Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Advisor operating in the Financial Services space. If you think a Advisor is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Greg Lazarus
GTM Advisor of Initialized Capital
Greg has 10+ years as an operator at high-growth startups in SF and NYC. Most recently Greg was the Chief Revenue Officer at Returnly where he built the GTM function from the ground up and helped increase the company valuation 12x over the 3 years he was there. Prior to Returnly, Greg was one of the first employees at Optimizely where he built the SMB, MM, and Corporate sales teams on both the West and East Coast. During his time at Optimizely he helped revenue grow from $3 to $70 million.
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About Initialized Capital, Lathrop Consulting Group, Polychrome: Initialized Capital is an early-stage VC firm focused on helping software engineers and designers with their first seed checks.
Jerry Murdock
Advisor of Insight Partners
Jerry Murdock co-founded Insight Venture Partners in 1995, and today serves as a special adviser to the firm. He has spent his career investing in, and building, technology companies that change and positively impact businesses and social practices. Jerry had a defining role in Insight’s investment strategy and success, and was primarily responsible for the development of many of the Firm’s portfolio investments. Since 1999, eight of Jerry’s investments have achieved successful IPOs on NASDAQ, several with market capitalizations in excess of a billion dollars. These include: Twitter (TWTR) Callwave (CALL, now Fuzebox), Click Commerce (CKCM ); Convergent Group (CVGP acquired by Schlumberger Ltd); DivX Inc (DVIX was subsequently acquired by Sonic Solutions (SNIC)); Illuminet (ILUM, acquired by VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN)); Quest Software (QSFT) and SeeBeyond Technology Corporation (SBYN). In January 2013 Jerry invested in Nest series C. He also invested in Snapchat in December 2013 series C, Serverless, Inc series B in July 2016, Influxdata series B August 2016. Jerry is passionate about public service, using his network and capabilities to impact causes he believes in. In particular, Jerry plays a leading role as a member of the Board of Trustees at: The Aspen Institute whose mission is to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Santa Fe Institute which is a multi-disciplinary research and education center focused on understanding complex adaptive systems as a critical component in addressing key environmental, technological, biological, economic, and political challenges. Jerry is a co-founder, along with John Doerr, of For the Forest, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the health of forests, with particular emphasis on promoting the long-term sustainability of Western forests by providing research, management, expertise and related resources. Jerry Murdock graduated with a degree in Political Science from San Diego State University and subsequently worked at the Georgetown Center for Strategic & International Studies (now known as CSIS).
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About For The Forest: Insight Partners is a private equity firm that invests in growth-stage technology and software companies.
Nick Sinai
Senior Advisor of Insight Partners
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About : Insight Partners is a private equity firm that invests in growth-stage technology and software companies.
Donna O. Smolens
Senior Advisor of Insight Partners
Donna is a Managing Director of Portfolio Advisors and serves as a voting member on the Investment Committee for several Portfolio Advisors funds. Donna has been with Portfolio Advisors since 2003 and is primarily engaged in primary fund due diligence. Previously, she was a General Partner with Technology Crossover Ventures where she handled investor relations. Prior to that, Donna was a Senior Vice President at DLJ Securities’ Private Fund Group, where she was responsible for the origination, screening and due diligence on funds marketed by the firm. Prior to DLJ, she was a Portfolio Manager with General Motors Investment Management and an Investment Vice President at New York Life, where she managed private equity portfolios. Donna has served or is serving as an Advisory Board member of thirteen private equity partnerships.
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About : Insight Partners is a private equity firm that invests in growth-stage technology and software companies.
Randy Komisar
Advisor of Kleiner Perkins
Randy Komisar joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2005 and focuses on the firm’s digital and greentech practices. Earlier in his career, he was a co-founder of Claris Corp., served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and acted as a “virtual CEO” for such companies as WebTV and GlobalGiving. Randy also served as CFO of GO Corp. and as senior counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law. Randy is a founding director of TiVo and serves on the advisory board of Roadtrip Nation, as well as on the global advisory board for the University of California, Santa Barbara, Institute for Energy Efficiency. He is a lecturer on entrepreneurship at Stanford University and the author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, as well as several articles on leadership and entrepreneurship. He is also the co-author of Getting to Plan B, a book on managing innovation. Randy frequently speaks in the United States and abroad on such topics. Randy holds a B.A. degree in economics from Brown University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
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About Farmers Business Network, TiVo: Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in early-stage, incubation, and growth companies.
Amy Butte
Advisor of Long-Term Stock Exchange
Amy Butte is a respected leader, strategic visionary and advisor to start ups, growth companies and corporates across the financial services spectrum. She has a track record for guiding the creation of companies from non-profit to for-profit and private to public. With a reputation for translating the complex to the understandable, Amy is a passionate senior executive, connector and role model. Currently Amy is an Independent Trustee, and Chair of the Audit Committee, for the Fidelity Investments Strategic Advisers Funds and an Independent Director for BNP Paribas USA, a newly created Board in compliance with Dodd Frank. She is a Board Observer for Carbon38, the premier e-commerce destination for fashion forward active wear and fashion forward active women. She is the Strategic Advisor to the Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a Silicon Valley led start up creating a vision and market place for long-term investors, issuers, and leaders. She serves on the Advisory Board and is an On Air Contributor for the newly launched Wall Street Week. She is an Advisor and Mentor to early and seed stage companies through her involvement with Montage Ventures, Harvard Business School, Accion International’s Frontier and Venture Lab Funds. Amy is a regular guest for CNBC, Bloomberg and other media outlets. She was the Chair of the Brick Church School’s 2015 Auction, an in person volunteer at West Side Campaign Against Hunger, and an active supporter of Free Arts, Robin Hood, and the Children’s Museum of the East End. She is a member of the Economic Club of New York and WomenCorporateDirectors. Amy was the Founder of TILE Financial and SpendGrowGive, an online portal created to help parents and financial institutions educate the next generation of high net worth investors. Between 2004 and 2008, Amy helped spearhead two major financial services IPOs as CFO, including the spinout of Man Financial from Man Group and the historic transition of the NYSE to a public company in 2006. Previously, she was a highly ranked Equity Research Analyst at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch covering the financial services industry. Amy has served on the Boards of Accion International, Women’s Forum of New York, National Organization of Investment Professionals, Corporate Advisory Board of the New York City Ballet and YMCA of Greater New York. She was chosen as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and French American Young Leader. Amy received her MBA from Harvard and her BA from Yale University. She lives in New York City and is an active golfer and patron of the arts.
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About : The Long-Term Stock Exchange designs an SEC-regulated national securities exchange that aligns great companies and long-term investors.
Joseph Plumeri
Senior Member of the Advisory Board of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Joe Plumeri is vice chairman of the First Data Board of Directors. Plumeri was originally appointed to the Board and as a senior advisor to KKR in August 2013. Since then he also has been serving as senior advisor to First Data Chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano, and as the head of First Data’s client delivery, innovation and marketing organization. He assumed the vice chairman role in May, 2014. Since joining First Data, Plumeri has played a pivotal role in the company’s transformation from a transaction processor to a payments technology company and solutions provider to merchants and financial institutions. He has spearheaded company-wide efforts to become more client-centric, including realigning how the company delivers solutions to and serves its global and strategic accounts, national merchants and enterprise clients, financial institutions, small business clients, bank partners and agents and ISO clients. Creating a superior client experience is part of this effort to better serve clients, build stronger relationships that foster business growth for clients, and deliver innovative solutions, including the Clover™ Station, a transformational point-of-sale solution for small and medium sized businesses. Prior to joining First Data, Plumeri served as chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Willis Group Holdings plc. Under his leadership, Willis strengthened its position as one of the world’s leading insurance brokers through sector-leading organic growth and operating margins, strategic expansion, a dedication to transparency and passionate client service. Appointed to lead Willis in 2000, Plumeri returned the company, which was privately held by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), to public ownership in 2001. When he assumed leadership of Willis, the company’s share price was $3, rising to $43 when he stepped down as chairman in 2013. Among Plumeri’s notable milestones while at Willis, in addition to the extraordinary return to shareholders, was his public leadership against conflicts of interest in the insurance industry. He also spearheaded Willis’ $2.1 billion acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) in 2009, which was one of the largest transactions in the insurance industry in the last decade, and drove the deal to rename the Sears Tower as Willis Tower, then the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Before joining Willis, Plumeri had a 32-year career at Citigroup and its predecessor companies. As CEO of Citibank North America, he led the integration of the consumer businesses at Citicorp and Travelers Group. He also served as chairman and CEO of Travelers Primerica Financial Services, vice chairman of the Travelers Group, and president and managing partner of Shearson Lehman Brothers. A widely admired leader in the insurance industry, Plumeri was named to Treasury & Risk magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential People in Finance” in 2009 and 2010. He was also recognized by St. John’s University School of Risk Management as Insurance Leader of the Year in 2006. Plumeri’s generous philanthropy over the decades has drawn many accolades, including appointment as the Grand Marshal of the 2011 Columbus Day Parade by the Columbus Citizen’s Foundation. Plumeri also serves on the boards of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse; Mount Sinai Medical Center; the Jackie Robinson Foundation; and the Churchill Museum at the Cabinet Ward Rooms in London. An avid sportsman and baseball entrepreneur, Plumeri is an owner of the Trenton Thunder, the AA-affiliate of the New York Yankees, and the Trenton Blue Claws, the A-affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2015 Plumeri published his first book, a national best seller, The Power of Being Yourself: A Game Plan for Success – by Putting Passion into Your Life and Work. In his book, based on his life experiences, Plumeri offers simple yet profound guidance on how to stay positive, motivate yourself and others and, achieve success in your life and work. All of the author’s proceeds from the book will be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Born in Trenton, N.J., Plumeri received his Bachelor of Arts in history and education from the College of William and Mary and attended New York Law School. In 2011, William and Mary awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service in honor of his philanthropic endeavors, where Plumeri delivered a speech to the 2011 graduates, titled “Go Play in Traffic (and Follow the Signs Along the Road),” that was recognized as one of the best commencement addresses of the year by the New York Times.
