Experienced Investors on Judging Panels
All judges are investors with years of experience in investing and working with startup companies.
Time expectation from our busy judges schedule is estimated to be 15 hours over a 2.5 months period.

IMPORTANT JUDGES’ INSTRUCTIONS
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL JUDGES: Please go to the All Events Calendar and select the virtual Live Judging Event that corresponds to panel you selected to judge and save it to your own calendar. Please repeat for each of the panels you have selected to judge.
You are welcome to attend all the webinars and workshops. Use the calendar to save the times and dates for the webinars and workshops you would like to attend as well.
All links for the virtual Live Judging Events and Webinars and Workshops will be provide few days before each event.
You will receive an invitation to register/login into a platform in order to evaluate the applicants submissions (application, plan, deck and video pitch). For instructions on how to register and evaluate applicants, please watch this video.
The rubric and scoring will all be online through the platform. Here is a sneak peek at the rubric and how to score.
Between parenthesis next to each judge’s name is the category/panel number(s) each judge has selected to be on. Here is a list of the categories/panels by number:
1.Business Products or Services (B2B)
2.Consumer Products or Services (B2C)
3.Life Sciences and Healthcare
4.Social Enterprise
5.Clean Technologies (Cleantech)
6.Financial Technologies (FinTech)
7.Hardware or Software Technology
8.AI, Blockchain, Robotics
9.Digital Solutions (Media, Web, App, E-Sports, etc…)
10.Other (Government, Military, Education, Sports, etc…)
Investors Judges
Dave Berkus (1,7)
Dave Berkus has a well-established track record in operations, venture investing and corporate board service, both public and private. As an entrepreneur, he has formed, managed and sold successful businesses in the entertainment and software arenas. As a private equity investor, he has obtained healthy returns from over twenty-five liquidity events from investments in early-stage ventures. He acts as CEO coach and advisory board member to a number of technology companies, both public and private.
Dave is current or recent Board Chairman or board member for numerous public and private technology companies. Active in a total of over forty companies, he was recognized as “Director of the Year” by the Orange County-based Forum for Corporate Directors, and “Technology Leader of the Year” by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Dave is co-author of fourteen books for entrepreneurs, investors and corporate boards. He speaks of his lessons learned and those of “his” entrepreneurs in keynotes worldwide.
He has made over 197 investments in early stage ventures, for which he has an IRR of 105%, and manages six early stage funds, including Berkus Technology Ventures, LLC, Kodiak Ventures, L.P., Wayfare Ventures LLC, and three Tech Coast Angels ACE Funds, where Dave is also Chairman Emeritus of TCA.
Dave serves as a Trustee of Occidental College, where he is Vice Chair of the Board. He is often engaged as keynote speaker for events worldwide, speaking on trends in technology and of success factors for early stage companies.
Richard Sudek (5)
Richard Sudek, Ph.D. is UCI’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of UCI Applied Innovation.
Sudek earned a Ph.D. in management and master’s degrees in business administration and organizational behavior at Claremont Graduate University. His research focuses on the angel investment decision process, examining how and why angel investors choose their investments.
Sudek received a B.S. in Information and Computer Sciences from UCI in 1981. He founded Nadek Computer Systems, a data networking design business and served as its CEO for 17 years. In 1999, he sold the company to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), an international firm and was a vice president at SAIC before pursuing his academic career.
Universities and businesses throughout the world have benefited from Sudek’s expertise in entrepreneurial finance, strategy and leadership, as well as angel investing, executive coaching and business partnerships. He has served as an advisor to several MBA programs, served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, and has judged business plan competitions in the U.S. and Europe. He has taught entrepreneurship at Chapman University, INSEAD in France, the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, and the Peter F. Drucker & Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. He also has served on advisory committees for Microsoft, IBM, Novell and Cisco.
Sudek has been an active angel investor through direct investment and angel funds in over 100 startup companies since 2000. He has served on the Angel Capital Association board, a national trade group, and is Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest angel organization in the U.S. investing $235+ million in over 400 startup companies. In addition, these companies have attracted over $1.8 billion in follow on investments. Through TCA, Sudek has screened over 1,000 startup companies. Sudek currently sits on the TCA Board of Governors, as well as boards of engineering and high-tech firms.
Fred Haney (1,3,7)
Dr. Fred Haney is the founder and President of the Venture Management Co., a firm that provides startup guidance to high tech companies. He is the author of “The Fundable Startup: How Disruptive Companies Attract Capital,” published on February 6, 2018, by Select Books of New York.
Other accomplishments include: 1) Founder, Monday Club, a 1000-member mentoring network (MondayClub.com) that has helped hundreds of startups raise capital; 2) Co-founder, Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel investor groups in the U.S.; 3) Founder and manager of 3i Ventures, California, a venture capital fund that was the largest fund in Southern California in the 1980s and that invested $80 million in 60 companies and produced 19 public companies and highly profitable, top quartile returns.
Dr. Haney has been a co-founder of five startup companies, including: NovaDigm Therapeutics, the first fungal vaccine tested in humans; DRC Computer, the most powerful gene sequencing computer in the world; NMR Finder, an artificial intelligence nuclear magnetic resonance imaging accelerator.
He served as a director of Orange County’s Parcel Pending, leading supplier of kiosk-based locker systems for package delivery, which was acquired in January, 2019, for over $100 million.
He served on the Board of Directors of Rainbow Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNBO), a provider of digital security products, until it was acquired by Safenet, Inc. in 2003 for $457 Million.
He has been a director of over 30 high-tech companies.
In 1999, Dr. Haney was selected “Mentor/Angel of the Year” by the American Electronics Association in Orange County. In 2002, he was named “Director of the Year for Early Stage Companies” by the Forum for Corporate Directors.
Before 1983, Haney held senior management positions with Xerox, CSC, and TRW.
