Green D Ventures Team

Bio: Laura brings operational perspective as a CEO, Chairman, and executive in technology startups. As Managing Partner at Ripplecreek Partners’ technology practice and General Partner at FA Technology Ventures she worked many tech sectors: mobile, consumer, internet, SaaS, cloud-based, marketing and enterprise software. She also served as CEO at Handango, creating the first marketplace of mobile apps. At Microsoft, she co-founded Sidewalk.com and MSN HomeAdvisor as part of an elite swat team spun out of Bill Gates’s office. Laura holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and AB in Government from Dartmouth (‘89).

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.

Luofei is a member of the Green D Ventures investment team, bringing along years of investing and operational experience in technology and startups. Previously, at Tenaya Capital, Luofei worked on growth-stage venture investments in such companies as HubSpot, Health Catalyst, and Sumo Logic. Luofei began his career in technology M&A investment banking at Revolution Partners (now Raymond James). Luofei has an AB in Economics and Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Bio: Emily is a seasoned business development executive with expertise in growing global businesses with a focus on strategic planning, launching new start-up operations, managing mergers and acquisitions, establishing successful business partnerships, and negotiating long-term profitable agreements. Since 2007 she has served as Sr. Vice President of International Business for The Pokémon Company International, helping guide the growth of the company outside of Asia. Prior to Pokémon she held leadership roles in business development at Microsoft in the Casual Games Group and Microsoft Office Live, at Wizards of the Coast (acquired by Hasbro), and at Disney. Emily holds a BA in Computer Science from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio: Eric is an investing partner with GE Ventures and leads investments in business process automation. His technology interests include enterprise software, robotics, computer vision, geospatial intelligence, and the internet of things (IoT). He is currently a board observer at RigUp, CoolEdge Lighting, Ambyint, and Foro Energy. Prior to GE Ventures, Eric was an investor at Siemens Venture Capital focused on cybersecurity and enterprise infrastructure that included investments in CounterTack, TOA Technologies, Electric Cloud, and PowerIT Solutions. Eric was also a co-founder of SoCore Energy, a software-enabled solar energy developer later acquired by Edison International. Early in his career, he worked with McKinsey & Co as a management consultant.

Bio: Hillary is a strategy and business development executive with nearly twenty years of experience across a variety of industries. At CVS Caremark (now CVS Health), she was responsible for identifying business development opportunities in adjacent markets and leading target due diligence efforts. She also spent several years with Bain & Company specializing in strategy and operations for healthcare and retail clients as well as due diligence for private equity clients. Hillary started her career in the Transaction Advisory Services group of Ernst & Young and is currently the Vice President of Finance and Strategic Planning at GeoMark Research, a geochemical advisory services firm. She received a BA in economics and public policy from Duke and an MBA from Dartmouth.

Bio: Tom directs strategy and spearheads all product initiatives for Fiksu and FreeMyApps and is the founder and developer of MyScorecard.com. At [x+1], Tom worked with the engineering and operations teams to coordinate development efforts. Before that, he led investments in digital media and enterprise software at Advanced Technology Ventures, an early stage VC fund. Prior to ATV, he was Microsoft’s Windows Group Product Manager; Product Manager of QuickBooks at Intuit; and Business Manager of E-commerce Strategy at Capital One Financial. Tom holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, BSEE from Stanford University, and AB from Dartmouth.

Bio: Mark is a partner at Five Peaks Capital Management, a PE firm focused on investments in tech-enabled services companies. He has spent sixteen years in private equity, with senior roles at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (~$10B of capital under management) and JLL Partners (~$4B of capital under management). He has led private equity and distressed debt investments across a range of sectors, including information and business services, retail products, industrial services, and healthcare. Prior to that, he was an investment banker for Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities. Mark holds a BA from Stanford and an MBA from Tuck.

Bio: Matt has worked with emerging tech companies since 1996. Now at Ascent, Matt he focuses on investments in data analytics, business SaaS, and security. Earlier at Alex Brown & Sons, a leading tech investment bank, he helped execute IPO and M&A transactions. He then moved to Norwest Venture Partners, where he worked on enterprise technology venture investment. Matt has a double major in computer science and economics from Yale and an MBA from the Tuck (Tuck Scholar).

Bio: Chansoo is Managing Partner of Whipstock Co-Invest Funds at TPH Asset Management. Whipstock makes private equity investments in the energy industry. He is also on the board of Apache Corporation, where he chairs the audit committee; and the investment committee of Sheridan Productions Partners, a PE firm investing in oil and gas assets. Before that, he was a partner and then advisor to Warburg Pincus in the Energy Group. Previously he was head of the Natural Resources Group at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner and Managing Director. He graduated from Dartmouth with an AB in Physics and an MBA with High Distinction from Tuck.

Bio: Stephen B. Kaplitt is a solo “outside general counsel” to a variety of small and mid-sized companies, start ups, entrepreneurs and both US and foreign high net worth individuals. His 25 years of experience includes an aggregate of $3 billion in corporate, finance, private equity, fund formation and M&A transactions with New York law firms and the International Finance Corporation. Before starting his solo practice, he was General Counsel of both an SEC-registered investment advisory firm and a $350 million multinational public company. He has also served as a Senior Advisor at both the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department. He received is JD cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, and his AB in Government with High Honors from Dartmouth College.

