Business Advisory Board

Sunil has twenty years of experience in the financial and retail technology. His career began with retail industry where he was instrumental in designing and implementation of state of the art technology solutions for Shoppers’ Stop, one of the leading department stores in India. He has devoted last sixteen years in technology and operations risk management for capital markets, equities, fixed income, investment management, and mutual funds lines of business. He has executed pragmatic information technology risk strategies for direct market access, algorithmic models trading, order routing, order management, prime finance and trade execution services.

Currently he is Senior Information Risk Manager of Bank of New York Mellon where his primary mission is to manage Cyber risk for the Investment Management business. He was Senior Vice President at Citibank Global Markets, and Lead Risk Manager at JP Morgan Asset Management.

He holds a Master of Science Degree in Information Systems Management from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Bachelor degree in Financial Accounting. His interest includes new technologies, and photography with focus on landscape and time lapse.

Dr. Ash completed a PhD in the area of information theory at Columbia University. He has authored journal and conference publications in various fields and received the Jury Award from Columbia University in recognition of his research. Since completion of his graduate studies, he has worked at Goldman Sachs investment banking company in the field of risk management. Concurrently, he has joined the Columbia University faculty team to teach graduate courses in convex optimization and digital signal processing. He has won several prestigious awards, among them he was awarded the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship and was a finalist for the Bell Labs Prize.

He enjoys exploring advances in fintech, practicing martial arts, and volunteering for education.

Bruce currently serves as the Founding Director of an innovative program called the Robertson Therapeutic Development Fund which supports translational research at Rockefeller University.  He is a member of the Faculty within the Clinical Center for Translational Science and serves as an advisor for the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute, Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation, Columbia Technology Ventures, the Coulter Translational Research Boot Camp and 1^st Pitch Life Sciences NYC.  Bruce previously served as the “Executive-in-Residence” at Columbia University where he worked with academic researchers to provide mentoring and guidance for development-stage activities for therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices.

Prior to working in academia, Bruce was the Senior Director of Biology at the Institutes for Pharmaceutical Discovery where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Biology, Pharmacology and DMPK teams.  During this time, he worked with several colleagues to leverage assets from Yale University to launch OncoArendi Therapeutics – a company focused on the development of novel therapies for inflammatory disease and cancer.

Dr. Conway began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development where he led multiple drug discovery projects and championed the progression of three compounds into the clinic, one of which resulted in the FDA approval of a novel, first-in-class treatment for type 2 diabetes Invokana®.

Bruce earned his PhD. in Pharmacology at the Medical College of Virginia and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.  Bruce is an inventor on 10 issued patents and has coauthored 30 original publications, as well as several reviews and book chapters.

Damion is currently Principal at Taktikus, a private strategy consulting company that operates its business through two distinct services, the Healthcare Consulting Division and the Energy & Commodities Division.

Damion previously served as National Sales Director at Mobile Health, a healthcare technology company focusing on occupational health and pre-employment.  Damion is also co-founder of OTC Mobile Stores where he was COO.

Prior to OTC Mobile Stores, Damion spent over 10 years at Healthfirst, the largest HMO in New York with over one million members. His last position was Director of Health Exchange Sales, where he oversaw the development and implementation of sales strategy for the ACA (Obamacare).  At Healthfirst, Damion focused his talent on improving population health and delivering the best health outcomes for his organization.

Damion began his career as an executive recruiter with Chadick & Ellig, a retainer based executive search firm. During his career with the firm he handled research for the firm, and managed a portfolio of operations, diversity and technology related executive searches. His client list included Dell Computers, Microsoft and Pepsi.

Damion received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science, Summa Cum Laude from Mercy College.  He was awarded the Ronald E. McNair Scholarship and served as the Editor-In-Chief of the college newspaper.

Damion is a Manchester United football fan and enjoys spending time with his wife and son.

Tanya Guzmán is an accomplished and well-rounded media management professional that brings over 20 years of experience working in music, television, radio, sports and event management throughout the entertainment industry. Ms. Guzmán is currently the Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs at Viacom Media Networks and sits on her department’s leadership team.  She is referred to as the guru of contract management for Viacom’s music and entertainment live music events and award shows on MTV, MTV2, VH1, LOGO and Spike. Tanya is extraordinary at managing heavy contract negotiation for super ‘A List’ celebrity and music talent, creative personnel and other crew members. Simultaneously, she works on series development for MTV reality programming, and plays a key role in lending business affairs expertise to show executives from the stages of pre-production through post production.

