The official starting point of the Boston Marathon, the oldest Marathon in the world is Hopkinton, MA where EMC’s corporate headquarters sits less than 26 miles from the center of Boston.  The area’s many colleges and universities make Boston an international center of higher education and medicine, leading many to dub the city “The Athens of America” and a world leader in innovation. It is no wonder MassChallenge the largest-ever startup accelerator, and the first to support high impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached was established here.

MassChallenge International Finalists Day

On March 4, 2013, MassChallenge joined forces with Founding Gold Sponsors EMC Corporation and The Kraft Group to extend its reach and launch its Israel program, which will connect Israel’s most promising early-stage companies with the resources and networks at the heart of MassChallenge’s Boston accelerator.  In the announcement John Harthorne, Founder & CEO, MassChallenge stated “MassChallenge Israel features a deep infrastructure of supporters and resources within Israel, strong connections between Israel and Boston, and exclusive opportunities for Israeli startups in Boston. “Boston and Israel have had a special relationship for a long time that has generated close collaboration on the business and technological fronts. MassChallenge selected Israel for our first international location because Israel is at the cutting edge of technology and entrepreneurial activities globally, and because we are eager to leverage the historic ties between our two communities to enable top Israeli startups to scale quickly and effectively.”  Chris Goode, Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs & Public Policy, EMC Corporation said, “Through collaboration, developing solutions for some of the world’s most intractable problems becomes a reality. EMC is honored to be a part of the MassChallenge program and is committed to helping the most profoundly innovative businesses around the world access the resources they need to succeed. MassChallenge Israel will strengthen the already critical bridge between our two innovative regions, and we look forward to supporting the bright new ideas this partnership generates. “

Technology Directions

Understanding the power of our partnership sponsored by Joel Schwartz, EMC SVP and General Manager, Global New Business Development and EMC Chris Goode, Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs & Public Policy, EMC Corporation I collaborated with Scott Bailey MassChallenge Director of Partnerships and Kara Shurmantine, Manager Partnerships to create new business opportunities between our shared community.  Initially I drove EMC‘s global participation in the MassChallenge’s judging process and inspired local EMC leaders to mentor this year’s 128 finalists.  From there I established and hosted a new CTO Office program called “Technology Directions:  Keeping it Real”.  Our first event held in May was “Open Source Software – What’s the Buzz All About”?  Speakers included leaders from Rackspace and two MassChallenge start-ups Appsembler and Profit Bricks.   On October 16th, 2013 I will host and moderate The New England Diversity Council Inaugural Greater Boston Women in Leadership Symposium, “A Day in Excellence through Leadership”. Please join us if you are in the Boston area.

AIG, Sheryl Chamberlain, Jennifer Rivet

But I am not the only one thinking outside the box while extending and growing our partnership with MassChallenge and driving a global community of innovation.   EMC’s EBC Senior Director Bernie Baker and his team Lisa Letts and Jennifer Rivet partnered with Steve Todd, EMC VP and Fellow to develop an EBC customer innovation tour at MassChallenge’ s corporate headquarters.   As the self-appointed MassChallenge Alliance Director I will work with Bernie’s team and Steve Todd to expand this program while building the spirit of innovation from the walls of EMC to our customers, partners and into our global community of EMC leaders and innovators.   Stay tuned as we share results of this amazing program and our continued partnership with MassChallenge where we are committed to living outside the box.