Bio: Benjie is the Founder and Managing Principal of Arx Urban, a Boston-based innovative real estate investment and development firm focused on utilizing technology to create and preserve workforce housing. The firm has used its socially-minded, technology-enabled and forward-thinking approach to acquire and develop more than $250M in real estate since 2014. At Arx Urban, Benjie is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm, acquisitions, permitting and financing. He previously served as Vice President of Investments at Atlas Real Estate Partners and was an Associate at JP Morgan Global Real Assets. In these roles he oversaw a $1.5B mixed-use real estate portfolio nationwide. Benjie is a frequent speaker on co-living, hybrid financing structures and real estate crowdfunding, and he has completed real estate transactions across five different online crowdfunding platforms. He has also completed seed investments in eight real estate technology companies incubated throughout the Arx Urban portfolio. He was appointed to the Mayor of Boston’s SPARK Council (formerly One in Three), where he consulted for the City’s Innovation Housing Lab on forward-thinking financing strategies and is a member of the Mayor of Boston’s Inclusionary Development Policy Technical Advisory Group. Benjie holds a BA from Tufts University Summa Cum Laude and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business where he graduated as a Tuck Scholar and received the Julia Stell Award for Leadership. He currently resides in Boston’s Bay Village with his wife Anna and daughter Sophie.

Bio: Mark Morrissette has been a Managing Director at North Atlantic Capital since 2000. North Atlantic, based in Portland, Maine, invests in late-stage, high-growth technology companies using structured capital. Mark’s prior experience includes four years of investment experience at Advent International, a multinational private equity and venture capital firm headquartered in Boston. Prior to Advent, Mark worked at CSC Index in Cambridge, a global strategy and technology consulting firm. Mark is currently serves on the board of SailMaine, a community sailing center in Portland. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College (1993) where he was a member of the Varsity Crew team and President of the Dartmouth Rowing Club, and his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Bio: John is a seasoned senior executive who has led several innovative companies to success. Since 2011, he has served as the President and CEO of Seventh Generation, a producer of environmentally-safe household products. From 2006 to 2011, he was President and CEO of Burt’s Bees, a natural personal care products company. Prior to that, John managed the skin care division at Unilever and helped launch the Real Beauty campaign for Dove and establish the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Earlier, he served several roles at Guinness, including President of Guinness Bass Import. John earned his AB at Dartmouth in History and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio: Jonathan Risch is a member of Dartmouth Class of 1988 and an investor in both Green D Ventures. Jonathan brings a wide variety of experience to the investment committee. Before and after graduating from the MIT Sloan School of Management Jonathan was a management consultant focusing in his last several years on the Energy industry. After a short stint in Finance and Planning for Frito Lay, Jonathan found his way back into the energy industry first with Enron and then with Reliant Energy where he was Vice President of Retail Planning and Marketing Analytics. Leaving large public corporate companies Jonathan was CFO and the Chief Commercial Officer for Leedo Cabinets the largest provider of turn key cabinet solutions to the multi family construction industry. Currently, Jonathan is CEO of DPIS Building Solutions a private equity owned provider of Engineering and Inspection Services to the Residential Construction Industry. Jonathan served on the board of Endeavor CPQ, a SaaS Configure Price Quote solution since sold to Vendavo. Outside of work Jonathan is active on several non profit Boards and enjoys trying to keep up with his three children.

Bio: Mark Speers ‘80, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Health Advances LLC. Mark has been advising senior life sciences executives for over 35 years. He co-founded Health Advances with his wife, Paula Ness Speers ’80, in 1992 after gaining ten years of strategy consulting experience in the healthcare industry as a Partner at Bain & Company, an international management consulting firm. At Health Advances, Mark works extensively with clients to evaluate the commercial potential and develop market launch strategies for new medical technologies. He also offers expertise in M&A work for strategic and financial buyers, having now contributed to over $80 billion in client transactions. He served on the Board of Directors of MassMEDIC for six years and is a strong advocate for the industry through frequent speaking engagements and publications. Mark graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in engineering and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was honored as an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Bio: Laura is COO of Mobilize, a Series A startup. She has been CEO of two venture-backed startups, selling Catch to Apple and dramatically increasing the revenue at SugarSync (acq. by J2Global). Prior to SugarSync, Laura was general manager of the ZoneAlarm division at Check Point Software and VP of Marketing. At Yahoo, she served as global General Manager of the Yahoo Mail division. Earlier, she was Vice President of the Netscape browser division at AOL, and led marketing programs and Latin American sales at Informix Software Corp. Laura holds an AB in Government from Dartmouth, an MBA from Harvard, and 3ian MSFS from Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

Bio: Lorelei is currently a pharmaceutical launch consultant in New York City. Prior to her current role, she worked at a boutique marketing and strategy consultancy and an alternative investment firm. Over the course of her career thus far, she has consulted for companies of all sizes, including Abbott, Nestlé, MetLife, UPMC Enterprises, Vifor Pharma, and Mallinckrodt. In her spare time, she writes for a number of publications on a freelance basis. Lorelei graduated from Dartmouth College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Government with a minor in Public Policy.

