Focused Funds Team

Bio: Mike has been involved in almost every facet of venturing, from angel investing to venture capital, new business and product launches, and innovation consulting. He is currently CEO of Alumni Ventures Group, the managing company for our fund, and launched AVG’s first alumni fund, Green D Ventures, where he oversaw the portfolio as Managing Partner and is now Managing Partner Emeritus. Mike is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple companies, including Kid Galaxy, Big Idea Group (partially owned by WPP), and RDM. He began his career at VC firm TA Associates firm. He holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering Science from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Notable Deals: Intuit, Sapho, Jenny Craig, Group

Bio: Alain has 30+ years of experience as a VC, angel investor, CEO, serial entrepreneur, Board Member, and advisor. He was Co-founder of Common Angels, New England’s leading investment group; Managing Director and CEO of Navigator Technology Ventures, a high-tech VC firm funded by Draper Lab; and CEO of Viewlogic, an innovative chip design software company. Alain has mentored over 100 MIT high-tech spinoffs and served on the MassTech Board through the terms of six governors. He was honored as Inc Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He has BSEE and SB Math degrees from MIT, SM Computer Science from Harvard, and OPM from Harvard Business School.
Notable Deals: Viewlogic, Applix, EverQuote

Bio: Jim has over 20 years of experience in capital market sales and business development on Wall Street. He worked for a handful of large banks, including Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, UBS, and RBC, covering institutional investors. His client base ranged from HNW individuals to the largest money managers and hedge funds. He focused on the highly quantitative sector of securitized credit, backed by commercial real estate, leveraged loans, mortgages, and derivatives. He earned a BA in Business Economics from Brown University, where he was a member of the varsity swimming team.

Bio: Anton has 20+ years of technology experience as a proven venture capital investor, entrepreneur, and operating executive in companies ranging in size from startup to Fortune 10. Most recently, he founded and led Vener8 Technologies, a technology commercialization company he started with GE. Previously, Anton led the Software and Internet Infrastructure Group at GE Equity, where he directly invested $72 million in 10 companies generating more than $500 million of realized gains. Anton has substantial international experience in Canada, China, Europe, and Israel, and has served on the board of directors of more than 20 private and public companies. Anton has a BSc Engineering from Queen’s University in Canada and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio:Deborah has over 25 years of experience working with social impact entrepreneurs and mission-driven leaders. Prior to joining AVG, Deb was an independent consultant for business development and growth strategies, guiding founders through the early startup and launch phases of new social ventures and nonprofit organizations. Her clients included an MIT professor and former dean launching a venture to transform the higher education landscape, social ventures focused on national security and foreign policy, and a national organization building a global joint initiative for world leaders. She has worked in higher education advancement, nonprofit management, and as a Capitol Hill lobbyist, beginning her career as committee staff in the US Senate. Deborah holds a BS in political science from Birmingham-Southern College and a MA in Communication from American University.

Bio: Allie graduated from Marist College in 2018 with a double major in Business Administration and Psychology. She received her Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance in 2020 from Marist College as well. Her professional career began at AV in 2019 as the Boston Office Community Manager and later was promoted to Marketing Associate. In early 2020, Allie started her role as an Investor Relations Manager.

Bio: Client-focused with 7+ years of experience working with HNWI. 7+ years experience in the financial services industry (public and private). He holds a BS in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Bio: Before joining Alumni Ventures, Kylie worked as a consultant for a chapter 11 bankruptcy firm, aiding companies in their efforts to restructure. She is passionate about AV’s unwavering dedication to its investors and is proud to serve this community. Kylie graduated cum laude from Marist College, with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a double minor in Spanish and Global Studies.

Bio: Prior to joining Alumni Ventures, Kevin was an Advisory Consultant with Deloitte, where he worked within the Life Sciences industry helping pharmaceutical manufactures obtain and maintain government contracts. Kevin has come to identify with the mission of Alumni Ventures to provide our investors with the best experience possible. Kevin is a graduate of Fairfield University’s Dolan School of Business, where he studied Finance and Economics.

