About Emerging Business Collaborative (EBC)

David M. Barbash

Partner Corporate Department

David is a partner in the Corporate Department of Posternak Blankstein & Lund LLP, a Boston based, full service law firm. Mr. Barbash's practice is focused on representing and counseling both public and private companies in various industries with respect to mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, venture capital and angel financings as well as general corporate and securities matters. Mr. Barbash is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and has been a practicing lawyer since 1990.

John C. Jay

Managing Director

John is the Managing Director of Executive Resources International, Boston’s oldest national retained executive search firm and directs ERI’s Emerging Business Search Practice, its fastest growing specialty area for companies in transition. He works closely with privately owned and family owned companies, investors, private equity and venture capital firms and their portfolio companies to solve the managerial needs of firms with which they are involved. With 30 years of search experience he has a diverse client base ranging from technology to manufacturing and instrumentation, consumer and industrial services and products, medical devices and life sciences and health care and telecom recruiting at the C-level and Senior Management Level, as well as at the Board level.

Martha Sloan Felch

Senior Vice President, Professional Services

Martha Sloan Felch is Senior Vice President and Segment Manager for Professional Services at Sovereign Bank. Her focus has been to develop a team which develops and maintains commercial and consumer banking relationships with woman-owned and minority–owned businesses and professional services firms.  Her team supports a variety of professional associations including the Women’s Bar Association, the Association of Legal Administrators, the Massachusetts Society of  CPA’s, Boston Society of Architects, The Commonwealth Institute, Babson College’s Center for Women’s Leadership,  the Center for Women and Enterprise, Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and The Boston Club.  She is a Trustee for Becket Chimney Corners YMCA (Finance Committee and Governance), Overseer for Babson College,  and Chair of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Committee.

She has spoken frequently on the topics of financial literacy, capitalizing small business, effective business plan presentation, and effective networking.

A graduate of Connecticut College (BA) and Babson College (MBA), Ms. Felch lives in Newton, MA with her husband and two children.

Richard Kohn

Senior Manager

Rick's background includes a degree in accounting from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Harvard University. His CPA was earned at KPMG Peat Marwick in Boston. He currently heads the real estate group at Brown & Brown, a regional CPA firm.

Prior to UHY Advisors N.E., LLC, Rick owned and managed a multi-line paper box manufacturer. He previously was a partner and General Manager at Boston Beer Company, brewers of Samuel Adams beer. Other careers include running the venture capital arm for US Trust here in Boston, managing a small software start-up with the ex-Lotus 1~2~3 team, and working with the St. Louis Blues to acquire the Worcester Ice Cats hockey franchise.

Mindy L. Gewirtz, Ph.D.

President and Founder

Mindy L. Gewirtz, Ph.D., partners with rapidly growing companies that value collaborative business models and management practices. Since the 1990’s, global and emerging companies transitioned to their next stage of growth by building internal and external collaborative capability and connectivity. From the executive and leadership team to across boundaries within and between companies, clients have effectively aligned their business strategy with people and processes to improve execution and gain competitive  advantage. 

President and Founder of Collaborative Networks International, Mindy is an organizational and leadership strategist, author and researcher on collaborative work systems, women and work. 

John Koles

Managing Partner & Founder

John has provided public relations and marketing services to over 400 companies worldwide since the early 90's. Many of those client firms have achieved or exceeded their goals allowing them to move into new markets, increase their valuation, successfully launch new products/services or just increase their market exposure. Proven processes that combine market research and execution allow for focused and timely client results. John is a graduate of Boston University and has an MBA
from Babson College.

Ellen Bohn Gitlitz

Vice President

Ellen is a vice president with Charles River Insurance Brokerage and has had over 13 years in the insurance industry. She has clients in many diverse industries but does have a subspecialty in insurance for high tech and life science companies. She sat on the Innovator National Advisory Board for Chubb Insurance Company. Her clients range from personal lines to small commercial and public companies. She brings her unique background to the insurance industry, holding 2 graduate degrees, one in nutritional biochemistry and the other in accounting and finance. She has also worked for a couple of software companies. This experience helps her understand her clients business and she feels that one cannot insure a company properly if one does not understand what they do.