He earned a Ph.D. degree in Computer Sciences from Carnegie-Mellon University, an M.S. in Mathematics from Colorado State University, and a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University.
John Harbison (2,7)
Jeff Bocan (7)
Prior to joining Okapi, Jeff served on the executive team for 3+ years of one of his portfolio companies as the Senior Vice President of Mophie, helping drive revenues to $250+M and a successful exit. Prior to joining Mophie, Jeff was a venture capitalist for 13+ years, last serving as a Managing Director at Beringea where he sourced, led, or managed the investments for 35 of Beringea’s portfolio companies and served on 22 boards including: Mophie, eSpotting, MergerMarket, Steak Digital, Sakti3, amongst others. Jeff has also been an active angel investor with several successful exits, with the most notable as one of two angels in Duo Security (acquired by Cisco for $2.4 Billion).
Jeff earned undergrad and MBA degrees from University of Notre Dame, the University of Virginia, respectively.
Grant Van Cleve (4,8)
Grant, the Chairman of the prestigious Tech Coast Angels, is involved in 74 start-ups, serving as a board member or formal advisor in a quarter of those. He is also Managing Partner of Hangar 75 Ventures. Grant has served as CEO and Executive Chairman of portfolio company, Buy It Installed, Inc, which uses artificial empathy to automate the installed-sales process, allowing any manufacturer or retailer to bundle national installation at the point of sale. Alongside SoCal startups, Grant also does real estate development locally and in Eastern Europe, and clean-tech and education projects globally. Grant pours time into catalyzing the entrepreneurial ecosystem locally and in the developing world, and can be found in leadership roles in his church and in local politics. He returned to CA in 2010 after studies at Wharton followed by 19 years in Europe. Grant is regularly on the OC50 list of top influencers in Orange County, CA.
David Friedman (1,6,7)
During his career he has commercialized more than $1.5 billion in new products. He has helped companies build top line revenue growth and EBITDA while mentoring the next generation of business leaders. David has been CMO for Narus, a cyber company, executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer for ATX Group (now Sirius Connected Car), and VP of Marketing and Direct Sales for Connexion by Boeing.
Friedman holds an MBA (economics) from George Washington University, an MSEE degree from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (summa cum laude) from City College of New York.
Lisa Walker (7)
Jim Pickell (1,9)
Thomas Lee, MD (3)
Patrick Flynn (1,7,8)
Girard Miller (6,10)
Steven Mednick (4)
Outside of USC, he has advised over 1400 early stage companies through his thirteen-year relationship with the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers. Steve’s clients have reported over $750 million in economic impact to the SBA, and he has been awarded the SBA’s State Star for outstanding performance. Steve is also a member of Tech Coast Angels, Orange County.
During the “dot com” era, Mednick established the corporate ventures office for a $2.3 billion global computer hardware company in Silicon Valley where he contributed $100 million+ in new revenue through investments, strategic sales and alliances.
In the mid 1990s, Mednick launched and ran a new division of publicly traded healthcare company wherein the division became cash flow positive within twelve months and established a new distribution channel of over 100 partners.
In 1990 he joined a very early stage data services company in Orange County as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and General Counsel. Within 30 months, revenues grew 945% without outside capital, marketing and sales expanded nationwide, a number of key strategic partners were established and venture capital funding was secured positioning the company for eventual purchase.
Volker Hüther (1,2,3)
With over thirty years of experience in enterprises ranging from Startups to Fortune 500 companies, he possesses the know-how needed to provide council to a broad spectrum of businesses. He is a member of the Harvard Alumni Association (both in the US and Germany), the Senate of Economy, Device Alliance, the Greater Irvine Chamber, OCRA, Pacific Council on International Affairs, Tech Coast Angels and PCA Orange County.
Phil Gill (1,5,10)
As CEO of Royal Engineered Composites, we made advanced graphite/epoxy composites for aircraft, both military and commercial. He Grew the company from $0.6M to $24M with no outside investors and for 20 years no bank loans. This limited growth but that was how I understood business.
Phillip turned around a manufacturer of aluminum honeycomb for aircraft in Maryland, to be close to daughter who had breast cancer while pregnant.
Phillip Gill has B.S. in Chemical Engineering. He is an expert in advanced composite manufacturing. He is an active angel investor with Tech Coast Angels.
Eelco Niermeijer (1,3)
Garrett Brown (4,7)
Hans Imhof (8,10)
He also is a Board Member of the University of California, Irvine Innovation Board and Manager of The UCI Cove Fund. (A Fund to create Companies from UCI patents and Technologies).
He currently is a member of Vistage in Orange County. Past board member of two public electronics companies and a member of Tee Coast Angels since 2008. At the present time he is on the board of six companies.
Xandra Laskowski (1,2,9)
multinational tech companies as well as startups as founder, investor, advisor and board member. She has
held positions as Worldwide Commodity Manager and National Major Accounts managerial roles before
moving into the Angel Investment and startup worlds. She founded OSEA Angel Investors in 2017, a
woman focused angel investment group based at the UCI Cove, University of Irvine, California. OSEA
Angel Investors is an investment partner with Tech Coast Angels, Titan Angels (CSUF) Angel
Syndication Network and Family Office Networks. Through Xolas, Ms. Laskowski provides startup
consulting assisting entrepreneurs in producing their “Startup Roadmap”.
In 2019 Ms. Laskowski was included in the Orange County Business Journal OC 500 Directory of
Influence for Innovation and in February 2020 was nominated to the Orange County Business Journal
Woman in Business Awards. In March 2020 Ms. Laskowski was nominated as a Women of Influence
Awards finalist for the Gamechanger Award.
Ken Hubbard (2,4,9,10)
After running a successful angel investment network for over 5 years, he developed Pitch Pro, to improve the success of fundraising entrepreneurs. The unique program, improved fundraising by 6-fold. It includes video coaching, pitch pitfalls, and investor insights (www.pitchproceo.com). He also has investments in medical device, streaming video, team recruiting as well as brick and mortar companies.
