2022 e-Fest Championship Judges
Championship Judge
RICHARD M. SCHULZE Founder, The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Best Buy Richard M. “Dick” Schulze, the founder of The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, is also founder and chairman emeritus of Best Buy Co., Inc., the world’s largest multi-channel, consumer-electronic retailer. Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Schulze is the ultimate entrepreneur and is living the American dream. From a modest background, he and a hand-picked team built a retailing empire based in the Twin Cities. Through it all, he adhered to his life-long values of integrity, humility, honesty, and respect – both in his professional career and his personal life. In years to come, Schulze hopes to be remembered by a personal legacy involving three major contributions through business, entrepreneurship education and philanthropy. After working as a manufacturer’s representative for electronics components, in 1966 Schulze founded his own company, The Sound of Music. The business expanded to six stores in Minnesota by 1983, when Schulze renamed it Best Buy, adopted a warehouse format, and expanded into many more kinds of consumer products. The company soon went public and began a period of remarkable growth when Schulze revolutionized the industry by introducing the superstore to electronics.
Championship Judge
RICHARD M. SCHULZE (Biography continued) Schulze served as Best Buy’s Chief Executive Officer from 1983 to 2002 and then as Chairman until 2012. He rejoined the company in 2013 as Founder and Chairman Emeritus. Today, Best Buy employs more than 145,000 people and operates more than 1,400 stores in the U.S. and 479 stores in Canada, China and Mexico. While his plans to attend college never materialized, Schulze became trustee and major donor of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota – the school where he enrolled before joining and serving full-time, active duty in the Air National Guard. In 1998, the University of St. Thomas awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. (He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota.) In 2000, Schulze and his late wife, Sandy, donated $50 million to St. Thomas – then the largest donation ever to a Minnesota college or university – founding the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship in Schulze Hall, part of the university’s downtown Minneapolis campus. Founded in 2005, the Schulze School has worked to become a leader in entrepreneurship education and outreach. Students learn to turn innovative ideas into sustainable businesses and hundreds of businesses have benefitted from its expertise, consulting and start-up support. Schulze served on the University of St. Thomas' board of trustees for 20 years, 1995-2015, before retiring from the board. He now serves as trustee emeritus. Schulze has long supported nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. He and Sandy established the Richard M. and Sandra J. Schulze Family Fund in the mid-1990s as their main vehicle for donations to Twin Cities’ social service charities related to health care, education and family. Sandy died in 2001 from mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure. A desire to identify and fund “transformational change to benefit mankind” led Schulze to start The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation in 2004. In June 2013, Schulze announced plans to gradually expand the Foundation from $100 million to about $1 billion. Schulze chairs the Foundation’s board of trustees. Schulze has four adult children (who rotate service on the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation’s Board of Trustees) and 14 grandchildren. He is now a permanent resident of Florida.
Championship Judge
MICHELE HENRY Founder and CEO, FACE FOUNDRIÉ Michele Henry is the founder and CEO of FACE FOUNDRIÉ. She leads the company’s senior management team and oversees daily operations and nationwide expansion. Henry guides the country’s most forthcoming focused facial bar. Henry helps to lead the company in new innovations and expansion. The company was founded in 2019 and now boasts three corporate stores with over 50 franchise locations sold. At FACE FOUNDRIÉ, she led the company through the pivots required to survive the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously opening a third corporate location and launching the franchise program. Within four months of announcing the franchise expansion plan to the public, the company has sold 50 franchise units across the country. Henry has been recognized by various media outlets for her impressive business career and continues to gain recognition as FACE FOUNDRIÉ franchises across the country. As a member of the Women’s President Organization, Henry represents the beauty industry with some of the most prominent and well-regarded women in business throughout the world. Henry holds two bachelor's degrees from University of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota where she studied Business and Apparel Design. Soon after graduating she launched a series of companies including PRIMP, a cheap chic boutique that garnered over $25 million in sales during her tenure. She sold her shares of PRIMP to pursue FACE FOUNDRIÉ. All of her businesses have been self-funded, grown 100% organically and debt-free. Henry is a mom of three residing in the Twin Cities area. When not with her family, the entrepreneur enjoys rollerblading around the lakes, painting in her art room or digging into the latest trends and innovations.
Championship Judge
JUSTIN KAUFENBERG
General Partner, Rally Ventures Justin Kaufenberg has more than 20 years of strategic operating experience in hightechnology, including deep expertise in SaaS, payments and network effect businesses. Kaufenberg joined Rally Ventures as General Partner in October 2019. Rally Ventures is based in Minneapolis and Menlo Park and is currently investing out of a $250m Fund IV, with more than $600m under management. Prior to joining Rally, he was the CEO and cofounder of SportsEngine, one of Rally’s early portfolio companies. SportsEngine defined the SRM (Sport Relationship Management) market and grew to provide its CRM and Payments platform to more than 45,000 customers, more than 35 million monthly unique platform users and more than $100 million in annual revenue, while growing to more than 500 full-time employees. The company was acquired by Comcast / NBCUniversal in 2016 and continues to operate as the amateur sports division of NBC Sports. Prior to SportsEngine, he was the co-founder of Third North Creative which developed early ECommerce tools. Kaufenberg currently serves on the boards of Anyroad, Bbot, JustiFi, Kaleidoscope, Order, Total Expert, Yardstik and Zingtree and is a board observer for ManageXR, Epoch, and Parallax. He received his BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-EauClaire.
Championship Judge
DAMIAN NOVAK
Serial Entrepreneur Damian Novak is a serial entrepreneur that has started or purchased hundreds of companies throughout his career. Novak has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of structuring businesses through personal acquisitions, management and consulting to outside firms. He is currently the Chairman of the Board for Fresh Vine Wine (NYSE: VINE), on the board of Fold of Honor TN, and owner of many private companies.
Championship Judge
LISA SHANNON President and Chief Executive Officer, Allina Health Lisa Shannon was appointed to the role of CEO Jan.1, 2022. She has the responsibility to set the overall strategic direction for Allina Health, ensuring the organization delivers exceptional care and supports the health and well-being of all those served. Prior to her appointment as CEO, she served as president and chief operating officer, accountable for driving exceptional clinical, operational and financial performance, thus allowing Allina Health to deliver quality, affordable care to the communities we serve. Before joining Allina Health, Shannon held the roles of chief operating officer and president of health system delivery, for KentuckyOne Health, the largest integrated health system in Kentucky. Preceding her time at KentuckyOne Health, she served in several executive leadership roles at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan, including three years as chief operating officer. Shannon began her career as a clinical dietitian at The Community Hospital in Springfield, Ohio, and spent 10 years at OhioHealth Corporation in Columbus, rising to vice president of ambulatory services. She is a graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio and earned a Master of Business Administration from Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. Shannon places a great deal of value on community engagement. She currently serves on the Board of the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business Strategic Board of Advisors.