MassChallenge Management Team
John Harthorne
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
John Harthorne has more than 10 years of top-tier strategy, technology and startup experience. Before joining Bain & Company as a Strategy Consultant, John received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, graduating with a 4.9/5.0 GPA. While at school, John received Grand Prize in the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition as the sole MBA student working with two MIT engineers to commercialize a telerobotic needle insertion system that facilitates the early detection and treatment of lung cancer by enabling doctors to target smaller lesions. Previously that year, John led the 10th annual MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW) held in Trondheim, Norway. The MIT GSW is the world's premier conference on how to foster entrepreneurship via supportive infrastructure and catalytic events. Keynote speakers in 2007 included Dean Kamen, Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, Anil Gupta and Ken Morse. John is a life-long Massachusetts resident and an avid Red Sox fan. He currently lives in Somerville with his wife Natalia and 3-year old son Max.
Akhil Nigam
Founder and President
Akhil Nigam received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City (Valedictorian) and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Before business school, Akhil was one of the founding team members (employee number 5) of a high growth startup focused on software, Internet technology and IT services. In this role, he helped grow the firm to 100 employees in 5 years across the United States, India and Singapore. He was the youngest partner elected in the firm and gained extensive experience advising top level executives on technology strategy and trends while leading the firm's new business development initiatives. Akhil has also evaluated investment opportunities in a variety of industries for major private equity firms at Bain & Co. and at Fidelity Strategic Investments. Akhil lived in India until age 12 and then attended High School in Zimbabwe before receiving a full 4-year scholarship to the Cooper Union. Akhil currently lives in Cambridge with his wife Hemali and daughter Diya.
David Constantine
Founder and Chief Operating Officer
David Constantine has worked in the medical device industry as a biomedical engineer since 2004. He has experience in both multinational firms and startups developing products and procedures in the arthroscopic and endovascular treatment spaces. David found his passion for the entrepreneurial environment through his work in the startup medical device firm of OmniSonics Medical Technologies, where he was developing a product for the vastly under-treated patient population of ischemic stroke. David grew up in Andover, MA, where he graduated from Phillips Academy before completing his undergraduate degree at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where he majored in Biomedical Engineering, minored in Russian Language, and was a multi-sport athlete.
