Alberto and Gay Peisach Mentoring Initiative

Shaz Kahng is a visionary leader, strategist, and game-changing senior executive who has achieved breakthrough results for consumer focused businesses. She is adept at turning around, growing, and expanding businesses globally and has extensive expertise in omni-channel, apparel/footwear, consumer goods, health & beauty, and consumer tech. A serial Board Director and CEO, Shaz excels at devising unique strategies, building brand equity, and delivering outstanding results. One of the most rewarding aspects of her career has been coaching and mentoring others.

Shaz has a wealth of experience running companies and businesses such as Gymboree, Lucy Activewear, Nike and working with brands like Staples, Carters, Sephora, Tiffany, Levi Strauss, Macy's, Quaker Oats, Kraft, and P&G. As the first female to hold a global business P&L at Nike, Shaz led a turnaround of the Nike Cycling business making it profitable for the first time in history. As CEO of Lucy Activewear, Shaz and her team reinvented the company and achieved profitability in 13 months, nearly two years ahead of corporate expectations. She has served on the boards of children’s apparel retailer Gymboree and OMSignal, a smart apparel company.

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While most people’s definition of entrepreneurship only involves starting a venture from scratch, the strategy of buying an existing business, known widely as Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA), is an accessible, potentially lucrative, and often overlooked path for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Join us on Monday, February 13, at 5:15 pm as Venture Lab launches its Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition program with an ETA Fireside Chat. The event will take place at Steinberg-Dietrich Hall 351.

The conversation will be moderated by Professor Richard Perlman (W’68), Co-founder and Executive Chairman of ExamWorks Group, Inc, and Professor of MGMT 2130 – Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition.

Professor Perlman will be joined by Max Francois and Jason Vahn (both C’11, WG’19), Managing Partners and Co-Founders of Fidelity Memorial Group. The pair will share their pathway to ETA and their experiences purchasing their first business. Specifically, they will discuss how they acquired businesses that had already found product market fit, allowing them to flip the startup model on its head and become CEOs of revenue-generating businesses on day one.

The conversation will provide valuable concepts to inspire newcomers to explore acquisitions as an entrepreneurship pathway and tactical insights for those already exploring the space.

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Focused only on Intellectual Property (IP) Questions

Josh Slavitt is a Founding Partner at Slavitt IP Law, LLC and he's been a registered patent attorney for almost 20 years.

At his firm Josh helps clients protect and profit from their intellectual property through the use of IP creation/acquisition strategies, the management of IP portfolios, and the development and implementation of patent enforcement/monetization campaigns.

Prior to starting Slavitt IP Law, Josh was a partner in the Philadelphia office of Gordon & Rees, Scully, Mansukhani.

Josh holds a B.A from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

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The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Initiative is thrilled to announce that the Lauren & Bobby Turner Executive Speaker Series will return to Penn’s campus for the first time since the pandemic. This year’s event will feature a fireside chat between social impact entrepreneurs Bobby Turner, W’84, CEO of Turner Impact Capital, and Gregg Renfrew, Founder and Executive Chair of Beautycounter. They will share insights, lessons learned, industry advice, and more.

Arina is a corporate and securities lawyer with extensive experience representing startups and emerging growth companies from formation through initial rounds of financing and beyond, ensuring that the companies are well protected and enabled to grow and succeed. She also advises angel investors and venture capital funds in making investments.

For her clients in the technology space, Arina drafts and negotiates complex software license agreements, master services agreements, support level agreements, software escrow agreements, purchase orders, and terms of use for technology company clients.

In addition, Arina advises on the current legal framework relating to equity crowdfunding and security and utility token issuances in the United States.

As a native Russian speaker, Arina works to enable Russian-speaking founders and investors to conduct and expand their business in the United States or to get venture financing for an exit transaction.

Arina is active in the New York City startup community and is a member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. She is an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where she teaches Entrepreneurial Law.

Arina received a BA from Mount Holyoke College and her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.


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