Sharpen Your Business Skills

Andrea Ippolito is a lecturer in the Engineering Management Program at Cornell University as well as the founder and Director of Women Entrepreneurs Cornell (W.E. Cornell). She is also the founder and CEO of SimpliFed, a company supporting every family on the baby-feeding journey.

Prior to joining Cornell, Ms. Ippolito served as the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Innovators Network within the VA Center for Innovation. She completed her M.S. in Engineering and Management at MIT. Prior to MIT, Ms. Ippolito worked as a research scientist within the Corporate Technology Development group at Boston Scientific. She obtained both her B.S. in Biological Engineering in 2006 and Master’s of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering in 2007 from Cornell University.

Delia Hughes, MBA ‘20, is an Associate Brand Manager at Danone. She received an undergraduate degree in Food Science from Cornell University and went on to work for Walmart/Sam’s Club as a cheese and deli buyer. Ms. Hughes subsequently worked as a business development manager for Atalanta Corporation, the largest privately owned food importer in the U.S. As she continues to gain experience in the food industry, Ms. Hughes hopes to eventually launch her own food product.

Nate Cook is an active attorney who represents businesses and individuals in connection with a wide array of complex commercial business transactions. He has lectured at the Johnson School at Cornell University, where he teaches courses on entrepreneurship and early-stage finance and venture capital transactions. Mr. Cook also serves as mentor for the 76West Clean Energy Competition and as a judge for Cornell Law School’s Transactional Lawyering Competition. Throughout his career, he has represented a diverse group of clients, including publicly traded corporations, middle-market companies, and emerging technology startups. Mr. Cook regularly counsels companies on corporate governance, fundraising, M&A transactions, and protection of intellectual property.

Tom Schryver is the Executive Director of the Cornell Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) and a Visiting Lecturer at the Johnson Graduate School of Management. CREA’s programs include Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, the Southern Tier Startup Alliance, and support of Cornell’s regional economic advancement efforts. Mr. Schryver leads the Upstate NY I-Corps Node and is the lead instructor for Cornell Engineering’s Commercialization Fellows program. He serves on the teaching team for eLab, Cornell’s student business accelerator, and teaches entrepreneurship and business strategy at Cornell.

Mr. Schryver is an experienced entrepreneur, having served as a startup founder and senior finance executive of high-growth companies. Previously, he was Director of Finance for the Triad Foundation, where his responsibilities included investing the Foundation’s $250m portfolio to top-quartile returns. Mr. Schryver’s board affiliations include the Cornell Agriculture and Food Technology Park and Tompkins County Area Development, and he serves as board vice-chair of the Business Incubator Association of New York State.