Advisory Board

Todd is CEO of Fox Hall Holdings, LLC, an investment holding company with interests in sports teams, sports tech, health and well-being, and tech-enabled consumer product and service companies. Todd is also the Principal Owner and Executive Chairman of the South Carolina Stingrays (affiliated with the Washington Capitals of the NHL).

Todd has had a 30+ year career in M&A and private equity investing, initially at investment bank Goldman Sachs and subsequently at Freeman Spogli & Co., a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm focused on US-based consumer-related growth businesses, where he was a Partner for 23 years. He is currently a Senior Advisor and serves on the board of directors of a number of Freeman Spogli portfolio companies.

Todd also serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations including The Charleston Regional Development Alliance and the Greater Charleston Chamber of Commerce. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Colby College (Maine) and serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship at Colby.  Todd earned a BA at Colby College and an MBA from Harvard University.

Bill grew up in Jenkintown, PA, but has lived in Seattle since 1999.  He is passionate about golf, cycling, skiing, and the outdoors.  Bill has been married to Lynn Miller Carr for 20 years and has two sons: Evan is a first-year student at Bowdoin College, and Maddox is an 11th grader at Eastside Prep.

Bill spent over 15 years with Amazon. As Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company’s global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. 

Today, Bill is the co-author of the worldwide bestseller “Working Backwards” and co-founder of Working Backwards LLC, where he teaches executives how to implement the management best practices developed at Amazon.  Bill earned a B.A. from Colby College and an M.B.A. from Goizueta Business School at Emory University.  Bill serves on the Board of Directors for Worldreader and the Advisory Council for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).

Bob, who retired in 2010 as the northeast division sales president of the New England division of Rexel CLS, Inc., the US subsidiary of French-owned Rexel Inc. The largest electrical distributor in the world, the company has more than 2,200 branches in 34 countries, 28,000 employees, and US headquarters based in Dallas. He spent his entire career with Capitol Light and Supply Co., and was the company’s CEO when it was acquired by Rexel in 2006.

In addition to his service on the advisory board, Bob has supported the Halloran Lab with the Compagna-Sennett Iterate and Expand Grant, made possible with a gift from Bob and wife Joan Sennett ’76, and Compagna-Sennett Entrepreneurial Seed Fund.

He serves as director of the BSPC Foundation, a Connecticut-based nonprofit organization that has made grants to Colby, the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and others.

Born and raised in Ashtabula, Ohio, Tim graduated from Kent State University in 1994 before purchasing MC Sign Company at the age of 24. With just two employees and $100,000 in annual sales serving the greater Cleveland, Ohio area, Tim steadily expanded the company’s service solutions to include signage, maintenance, lighting, branding, design, and program management on a national basis. Today, the company has grown to over 1,200 employees and generates more than $400 million in annual revenue serving a wide variety of customers in the financial, health care, retail, QSR, and petroleum segments, just to name a few.

As the business evolved, so did its name. In 2018, MC Sign rebranded to MC Group, reflecting its expanded service offerings and national reach. Through strategic acquisitions, including the 2019 acquisition of Icon Identity Solutions, Tim helped create one of the largest and most well-rounded brand implementation companies in the industry. In 2020, the company rebranded once more as Stratus, solidifying its leadership in signage, facilities, and brand management solutions.

Beyond business success, Tim remains deeply committed to giving back. He founded The Stratus Foundation (formerly MC Charitable Foundation) with a mission to elevate people and communities. To date, the foundation has raised over $1,000,000, benefiting nonprofit organizations across the country. Additionally, he actively serves on various philanthropic boards at his alma mater and has been on the Kent Foundation Board for 15+ years, is actively engaged with the Cleveland Alzheimer’s Association and has earned numerous accolades for his leadership and entrepreneurial achievements.

With a strong focus on innovation, customer service, and strategic execution, Tim has built a thriving, growth-oriented company while fostering a charitable and people-driven culture. Stratus is the realization of the vision he once had as a young entrepreneur—creating a business that is both successful and impactful.