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About : Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Luis Tellez
Senior Advisor of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
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About : Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Louis R. Chenevert
Exclusive Advisor of Goldman Sachs
Louis R. Chênevert is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of United Technologies Corporation. He was elected President & Chief Executive Officer in April 2008 and Chairman in January 2010. He held the position of President & Chief Operating Officer, and served as a Director of United Technologies since March 2006. Prior to that he served as President, Pratt & Whitney, from April 1999 through March 2006. Before joining Pratt & Whitney in 1993, Chênevert spent 14 years at General Motors. He served as Production General Manager of General Motors’ St. Therese operation. Chênevert is a member of the Executive Committees of the Business Roundtable, where he chairs the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, and The Business Council as well as a member of the US-India CEO Forum. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Cargill, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation and is Chairman of the Yale Cancer Center’s Advisory Board. In 2005, Chênevert was inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Chênevert earned a bachelor of commerce degree in production management from the Université de Montréal, École des hautes études commerciales (HEC). He is Chairman of HEC Montreal’s International Advisory Board and a founding director and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Friends of HEC Montreal.
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About : Goldman Sachs is a multinational financial services firm providing securities, investment banking, and management services.
Yuval Ariav
Founder and Advisor of Fundbox
Yuval Ariav is a financial technology and data science entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience operating large, complex, cross-geo operations in both startup and corporate environments. He is currently a General Partner at LionBird Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in digital health and digital business services. Yuval is the Founder of Fundbox, one of the most successful Fintech startups to emerge in recent years, and was the head of its operations office in Tel Aviv. Before Fundbox, Yuval was a founding team member and Director of Product at Onavo, a mobile analytics company acquired by Facebook. Yuval is a Professor at Columbia Business School in New York City.
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About Fundbox: Fundbox is an AI-powered financial platform for small businesses.
Micah Avni
Advisor & Board Members of Fundbox
Micah Avni is Advisors & Board Members at Fundbox.
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About : Fundbox is an AI-powered financial platform for small businesses.
Ron Bekkerman
Advisor & Board Members of Fundbox
Ron joined Carmel in October 2012 as Chief Data OfficerRon brings over 12 years of experience in Big Data and intelligent software applications At Carmel, Ron takes part in the investment process while focusing on data-driven technologies, performing technical due diligence, and consulting Carmel’s portfolio companies on Big Data related strategic initiatives Ron served as a Senior Research Scientist at LinkedIn, where he was responsible for data analytics that affect LinkedIn’s product and marketing strategyPrior to that, Ron worked in R&D positions at large high-tech companies, including HP and Motorola
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About Cherre: Fundbox is an AI-powered financial platform for small businesses.
Sanyin Siang
Advisor of GV
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About : GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Craig Kornblau
Advisor of GV
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About : GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Guillaume Le Cunff
Advisor of GV
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About : GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Steve Bolze
Executive Advisor of Blackstone Group
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About Blackstone Group: Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
Wayne Berman
Senior Advisor for Global Government Affairs of Blackstone Group
Wayne Berman is Senior Advisor for Global Government Affairs to the Blackstone Group. A highly regarded advisor on the management of political and legislative risk, government relations strategy, and both domestic and foreign policy, Mr. Berman has advised dozens of companies over his 35 years in Washington. He is a former chairman of Ogilvy Government Relations, one of the leading firms of its kind in the United States. Mr. Berman’s public service includes a presidential appointment as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Policy and a variety of positions in eight Presidential political campaigns. He served as Senior Advisor for the Bush-Cheney Transition (2001), Vice Presidential Campaign Director for Dole-Kemp (1996), member of the Budget and Policy Priorities Committee of the Pataki Transition Team (1994), Deputy Director and Executive Producer of the 1992 Republican National Convention, Senior Staff and Director of Congressional Relations during the Bush Campaign (1988), and Deputy Director of the Reagan-Bush Transition Team (1981). Mr. Berman received a B.A. in History from the University of Buffalo.
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About : Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
Isauro Alfaro
Senior Advisor of Blackstone Group
Isauro Alfaro is a Senior Advisor to Blackstone, focused on advising Blackstone on investment opportunities in Mexico. Mr. Alfaro is a founding partner of Alfaro, Dávila y Ríos, S.C.(“ADR”), one of the leading independent M&A and restructurings advisory firm in Mexico. Before founding ADR, Mr. Alfaro was a Managing Director and Head of Credit Suisse Mexico. He was also Co-Head of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Mexico before its acquisition by Credit Suisse (CSFB). Prior to joining DLJ, he was Managing Director and Head of Salomon Brothers Mexico. Mr. Alfaro has extensive investment banking experience and has been involved in a wide variety of transactions including cross-border M&A, privatizations, restructurings, and international debt and equity financings. Mr. Alfaro received a Bachelor of Engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey (first in his Class) and an MBA from The Wharton School.
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About : Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
William Burns
Senior Advisor of Blackstone Group
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About : Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
William Burns
Senior Advisor of Blackstone Group
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About : Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
Peter Brack
Venture Advisor of Mucker Capital
Peter Brack is the Managing Partner at Hypothesis.
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About Collective Laboratories, Hypothesis: MuckerLab is a venture capital firm specializing in incubation, pre-seed, seed, startup, early-stage, and Series A investments.
Laurie Tennant
Principal, People Advisory of Norwest Venture Partners
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About Norwest Venture Partners: Norwest is a global venture capital and growth equity investment firm that specializes in venture and growth equity companies.
Howard Morgan
Co-Founder & Special Advisor of First Round Capital
Howard Morgan is currently the Chairman of B Capital. He co-founded First Round Capital with Josh Kopelman as the first professional Seed Stage Fund, where he remains Senior Advisor. Prior to First Round, Howard helped found Idealab with Bill Gross, and served as President of Renaissance Technologies, which he co-founded with Jim Simons. Prior to his move into the business of technology, Howard served as a professor at the Wharton School and the Moore School, both at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as at Cornell University. He is also an Executive Fellow at UC Berkeley. Howard’s research on user interface technology and the optimization of computer networks was critical to bringing the ARPAnet to Philadelphia in the 1970s. Through this early internet participation, he helped corporate and government agencies use technology to improve the efficiency of both large and small organizations. He also has deep experience with very large databases, and served as the first Editor of the ACM Transactions on Database Systems Journal. Throughout his career, Howard has sought out great people and nurtured them so that they could realize their dreams. His mentees have included both PhD students researching a key topic, and early stage entrepreneurs building companies and taking them from seed stage through initial public offerings. He currently serves as a Director of Idealab, and he is on the board of several non-profits including Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and Math For America. He has also served on a number of public company Boards, including Franklin Electronic Publishers and Internet Brands, Inc. He was CEO of Kentek and Franklin during various turnover or transitional periods and in 1997 he was named Delaware Valley Entrepreneur of the Year. Howard is a respected author and a frequent speaker at major industry conferences. Howard received a PhD in Operations Research from Cornell University in 1968, and a BS in Physics from City College of the City University of New York in 1965.
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About Arca Group Inc, Arca Group Inc, B Capital Group, First Round Capital, Gust, Nacre Capital: First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies.
K. Tighe
Expert Network Advisor of First Round Capital
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About : First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies.
John Connolly
Senior Advisor – Boston Operations of Bain Capital Ventures
Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors at A Cloud Guru. Board Member at TokenEx, iboss & LiquidX.
