GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
TOP INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

Wharton and Oxford-educated, Alexander Blass is an internationally acclaimed American entrepreneur and innovator who has traveled to over 40 countries and appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including multiple cover stories. He is the grand prize winner of the Daily Record's Top Innovator of the Year Award, which credited him with "revolutionizing charitable giving" in 2007 for inventing person-to-person giving technology on the Internet. He presently serves as CEO of Alexander Blass International, an executive consulting and training firm.

Alexander keynotes some of the world's most prestigious conferences on innovation/creativity, leadership change, business development, and entrepreneurship, including the 2011 Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum in the United Arab Emirates, the 2011 European Conference on Creativity and Innovation, EPIC 2010 in New York City, and IBM's Innovate 2010 in India to an audience of 2,000 people, to name a few.

Frequently interviewed by the media, Alexander is a highly sought after and inspirational keynote speaker, Master Class presenter, invited expert and consultant. Through his high energy, dynamic, and inspirational presentation style, he enjoys sharing his vast expertise, passion, vision and fascinating experiences with top corporate business audiences at Fortune 500 and Global 1000 organizations, as well as associations, non-profits, and university students. Alexander is also the recipient of the Daily Record's Influential Marylanders Award, as well as the Baltimore Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 Executives Award. He was also honored as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School of Business.

Previously, Alexander was a venture capitalist, strategy consultant, senior government executive, and software developer, beginning his career at KPMG Consulting. During his tenure as a venture capitalist, one of the fund's portfolio companies went from a $500,000 fund investment to a nearly $500 million all-cash acquisition by a Fortune 50 corporation. He has worked with leading organizations worldwide on opportunities totaling over $1 billion, as well as serving on boards of various for-profit and non-profit organizations in the U.S. and overseas. Alexander has been an invited expert at the National Science Foundation on a dozen occasions, making investment recommendations on over $100 million of emerging technologies for the U.S. government.

He has appeared in numerous media outlets globally including the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Associated Press, BusinessWeek, Globe & Mail, International Herald Tribune, The Independent, The Guardian, Melbourne Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, FOX, Forbes, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, The Sun, Information Week, Internet Evolution, Daily Record, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Voice of Africa, Khaleej Times, Al Ittihad, Dubai Eye, and many more.

Alexander received an MBA from Oxford University in England. He also holds a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he concurrently studied at the Wharton School of Business.  Alexander is a proud first generation American and son of a Holocaust survivor, who from a young age instilled in him the sanctity of life and importance of making a difference in the world.