Toby Nord has joined Carlson Ventures Enterprise after twenty years with various local companies in roles ranging from Senior Director of Sales for a direct-to-consumer computer manufacturer to Vice President of Marketing and Operations for a small specialty retailer. The majority of Toby’s career was spent with Best Buy working in Strategic Marketing, Business Development, Strategy and Innovation; some of this work is highlighted in the Harvard Business Case Best Buy: An Innovator’s Journey. Toby holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota and he has experienced Carlson Ventures Enterprise project teams from the perspective of a sponsor. When not working or teaching, he focuses his time on family and coaching youth sports.

Connie Rutledge joined Carlson Ventures Enterprise after a stint as the sixth employee of a local software start-up company, where she was responsible for deploying the company’s technology to health care providers. Connie spent the previous six years as an early stage venture capital analyst. She has reviewed over 500 business plans and has guided several early stage investments through due diligence to completed financing. In addition to her analytical capabilities, Connie has also managed the operations of two small businesses, with responsibility for personnel, budget management and client relationships.

(On Sabbatical)

Harry Sapienza is the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies and the academic co-director of the Carlson School ’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. He holds a doctorate and MBA from the University of Maryland . Harry’s research is focused on various aspects of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial leadership including interface with venture capital, the creation and management of inter-organizational relationships, strategic decision-making, and the internationalization of high-tech ventures. His passions are family, baseball, bridge, performing arts, and rhythm and blues.

After ten years as a successful entrepreneur, Gary Smaby joined the Minneapolis-based investment banking firm of Piper Jaffray as a vice-president /senior analyst. He built an international reputation as a Wall Street analyst in the IT sector and was promoted to Managing Director, Technology Research. He then joined the New York investment firm of Needham and Co. as Managing Director, eventually leaving to form his own firm, Smaby Group, Inc. In 2000 Gary co-founded Quatris Fund, an early-seed stage venture capital fund formed with St. Paul Venture Capital. Gary was the president of the Minnesota Venture Capital Association in 2003 and currently serves as board chair for four start-up companies, Algos Therapeutics, finEye, Pontus and Iconoculture. Gary just completed a six-year term on the Board of Trustees for the Science Museum of Minnesota. He also served for five years on the External Advisory Board for the Deep Computing Institute at the IBM TJ Watson Research Laboratory.