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About Bain Capital Ventures, Eaglehead Capital, MIM-Hayden Real Estate Funds: Bain Capital Ventures invests in seed to growth-stage startups that uses tech to disrupt existing markets or create entirely new ones.
Enrico Ferrari
Advisor of Global Founders Capital
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About Global Founders Capital: GFC is a globally oriented, stage agnostic venture fund that empowers gifted entrepreneurs.
Mark Perry
Strategic Advisor of New Enterprise Associates
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About : New Enterprise Associates is a global venture capital firm investing in technology and healthcare.
Kanishk Parashar
Senior Director, Product -> Advisor of Addepar
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About Addepar, Square: Addepar is a wealth management platform that provides tools for data analytics and portfolio visuals.
AF_initDataCallback({key: \’ds:1\'” alt=”” class=”wp-image-14850″ width=”154″ height=”152″/>Matthew Paull
Member of the Advisory Board of Pershing Square Capital Management
Paull was Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of McDonald’s Corporation from 2001 until he retired from that position in 2008. Prior to joining McDonald’s in 1993, he was a partner at Ernst & Young where he managed a variety of financial practices during his 18-year career and consulted with many leading multinational corporations. He was formerly the lead independent director of Best Buy Co. and chairman of the Board’s Finance Committee. Paull currently serves as a director of KapStone Paper and Packaging Corporation and was also a former director of WMS Industries Inc. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. He also served as an advisory council member for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois. Paull brings to the Board significant financial expertise with a deep understanding of financial markets, corporate finance, accounting and controls, and investor relations. As a former chief financial officer of a multinational corporation, he also has extensive experience in international operations and marketing.
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About : Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. is a New York-based hedge fund sponsor. Funds under management include Pershing Square L.P.
Anthony Vinciquerra
Senior Advisor – Technology, Media & Telecom Sectors of TPG Growth
Anthony J. Vinciquerra is a Member of the Board of Directors at QUALCOMM Incorporated since July 2015. Tony is a Senior Advisor to Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors, where he advises TPG on acquisitions and operations. Tony has been a Senior Advisor of TPG since September 2011. From September 2008 to February 2011, Tony was Chairman of the Board of Directors at Fox Networks Group, the largest and most profitable operating unit of News Corporation and from June 2002 to February 2011, President and Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career, Tony held various management positions in the broadcasting and media industry. Tony has been a Member of the Board of Directors of DirecTV since September 2013. Tony previously served as a Member of the Board of Directors of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. from January 2011 to May 2012, and Motorola, Inc. from July 2007 to January 2011. Tony holds a B.A. degree in Marketing from the State University of New York.
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About : TPG Growth specializes in growth equity and middle-market buyout opportunities.
Matthew E. Rubel
Senior Advisor of TPG Growth
Mr. Matthew E. Rubel, also known as Matt, is a Senior Advisor at TPG Capital, L.P. and TPG Growth. Mr. Rubel served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Collective Brands, Inc. from joining on July 18, 2005 to June 15, 2011. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at Payless Shoesource Inc., a subsidiary of Collective Brands, Inc. from July 18, 2005 to June 15, 2011. He served as the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cole Haan, Inc from February 1999 to July 2005, where he transformed it into a global lifestyle brand celebrating American luxury. Prior to joining Cole Haan, Mr. Rubel served as an Executive Vice President of J. Crew Group and Chief Executive Officer of Popular Club Plan from 1994 to 1999. Since November 1998, Mr. Rubel led the sale of Popular from J. Crew to Fingerhut. While at J. Crew Group, he was responsible for all licensing and international activities, as well as brand marketing. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Pepe Jeans USA and President of the Specialty Division of Revlon managing Revlon Inc.’s prestige cosmetic brands.
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About : TPG Growth specializes in growth equity and middle-market buyout opportunities.
Dan Kolkowitz
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Board Member at Stanford Federal Credit Union.
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About MobileAria: Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Peter Wang
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Peter Wang has over three decades of experience in developing ideas into technologies, standards, products, and companies around the world, with demonstrated executive leadership in strategy formation and execution of new initiatives into major market trends. A serial entrepreneur, Peter lead the founding of Intransa, Inc. in 2000, a pioneer of native IP SAN storage systems and co-founded Retrevo Inc in 2005. a Web 2.0 service focused on consumer electronics and utilizing machine learning technologies. Peter then established and built a joint venture IaaS business in China. Peter has served as President, Chief Technology Officer, Board Director, as well as VP of Marketing, Engineering, and Operations. Peter drove the architecture and product strategies, the engagements with major OEMs in US, China, and India, the set-up of multi-sites and off-shore development centers, and establishment of 24×7 web and cloud services operations. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Wang led the Technology Development Center at 3Com Corp., where he spear-headed wide ranging technology investigations and prototyping efforts, including VoIP, high-speed networks, broadband and wireless access, intelligent infrastructure, and network appliances. Peter identified emerging technologies and markets, drove strategic partnership development for new technologies, both within the commercial industry and with major university research centers, and cross-division technology strategies for insertion into products. Peter was instrumental in a number of IEEE 802, IETF and ANSI standards, including 10 Gb Ethernet, QoS, and iSCSI. He has been awarded over 20 US patents and has published a number of IEEE conferences and other journal papers. Peter holds M.S. degree in Engineering from Stanford University and B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Anand Das
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Anand brings over 27 years of executive management experience, technology expertise, and business relationships from his distinguished career at solid growth companies namely Xerox, CSC, BEA Systems, TIBCO and Autodesk. He is M&A Director for Intel’s Internet of Things Group (IOTG) and responsible for framework development, target identification, deal negotiation and post-close integration. His areas of focus are intelligent transportation, connected logistics, autonomous vehicles, unmanned systems and software defined cockpit. Previously, he was Vice President and CTO at Xerox where he led strategy development and execution of technology platforms, partnerships, and external relationships for long-term competitiveness and sustained success. Earlier, at CSC and SAIC, Anand created the global IoT practice to drive growth in Defense and Aerospace markets. He defined and implemented the managed services offering for IoT, and built successful client relationships with C-level decision makers. Previously in 2001, Anand assembled a top-tier team of sales, marketing and technology experts to create the first successful silicon valley based IoT company. He served as founding member of EPCglobal and drove the development of DNS/ONS based architecture to enable the Internet of Things (IoT). At BEA Systems, he spearheaded the creation of SOA based collaboration platform and grew the market capital to $30B+. Anand has Master of Science in Engineering awarded by Columbia University in 1989 and Bachelor of Technology (Honors) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has served as chairman of NVTC’s ebusiness committee, and is co-author of three books on sensors, net-centric computing and network security.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Ron Morita
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Ron is an engineering executive, innovator, product strategist and organizational transformer. Ron’s expertise include cloud, virtualization, security, data protection, network management, networking and IT management. With over 30 years of industry experience, Ron has a track record of driving business success in high tech companies large and small. Ron has held VP and senior engineering leadership positions at EMC, VMware, NetApp, BMC, Newbridge Networks, Ungermann-Bass, Hewlett-Packard, ComMira and HiFive. Ron has led the development of market leading products including Data Domain storage, vSphere security, SnapMirror data protection, Remedy IT service management and HP OpenView network management to name a few. Ron is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program and Princeton University.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Jieming Zhu
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Jieming is currently a board advisor and independent consultant, advising various start-ups working in enterprise infrastructure and cloud SaaS technologies. He focuses on helping entrepreneurs to transform an idea into a commercially viable product definition, to validate through customer discovery processes, to raise necessary funds to jumpstart a company, and to execute on the product development/delivery strategy. An entrepreneur himself, Jieming was the CEO and co-founder of AlephCloud Systems, an innovator in cloud data management and security, raising multiple rounds of investments, achieving early customer tractions. Prior to AlephCloud, he was a chief technologist at HP StorageWorks, responsible for driving the converged infrastructure and cloud storage strategies. Jieming joined HP from Xsigo Systems (acquired by Oracle) as the Vice President of Engineering. He was also the Vice President of Engineering at LogLogic (acquired by TIBCO) He was one of the pioneer engineers in the Fibre Channel technology, developing prototypes and standards in its infancy. This led to his joining Brocade Communication Systems in mid-90s where he took increasing responsibilities and became a senior executive in engineering and technology.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Ariel Oren
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Oren is the CTO and co-founder of Capriza, an Enterprise Mobility Platform provider. Before founding Capriza, Oren served as VP of Innovation & Design at HP Software, General Manager of HP Labs Israel and enjoyed a decade long career as CTO at Mercury. He has extensive startup experience: NARUS (acquired by Boeing), VDOnet (Citrix), Ubique (AOL) and Optibase (VITEC). Oren is also co-author of several Internet and software application related patents.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Ariel Oren
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Oren is the CTO and co-founder of Capriza, an Enterprise Mobility Platform provider. Before founding Capriza, Oren served as VP of Innovation & Design at HP Software, General Manager of HP Labs Israel and enjoyed a decade long career as CTO at Mercury. He has extensive startup experience: NARUS (acquired by Boeing), VDOnet (Citrix), Ubique (AOL) and Optibase (VITEC). Oren is also co-author of several Internet and software application related patents.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
Shelton Waggener
Technology Advisor of Benhamou Global Ventures
Shelton Waggener is the Senior Vice President of Internet2 responsible for the NET+ portfolio of services including commercial and community cloud services, middleware development and Trusted Identity in Education initiatives. Shelton leads Internet2’s pursuit of emerging cloud and advanced services above the network involving demand aggregation and brokering with campus and commercial providers, and distributed offerings among its members. Internet2 NET+ includes compute, storage, platform and software services, the integration of identity management and federation with key applications for the research and education community, deployment of collaboration infrastructure among members, including video, coordination and sharing tools, content management, and domain applications. The program is delivering over $200M in value to member universities annually. In addition to core technical activities, Shelton has been very active in supporting higher educations transition to accessible, interactive digital content. He has sponsored numerous projects and evaluation activities with platforms and publishers designed to create opportunities for institutions eager to provide faculty and students enhanced learning environments. Prior to joining Internet2 Waggener served as Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at the University of California, Berkeley where he also served as Chair of the University of California CIO Leadership Council. Previously he spent more than fifteen years in senior positions in the private sector at leading technology firms including as CIO of InterNetworking Systems, an $8B division of Lucent Technologies; Director of IT for Octel Communications; and Senior Director of IT Infrastructure for Sybase. He is a founding member of several Kuali community source projects including Kuali Student and Kuali Ready and served for five years on the Board of Directors of the Kuali Foundation, a non-profit organization representing 18 Carnegie Class higher education institutions from around the world investing more than $70M in community source developed software for higher education.