Mr. Hubbard started his entrepreneurial career in 1988 with the launch of Kenne Sport. He successfully exited in 1991 going on to work for some of the fastest growing and global tech companies in California. His focus recently has been on guidance for CEO’s on all aspects of company governance, capital structures and financial strategies to streamline corporate fundraising.
John Morris (1,7,9)
As a Vistage Chair since 2010, I have coached CEOs, many of their direct reports and facilitated their monthly peer advisory board meetings. Members rely on this unique peer group interaction for trusted and unbiased advice on their most critical decisions. My goal was to improve each member’s leadership effectiveness. The previous decade from 2001, I was a managing partner with GKM Ventures, a later-stage venture capital firm based on Los Angeles. From 1992 to 2000, I was affiliated with several regional investment banking firms focused on sell side M&A.
Throughout my career, I have been an active member of the Los Angeles business community. I am particularly proud to have been a co-founder, past president and Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels. Today TCA is the largest angel investor organization in the United States.
I have also been a co-founder and director of several well-known business groups, including the Forum for Corporate Directors, the LA Venture Association, the VC Alliance, the So Cal Tech Network, the Tech CEO Network and Launchpad LA.
For 12 years since 2005, I have been an adjunct faculty member at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. My focus was coaching the fully-employed MBA candidates in the Global Access Program (GAP) which served as their graduate thesis project.
After graduating with my MBA from the Tuck School of Business, I enjoyed career experience as a CFO, an investment banker and eventually as a venture capitalist, initially with First Interstate Bancorp in 1988 to 1992. These various roles provided the opportunity to play leading roles in a diverse set of financings, including mergers, acquisitions and venture capital investments.
During my career, I have served on a number of public and private boards, and presently serve as a director for several venture-backed companies.
My wife Teddi and I have enjoyed adventure travel across the South Pacific for scuba diving or in Africa for safari. More recently we have cruised the major rivers of Europe. My two hobbies are golf and digital photography. I am a proud father of two adults, Tyler and Elise. We are blessed with three wonderful grandchildren, Jonah, Oliver and Victoria.
Mike Benvenuti (1)
Scott Fox (1,9)
Bob Warshawer (3,7)
Currently:
Investor, father of 7 kids, 9 grandkids, and 1 great grandkid. Happily married. Love boating.
Work History:
General Redneck – furniture maker, welder, logger
Owned and operated Waterworks drilling company
Founder of Application Group (human resources consultants and Peoplesoft implementations) & Application Resources (contract technical resources). Sold to ADP and Renaissance) in 1993. San Francisco California
Founder of Black Rock Cable (fiber optic utility). Sold to Wave Broadband in 2013. Bellingham Washington
Major investor in Optic Zoo Networks (fiber optic utility). Sold to Zayo in 2018. Vancouver Canada
Mike Krebs (3)
The background I bring to angel investing is quite broad – from accounting to product development through product launch. I discovered angel investing when someone showed me a deal sheet for the Pasadena Angels. To me the deal sheet was a menu of exciting (mostly) ideas and interesting founders. I had my application in to join the Pasadena Angels that evening and am currently invested in 7 different start-ups.
I especially enjoy meeting entrepreneurs and learning about companies through pitch events. I’m looking forward to meeting you all someday in person.
John Murphy (3,7)
Mike Napoli (6)
Mike was the Chief Investment Officer and head of Wilshire Associate’s Hedge Funds Group and Funds Management Division. In this role, he worked with large institutional investors in the implementation and monitoring of equity, fixed income and alternative investment programs. Mike was a member of
Wilshire’s Board of Directors, Chairman of Wilshire Mutual Funds and a Director of the Wilshire Emerging Markets Institute. In the 1970’s and 80’s Mike held senior positions with Bankers Trust Company and Drexel Burnham Lambert. In 2008 Mike founded Performing Arts LIVE, a community service promoting performing arts events in Southern California. He is the Executive Director at Performing Arts LIVE and advises numerous Performing Arts organizations on a variety of strategic and marketing issues.
Jiri Modry (1.3.5.7)
Extensive Experience in Hi-Tech, both Domestic and International, driving High Growth through Focus on Market Disrupting Innovation. Several Startups and Turn-Arounds, with several High Multiple Exits. Operational experience range – startup companies, mid-size companies, as well as GE Security with $2B in revenue.
Interests: Angel investing, with focus on Due Diligence and Post investment engagement – as an advisor or board member.
Jim Brandt (2)
Jeff Koenig (1,2,6)
Scott Lopez (3,5,8)
Scott began his career at the Private Bank in 2018. He is part of a collaborative team that strives to help high net-worth clients manage the complexities of their wealth and legacy planning, and to develop an integrated wealth strategy tailored specifically for their goals and aspirations. Scott can also offer clients access to banking, credit and lending opportunities from Bank of America, N.A.
Prior to joining Bank of America Private Bank, he served as Managing Director at Primary Capital LLC, providing him with experience and insight into investment banking and the public markets, as well as working with high net-worth investors, venture capitalists, private equity and family offices. Early in his career, he served as a Fighter Pilot and Public Affairs Officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Scott obtained an M.B.A. from The Thunderbird School of Global Management. Scott is an active member of OCTANe, Executive Next Practices and Disabled American Veterans.
Matt Kelliher (1,3,4,8)
Matt is currently an executive advisor and investor in Omada Health, one of the fastest growing digital health startups, based in the Bay Area. In 1997 he founded StatusOne Health Systems in Boston. StatusOne was the first remote SaS, licensing an internet application for B2B and was acquired in 2003 by Healthways Inc. In addition, Matt has held senior leadership positions at Healthways, UCSD, Harvard Health and BCBS. He is a native of Massachusetts and enjoys the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. He now lives in Dana Point.
