Castor Ventures Team

Bio: Chris has over 20 years’ experience in tech investing, product development, and sales engineering. He has invested over $60M in companies from seed to venture stage. Most recently, he was Vice President at Edison Partners, where he focused on investments for Enterprise 2.0 and mobile. Previously, Chris was a Director of Business Development with biomedical venture accelerator BioEnterprise and Director of Business Development with Chrysalis Ventures. Earlier, at JumpStart, a nationally recognized venture development organization, he sourced and executed seed investments. Chris has an SB EE from MIT (’88) and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Notable Deals: MoneyLion, eSentire, Uptivity, HealthMedia

Bio: Cainon has a background in finance and entrepreneurship. At Boston Consulting Group, he conducted due diligence across the semiconductor, transportation, and medical device industries. At PBM, a $500M healthcare-focused VC firm, he led the due diligence process and worked as an operating partner within portfolio companies. He is also an active angel investor in several MIT startups. In addition, Cainon co-founded University Laundry, which was acquired by a national operator and would be sold to Proctor & Gamble’s marquee Tide brand. He has an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a BS from the University of Virginia in Systems and Information Engineering.
Notable Deals: University Laundry, Human Design Medical, RapidSOS, Vesper

Bio: Isaac is an experienced investor and analyst, leading research, sourcing deals, and coordinating diligence for venture and growth equity firms. Prior to joining Castor, he was an Investment Consultant to Tiger Global Management and founded Buttonwood Gaming, developing a digital economic simulation game with collaborators at MIT and worldwide. Earlier, Isaac served as Senior Analyst, Business and Research at Catalyst Investors, and an Associate at Samson Capital Advisors (now Fiera Capital). Isaac has an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, an AB from Brown University in Economics and Political Theory, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Bio: Ray Zoeller has over 30 years of leadership experience and demonstrated results. An entrepreneur, strategist, and adept P&L/turnaround manager, he has held key operating and consulting positions with premier consulting firms, international information-based conglomerates, and his own enterprises. During his 16 years with Thomson Healthcare, Ray helped grow its revenue from $114M to over $500M, directing strategic planning, acquisitions, and new business development across the company’s businesses. Thomson enjoyed a windfall exit of those properties, which in large part are now assimilated in IBM Watson as Truven Analytics. Ray’s earlier roles with Cincinnati Bell Informations Systems, Planning Research Corporation, and Strategic Planning Associates (now part of Mercer) helped shape his forthright style and team building skills. Ray earned a BS in management and an MS from Sloan in a self-designed, cross-registered program with Harvard Business School in just four years, while engaged in ROTC, volunteer work, and consulting.

Bio: Kerry is Director of International Distribution of Boston Partners Global Investors, overseeing all non-U.S. sales efforts. Previously she oversaw U.S. institutional sales, consultant relations, relationship management, and marketing services. Prior to that, she was a Senior Product Specialist for Boston Partners based in Europe and working with non-U.S. clients and prospects. She has over nineteen years of experience including time in equity trading at Goldman Sachs, business development at Wellington Management, and sales and equity analysis at Morgan Stanley. She serves on the MIT Sloan Alumni Board and the board of uAspire Massachusetts. Kerry has a BS in Management from MIT and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Bio: Kathleen is a distinguished entrepreneur, startup founder and advisor, philanthropist, and computer network specialist. She is a mentor with MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service, as well as with the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program and Graduate Women at MIT. Kathleen was Co-founder and CEO of Pico Innovation, an energy utilities services startup using smart technologies, and Founder and CEO of Silver Beech Networks, sending content services over high-speed data networks. Prior to that, Kathleen was Co-founder and VP of Business Development for Iron Bridge Networks, a carrier-class terabit router company. Kathleen holds a BS EECS from MIT.

Bio: Dan has been an active info tech and services executive, investor, entrepreneur, and consultant for many years. He has founded several companies from software to insurance, materials science, and accounting. Currently he is a Principal at Apollo Partners, specializing in health insurance services. Previously he was Co-founder and CSO of Immedia Semiconductor, and served as President of tech consultant Chainwave Systems. He was also Chairman of Uniform Metal Powders and VP Technology & Director at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. He has been a long-time member and served as Director of CommonAngels. Dan received his BS, MS, and PhD EECS from MIT.

