Board of Directors
Michael Karangelen
.jpg)
Michael is a Managing Director of TowerBrook Capital Partners (www.towerbrook.com), a private equity firm with over $5 billion of assets under management. He was formally with Brera Capital Partners and Stolberg Partners, both private equity firms. He also served as head of business development for Advanced Telecommunications, Inc (ATI), an integrated communications company, and Chief Financial Officer for GAB Robins, a global insurance services firm. Michael began his career with Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked in the Financial Institutions Group of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department, and he also worked for a U.K.-based investment bank, S.G. Warburg (now part of UBS Securities), in both their London and New York offices.
Michael has been involved in numerous private equity investments in the media/entertainment/communications, financial services and manufacturing sectors, including Rave Motion Pictures (www.ravemotionpictures.com), Ladder Capital (www.laddercapital.com), ATI, GAB Robins (www.gabrobins.com), 2-10 HBW (www.2-10.com), Ironshore (www.ironshore.com), Western Industries (www.westernind.com), Anaheim Manufacturing (www.anaheimmfg.com), and Freedom Plastics. Graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1990, Michael has remained very active with Cornell. He serves on the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Advisory Council (eship.cornell.edu), the Advisory Council for the Cornell College of Arts & Sciences and on the Cornell University Council.
President of Student Agencies, Inc., 1989–1990; Vice President, 1989; Manager of Refrigerator Agency, 1988–1989; Assistant Manager of Refrigerator Agency, 1987–1988. Board member, 1988–1994, 1998–present. Student Agencies Foundation Member, 1990-present. Secretary/Treasurer of Trustees of Student Agencies Foundation, 1999–present.
Dan Kathan
Currently Managing Director of Student Agencies Foundation, and previous CEO of Student Agencies, Inc., Dan formerly worked for Toshiba Display Devices as Vice President of Operations in their U.S. Tube Making Division. Dan joined Toshiba as Production and Inventory Control Manager, was promoted to Senior Manager of Manufacturing and ultimately to Vice President of Operations and made an Officer of the Company. After graduating from the Johnson School, at Cornell, Dan began his career with E. I. DuPont at their Engineering Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on their corporate procurement team. He later worked for Rockwell International as a financial analyst at the largest truck axle plant in the world, and subsequently served as Materials Manager and then Director of Manufacturing for Precision Filters, Inc., a manufacturer of leading edge signal conditioning equipment. He served for five years on the Board of Directors of Evaporated Metal Films, a thin film coating company, and currently is on the Advisory Board of the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship affiliated with the Hotel School at Cornell University.
Dan Graduated from Cornell University with a BS from the Engineering School in 1971 and received his Masters of Business Administration from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1973.
Board member since 1998.
Sharon Dauk
Currently a Principal in Dauk/Wagner Investments, a private investment company based in Ridgefield, CT which focuses on early stage investments and real estate development. Formerly worked for Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley in their Corporate Finance Departments specializing in both mergers and acquisitions and real estate finance.
Graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS in Business Administration in 1982 and received a Masters of Business Administration from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1989.
Consultant/General Manager of Student Agencies, 1986 – 1989; Board member since 1986.
Nancy Humphries
.jpg)
Graduated from the University of Florida in 1970.
Board member since 1995.
John Jaquette
Graduated from Ohio Wesleyan (BA) 1965, Duke University (M.Div. & Th.M.) 1968 and 1970, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MBA) 1997.
Board member since 1997.
Nathaniel Weiss
While a student at Cornell, he was the General Manager of BRSS (2006) and the President of Student Agencies, Inc. (2007).
Board Member 2007 and December 2008-present; Foundation Member 2008-present
Adrian Madland
.jpg)
Currently, Adrian is working in Sales Operations & Strategy as part of Google's post-close team, embedded into Motorola's global to-to-market sales strategy organization.
Adrian was previously the Senior Manager, SMB Reseller Partnerships at Google. Adrian lead one of Google's reseller channel partner management teams and was responsible for partnership strategy in the Yellow Pages, Newspaper, and Automotive industries. He also created and now manages the AdWords Authorized Reseller Technology Platform (AARTP) certification program.
Prior to his role with the SMB Reseller Partnership team, Adrian was Google's Automotive Specialist. Working closely with dealers, dealer groups, and third parties, he built and executed Google's first outreach strategy into the local automotive industry. Adrian joined Google from Ford Direct, where he was Director of Strategy, responsible for the company's new product direction and partnership management.
Adrian graduated from Cornell University with a BS from the School of Hotel Administration in 1999 and served as the Chief Financial Officer of Student Agencies, Inc. from April 1998 - June 1999.
Daniel Cohen
Dan earned his doctorate in management from Case Western Reserve University where his research focused on trust in long-term sales relationships. Dan also earned an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Accountancy from George Washington University.
Prior to coming to Cornell University, Dan was an entrepreneur, starting a successful specialized construction firm in 1990 and serving as president of the firm until its sale to a private equity firm in May of 2005. Dan then taught at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business where he was also involved with their Bedell Entrepreneurial Student Incubator.
Dan Sommer
Dan has helped dozens of Universities to innovate and achieve growth through:
- Development and launch of academic programs both online and on campus
- Creation of high impact global student acquisition campaigns
- Improvement of enrollment and admissions processes
- Initiation of strategic programs to enhance student retention, and engagement
He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded Caridan Marketing Labs, a multi-million dollar digital agency that he built from start up to acquisition by XL Marketing in 2010. Prior to founding Caridan, Dan worked at top digital agencies including Digitas and Sapient and either founded or played senior operating roles at several marketing product and services companies.
He founded and currently serves on the board of Student Agencies eLab, an accelerator serving high potential Cornell University entrepreneurs. Dan serves as a board member for Student Agencies Inc, a non-profit dedicated to teaching students how to start and run businesses.
Dan graduated with his BS Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell University (The Dyson School), and received his MS Interactive Marketing from NYU. Dan is a competitive runner, tennis player, and lives in New York City with wife Cari and sons, Asher and Ari.
Joshua Eisenberg
.jpg)
Mr. Eisenberg is the Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Urban American, a real estate investment and management firm. Urban American currently owns and operates approximately 14,000 apartment units in the New York Metropolitan area. Mr. Eisenberg is responsible for the legal aspects of all real estate acquisitions, sales and financing. He serves as a liaison to outside counsel and supervises corporate governance and compliance. Mr. Eisenberg is also actively engaged in the management, operation and rehabilitation of Urban American’s portfolios. He currently serves as its Director of Sustainability and places a strong focus on increasing energy efficiency, promoting conservation and reducing carbon.
Prior to joining Urban American in 2004, Mr. Eisenberg practiced law, first at Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP and then at Heller Ehrman, LLP. He represented real estate developers and equity investors in acquiring, developing and leasing various types of real estate, including multifamily housing, office buildings, luxury hotels and retail space. He also represented financial institutions in all aspects of real estate financing, including construction and permanent loans, community development loans and credit-backed bond financing.
Mr. Eisenberg holds a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a JD from Cornell Law School, where he was an Editor of the Cornell International Law Journal. Between 1996 to 2007, Mr. Eisenberg served as a reserve officer in the United States Army and commanded units in the Field Artillery and then in the Military Police.