FACE served as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their newest products and projects while receiving invaluable feedback from the entire community of entrepreneurs and strategic partners.
The conference successfully provided a catalyst for French, European, and American entrepreneurs to create new opportunities and succeed in preparing their businesses for the economic upturn.
Many entrepreneurs shared experiences and discussed their common issues in the present business environment through keynote speeches, panels, interactive round-tables and workshops around specific industries. Participants also benefited from off-site meetings:
* IT, hosted at Microsoft
* Life Sciences, hosted at Baker & McKenzie
* Cleantech, hosted at NYC Accelerator for Clean & Renewable Economy.
“I got more done in a few hours than over the past six months”, one of the participants told Jabril Bensedrine, Triana Venture Partners Managing Director. Mr. Bensedrine added “FACE 2009 showcased a growing number of entrepreneurs and senior executives, proving that talents from all industries want to join FACE. This face-to-face network of entrepreneurial-minded people is establishing tremendous business opportunities.”
Launched at the conference, FACE-Universe -www.face-universe.com- is the exclusive networking platform for participants to keep in touch and remain connected.
Distinguished entrepreneurs, corporate champions, and investors included:
Jason Ackerman – Co-Founder of Fresh Direct, Alain Lemarchand – Chairman & CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Kevin Ryan – Co-Founder & Chairman of AlleyCorp, Founder & former CEO of DoubleClick, Fabrice Sergent – Founder & CEO of Cellfish Media, Joshua Boltuch – Co-founder of Amie Street, Matt Turck – Principal at Bloomberg Ventures, Jabril Bensedrine – Managing Director of Triana Venture Partners, Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh – Chairman of Bio New Jersey, Patrick Langlois – former Vice Chairman & CFO of Aventis, Sam Natapoff – Senior Advisor to NY State Governor on International Commerce, Jean-Paul Vermes – Vice Chairman of CCIP, Fahima Sadaoui Ramos – International Adviser of International CCIP, Jerry Sanders – Founder and Managing Director San Francisco Science, Frank Vidal – Director of Advancia, Maxine Ballen – President & CEO of New Jersey Technology Council, Michel Berty – Co-Founder, former Chairman and CEO of Capgemini USA, Larry Gregory – Senior Director at Microsoft Corporation, Erik Grimmelman – Former VP of Network & Access at AT&T, Acting CIO SWN Communications Inc., etc..
Prominent journalists:
Erick Schine – Inc., Russell Adams – Wall Street Journal, Emmanuel Saint-Martin – French Morning/ Le Point, Jean-Cosme Delaloye – France-Amerique, and many others.
