Oxford Entrepreneurs is a student-run organisation supported by Senior Member Fiona Reid, Director of Oxford’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and an esteemed Advisory Board.
The OE Committee is an exciting and dynamic team of students that meets regularly and runs the organisation. The Committee attracts some of our most talented and interesting members - most of us want to start businesses on graduation, if not already running them. We’re getting great experience from building the Society and running it in a way that is a model for our members in terms of innovation, quality and ambition.
2008/09 Oxford Entrepreneurs Committee
Victoria Lennox, President
Passionate about entrepreneurship, development, governance and innovation at sectoral intersections,
Contact: president@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Jon is studying for a doctoral degree in neuroscience. As Vice-President, Jon manages a team of OE Committee Officers, is involved with the selection of each new Officer, takes part in all of OE’s administrative procedures, and hosts some OE events. Additionally, he coordinates the Green Enterprise Series, which annually consists of several events focused on topical ‘green’ industries such as alternative energy and carbon finance. Jon is interested in entrepreneurship because he enjoys working in a team while managing his own goals and schedule. He also thinks it’s fascinating to be responsible for the transformation of something as ethereal as an idea into a tangible end product. Jon has a diverse history in innovation and leadership that spans academics, arts, and athletics.
Contact: vp@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Reijo Pold, Vice President - Finance
Majoring in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, 21, Founder of rentaplace24.com and co-founder of a Bio-tech venture. Lead and consulted several entrepreneurial and innovative projects ranging from real estate to automotive software. Passionate about innovation and bringing out the next ‘disruptor’ of markets.
Contact: reijo@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Jordan Poulton, Vice President - Governance & Idea Idol Director
Born in
Contact: jordanl@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Andy Young, Executive Advisor
Andy joined OE committee in March 2006. In 2005 he joined the team of OE spin-out company WearFair as a shareholder, managing e-marketing and design before the company was sold in July 2008. In 2006 he co-founded GroupSpaces.com, raised 6-figure angel funding in January 2008 and took a sabbatical from his degree in Computer Science at St John’s College to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. In April 2008 GroupSpaces was picked as one of 20 promising UK web start-ups that travelled to Silicon Valley backed by HSBC, BT and UKTI. Andy’s business career started in his gap year after college, winning publicly tendered contracts and consulting for public companies while working in web development. Before attending Oxford he studied Music & Sound Recording at the University of Surrey. He was designated one of Freshminds’ Ones to Watch and selected for IBM’s EMEA Best Student Recognition Event 2007 and in 2008 was invited to 11 Downing St as part of the government’s efforts promoting UK digital entrepreneurship.
Contact: andy@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Melissa Massey, Executive Officer
Melissa is studying a dual honours degree in Business and English Linguistics. She taught English to underprivileged women and children in India at the age of 17. Since then, she has made many presentations at both schools and colleges and has been recognised as a youth ambassador for her home town. Along side her penchant for business, Melissa’s interests are in journalism, dancing and networking. In her spare time, she loves to travel and is keen to work abroad in the future.
Contact: melissa@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
David Mok, Marketing Director
David is a visiting student from Tufts University studying PPE at St. Anne’s. Growing up in Chicago and currently living in Hong Kong, he has completed internships in business development in Asia and has learned first-hand from CEO’s of marketing companies based in Boston. He is passionate about creating messages that spread like wildfire and plans to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy which not only harnesses OE’s online presence but targets potential entrepreneurs in all disciplines. He believes that marketing must connect with customers on a personal and emotional level and that advertising is only the tip of the iceberg. In his free time, he is an avid traveler and loves to play basketball and guitar.
Contact: david@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Alec Dent, Marketing Officer
Alec joined the OE committee at the start of Michaelmas term as the Marketing Officer. The job requires him to make sure as many people hear about OE, meanwhile portraying an image of OE that encourages people to come along to events. Alec has always been interested in entrepreneurial activities and is keen to launch himself as an entrepreneur once he leaves Oxford. In his free time he enjoys rowing, he is trialling for the University team this term, and enjoys playing jazz in the college jazz band.
Contact: alec@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Shivani Mehra, Creative Director
Shivani is a graduate in graphic design and is currently working as a designer in publishing. She is eager to dip her fingers into all areas of graphics and has already gained experience in branding, book, web and exhibition design. This year she has been developing Oxford Entrepreneurs’ visual identity with fresh, inspiring design to reflect OE’s mission. She hopes to delve further into the arena of social enterprise during her time with OE and beyond. Her other interests are with the visual and performing arts, in particular salsa dancing. In her spare time, she loves to travel and is keen to work abroad in the future.