Bio: Karl has 20+ years’ experience as a CEO, Board Member, advisor, and venture investor, driving revenue and business growth. He is Managing Partner of Leawood Venture Capital, a professional investment firm that manages private venture funds. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Elecsys Corporation (NASDAQ: ESYS), a leader in industrial IoT technology and cloud-based data management solutions that was acquired by Lindsay (NYSE: LNN). He has also served as President of DCI, VP of Operations at Airport Systems International, and Director of Manufacturing at Goodrich Aerospace. Karl has a BS Aerospace from MIT and a Master’s of Engineering from Boston University.

Bio: William is the Lead Programmer and Systems Architect at Tower Research Capital. He specializes in high-volume automated-trading systems, simulation design, risk management systems, hedge funds, and client-server architecture. Previously, he was an Athena Consultant at MIT, Staff Consultant and Programmer at Polytronics, and Consultant at Bose. William holds a BS EECS and Biology and MS EECS from MIT.

Bio: Mike (SM, MIT ’14) is currently an Electrical Engineer at Optimus Ride, where he evaluates, tests, and integrates different types of sensors for autonomous vehicles. Mike spent four years as a cofounder of Kuvée, which brought a wine bottle that stays fresh for 30 days and an IoT wine dispenser from concept to market. Kuvée raised over $10M and built a team of 25. Mike was named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Manufacturing and Industry, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, as well as a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Bio: Gladys is a Business Strategist and Positioning Expert. She has worked in a variety of tech companies such as Apple, Cisco, or Ziff-Davis and brings expertise in telecom, digital payment, mobile payment, data governance/regulation/security. Gladys holds a MBA from MIT Sloan.

Bio: Tracy Adams is the owner of ACSPropel, a software applications company whose clients include Zipcar, United Way, McGraw Hill, MIT Sloan, and Boston Museum of Science. Prior to ACSPropel, Tracy was a co-founder and the COO of ArsDigita, which was acquired by RedHat. She was a core architect OpenACS, an open source ecommerce and collaboration development platform used by 100+ organizations including Seimens, HP, Levys, CalTech, Wordbank, Greenpeace and Creative Commons. She started her software career was as employee number seven at PlanetAll, a collaboration platform much like Facebook. PlanetAll sold to Amazon.com in 1998. In her work with many startups, she has played a key role in the software powering 10 acquisitions. Often, she represented the startup in due diligence investigations or guided the integration into the parent company. Tracy holds Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and a MBA from Duke.

Bio: Yiwen is currently working in the Global Corporate Strategy team at State Street, where she supports and drives company-wide strategic planning and initiatives. At Castor, she focuses on helping build the broader MIT venture community. Yiwen is a published author, and she holds a Master’s degree in Finance from MIT and B.A. Economics from New York University.

Bio: Laide is an engineer turned Product Manager. She is currently a Product Manager at Ring, where she combines her love for technology and IoT to create products that impact lives and keep neighborhoods safe. Prior to that, she was a Product Manager at Sonos, where she combines her love for technology and music to create products that impact lives. She also has experience working as an engineer for companies in the space and consumer electronics industries. Laide is also passionate about Entrepreneurship and has worked at a couple of early-stage tech startups where she was responsible for product and business development as well as overall business strategy. Laide earned an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. She also holds a dual B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona and an M.S. from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Bio: A native of Huntsville, AL, Frederick Daso is pursuing his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering on the heels of majoring in AE and minoring in Political Science at MIT as an undergrad. Daso complements his technical expertise with a passion for writing — he’s currently an Under 30 Contributor at Forbes, covering college students and recent graduates in the process of building startups, and was chosen as a 2016 LinkedIn Top Voice for Student Publishing. Daso looks forward to blending his “hard” and “soft” skills as a Community Engagement Fellow with Castor.

Bio: Prior to joining AVG, Chris was a Customer Advocate at Graphic Packaging and in Sales & Marketing at Putnam Investments, where he created materials for reps and investors. He’s a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Manning School of Business, where he studied Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Studies.

Bio: Previously, Anne was an Applied Behavioral Analysis Counselor for Melmark and a medical biller for Physicians Resources. She is also a certified Certifiied Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor, with her own clientele. Anne has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire.

Bio: Prior to joining AVG, Hilary was a Staffing Executive and Program Manager at Robert Half. Previous positions include Retirement Planning & Guidance Consultant for Fidelity and an Investor Assistant for an independent investor. She has a Bachelor of Science, Business Management & Marketing from Fisher College.