Mentors
Meet the team behind your eJourney! We’ve comprised an impressive group of some of Chicago’s top entrepreneurs ready to mentor you along the way.
Mentors are available to Blueprint members on the eLaunch track. Below is a list of the Blueprint Mentors as well as their background and areas of expertise.
Blueprint Mentors
Bob Achettu
Bob Achettu is Founder and Managing Partner of Accelerated Growth Advisors (AGA), a firm which provides CFO, COO, and Board advisory services to high growth, entrepreneurial companies. AGA partners with clients to ensure that the proper financial, operational, and strategic infrastructure is in place within their organizations to sustain growth. Prior to AGA, Bob was a partner at Turris Capital, a Chicago based private equity firm where he was responsible for portfolio company finance and operations. In addition, he has held management positions within the strategy consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and within corporate finance at CVS/Caremark. Bob holds a B.S. from DePaul University and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Notre Dame.
Joanna Bauza
Joanna Bauza is the Co-Founder and President of The Cervantes Group, a multi-million dollar Technology Consultancy in Puerto Rico. She has pioneered the corporate technical platform, manages the company website, the Project Management Office (PMO), corporate Intranet and is responsible for orchestrating the collaboration efforts with The Cervantes Group and other alliance partners. She has developed and maintained many ties to the PR community in the IT Banking and Web Development sector and was recognized by the San Juan Star in 2007 and 2008 as one of the leading "Women in Leadership" and was featured in 2008 for her successes by Caribbean Business. Joanna graduated from Marquette University in 1997 where she obtained her Business degree in Management Information Systems. Later, she received her M.B.A. from DePaul University in eBusiness and Entrepreneurship.
Becky Davenport
Becky Davenport has provided strategic market planning and business development consulting services for profit and not for profit companies over the past 9 years. She is also an adjunct marketing instructor at Wayne State University, delivering traditional and online marketing courses for undergraduate business and MBA students since 1991. As a partner in The Macke Group, Becky was part of the team responsible for developing and executing the strategic business plan for Wayne State University’s business development project known as TechTown. She also launched the entrepreneurial program known as Frontline Accelerator for Science and Technology to accelerate the commercialization of start up and early stage businesses in life sciences, alternative energy, advanced manufacturing and homeland security. Becky has a B.S. from the University of Texas and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado.
John Dilenschneider
John Dilenschneider is owner and CEO of WebQA – a web-based customer service platform company handling over 60 million people worldwide. His background includes successful initiatives as an entrepreneur and senior executive in the financial, technology and government marketplaces. As entrepreneur, he launched several companies. Before taking control of WebQA in 2007, he founded other organizations including the multi-million dollar Project Management Partners consulting firm (PMP) in 1995 and the nationally recognized Image Consulting Group (ICG) in 1990. He has sold several companies to investors and large private equity firms. John holds a BA, with honors, from the University of Notre Dame in American Studies and Spanish, an MBA from the University of Chicago in Marketing and Finance and an MS, with distinction, from DePaul University in Computer Science.
Al Herbach
Al Herbach is an experienced executive, consultant, and entrepreneur. Prior to joining the Coleman Center Advisory Council in 2006, Al was Managing Director of Client Services for Callidus Software, a leading Enterprise Incentive Management software firm. He has worked with two early stage firms, the first, Systems Start-Up, Ltd., an ERP consulting firm which grew from 4 consultants to over 50 over 15 years, was acquired by Computer Associates (CA) in 1997. He then led Computer Associates ERP Professional Services Organization with worldwide responsibility for clients utilizing midrange ERP software packages. After over three years with Computer Associates, in 2001, Al founded Strategiz, a marketing services firm, specializing in strategy and fundraising for non-profit organizations. The firm was able to raise over $250,000 for several local Chicago non-profits. Al holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from DePaul University. He also serves on the board of H. P. Schmaltz and Company.
Steve Johns
Steve Johns has over twenty-five years of experience in the areas of technology, finance, consumer marketing, music and entrepreneurship. In 2000, Steve co-founded Ardesta, which specializes in the commercialization of Small Tech products. Prior to that, Steve was Founder and President of MEMS Technology, Inc., an early-stage technology investment and commercialization company. Currently, Steve is co-founder and CEO of BeyondLive, Inc., connecting Brands, Bands and Fans through webcasting live concert events. He also founded and personally funded Second Wave Music, an online destination for new music discovery focused on connecting fans with emerging, unsigned artists. Steve earned a BA in Business and Accounting in 1985 from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois and was a CPA.
Seth Kravitz
Seth Kravitz started a web design company out of his dorm room at Ohio State when he was 19. Two years later, in 2004, he merged his company with InsuranceAgents.com, LLC to start building marketing websites for the insurance industry. Since then the company has grown into a 55 person operation in two cities and was honored to be #24 on the 2009 Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S. Seth likes to give back to the entrepreneur community here in Chicago by volunteering as a business mentor at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul University and the Knapp Center at IIT.
Bill McHenry
Bill McHenry is Founder and President of Entrepreneur Sales & Marketing, a company that provides outsourced sales, marketing and business development services to help inventors, entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes successfully grow their business. Bill's vast professional expertise has helped to launch a number of exciting new products and companies, building them from the ground up, such as the Poultry Pal and Vac-It, a soon-to-be launched product from Bill’s company ‘Widgeteer, Inc’. Bill also has extensive corporate experience in a wide variety of industries and has lent his talents to corporations such as Carnation, 3M, North American Philips and Brach's Confections in upper executive positions in the sales, marketing and business development sectors. Bill hails from Michigan, where he earned a degree in Business Administration from Alma College.
Jeff White
Jeff White has spent more than a decade in strategic planning, innovation and entrepreneurship. In his current position he plays a key strategy role for USG's largest business unit and he is responsible for evaluating new product concepts, prioritizing innovation investments and planning go-to-market activities. Previously at USG, he co-developed a new business venture where he developed the business plan, built the infrastructure and negotiated complex strategic alliances with key third party partners. Prior to USG, Jeff was a strategy consultant where he advised top managers in a wide range of industries on business unit strategy, growth, marketing and new business development.
John Wonak
John is the CEO and Founder of Sea Level Advisory Group, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping guide small to middle market sized companies and their C-level executives in making better informed, critical decisions. Prior to founding Sea Level Advisory Group, John cofounded the national telecommunications firm, OPEX Communications and served as its Chief Financial Officer, eventually guiding its sale in 2007. John spent the first 20 years of his career in public accounting, including several years with the national firm, BDO Seidman, and ten years with his own CPA firm which he sold in 1997. In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, John earned both a B.S. in Accounting and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Northern Illinois University. John has served as an instructor at DePaul University’s Coleman Center for Entrepreneurship, having taught a course on Finance to business owners, and currently also serves as a mentor to student entrepreneurs in the Blueprint program. John is also an adjunct professor of Finance in the Executive MBA Program at Northern Illinois University, and serves as a coach in NIU’s Experiential Learning Center (ELC).