Students
People
Our Benefactor, George Weiss
The Weiss Tech House was made possible by a gift from Penn Trustee and money manager, George Weiss. Weiss wanted to create a space that fosters the spirit of innovation and gives students the resources to develop their innovative ideas. Weiss is president of George Weiss Associates, Inc., a money management firm with offices in Hartford, Connecticut, and New York. He is best known throughout the country as the founder of the nationally recognized Say Yes to Education program that combines academic support and intervention with an offer to pay college tuition or vocational training costs for inner city students.
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Faculty Director, Dr. Karl Ulrich Dr. Ulrich is the CIBC Professor and Chair of the Operations and Information Management Department at the Wharton School. Dr. Ulrich is the proud inventor of the Xootr scooter, and founder of Epodia, and TerraPass. (Dr. Ulrich's Website) |
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Associate Faculty Director, Dr. Mark Yim Dr. Yim is the Gabel Family Term Junior Professor and Undergraduate Curriculum Chair in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. A renowned robotics and innovation expert, Dr. Yim is popular among our students for his work developing the Rumble Pack technology in the Playstation2. (Dr. Yim's Website) |
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Director, Anne Stamer Ms. Stamer manages the marketing, public relations, fundraising and day-to-day activities of the Weiss Tech House and assists student volunteers in achieving the organization’s goals. Prior to joining the WTH, she was the Associate Director of the Wharton Business Plan Competition (WBPC) at the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs |
Industry Advisory Board:
Josh Kopelman
Josh Kopelman is a visionary entrepreneur, inventor, venture capitalist and philanthropist. In 1992, while he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Kopelman co-founded Infonautics Corporation, an Internet information company. In 1996, Infonautics went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Kopelman founded Half.com in July of 1999, and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in July 2000 and Kopelman remained with eBay for three years, running the Half.com business unit. Today he runs First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture fund. Kopelman contributes to the strategic plan of the Weiss Tech House and serves as Board Chair of alumnus, Adnan Aziz’s (SAS/SEAS ’04) FirstFlavor, Inc.
Shawn Marcell
Shawn Marcell has been an innovator in the biotechnology, technology, and pharmaceutical industries for the past two decades. He currently serves as President and CEO of Sensigen, a development stage biotechnology company focused on gene-based molecular diagnostics. Prior to joining Sensigen he was Senior Vice President of commercialization at the Science Center in Philadelphia. There he was responsible for commercialization efforts including a 45,000 square foot life science incubator housing 35 companies, the formation and venture funding of companies from SC Capital I, LP, and marketing and communications. Prior to joining the Science Center, he was business founder and CEO of RedPoint Bio (formerly Linguagen Corp.), a biotechnology company involved in the science and commercialization of taste. Shawn is a frequent Lecturer at the Wharton School and a Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weiss Tech House.
James Sheward
Jim Sheward is Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder and Director of Fiberlink. Under Jim's leadership, Fiberlink has grown into a profitable, customer-focused company that is changing the way enterprises think about mobile computing. Before co-founding Fiberlink with Paul Russell in 1991, Jim was the Western Regional Sales Manager for Systems Industries. Jim has won various awards including the Blue Chip Enterprise Award Year 2000 sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Mass Mutual Financial Group, the Greater Philadelphia's 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Software and Technology Services Category, and the 2004 Information and Technology Innovator Award from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
Student Directors:
diannena@wharton.upenn.edu
rabraham@wharton.upenn.edu