Meet Our Management Team

MPowered is led by a group of passionate students focused on one thing: to foster entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. Internally, MPowered is composed of two teams: the Core and Talent Teams.

As a new member in our team you will be placed in MPowered’s Talent team. The Talent team is the perfect place where members learn the ropes, experience entrepreneurship and are given responsibility with smaller scale projects. They also work closely with the entire team on large-scale projects.

When Talent members are familiarized with MPowered’s goals, looking to lead project teams, and able to handle a heavier time commitment, they will be invited to join the Core Team. The Core Team is comprised of both Project/Operations Managers and the Executive Team. Core Members are given the opportunity to take on heavier responsibilities in leading our most important projects.

Have a great idea, interested in a project, or want to get more involved? Apply to join our growing team!

MPowered @ meeting

The Core Team

Name: Lauren Leland
Position: President
Hometown: West Bloomfield, MI
Major: Business, '11
Hobbies: skiing and snowboarding, spending time with family and friends, cooking, reading, and social entrepreneurship.
Favorite MPowered Moment: It was so great to see so many different people coming together at the 1000 Pitches Awards Ceremony to celebrate entrepreneurship and it was nice to see everyone from MPowered all dressed up :)

Name: Adam Ferris
Position: Vice President
Hometown: Dubai, UAE
Major: Mathematics and Economics, '11
Hobbies: Innovation, education sector (fostering a culture of innovation), superpowers (awesome), and capoeira.
Why MPowered: I joined MPowered because it is ambitious and has some of the most impressive students on campus. The type of work we do is among the most exciting and challenging on campus.

Name: Bo Zhu
Position: Operations Director
Hometown: West Bloomfield, MI
Major: Electrical Engineering, '11
Hobbies: tennis, simple video editing, working out, cool stuff online with programming and web design, acoustic guitar.
Favorite MPowered Moment: The 2008 Entrepreneurial Opportunities Day fair that MPowered hosted successfully put MPowered and entrepreneurship center-stage at the University of Michigan.

Name: Allie Rabman
Position: Financial Director
Hometown: Highland Park, IL
Major: Business, '11
Hobbies: I love to run and be active outside. I also like to read and listen to music.
Why MPowered: The MPowered environment has challenged my abilities and has offered me invaluable experience and skills that I will use in any project-- big or small-- with which I am faced.

Name: Allen Kim
Position: External Director
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Major: Industrial Operations Engineering, '11
Hobbies: Listen to music, read the news, SKIING, sleeping, arguing about pointless topics for hours.
Why MPowered: In MPowered, ideas can come to reality with everyone's support. I'm interested in student start-up businesses and learning how to set up my own business in the future.

Name: Victor Verdeja
Position: Technology Director
Hometown: Miami, FL
Major: Industrial and Operations Engineering, '12
Hobbies: Soccer, hanging out with friends, music
Why MPowered: The members of MPowered are some of the most impressive students on campus, and I enjoy being surrounded by them and being pushed to do more.

Name: William Wang
Position: Operations Manager
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Major: Business, '12
Hobbies: Rock climbing, volleyball, exercising, good movies, good music, traveling
Favorite MPowered Moment: When we were at Mason Hall advertising the Winter 09 Career Fair, I approached someone without first thinking of what I was supposed to say. I still cannot recollect the scrambled phrases that came out of my mouth that moment. We all LOLed.

Name: Ben Yelian
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Farmington Hills, MI
Major: Business, Program in the Environment '12
Hobbies: Photography, Reading, Longboarding, Paintball, Cello, Spending time with friends
Why MPowered: MPowered is never content with the status quo- we're always pushing for more, striving to do better. We get results.

Name: Andrew Barinov
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: New York, NY
Hobbies: Business, investing, reading financial news, basketball, swimming, tennis
Why MPowered: I want to learn how entrepreneurship works, and what it takes for an entrepreneur to succeed.

Name: Andrew Brehm
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Rocky River, OH
Major: Mechanical Engineering, '12
Hobbies: Entrepreneurship, Fencing
Favorite MPowered Moment: During Earth Week 09, when we made a giant banner out of unclaimed paper from the Ugli printers and had people write down their ideas for a greener future.

Name: Chris Chan
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Singapore
Major: Mechanical Engineering, '12
Hobbies: Sleeping in, soccer, and football.
Why MPowered: MPowered as an organization is an opportunity for students to interact, network, and accomplish amazing feats. Every achievement is the direct result of the effort put in by students.

Name: Albert Cheng
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Hobbies: Basketball, futbol, tennis, volleyball, reading, music, traveling, and parcour
Why MPowered: To gain a better perspective of entrepreneurship on campus. Also, cuz we da best!

Name: Mitch Adler
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Farmington Hills, MI
Major: Industrial Operations Engineering, '12
Hobbies: I enjoy reading science fiction, hanging out with friends, playing tennis, and spending hours doing aimless research on wikipedia.
Why MPowered: MPowered's commitment to entrepreneurship is what brought me to my first meeting, but MPowered's driven, fun, and friendly members is what brought me to the next one.

Name: Doug Fischer
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: River Forest
Major: Sport Management, '12
Hobbies: Playing sports, video games, swimming, broomball, working out, eating lots of delicious foods, and music.
Favorite MPowered Moment: Seeing all of our hard work in the 1000 Pitches Competition come together and the final meeting of the first semester with cake, ice cream, and just a lot of fun.

Name: Gaurang Garg
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Wyandotte, MI
Hobbies: Sports, Sports, and Sports. Anything active, playing cards games, having fun and just chilling with friends.
Why MPowered: MPowered is the perfect group for someone who was interested in business and starting companies. It thrust me in a leadership position and gave me the tools to become successful.

Name: Mark Groden
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Solon, OH
Major: Aerospace Engineering 2012
Hobbies: Skiing, tennis, sailing, radio controlled aircraft
Favorite MPowered Moment: Painting the rock with the giant MPowered "e"

Name: Michael Kondoleon
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Troy, MI
Major: Business/Molecular Biology, '12
Hobbies: Lacrosse, Hockey, Skiing
Favorite MPowered Moment: Painting the Rock.

Name: Ankit Mehta
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Troy, MI
Hobbies: Guitar, Lacrosse, Relaxing, Meeting New People, Being Creative
Favorite MPowered Moment: MPowered Karaoke Night!

Name: Philip Morgan
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Detroit, MI
Major: Electrial Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, '10
Hobbies: Comic Books, Exercising, Sports, inventing
Favorite MPowered Moment: When we advertised through chalk all over campus at about 5am. I went to sleep and woke up about 3 hours later and it had rained. All the chalk was washed away.

Name: Tad Ritter
Position: Project Manager
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Hobbies: Lacrosse, guitar, hanging out with friends
Favorite MPowered Moment: Attending the 2009 Entreprelliance conference that MPowered hosted, which proved MPowered to be one of the top student entrepreneurial organizations in the nation.