The Team

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.

Operations Associate

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

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.

Marketing Specialist

Rheanna Smith

Rheanna is a Marketing Specialist hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She brings to CED over 15 years of experience working in a variety of marketing and communication roles with traditional and nonprofit organizations. She has several digital marketing certifications and enjoys finding systems and tools that make work more efficient and effective. She loves learning new skills and growing both professionally and personally. Rheanna believes that what you put out into the world is what you get back so her goal is to always share kindness and compassion. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Management, and Technology, as well as a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership.