Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum

Our panel will be:
Barry Perzow, co-founder and CEO of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy. Barry Perzow has over 40 years of broad experience in retailing in the U.S., in his native Canada, and in Europe. Prior to co-founding Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy in Boulder in November, 2000, Perzow was president of Capers Natural Food Markets. At Capers, he expanded a single store concept in West Vancouver to three large-format supermarkets and two natural restaurants, becoming Canada's most innovative and leading natural health retailer. In 1996, Capers merged with Alfalfas Markets of Colorado. In 1997, Wild Oats Community Markets acquired the company with Perzow responsible for managing the post-merger integration. Perzow's vision was to reinvent the neighborhood pharmacy by combining prescription and natural medicines under one roof with qualified practitioners who are able to address the full spectrum of health and wellness issues. He calls his model an “Integrative Pharmacy.” Perzow and his founding partner, Dale Schwartz, were selected as the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Rocky Mountain region in the Retail and Manufacturing category.

Amanda Steele, co-founder and CEO of Dreamerz, which has developed of a food-grade sleep aid. A food industry veteran, Amanda developed her expertise in the beverage division of Nestlé USA, leading innovation and launching new brands. She is thrilled to be leading a company committed to helping people perform their best each day by offering great-tasting, natural foods with safe and effective ingredients. Despite being a night owl her whole life, Amanda now tries to get 8 hours of sleep a night by practicing healthy sleep hygiene and drinking Dreamerz.

Dean Stephens is President and COO of Healthline Networks, the leading provider of intelligent health information services. Dean served four years as CEO and president of Intermap Systems Inc, the company that became Healthline. He converted the original content portal company into a taxonomy-based search engine that today forms the intellectual property foundation for the Healthline platform. Dean was instrumental in gaining early market adoption of this technology into Merck, Tenet Health Systems, and PacifiCare, among others. Prior to Healthline, Dean spent thirteen years at Deloitte Consulting, where he was the partner in charge of the customer relationship management service line for Deloitte’s world-renowned healthcare practice. At Deloitte his clients covered the full spectrum of healthcare and included CIGNA, Kaiser Permanente, the Providence Health System, the VHA, the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Sutter Health, Regence, Dean Health System, and many Blues plans, medical groups, hospitals, and life science companies. Dean has degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Washington.

David L. Compton is President and Chief Executive Officer of Aquea Scientific, makers of Aquea SPF™, the first fully functional UVA/UVB shower on sunscreen ingredient that can be added to soaps and shampoos. Aquea SPF™ is aimed at families and athletes looking to protect themselves and children from skin cancer as well as aging baby boomers looking to retain their youthful appearance. Dave has more than 20 years experience as a senior executive in manufacturing, sales and marketing with personal care and financial services companies. From 2002 to 2004, Dave was the founding CEO of Peak Performance Products, Inc., a developer of sunscreens designed for professional athletes, including Peak High Performance SPF 44 Sunscreen and Peak SPF 30 Lip Balm. From 2000 to 2002, Dave served as Executive Vice President for Trading Markets Financial Group, a financial publishing company serving more than 40,000 active traders. Dave managed the company’s sales, marketing, advertising and business development departments. Prior to Trading Markets, Dave was CEO of Opportunities in Options, a financial trading company. OIO grew to become the largest privately-held futures trading firm in the U.S. The company is now owned by Man Group PLC, a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as being the world's largest futures brokers.

John Edward Swartzberg, M.D., F.A.C.P. is Chair of the Editorial Board of the WELLNESS LETTER. An internist with 26 years of clinical experience and a specialist in infectious disease, Dr. Swartzberg is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco and Associate Director of the UC Berkeley Health and Medical Sciences program. He collaborated with Dr. Sheldon Margen on the highly successful Wellness Self-Care Handbook in 1998 and the Complete Home Wellness Handbook in 2001. He is the director of the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program in the Division of Health and Medical Sciences at Berkeley's School of Public Health, and serves as Hospital Epidemiologist and Director of Infection Control at a major hospital in the Bay Area.

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