2012 Judges

Scott Burkholder

Scott came to Baltimore, MD in 1998 to attend Johns Hopkins University. He graduated in 2002 with a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.

For a short time following graduation, he pursued a career in medicine/basic science doing small cell lung cancer research in the Oncology Department of Johns Hopkins under Dr. D. Neal Watkins.  During school and his tenure in the lab, he began showing symptoms of his entrepreneurial proclivities when he started a high-end residential paint company.

In 2004 his entrepreneurship bug was confirmed when he went full time into his contracting venture. In 2008 he was invited by Baltimore mural artist, Michael Owen, to oversee the business side of the Baltmore Love Project, the largest self-initiated public art project Baltimore has ever seen.

The combination of art and entrerpreneurship has captured Scott's attention. He believes art is powerful with it's ability to show the world as it is, and more importantly, as it can be. He promotes art full time in Baltimore and is working to create a Social Venture Capital Firm that serves Baltimore's creative community.

David graduated from The Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education in 2005 with an M.B.A. (nonprofit management). In 2007, David earned the M.S.I.T.S. degree (competitive intelligence) from the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. Prior to graduate studies, David completed B.A. degrees in Russian and International Relations at Goucher College. Additionally, David is a certified project management professional and has earned ITIL intermediate certification.

David currently works at The Johns Hopkins University in the Information Technology Department as a member of the leadership team for the IT Solutions Center. At work, David serves as the chairman of the Employee Engagement Committee and as chair of the Assessments committee of the Johns Hopkins University Diversity Leadership Council. Since 2008, he has been teaching nonprofit management as an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore. David also has prior experience as vice president and executive trainer for an insurance marketing agency in Towson, Maryland. Outside of work, David serves as chair of the Networking and Career Services committee of the Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board for the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, as president of the Baltimore Alumni Association of Delta Sigma Pi, president of Learning is for Tomorrow, Inc. (an adult literacy program in Southeast Baltimore), and president of the Southeast Community Organization, Inc. David serves as advisor to Allsonet Training Institute, a nonprofit that provides computer training skills. His hobbies include fiction writing, Russian literature, and tennis. David lives with his wife in Fells Point (Baltimore), Maryland.

Sarah Hemminger

Sarah is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Incentive Mentoring Program. She has seven years experience of nonprofit management and of advocacy and mentoring for at-risk teens. Her expertise lies in the development, expansion, and replication of innovative, paradigm-shifting models of educational mentoring.

Sarah has a deep understanding of the challenges that face today’s inner city youth in successfully completing high school and accessing higher education, and also of the ways that students and mentors can change not only their own lives but create a positive lasting impact on those around them. Sarah currently holds a fellowship from the Echoing Green Foundation, which supports social entrepreneurs with innovative ideas.

In 2010, Sarah received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from JHU for her work on the role of the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex on the time scales of consolidation of motor memory. She received the prestigious Siebel Scholars Award for outstanding work in the field of technology and engineering and her research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Neurophysiology, and Cerebral Cortex.

Neilesh Patel

Dr. Neilesh Patel manages HealthSouk. Dr. Patel has almost eight years of experience managing charitable organizations and over ten years of experience in the medical technology, public health and hi-tech industries. At age 17 he founded StudentsHelp.org Consulting, the world's largest student-run volunteer computer consulting organization which ultimately served millions of people and non-profits worldwide.

From 2002-2004 Dr.Patel worked in regulatory affairs at Medtronic, Inc., and as a submission reviewer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA), Center for Devices and Radiological Health-Cardiac Pacing, Defribrillators and Leads Branch. From 1997-2002, Dr. Patel worked at over a dozen technology companies such as Netscape (acquired by AOL Time Warner) and OnePage (acquired by Sybase). He currently has several medical device patents pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Dr. Patel has received half a dozen awards including volunteering awards from the City of Palo Alto, International Youth Foundation and the Institute of Electrical Engineers, and has completed thousands of hours of volunteer service. In 208 Dr. Patel was awarded the UCLA CEY Humanitarian Award.

Dr. Patel has lived in Tokyo, London and all over the United States and has visited almost a third of the world's countries. He has been featured in several dozen print publications, including Financial Times, New York Times, S.F. Examiner and the Columbus Dispatch. He has spoken on non-profit topics on CNN, New Meida News and numerous other internationla T.V. stations across the world.

He currently serves in appointed government positions iwth the United States FDA as an expert public health consultant for the Dental Services Branch on the Children's Policy Council for the State of Texas.

Dr. Patel was born in Boston, MA, attended St. Francis High School and received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineeringand Computer Science and his Minor in Entrepreneurship and Management from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Patel also attended UCLA for graduate studies in global health, business adminsitration and a doctorate in dental surgery.

Mr. Proto has been an entrepreneur and executive serving the non profit community for 20 years.  He is a thought leader for social enterprises in utilizing technology that delivers real business and community impact.  He specializes in startup and team building operations with a focus on the success of individuals. 

Brian Razzaque graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2000 with a double major in computer science and biology. 

While still a student at Hopkins, he founded Vision Multimedia Technologies, a web solutions provider which he has since built to be one of the largest web and software development firms in the region. 

Brian has received numerous accolades, including the Baltimore Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and Baltimore SmartCEO Magazine’s Future 50 and Top Advisor awards. 

Bob Roswell

Bob is co-founder  of System Source, a Hunt Valley based computer services firm.  He has recently begun teaching programming to middle school students at the Kipp charter school in Baltimore.  Bob serves on various non-profit and foundation boards

Additional Judges to be Announced