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About : Benhamou Global Ventures is a venture capital firm sourcing startups to build them into the next-generation of B2B technology companies.
David Bills
Senior Advisor of Incentrum Group
David G. Bills serves as a Senior Advisor to Incentrum Group. He was previously Senior Vice President – Corporate Strategy at DuPont, with responsibility for companywide strategy, business planning, and mergers and acquisitions. He joined DuPont on May 1, 2001, as vice president of DuPont Corporate Plans. From 2003 to 2004 he was vice president and general manager of DuPont Displays. In 2004, he was named vice president and general manager for DuPont Fluoroproducts. In October 2006 he was named senior vice president and chief marketing and sales officer for DuPont. He was named to his current position in November 2009. Prior to joining DuPont, Mr. Bills was a partner in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, providing strategic guidance and consultation to industrial and technology companies. At McKinsey, Mr. Bills served as co-leader of the firm’s worldwide Growth Strategy Practice and was a member of the Corporate Finance and Industrial Marketing Practices. Mr. Bills received his bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1983 and his master of business administration from Harvard Business School in 1989. Mr. Bills currently serves on the board of directors of Modine Manufacturing Company. He formerly served on the board of trustees of the Delaware Art Museum, and on the Advisory Board of the Lerner College of Business at the University of Delaware.
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About : Incentrum Group is a merchant bank focused on the Healthcare, Life/Material Science, and Technology Industries.
Alana Ackerson
Advisor of Figure
Alana Ackerson is an entrepreneur, board member and investor in industries including financial services, blockchain, and international development. Alana is Co-Founder and Chief People Officer at Figure, whose primary mission is to build and promote self-sufficient, independent blockchain solutions to eliminate rent seeking and facilitate innovation in financial services. As part of this objective, Figure has a financial services business, including lending and asset management, executed entirely on blockchain. Provenance is Figure’s blockchain protocol for the origination, custody, trading and securitization of whole loans and other assets. Provenance has a native token, Hash, which is used to both access the blockchain and to memorialize off-chain exchange of fiat currency. Previously, she served as CEO of The Thiel Foundation, where she led the organization’s efforts to support the next-generation of entrepreneurs and to promote radical scientific and technological innovations. Alana is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors for Opportunity International. She has sat on the Boards of Stanford Student Enterprises, SFTS, and the Association of Women in Alternative Investing, as well as the Executive Committee of Breakout Labs and the Organizing Committee for International Justice Mission. Alana holds a B.A. with Honors in Science, Technology and Society from Stanford University, an M.A. in Philosophical and Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, and a Doctorate of Ministry with a focus on technology and faith from San Francisco Theological Seminary, where she also earned a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction. She is a candidate for a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Stanford University.
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About Figure: Figure is a financial services company leveraging blockchain technology.
Erik Bernhardsson
Senior Advisor of Better.com
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About : Better.com is a homeownership journey platform that utilizes technology to change the way people buy and own a home.
Travis Nelson
Management Advisory Board of TowerBrook Capital Partners
Travis Nelson is a Managing Director of TowerBrook. Prior to joining TowerBrook, he was a Managing Director and co-founder of Pacific Partners. Previously, he was an investment professional at Goldman Sachs, Oak Hill Capital Partners and Freeman Spogli & Co., and he served as a consultant to Rich Santulli, CEO of NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway company. He earned his B.A. from DePauw University and received his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business
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About : TowerBrook Capital Partners is a London-based investment management firm that funds European and North American companies.
Tom Marano
Advisor of TowerBrook Capital Partners
Mr. Marano, who has over 30 years’ experience in finance and lending and is widely considered an expert in the residential mortgage industry, most recently served as CEO of ResCap, a subsidiary of Ally Financial (formerly GMAC). Prior to joining Rescap, Mr. Marano spent 25 years at Bear Stearns where he ultimately served as the Global Head of Real Estate until his resignation in 2008. Mr. Marano’s responsibilities at Bear Stearns included oversight of the firm’s mortgage banking and mortgage related capital markets operations. Following his resignation from Bear Stearns, Mr. Marano joined Cerberus Capital Management where he established the mortgage capital markets group. At the request of Cerberus, Mr. Marano joined ResCap, first as its Non-Executive Chairman and later as its CEO. As CEO Mr. Marano lead ResCap’s restructuring and ultimate bankruptcy processes. Mr. Marano holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University.
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About : TowerBrook Capital Partners is a London-based investment management firm that funds European and North American companies.
Thomas S. Roberts
Managing Director and Senior Advisor of Summit Partners
Robert Thomas brings more than 30 years of technical, sales, marketing and management experience in the technology industry. In his current role as president and CEO of Infoblox, he has built the company into a highly profitable and valued business and successfully took it public in May 2012 (Nasdaq: BLOX). Previously, he was CEO and president at NetScreen Technologies, which was acquired by Juniper Networks; and he held senior management positions at Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu and ICL. During his nine years at Sun Microsystems, he was general manager of intercontinental operations and director of international marketing development, overseeing Sun’s international business opportunities and policies. Robert holds a B.Sc. in mathematics from Adelaide University in Australia.
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About Summit Partners: Summit Partners is an investment firm that is currently investing in to growth equity, fixed income, and public equity opportunities.
Harrison B. Miller
Senior Advisor, Former Managing Director of Summit Partners
Harrison B. Miller first joined Summit Partners in 1988. After then attending business school, he was part of the founding management team at Lightspan, an online education company that completed its initial public offering in 2000. At Amazon.com from 1998 to 2003, Harrison was the founding VP and GM of Platform Services, a $180 million unit of the company developing and deploying Amazon’s technology infrastructure as a managed service for major retailers and other customers. Harrison rejoined Summit in 2003. Based in Summit’s Menlo Park office, Harrison today co-heads the firm’s venture capital activities in North America, Europe and Asia, and focuses primarily on the technology and healthcare & life sciences sectors. Harrison’s directorships and investments include Autobase (acquired by Dominion Enterprises), Clearwater Analytics, Cloudmark, Delphix, LiveOffice (acquired by Symantec Corporation), NetWitness Corporation (acquired by EMC Corporation), Postini (acquired by Google), Software Spectrum (acquired by Level 3 Communications),Tiny Prints (acquired by Shutterfly), Wildfire Interactive (acquired by Google), AdvaCare (acquired by Medaphis Corporation), Diagnostic Hybrids (acquired by Quidel Corporation), and The Mutual Fund Store (acquired by Warburg Pincus). Harrison holds an AB in religion, cum laude, from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He serves numerous nonprofit organizations in an advisory or board capacity, including Common Sense Media, Opportunity Fund and Worldreader.org.
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About Autobase, LiveOffice, Postini, Summit Partners: Summit Partners is an investment firm that is currently investing in to growth equity, fixed income, and public equity opportunities.
