About MCF Instructors
Kathleen T. McGahran, Managing Director
Dr. Kathleen T. McGahran is the managing director of Pelham Associates, an Executive Education provider. She is the Faculty Director for Columbia University’s Executive Education Program, Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager. Professor McGahran teaches at both the Columbia Business School and the Stern School of Business as an Adjunct Associate Professor. She has taught at the Graduate Schools of Business at the University of Michigan, Stanford University and INSEAD (France.)
Dr. McGahran holds a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance, a C.P.A. from the state of Michigan and a J.D. from Fordham University’s School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in New York and New Jersey.
She has written and published several articles and cases on the use of accounting information. She has also co-authored a textbook: Accounting: A Management Approach with Gordon Shillinglaw (Irwin, 1992.)
For the past 12 years with Pelham Associates, Dr. McGahran has designed and implemented financial analyst training programs for Dean Witter, Lazard Freres & Company, First Boston Corporation, Bear Sterns, Bankers Trust, J.P. Morgan, and Robinson Humphrey. She has also developed executive training programs for Columbia University, Travelers, Aetna, MBIA, Avon Products, The Coca-Cola Company, Eastman Kodak, the Financial Women’s Association and the American Advertising Women’s Association.
For the past 8 years, Dr. McGahran has worked with the Institute for Management Studies teaching accounting and finance to non-financial managers.
Steven M. Adler – CFO, TheInfoPro
CFO of the Year 2008, Edison Venture Fund
CEO, Financial Summit Ventures
Early Stage Business Specialist with deep experience in Venture Capital activities and technology firm financial transactions.
Selected Projects:
TheInfoPro.com: New York City, NY, an IT research company producing detailed studies present to distribute to vendors, investors and large companies utilizing technology. Obtained funding of $7.25 million in December 2008, plus credit line to increase working capital.
ServicePlatform.com: New York, NY, a SaaS software company that provides business present automation system specifically designed and built for service companies. To develop the financial model and support materials to assist with capital raising and company sale efforts and provide associated financial due diligence material. Result: Company sold to public company for $1.8 million. August 2009
EdgeTrade, Inc., New York City, NY, a software company that develops proprietary trading algorithms – To develop the financial model and support materials to assist the investment bankers with the sale of the company, give financial presentations and provide associated due diligence material. Result: Company was sold to Knight Capital in January 2008 for $61 million.
Education
BS, Economics – Major in Accounting, Wharton School of Business, University Of Pennsylvania
BA, Economics, College of Arts and Sciences, University Of Pennsylvania
Licensed Certified Public Accountant, New York State.
Member of AICPA.
Member of ISAAC Association.
Associate Member of American Bar Association.
Edward G. Reitler – Partner Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
Ed is a graduate Harvard Law School (J.D., 1990), magna cum laude, where he was an Editor and a contributor to the Journal of Law and Public Policy and a contributor to the Harvard Journal of Legislation. After a clerkship with the Hon. J. Edward Lumbard (United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), he joined Cravath, Swaine & Moore in 1991. He joined Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt (“RKR”) in 1998 as a member.
Ed handles a wide variety of corporate matters including private equity, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets and joint ventures transactions. While at the firm, he has represented dozens of merchant banks and buy out and venture funds and their portfolio companies in these matters including UBS, PaineWebber, American Securities, Wexford Capital, Lightyear Capital, Edison Ventures, Spark Capital, Milestone Ventures, Greenhill SAVP, New Spring Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, Osage Venture Partners, SJF Ventures, Innovation Ventures, Cammeby’s Capital, SAS Investors, Hudson Ventures, Walden Capital, Libertyview Capital, Ovation Capital, Carrot Capital, GlobalNet Management, Zon Capital and Himalaya Capital.
Ed is a member of the Board of Directors of Business Financial Services, a credit card accounts receivable factor, gCommerce, Inc., an inventory management and custom order software developer; and Blink Twice, a developer and distributor of assistive technology products for the disabled. Reitler also serves on the technology committee of the New York City Investment Fund, a venture fund that co-invests in early stage businesses in New York City.
He is on the Board of Advisors of SAS Investors, an early stage venture capital fund investing in paradigm shifting companies and of Acuity Ventures III, LLC, a venture fund investing in early stage software development and bio-technology companies. Ed is a member of the Board of Advisors of X + 1, an online marketing technology solution provider. Reitler has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on issues affecting the private equity and venture capital markets and is a regular guest lecturer on venture capital finance at Columbia Business School.
John Adams – Social Media Strategist and Founder of BizBriefs
John Adams is the founder of BizBriefs Inc, a company specializing in social media solutions and content. Adams is a “Social Media” strategic planner and consultant who guides companies through the Web 2.0 arena while providing meaningful content for each organization he works with. He believes that content is the building block for every successful social media campaign.
Adams has more than 13 years of journalism experience, most recently writing and reporting for NBC Universal. He has reported on location from Kuwait, Iraq and several hurricane landfall sites across the country. He also went to sea with the United States Navy patrolling the East Coast after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. His assignments varied from uncovering corporate and government scams to reporting on multiple high profile federal court cases.
Adams won several Associated Press awards for investigative and general assignment reporting and was nominated for an Emmy. He was also the Judge for the National Academy of Arts, where he was responsible for organizing panels to judge news stories for Emmy nominations.
After life as a reporter, Adams headed the media team for a financial services company called Storm Exchange. There he developed a line of “New Media” products including the StormWire News Service, podcasts, daily radio broadcasts and a network of social media products and services. His efforts attracted hundreds of thousands hits on the company website where he formed shared media partnerships with Bloomberg.com and Reuters.com.
Adams has a BA in Journalism and American Studies from George Mason University and has completed graduate course work at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
William W. Harding – Director, Financial Summit Ventures
Entrepreneur, Educator and Business Development Executive with Extensive Startup and Growth Stage Management Experience. Bill has founded and been involved with startup and early stage businesses since 1988. Long track record of developing and selling SMB and enterprise level accounts with value ranges from $1,000 to over $5,000,000. Brands sold include DatranMedia, Diapers.com, Sprint, AT&T, General Dynamics, RadioShack, Ann Taylor and Enterprise Rent a Car. A Player/Coach with strong team building skill set as well as an operational management background. Founding instructor of the Mentor Capital Foundation, with subject focus on Revenue Development for startups and early stage firms.
Bill’s most recent position was VP Sales & Business Development at ServicePlatform. He was recruited by an angel funded firm to work with technology CEO requiring direction in business development, marketing, strategy, operational and revenue leadership. Bill also recruited and hired sales team and various internal staff positions including CFO, General Counsel and various technical positions. The company received venture funding November 2008, with a purchase by Clicksoftware Technologies (Nasdq CKSW) completed August 2009.
Bill has consulted with a variety of startup and early stage firms on Sales, Marketing and Business Development, including firms in the respective verticals: SEO/SEM, Video, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, Social Media, SaaS, Healthtech, Digital Agency, CRM and Enterprise.
Education
New York University
Columbia Executive Management Training Program
