Getting Started in Venture

Bio: Luke is an experienced entrepreneur with a focus on marketing, sales operations, and customer experience. He has a background in private equity, and has scaled several startups as employee #1, including bootstrapped, angel-backed and venture backed companies. His first company, Urban Escapes, was acquired by LivingSocial. He is also the Founder of the AVG Venture Fellow Program. Luke has an AB in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College.

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, Sophos, Jenny Craig, Group

Bio: Andy is VP of Investments at Alumni Ventures Group, where he supports investment operations, analytics, and portfolio management. Previously, Andy held several executive roles at a VC-backed start-up in Boston called MiniLuxe, where he led finance and operations during a period of significant growth. Andy was also a consultant at The Parthenon Group, and began his career as an actuary at the Liberty Mutual Group. Andy holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Notable Deals: Commonbond, Mezu, Honor, Kognition

Bio: Sue was formerly a Senior Vice President at Bain Capital, bringing 18 years of private equity experience with her to AVG, with a focus in Venture Capital as well as Private Equity Funds. Prior to being at Bain Capital, she was a Manager in the Small Business Division of Arthur Andersen, one of the big-eight accounting firms, focusing on tax and audit for start-ups and smaller clients. Sue is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts and holds a BS in Accounting from Northeastern University.

Bio: Peter has startup experience in both the non-profit and business sectors, a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from The Wharton School. Peter developed expertise building teams and strategic planning in the San Francisco Bay Area, driving growth across multiple seed- and early-stage companies (with many nights spent as informal adviser to a network of entrepreneurs). Peter has a passion for social impact and loves working with people who love what they do and strive to get better at it.

Bio: Tim is the Vice President of Sourcing 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: Beth is an experienced communications expert, product developer, and C-level executive, who has helped launch and grow numerous startups. Most recently, she was Vice President at Big Idea Group, an innovation consulting agency partly owned by WPP, where she was head of operations and marketing. Earlier, she served as VP of Product Development at specialty retailer Kid Galaxy. She began her career in editorial supervisory positions at educational publishers. Beth has a BA from Grinnell College and an MA from the University of Michigan, both in English.

Bio: Anton has 20+ years of technology experience as a proven venture capital investor, entrepreneur and operating executive in companies ranging in size from start-up to Fortune 10. Most recently, Anton founded and led Vener8 Technologies, a technology commercialization company he started with GE. Previously in his career, 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: Colin is an entrepreneurial business leader with experience leading high-growth ventures in higher education, tech, CPG, and politics & government.  Most recently, he served as Vice President of Workforce Solutions for Southern New Hampshire University, and was on the founding executive team for SNHU’s online College for America, which he helped launch and grow to more than 10,000 students and graduates nationwide. Colin was a candidate for Governor of New Hampshire in 2016 and was publicly elected twice to New Hampshire’s five-member Executive Council (which serves as a board of directors for the state government). Colin holds a BA in International Studies from The George Washington University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.