Launching Your Startup in School

Brandon Wright is a serial entrepreneur, most recently co-founder and CEO at Zibby. He has co-founded and successfully exited companies in residential mortgage, multifamily real estate, and retail coffee, all in the Pacific Northwest. Brandon graduated from Whitman College and received his MBA from Cornell University in 2012.

Diego Rey is a co-founder, a board member, and the Chief Scientific Officer of Endpoint Health. Prior to co-founding Endpoint Health, Diego invented the core technology and led investigational efforts related to Roche’s antibiotic therapy guidance research and development. He also co-founded GeneWEAVE, a diagnostics company that developed rapid tests to detect and guide therapy choice for serious infections, which was acquired by Roche in 2015 in a deal valued at $425M. Diego earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara as well as an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University.

Eric Espinel comes from a business background, having worked for five years in the digital marketing space for Google as an account manager and product/customer insights researcher. He is now attending Cornell University in pursuit of his MBA while also working on an entrepreneurial venture called Kefi Lifestyle that focuses on diversifying the gut microbiome through a refreshing fermented beverage.

Jason Springs is a co-founder, a board member, and the CEO of Endpoint Health, whose mission is to use precision medicine to transform the way hospitals care for their sickest and most expensive patients. Jason co-founded GeneWEAVE, a diagnostics company that developed novel solutions to improve diagnosis and therapy choice in drug-resistant infections. Started in 2010, GeneWEAVE raised $25M in venture financing and was acquired by Roche in 2015. He received a B.S. in Economics and Management from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2009.

Kristen McClellan is the founder and CEO of SnappyScreen, the world’s first touchless sunscreen application system. Kristen holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University as well as a Certificate in Business Marketing and Management. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2019 and has been featured on CNBC, Eyewitness News, Bloomberg, Fox5, Fast Company, and NPR for creating the future of sunscreen application.

Born and raised in a fourth-generation farming family from Mexico, Pablo Borquez brings over 10 years of experience in the fresh produce industry. Pablo grew up on his family farm Campos Borquez, a key supplier of asparagus and grapes to the United States and Canada. He then went on to work for The Giumarra Companies, where he managed grower relations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and the United States. Through his experience running his family’s farming operation and working with growers around the world, Pablo felt there was a gap in the market that was not being addressed. Pablo went on to complete his MBA at Cornell University, where he founded ProducePay with the goal of helping farmers feed the world in a sustainable way.