Barry Easterling (1,3,10)
Greg Buchert (3)
Howard Mirowitz (2,4,9)
Eric Hsiao (1,2)
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Eric is an active Angel investor and Entrepreneur at heart. He has been a member of Tech Coast Angels Orange County for 5 years. He is part of TCA Executive Committee and Sponsorship Chair for the TCA Orange County Chapter.
Eric also has over 25 years of banking, lending, financial services, and investment experience working with individuals, families, business owners, institutions and/or private equity firms throughout the nation. Eric has held several management and leadership positions with many financial banking institutions throughout his career. Eric spent part of his career managing and leading M&A, business, real estate, and/or construction financing transactions in the franchise restaurant and c-store/gas industries with CitiCapital, Merrill Lynch Capital, and GE Capital. Eric was part of the leadership team that started a successful line of business amassing over $1.5 Billion in assets for a large banking financial institution, which was subsequently acquired by another large institution within 3-years.
Currently, Eric is a Sr. Banker with BNY Mellon Wealth Management working with clients on their wealth plan and reaching their long-term financial, estate, and legacy goals through investments and lending.
Eric also serves on the Board, Treasurer, and Chair of the Finance Committee for Irvine Public Schools Foundation. Eric has a BA from UCLA in Psychology and Business Administration.
Roland Schumann (2,7,10)
Bruce Virga (2)
John Pollara (6,7)
John has actively supported his community through his dedication and involvement as a member of the Whittier City Personnel Board, Whittier Host Lions Club, Whittier Citizens for Responsible Government, Skills for Adolescence Foundation, The Whittier College Board of Visitors and the California Poly University School of Business Leadership Board. He was named to Cal Poly’s Accounting Hall of Fame in 1995 and was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Business Administration for 1999.
He has also served as a director of the National Bank of Whittier and McFarland Energy, both publicly traded Corporations.
He is a former International Chair of the Institute of Management Accountants and continues to serve on its Board of Directors.
He is currently an active member of The Orange County Tech Coast Angels.
Kathie Priebe (5,7)
She is co-founder of the MIT–Stanford Venture Lab which is now VLab and the Wyoming Women’s Foundation which invests in the economic self-sufficiency of women and opportunities for girls. Kathie is an active philanthropic investor.
John Kensey (2)
Michael Lynch (1,2)
For over 35 years Michael was a full member of the Urban Land Institute and served on an Advisory Board associated with American Homes for Rent, a real estate investment trust. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Mt. St. Mary’s College and a Master of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Additionally, he is a trail runner in Angeles National Forest, plays tennis, is a student of modern European history and enjoys traveling with his wife, Beth.
Sanjay Shrivastava (3)
Sanjay serviced as a vice president, upstream marketing and strategy at BTG, plc, when it was a $800MM revenue company traded at London stock exchange. BTG was later acquired by Boston Scientific. As a director, global marketing at Medtronic, he was instrumental in starting and building its vascular embolization business. Prior to that, he was a director, R&D, where he led the development of Solitaire FR clot retriever for treating acute ischemic stroke through its CE mark and IDE approval for the US clinical trial SWIFT. He also led R&D teams for various stents and other interventional products through their FDA clearances and approvals. Sanjay holds 30 issued US patents and numerous International patents in medical devices and has edited two books including one titled “Medical Device Materials” published by ASM International. He was named among 100 Notable People in Medical Device Industry by the prestigious MD&DI (Medical Devices and Diagnostics Industry) magazine. He has been an invited speaker at clinical, business, and engineering conferences to speak about medical device innovation and commercialization. Sanjay holds a doctorate in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s from the Indian Institute of Technology. He resides in Southern California with his wife and two children.
Lawrence Jordan (1,2)
His working career included business development and corporate management positions of various startups primarily in IT. Those roles included VP and CEO roles in public companies that achieved up to $billion dollar market caps.
In addition to the Tech Coast Angels, Mr. Jordan is Director Emeritus of the Forum for Corporate Directors, and has served on the Advisory Boards of the UC Irvine Schools of Art and Computer Science. He has also served as Coach, mentor and judge at Loyola Marymount University EMBA and the UCI MBA programs. He continues as judge for the UCLA Anderson School Global Access Program.
Mr. Jordan received a BS Economics from Arizona State University. He also holds a certification from the Directors Institute UCLA.
David McNeil (9)
David is widely known as a Renaissance Man due to his varied interests. He is a former executive of United Artists Entertainment and is in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Industry & Finance as one of the original developers of the Pay-Per-View television concept.
David was also Executive Producer for a full-length feature film, THE BIG DAY.
Executive Producer of a number to TV shows: FACETStelevision, EyeOnBusiness, The Judge’s Chambers, Orange County Most Wanted, Innovation, The Berkus Report, Street-savvy Business, Ask Dino Show, EyeOn Entertainment
David’s passion for photography has expanded his photography resume’ to include:
The OSCARS, Supermodels Grammy Party, Night of 100 Stars, Music Videos; Book Covers; Model Portfolios, TEDx conferences, Movie Set Stills, Custom Product Shots,. And, of course, Landscapes & Exotic People.
David’s video work has been seen on ACCESS HOLLYWOOD, FOX, PBS, TED and GOOD DAY LA.
David has been an active investor in the fields of Insurance, Digital Media, Social and Finance. His investments are directly with private parties or via Tech Coast Angels.
Ronald Weissman (7)
Today, Ron advises financial and corporate venture funds, national and regional governments and G2000 corporate innovation programs. He is a frequent conference speaker and advisor on startup ecosystems, entrepreneurship, venture and angel capital trends, AI, startup governance, term sheets and valuation, M&A and other aspects of venture and corporate investing. He has advised governmental and private organizations in Emilia-Romagna (Italy), Armenia, Chile, Israel and the Republic of Georgia as well as the US White House on developing effective startup ecosystems. He lectures regularly at Stanford, the University of Santa Clara and other universities in the US and abroad on venture and angel capital trends.
