Girls in Tech Presents: The Women of BD March 31, 2009

Girls in Tech Presents "The Women of BD"
A business development panel featuring Bebo, AdBrite and Yelp
Wonder what it takes for a Girl in Tech to become a successful business development professional? Ever ponder how private and public companies vary their business development strategies? Or maybe you’re just asking yourself what the heck is ‘business development?!’ If any of these questions apply to you then Girls in Tech has the perfect forum for you.

GIT is hosting a Q&A session with some of the savviest, smartest and most spectacular women in Business Development. Our guest panelists come from AdBrite, Bebo, and Yelp and they’re joining us to discuss a bevy of topics in an effort to help define the distinct aspects that together comprise business development.

Our panel of business development experts are ready to share with our members, tips on how to grow an organization through means such as assessing the current business plan, addressing marketing initiatives, and sales and operational strategies.

Menu
Amuse-bouche
Education, Skill-set, Background
First Course
Assessing market opportunities, customers & partner prospects – what role do personal and professional networks play when sourcing opportunities

Second Course
Private vs Public – AdBrite & Yahoo! offer a taste of online advertising while Bebo and Yelp flavor the discussion with social networking spice
Third Course
Adapting the business development strategy in an aggressive economic climate

Dessert
Parting is such sweet sorrow –
final words of advice for fellow femmes in the field

About the panelist:
Jessica Alter is Director of Business Development and Platform at Bebo. She leads multiple business development efforts as well as the platform strategy and community at Bebo. Prior to Bebo, Jessica worked in business development at Hands-On Mobile and as strategy consultant at Accenture. She holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sonia Survanshi McFarland is the Head of Business Development at Yelp.com and previously worked at Google, Crosslink Capital and Goldman Sachs. A graduate of Pennsylvania University, she studied Systems Engineering and Economics.

Lucy Jacobs, Head of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for AdBrite, founded and sold a cosmetics business focused on hair care, body care and lip care products with distribution through 900 stores in South Africa. She also served as CFO of JP Morgan’s Equities Business, qualified as a CPA and worked for Deloitte, and worked in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch.

Event Details:
Date & Time: March 31st @ 6:30pm
Location: 543 Howard Street, San Francisco
Cost: $10 per person