Bio: Rob is a former entrepreneur, institutional fund manager, and software executive. He has served on many corporate boards and has founded or financed more than 40 companies, raising capital in both public and private markets. He is an internationally recognized expert and speaker on innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship. Most recently, Rob was on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he taught entrepreneurship in the MBA program and was the Founder and Director of Texas Venture Labs. He was CEO and Founder of Business Matters, a venture-backed developer of financial modeling products that was acquired. He was also an executive with Pervasive Software, a company he helped take public. Rob holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue, an MBA from Babson’s Olin School of Management, and a PhD in Management from Capella University.

Bio: Greg is a highly accomplished executive with experience in corporate leadership, business development, startups, M&A, strategic planning, and more. He has spent much of his career growing business in the electrical products, packaging, and chemical industries. Throughout, he has been buying, selling, and combining companies to fit strategic goals. Previously, Greg served as President and CEO of 2D2C, developing safer energy-saving products. Greg was also VP Corporate Development and Acting Division President for a high-tech subsidiary at Woodhead Industries and Director Corporate Development for Tenneco. Greg has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin (’86) and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.
Notable Deals: Heal, Grub Market, American Gene Technologies

Bio: David has played a leading role in many aspects of the VC investment cycle: structuring transactions as a fundless sponsor, improving operations as a consultant, leading management teams as a CEO, evaluating opportunities as an investor and advisor, and selling companies as a licensed business broker. Previously, he founded Synergy Financial, a private capital and consulting firm for entrepreneurs, PE professionals, and family offices. He started his investment career as a professional advisor managing millions in assets. David has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern and played for the two-time Big Ten Championship Northwestern Wildcats Football Team. He serves on the NUvention and Kellogg Entrepreneurial Center Advisory Boards.
Notable Deals: Relayr, BlockFi, Heaven’s Door

Bio: Dan is a Senior Partner with Alumni Ventures Group in the Boston Office. He has over 27 years of experience working with accredited investors in public markets. The majority of his career has been spent with families developing and implementing financial plans. Dan is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where he received his Bachelors Degree in History and captained both the indoor and outdoor track teams.

Bio: Matt is a two-time venture-backed founder/CEO with a decade of experience building companies, including Aurora Biofuels, which grew to over 100 employees and raised more than $100 million in capital before being acquired by Reliance Industries. Before joining Alumni Ventures, Matt was a leader of the innovation team at Nike, where he oversaw a portfolio of projects and led global cross-functional teams. He’s an active angel investor and leads an AngelList syndicate that consists of a global community of over 800 backers. Matt holds a BS in Biochemistry from Georgetown University and an MBA with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from UC Berkeley. He has completed executive education at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School.

Bio: For the past 15 years, Cainon has worked with startups as an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. Prior to Castor, Cainon helped co-found five companies: Viafy, Human Design Medical (merged with Breas Medical of General Electric [NYSE:GE]), Triangle Research Labs (acquired by Lonza [SIX:LONN]), Revive Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Concordia Healthcare [TOR:CRX]), and University Laundry (acquired by a national operator, then Proctor & Gamble’s Tide [NYSE: PG]). Previously, he was an investor at PBM, a $500M healthcare-focused VC firm. Cainon also worked at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Goldman Sachs, and NASA. 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: Mythical, RapidSOS, Excision, FarmWise

Bio:In 20 years as a private equity and venture capital investor focused on fintech and specialty finance investments, David has invested $500+ million and served on the boards of many private and public companies. Before joining Triphammer Ventures, he was a Founder and Managing Partner at private investment firm Killearn Capital. Earlier, he was a Managing Director and Investment Committee member at Lightyear Capital, where he focused on specialty finance businesses. He has also worked at Morgan Stanley, Samuel Montagu (HSBC), and Chase Manhattan’s Management Development Program. A proud Cornell graduate, David received a BS in Applied Economics & Business Management from the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in 1991 and now serves as the Chairperson of Cornell’s Alumni Advisory Council at the Dyson School. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Bio: Dean is a member of the Green D Ventures investment team, bringing along investing and clinical experience in healthcare and startups. Most recently, Dean worked at Touchdown Ventures, where he helped lead a venture capital fund with a health system. Prior to Touchdown, Dean served as an active duty flight surgeon in the United States Navy, deploying to Japan and El Salvador as the sole medical provider to over 300 Naval aviation personnel. Dean began his career in healthcare investment banking at Banc of America Securities and healthcare venture capital at KBL Healthcare Ventures. Dean has an AB in Government from Dartmouth (salutatorian Class of 2006), an MBA in Health Care Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an MD from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dean continues to serve as a flight surgeon in the Navy Reserve.

