Mentorship Program

Mentorship office hours event for Somerville's:

• aspiring and existing entrepreneurs; and
• business owners and operators

to receive advice from experienced business professionals, entrepreneurs and investors.

Bring your questions on business concept, start up, or funding or on retirement and financial planning.  We will have experienced mentors on hand to answer those questions. Office hours attendees can participate in a one-on-one 15-minute conversation with the mentors at the event.

Ben Holmes is the CEO of AERONAUT, researcher of biotechnology and machine learning at MIT & the Broad Institute, and board member of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce. Much of his recent work has related to permitting, community development and growth strategy to develop a stable business in the city of Somerville positioned for growth elsewhere. In his capacity as a mentor, he aims to help startup entrepreneurs understand and surmount the hurdles of founding and growth, ranging from funding their projects to achieving positive outcomes with government and regulatory bodies. 



Jessica Manganello is the corporate attorney and legal structuring guru for New Leaf Legal, a flat fee firm that provides corporate and IP services to emerging and small businesses and artists.  She loves everything from helping businesses design their initial corporate structuring, through their expansion and growing pains, all the way to developing their exit strategies. Her firm particularly enjoys working with socially/sustainably minded businesses using experimental new models and cementing new core values into the old tried and true models. 
 
Rod Laurenz is an independent wealth advisor providing custom, objective guidance and planning strategies to individuals/families, small businesses, and non-profits -- helping them pursue their long-term financial goals and dreams.   With a Bachelor’s degree in Biosystems Engineering (cum laude), an MBA in Finance from Michigan State University, a love of helping people, and nearly 20 years of experience as a Financial Advisor, Rod provides individualized investment portfolios and seasoned advice.   For more than ten years, Rod has been teaching investment classes including “Fundamentals of Investing” at the Boston Center for Adult Education and “Retiring Well in a Low-Rate Environment” at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. He discussed the challenges specific to older investors as a guest on “Boston Seniors Count” on ZUMIX Radio/WJIB 740 AM. He has been featured as an investment professional in the Somerville News on multiple occasions.   Prior to serving as a financial advisor, Rod was in an executive development program in Finance at a Fortune 50 firm. While working as an Internal Auditor, he developed disciplined controls and risk mitigation techniques – skills that he now employs for clients’ investment plans.    Rod became a Financial Advisor in 2002, and since 2011 has served as President of Laurenz Financial Corp, an independently owned local business and member of Cambridge Local First (CLF) and the Somerville Chamber of Commerce.
 
Andrew Lynn is a Massachusetts attorney offering legal services to individuals, small businesses, design professionals and innovation entrepreneurs. Andrew has done legal work for multinational software companies, the ACLU and the Massachusetts Land Court. In private practice, Andrew has executed projects ranging from individual wills, to drafting of contracts for employment, intellectual property licensing, and business acquisitions, to technology company mergers and acquisitions.   Andrew is a graduate of the Northeastern University School of Law. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied design and building technologies. While there he worked as a research assistant in wearable computing at the Media Lab, helping to develop projects that were early predecessors to current smartphone apps and Google Glass. Andrew went on to receive his Master of Architecture degree at Syracuse, where he was a research and teaching assistant. During this time his architectural work was shown at the Urban Center of New York City and the MAK Center of Los Angeles. Before entering the legal profession, Andrew worked as an architectural designer in New York and Boston firms on a range of commercial, K-12 and higher education projects.
 
This program is intended for informational and advice purposes only. Sessions with a mentor are not to be used for sales or marketing purposes. Should you and an adviser identify opportunities to collaborate, those engagements should be managed outside of our Mentorship Program.

The Somerville Chamber’s goal is to improve the success rate of small businesses throughout Somerville by offering mentorship services. This is one event of many to come.  We want to provide entrepreneurs and small business owners a supportive and constructive environment for conversations with our group of advisors.

Spaces Davis Square is located in the heart of Somerville. Spaces was built on the idea that success breeds more success. That's why we’ve built workspaces that suit your every need and our energetic staff attends to all the details so you can focus on your next big idea. For more information or to set up a private tour, please reach out to Ben at (617) 682 6046 or ben.mcbride@spacesworks.com