rooney, and Jim Avila.

In 1993 John left CBS to work in the then-emerging cable television industry. He acted as supervising producer for two medically-oriented weekly news shows broadcast nationally on CNBC. Next, as a supervising producer at Towers Productions in Chicago, he was asked to design a new documentary series for A&E called "The Unexplained." By 1998 John started InterImage, a television production company that has produced documentaries for A&E and the History Channel. He has just finished co-producing a three-hour documentary tracing the history of the Vietnam War. This special production will be broadcast nationally in its entirety on the National Geographic Channel on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 18, 2008.

John and InterImage also have had extensive experience working with corporate clients, including Novartis, Owens-Corning, Lowe?s, and Daimler-Chrysler. In addition, InterImage has produced several documentary and biographical projects for the national law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP as well as fundraising videos for non-profit groups working in the medical and legal fields.

Now, John and InterImage plan to make another move -- producing quality documentary and biographical video for the Web.

Marketing - Dave Marsey
Dave Marsey is the Vice President/Associate Director of Digitas, Inc. in Chicago. As the media capability lead in Chicago, Dave is responsible for creating engaging and insightful media strategies for his clients and oversees all aspects of media implementation. His high-level media relationships allow Dave to bring innovative solutions for clients across multiple industries. Key objectives include building brand awareness, new product launch, generating customer leads and building online sales.

Mr. Marsey's career in internet marketing spans a decade, during which he has held executive positions at McCann Interactive, Scient, Avenue A, and IDMedia. He also has been an entrepreneur in his own consulting firm, Knowledge-in-Time. Mr. Marsey is former President of the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association Education Foundation. He also teaches at the University of Chicago.

Not for Profit - Lisa Nigro
Lisa Nigro is the founder of Inspiration Corporation started in 1989. In an atmosphere of dignity and respect, Inspiration Corporation helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency through the provision of social services, employment training and housing.

Each year, Inspiration Corporation assists more than 2,000 individuals who are chronically homeless, unemployed or underemployed, and struggling with mental illness, substance use disorders and social isolation. What began as a small red wagon filled with sandwiches and coffee has developed into an award-winning organization offering a comprehensive array of programs.

While transitioning out of running the corporation Lisa became a massage therapist and took a job at Evanston Athletic Club as the Director of Massage Therapy. Two years ago she created a new position at the Club, Director of Community Outreach, and maintains this position, today.

Internet Business and Service Industry - Rishi Shah
Rishi is the founder and CEO of FlyingCart.com - a dead simple way to create a professional online store and promote products across the web. Flying Cart launched out of beta 4 months ago and currently assists over 1,500 businesses to sell and market their products online.

Rishi's ability to launch and market web applications without investors or large advertising budgets has made him Business Week's top 25 Entrepreneurs 25 and under. He also has experience as an Innovation Consultant at Accenture Technology Labs and an Interactive Product Manager for GE/NBC-Universal. He received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Rishi's focus is on helping small businesses demand a stronger presence on the web.