Bio: Michael is a Principal at Basecamp. Previously, he worked as an entrepreneur and operator in the fintech, healthcare services and transportation fields at early and late stage companies. Michael is now focused on helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses as they work through product development and optimizing operations. Michael started his career in the financial services industry and has experience in private equity co-investing, secondary markets, and corporate strategy, as well as technology M&A advisory and early stage venture investment. He received a BS from Georgetown University in Finance and Operations and Information Management and an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Bio: Dave has held operating roles in sales and business development at venture-backed companies focused on digital health (Zocdoc) and enterprise cloud software (Shibumi). He has also invested as a Venture Partner at NextGen and an LP at CRE Venture Capital. Dave began his career in investment banking and corporate strategy at Deutsche Bank. He has a BA in Economics from Brown.
Notable Deals: Circulation, Andela

Bio: Nancy Fechnay has been a part of the investment and startup world for nearly 15 years. She co-founded three tech companies, resulting in one exit and one seed stage “future of work” company (backed by AtomicoAngels and Outlier in Europe). Nancy worked for Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and GE Ventures before becoming a partner at Flight Ventures (largest syndicate in the world) in 2015. Nancy has invested alongside top-tier U.S. and EU-based firms, such as Greycroft, Google Ventures, A16Z, Bessemer, Balderton, and Octopus Ventures. She is currently a partner in Flight Ventures and a Senior Principal for Alumni Ventures’ Towerview Ventures fund. Nancy regularly speaks at events and advises companies on how to keep adapting and growing through fast-paced change. Past speaking engagements include SXSW, SLUSH, Google HQ, and Web Summit. Nancy has a B.S. in Engineering from UVA and an MBA and an MEM from Duke University. She enjoys kitesurfing and international travel.

Bio: Lacey joined Green D Ventures from CareGroup Investment Office, a $3B manager of combined endowment and pension assets. As a member of the investment team, Lacey was responsible for investment sourcing and due diligence. Lacey managed investment opportunities across asset classes and strategies, including venture capital, growth equity, buyout, private credit, and hedge fund vehicles. Previously, she was an Associate at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and an Analyst in the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs. Lacey has a BA in History from Middlebury College and an MBA from Tuck.
Notable Deals Propel, WelbeHealth

Bio: Jake brings both operating and investing experience to the Alumni Ventures team, having spent 6 years at JP Morgan and 1.5 years at Primetime Partners, an early-stage venture fund focused on digital health and aging-related technology businesses. At JP Morgan, Jake was responsible for overseeing and analyzing changes to the bank’s $300 billion fixed-income portfolio. Jake holds an MBA from Yale School of Management, where he was the leader of the FinTech and Blockchain Club. Jake also holds a BS in Finance from the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Bio: Andrea has worked with early and growth-stage companies as an investor and an operator. Previously, she was an investor at Fika Ventures and Expa, the venture studio started by the founder of Uber. Prior to venture, Andrea was an early employee of proptech company VTS before founding Loop, a two-sided marketplace for tenants to leverage collective buying power for home services. She started her career in commercial real estate at CBRE Group, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. Andrea holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Notable Deals: Balsa (Andreeson Horowitz), Steno (First Round Capital), Flatfile (Two Sigma Ventures, Gradient Ventures), CoScreen (Unusual Ventures), Composer (Golden Ventures)

Bio: Alim is a Senior Principal at Spike Ventures, AVG’s fund for Stanford alums. Before joining AVG, he worked at American Express Ventures and GE Ventures focused on enterprise, B2B, fintech and AI/ML investments. Prior to investing, Alim worked in tech at Google, where he generated revenue for advertisers and managed a $100M book of business. He also spent time at PayPal in product marketing and Instart Logic, a startup backed by a16z and KPCB, where he focused on business development and partnerships. He holds a BS in Business and Accounting from the University of Southern California where he graduated magna cum laude, an MS in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Bio: Erik has worked with both traditional venture investors and corporate venture teams during his career. He has deep experience evaluating opportunities, structuring investments and advising management on value creation. Previously, he helped build the strategy and make investments for the PGA TOUR’s corporate ventures group. Erik began his career with Deloitte Consulting where he focused on corporate strategy and M&A engagements. He holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors. He has an MBA in Finance from Kellogg.