Tanya also has a proven track record for the ability to draw community support and involvement for public service projects both in a corporate team environment and in personal community relations. She has organized and participated in hundreds of effective social responsibility events to raise awareness in educational improvement, economic maturity, political responsiveness, health consciousness, and international relief efforts. She is commended for inspiring others through her constant career pathing student mentorship efforts and her passionate advocacy to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Ms. Guzmán obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts graduating Cum Laude from Marymount Manhattan College. Later she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Metropolitan College of New York earning her Master of Business Administration degree in Media Management.  While studying for her MBA, Tanya simultaneously received a Certificate in Athlete Management from Sports Management Worldwide. The entertainment field has long lived on her resume where she has made valuable contributions to other media companies such as Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, HBO, and McGraw Hill Publishing.

SHORT CREDIT LIST OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS SERVICES FOR TOP RATED SHOWS: “Be the Change” – Inauguration of President Obama, Daddy’s Girls, DIVAS, Do Something Awards, First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrates National College Signing Day, Hip Hop Honors, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, Jersey Shore Reunion, Laguna Beach, LOGO Trailblazers, the Emmy Award winning show, “Made”, Movie Awards, MTV Spring Break, MTV Unplugged, Online Music Awards, Run’s House, Super Bowl XXXVIII Half-Time Special, The Hills Finale, The Osbournes, Total Request Live “TRL”, VH1’s Big in 2015 with Entertainment Weekly, and the Video Music Awards.

Jessie has eleven years of experience in the financial service industry. Her career began with JP Morgan where she provided Compliance surveillance for a variety of JP Morgan 1940 Act Mutual Funds. She has devoted last seven years in Operational, Credit, Product, and Enterprise Risk Management covering financial and payment technology products. She has extensive experience in planning, development, strategic integration and execution of these risk management methodologies and framework tailored to company strategic goals and product risk profiles.

Currently, she is Vice President Risk Manager of Bank of New York Mellon where her primary responsibilities are to provide oversight and challenge of Operational Risk Management for the Asset Management boutiques and business in the North America region in addition to assist strategic initiatives with due diligence analysis and mitigation of risk, audit and regulatory matters.  She was Risk Manager at The Clearing House, and Risk Associate at JP Morgan.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics with a minor in Business Administration and Management from Boston University. Her interest includes cooking, running, traveling and learning Spanish.

Amanda Rosado is President of Metropolitan College School for Business Alumni Network, a network dedicated to strengthening alumni relations through purposeful activities and to be a driving force in the development of marketing, institutional advancement and admissions outreach programs.

Amanda obtained a Master of Business Administration in General Management from Metropolitan College of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies from Hunter College.

Amanda is currently a Human Resources Professional at The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  Amanda is also a member of Prospanica NY (formerly NSHMBA), and the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA). She is a strong advocate for higher education and gender quality.

Mr. Serrano is a native New Yorker, who grew up during the harsh years of the 60’s through the 90’s in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Through most of his adult life he accumulated a wealth of knowledge in the areas of Human Services, Healthcare Information Technology, Facilities Management, and Aerospace Sciences.

He started his education in the New York City public schools where he grew up and has always had a fascination with Space Sciences and Biology. He achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services and Education at Audrey Cohen College (now Metropolitan College of New York) where he now serves on the Board of Advisors of the Business School.

Mr. Serrano is a believer in higher technology, education, the preservation of our planet, and the progression of social equality. In this respect, Mr. Serrano decided to further his understanding in these matters and completed his Master’s of Science degree in Aerospace Studies at the University of North Dakota, with a concentration in Space Policy and Engineering. With this education, he believes that he can improve the services he provides to the public and help to empower the underprivileged by educating them in science, engineering, and advanced technologies.

Most of his work experience is in healthcare IT and facilities management. He’s managed large complex technical systems as a technician and Sr. manager, and has also managed large groups of employees in a host of facility services. All with a pursuit to provide quality services and gain greater knowledge in managing complex systems and organizations.