Prior to Apax, he directed Marketing (CMO) and Investor Relations at Verity (enterprise knowledge retrieval), which won “Large Cap Turnaround of the Year” from the Turnaround Management Association) after the company increased its market cap from $50M to nearly $2B and gained top market share. Before Verity, he directed Strategic Marketing and European Marketing for NeXT, reporting to Steve Jobs. Prior to NeXT, Ron consulted for federal agencies on IT strategy and served on the faculty of the University of Maryland, first, as Associate Professor (History) and then as head of Academic Computing, and then directed academic computing at Brown University before leaving the academy join Steve Jobs at NeXT.
Ron invests in enterprise software, analytics, AI and health IT. He has led or co-led dozens of investments, has led M&A deals and secondary public offerings. His current passion is outreach to angels and entrepreneurs at startup hubs worldwide.
He is a former Fulbright Scholar and received his BA, MA and Ph.D. degrees from UC Berkeley.
Tunde Oshinowo (3)
He helps manage the Fund’s investments in Verata, ID Experts, and Payfone. Prior to BVF, Tunde was an associate at Abundant Venture Partners, where he focused on digital health and senior care. Tunde started his career in digital product design at Next College Student Athlete, the largest athletic recruiting network in the US.
Tunde holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. An NFL alumni, Tunde also played professional football for four years following his time at Stanford University, where he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.
Greg Woodson (1,2)
Greg lives in Lake Tahoe, serves on the Sierra Angel’s Executive Committee and is an active investor. He is on the USC Marshall Business School Dean’s Advisory Board and is Chairman Emeritus of an Educational Foundation. In addition to skiing, Greg enjoys coaching executives, businesses and startups.
Brian Mac Mahon
Jonathan Hung (2,8,9)
Jonathan has experience running U.S. and China offices as the President of United Overseas Textile Corporation. An international clothing manufacturing and textile business that was started by his father in 1996. UOTC specializes in designing and manufacturing apparel in partnership with retailers such as Amazon, Burlington, and Costco. In addition, he was the Managing Member for his family office fund, J Heart Ventures, which made investments in startup companies such as Gyft, ChowNow, Miso Robotics, Clover Health, Bitmain, etc.
Jonathan has also worked at Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Cummins.
He holds various degrees from the University of Southern California, London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Shane Kelly
As a tech investor in California, he backed founders including Rachel Payne (FEM, Acquired by Nielsen Gracenote), Shane Hegde (Air), and Ramses Alcaide (Neurable).
In total, Shane has invested in 20+ tech startups and participated in financing 20+ feature films. He has spoken on venture investing and human and machine bias to organizations including Female Founders Alliance, F50, Google Developers, and Startup Runway.
An active member of the tech startup community, Shane has served as Entrepreneur in Residence for Techstars Los Angeles, Advisor for Plug In South LA, and Mentor for programs including Backstage Capital and Nex3.
Shane holds an MBA with distinction from University of Michigan and a BS cum laude from Morehouse College.
Paul Voois (8)
Michael Norsen (3)
Christopher Mirabil (5)
Quan Nguyen (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
Med Armanious (8,9,10)
Hershel Mehta (6,8)
Jeff Clark (5)
He is an MBA (with Honors and a Specialization in Finance) from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and holds a BA (cum laude, with Distinction in Economics) from Whitman College. Jeff was the recipient of The Wall Street Journal Award.
Ray Chan (9)
Ray has a 30+ year track record of successful business execution and of being a startup queen/kingmaker. Some of K5 Ventures successful exits include Everyone.net (acquired by Proofpoint), Connectifier (acquired by LinkedIn), SignNow (acquired by Barracuda Networks), Filpagram (acquired by ByteDance, owner of TikTok) and Slack.
Barbara Russell (1,2)
Barbara serves on the board of several rapidly-scaling, early and mid-stage companies, providing advice fueled from her 28 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, M&A, and capital markets. She also serves on non-profit boards including: Alliance for Business Leadership (ABL)and NFTE, both of which represent her progressive views on diversity and inclusion.
Since the outbreak of COVID, she has been busy! In addition to continuing to raise significant amounts of capital during this pandemic, she just completed serving as a judge in her SEVENTH pitch competition (virtually, of course) since COVID began:
1. Techstars – Boston
2. Techstars – Airforce
3. NY Business Plan Competition
4. Rice University Business Plan Competition
5. BU Pitch Competition
6. NFTE (National Fdn. For Teaching Entrepreneurship – underserved high schools across the US)
7. University of Arizona FORGE Accelerated Entry Program
Prior to Cap W, Ms. Russell was Managing Director of Investment Banking at Detwiler Fenton, co-founder of: the Social Internet Fund (2011) with Lou Kerner; Bold Cap, a woman-focused venture fund, with Kay Koplovitz, Heide Miller,& Barbara Corcoran, and before that, Senior Partner, and Group Head of the Media, Entertainment, New Media investment banking group at CIBC Oppenheimer, where she raised significant amounts of capital as well as provided advice to technology, media, & digital companies.
Ms. Russell is a mentor, judge, and/or investor in several accelerators, angel investment groups, and not-for-profits including: TechStars; LearnLaunch; Harvard i-Lab; NYS Bus.Plan Comp; Rice University Bus.Plan Comp; and MIT Alumni Angels. She is a senior lecturer at Babson, MIT, U-Mass, and BU. She received her MBA from the Sloan School at MIT and a BA in Economics from Boston University.
Pat Hwang (9,10)
Pat was involved in engineering and had published research papers in heat transfer and cryogenic cooling. She also managed satellite component manufacturing for PamSat and DirectTV in her prior career. She is an active member of Tech Coast Angel, Context Family Network and Asian American Investment Group.