Bio: Prior to joining AVG Sasha was a Management Consultant at Stax, Inc., a boutique consulting firm specializing in private investment diligence and growth strategy engagements. Before Stax, Sasha worked at a private-equity-backed startup in the seafood industry, and prior to that, within the Strategic Planning and Marketing groups at Brown Brothers Harriman. She volunteers her time as Judge and Mentor for MassChallenge and also as an Alumni Ambassador for Cornell’s Johnson School. Sasha has an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson College of Business and an MA (Honours) from the University of St. Andrews.

Bio: Brian is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 years of investing experience across a range of industries. Before joining Chestnut Street Ventures, Brian was the Managing Director for New York Ventures, the venture capital arm of the State of New York. Prior to that, he was VP of Strategy & Corporate Development at Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) and a Managing Director at the Peacock Fund, the venture capital arm of NBC Universal. Before joining the Peacock Fund, Brian worked at GE Capital and Bain & Co. Brian holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from The University of Southern California.
Notable Deals: Outlooksoft, The Rubicon Project, Adify, Unite Us

Bio: Krithika is a member of Strawberry Creek Ventures where she brings experience in venture capital, entrepreneurship, and scientific research to the team. Krithika has led diligence and sourced deals as a Venture Partner at Humboldt Fund and a Senior Venture Fellow at Castor Ventures. Prior to venture capital, she co-founded a cognitive fitness company to enhance brain performance across the age spectrum. She also served as the Director of Business Development at Prime Biologics where she established strategic partnerships in the US, EU, and emerging markets. Krithika did her postdoctoral research studying the gut microbiome at Cornell University and has a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Texas A&M University.

Bio: Ron has spent his career in a variety of entrepreneurial, leadership and business development roles. He has been an angel investor and advisor to over a dozen technology startups. Ron was co-founder and CEO of Barcelona-based TravelPerk, a venture capital-backed travel management platform that is ranked as one of the world’s fastest-growing SaaS companies as well as one of the most popular business travel booking tools in the market. Prior to TravelPerk, Ron started the B2B division of Booking.com and before that was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. Ron began his career at Lycos, one of the web’s pioneer search engine and web portals. He has lived in four European cities and traveled for business and pleasure to over 130 countries on six continents. Ron graduated from Babson College and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio: Jess Liu-Brown brings to Blue Ivy Ventures investing experience across various sectors and stages. She was previously Vice President at Cathay Capital Group, a private equity firm providing growth equity to private companies. She also helped Foodshed Investors New York select pre-seed round investments, as well as invested in seed-stage companies in China. Before Cathay Capital, she helped build the Strategy Department for Women’s World Banking in Ghana, and worked in investment banking at JPMorgan in New York. Jess has an international perspective on investing, having lived or worked in four countries and invested in the US, China, and other emerging markets. She has an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.

Bio: Before joining the Basecamp Fund, Catherine was a successful entrepreneur, product manager, and software engineer. She was Director of Product at NEA-backed DataVisor, an enterprise company offering an unsupervised machine learning fraud solution. Prior to hat, she co-founded the retail analytics company Fancy That (acq. acquired by Palantir in 2015). While at Stanford, she built an online platform used by thousands of students and instructors to streamline grading. Catherine graduated from Stanford with a BS and MS in Computer Science, focusing on AI.
Notable Deals: Capella Space, Haven, Lily AI, Sunfolding

Bio: Michael has spent most of his career in leadership roles at growing organizations. He has focused his time primarily as an investor, advisor, and/or board member working with companies across a range of industries and stages. Prior to co-founding The Yard, he served as Managing Director of Square 1, leading the expansion of the New England region while providing growth financing to dozens of venture-backed companies. Previously, Michael was an investor at Edison Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, and Summit Partners. He earned an AB from Harvard University (’00), where he was a four-year letter winner in both Varsity Football and Varsity Baseball. Michael later received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Notable Deals: JUMP, SimpliSafe, Getaround, STRIVR

