Amy Gill is the Training Leader for Bizdom U, designing and implementing performance based training to guarantee each entrepreneur acquires the practical skills necessary to develop and pitch their business for funding.
Amy was brought on to the Bizdom team in 2007 to help reshape the curriculum into its current format. Prior to this she had a successful career at Rock Financial and Quicken Loans as a Sales Trainer. In this role, she implemented initiatives to transform the Sales Training program into measurable, accountable, skill-based training. She worked with top leaders to incorporate the most relevant sales strategies into the program and directed the reformation and maintenance of curriculum to ensure consistency with ever-changing markets and industry guidelines. Her commitment to excellence in this role earned her a companywide award in 2006. In addition to her experience training mortgage bankers and entrepreneurs, Amy is a certified horseback-riding instructor through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, and she is the Equine Director for Camp Casey, a summer horseback-riding program for kids with cancer and their families.
Amy graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on urban culture.
Paul Allen is the Cleveland Business Launch Leader for Bizdom U. In this capacity, he oversees the recruiting, training, and business launching process. He joined Bizdom in 2011 to assist in establishing Bizdom Cleveland. Paul has spent over 20 years working as a technology strategist, product designer, writer, and marketing executive with large companies and startups in the software, hardware, education, healthcare, payments, games, and non-profit sectors. He helped create LaunchHouse, a first-of-its-kind co-working and pre-seed investment incubator located in Northeast Ohio. Paul also is the Founder of Tribe of Angels, a network of over 6,000 investors, and Reach Ventures, a private equity firm focused on data.
Paul has held a wide range of positions including Chief Marketing Officer of Monarch Teaching Technologies, Director of the Connecticut Software Association, Vice President of the Connecticut Technology Council, and Director of Corporate Marketing of Qbiquity, where he helped lead the team to secure in excess of $12 million in funding from investors whose portfolios included Overture, DoubleClick, CommerceOne, Wit Capital, and Epicentric. He also served as the Director of Marketing of BetaSphere, where he led new product development initiatives for Intel, Adobe, Motorola, and Palm and was instrumental in positioning the company for investment by J.P. Morgan Partners and GE Equity.
One of Paul’s greatest passions is coaching and teaching entrepreneurs. He holds a BA and an MA in Psychology from UCLA and currently resides in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Maria LaLonde is the Detroit Recruiting and Development Leader for Bizdom U. Maria oversees the recruiting and interview processes and connects with the community to raise awareness about Bizdom U as an available resource. Maria was born and raised in the city of Detroit and the Detroit metropolitan area. Her background includes a successful career with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, where she managed branch offices and oversaw the recruiting process for 35 branch offices. She has also been a top producing Realtor in residential real estate. Maria has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and has owned businesses in the fields of recruiting and the automotive industry. Maria is passionate about doing her part to create a vibrant and thriving community in Detroit. She believes that encouraging diverse, growth-oriented businesses is essential to the creation of a brighter future for Detroit.
Maria graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Communication, having an emphasis in Organizational Communication.
Andradia Scovil is the Cleveland Recruiting Leader for Bizdom U. She is primarily responsible for recruiting program entrepreneurs and building relationships with the entrepreneurial community. Andradia was born and raised in Cleveland, matriculating through the Cleveland Public School system and graduating in the inaugural class of High Tech Academy. Andradia began her career with National City as an INROADS intern part of the Corporate Public Affairs Team followed by full-time positions in the banks’ Commercial Banking Development Program and Private Client Group. Prior to joining Bizdom, Andradia was the Program Coordinator for the Civic Innovation Lab where she assisted in the growth and funding of startup businesses in the Greater Cleveland area by recruiting, training, and assisting entrepreneurs. Andradia enjoys serving her community by volunteering for nonprofits as LATINA, Inc., the Urban League of Greater Cleveland YP Chapter and Northeast Ohio Young Professional Leaders. She is an inductee in Kaleidoscope’s Cuarenta/Cuarenta (Latino 40 under 40) Club and an inaugural Case Western Reserve University BridgeBack First Place Case Study Award recipient.
Andradia graduated from Ohio University with a BA in Accounting.
Chris Seago is the Entrepreneurial Accelerationist where he serves as an adviser to the Bizdom launched businesses. Chris works closely with entrepreneurs to bring a sense of speed, agility and decisiveness to their planning as CEOs of their companies.
Chris is an accomplished business leader with significant profit and loss experience running businesses and managing projects. His diverse background includes founding and successfully operating his own group of diverse companies including a marketing communications firm and a flight simulation company. Prior to that, Chris was a creative principal at several national ad agencies and has supported marketing and ad campaigns for many national brands.
A University of Michigan alum with a BA in engineering, Chris thrives at analyzing specific business needs and brainstorming innovative solutions, energizing clients and empowering team members.
Lee Burnstein is the Director of Business Development for Bizdom U. In this capacity, he works with many of the launched businesses to help with their sales, marketing, and overall success of the business. Prior to Bizdom, Lee was a top banker and Assistant Director of Mortgage Banking with Quicken Loans. Lee has started several of his own businesses over the years and is looking forward to putting his past experiences associated with both sales and marketing to use in helping the companies grow within the city. Lee’s passion for business and entrepreneurship goes back to his college days where he was active in several new business ventures and entrepreneurial programs.
Lee received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University.
Kim Delaney is the Operations Analyst for Bizdom U. In this capacity, she monitors and adds order to the daily operations for Bizdom. Kim’s dedication to providing exceptional client service and living a culture of success at Quicken Loans allowed her to seamlessly develop another culture of success at Bizdom. Since joining Bizdom in 2006, Kim has been involved in many aspects that have helped Bizdom to grow, including recruiting, administration, financials and operations. She also supports her husband in owning and managing a unisex salon in Oak Park, Michigan. Kim is determined to utilize her experience and her passion for making dreams a reality to help aspiring entrepreneurs to build up Detroit into the best city ever.
Kim was born and raised in the city of Detroit, attended Cass Technical High School and received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Masters in Business Administration at Wayne State University.
Ashley Milgram is the Administrative Coordinator for Bizdom U. As the Administrative Coordinator, Ashley assists as a generalist performing a wide variety of the day-to-day activities in order to ensure the program’s effectiveness. Ashley was born in the suburbs of Detroit and after graduation, she moved to Long Beach, California where she quickly progressed to Assistant Manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. She recently moved back to the Detroit-Metro area to return to the city that she loves and to advance her career with Bizdom U. Ashley brings a strong vision and passion to the building of a better Detroit, and enjoys collaborating within this entrepreneurial environment for a successful outcome.
Ashley graduated from Western Michigan University with a BA in Business Management and Communications.
Ross Sanders is the CEO of Bizdom U. In this capacity, he oversees all operations encompassing recruiting, training, fundraising, business launching and organizational planning. Prior to this role, he served on the leadership team of Rock Financial and Quicken Loans for 10 years. In this capacity, he coordinated the creation of a joint venture, start-up of a national branch network, relocation of the corporate headquarters, development of metrics and implementation of numerous process improvement initiatives. Prior to this experience, Ross spent 10 years at MetLife, where he managed large projects for clients including General Motors and General Electric. There he led the development of the GM National Retiree Servicing Center and managed a GE Benefit Center.
Ross received his Bachelor’s Degree from Michigan State University, earned a Master of Business Administration Degree from Wayne State University and is trained as a Six Sigma Black Belt.