David is the founder and CEO of Baywater Properties, a full-service commercial real estate company serving Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. He founded Baywater in 2001, following a 12-year career in real estate investment banking in New York and London. Prior to founding Baywater, David served as co-head of real estate investment banking for Credit Suisse First Boston. He started his career at Bankers Trust Company where he held multiple positions before a promotion to managing director, his last position before joining Credit Suisse.

Presently, David is leading the development of The Corbin District in Darien, Connecticut, a transformational, transit-oriented development project in which he and his partners have invested over $250 million.  He holds a BA in Psychology from Colby and an MBA from the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.  During his junior year at Colby, David studied at The London School of Economics and Political Science. 

He is currently a member of the Board of Visitors of Colby College, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Darien Athletic Foundation.  David also serves today as the President of the Real Estate Finance Association of Connecticut. 

Erin is a seasoned Product executive, human-centered designer and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience. She was an early employee at Blackboard through IPO. She went on to found the digital credentialing infrastructure and movement, Open Badges, through Mozilla while also driving their early webmaking education efforts. In parallel, she founded The Curiosity Lab, a set of physical making spaces and a broader pedagogy and brand. She then led Product at WEX, a publicly traded company, for several years before driving the first of WEX Ventures, called Flume, a pay-get paid solution for small businesses, incubated within the larger company. She stepped away in August 2024 to start her own next venture aimed at reducing wasteful meetings and helping people meet better. 

Erin has her undergrad in Psychology from Colby, graduate degree in Information Management and Systems from UC Berkeley and is currently working on her doctorate from Syracuse University, with a focus on meeting science. After many years out of state, she returned to Maine 14 years ago, and lives in Scarborough with her 3 kids and 3 dogs.

Jen is the Co-founder and CEO of maineloveTM and a 12th generation Mainer, bringing her revenue intensity and passion for entrepreneurship back to Maine. Jen has built a career as a brand creator and strategist, a retail executive focused on revenue and consumers, and a revenue executive for advertising-led consumer data companies. Jen is an active trustee on the board of her alma mater Colby College, and has helped shape their entrepreneurship effort, while also supporting the broader start-up ecosystem in Maine.

Jen’s foundational career was built in retail, where she quickly grew from associate to executive management, working with some of the largest and fastest growing retailers and brands. She was named to “the Top 40 under 40 Retailers to Watch” by Chain Store Age Magazine, fueling growth for a blend of early stage and traditional big-box retailers such as Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond, BrownShoe, Nambe, and LifeFactory.

Jen’s love for retail transitioned to brands that were seeking innovation and exploring new ways of reaching consumers. Her passion for technology enabled her to bring robotic retail vending machines to airports and other high traffic locations, enabling a new type of brand visibility and retail. Jen expanded that thesis to scale to a network of over 2,000 locations with best in class brands, such as Best Buy, Apple, Benefit Cosmetics and L’Brands.

Jen’s entrepreneurial journey began with a founding role at Truaxis Inc, where she led revenue and growth and worked with iconic brands to personalize and provide more relevant content to consumers. Jen and team sold Truaxis to MasterCard in 2012 and Jen transitioned with the Truaxis leadership team, where she was responsible for global relationships with merchants and retailers. After completing her transition tenure at MasterCard, Jen embraced an active role as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Sutter Hill Ventures and consulting leadership roles at Sanctum Insights, LLC and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.

Throughout her career, Jen has imparted a large mentorship effort with young entrepreneurs and the funds that support them. Jen has also served as an interim leader in sales, executive management and operations. Jen has exited 5+ companies over the last 20 years and brings her intensity for revenue back to Maine.

Jen lives in Yarmouth, ME with her husband Eric Pan.

Eric is a Partner at Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund based in Cambridge, MA and Soho, NY. Eric led Founder Collective’s investments into numerous companies including Uber, Cruise, Airtable, Whoop, and The TradeDesk (Nasdaq: TTD). Previously, Eric founded Brontes Technologies, a 3D imaging company, spun out of MIT and acquired by 3M. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and completed his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College. Prior to business school, Eric founded Abstract Edge, a web application development company in New York City. 

Eric has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists five times, appearing as high as #9 as the top-rated seed investor on the list. Eric has been included on The Boston Globes Technology Power Players list for the past three years and Boston Magazines 2025 List of Most Influential Bostonians.