Bio: Tim is a Principal at AVG. Prior to working at AVG, Tim worked in a variety of roles around the startup ecosystem, including time at two venture capital funds and a public company doing corporate development. Tim has a BSBA from the University of Richmond and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Bio:Todd has more than 20 years of experience as a venture capital investor, entrepreneur, and senior technology operating executive, as well as deep knowledge of intellectual property and IP licensing. He has worked with capital structures ranging from seed stage investments to public offerings and has experience in many sectors, including consumer media and web, optoelectronics, telecoms, cleantech, and healthcare. Most recently, he was founding Managing Partner of Grey Sky Venture Partners, a life sciences and digital health fund that pioneered a venture finance model combining early-stage capital with fund-owned intellectual property. He also served as a senior business leader in a technology incubator fund, where he led efforts to build, fund, and spin out several new deep tech businesses. Todd received his BA from Hendrix College and holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Bio: Jonathan is responsible for sourcing, conducting due diligence on, and executing venture capital investments at Chestnut Street Ventures. He previously spent 12 years investing in private companies at two single-family offices and at American Capital. Jonathan began his career as an investment banker as an analyst at Wasserstein Perella and subsequently joined Goldman Sachs as an associate. He received his BS in Economics cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School.

Bio: Tom is an experienced CEO and strategic consultant. He has been CEO of three different venture-backed companies, which he successfully turned around. As General Manager, he launched Iron Mountain’s award-winning Digital Record Center. He brings a global perspective to business, having lived in Europe and Asia and worked in 40 countries. Tom has an engineering degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Notable Deals: Mapquest, Connotate

Bio: Most recently Wayne served as a founding partner at Purple Arch Ventures, AV’s fund for Northwestern alumni. Before that, Wayne was an executive on the global content acquisition team at Netflix and VP of Business Development at Silver Chalice Ventures, a digital media startup. Wayne began his career as a Surface Warfare Officer in the US Navy. He holds a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford, an MBA from Kellogg, and is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 25). He is an advisor to several startups and founding board member of Great Lakes Academy Charter School.
Notable Deals: Relayr, Exicure

Bio: Keaton has spent his career focused on high-level teamwork. A proud Wisconsin Basketball alumnus, he started his career playing professional basketball in Europe. He played for and led teams in competitions across Europe, including stops in Germany, Spain, Latvia and Italy. When he returned from overseas, his career focus shifted to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He has worked with both institutional and corporate venture teams and completed and MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship. He holds a BS in kinesiology from UW-Madison and an MBA from the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking from the Wisconsin School of Business.

Bio: Meera is a member of the Green D Ventures investment team, bringing along financial management and operational experience from her time at Yale University, where she managed a $1B budget of the $4B organization. Most recently, Meera worked with early stage venture funds and incubators like Polymath Capital Partners and Create Venture Studio, and was responsible for investment sourcing and diligence across several verticals including enterprise SaaS, financial services and consumer products. Meera has a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Bio: Andrew is a Senior Principal at 116 Street Ventures, AVG’s fund for Columbia alumni. He has over a decade of finance experience, including roles as an investor, board advisor, and limited partner across venture capital and private equity. In addition, he previously founded a financial technology startup and served as CFO for one of the largest, privately held self-storage companies in the U.S. Prior to joining AVG, Andrew was an investor at Mithril Capital, a global investment firm co-founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan, where he focused on sourcing early and growth stage investments and working with portfolio companies on strategic initiatives. Andrew holds a BBA from Baylor University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Bio: Ludwig has been on all sides of venture — as an entrepreneur, corporate buyer of ventures, and venture capitalist. Before Alumni Ventures, he experienced the daily realities of entrepreneurship as Founder and CEO of a mobile payments venture that served over 12 million people. Earlier, at a Fortune 100 telecommunications manufacturer (Nokia), he held general manager and business development roles that included investing in and acquiring venture-backed businesses. His first experience in venture capital was with an $800 million global fund that focused on enterprise and mobile software both before and after the dot.com crash. Ludwig began his career as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. He has a BA from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia.
Notable Deals: gate5, EMR Ventures

