EBAN

Sponsors of this year Ceremony are:

Mr. Abad works as a Finance Director and Chief Executive of a number of privately owned SME companies on metallurgical sector. He is a Business Angel of several Start ups. Mr. Abad has a background in Economic and business science and a Master Degree in Business Administration from ESADE.
He is currently very active in entrepreneurial education and mentoring programs designed to ensure that more entrepreneurs develop sustainable, innovative businesses. He is lecturer in the entrepreneur classes in ESADE, “Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña” and “Universidad Pompeu Fabra”.
Mr. Abad leads two non-profit organizations: Business Angels Network Catalunya (BANC) and ESBAN, the Spanish Business Network Federation which coordinates and promotes the different Business Angels networks in Spain.

Philippe Gluntz is Chairman (Hon.) of ADP Europe, Chairman (Hon.) of HR Outsourcing Association Europe, and President of Paris Business Angels and Vice-President of France-Angels. Philippe Gluntz is also Professor of Corporate Strategy and Consultant.
Philippe Gluntz spent most of his career as C.O.O. then C.E.O. of computer services companies, singularly of GSI, European leader in IT and payroll outsourcing. He started up these companies with close friends in the mid seventies, and eventually sold them in 1995 to ADP Employer Services. Philippe served for ADP Employer Services as C.E.O. for Europe and Corporate Vice-President until 2002, when he was appointed non executive Chairman. In the same year, he also started to invest as a business angel in several start-ups in the IT and Telecom sectors.
Philippe Gluntz has been in charge of one the largest mergers of the 80’s, between Alcatel-CIT (France) and I.T.T. Telecom (USA), leading to the creation of the current Alcatel Group (13 Billion USD and 120000 employees at that time), of which he has been the C.O.O. from 1986 to 1991.
Philippe Gluntz is now Chairman and Board Member of several IT companies, and is heavily involved in the Venture Capital market, on top of his academic teaching. He is also a Director of “l’Institut de l’ Entreprise”, a private “Think Tank”, sponsored by most of the Global Companies Headquartered in France.
Philippe Gluntz, a French Citizen, is graduated from Ivy League “Ecole Polytechnique” and “Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées”. He also graduated from “ l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris” in Economics and holds a PhD in Management from Vanderbilt University (USA).

Colin Mason is of Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. He is one of the leading international authorities on business angel investing. He has conducted several key studies of business angel investment activity in the UK over the past 20 years which have had a significant influence on both policy and practice. His involvement in policy and practice has included the following: co-author of the interim and final evaluation reports of the ‘Informal Investment Demonstration Projects’ on behalf of the DTI; contributions to the consultancy studies which led to the creation of LINC Scotland and Xenos; compiling an annual guide to sources of business angel capital and investment activity report on behalf of the British Venture Capital Association and NBAN; conducting research on angel investment activity on behalf of DTI and LINC; co-author of a study of business angels in Finland on behalf of SITRA; consultant to the OECD and the European Union; adviser to DTI on the selection of ‘investment ready’ pilot projects; participant in the Fit4Finance Programme that was run by Hertfordshire Business Link; and consultancy work for the Small Business Investment Task Force on sources of data to measure business angel investment activity. 

 Years ago Frank founded Plaid Brothers Software which developed portfolio management systems for Wall Street.  After bootstrapping the company for 15 years he sold it in 1998 to Sungard Data Systems.  Since that time Frank has dedicated himself to volunteer projects in the Arts both locally and in New York City.  He’s published his dance photography in Dreams of Grace, Images and Remembrances of LaGuardia High School in NYC.  Frank serves on the boards of TriTech Consulting, part of the US Small Business Administration, The Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine and is Chairman Emeritus of the Tech Coast Angels in Los Angeles.  Frank is a prolific podcaster; check out the Frank Peters Show: Startup Stories in Angel Investing and Venture Capital.  Due in part to these efforts, Frank was named the High-Impact Person of the Year at the 2008 Orange County, California High-Tech Innovation Awards.

Sergio Sánchez Solé has been partner at the Garrigues office in Barcelona, Spain, since 1996. He was qualified in 1987, in Barcelona, after obtaining a Law Degree at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. He also obtained the "Diplome de Droit Comparé" of the "Faculté Internationale de Droit Comparé" of Strasbourg (France), in 1988. His main areas of practice are private equity, M&A and franchising. His experience comprises general M&A and franchising work, legal structuring of Spanish and foreign private equity funds, advice on mezzanine financing and avice on some of the largest acquisitions in the Barcelona area, spanning several industries, including chemicals, internet services, food products, cleaning services, media and hospitality and leisure. He is an officer of the Corporate and M&A committee at the International Bar Association, member of the Experts' Committee of the Spanish Franchisers Association and he is currently a lecturer on Commercial Law at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.

Joan Carles MARTINEZ, President of CP'AC Private Foundation (E)

Joan Carles Martinez is President of CP’AC Private Foundation, a company which aims to promote, manage and assess self-employment and entrepreneurship projects in the Region of Catalonia. Joan Carles is also a member of the board of BANC, Business Angel Network of Catalonia. Raised in Barcelona, he has worked in several European countries and has developed an international career in business consulting, working for companies such as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young or PriceWaterHouseCoopers. After managing the Barcelona office of Compaq Computer, and being an entrepreneur himself, he has founded several companies and currently manages Inspecta, SL, a technological company dedicated to the development of industrial applications of computer vision.
Joan Carles is also lecturer in several universities in Europe, Middle East and Latin America, were he teaches International Marketing and Operations Management.