C.J. Fitzgerald
Senior Advisor of Summit Partners
C.J. Fitzgerald joined Summit Partners in 1990. He then attended business school, and was founder and Chief Executive Officer of North Systems. C.J. rejoined Summit in 2001. Based in Summit’s Menlo Park office, C.J. is active in the firm’s investment activities in North America, Europe and Asia, and focuses primarily on the technology sector. During his 17 years with Summit Partners, C.J. has served as a director of many companies including three public companies. His past and present directorships include Access Information Management, Answers, GoldenGate Software (acquired by Oracle), Heald College (acquired by Corinthian Colleges), Help/Systems, Infor, M-Audio (acquired by Avid Technology), Mo Industries Holdings (acquired by VF Corporation), RuffaloCODY, Trident University International, Ubiquiti Networks (NASDAQ: UBNT) and WebSideStory (NASDAQ: WSSI). C.J. holds a BS in computer science, with Honors, from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
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About Summit Partners: Summit Partners is an investment firm that is currently investing in to growth equity, fixed income, and public equity opportunities.
Chris Schimmel
Senior Fiduciary Advisory Specialist of Wells Fargo
A 32 year seasoned veteran of the financial services industry, Chris provides fiduciary solutions to families and non-profits throughout the United States and abroad. An expert in wealth transfer and philanthropic planning, Chris focuses his efforts on bringing cutting-edge solutions to his clients while helping them stay focused on and refine their mission and values.
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About Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.3 trillion assets providing banking, insurance, and investments.
John Fowlkes
Strategic Advisor of Canalyst
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About Canalyst, Okera: Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis.
Jon McCarter
Managing Director & National Energy Leader for Transaction Advisory Services of Houlihan Lokey
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About Houlihan Lokey: Houlihan Lokey is a global investment bank that focuses on capital markets, financial restructuring, valuation, and strategic consulting.
Jon McCarter
Managing Director & National Energy Leader for Transaction Advisory Services of Houlihan Lokey
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About Houlihan Lokey: Houlihan Lokey is a global investment bank that focuses on capital markets, financial restructuring, valuation, and strategic consulting.
Jeff Schnoor
Advisory Board of Miramar Ventures
Jeff is a Senior Vice President at Entrepreneurial Corporate Group (“ECG”), a broad based private investment firm located in Newport Beach, which includes Entrepreneurial Investment Corporation and EIC Ventures, Inc. Jeff joined ECG in 1997 and currently manages all of its private equity and venture capital investments, which include both multiple fund investments and direct placements in private companies. He also oversees its aircraft operations, which include a charter company in Long Beach that manages seven Gulfstream aircraft. Prior to joining ECG, Jeff was a Vice President at both Wells Fargo Bank and Citigroup in California and Colorado, focusing on commercial/corporate lending and private investments. He received a B.A. in marketing from the University of Puget Sound, and attended the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in finance.
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About : Miramar Ventures, launched in 2002, is focused on seed and early stage venture capital investing in the mobile sector.
Brian Jones
Advisory Board of Miramar Ventures
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About : Miramar Ventures, launched in 2002, is focused on seed and early stage venture capital investing in the mobile sector.
Brian Jones
Advisory Board of Miramar Ventures
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About : Miramar Ventures, launched in 2002, is focused on seed and early stage venture capital investing in the mobile sector.
Jill Sommers
Advisory Board Member of Green Key Technologies
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About : GreenKey is the voice-driven collaboration platform for financial markets: enhancing compliance and enabling sophisticated data analytics.
Stuart Auerbach
Senior Advisor of Ampersand Capital Partners
Stuart Auerbach, a founding member and former director and treasurer of the TBM 700 Owners and Pilots Association, earned his private pilot certificate more than 30 years ago. Today, Stuart is a CFI and ATP, and holds single-and multiengine land and sea, turbojet, and rotorcraft ratings. He is a member of EAA’s President’s Circle and President’s Council. Professionally, Stuart serves as a general partner at Ampersand Capital Partners. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Columbia University and a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School.
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About Ampersand Capital Partners, Unilever: Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm focused on investments in two core sectors: Healthcare and Industrial.
Brian Napack
Senior Advisor of Providence Equity Partners
Brian Napack is president and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, a global leader in education and scholarly research. He joined the Company in December of 2017 as the 14th CEO in Wiley’s 210-year history. Brian has devoted his career to the education, information, publishing, and media industries. Prior to joining Wiley, Brian was a senior advisor with Providence Equity, one of the world’s leading private equity investors, where he was focused on making and managing investments in the media, education, and information sectors. From 2006 to 2012, Brian was president of Macmillan, overseeing publishing businesses in education, consumer books, digital media and magazines. Macmillan’s imprints include St. Martin’s Press; Farrar Strauss & Giroux; Henry Holt; Bedford, Freeman, & Worth; and Scientific American where he was chairman. Before that, he was a partner at L.E.K. Consulting, a global management consulting firm, where he served corporate and private equity clients in media, publishing, entertainment, and education. Brian founded and was CEO of ThinkBox, a digital media company focused on pre K-12 education. At The Walt Disney Company, Brian founded and ran Disney Educational Publishing and was a co-founder of Disney Interactive. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at Simon & Schuster and A.T. Kearney. Outside of Wiley, Brian serves on the boards of Burning Glass, a leading data and analytics software company, and Zero To Three, a science-based early childhood advocacy group. Brian received a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College.
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About John Wiley & Sons: Providence Equity Partners is a private equity firm that focuses on media, entertainment, communications, and information investments.
Wendy Frank
Cyber 5G Leader, Principal, Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory of Deloitte
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About Deloitte: Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services.
Kerry Francis
Partner , Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP of Deloitte
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About Deloitte: Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services.
Nicholas Ayala
Advisory Consultant of Deloitte
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About Deloitte: Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services.
Jean Dahl
Practice Lead – Organization Design; Operating Models, Business Advisory of Deloitte
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About Deloitte, O’Reilly: Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services.
John Graetz
Principal – Regulatory and Legal Advisory of Deloitte
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About American Red Cross, Deloitte: Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax, and other related services.
Edward Hamburg
Advisory Partner of Morgan Stanley
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About American Institutes for Research (AIR), Morgan Stanley, VizExplorer: Morgan Stanley is a financial services company that offers securities, asset management, and credit services.
Katy Zhao
TitleSenior Vice President | Senior Portfolio Manager | International Client Advisor of Morgan Stanley
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About Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley is a financial services company that offers securities, asset management, and credit services.
Jack Wadsworth
Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley
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About Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley is a financial services company that offers securities, asset management, and credit services.
Peter O’Brien
Wealth Advisor of Morgan Stanley
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About : Morgan Stanley is a financial services company that offers securities, asset management, and credit services.
Alex Pancoe
Associate Vice President, Financial Advisor, Portfolio Manager of Morgan Stanley
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About Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley is a financial services company that offers securities, asset management, and credit services.