Bio: Laura brings operational perspective as a CEO, Chairman, and executive in technology startups in addition to investing experience. As Managing Partner at Ripplecreek Partners’ technology practice and General Partner at FA Technology Ventures, she worked various tech sectors: mobile, consumer, internet, SaaS, cloud-based, marketing, and enterprise software across many economic cycles. She also served as CEO at Handango, creating the first marketplace of mobile apps. At Microsoft, she co-founded two businesses as an intra-preneur in an elite swat team spun out of Bill Gates’ office. Laura holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and AB in Government from Dartmouth (’89).
Notable Deals: RealSelf, Propel

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: Prior to joining Basecamp, Matt was an experienced founder and operator of multiple venture-backed businesses: Integral Ad Science (acq. by Vista Equity Partners), enterprise SaaS platform Suzy (backed by The Foundry Group, Tribeca Venture Partners), and a direct-to-consumer brand (backed by Lerer Hippeau). Earlier, he was a member of the corporate venture practice at Nike and an investor at Coriolis Ventures. He began his career as an innovation strategy consultant for Procter & Gamble. Matt holds an MBA from NYU Stern and BA from Tulane University.
Notable Deals: Cube Planning (Bonfire Ventures), Teal HQ (Lerer Hipeau, Flybridge Capital), Teamshares (Union Square Ventures), Voro (Floodgate), Tembo Health (Resolute Ventures)

Bio: Jasmi’s career has covered several stages of the investment lifecycle. Previously, she worked at Healthios, an advisory firm focused on growth equity and venture capital backed companies. Earlier, she worked for Sterling Partners, serving as an Operating Executive within their healthcare portfolio. Jasmi has also held positions at The Carlyle Group, The MasterCard Foundation, and Deloitte Consulting. She began her career in investment banking at Credit Suisse. Jasmi holds a BBA (Honors) from Schulich School of Business, York University, and a MBA (Dean’s List) from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Bio: David has over 25 years of experience as an investor, adviser, and board member, with expertise across early- and late-stage venture capital. Before joining Blue Ivy, David was Senior VP of Corporate Development and Business Development for DataXu, a marketer-aligned data and analytics company. Prior to his time at DataXu, he was a Director with the global venture and private equity firm 3i, including board directorships with ten companies. He also worked in the private equity group at GE Asset Management, where he specialized in late-stage venture and growth capital opportunities. David received his BA in History from Yale in 1991 and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2000.
Notable Deals: Wellpartner, Carbonite, Dataminr, Rigetti

Bio: Chris has 20+ years of experience in tech investing, product development, and sales engineering. He has invested over $80 million 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: Jack Statza brings deep-tech venture investing expertise across sectors and stages to his work at Alumni Ventures. He was previously an early-stage investor at Allstate Strategic Ventures, the venture capital arm of Allstate Insurance Company, primarily focusing on AI/ML, Blockchain, and Enterprise SaaS. Before Allstate, Jack worked in investment banking at Lazard and at Livingstone in Chicago, executing M&A transactions for technology clients. He was also a consultant at the Northern Trust Company, where he gained a deep understanding of the financial markets that blockchain is beginning to disrupt. Jack has been deeply involved in the blockchain space ever since he first mined Bitcoin in 2010 and is a personal crypto investor in many altcoin projects. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he is a CFA charterholder.