Bio: James Valadez is an Operations and Talent Management professional with people management, warehouse and process improvement experience within early stage and legacy companies. James participated in the Operations Management Program at McMaster-Carr Supply Company, where he led teams in Warehouse and People Operations. He has driven Operations and People processes and grown distributed teams at dynamic on-demand technology companies Fooda and VeoRide. He has a Sociology and Native American Studies degree from Dartmouth College.

Bio: Jiarui is an associate at L.E.K. Consulting. Prior to working with Green D Ventures, he was a scout for Tata Communications and a fellow at Vencapital. Jiarui holds dual BAs in Economics with Honors and Mathematics from Dartmouth, where he was a fellow at the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship and a research assistant at the Tuck School of Business for a project endorsed by the NVCA.

Bio: Melissa’s expertise includes research, strategy, policy, and advising decision-makers. She has spent the past decade problem-solving in national security and military healthcare, with time spent as an advisor in the Pentagon, in Afghanistan with the US Army, with Navy commands, at the Center for Naval Analyses, and with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Melissa is the recipient of numerous awards for her work including the Center for a New American Security (Next Generation Fellow), Smith Richardson Foundation, United States Institute of Peace, and Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation. She holds a Master of Healthcare Delivery Science from Dartmouth, a Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. in Political Science and Classics from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and UC Berkeley, from which she graduated summa cum laude. Melissa is committed to helping bring technologies and services to market that use data and artificial intelligence to improve national security and revolutionize healthcare delivery.

Bio: Gabriel Weaver is a Research Scientist at the Information Trust Institute (ITI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). As a Principal Investigator (PI) at UIUC, he develops methods to assess and improve the resilience of critical infrastructure systems, including shipping ports and the electrical power grid. His undergraduate degree in Classics and Mathematics from Holy Cross provided a deep understanding of the historical transmission of information throughout the history of Western civilization; his doctorate in Computer Security from Dartmouth College gave him the skills required to evaluate, develop, and adapt capabilities provided by modern information systems.

Bio: Erik is a member of the Project Finance team at Bloom Energy (a Green D Ventures portfolio company), where he helps originate, structure, and finance utility scale and distributed energy fuel cell projects across the United States. Prior to joining Bloom, Erik spent two years on the Commodities Structured Finance team at Goldman Sachs helping to finance asset-intensive, commodity based projects in North America, South America, Latin America, and Africa. Erik has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Economics from Dartmouth College, where he was the co-captain of the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club.

Bio: Darryn Lee (T’19) is a Director at MetLife in their Global Leadership Development Program, focusing on the Latin American business. Prior to receiving his MBA from the Tuck School of Business, Darryn spent six years at BlackRock in New York City, with the majority of that time in institutional sales for the US Defined Contribution business. He received his BBA from Temple University, majoring in International Business and Finance, and specializing in Spanish and Latin American Studies. Darryn enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, and working with non-profits that focus on developing first generation youth.

Bio: Jenieri Cyrus (D’14) works as an investment associate at AEW Capital Management, a public & private pension adviser and private equity company focused on the commercial real estate industry. In this role, he is responsible for sourcing, negotiating and underwriting investment opportunities. Previously he was an analyst at HFF focused on mortgage brokerage and investment sales. He also serves as board member of Boston’s Real Estate Finance Association. Jenieri holds a BA in History from Dartmouth College.

Bio: Forrest is an Associate in the Los Angeles office of Odyssey Investment Partners, a middle market private equity firm investing in North American industrial and business services companies. Prior to Odyssey, he was an Investment Banking Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. A native of Maine, Forrest graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College where he received a BA in Government and was Treasurer of the Student Assembly.

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, Jenna was an Investor Service Representative at Putnam Investments, where she provided customer support to both clients and brokers. Jenna is a graduate of Merrimack College, Girard School of Business, where she studied Business Administration with a dual major in Management and Marketing.

Bio: Prior to joining AVG, Jordan worked in consumer and commercial lending with New Hampshire based firms. A Massachusetts native, Jordan graduated with honors from Plymouth State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a focus in business law.

Bio: Taylor graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a B.S. in Finance/Economics. Prior to joining Alumni Ventures Group, Taylor spent the early part of his career at Fidelity Investments as a licensed Financial Advisor, providing existing 401k clients with financial planning advice.

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.

Bio: Jamie was the Clinical Secretary Sr for Pediatric Gastroenterology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Earlier, he served as a Claims Processor Associate and then a Senior Associate at Cigna Health. He has also served in multiple church youth ministries for over 15 years throughout Ontario, Canada, in many different cultural contexts. He was part of the adjunct faculty in the youth ministry department at Tyndale University College. He has a BA in Psychology from York University, a Masters of Divinity from Tyndale Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.