Pat is a passionate philanthropist. She serves on the board of Mission Hospital Foundation and is a committee member of several charities including United Way, Human Options.
Pat has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from USC.
Amy Bann (5)
Jay Cormier (3)
Victoria Mehran (1,3,6,8,10)
Robb Stowell (1,7)
Prior to starting my career in venture investing, I worked at McKinsey & Co. where I advised clients on distressed turnarounds.
I studied at Business Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. While there, I was a Captain of the Men’s Volleyball team where I led our team to four consecutive second place finishes and broke the school record for career points.
I am a competitive sports fanatic. When I’m not in the office, you can find me on the basketball court, football field, golf course, soccer pitch, beach or ski slopes.
Neal Bloom (1,10)
Dhaval Kapadia (1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10)
Robert Stasey (1,3,6,7,8,9)
Robert Stasey is an investor with Hub Angels, one of the oldest angel organizations in Boston. He is a member of the Angel Capital Association deal syndication task force.
Robert Stasey was the Director of Strategic Initiatives for twenty years at Analog Devices (ADI). He directed the Six Sigma program, headed process improvement and led a Corporate entrepreneurial program. Entrepreneurial program participants developed skills in identifying attractive market segments, validating business models and creating effective go-to-market strategies. His entrepreneurial ‘boot camp’ developed ADI’s future leaders.
Prior to joining ADI, Mr. Stasey served as Consulting Partner with Coopers & Lybrand in charge of New England’s Manufacturing Strategy Practice.
Previously, Mr. Stasey was the Durant Digital Instrument Plant Manager at Eaton Corporation. He applied strategic and productivity improvement skills toward achieving a remarkable plant turn-around chronicled in his book, Crossroads (published by Dow Jones Irwin in 1991).
Mr. Stasey earned an MBA in Management, a B.S. in Finance and was certified as a CPA in Illinois.
Cary Ortiz (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
Jonathan Wallace (1,2,7,8,9,10)
Samer Yousif (2,4,10)
Stacey Feinberg (1,2,3,6,9)
Jon Freeman (4,6)
Jon cut his teeth as an analyst for Amplite Capital where he did a lot of market review and financial strategy analysis for an incubator up in the bay called plug n’ play. While completing his masters at UCI he came on full time at praetorian and handles all things operations for the firm.
Jon enjoys participating in numerous mentoring and philanthropic efforts, as well as golfing, boxing, investing, and travel.
Tony Caramagno (1,2,6,8)
Tony is a partner and founding member of Projection Capital Markets. In lieu of trading as individuals, the partnership trades its non-ERISA assets as a corporation using hedge fund trading strategies. Tony currently serves on the Advisory Board for Airion Dynamics, Incorporated. He serves as an Expert-In-Residence with University of California, Irvine – Applied Innovation and as a mentor for the Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program in the University of California, Irvine – Paul Merage School of Business. His LinkedIn profile is
Janice Varney-Hamlin (1,2)
Varney-Hamlin’s roles include head of Business Development and Franchise Management for Disney ABC Television Group, Global Vice President for Warner Bros. Retail, Marketing and Product Development managing brands like DC Comics, Batman, Superman, Director of Global Marketing for Barbie and Hot Wheels, Mattel Consumer Electronics, serving as VP of Strategy for Nickelodeon across all business units and reporting into Viacom Board of Directors. She has collaborated with Industry leaders from Fortune 100 companies like Sara Lee, McDonald’s, Champion, Pepsi, Foley Wine, PBS, Sony Entertainment, Paramount Studios, Helzberg, Martha Stewart, Apple, and Toshiba as part of her portfolio of powerful promotional and strategic partnerships. Her expertise is truly global—among other accomplishments, she successfully brought Barbie to Japan, Looney Tunes to Europe and Australia, SwimWays to South America, and Asia. In addition to her work with entertainment and consumer companies, Janice has worked with numerous retailers including Walmart, Target, Sears, and Lowes. She won “Vendor of the Year for Excellence” on behalf of from these retailers as an executive at Mattel, Warner Bros. and as Vice President of sales, marketing and product development for Swimways. She holds 2 Masters an MBA Nad in Digital Marketing. She has been featured on the covers of the WSJ, DSN, USA Today, etc.
Janice Orlando (1,6,7,9)
Her investments include Early Seed to Series B funding. She serves on multiple Boards as Adviser and/or Director, including Vice Chair for the Board of Directors of the Pasadena Angels and Chairs the Portfolio Management Committee.
Anil Ramineni (1,2,7)
Anil is a resourceful technical leader and solutions-driven strategist with a passion for leveraging emerging technologies to achieve key business objectives. He has experience in leading technically complex Solution(s), and Delivery/Operations Management initiatives for multiple companies, as well as including his more than 20 years of On the Job Training (OTJ) — to get the job done! — this work ethic has led to CQ InfoTech Inc, — bringing Success to their Clients.
Jim Huston (1,3,5,8)
Faisal Mushtaq (1,2,7)
Currently he is serving as CTO of Sleep Number corporation, a leader in smart bed space redefining the future of sleep with individualized sleep experiences, where he leads the global technology, product development and innovation. Previously he was VP Technology at GlobalLogic leading Global Cloud/DevOps Practice organization and responsible for providing thought leadership and technical excellence in areas of public/private/hybrid clouds, DevOps, Containers and SDN/NFV. He was also a Founding member/VP of Engineering at multiple startups from PLUMgrid (Acquired by VMware), Allot Communications, Ortiva Wireless (Acquired by Allot) and Wichorus (Acquired by Tellabs). Faisal began his career at Cisco Systems where he designed and developed several routing/switching product families.