After many years of planning and resource gathering, Mr. Serrano founded Briteway Security Systems, his first business in 2013. It is a physical security technology integration firm with a focus on providing security, cabling, fiber optics, and IT technologies and services to the public and private sectors.  Having spotted a distinct advantage as a Latino Minority, his business was founded and built around contract opportunities for firms who are certified Minority Business Enterprises and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. Briteway, as it is called for short, has achieved several Minority certifications and has been awarded several government contracts since its inception. Since 2013, the company is proudly growing rapidly and steadily. He is very grateful for this new chapter in his life.

Peter Schelfhaudt oversees the overall development of Creative Partners’ capabilities, network affiliate integration, resource management and expansion.

Mr. Schelfhaudt has over 25 years of experience in advertising and public relations.

He began his career at Benton & Bowles (Los Angeles/New York) and Grey Advertising (Los Angeles).  Peter was Managing Partner at Panoramic Communications (New York) before becoming head of mergers and acquisitions at Monster Worldwide.

Mr. Schelfhaudt has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from University of Massachusetts, has an MBA in media management from Metropolitan College of New York and attended Massachusetts School of Law.  Peter is also co-founder of Unconditional Love Productions, a film production company, and was Executive Producer of Vanished, Failing Better Now and Ma Femme, Ma Blonde et Ma Roulotte.  Mr. Schelfhaudt is an investor in the Broadway play, Peter and the Starcatcher, which is now being turned into a movie by Disney.  The University of Bridgeport recently named its art gallery after Mr. Schelfhaudt.

Tara Sharif, PhD, MBA, MPH, is a healthcare and life sciences investment banker and advisor, providing financial and strategic advisory services to biotechnology corporations.

Dr. Sharif completed a PhD in developmental and cellular biology at Southern Illinois University where she studied cellular de-differentiation and commitment plasticity as related to neoplasm and taught histology to medical students for 3 years. Subsequently, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Missouri-Columbia, studying early embryonic gene expression and immunity.

Dr. Sharif began her career at Cornell Medical College in 1989, studying pathways of dissemination of carcinoma vs. sarcoma cancers, followed by researching the inflammatory mediators and their contribution to morbidity associated with brain trauma and restenosis.  While working at CUMC, she enrolled in a part-time MBA program at Fordham Graduate School of Business Administration and earned an MBA in Finance (ODE and BGS) in 1999.

After 11 years of academic research and mentoring at CUMC, Tara transitioned to the private sector and started at Arthur Andersen, LLP, in 2000 where as a member of the corporate finance team, she participated in technical due diligence, financial and marketing analysis and execution of the cross-border transaction.

Following the dissolution of Arthur Andersen in 2002, Tara continued her investment banking and advisory roles at Maxim Group, LLC, Newbridge Securities and WestPark Capital, working in the areas of corporate strategy, private and public financing, M&A, and joint venture in a number of domestic and cross-border transactions exceeding $270 million.

During the past 2 years, Tara has accelerated her involvement in academic asset development and start-up community, aiming to use her dual scientific and financial experiences to facilitate the growth of the young companies and their passage through the “valley of death”.  At this capacity, she serves on external advisory board of the Long Island Bioscience Hub and E-Lab, and acts as the CEO of Tarachon, LLC.

Dr. Sharif is the creator the Bio-Art collection Fluid Mosaic Art: http://www.fluidmosaicart.com and a 3 times New York City Marathon finisher.

Keith Richard Weiner is an informaticist with an eclectic background traversing healthcare and information technology.  He has been an RN in Canada and the US, managed a security software vendor, been a senior clinical systems analyst for a major EHR vendor and has held IT security leadership positions.

As PhD Candidate and adjunct instructor at Molloy College, Keith has authored numerous presentations for research and industry conferences. Keith has been a peer reviewer for several journals and served on an editorial board. He contributed a chapter for the textbook Medical Informatics: An Executive Primer used at Columbia and Cornell Universities.

Keith also serves on the Metropolitan College of New York advisory board. An active member of HIMSS and New York State Chapter board member, he co-authored a presentation at HIMSS national and state conferences, regularly conducts CAHIMS review sessions, and has membership in numerous committees. He is also the co-chair of New York Academy of Medicine’s informatics group.

In his spare time, Keith plays several musical instruments and is constantly exploring new technologies.