James Stanford, Founder & CEO
 
 James Stanford with his 25 years of visionary leadership, global management and strategic business development, transformed numerous corporate entities from start-ups to Fortune 100 in aerospace, defense, medical devices, consumer electronics, renewable energy and manufacturing industries. Having worked on four continents, Mr. Stanford bridges cultural gaps seamlessly. At 16, in  Istanbul, he established a retail outlet importing and selling Sinclair Computers in Turkey. Mr. Stanford went on to establish one of the world's first multi-media learning station at Cornell University under the National Science Foundation (NSF), HDTV Broadcast Equipment and SONET developments at Toshiba in Japan. He holds two international patents.

As the top business and marketing strategist, Mr. Stanford led and grew Logitech's (NASDAQ:LOGI) Strategic OEM for Control Devices, Audio and Video business units with $200M P&L. He became one of three General Managers after making it the number one PC-OEM manufacturer worldwide, shipping 300 million units under his leadership. His business unit served more than 30 Tier-1 PC-OEM companies including Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, SONY and 300 million customers.

After serving as the Chief Strategy Officer and President of Epos (now Qualcomm), an Intel Capital Portfolio company, Mr. Stanford  started incubating a number of companies as a social entrepreneur while helping various hi-tech and digital health start-up CEOs and Board Members with corporate, product and go-to-market strategies. Many of companies he served received prestigious awards.  

James Stanford is a graduate of the Executive Program at Building New Ventures from Harvard Business School. He holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of San Francisco, a Masters degree in Engineering from Cornell University and a BSEE degree from Widener University.

Angela Stanford, RD

Angela Stanford is CEO of Vital Nutrition & Wellness; a Northern California based consulting company that advises organizations developing programs to market nutrition and improve the health and well-being of their clients and employees. She also coaches adults and children seeking support while making lifestyle changes including weight loss and speaks and writes on current nutrition topics including how parents can feed their families nutritiously and affordably. Angela is a Registered Dietitian with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition from the University of Illinois and holds a Masters of Business degree from the University of San Francisco.

Angela’s passion for food and nutrition started with her roots on her family farm in Illinois and has been carried with her through over 25 years of foodservice experience including roles within Kaiser Permanente, the CBORD Group, Inc., and more recently Choicelunch, a California-based school lunch provider, as their Director of Nutrition. She serves on the Board of Directors of Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County as well as the Board of Fruitful Minds.
Angela and husband James reside in Danville with their two daughters who attend Sycamore Elementary. She is an active volunteer at her daughters’ school and Girl Scout troops. Angela also is a Registered Yoga Teacher who enjoys cooking, organic gardening, and spending time with family. Some of her most rewarding experiences include teaching kids how fun it is to grow, cook and eat food while educating them about the benefits of eating whole foods and keeping the earth healthy.

Dr. Savaş Özatalay, Advisory Board Member

Dr. Savaş Özatalay, former Dean of the School of Business Administration, joined Widener University in 1978. Before becoming the Dean in 2005, he was a Professor of Management at Widener University where in the past he served twice as the Acting Dean, Acting Provost, the University Faculty Chair, Head of the Management Department and the Head of the MIS and Decision Sciences Department.

Dr. Özatalay has a B.S. degree from the Middle East Technical University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University.  His pre-Widener career includes teaching and research positions at Middle East Technical University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Chicago. He is a Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management. 

Dr. Özatalay has thirty-one scholarly presentations and thirty-three journal publications in the field of operations and process management. He is also the recipient of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for distinguished teaching, Distinguished Professor Awards for undergraduate and graduate programs, and John C. Sevier Award for Service and Dedication to The Widener University School of Business Administration.

Dr. Savaş Özatalay has now chosen to use his extensive knowledge to benefit philanthropically-inclined businesses by becoming a member of the Social Ventures Advisory board.