Faisal is also the Founder and President of TechCon SoCal, the catalyst for technology innovation and entrepreneurship in Southern California. He is also a member of Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest and most active angel investment networks in the country. He is an advisor and investor in several startups and is a mentor/charter member at several organizations including CONNECT, OPEN and TIE. He received an MSEE from Purdue University and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He holds 8 patents in the areas of networking, including control plane, data plane, load balancing and video delivery.
Amit Rathore (2,6,9,10)
David Mandel (1,5,6,7,8,9,10)
John Bradley Jackson (5,6)
Marylou Garcia (5,7,8)
Marylou Garcia is the Area Director for Expense Reduction Analysts, a worldwide network of more than 600 consultants in 30 countries specializing in delivering extra cash flow for mid-sized companies through cost reduction. ERA’s 18,000 successful client projects show that many supplier costs can be lowered by another 10%-30% without jeopardizing existing supplier relationships or forcing them to use specific suppliers.
Marylou has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton Business School. She has held senior positions in Finance, including CFO and Corporate Finance Director for various multinational hotel chains such as, Hyatt Hotels, Pan Pacific Hotels, The St. Regis and others. She has worked in 18 countries in Asia, Caribbean, North/Latin/South Americas. She has helped many companies in the US and internationally increase their operating margins and cash flow.
Maciej Witkos (3)
Anshuman Sinha (1,2,9)
I am also the President of TiE SoCal (www.socal.tie.org), a non-profit, global community of entrepreneurs from all over the world. We believe in the power of ideas to change the face of entrepreneurship and growing business through our five pillars: Mentoring, Networking, Education, Incubating, and Funding.
As an Angel Investor I look for Business Plan, Cashflow, Core Team, Board of Advisors, Secure IP, Quality Investors, Monetization Models, USP, Scalability, Strong Returns, Growth Market, Board Role
My company Optizm Global Helps Growing Businesses Find The Best Talent! in the Executive Search Space
Mike Connolly (1,5,6,7,9,10)
Nitin Bajaj (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
Sanjay Dalal (1,4,9)
Mark Alexander (1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10)
This is achieved by skillfully re-positioning and retooling companies into customer-facing, data-driven, strategically-centered innovation hubs, best equipped to anticipate and fulfill on the core demands of the most lucrative segments of the value chain.
Success is measured in terms of achieving industry-defining and sustainable levels of maximum growth, return-on-growth and wealth creation.
Diana Murakhovskaya (2,4,6)
Ken Borkan (2,4,9,10)
Donald Kasle (1,6)
Previously, he also concurrently spent eleven years as a Senior Consultant for the SBDC (Small Business Development Center at the University of California Irvine Applied Innovation. The SBDC is funded in part by the SBA (Small Business Administration), UCI and other public and private entities. Their mission is to provide FREE consulting to high growth – highly scalable, entrepreneurial companies. He was the recipient of the SBDC’s State Star Award for his Outstanding Performance.
Mr. Kasle is a retired bank CEO, having served three different banks in that capacity during his career. He has over 40 years experience in executive management and service on boards of directors, as well as commercial banking and capital formation. During his career, Mr. Kasle has served on over 30 Boards of Directors in the public, private and not-for profit sectors, including 7 bank boards. He is a past member of the Board of Trustees at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and also the Miami University Foundation.
Long active in the field of Education, Mr. Kasle was the founding Chairman of the Institute of Certified Bankers of the American Bankers Association and past Chairman of the Board of the ABA’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He was also a former board member of America’s Community Bankers and previously taught Banking/Commercial Lending at 10 national banking schools including Rutgers University, Southern Methodist University, University of Wisconsin, University of Oklahoma, and Louisiana State University. He has lectured at a number of business schools including Miami University (Ohio), Chapman University (Orange, CA), University of California at Irvine, the University of Southern California and Cal State University, Fullerton.
Mr. Kasle is a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) and the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. Stonier previously honored him with its Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a past President of the National Alumni Association of Miami University. Don is also a past recipient of the Dolibois Alumni Award given by Miami for Meritorious and Sustained Service over many years.
Connie Harrell (1,2,3)
Manmohan Chopra (1,2,3,4,5,10)
Author (Parenting where are we going wrong).
Community Leader (Past President, and currently Director, India Association of Los Angeles)
Director, Festival of India Association.
Former Federal Agent (India).
Inventor – The invention relates to how to capture Rain / Stream water Runoff, pre-clean it, and recharge the aquifers (Patent Pending).
Ravi Sawhney (1,2,3)
Kevin King (1)
Ray Weston (2,8)
Mr. Weston is a member of Tech Coast Angels and teaches as an Adjunct Law Professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. He also is an engineer, patent lawyer, photographer, artist, and former Army officer.
Serdar Topak (8,10)
After his graduation from Duke, he worked at Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C. between 2003 and 2004. The company provided services in best business practices research area. Between 2004 and 2006, he worked at Analysis Group that was in economic consulting sector. The final deliverables were expert reports in intellectual property infringement and anti-trust cases. The reports dived into monetary damages resulting from such cases. After that, he worked at Stemcor U.S.A. that operated in physical commodities trading sector, focusing on steel and raw materials. Post leaving Stemcor in 2009, he joined Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi A.S. in Istanbul, Turkey as a Project Manager in the Project Finance Team. This team was mainly responsible for closing the financings of power plants and toll-roads (it provided term sheets to the clients, presented the projects to the bank’s board, and post-board approval, they negotiated the loan agreements with the clients). The total loan amount related to his projects extended by the bank was in the vicinity of USD 1 billion. After having worked for 4 years in this department, he worked for 1.5 years in the bank’s business development department. During his tenor in this department, his team and he established a subsidiary in Malta, and submitted a non-binding offer to acquire HSBC Turkey.