Contact: creative@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Hamish Gregory, Visual Media Marketing Officer
After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual) in 2002 Hamish spent the next four years training under some of Australia’s most successful advertising and fashion photographers. In 2006 and 2007 Hamish held four solo exhibitions in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, featuring images from his travels and volunteer work in remote parts of Africa. The work from these exhibitions saw Hamish named in 2008 as one of Australia’s top ten emerging photographers. Hamish is looking at creating content for OE that is unique to the organisation and inspiring to its members.
Contact: hamish@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Alex Blessley, PR Officer
On his gap year Alex worked for a fledging media consultancy in Westminster, specialising in political PR and campaigning. Substituting business for politics, Alex now hopes to use his experience to build the profile of Oxford Entrepreneurs and highlight the innovation and enthusiasm of its membership to a national audience.
Contact: pr@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Jochen Klingelhoefer, Membership Director
Jochen is a late arrival and joins the Oxford Entrepreneurs as Membership Director, coordinating the activities of the Membership and Relations Officers. It’s all about making everyone enjoying their time in the OE while growing it to become the largest society of its kind. After graduating from Bristol in Communications Engineering, he spent some time in the fast paced mobile communications industry, developing mobile phone and satellite navigation applications. Currently he is reading for a DPhil in the highly innovative and interdisciplinary Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Center, trying to work out how a novel DNA sequencing method might revolutionise personalised medicine one day.
Contact: membership@oxfordentrepreneur.ox.uk
Carly Becker, Membership Officer
Carly is a final year Economics and Management student at St Hilda’s College. As Membership Officer it is her current goal to secure Oxford Entrepreneur’s place as the biggest society of it type in the world! Her passion for business is rooted in retail, a sector which she has much work experience in. Upon leaving Oxford she intends to eventually set up her own chain of stores and become a major player in the industry. Outside of business her two other great loves are fashion and music.
Contact: carly@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Mike Moleschi, MBA Relations Officer
Mike joins Oxford Entrepreneurs this year as the MBA Relations Officer. Before starting his MBA, Mike was involved in an early stage grid computing startup company. Mike’s background as a software engineer has seen him working in various industries on projects ranging from the development of a pure Java x86 PC emulator, to programming assembly-line robots in a bacon factory. A graduate from the University of Alberta in Canada, he enjoys skiing and mountain biking in his spare time.
Contact: mba@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Oliver started his first business when he was 15 - launching biggerfeet.co.uk, a webstore for people with large feet. Winning ‘Most Enterprising Young Brit’ of the Year from Gordon Brown, Oliver had a string of media appearances including CNN and BBC Breakfast. Since then, Oliver has sold his company to his brother, has renovated a French townhouse for holiday rentals, and has started a new site - www.thingsaregoingtochange.com, a community for people who are fed up or depressed with their lives and want a change. He is currently in his second year, studying PPE at
Contact: alumni@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Sarah Batty, Idea Idol and OxWIB Director
Sarah has been with OE since October 2007. Her role started as the Events officer and she has now moved into the roles of Idea Idol Lead and OE Women’s Enterprise Director. Sarah is a finalist at Trinity College, reading economics and management. She is very keen on business in general and has been working in a bank throughout the summer and is now undertaking a thesis on incentive pay systems in banks, researching the risks these systems can create. This year, Sarah became the Founding President of Oxford Women in Business, a new society sponsored by OE designed to empower enterprising young women of Oxford University to expand and sharpen their understanding of business related issues and give them the skills they will need to become future leaders. As well as business, Sarah’s interests lie in sport. She plays hockey for the University and has recently taken up Real Tennis.
Contact: ideaidol@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
The role of the Director of Ideas2Market is to design and manage a program intended to boost both Europe and the UK’s economy with new and innovative companies. The role requires Pärtel to pull together all the available business supporting resources with-in Oxford’s city council, its universities and its established businesses in order to direct them to people who need them the most: young, intelligent and entrepreneurial people with no previous business experience. Pärtel got his first business experience at the age of 16 as a simple warehouse worker. A year later, at the age of 17, he was promoted to the position of logistics manager in the Baltic subsidiary of Europe’s biggest distance sales company, overseeing 60 workers and a budget of 2 million euro. At the age of 19, he successfully managed one of the biggest foreign outsourcing operations in Estonia. Currently, Pärtel is in the third year of his International Business Administration degree and on the board of a hand-full of early stage technology start-ups.
Contact: ideas2market@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
Chris Evans, Ideas2Market Officer
British, 19, 2nd Year PPE student at Brasenose College. Looking forward to meeting and working with like-minded people in my first year on the OE committee. Hope to turn Ideas2Market into the success it deserves to be and help to launch the programme nationwide over the coming years. Particularly interested in entrepreneurial opportunities in the struggling British agricultural sector.
Contact: ideas2market@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk
