George Estes co-founded SPARTA and serves as chairman and chief executive officer. Estes was co-founder of Discover Re, a leading carrier for the alternative risk marketplace, which he guided through its initial formation in 1990, subsequent private placement offerings in 1991 and 1994 and acquisition by USF&G Corp. in 1995. He served as chairman and chief executive officer from inception to July 2005. He also served as president from 1999 to July 2005. In addition to his leadership at Discover Re, Estes served as an executive officer of The St. Paul Cos. Inc. from May 1999, following its purchase of USF&G Corp., until July 2005. Prior to the formation of Discover Re, Estes held a number of key underwriting and marketing positions at General Reinsurance Corp., a reinsurance and risk management company, from 1978 to 1989, and served as a member of General Reinsurance Corp.'s Underwriting Advisory Committee. Estes participated in the initial planning and development of General Reinsurance Corp.'s entrance into the ART market.

Estes has a bachelor of arts from Williams College. He has served on the board of directors of Max Capital Group, Rockhill Insurance Co. and Hartford Stage. He has also served as chairman of the board of the Connecticut Historical Society and Kingswood-Oxford School. His interests include education, the arts and shooting.

I'm a staff attorney at Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut Inc. Statewide Legal Services is the intake hotline for all the legal services programs in Connecticut. We serve individuals living in poverty with civil legal matters. I am a senior attorney in our housing, consumer and benefits units.

I have bipolar disorder and was diagnosed during my first year at Harvard Law School when I was civilly committed to McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. That experience was my first introduction to the law as it related to individuals with mental illnesses.

I am very involved with advocacy on mental health issues. I am very involved with programs at NAMI-CT, including past service on the NAMI-CT state board of directors, and involvement with all of its consumer programs and most of its education programs, including: Provider Education; In Our Own Voice, NAMI Connection, Parents and Teachers as Allies, Peer to Peer and NAMIWalks. I am a state trainer for IOOV and NAMI Connection.

I have been involved with the Connect-ability media campaign for the last two years.

I was a staff attorney at Connecticut Legal Services for two years in the housing and Social Security disability units and represented tenants in eviction and discrimination cases and claimants in SSI administrative hearings.

I am on the board of directors of both the Connecticut Legal Rights Project and Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers-Connecticut (the state's lawyer assistance program). I was recently elected to the Connecticut Bar Foundation's Bar Fellows.

Stephen Kraus is a vice president at Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the leading global venture capital firms. He helps run Bessemer's healthcare investment arm, covering the pharmaceutical, medical device, healthcare service and healthcare IT sectors. He is actively involved with BVP's investments in Affymax (NASDAQ:AFFY), Oxagen, Aveo, Acceleron, Transave, Cerulean, Stromedix, Acorn Cardiovascular, Proteon and On-Q-ity. He served on the boards of Sirtris (NASDAQ:SIRT) until its IPO, and Restore (NASDAQ:REST) until its acquisition by Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) in July 2008. Kraus currently sits on the boards of Transave and On-Q-ity.

Prior to joining Bessemer, Kraus was a director at the Ironwood Equity Fund, a growth-stage private equity firm, and a management consultant at Bain & Company. In 2002, he served as speechwriter and operations director for the Democratic nominee for governor of Massachusetts.

Kraus graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. He serves on the boards of City on a Hill Public Charter School and Inner City Entrepreneurs. He lives in Boston.

Louis Schatz is the chair of the Tax Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. He also served as the immediate past chair of the firm's (Shipman & Goodwin LLC) tax practice. He practices in the areas of federal and State of Connecticut tax matters with attention to the representation of closely held businesses such as limited liability companies, partnerships and S corporations, and the representation of taxpayers involved in Connecticut tax controversies (at the audit, appellate and court levels). He is a frequent lecturer on federal and state of Connecticut tax, partnership and limited liability company issues. For many years he has been providing annual updates on Connecticut tax developments to out-of-state accountants. His recent lectures include presentations to the Connecticut Bar Association, the Connecticut Society of CPAs, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the National Conference of CPA Practitioners, the Long Island Tax Practitioner Symposium, the National Business Institute, the University of Connecticut Income Tax School and the Foundation for Accounting Education in New York City. Schatz is widely published, including his co-authorship of "Connecticut Limited Liability Act: Forms and Practice Manual," the leading treatise in Connecticut on limited liability companies.

Allison Hild is the assistant director at Loaves & Fishes Ministries Inc. in Hartford, where she has worked since 1989. Allison created the organization’s microenterprise program, Business Initiative$ in 1998. Loaves & Fishes is a participating member in the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, a national microenterprise organization. Allison has created collaborations between Loaves & Fishes and the Community Economic Development Fund, which has many years of experience with microenterprise concepts and loans. She also helped to create the Loaves & Fishes’ job-training program, which offers on-site classes in ESL, computer literacy, life skills and employment skills for registered clients. Program staff conduct online job searches with individuals and help them get the training they need to find and retain employment. She is involved in fundraising, grant writing, daily oversight of programs and direct client interaction at Loaves &Fishes.

Allison has a background in publishing and education prior to coming to social services. She spent a year teaching English in the People’s Republic of China (’88-’89). She returned to the United States to earn her M.A. in English from the University of Connecticut in 1992, and she was in the final stages of work on her doctorate when she decided to pursue her work with Loaves & Fishes full time. Allison earned her B.A. in English from Williams College in 1986 and graduated from Kingswood-Oxford in 1982. She lives in Madison, Conn., with her husband and two children.