Antonia Abraham
Advisor of Flybridge
Antonia started her career as an investment banker and lawyer. She left her law firm, Cravath, to join Betaworks where she managed investments and finance/operations for their in-house companies and later stepped in as CFO of two of their portfolio companies, SocialFlow and Chartbeat. Antonia worked at Yodle in Business Operations and subsequently ran finance and operations for Handshake, Inc. As a born and raised New Yorker, Antonia has a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Bob Freier
Advisor of Flybridge
Bob has been active in the communities he has lived in for over 20 years. Before moving to Woodbury, he was active in the East Williston School District, serving on many committees to help the district with technology and construction projects. Bob eventually ran and was elected as a Trustee of the Board of Education where he served for 4 years, the last 2 of which he was Vice President. During his tenure, Bob oversaw several multi-million dollar construction projects as well as an energy performance contract which resulted in significant savings to the district. Because of efficiencies, more programs and services were created for the students of the district. In his professional life, Bob is the owner and Partner of (2) small businesses, Genero Search Group and District Wise Search Consultants. As a co-founder of Genero Search Group, he works with venture-backed technology startup companies in helping form their initial core teams. The great majority of the companies he helped put together have gone on to achieve great success and create numerous jobs that help fuel our economy. Many of these companies have also been successfully acquired or gone on to become successful public companies. Through Bob’s work at Genero, he has also become an Advisor to Flybridge Capital Partners, assisting in the formation of many of their portfolio companies. Bob also is a co-founder of District Wise Search Consultants, which primarily focuses on finding new Superintendents for public schools after current Superintendents decide to either move on or retire. All of the public school boards that have hired District Wise have resulted in significant taxpayer savings and are leaders of what a 21st Century education should be. Bob’s firm frequently holds community forums in his clients’ districts (Students, Parents, Seniors, Teachers, Custodians, Clerical and Administration) so that they can have input into the process of hiring the next leader of their district. Bob is married to his wife, Suzy, who is a former Special Education teacher and now the Director of a pre-school. They have a daughter Michelle, who is a Special Education teacher in the New York City Public School System. They also have a son Dylan, who is an entrepreneur working for a startup software company in NYC. Bob was also an avid runner and has run 13 (26.2 miles) marathons and even more half marathons. He ran the majority of these races to raise needed funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. In 2010, Bob was nominated to be “Man of The Year” by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Bob was a previous candidate for the Town of Oyster Bay Town Council. He has been frequently quoted in Newsday and an outspoken critic of the corruption and mismanagement in the current elected and appointed officials at the Town.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Joel Schwartz
Advisor of Flybridge
Joel Schwartz recently retired from EMC Corp as Senior VP and General Manager Global New Business Development. While there in this role he was responsible for the overall strategic direction of EMC’s New Business Activities around the world. In this capacity, he initiated EMC’s R&D efforts in Brazil, Russia, India, China, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Colombia and Mexico, as well as led numerous investments/acquisitions in Israeli companies and joint ventures in China. Prior to this role, Joel headed EMC’s Clariion Division, growing its revenues from $500M to $2B in five years. Joel also served as the Sr. VP and GM for the Clariion Division as well as leading WW Sales and Marketing for Data General Corporation prior to its acquisition by EMC. Joel sits on a number of boards including: the Board of Directors of Mass Ventures, Board of Directors of the Finca Vigia Foundation and the Board of Overseers of the Brandeis International Business School. Joel is also a member of the Board of Directors of the US Russian Business Council, The International Visiting Committee of Case Western Reserve, Board of Advisors to Mass Challenge Israel and the Board of Directors of Israel and Co. He has also been a board member and advisor to several healthcare IT startups.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Kenneth Berger
Advisor of Flybridge
Kenneth Berger is an advisor to Flybridge Capital Partners focused on a new generation of user-focused business startups: tools for work. As the first product manager at Slack, Kenneth helped them grow 10x from 100K–1M+ daily active users. He co-founded YesGraph, another bottoms-up enterprise startup in the social recruiting space, and raised funding from top investors. At Adobe, he helped build some of its first SaaS products, managed the $100M+ Dreamweaver business, and drove critical acquisitions including Typekit, Omniture, and Behance. Kenneth holds an MHCI in Human-Computer Interaction and a BS in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, and HCI from Carnegie Mellon University.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Jared Cohen
Advisor of Flybridge
Jared has a wide range of skills, from operations and product, to law and finance, that he calls upon to help startups build, grow, and scale. He spent three years at Kickstarter, building all business operations from scratch. Initially tasked with solving payments and real estate, he continuously took on more responsibility eventually overseeing all of finance, human resources, payments, international, data, legal, marketplace integrity, and facilities. He was a company officer, member of the five-person executive team that ran the company and made all high-level decisions, and ran the all hands, exec, and board meetings. Since leaving Kickstarter, Jared has been advising several startups and serving as VP Product and member of the exec team at Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace where teachers share, buy, and sell their original classroom resources that has made nearly 20 teacher-millionaires.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Monique Guimond
Advisor of Flybridge
Monique Guimond is a MBA candidate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management who worked with the firm as a summer associate in 2016 and continues to support the firm as a Flybridge Fellow focused on identifying student-led investment opportunities. At MIT Monique runs the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, which stewards dozens of the top ideas across MIT through three annual competitions, mentorship programs, and non-dilutive venture funding. Prior to arriving at Sloan Monique was one of the first employees at a healthcare design startup focused on building interventions that improved patient outcomes. In her five-year tenure she set up and built out operations and worked to expand the business model, helping the company grow to over 50 employees and three offices abroad. Monique hold’s a B.S. from Georgetown University in Global Health and has spent time conducting research for the Ministry of Health in Uganda.
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About : Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing with entrepreneurs to leverage the power of the community.
Livia Masnaghetti
Industry Advisor of Advent International
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About : Advent International is a global private equity firm that invests in the business and financial services.
Larry Bodner
Senior Advisor of Advent International
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About : Advent International is a global private equity firm that invests in the business and financial services.
Bart Swanson
Advisor of Horizons Ventures
Bart helps companies scale globally and has been active in the technology sector for more than fifteen years as an entrepreneur, mentor, and executive. Previously he was the Chairman of Summly (sold to Yahoo), COO at Badoo, an MD International at GSI Commerce (sold to eBay), a GM at Amazon.com (helping lead the international expansion from 1998-2001), and was an MD at EMI Music Europe. Bart received an MBA from The Wharton School, an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, was a Fellow at the Lauder Institute, and has a BA in History from the University of Southern California.
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About : Horizons Ventures focuses on investing in disruptive and technology-focused start-ups.
David Dvorin
Senior Advisor of TPG
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About : TPG is a private investment firm that manages capital across a family of funds.
Halsey Wise
Senior Advisor of TPG
Halsey Wise is Chairman and Chief Executive of Lime Barrel Advisors, LLC, a private investment firm he founded in 2010. He brings to Cerner more than 30 years of experience leading, operating and advising software and healthcare technology companies. He previously served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MedAssets Inc. (formerly Nasdaq:MDAS), a leading health care technology performance improvement company that provides technology enabled products and services for hospitals, health systems, non-acute healthcare providers, payers and other service providers and product manufacturers in the United States. Prior to that, Halsey Wise served as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Intergraph Corporation (formerly Nasdaq: INGR), a provider of geospatial and engineering software; Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of the North American region for Solution 6 Holdings, Ltd.; General Manager of the North American region for Global Services for CA, Inc. and President and Chief Operating Officer of Computer Management Sciences, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: CMSX), a software and services provider. Halsey Wise serves on the Boards of Directors of WellSky and Aspen Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZPN), and he has also served on the Boards at several publicly held companies, including Cotiviti Health Inc. (formerly NYSE: COTV), Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM)) and Intergraph Corporation (formerly Nasdaq: INGR). He holds a Master’s of Business Administration in finance and marketing from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. degree in history from the University of Virginia.
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About TPG: TPG is a private investment firm that manages capital across a family of funds.
Norm Fogelsong
Advisory Partner of Institutional Venture Partners
Norm Fogelsong joined Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) in March 1989. With more than 30 years of high-technology venture capital and growth equity experience, he emphasizes investments in private later-stage companies and in select public market opportunities. Norm has led investments in Artisan Components (ARTI), Aspect Communications, Compaq Computers (CPQ), Concur Technologies (CNQR), Convex Computers (CNVX), Cortina Systems (IPHI), Danger (MFST), Dataminr, InphoMatch (SAP), Integrated Circuit Works (CY), Lam Research (LRCX), Marketo (MKTO), Mindbody (MB), MobileIron (MOBL), Platinum Software (PSQL), Polycom (PLCM), SkyStream Networks (ERIC), TelCom Semiconductor (TLCM), and Websense (WBSN). Norm was recognized by AlwaysOn as one of the top 100 venture capitalists by his inclusion in the AlwaysOn 2013 VC 100 List. Norm also actively participated in venture investments in Akamai (AKAM), Amgen (AMGN), At Road (TRMB), Applied Biosystems (ABI), Chordiant (CHRD), ComScore (SCOR), Cypress Semiconductor (CY), Digital River (DRIV), Genentech (DNA), Linear Technology (LLTC), LoopNet (CSGP), LSI (LSI), MIPS Computer Systems (MIPS), Quantum (QTM), Silicon Graphics (SGI), SuccessFactors (SFSF), SupportSoft (SPRT), Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR), 3COM (COMS), Verisity (VRST), and Zynga (ZNGA). For Cortina Systems, Norm arranged a $132 million investment syndicate, and the proceeds were used to buy a $100 million division that was being spun out of Intel. His most recent investments include Mindbody, the largest global provider of online business management software to the beauty, health, and wellness industry, MobileIron, the leader in Mobile IT security and management for apps, content, and devices, and Dataminr, a New York-based real-time information discovery company. Norm began his career as a computer programmer at Hewlett-Packard. He then worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company where he specialized in strategic planning. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and has served the local community as the Treasurer of the Children’s Health Council, the Secretary of the Churchill Club, the Founder of the Kona Jazz Festival and as a member of the Major Gifts Committees at Menlo School and Stanford University. Norm earned a B.S. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa), an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
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About Institutional Venture Partners: Institutional Venture Partners is a later-stage venture capital firm that focuses on technology and media companies.
Chackan Lai
Vice President, Risk Advisory & Innovation of Visa
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About Visa: Visa is a multinational financial services company that facilitates electronic payment systems throughout the world.
