48 The QUEE NS Courier • business • MAY 9, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com business s Chamber installs officers The Queens Chamber of Commerce held its installation of officers at the World’s Fair Marina on May 1. Sitting: Carol Conslato, Joseph Mattone Sr., Claire Shulman; Standing: Bill Driscol, Susan LaCerte, Teri Thomson. Tech Meetup spotlights ‘center of innovation’ BY LUKE TABET Organizer Jukay Hsu called Queens a “center of innovation” at the 7th Queens Tech Meetup, or QTM7. The Coalition for Queens hosted the event at Hunter’s Point Plaza. Several prominent tech start-ups from the borough and about 100 audience members went. Senator Michael Gianaris and AT&T New York President Marissa Shorenstein also spoke, conveying their support for the burgeoning Queens tech community. The event, sponsored by AT&T New York, featured presentations by Brett Martin, CEO and founder of Sonar, followed by representatives of three upand coming companies: WeHostel, Uber and Tracks. Almost all the audience members worked in the tech sector. Martin gave pointers on running a start-up and obtaining funding. Diego Saez-Gil talked about WeHostels, a mobile application and website that allows users to browse and book rooms at youth hostels all over the globe. Saez-Gil moved from Argentina to Europe, where he realized that “technology and the Internet were going to change the way people travel.” WeHostels started as a website, but after seeing their mobile traffic quickly outgrow their web traffic, the company came up with the business motto, “Go mobile or go home.” Next up was Ed Casabian of Uber, an on-demand car service that lets users request rides via mobile app, text message or the web in cities around the world. The company moved to Queens in 2012. Kwamé Henderson demonstrated a mobile and web service called Tracks. Henderson, who is apprentice to the company’s CEO, showed how the app lets users share photos in micro social networks called tracks. Henderson was paired with Tracks CEO Vic Singh through a program called Institute that finds placements for 18- to 24-year-olds within the tech industry. After a questions period, attendees took the time to mingle and network. For some, like Ethan Horne, it was their first time at the Queens Tech Meetup. “It’s always nice to see what other people are working on in a certain community,” he said. Frank Macchio, Chuck Callahan, Chamber President Albert Pennisi, William Blake II, Kenneth Buettner. Chuck Callahan III, Lou Vlahos, Thomas Santucci, Brittany Travis, Charles Callahan II, Chad Callahan. Gerard Thornton, Mary Vavruska, and Jack Friedman. D. A. Richard Brown, Al Pennisi and his grandson. Former Chamber President Carol Conslato and incumbent President Al Pennisi. New Executive Board: Al Pennisi, Teri Thomson, Myra DiRico, Lou Vlahos.
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