Team

Bob Bridge

Executive Director & Board of Directors

Bob founded the Southwest Angel Network in late 2015, and leads the overall organization. Bob has a passion for making the world a better place by encouraging the application of human and financial capital to address significant societal challenges. He has extensive experience in founding and taking early-stage technology start-up companies to successful exits, and […]

Heather Gilker

Executive Director, North Texas & Board of Directors

Haether Gilker leads the SWAN North Texas chapter and also serves on the SWAN Board of Directors. Having spent 25+ years focused in financial services, including working inside a single family office on portfolio management and investments, Heather has developed a deep understanding of the complexities family offices and ultra-wealthy families face. Tokalon Advisors provides […]

Juan Thurman

Director & Board of Directors

In addition to his work with the angel network, Juan is a mentor, startup investor, and sales consultant, focused on working with early-stage companies get to the next level.

Christina Gorczynski

Board of Directors

Christina Canales Gorczynski is the Executive Director of Impact Austin, a dynamic women’s collective giving organization that cultivates collective wisdom and strength to transform ourselves and our communities. Christina is also a licensed attorney and certified mediator with the State Bar of Texas. Previously, Christina served as a Program Officer at the Simmons Foundation, specializing […]

Laura Hill

Board of Directors

My passions are angel investing, career coaching, golf, and travel. I live in Austin most of the year, and during the hot summer months I retreat to the suburbs of New York City for golf and urban activities in more reasonable temperatures. In my career coaching practice, I continue to work with returning clients, including […]

Elizabeth Jennings

Board of Directors

Elizabeth Jennings helps new products (and their instigators) survive their first five years.

Steve Maysonave

Board of Directors

Steve is an acknowledged expert in sales, global partner development, strategic planning, and marketing.

John Soyring

Board of Directors

John Soyring provided global business leadership for the industry solutions & industry products portion of IBM’s global software business. This role included functional leadership for strategy, research & development, marketing & sales, business development, product support, and services related to the IBM offerings for all industries. He was also the co-leader of the Alliance of […]

Jeff Toler

Board of Directors

Jeff is a registered patent attorney with over twenty years of experience in technology and related intellectual property matters.

Wade Allen

Business Strategy

Wade Allen is the CEO of Cendea, and is a results-oriented, start-up, turn-around and high-growth executive with 25 years of experience of starting and driving companies to success.

Earl Ameen

Creative Strategies

Earl Ameen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Grey Owl Company—a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas.

Lindsay Fountain

Financial Analysis

Lindsay is an Independent Personal Trainer, Small Business Manager, and Track Coach residing in the Dallas area. Lindsay graduated from Rice University with her MBA in 2018 and has experience in general small business financial management. She is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and values helping people achieve their fitness goals, as well as […]

Don Fowler

Healthcare

Don Fowler is a CEO and Executive leader in the healthcare sector, recognized for his ability to lead companies both nationally and internationally through market growth and downturns, maintaining and gaining market share.

Christa Freeland

Marketing

Christa Freeland has ten years of experience in various civic, entrepreneurial and marketing activities, including serving as a Venture Fellow at the women-focused Next Wave Impact angel network which invests in social and environmental impact companies, working as a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum, serving on the Texas State University Alumni Board and […]

Jim Gerberman

Corporate Strategy

Jim is extensively networked and an impactful deal maker. Enthusiastic, empathic and creative advisor.

Chris Hamilton

Technology Commercialization

Chris has over 20 years of experience in commercializing technology and his industry experience spans executive sales, business development, product strategy, product marketing, and product management.

Sean Howell

IT

Sean is versatile Georgia Tech engineer with a history of turning ideas into successful projects and finished products. Over 11 years of problem solving in technical customer-facing roles; proven ability to lead in an international setting; a history of results with both internal services delivery resources and partners; and hands-on, detail-oriented roles in ISO 9000 […]

Rachelle Jacques

Customer Acquisition

Rachelle Jacques currently is a Small & Medium Business Account Manager at Facebook. Rachelle has a degree from Princeton that focused on Race and Public Policy in the African American Studies Department. She is originally from Stamford, Connecticut and the daughter of Haitian immigrants. She is very interested in how the construction of race through […]

Jennifer James

Product Technology

Jennifer is a Product Technology strategist located in Dallas. Creating a space for Product Owners and Innovators to connect and thrive in the market to exceed their sales goals. Helping clients create assets within their business outside of their actual products. Through much success with working with many consumer brands, Jennifer expanded her product development […]

Blake Jones

Finance

Blake Jones is an Associate at Blue Sage Capital, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm specializing in growth, recapitalization and buyout financings of companies operating in the lower middle-market. Blue Sage favors opportunities to partner with founders and management teams as the first round of institutional capital. Previously, Blake served as a Leveraged Finance Analyst […]

Sam Kessel

Healthcare

Dr. Sam Kessel graduated with the dual degrees of Doctor of Medicine and an MBA from the University of Virginia. He is highly interested in healthcare start-ups. Sam has performed due diligence on biotechnology, healthcare services and medical device startups for both the Charlottesville Angel Network and the CAV Angels, the University of Virginia alumni […]

Brianna Losoya-Evora

Social Impact Metrics

Brianna (she/her) is an experienced analyst committed to “the power of business to drive positive social and environmental change”. Her primary expertise is with impact measurement and management and she specializes in “helping social enterprises measure, manage, and communicate their impact”. She has worked as an Impact and Learning Manager for the Small Enterprise Assistance […]

Patricia Reichard

Strategy & Team

Patricia brings to the table a unique balance of analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative skills along with the characteristics and conviction necessary for building alignment across leadership teams and stakeholder groups to deliver results.

Vineet Sahni

Financial Analysis

Vineet is a FinTech engineer working at BlackRock. He has over a decade of professional experience in investing and financial technology and is an expert at evaluating private lending for various industries and markets. Vineet graduated from Penn State University and now resides in El Paso, Texas. To share a story of social impact, Vineet […]

Diane Stapley

Technology & Alliances

Diane Stapley is currently the Director of Customer Success and Technical Architecture at AMD.

Urie Suhr

Teams and Recruiting

Urie Suhr loves solving hiring puzzles and bridging the gap by finding unique talent for various technical roles. Data Science, Machine Learning & NLP, Big Data Engineering & Infrastructure along with Tech Ops is my core focus. She enjoys working on any challenging role that comes my way. She loves to learn something she doesn’t […]

Matt Thomas

Education, Bootstrapping

Matt is an Entrepreneur, EdTech Advocate and Bootstrap Evangelist. Co-founder of AcademicWorks, which enables colleges, universities, and foundations to efficiently manage their scholarship processes while engaging and recognizing donors. AcademicWorks has been recognized as one of Austin Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies, one of Fortune’s Best Places to Work for Women, Fortune’s Best Small Tech […]

Raven Veal, PhD

Healthcare

Raven is currently employed at IBM Watson Research. She is a design researcher with seven years of combined research experience in psychology, healthcare, and behavioral science. Passionate about exploring novel methods of analyzing human behavior and developing people-centered, evidence-based digital health technologies, particularly those that leverage artificial intelligence. Prior work experience includes Communication Health, the […]