Tom Crotty
Senior Advisor of Battery Ventures
Tom joined Battery in 1989 and is responsible for managing all investment and operational aspects of the firm. His primary focus has been on the communications and e-commerce sectors, with investments including @stake Inc. (acquired by Symantec), Advanced Computer Communications (acquired by Newbridge Networks), Amber Wave Systems (acquired by U.S. Robotics), AnswerSoft (acquired by Davox), CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing), FaxSav Inc. (NASDAQ: FAXX), FORE Systems (NASDAQ: FORE), Primary Rate Inc. (acquired by Xircom), RADNET Ltd. (acquired by Siemens) and Witness Systems (NASDAQ: WITS). Tom is actively involved in the venture industry and is a board member of the NVCA. In 2005, he was invited to join the board of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), which brings together business, university and government leaders in a public/private partnership to build the state’s technology economy. Tom began his venture capital career in 1986 when he joined Abacus Ventures, a partnership focused on communications investments. He has been in the technology business since 1980, holding positions with IBM’s mainframe and minicomputer business. Tom received a BA in Business from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Battery Ventures: Battery Ventures finances technology sector companies with venture capital, private equity, and debt financing investments.
Rick Frisbie
Senior Advisor of Battery Ventures
Rick founded Battery Ventures nearly 25 years ago. In his current role, Rick acts principally as an advisor on the overall management and strategy of the firm. His current portfolio responsibilities are concentrated in the telecom sector and include MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) and Zayo Bandwidth. Rick’s prior investments include Allegiance Telecom (NASDAQ: ALGX), Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), Concord Communications (NASDAQ: CCRD), Network Equipment Technologies and several mobile communications investments that became part of Nextel Communications (NASDAQ: NXTL). Rick has served on numerous private and public company boards, and has also been a member of the Board of Directors of both the New England Venture Capital Association and the National Venture Capital Association. Prior to founding Battery, Rick spent six years in venture capital at UNC Ventures and two years in law at Hutchins and Wheeler. Rick holds an AB in Government from Harvard College and a JD from Harvard Law School.
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About Battery Ventures: Battery Ventures finances technology sector companies with venture capital, private equity, and debt financing investments.
Paul Olson
Member of the Board of Advisor of Thoma Bravo
Paul Olson has been a director of the Company since the August 2005 Merger. Paul has served as the independent Chairman of the Board of the Company since May of 2011. Paul served as lead director of Entegris Minnesota and as Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Entegris Minnesota board of directors from March 2003 until the Merger with the Company and as a the Chairman of the Governance and Nominating Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors until 2011. Paul Olson served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of nuBridges, Inc., a software business headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia from 2008 until its merger with Liaison Technologies, Inc. in 2011; he continues to serve on the board of directors of Liaison Technologies, Inc., serving as chairman of its Compensation Committee and as a member of its Audit Committee. Paul served as Executive Vice President of Bethel University from 2002 to 2008. Prior to 2000, Paul Olson was a founding executive of Sterling Commerce, Inc., an electronic commerce software company. Prior to his role with Sterling Commerce, he held executive positions with Sterling Software, Inc. and Michigan National Corp.Paul Olson is a member of the board of directors of several private companies and non-profit organizations, including WMC Industries, Inc.(where he is lead director) and Macalester College (where he serves on the infrastructure and audit committees); Paul Olson also serves as an advisor to Thoma Bravo Equity Partners. Paul Olson holds a BA degree from Macalester College, an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and a doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About : Thoma Bravo is a private equity firm with a focus on investing in software and technology companies.
Steve Julius
Advisor of Hyde Park Venture Partners
“Dr. J” advises senior executives of corporations, growth companies, professional service organizations and governmental agencies. Often called upon during times of transition or crisis, assignments include strategic planning, reorganization, culture transformation, succession planning, and executive development at the individual or team level. Until recently, Dr J was the team psychologist for the Chicago Bulls. He works with HPVP and portcos on talent identification and development.
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About : Hyde Park Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on high-growth, mid-continent technology startups.
Christopher Payne
Financial Advisor & Vice President of Payne Capital Management
Christopher Payne is a financial advisor at Payne Capital Management (PCM). His responsibilities include speaking with each of his clients on either a monthly or quarterly basis. Every client also receives a comprehensive annual review that entails both updated wealth projections and discussion about any changes that have impacted their lives or goals. In addition to working with his current clients, Christopher focuses on growing the practice of PCM. Prior to joining Payne Capital, he worked at SunGard Availability Services as an account executive. What triggered the move to wealth management? “I spent most of my previous career working as an account executive for an IT company,” says Christopher. “My job included both client relationship management and business development. After almost six years with that organization, I felt it was time for a change. I wanted to be part of a growing company that offered a unique and valued service. PCM covered both of those criteria.” Christopher is originally from the Philadelphia area, where he lived until 7th grade before attending preparatory boarding schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He then headed out west to the University of Denver, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration. In his spare time, Christopher enjoys reading, sailing, working on computers and traveling.
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About Payne Capital Management: Payne Capital Management operates as a financial advisory group and fiduciary.
Kem Danner
Global Head of Human Resources, State Street Global Advisors of State Street Global Advisors
Kem Danner is the head of Human Resources and Senior Vice President for State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) and is a member of the SSGA Executive Management Group (EMG). Kem joins the company this year after over 17 years at Bank of America where she most recently served as the Head of Diversity and Inclusion for a number of business units responsible for designing and executing a sustainable diversity and inclusion strategy for the respective business units. Kem held various roles within Global Human Resources at Bank of America including Senior HR Business Partner during and after the Bank of America Merrill Lynch merger in the Global Markets & Banking business, head of HR for Global Markets Technology & Operations as well as head of Human Resources for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Kem began her career in 1997 at Bank of America in the Management Associate Program in Charlotte, NC and served various business roles in the Retail, Preferred & Small Business including the launch of the company’s Online Banking & Bill Pay initiatives prior to joining the bank’s Global Human Resources division. Kem worked on several company mergers at Bank of America including a merger related assignment abroad in Europe. Kem is actively involved in various charitable organizations relating to childhood education & development as well as cancer research for the Samuel Waxman Foundation, Storefront Academy and the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She is also a member of various employee network groups within the company. Kem attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for undergraduate and graduate studies and will be moving from New York to Boston.
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About State Street Global Advisors: State Street Global Advisors is the investment management division of State Street Corporation
Geoff Judge
Advisor of Inovia Capital
Partner iNovia Capital Geoff was a co-founder of 24/7 Media; previously the President of Interactive Imaginations, 1 of 3 companies that merged to form 24/7 Media in 1997. 24/7 Media went public in August 1998 and was acquired by WPP in 2007 for $649MM. He was at iMarket prior, a venture backed start-up, where he was on the management team as VP Marketing. Geoff Judge spent nine years at American Express in the Card Division in several roles including VP and GM, Travel & Corp. Insurance Group. He was an investor in IndustryBrains (sold to Marchex), on the Board of Fetchback (sold to GSI), Oggifinogi (sold to Collective) and current board member of Global Cash Access (NYSE: GCA), Collective, PexCard, Spanfeller Media, and Lenddo, and an observer on Chango, Resonate, Routehappy, 33 Across, and others. He’s a founding board member of Children for Children, and a Trustee for the Sacred Heart School in Manhattan for 6 years. Education: M.B.A. from Columbia, B.A. in Economics from Northwestern.
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About : Inovia Capital is a full-stack venture firm that invests in tech founders.
Dan Freedman
Advisor of Inovia Capital
Since 1981, Dan Freedman has founded, grown, financed, bought, and sold software companies, primarily in the networking and security sectors. Freedman served as Vice-President of Security Products at anti-virus giant McAfee Corporation (now part of Intel) in the 1990’s, and has established successful companies in the networking, security, financing, and Internet Telephony spaces. Today, Dan’s leadership roles are in advising high-growth management teams. Born in the UK but growing up in Canada, today Dan lives in California, where he balances business with the pleasures of family life, and is an avid pilot, yachtsman, pianist, and mentor.
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About : Inovia Capital is a full-stack venture firm that invests in tech founders.
Lou Gatto
Strategic Advisor of Scratchpay
37 year veteran of the veterinary industry. Founding partner of Gatto McFerson (CPA firm for vets), and owner of many animal hospitals. Dedicated to helping pets receive great care and helping vets build great businesses.
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About : Scratchpay is a patient financing solution for veterinary care.
Bryce Forney
ProAdvisor of Intuit
A past member of the Accountant Advisory Council for Intuit, Bryce is an Advanced Certified ProAdvisor, a CPA and Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), and a member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network. More than all of that, he is an understandable, likeable, down-to-earth proponent of outstanding accounting and tax returns. An avid disciple of the Intuit philosophy of listening to customers, and a fanatic of the benefits of an open exchange with clients on product and workflow improvement, Bryce began his practice many years ago, and operates as much virtually, as from my home office.