Graham Powis ’90 is a parent of a recent Colby graduate and managing partner at Brookline Capital Markets, a life sciences investment bank where he focuses on the firm’s public financing and capital markets advisory business lines.

Graham has been active with the Halloran Lab since its inception, serving as advisor-in-residence, and has taught a popular Jan Plan course, From Idea to IPO: Business Strategy Basics for Next Gen Titans.

Prior to joining Brookline, he served as Head of Investment Banking at BTIG, as Head of U.S. Equity Capital Markets at Lazard, and as Head of Equity Capital Markets at Cowen. He began his career at Credit Suisse First Boston in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group.

Graham is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer on business strategy; the equity capital markets, including IPOs; entrepreneurship; and other healthcare, consumer and technology investment banking topics. He is the Co-Chair of Colby’s Board of Visitors and received his M.B.A. in finance from New York University.

Theo is the Co-founder and CEO of Remark, an AI research company working to improve e-commerce shopping experiences by incorporating real human expertise. Since launching Remark, Theo has successfully raised tens of millions in funding through from investors on both the east and west coasts, and has formed partnerships with some of the industry’s top companies like Stripe.

At Colby, Theo double-majored in Computer Science and Science, Technology, & Society. In 2017, he contributed to early entrepreneurship initiatives on campus by helping establish a dedicated space for entrepreneurship at 173 Main Street. That same year, his plan for Remark won Colby’s “Entrepreneurial Alliance” pitch competition, allowing him to develop the business with a few of his classmates, with whom he continues to lead Remark today.

As a recent graduate who has translated his Colby education into a growing venture, Theo brings practical insights to the Halloran Lab’s advisory board. When not working on Remark, he enjoys skiing and traveling.

Brian is a seasoned entrepreneur, public company executive, and angel investor who has taken two companies public, and served as a director on multiple public boards.

Brian is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of GoDaddy (GDDY), an S&P 500 company that serves over 20 million small business customers.  Brian also serves on the board of Ally Financial (ALLY), the largest digital bank in the US, RVShare, and Design Pickle. Brian also currently serves as an advisor to Next Coast Ventures (Venture Capital) and Tritium Partners (Private Equity).

Brian was the chief executive officer, founder and brainchild behind HomeAway, which he founded with Carl Shepherd in February 2005. Over a ten-year span, he raised over $400 million in private equity funding to build the platform, scale the team, and aggressively expand the business around the world. During that time, HomeAway became the largest and most profitable vacation rental company in the world, with over 2,000,000 bookable properties and hundreds of millions of customers across 130 countries. HomeAway went public in 2011, and was later sold to Expedia in 2015 for $3.9 billion. The company now operates under the brand VRBO.

Prior to HomeAway, Sharples was the president and chief executive officer of IntelliQuest Information Group, a supplier of marketing data and research to Fortune 500 technology companies. During his ten years the business scaled from 10 employees to over 700 across the US and Europe and was twice recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing companies in the US. IntelliQuest also created the largest annual conference in Silicon Valley for technology marketing executives, an event that Sharples hosted for seven years. An expert in brand strategy, Sharples has counseled several major tech brands, including Apple, HP, Microsoft and Dell. IntelliQuest went public in 1996, and he continued as CEO until the sale of the company in 1999 to Naviant and WPP Group. 

Prior to IntelliQuest, Sharples was the founder and director of automotive marketplace iMotors, a company that eventually raised nearly $120MM to build an efficient and safe online marketplace for used cars. Sharples was the initial CEO of the company, but left to pursue the IntelliQuest opportunity after recruiting an accomplished automotive executive as CEO. He remained a director until the company was sold to AutoNation in 2000. 

Prior to iMotors, Sharples was a consultant at Bain & Co. with a focus on the technology sector.

In addition to current public board roles, Brian has served on multiple other public boards including Kayak, Retailmenot, Yelp, Avalara, and as Chairman of HomeAway. He’s also been an active angel investor for the last 15 years, with private investments in over 30 companies, and board roles in several. Brian was also recognized by Ernst & Young as National Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 for his work at HomeAway.

Brian holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he also has lectured on board governance. He also teaches the HomeAway Case Study annually at Harvard Business School.