Fission Ventures Team

Bio: Tomi is a Partner at Innovestor Group, a leading Northern-European VC investor and fund manager, where he builds companies as a venture capital and angel investor. Before joining Innovestor, Tomi was the Country Director of a listed real estate investment company backed by the Blackstone Group, where he managed a $500M investment and development property portfolio. Before joining the finance industry, Tomi was a Senior Associate at White & Case where he focused on business and securities law in New York and Helsinki. Prior to that he held legal positions with Holland & Knight, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and the United Nations. Tomi received his LLM from Columbia Law School in 2004, and holds degrees and has studied at: Hult Business School (MBA), the University of Turku (Master of Laws), Stockholm University (Nordplus Scholar), University of Louisville (Research Scholar) and Université de Fribourg (Erasmus Scholar). Tomi speaks six languages, resides in Cyprus and commutes weekly between the Innovestor offices in Stockholm, Helsinki, Moscow and Tel Aviv.

Bio: Bob is Senior Vice President for Growth at Elbit America, a global aerospace and defense provider for the defense, homeland security, commercial aviation, and medical instrumentation markets. He leads the integration and alignment of business development, strategy, corporate development, and strategic communications. He also leads the International / FMS business and manages the early-stage business of commercial unmanned aerial systems digital agricultural. Bob served in the US Air Force, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General, and also served in multiple senior operations and policy positions in the Pentagon. In addition, he worked as a White House Fellow and as the lead for Air Force congressional affairs for both the House and the Senate. Bob graduated from the Air Force Academy with a BSCE, then earned a MSCE as a Guggenheim Fellow from Columbia University. He also received a Masters in National Security Strategy from National War College, and completed an executive education program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Bob is a Falcon Foundation Trustee and a past president and board member of the White House Fellows Foundation and Association.

Bio: Eva is the founder and CEO of Eva Garland Consulting, LLC, which specializes in helping early stage technology companies tap into over $100 billion of federal, state, and private grant funding sources. Eva is also Director of the LiftOff Program at First Flight Venture Center, which assists North Carolina’s scientific entrepreneurs in obtaining early funding for their companies. She has published a book on winning grants through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, and serves on several scientific grant review panels. Eva was Vice President of Research & Development for Agile Sciences, where she oversaw the development of a new class of molecules for treating drug-resistant bacterial infections. Eva holds a BA in Chemistry from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Caltech. She previously served on the faculty at North Carolina State University.

Bio: Most recently, Alice served as the Chief Strategy and Digital Officer for ASCAP, a 100-year old music performing rights organization, which serves as $1B+ global settlement network for over 700,000 members. Previously, Alice served as Senior Vice President, Digital Distribution and Partnerships for Viacom. Prior to this, Alice was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy for a mobile multicast television start-up division of Qualcomm, a $70B wireless technology company where she led strategic partnership conversations and special internal projects, resulting in a $2B sale to AT&T. Before this, Alice led the adoption and monetization efforts for two digital start-ups, Enpocket, a mobile marketing platform, and PreCache, a distributed computing technology, both of which were successfully acquired by Fortune 500 companies. Alice started her career in Venture Capital at CIBC Capital Partners and Dolphin Equity and Investment Banking at Dean Witter. Alice serves or has served on a number of boards for start-ups, including: Qwire, Modalyst and Edtwist, as well as industry organizations, such as DDEX (digital supply chain management standards body), CISAC (global performing rights organization), FastTrack (product development organization for industry solutions). She has been an advisor to Techstars and a member of New York Angels. Alice has been named Billboard “Digital Power Player” for three years running, one of the “Top Women in Wireless” by Fierce Wireless and “Top 50 Women in Mobile Content” by Mobile Entertainment. Alice received her MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from Stern School of Business, New York University.

Bio: Marco has 20+ years experience in accelerating value creation through private equity investment and management consulting for small to mid-market companies across sectors (technology, manufacturing, consumer, and luxury goods), with a particular focus on local players ready to exploit untapped global opportunities. Marco is known for helping high-potential local companies navigate internationalization, business optimization, and capital raising challenges by leveraging deep private equity and management consulting expertise that transforms companies and unlocks value. Marco is an active investor through Mercurio Capital Partners, a firm specializing in private equity club deals, which he co-founded in 2006. Marco also provides strategic management and operations support, including administrative and financial administration, as a Board Member and through my companies MCP Advisors and Gallant Corporate Solutions.

Bio: Jafar is a Partner at Harding Loevner LP, a global investment firm with over $57 billion under management, where he manages the Global and International Small Cap Funds. Jafar has over 20 years of experience in investing, with a focus on the Technology, Media and Telecom industries. Prior to joining his current firm, Jafar has worked at NDB Capital/Deutsche Bank, and Franklin Templeton. He has an MPA in Economic Policy and Management from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia; an MBA in Computer Information Systems from Baruch College, CUNY; and under-graduate and Masters’ degrees in Economics from Aligarh University and JNU in India.

Bio: Yangliu is currently a partner of China Future Capital Group, a leading hedge fund in China, overseeing the global financing team and offshore investments. Previously, she worked as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley, covering technology, media & telecommunications (TMT). An entrepreneur-at-heart, she co-founded an online translation company that provided the translation services for the 2012 Asian Beach Games hosted by Olympic Council of Asia. Yangliu received her MBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and Columbia University.

Bio: Barry is currently a capital markets analyst on derivatives trading desk at Fannie Mae, where he helps to manage and hedge interest rate risks associated with the portfolio. Prior to Fannie Mae, Barry was a product analyst at Plymouth Rock Assurance, where he worked on pricing and underwriting of insurance products. Barry holds a Master’s degree in Actuarial Science from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bio: Frank is currently an MBA candidate at Columbia Business School studying Finance and is Deputy Director of Investments for the IBEW Pension Benefit Fund. In this role, he assists fund trustees oversee $3B in pension fund assets. Frank also served as Senior Research Analyst, in the Research and Corporate Governance Department of the IBEW. Prior to the IBEW, Frank was Manager of Investment Relations in the Corporate Affairs Department of LIUNA where he had oversight of investment relations for $35B in pension fund assets. Prior to the IBEW and LIUNA, Frank served as a Corporate Campaign Strategist and Research and Healthcare Policy Analyst. Frank holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Economy and History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Bio: Nancy (CBS’18) is the co-founder of beautylink, a media and entertainment platform for hair salon clients. Previously, she worked in intellectual property and international trade policy for the federal government of Canada in which she negotiated and implemented agreements such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet Treaties and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In addition to her MBA, Nancy also holds a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School and a BA in Psychology from York University.

Bio: Ethan is a healthcare leader with broad business and operating experience in mid cap and Fortune 500 companies and has played a central role in R&D, business strategy, M&A and licensing due diligence, and alliance and partnership development. He is also an early stage investor and serves as an advisor for several life sciences, medical device and health tech startups. Ethan earned a BS in biochemistry at Haverford College and a MBA from Columbia Business School.

Bio: Kai is an attorney currently practicing in New York. His practice focuses on FinTech, emerging companies and finance, with a particular emphasis on empowering clients to thrive at the intersection of law and tech-driven disruption. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2017 and his B.A. from UC Davis in 2012.

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 Certified 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.