Leadership Team
We pride ourselves on offering tested, practical and straightforward advice. Our consulting service is not based on theory. Its based on our team's hands-on experience of facing the challenges you face.
Robert M. Okabe
Co-founder and Managing Director
Robert Okabe has been involved with early stage enterprises on multiple levels for well over a decade. As a co-founder of RPX Group in 2002, he helped develop the firms strategy and has led many of our largest and most successful engagements.
Bob's first direct involvement with formation and development of new ventures was as an angel investor. He has made eleven investments since 1995, with one major liquidity event and two other positive returns of capital. He is also a co-founder of an angel group and helped organize an affiliated angel capital fund.
Prior to joining RPX Group Bob gained operating experience at a growing small business as CFO for a privately-held leasing company. At the end of his tenure 23 of the 50 employees were under his management.
He completed numerous debt, equity, M&A, and advisory assignments for entrepreneurial and venture backed companies during his twelve year career as an investment banker at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens (Managing Director), Lehman Brothers (Senior Vice President), and Kidder, Peabody (Vice President).
Bob began his business career spending nearly six years in financial management at General Electric and GE Capital. After leaving GE, Bob was a senior bond rating analyst for Moodys Investors Service for two years.
Bob Okabe was awarded his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Organizational Behavior, cum laude, from the Boston University School of Management. He has been a guest speaker at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and internationally for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Bob Watt
Managing Director
Bob Watt is an international technology marketing executive with over thirty years of experience in the semiconductor and computer industries, including 15 years with NEC. He possesses extensive and current knowledge of semiconductor and display products and their applications.
Bob's sales and marketing background has allowed him to create deep relationships with customers, numerous industry experts, and in related professional associations. As a result he has developed a deep understanding of how technology is refined, how it is applied, who uses it, and why. Bob currently leverages this background as a consultant and an active angel investor, funding and advising early stage companies.
This background allows Bob to provide consulting services covering all aspects of building a technology based company, including market research, business plan development and writing, strategic sales and market development. Clients include numerous early stage companies and the University of Illinois.
Joseph Jarzembowski
Managing Director
Joseph Jarzembowski's professional experience includes multiple start-ups and successful exits, domestic and international business development, law, manufacturing, project management and computer system design.
Most recently, Joe was President of TimePilot Corporation, a start up company focusing on bringing the benefits of automated time and attendance to small and mid-sized companies and was instrumental in raising significant capital for the company. Prior to TimePilot, he was CEO and President of ClearLearning.com, a provider of on-line testing and assessment systems to education and business. ClearLearning was an ARCH Development (now UChicagoTech) portfolio company and was sold to a major educational publisher.
Prior to moving to Chicago, Mr. Jarzembowski was Counsel at Computer Corporation of America, in Cambridge MA, one of the first companies involved with the ARPANET. As Counsel, Mr. Jarzembowski built the legal department and helped develop the structure to manage this fast growing DBMS and communications venture. Following an investment by Hambrecht & Quist, the company was sold to the venture arm of a multinational company.
After CCA, he was recruited to the Plymouth Tube Co. where he had responsibility for large scale plant construction, international sales and marketing and legal matters. This experience provided Mr. Jarzembowski with some unique entrepreneurial perspectives.
Mr. Jarzembowski's career began at Bell Labs as a Member of the Technical Staff where he was involved in large-scale system design and implementation of command and control systems. He holds a MSEE degree in electrical engineering and computer systems from the University of Hawaii and a JD degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston.
Barry Moltz
Entrepreneur in Residence
Barry Moltz has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years.
After successfully selling his last operating business Barry has branched out into a number of entrepreneurship-related activities. He founded an angel investor group, an angel fund, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Angel Capital Education Foundation.
His first book, You Need to Be A Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a business. It is in its fourth reprint and has been translated into Chinese, Russian, Korean and Thai.
Barry is a nationally recognized expert on entrepreneurship who has given over 100 speeches to audiences ranging from 20 to 20,000. He was appointed by the Illinois Governor in 2005 to serve on the board of the Institute for Entrepreneurship Education (IIEE) and is also an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Moltz has written articles for many national publications. Moltz also wrote a chapter in the book, State of the Art: American Angel Investing, (The Darden School, The Batten Institute). Moltz recently completed the foreword for Penguin Books new The Complete Idiots Guide to Business Plans.
Barry's ravings can be found at www.barrymoltz.com.
Rick Mazursky
Executive in Residence
Rick Mazursky has over 35 years of experience in retail and consumer products. He has considerable experience in product design, marketing, merchandising and all forms of domestic and international distribution, particularly to the mass market. Rick also has extensive hands-on knowledge of product development and manufacturing in the Far East.
Mr. Mazursky has had leadership positions in a number of companies involved in the creation and distribution of products to consumers including electronic educational toys, consumer electronics and soft ware. He was involved in the launching of Cabbage Patch dolls, partner in a toy company sold to a public company and served as President of VTech Industries, President of G.P. Toys and CEO of Digital Innovations. Rick has grown a number of companies to capture market share and attain profitability.
Rick has served on the following Boards of Directors: Vtech Industries, Inc., a top five toy manufacturer; G.P. Toys, The Toy Manufactures of America, a trade association; the Board of advisors of Leap Frog Enterprises, a top five toy manufacturer; The Midwest Toy Association; Digital Innovations; Neuros Technology; Raceline Motor Works. He has been inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, sponsored by Arthur Andersen Enterprise Group; and has been nominated for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He has been awarded Five U.S. Patents, with a number of patents still pending.