🔒Judges

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Robin Ann Bienemann is CEO and founder of Crimson Rook, a Connecticut firm specializing in helping small and mid-size companies increase value, transition to new owners or generations and address underlying business challenges.

Bienemann brings extensive management experience to her role in working with business owners. She has served in an executive capacity for companies with revenues as small as $1 million and as large as $20 billion. At age 24, she founded Ocean Industries, a quality control equipment manufacturer in Manchester, N.H. Prior to creating Crimson Rook, she was senior vice president of operations with Blue Arc Corp., a $60 million computer-storage manufacturer in San Jose, Calif.

The University of Connecticut's Schools of Business and Engineering tapped Bienemann to be their first Entrepreneur in Residence. Bienemann is leading an effort to strengthen ties between the university and the business sector.

In addition to her career work, Bienemann contributes to a variety of nonprofit organizations. She has provided services to hospices, shelters for men, women, families and seniors, and a farm collaborative as an individual contributor and board member.

Bienemann received her bachelor's degree from Springfield College and her master's as a Sloan Fellow at MIT. She lives in Granby with her husband Tom. The couple has three children and six grandchildren.

Gail Lebert is the director of partnership development for Klingberg Family Centers, which has a mission to build healing relationships that empower children and families to reach their full potential. Klingberg Family Centers, located in New Britain and Hartford, serves over 2,500 children and families in Connecticut each year.

Lebert was formerly the publisher of the Hartford Business Journal, and during her 12 years there led the talented HBJ team to evolve from a weekly newspaper into a business information company.

Lebert is passionate about innovation and helping to connect businesses to each other to achieve their goals. Learning and sharing knowledge with others are her lifelong pursuits in the Connecticut marketplace.

In 2009 Lebert was awarded the Journalist of the Year by the Small Business Administration of Connecticut. In 2012 Lebert was honored as a Woman of Achievement by the Women Advocates for Youth at Adelbrook, The Children's Home, Cromwell. In 2013, she was honored by the YWCA in New Britain.

Lebert graduated from New York's Ithaca College with a Bachelor's degree in English.

Lebert lives in Glastonbury with her husband Jeff. She loves the beach and spending time with her family, daughter Angel, and her two granddaughters.

Anthony Price is the founder and CEO of LootScout, which counsels small businesses how to raise capital. He is a trusted advisor to growing businesses in Connecticut and throughout the country. Price is a former economic-development executive and the founder of the Hartford Capital Summit, an annual event to educate entrepreneurs about capital. 

Price has written for the Hartford Business Journal, Worcester Business Journal and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He has appeared on the popular TV programs Face the State with Dennis House, The Stan Simpson show, radio, and other social-media platforms. His research assistance on small business was acknowledged by Michael Shuman in his book, “The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing Pollinator Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity.” Price is writing a book about capital, which is scheduled for a late 2016 or early 2017 release. 

He serves on several nonprofit boards in Connecticut and has been on a for-profit board for the past eight years.