2022 Entrepreneurial Company of The Year: Noom

Noom is a consumer-first digital health platform that empowers its users to achieve holistic health outcomes through behavior change. Founded in 2008, Noom’s mission is to help people everywhere lead healthier lives. Fueled by a powerful combination of technology, psychology, and human coaching, Noom is backed by more than a decade of user research and product development. Today, Noom’s platform includes two core programs: Noom Weight for weight management and Noom Mood for stress management.

Ben Dubin and Phani Nagarjuna, the co-chairs, invite you to attend the 41st annual Entrepreneurial Company of the Year award celebration honoring Noom. Join us as Saeju Jeong, the CEO and Co-founder of Noom, leads us through Noom’s remarkable story of how they became one of the world’s largest and fastest growing digital health platforms.

**About the Speaker:**

*Saeju Jeong*

Born in South Korea to a family of doctors, Saeju has always had an intense desire to help people. From an early age, he knew his life’s work would be dedicated to improving the well-being of as many people as possible. It was after the death of his father at a young age that Saeju became more motivated than ever to truly change lives for the better and use his entrepreneurial spirit (Saeju founded South Korea’s first-ever heavy metal record label) to make an impact. After dropping out of college and moving to the US, Saeju met his co-founder Artem Petakov, who shared his vision of helping people live healthier lives, and Saeju convinced him to leave Google to develop Noom. As CEO, Saeju is responsible for setting the strategic vision for Noom and has led the company through several years of tremendous growth, helping millions of people improve their lifestyles and health. In 2020, Saeju was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

**About the Moderators:**

*Ben Dubin*

Ben is a venture capitalist investing in innovational passionate teams that fuse technology and science to improve health for everyone. He is founding Health Gap Ventures to fund and build companies that enhance the health of more than one-third of Americans who suffer from healthcare inequities. Previously, he was a managing partner at Asset Management Ventures for 15 years, investing in technology to healthcare solutions.

As an entrepreneur, he co-founded two software companies and ran them through their sale. Before that, he was an engineer building hardware/software products at Sun and Lockheed. He serves on several non-profit boards, such as the Foothill-De Anza College Foundation, the HBS Association of Northern California, and is a trustee for the Health Trust Foundation. He has volunteered with such groups as the Cancer CAREpoint, No Bully, BAWSI, Reset Foundation, and the Computer History Museum.

Ben has BS degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

*Phani Nagarjuna*

Phani Nagarjuna is a successful high-tech entrepreneur, executive and investor with 20+ years of experience. He has held virtually every C-Suite role at marquee venture/private equity backed firms. He has expertise in launching software products, opening global markets, and scaling organizations from zero to multi-million dollars in revenues. Phani has unlocked hundreds of millions of dollars in shareholder value while spearheading accelerated digital transformation of stagnant business models. Phani has founded/founding executive at three different software startups, all with successful exits. His most recent firm Nuevora, a top-10 Big Data Analytics firm merged with Sutherland, a TPG backed company. Earlier at OneCommand, Phani built the auto-retail industry’s first customer loyalty SaaS platform, made strategic acquisitions, enlisted to Inc. 500, and attained #1 market share. Early on, Phani held product roles at Siebel Systems. Nagarjuna is a recognized expert on Big Data analytics/AI, often quoted in major publications, has written for Forbes, and has advised Fortune 1000 executives on next-generation digital transformation initiatives. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has guest lectured at UC Santa Barbara. He is currently the President of the HBS Alumni Club of Northern California and serves on its board. Phani has an MBA from Harvard, an MS from University of Cincinnati, and a BS from Osmania University.