More than 50 industry leaders serve as judges for various aspects of the event each year—selecting the 16 semifinalist contenders, scoring elevator pitches, or choosing the NVC champion. Judges provide real-world feedback and invaluable guidance at every level of the competition, evaluating the best startups and new business ventures from top universities around the world. Access to the judges' industry experience, mentoring, and critical analysis is what makes NVC an unmatched experience.
The 2018 competition, to be held April 19-21 in Portland, Oregon, has announced its five final round judges. This esteemed panel of experts will evaluate the finalists and select the 27th New Venture Champion on Saturday, April 21. This year's finalist judges are:
Andrew D. Barofsky
Andrew Barofsky is cofounder, president, and CEO at RevMedx, as well as executive vice president and general counsel for the Oregon Biomedical Engineering Institute, Inc., where he is responsible for all aspects of technology commercialization, contracting, operations, and financial management, as well as provides strategic input on research and development strategies. He also serves on the board of directors for the Oregon Bioscience Association, the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute, and the University of Portland Center for Entrepreneurship's Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate Program.
Diane Fraiman
Diane Fraiman is a partner with Voyager Capital and focuses on finding market creators with a concentration on B2B (business-to-business) early-stage startups in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Oregon. She is on the boards of Act-On and Stackery, serves as a board observer for SheerID, Chirpify, and Lytics, and previous held board observer positions for Geoloqi, Elemental, and Skyward. Fraiman is also on the boards of TiE Oregon, the University of Oregon Seed Fund, the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator, and Providence Child Center.
Nitin Rai
Nitin Rai is a highly successful entrepreneur-turned-venture-capitalist and is managing director of Elevate Capital, an Oregon-based early-stage venture fund that also coinvests with TiE Angels. He has invested in more than 60 startups since 2011. He is the current chairman of the TiE Global board of trustees and chair of TiE Global Angels. Rai also serves as president of TiE Oregon as well as founder and CEO of First Insight Corporation, an electronic health records software company based in Hillsboro, Oregon, and Pune, India.
Tim Stout
Since 2013, Tim Stout has been the Sid W. Richardson Professor and Margarett Root Brown Chair of the Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology. He is also director of the college's Cullen Eye Institute. Prior, he served as a professor in the departments of ophthalmology and molecular genetics, as well as vice president for commercialization strategies at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. Stout has directed the Clayton Gene Therapy Laboratories since 1995.
Michelle Tinsley
Michelle Tinsley is the founder of Tinsley Retail Insights, a boutique consulting firm that helps retailers drive actionable innovation. Formerly, Tinsley held a 25+ year career at Intel, including 18 years in finance roles. Tinsley is an active member of the Arizona State University Dean's Council, an active angel investor in the Arizona Technology Investors group, a member of the board of directors of Quik Trip, Aava Mobile Oy, and Innowi, and a board of directors member for WNET—the Women's Network in Electronic Transactions.
