Ronald Mitchell
CEO and Co-Founder
What did you do before Gotta Mentor?
For most of my professional life, I have been an entrepreneur. Prior to starting
Gotta Mentor (formerly known as CareerCore), I founded the AlumniAthlete Network.
As a former All-Ivy basketball player at Harvard, I wanted to build a network that
enabled athletes to network around their school and sport. Prior to that, I helped
found a $150 million private equity firm called Provender Capital Group where we
made principal investments in the areas of media, financial services and specialty
retail. Before Provender, I was at Harvard Business School where I was President
of my class, but more importantly had two undefeated seasons of intramural basketball.
I have also worked at Morgan Stanley, Mitchell & Titus LLP, McKinsey & Co. and The
Anschutz Corporation.
What do you love about your job?
As a small kid, I always wanted to be an inventor. As an entrepreneur, you are always
inventing (some might say, making it up as you go along). I love that. Every day
is fresh and new. You have so many possibilities. Of course, most of the things
you try fail, but if you are a true entrepreneur, you enjoy the process as much
as the success.
What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
I have heard so many powerful things over the years. The piece of advice that I
refer to the most was given to me by an entrepreneur and venture capitalist named
Sean. He told me that as a manager, you should “Hire more slowly and fire more quickly.”
This generally reinforces the notion of how impactful people are on your organization.
Really good people who embody the values of your organization are hard to find but
can make a tremendous impact. On the flip side, bad people can be cancer to your
organization. The longer they are around, the more harmful it can be.
Who are your mentors?
To be honest, I have had a several mentors over the years but done a crappy job
of utilizing them. Frankly, this is why I started Gotta Mentor. Just having this
platform has enabled me to engage two of my mentors, Roslyn, a real estate entrepreneur,
and Michael, an IBM executive, much more proactively. I also count my parents, sister
and good friends Don, Todd, Derek, Reggie, Belisa, Doug and Cards as mentors. Yes,
friends can be mentors too!
To find out more about me and my favorite advice, visit
My Gotta Mentor Profile
Andrea Rice
President and Co-Founder
What did you do before Gotta Mentor?
I slept little and traveled continuously as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank,
E*Offering, and Volpe Brown Whelan. I was on the bleeding edge of the Internet,
as one of the first Wall Street analysts covering the sector when it was just emerging,
back when the word “web” was just something a spider produced. I’ve also advised
Camelot Capital, a technology-focused hedge fund, on their Internet investments,
worked as a management consultant for McKinsey, worked at Stanford for MediaX on
issues related to people, technology & innovation, and taught tennis at Club Med.
If you want more details, check out my Gotta Mentor profile.
What’s in your Library?
The advice I wish I’d had when I was just starting out. Also, great roadmaps and
guidance from mentors and others on the site about entrepreneurship.
What do you do in your free time?
If I had some I’d play more soccer and tennis, try to figure out what’s really happening
on Lost, and finish unpacking some boxes in the house.
Who are your mentors?
They vary based on what my needs are at that moment, but my brother, several friends
from business school, my husband, and a number of really great entrepreneurs. Their
advice has been invaluable in contract negotiations, key introductions, how-to advice,
and managing tough situations.
To find out more about me and my favorite advice, visit
My Gotta Mentor Profile
John Rice
Senior Advisor and Co-founder
What did you do before Gotta Mentor?
Over the past several years I have been leading Management Leadership for Tomorrow
(“MLT” ), a national non-profit organization that
I founded to prepare minorities for the top entry-level jobs and MBA programs that
put them on the fast-track to leadership positions in corporations, entrepreneurial
ventures and non-profits. MLT places 93% of its undergraduates in fast-track entry-level
jobs; is the #1 source of minorities at the top 10 MBA programs; and partners with
blue-chip companies like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Google, PepsiCo, McKinsey, and
Target.
I also spent four years working at the National Basketball Association, where I
was their managing director of NBA Japan based in Tokyo and their marketing director
for Latin America. Just after business school, I spent four years working with the
Walt Disney Company and also worked in sales for AT&T prior to getting my MBA. If
you want more details, check out my Gotta Mentor profile.
What’s in your Library?
Some of things I have learned about being a successful entrepreneur as well as action
steps for students, early and mid-career professionals.
What do you do in your free time?
I enjoy mentoring others and helping my friends negotiate their compensation packages.
I love to play basketball and tennis and hope to spend my twilight years doing lots
of game fishing.
Who are some of the people that you mentor?
I like to mentor up and coming professionals with lots of potential as well as young
entrepreneurs who have big ideas. Two of them, Sean and Kumi, recently opened a
high end barber shop/lounge in San Francisco that has the potential expand to several
more cities.
To find out more about me and my favorite advice, visit
My Gotta Mentor Profile