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About : Intuit offers business and financial management solutions for SMBs, financial institutions, consumers, and accounting professionals.
Hector Garcia
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor / Contracted Trainer of Intuit
Ultra-passionate about small business success via real-time accurate accounting information and “”cloudmatization””. Graduate Degree in Accounting, Masters in Taxation, and Masters in Finance from Florida International University. CPA since 2014, ProAdvisor since 2008, YouTubber since 2011, and computer-nerd since 1991.
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About : Intuit offers business and financial management solutions for SMBs, financial institutions, consumers, and accounting professionals.
William Perry
Venture Advisor of Vision Ridge Capital Partners
Bill Perry serves as Venture Advisor at Vision Ridge Partners, as well as at Infield Capital. He is active across a broad spectrum, including: fund strategy, sector research, deal identification and screening, deal structuring and negotiation, and development of portfolio companies. Bill came to Colorado in 1982 as President of Precision Visuals, Inc. (a software company focused on engineering graphics). He built the venture from a ten-person garage shop into number 49 on the Top 100 Software Company list. In the early 2000s, he developed Webroot Software, Inc. into his second Top 100 Company. He also co-founded, and continues to serve with SoftBridge Advisors. Under his leadership, SoftBridge has logged three IPOs, seventeen successful mergers, and raised or assisted in over forty financings totaling $350 million. Bill spent the early years of his career in large corporations, with key assignments as off-highway, then later on-highway marketing manager at Detroit Diesel Allison (a $1bn line of industrial products), and as chief financial officer of a rapidly growing, Latin American telecom group. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from MIT, an MBA from Harvard, and is a recipient of Esprit’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship.
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About : Vision Ridge Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in the technology, energy, and transportation sectors.
Craig J. Farr
Senior Advisor of The Carlyle Group
Craig J. Farr (New York) joined KKR in 2006 and serves as Head of Credit and Capital Markets. Mr. Farr oversees KKR’s Capital Markets and origination business, having driven the build-out of its structuring, capital markets advisory, distribution and credit origination resources. Mr. Farr is a member of the firm’s Risk Committee. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Farr spent 12 years at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. where he was promoted to managing director in 2001 and served as Co-Head of North American Equity Capital Markets. Mr. Farr’s previous responsibilities included head of U.S. Convertible and Corporate Equity Derivative Origination. Mr. Farr began his career at Salomon Brothers in the investment banking division. Mr. Farr graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
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About : The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies.
Daniel Akerson
Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors & Special Advisor of The Carlyle Group
Daniel F. Akerson is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Special Advisor to Carlyle’s Board of Directors since March 2014. Daniel is also a Member of the firm’s Management Committee. Daniel provides operational, investment and management guidance to Carlyle’s investment teams, firm management and the Board of Directors. Prior to returning to Carlyle in March 2014, Daniel was the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Company. During his tenure, Daniel led the company through a successful IPO in November 2011, guided the firm to record 15 consecutive quarters of profitability, reinvested nearly $9 billion and created or retained more than 25,000 jobs at its U.S. plants. Daniel retired from GM in January 2014. Daniel is a seasoned executive with extensive operating and management experience having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer or President of several major companies, including The Carlyle Group, General Instrument, MCI, Nextel and XO Communications. Prior to joining GM, Daniel was a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, serving as Head of Global Buyout from July 2009 to August 2010 and as Co-Head of U.S. Buyout from June 2003 to June 2009. Before joining Carlyle, Daniel served in several key roles at MCI Communications and during his tenure, Daniel formulated and executed MCI’s global strategy. Daniel left MCI in to become a General Partner of private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company, during which time he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Company from 1993-1995. While at General Instrument he led a successful effort to develop and deploy the first digital video, satellite and cable systems domestically and internationally. Following that, Daniel served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Nextel Communications, Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of XO Communications, Inc. In 2013, Daniel and his wife, Karin, were named Habitat for Humanity Michigan’s Sponsor of the Year and he was also named a Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News. In 2012, Daniel and Karin co-chaired the annual Capuchin Soup Kitchen dinner, raising a record sum and launched the Habitat for Humanity Leaders to Rebuild Detroit initiative with a cornerstone contribution. Daniel was also recognized with the Marine Corp Scholarship Foundation Leatherneck Award and with the U.S. Naval Academy Distinguished Graduate Award for his lifetime commitment to service, personal character and distinguished contributions to our nation. In 2011, Daniel was named “Humanitarian of the Year” by So Others Might Eat (SOME), which serves the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Daniel earned his B.S., in Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and his M.Sc., in Economics from the London School of Economics. Daniel is a Member of the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin Company since February 2014 and the United States Naval Academy Foundation.
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About : The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies.
Olivier Sarkozy
Senior Advisor of The Carlyle Group
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About Further Global Capital Management: The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies.
Jim Stavridis
Advisor of The Carlyle Group
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About : The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies.
Esteban Reyes
Venture Advisor of Las Olas Venture Capital
Esteban Reyes is a serial technology entrepreneur with three exits that co-founded Las Olas Venture Capital to invest in the next generation of B2B, technology companies. He is the former Managing Director at Lender Processing Services [NYSE: LPS], as part of the company’s $600 million technology data & analytics division leadership team. Currently, he is a board member and early investor at Cypress.io, IOPipe, Rotabull, and SmartHop. Esteban is a Kauffman Fellow and serves as a mentor and advisor at Techstars, Endeavor.org, and Georgia Tech’s ATDC. He is a visiting lecturer at Kellogg’s School of Management at Northwestern University on the topics of entrepreneurship and venture capital. He spends his free time mastering the art of learning new things, playing soccer, and devising new travel adventures with his three boys.
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About Kauffman Fellows, Recast Capital: Las Olas Venture Capital is an early-stage fund that invests in startups in a variety of industries.
Phil Young
Senior Advisor of U.S. Venture Partners
Prior to joining US Venture Partners, Phil Young was President & CEO of Oximetrix, a manufacturer of critical care instruments and disposables, where he spent 8 years growing the privately-held venture-backed company from $1 million in revenues to nearly $50 million. Prior to Oximetrix, Phil Young spent 6 years at New Court Securities in venture capital and corporate finance, 2 years as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., and 6 years on Admiral Rickover’s project management staff at the Atomic Energy Commission. Phil Young has represented US Venture Partners on the boards of Aerogen, CardioThoracic Systems, CardioVascular Imaging Systems, CoCensys, Compugen, FemRx, Penederm, 3Dfx Interactive, Vical and Xoma–all of which became public companies. Currently Phil Young sits on the boards of Zoran, a public company, as well as Aptus Endosystems, Bayhill Therapeutics, Caspian Networks, Claria, Dotomi, RelayHealth, Synarc, St. Francis Medical and Timi3 Systems.
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About : U.S. Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage ventures in information technology and health care.
Mike Maher
Senior Advisor of U.S. Venture Partners
Mike Maher joined U.S. Venture Partners as Chief Financial Officer in 1991. Mike is responsible for financial reporting, legal and tax matters, and general administration for USVP and its funds. Mike currently serves as a member of the IPEV Board, as a participating member of the National Venture Capital Association’s CFO Task Force, and from 2003 through 2011 as an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Investment Companies Expert Panel. Prior to joining USVP, Mike was an audit partner with Ernst & Young, serving E&Y clients for 17 years in a variety of industries including financial services, health care, manufacturing, and pension plans. Mike received his B.S.C., cum laude, from Santa Clara University.
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About : U.S. Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage ventures in information technology and health care.
Erik Blachford
Executive Advisor of TCV
Currently a Venture Partner at Technology Crossover Ventures, Erik has previously served as CEO of Expedia, Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp’s travel division, IAC Travel (including online travel businesses Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Classic Custom Vacations and Interval International), CEO at Butterfield & Robinson and CEO at Terrapass, Inc. His prior positions at Expedia Inc. included SVP of Marketing & Planning and various roles in product management. Erik is an active private company investor, serving on boards including Glassdoor, Zillow, Siteminder, Liftopia and Terrapass, and participates in non-profit boards including EcoAmerica, The Cutting Ball Theatre and the US National Council of the World Wildlife Fund. Erik holds a bachelor’s degree in English and certificate in theatre from Princeton University and a master’s in business administration from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
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About Narrative Fund, TCV: TCV provides investment capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry.
Jonathan Teo
Advisor of SparkLabs Global Ventures
Mr. Jonathan Teo is the Founder, Partner, Founding Partner, Co-Founder, and Managing Partner of Binary Capital. Mr. Teo serves as an Advisor at Gen Y Capital Partners I LLC and SparkLabs. Mr. Teo serves as a Venture Advisor at General Catalyst Partners. He helps General Catalyst Partners explore emerging models for consumer products.
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About : SparkLabs Global Ventures is a seed-stage investment firm.
