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MEET EXPLORER

THE MIT SANDBOX MENTORS

JINANE ABOUNADI

Jinane Abounadi is Executive Director of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program. She brings a unique combination of experiences, from academic research to senior operational and strategic roles in start-up companies and large businesses. After completing her graduate work, she worked as a research scientist at BBN and as a postdoctoral lecturer at MIT, and advised undergraduate and graduate students. She held
leadership roles in two of the most successful local Boston area start-ups, ITA Software and Kayak, where she gained deep knowledge about the travel technology sector. Most recently, she ran a global portfolio of 3rd party products for Travelport, giving her the opportunity to establish partnerships with companies across the globe and to advise and evaluate a number of start-ups in the travel sector.

Joe M. Rife

Executive Coach – Disruptive Technology
Business Executive, Engineer and Entrepreneur, Joe Rife helps technical founders of hardware companies create and build successful businesses.
Dr. Rife coaches members of startup companies on business strategy, operations, and product development as Executive in Residence at Greentown Labs and mentors early stage companies across the New England cleantech ecosystem.
A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Rife founded American Brake and Wheel, a heavy-duty distributer of truck and bus running gear components and GENEVA Group, an enterprise systems integration firm and Microsoft partner. At GENEVA Group, he worked on turn-around projects as acting CIO, CEO and CFO. GENEVA Group sold its operations to Admiral IT and restructured as a holding company.
Dr. Rife is an expert in engine technology, enterprise software, distribution, supply chain and management of early-stage business organizations. Current academic experience includes teaching Field Studies in Management at Brandeis International Business School. (IBS) and MIT courses, Management in Engineering and Elements of Mechanical Design.
A Kansas farm boy, Dr. Rife came to Boston as a first-year student and earned three degrees at MIT. Connecting with research at the Sloan Automotive Laboratories, he wrote three theses, published papers on engine technology and became Executive Director of the lab after earning his PhD.

Jeffrey Meller

Managing Director, Vermont Silvopasture LLC; Arbitrator for American Arbitration Association. Former founding CEO of renewable energy company; fund manager making private equity and listed company investments in emerging markets; international lawyer specializing in emerging/frontier market infrastructure finance; instructor of international project finance at Boston University School of Law.

AFARIN BELLISARIO

Afarin's professional life has revolved around commercializing nascent technologies in a variety of roles: as a technologist (MIT, BBN), strategist (Analog Devices, Intel, Shawmut), investor (Intel Capital), evaluator (Transtrategy), licensee (Intel) and licensor (MIT TLO), teacher (Madrid and IAP workshops), as well as through nurturing startups as a catalyst/mentor/advisor (Deshpande, VMS, TLO, Sandbox, MIT Water Prize). This lifetime of experiences along the technology development and distribution pipeline has shaped her understanding of the commercialization process and what affects its success or failure.