Alexander Blass
Alexander Blass is an internationally acclaimed entrepreneur and innovator, and serves as President and CEO of Alexander Blass International, an executive consulting and training firm based near Washington, DC. Now 36, he is the youngest grand prize winner ever of the Daily Record's Top Innovator of the Year Award, which credited him with "revolutionizing charitable giving" in 2007. He is the inventor and founder of person-to-person giving technology on the Internet-lauded by the media as the "eBay of Giving" (Mercury News) and "Facebook Meets Pocketbook" (Baltimore Sun). Alexander is also the recipient of the Daily Record's Influential Marylanders Award, recognizing the top 50 people in the State, up to the Governor, as well as the Baltimore Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 Executives Award. He was also honored as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School of Business.
Frequently interviewed by the media and the subject of several cover stories, he is a highly sought after keynote speaker, Master Class presenter, invited expert and consultant in the United States and around the world. He enjoys sharing his vast expertise, insight, passion, vision and fascinating experiences with business audiences, associations, non-profits, charitable organizations, and university students. He is the guest keynote speaker at many of the world's most prestigious conferences on leadership, innovation, and creativity, including IBM's Innovate 2010 in India (2,000 people), EPIC 2010 in New York City, and the 2011 Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum in the United Arab Emirates, to name a few. Previously, Alexander was a venture capitalist, equity research analyst, strategy consultant, senior government executive, and software developer, beginning his career at KPMG Consulting. During his tenure as a venture capitalist, one of the fund's portfolio companies went from a $500,000 fund investment to a nearly $500 million all-cash acquisition by a Fortune 50 corporation. He has worked with leading organizations worldwide on opportunities totaling over $1 billion, as well as serving on boards of various for-profit and non-profit organizations in the U.S. and overseas. Alexander has been an invited expert at the National Science Foundation on a dozen occasions, making investment recommendations on over $100 million of emerging technologies for the U.S. government. Alexander has appeared in numerous media outlets globally including the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Associated Press, BusinessWeek, Globe & Mail, International Herald Tribune, The Independent, The Guardian, Melbourne Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, FOX, Forbes, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, The Sun, Information Week, Internet Evolution, Daily Record, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Voice of Africa, Al Ittihad, Dubai Eye, the Khaleej Times, and many more. Alexander received an MBA from Oxford University in England. He also holds a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he concurrently studied at the Wharton School of Business. The American-born son of a Holocaust survivor, Alexander has traveled to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Middle East.
What he presents:
Innovation and Creativity
Launching New Ventures
Social Media Marketing
Business Development
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Media Mastery and Building Buzz
Overcoming Adversity
Motivation
Inspiration
Finding Your Passion
Social Entrepreneurship
Philanthropy and Fundraising
Social Networking
Technology and the Future
Web 2.0 and the Internet
Career Planning and Decision Making
Corporate and Social Responsibility