Joe De Sena – Founder and CEO of Spartan, the world’s largest obstacle race and endurance brand – has demonstrated his entrepreneurial drive since his pre-teens. After building a multimillion-dollar pool and construction business in college, and creating a Wall Street trading firm, De Sena set his sights on ripping 100 million people off their couches by creating the Spartan lifestyle.
Following a successful career on Wall Street, De Sena moved his family to Pittsfield, Vermont to operate an organic farm, a bed and breakfast, and a general store for hikers. It was here his passion grew for ultramarathons, adventure races, and endurance events, and thus the idea for Spartan was born.
With more than one million annual global participants at more than 400 events across more than 40 countries, Spartan offers heats for all fitness levels and ages, from beginner to elite and Kids as young as four-years-old. The brand has transformed more than ten million lives since it was founded in 2010.
In addition to race events, the Spartan lifestyle that De Sena built encompasses all the tools one needs to transform their lives including, global gym affiliates, partnerships with fitness brands, coaching network, nutrition plans and content; television series on NBC and Facebook; forthcoming documentaries about the brand, sport and health; and an extensive line of apparel and licensed fitness gear and equipment.
Throughout his lifetime, Joe has competed in any extreme sports adventure he could find, testing his mental and physical endurance against nature. Joe turned an interest in endurance racing into a passion. His racing resume is the stuff of legend – over 50 ultra-events overall and 14 Ironman events in one year alone.
Today, the brands under the Spartan umbrella include Spartan, Tough Mudder, DEKA, Spartan Trail, La Ruta, Highland Adventure, M2O and Spartan Combat. De Sena is also the New York Times Best Selling Author of “Spartan Up”, “Spartan Fit”, “The Spartan Way” and “10 Rules for Resilience
Neil Shah was named Chief Commercial Officer of Shark Ninja in 2018 and provides global leadership to the Sales, Analytics, and Marketing organization.
Neil joined SharkNinja in October 2007 as the Manager of Sales Planning and Analysis; Neil has held various leadership roles within Strategic Sales & Marketing. Prior to joining SharkNinja, Neil held several positions within The Holmes Group, including Category Manager for the Wal-Mart business, and Senior Analyst, Sales and Operations, for the Jarden Consumer Solutions business.
Neil received his Bachelor of Commerce and his Master of Commerce in Statistics and Accounting from H.A. College of Commerce at Gujarat University in India. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Management from McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College.
Tom Leung is a Product Director at Meta with over two decades of leadership experience across Microsoft, YouTube, Google Ads, and Google Health. He co-founded two startups (both acquired), with one becoming a Harvard Business School case study. Tom earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he won an award as co-lead of the career peer coaching program, and graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College.
As Google’s top-rated PM coach and a former director rated “Transformative” (top 4%), Tom brings deep expertise in product leadership and team development. He currently serves as a startup advisor at Stanford GSB Venture Studio and UC Berkeley SkyDeck, where he mentors emerging founders. A hobbyist angel investor with 2024 investments in OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, Anduril, and Perplexity, Tom is passionate about helping founders unlock their potential and navigate complex decisions with confidence. He has previously spoken about leadership, product development, and entrepreneurship at Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Cornell, Wharton, and UW.
Rahul Mehendale is the CEO of Live150.ai, a firm that enables experts to scale consumer health services to promote longevity and empowers individuals seeking to improve their own health. Prior to founding Live150.ai, Rahul was a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he led their Future of Healthcare efforts. He also collaborates with various AI and data analytics ventures.
The holder of multiple patents and trademarks spanning tissue analytics, dermatological imaging systems, and AI-powered solutions for personalized health, Rahul has a rich track record of driving disruptive growth and innovation. He has leveraged AI, data and analytics, AR/VR, and other technologies to improve patient health. He was also the founder of mySkin, one of the first firms to quantify skin health and disrupt the field of dermatology using innovative imaging and AI.
While leading Deloitte’s Future of Healthcare initiative, Rahul developed the “Wellbeing as a Service” platform, which created data-enabled ecosystems to improve healthcare outcomes. He identified a $4 billion “Drug Discovery as a Service” opportunity, led the acquisition of an AI company, and worked with emerging midcap life sciences clients to drive growth. He also forged a transformative partnership with a leading AI and internet technology firm to develop a next-generation collaborative biomedical research platform.
Rahul holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Pune.
He lives in the New York City metro area with his wife and two fiercely competitive swimming daughters. He splits his time between lifting weights he regrets picking up, hosting dangerously opinionated chai sessions, and meditating daily- but his agentic AI knows he is really just iterating startup ideas with his eyes closed.
Michael London, Babson Alum ’92, is the Founder & CEO at Uwill, a role he’s held since he founded the company in 2020.
An educational technology, digital health, and social impact entrepreneur, Michael London has created more than one billion dollars in company value throughout his career. Michael’s belief that “student mental health is the defining higher education issue of our time” led him to create Uwill. Founded in 2020 to assist campus counseling centers as they faced overwhelming student demand for mental health support, Uwill quickly earned the reputation as the leading student mental health and wellness solution, now serving more than 4 million students at 500+ schools worldwide. Michael has spent his career building and advising new education ventures, nonprofits and educational institutions. In 2013, he founded Examity, a leader in learning validation and online proctoring. Prior, Michael led Bloomberg Institute, an EdTech start-up funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His earlier successes include the co-founding of College Coach and founding of EdAssist, both acquired by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. In 2019, he was a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award and held a position on the Governor’s Commission for Digital Education and Lifelong Learning. In 2025, the Boston Business Journal honored Michael on the Innovators in Healthcare list. Michael is a current Trustee at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Member of the Advisory Board at Babson College where he graduated with honors. He also received his MBA from Boston University.
Eli Velasquez is Founder & CEO of Capital Stack Investors (U.S.) and Capital Stack Ventures (Spain), boutique advisory firms supporting angel investors, venture funds, and early-stage founders. He advises the University City Science Center and MIT’s The Engine, serves as an Investment Principal with the Gaingels Healthcare Fund, and actively invests as an angel and LP. Eli has testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Capital Markets Committee on expanding access to capital through reforms to the Accredited Investor definition.
Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari obtained his BS and MEng degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his PhD in biomedical engineering from the Harvard Medical School-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. His contributions in soft bioelectronics, micro/nano-scale systems, and neuroscience have been recognized with many awards and publications in top-tier journals.
Nidhee Krishnan, a Babson Alum ’24, is a product and growth strategist specializing in AI-powered consumer experiences at the intersection of healthcare, behavioral science, and human-centered design. She has led the development and scaling of intelligent health platforms across clinical and consumer settings and is a co-founder of a healthcare technology company acquired at an early stage. Currently a Senior Strategist at Live150.ai, Nidhee brings deep experience in product strategy, healthcare AI, and building solutions designed to drive meaningful behavior change at scale.
Chinam Kry is a senior enterprise go-to-market leader with over 20 years of experience building and scaling cloud, data, and AI businesses. He currently serves as Data & AI GTM Lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he drives large-scale data and AI initiatives for enterprise and financial services organizations.
Previously, Chinam has held leadership roles at AWS, Google Cloud, Databricks, Oracle, Workday, and Intuit, advising companies from early-stage startups to Fortune 10 enterprises on AI adoption, enterprise transformation, and growth strategy. A Harvard Business School MBA and Yale alumnus, he is known for translating complex technologies into clear business value and for building high-performing, inclusive teams at scale.
GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP FORUM 2026 