After that, he worked in the Strategy department of Turkiye Sise ve Cam Fabrikalari (“Sisecam”), A.S. for 5 months. After leaving Sisecam, he worked in Pir-Inci Bujiteri A.S. between 2016 and 2019 in the Business Development and Export Departments. He was mainly responsible for making the newly-established company in Germany profitable, and managed exports activities to Germany, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Between January 2020 and July 2020 he worked in shopi, a startup providing solutions in Omnichannel sector. Since July 2020, he is acting as the Chief Strategy Officer of Ephesus Healing, a healthtech company that provides software solutions to primary care physicians.
Minda Brusse (1,2,9)
Dan Rosen (2)
Dan is also CEO and President of Dan Rosen & Associates, an early-stage technology investment and advisory firm. He is an internationally known angel investor, deal negotiator, and strategist. He has an active portfolio of over 60 companies. He is also Chair of Transformative Med, and has served on the boards of many public and private companies and non-profits, including UUNET, Modumetal, SnapIn, AutoGraph, Individual Inc, Seattle Humane and the Angel Capital Association.
Dan is also a professional photographer (www.rosen-photo.com). He travels the world capturing stunning images of nature, wildlife, landscapes, and people, and has been published in National Geographic. In 2000, Dan was founding Managing Partner of Frazier Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund in Seattle, where he stayed until 2006. From 1994 through 2000, he was General Manager of New Technology in Microsoft, where he was one of Microsoft’s leading “deal guys.” In this role, Dan was also responsible for technology transfer into Microsoft’s product groups. Prior to that, Dan was General Manager for MSN. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dan was at AT&T for 15 years, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of AT&T Consumer Interactive Services, leading AT&T’s first consumer-oriented Internet service offering and was Managing Director for Northern & Eastern Europe.
Amy Duncan (2)
Catherine Chiu (1,6,7)
Shahin Enayati (1,2,4,5,8,9)
My experience ranges from biotech to food/ag-tech and from sales/negotiations to logistics. While working in these industries, I acquired a wide range of experiences in project management, business development, marketing, and business analysis.
My deep involvement in these fields has afforded a sound understanding of running a business and how to effectively utilize marketing and innovation in various business models. My focus on sustainability with its 3 pillars being economics, environment, and social impact, allows me to envision as well as contribute meaningfully to a better future.
Max Shapiro (1,2,6,7,9,10)
He has been an Angel investor for 15 years. His investment portfolio includes 9thGear, Boston Heart Labs, Appvance and Trident Labs and others.
Alysha Malik (2)
Alysha also consults with consumer-facing startups and previously launched a startup studio, backed by a family office, Rhizome Ventures with a focus on health, wellness and beauty companies.
William Paiva (3)
Acacia Lawrie (1,2)
Blair Simpson (1,3,5,6,9)
Charles Curtis (5)
Maximilian von Poelnitz (1,2,10)
Max is passionate about food tech and B2B innovation. He has been featured on CNN, CNBC and Forbes and was named to Tatler’s Generation T in 2019.
Carolena Enayati (1,2,10)
Hilton Augustine (1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9)
Benton Moore (1,5,6,9,10)
Benton earned his JD and MBA (New Venture Management) from University of San Diego as well as specialties in International Law from Trinity College, Dublin and Strategic Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Benton is active in the startup ecosystem via Tech Coast Angels, San Diego Venture Group (Connect), United Nations Global Compact, San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange, Angel Capital Association, TiE Global, Association of Corporate Counsel, MIT Sustainability Initiative, and Southern California Energy Innovation Network.
In an adventurous change-making career approaching $1B in deals, Benton’s proudest accomplishment is coaching his daughter’s undefeated soccer team. Outside the office, Benton is usually hiking, mountain biking, or downhill skiing.
Jay Kunin (1,3,6,7,8)
Jay Kunin is a long-term member of Tech Coast Angels San Diego, where he has served on the Board of Directors and as head of Life Sciences. He is currently an active Director and consultant for companies in pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting systems, remote care management and edtech, as well as an advisor for several accelerators/incubators including EvoNexus, Launch Factory and Nex Cubed Digital Health. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at University of San Diego, where he teaches entrepreneurship and computer science.
He has co-founded and served on the executive team of multiple startup companies, three of which were acquired by public companies, and one IPO. He was CIO of a public biotech company, a venture-funded biotech and two CROs. He has also served on the Boards of multiple early-stage companies in life sciences and software industries. Jay holds a PhD (computer science) from MIT.
Michele Bang (2,3,4,5,6,9)
Michele Bang has been investing in diverse early stage startups directly and through Hub Angels, one of the oldest angel funds in Boston and Learn Launch, an edtech accelerator. She currently advises and mentors enterprise software, edtech and health tech start-ups.
Most recently, Michele was an executive member at Prudential Plc‘s digital team which designed and brought to market Prudential’s first ever digital health and wellness app available across Asia and Africa. Key partnerships include telehealth, fintechs, e-commerce and ride hailing companies in Asia.
Michele held C-Suite roles in global insurance and asset management firms throughout her 30 year career. She was named as Top 25 Influential Women in Asset Management in Asia. Michele is passionate about innovations that deliver efficiency, sustainability and quality of life for citizens. Ideas that bring about smart and clean environment excite her.
Michele studied at Cornell University and London School of Economics.
Christopher Yang (7,8,9)
Julie Lerner (2)
Jack Greenfield (1,6,8,9)
Andrew Jorgensen (1,6)
Sponsors Judges
Kari Barnes (7)
Kenneth August (5)
ALG was a recipient of the 2016 Professional Services (B-to-B) Deal of the Year Award from M&A Advisor Magazine.
Mr. August served at Whittier Law School and the UCI Graduate School of Management, teaching business law. He has lectured on issues of international transactional law for the US Department of Commerce, Riverside County College of Foreign Trade, The Harvard Business School Association of Orange County, and a variety of other organizations. He was the contributing author on International Mergers and Acquisitions in The Art of M&A, published by Dow Jones-Irwin (1986).