Bio: Before joining Alumni Ventures in 2021, Justin helped two corporate venture capital units achieve top-quartile returns. He has invested in companies across the U.S., Europe, and Israel from Seed stage to Series D and been the board observer for ten companies. Justin’s experience prior to entering venture capital was focused on the financial markets, where he traded derivatives in the global markets for eight years and then co-founded a financial markets education and research business. Justin is a former college and professional golfer, competing in over 40 professional tournaments and participating in the PGA Tour’s qualifying school. He and his wife are both proud graduates of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Bio:Edward has 15+ years of investment experience in the U.S. and China, including a successful track record with investments such as Cruise Automation (acq. by GM), Life360 (IPO), Palantir (IPO), and Brave Software. In addition, Edward has served on the limited partner advisory committees at Cendana Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures, and he has deep operating experience at tech and cybersecurity companies. Most recently, he was Director of Investments at enterprise security company Qianxin, where he led $700 million in fundraising, ran multiple M&A deals, and managed a large investment portfolio. As Assistant GM for Qianxin, he also incubated their cybersecurity spinout fund Security Capital. At 360, he led International Investments and Strategic Development. He started his venture career as Vice President at DCM, a global early-stage VC firm managing $4 billion. He holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from UCLA, where he is a Kauffman Fellow (class of ’15).

Bio: Stacey Tsai has over 15 years’ experience in finance. She was most recently at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Private Bank, where she advised global families and executives on asset allocation and investment strategies. Stacey is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She received her MBA from the Wharton School and her MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. She was also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Singapore.

Bio: Larry is a Texas Aggie Class of ’83 and the Managing Partner of Ring Ventures. He is a seasoned, venture-backed technology executive and investor with multiple exits, including an IPO on the NASDAQ. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Olono, an AI platform for sales effectiveness (acq. by Insight Squared). Previously, he was CEO of Gazzang, provider of big data security software (acq. by Cloudera); and CEO of Phurnace Software, provider of DevOps software (acq. by BMC Software). Larry was also formerly a venture partner at AV Labs, the incubator fund of Austin Ventures. There he sourced new deals, tracked progress for follow-on investment, and coached founders. Earlier in his career, he served as a Vice President for both Siebel Systems and Documentum. At Texas A&M, he received a BBA in Marketing, was Student Body Judicial Board Chairman, a Cadet Lieutenant Colonel as the Adjutant of the Corps of Cadets, and a Buck Weirus Spirit Award winner.

Bio: Darrin is an investment professional with an extensive background in financial services and B2B. Throughout his 25 year career, he has worked with individual investors, investment advisors and their clients, and institutional (foundations and endowments) clients, with various investment vehicles including mutual funds, separately managed accounts, socially responsible portfolios, and alternative investments. He earned a BA in Economics & Public Management from UMaine and an MBA from Boston College.

Bio: Ray is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 years of investing experience across a wide range of industries and geographies. Before joining Alumni Ventures, Ray was a partner and adviser at several global venture funds focusing on investment opportunities across the U.S. and Asia Pacific. Earlier, he spent more than 10 years in the corporate venture space: He worked at HP — where he served as the managing director for the tech giant’s venture arm, responsible for startup technology evaluation, new business incubation, VC relationships, and minority investments — and earlier at Cisco Systems, holding several senior positions leading investment, M&A, internal incubation, and global consulting. Previously, Ray was a managing partner of a leading Internet consulting firm working with Fortune 1000 companies across North America. He earned a dual MBA degree from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

Bio: Wesley has a background in both technology and investing. Previously, he served as a product manager at BlackRock Solutions. While at BlackRock, he helped grow and scale their enterprise risk analytics platform, including facilitating the on-boarding of a $300 bn AUM client. He later transitioned to a traditional investment role where he worked as an investment strategist for the fixed income division of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages over $400 bn in AUM across macro and credit strategies. He is also the author of the blog The Unofficial VC. Wesley received his BS from the College of Engineering at Cornell University.
Notable Deals: npm, Better Mortgage, Tempo Automation

Bio: Sophia dived into the exciting world of Crypto in 2017 when she joined Galaxy Digital’s advisory team, supporting a portfolio of blockchain startup clients with fund-raising, investor relations, and ICO preparation. She continued building her crypto deal flow and book of investor contacts during her tenure at Huobi US and Crypto.com’s exchange, working with institutional clients such as crypto hedge funds, high frequency traders on market-making, and volume trading initiatives. Sophia comes from a background of business development and corporate development, having worked with CXOs and Entrepreneurs on their financing and business strategies. She’s a mentor with Yale’s Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking, as well as an active participant in startup communities such as Techstars, 500 Startups, and Plug and Play. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, an MBA from University of British Columbia, and an MAM from Yale School of Management.