Mr. Joseph Robert, III Miss Lisa Rockefeller Miss Andrea Rodgers Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Rosenheim (Elizabeth) Mr. Adam Rosman Miss Katie Rost Miss Melanie Roussell
Mr. Joseph Toce Mr. and Mrs. Geoff Tracy (Norah O’Donnell) Mr. Brendan Touhey Mr. Sean Tuohey
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Mr. and Mrs. Frederick G. Underwood (Blair)
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The Honorable Linda Sanchez Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sanchez (Elissa Rubin) Mr. and Mrs. B. Francis Saul, III (Dawn) Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sears (Starr) Mr. David Shuster Mr. and Mrs.William Slover (Laura McGifford) Ms. Pamela Sorensen Mr. Thomas Snedeker Miss Allison Starling Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Steel (Lee Satterfield) Mr. and Mrs. Edward Stettinius (Sarah) Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Stettinius, Jr. (Regina) Mr. Drew Stroud Miss Kimball Stroud Mr. Lindsay Stroud Mr. Brendan Sullivan
Mr. James van Wynen Miss Jennifer Villanueva
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Mr. and Mrs. Adam R. Waldman (Ashley Allen) Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Walker (Nicole Bagley) Mr. and Mrs. Clark Wallace (Katherine) Mr. John Wallace The Honorable and Mrs. Kevin P. Warsh (Jane Lauder) Mr. Lee Wang Mr. David Weiss Ms. Katherine Weymouth Mr. Paul Wharton Mr. and Mrs. Burton White (Jill) Mr. Charles Edward “Ward” Williams, Jr. Miss Christina Wilkie Miss Elizabeth Wilner Mr. James Woodyard
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Mr. Adrian Talbott Mr. and Mrs. Devin Talbott (Lauren) Mr. Arash Tayebi Miss Ashley Taylor Mr. Joshua Thomas Miss Alexis Tobin
GET TO KNOW TIM CHI AND LEE WANG Co-founders of Blackboard software and Wedding Wire Lee Wang and Tim Chi were undergraduates at Cornell University but never met until they interned together at Kingston Technology in Fountain Valley, Calif. It was there they realized they had similar entrepreneurial and technological interests. By graduation, they were eager to develop a new software solution aimed at making the classroom more mobile. In 1998, they founded Blackboard. com – a revolutionary software that transformed learning in thousands of campuses across the U.S. Chi and Wang both said “It outgrew the start-up phase very quickly.” By 2004, Blackboard was a public company listed on NASDAQ and almost every major university in the country was using it. They next wanted to create another solution that
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Mr. Ryan Zimmerman
involved education and technology focused on problem solving. However, progress slowed as bit as Tim began planning his wedding. Always the entrepreneur, Tim began to work with Lee on a business plan for an online wedding planning platform. What emerged was WeddingWire.com, a website aimed at simplifying the wedding planning process for engaged couples and wedding vendors. Their rationale for targeting the wedding market? Simple: 2.2 million couples wed in 2006 and spent an estimated $120 billion doing it. With Lee and Tim’s wedding project management tools, they’re hoping couples fall in love with the site. Financially, their business plan is based on getting a proverbial slice of the wedding cake – they get a referral fee for every compatible couple-vendor match. Now, that’s a good match.
Left to right: Christopher Reiter, Dana Farouki, Tara Boone, Alexa Choi, Joseph Robert, III, Pamela Brown, Alex Pareene, John Dickerson, Virgina Haas and Ross Chanin.
Lee Wang and Tim Chi
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