The team at CED proudly serves the entrepreneurial ecosystem in North Carolina by working to fulfill the CED mission each day — to connect entrepreneurial companies with high-value resources to accelerate business growth. How does our team tackle that?
We partner with entrepreneurial companies to provide resources. We partner with resources to ensure they are accessible to companies that are growing and scaling. We collaborate with community partners that can complement the work we are doing. We work with investors to give them access to investable ventures. And we work with builders in this community to maximize our impact on the region.
Learn more about our dynamic team below.
Conference and Event Associate
Elaina Bade
Head of Business Development
Brennan Barber
Head of Entrepreneurship
Jay Bigelow
Customer Success Specialist
Charles Kelley
Preet Mankad
PEOPLE OPS
Jim Needell
Finance Manager
Mary Ribando
President & CEO | CED
Kelly Rowell
MARKETING SPECIALIST
Amanda Tento
Head of Capital
Hunter Young
Conference and Event Associate
Elaina Bade
Elaina’s primary focus at CED is leading all events for startups and partners, including our annual Venture Connect Summit, in order to maximize impact. Most recently, Elaina brought her experience partnering with startups to Harvard Business School’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship where she created strategic programming for HBS alumni, ensuring they had access to the best resources, experts, events, and programs to transform their ideas into successful startups. Elaina also spearheaded all marketing and communications for the Rock Center, including for HBS’ biggest annual entrepreneurship event. Prior to this, she was at fama PR, a Boston-based public relations agency that partners with a variety of startups and venture capital firms. Elaina graduated from American University with a B.A. in Public Relations and Strategic Communication.
Head of Business Development
Brennan Barber
Brennan’s primary focus at CED is working with partners and collaborators to identify engagement opportunities along with cultivating new partners to join the CED network. Brennan has 15 years of experience in managing key corporate accounts and driving marketing and sales strategies. Most recently Brennan served as Vice President of Sales Analytics and Partnership Marketing for the North Carolina Football Club, a professional soccer organization based in Cary, NC. Prior to joining NCFC Brennan worked in development with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League, working with a variety of partners ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups. Brennan received his B.A. from Syracuse University and his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Head of Entrepreneurship
Jay Bigelow
Jay’s primary focus at CED is organizing the expertise of the network to provide guidance, mentorship, and capital. As CED’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Jay meets with each entrepreneur, assesses his/her needs, then recommends the next steps and connections either within CED or the greater CED network, to best help them achieve business objectives. Jay has worked in two startups and 3 scale-ups where he launched new products, and drove business development efforts and strategic planning. He earned his B.S in Business Administration from Drexel University.
Customer Success Specialist
Charles Kelley
Charles Kelley first joined CED as a Business Development Intern during the summer of 2021, where he gained experience in market research, event planning, and he helped find partners to help grow the CED network. He has since rejoined CED, as a Customer Success Specialist, engaging with both sponsors and partners in the CED network. Charles is currently attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursuing an education in Economics and Entrepreneurship, and is on track to graduate in 2023.
Preet Mankad
Preet’s primary focus as Startup Programs Associate at CED is managing the startup programs, including the bi-annual GRO Incubator. Preet will also assist with customer success and help ensure that CEDs partner companies are engaged and derive value from the community.
Preet moved to Raleigh from her home in Sydney, Australia in 2016 after an impactful month participating in the Leadership exChange program. Since then, she has been a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the RDU area. Preet worked with Raleigh Founded and WeWork, where she helped launch the WeWork brand in the RDU area. Most recently, Preet was on the Global Enablement team at Better Mortgage, where she learned about adult learning principles that she hopes to apply to future iterations of the GRO Incubator.
Preet graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Macquarie University.
PEOPLE OPS
Jim Needell
Finance Manager
Mary Ribando
Mary performs bookkeeping services for medium to small companies in the non-profit and private sectors of the Raleigh-Durham area. She handles account payables and receivables, bank reconciliations, budgeting, grant reporting, payroll, and monthly financial statements. She also prepares monthly Board and Finance Committee packages, and year-end services. She works closely with outside CPA’s and prepares books for year-end taxes and audits.
President & CEO | CED
Kelly Rowell
Kelly joined CED in 2017 and has a diverse background in the social/civic/nonprofit space leading teams and improving organizational capacity. As an accomplished executive, she offers 20 years of experience using aspects of both systems and design thinking to develop innovative solutions for mature organizations. Her past successes are most noted by her abilities to align strategy with value to drive towards maximum impact. Rowell has a B.A. in Marketing, Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship, is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and a Certified Fund Raising Executive.
She feels drawn to the entrepreneurial community by her personal alignment with its defining characteristics. In that, she is a continual learner who believes evolution is key to personal and professional success.
“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” – Roosevelt
MARKETING SPECIALIST
Amanda Tento
Head of Capital
Hunter Young
Hunter Young brings a diverse finance and investment background to CED. His experience both managing a fund and evaluating companies brings critical contributions to the Connect to Capital service. Hunter was an investment banker with Barclays in New York executing M&A and capital markets transactions for companies including Serta, Newell Rubbermaid, and Berkshire Hathaway. Upon moving to North Carolina, he was Vice President & Director of Portfolio Relations at Hargett Hunter Capital Partners in Raleigh focused on investment in early-stage chain restaurants. Hunter graduated from Brown University with a B.S in Business/Managerial Economics and received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University.
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