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 has built upon that experience to promote social good by founding and running the social-impact angel network.
Bob advises and mentors for-profit, social-impact start-up companies, actively support the numerous Austin social-impact accelerators and works with impact non-profits as a Social Venture Partner.
Juan Thurman
Director
Juan is a Director of the Southwest Angel Network and focuses on helping to:
- Recruit new Angels
- Source potential social impact startups, with a focus on teams led by underrepresented minorities
- Recruit and lead MBA interns who assist the network
- Screen applicants for funding
- Organize the Quarterly dinner meetings
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. He particularly enjoys working with B2B SaaS companies, platforms, communications, health tech, beer and social good.
He is passionate about helping teams find customers, listening to their challenges and delivering win-win solutions.
He is currently a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, and has held executive sales positions at Retreaver and Twilio. Juan has also has contributed in sales and technical areas at seven other companies, including both start-up companies and IBM.
Blake Schwartz
MBA Associate
Blake assists the network in evaluating investment opportunities. He is a current MBA student at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the president of the McCombs Entrepreneur Society. Prior to attending McCombs, Blake served as an Aviation Officer in the United States Army in various operations and management roles both within the United States and multiple countries abroad. He is experienced in solving complex problems in high-stress environments as well as building, leading and managing effective teams towards a common vision.
Blake is passionate about driving social and environmental innovation forward utilizing emerging technologies and disruptive business models.
Mike Brogioli
Board of Directors
Michael Brogioli, PhD, is a high tech executive, educator, investor and entrepreneur, with a broad range of interests. He Is the Managing Director, Founder of Polymathic Consulting which supports clients in the areas of engineering, research and development, intellectual property and technology, and is also an Adjunct Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Additionally, Michael is the Managing Director of Scout Island Ventures which holds diversified investments in emerging and startup ventures, is an Angel Investor at the Central Texas Angel Network, and mentors at the Capital Factory.
Michael serves on a number of advisory boards, most notably Student Loan Genius who is tackling the student loan debt reduction space, and AngelSpan who provides investor relation services for startups and institutional investors to maximize value return on assets.
David Chao
Board of Directors
David Chao is currently the CEO of a stealth start-up in the healthcare IT space. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer of The Advisory Board Company – a role in which he was responsible for originating and communicating the Advisory Board’s technology vision, which in turn helped drive the firm’s concrete corporate strategy.
Before that, David served as the Chief Technology Officer of Crimson, leading product development across the entirety of the Crimson portfolio – a continuation of the work he began as the first employee of Crimson (as a Lean bootstrapped start-up) more than a decade ago. Prior to that, he was a researcher in Higgs Boson physics, publishing papers on models of electroweak symmetry breaking, having received a PhD in theoretical particle Physics.
Steve Maysonave
Board of Directors
Steve is an acknowledged expert in sales, global partner development, strategic planning, and marketing. Trusted Advisor to CEOs and Boards in the US, ASEAN, India, and Japan. Global executive contact base. Focus on AI, cloud computing, database, enterprise software, IoT, and IT Security.
Operational experience includes six years as CEO and building operations in the US, Europe, India, and Japan. Managed five worldwide sales operations, three of which were built from scratch. Thirty-five years international experience with an established record of team building, acceleration of revenues, and extraordinary international growth.
Previously, CEO, Relativity Technologies, Inc. Increased revenues by over 300%, including 49% compound growth 2005-07. Relativity acquired by Micro Focus in 2008.
Additional experience includes seven years at Intel Corporation setting sales records that included closing over 20 new commercial accounts in a single year. SVP at Illustra which was acquired by Informix, and SVP/GM at Digital Research, Inc. which was acquired by Novell. At Digital Research, Maysonave built a global team that increased revenues eleven-fold in less than 2.5 years.
Jeff Toler
Board of Directors
Jeff is a registered patent attorney with over twenty years of experience in technology and related intellectual property matters. Mr. Toler has represented highly sophisticated corporate clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, in a wide range of intellectual property areas including strategic counseling, patent litigation and prosecution, offensive and defensive patent analysis, opinions, licensing, and technology transactions. Mr. Toler has significant experience in developing and implementing customized, client-driven, high value patent strategies for corporations of all sizes. He is best known for bringing an unmatched level of sophistication and creativity to the challenges of IP strategy. Mr. Toler practices in the fields of communications, computer hardware, software, and electronics.
Prior to founding Toler Law Group, Intellectual Properties, Mr. Toler formed and headed the IP/Technology Transactions Group for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) in Austin, Texas. In this role, he led a prestigious team of attorneys who designed, developed, and enabled the business strategies of venture-backed technology companies through strategic alliances and other complex business arrangements. His background also includes service as the General and IP Counsel for various groups within Motorola, including Motorola’s Corporate Strategy and Wireless Groups. Prior to being in-house at Motorola, Mr. Toler performed patent litigation and prosecution work for Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Toler has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with highest Distinction from Purdue University, a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago at Loyola School of Law. Mr. Toler was a Senior Law Journal Member for the University of Chicago at Loyola School of Law where he received the Loyola Merit Scholarship and was awarded the AmJur Award for the highest grades in the class in Intellectual Property, Contracts, and Law & Economics.
Mr. Toler worked as a Research and Development Engineer for five years at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is admitted to practice in the states of Illinois and Texas, as well as the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Eloisa Acha
Social Impact and Marketing
Elosia Acha is a senior executive with 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, business development and strategic partnerships in the high-tech industry. She has a demonstrated ability to successfully set up and scale new teams and programs to drive sales and marketing results. Proven ability to design and implement plans to drive new business opportunities through partners including distributors and resellers. Her specialties include Marketing Strategy and Communications, Strategic Partnerships, Program Management, Corporate Social Responsibility
At the Southwest Angel Network she is most interested in working in the areas of social impact and market analysis (customer need verification, motivation of early adopters, market size).
Eloisa has many years of experience at National Instruments including being responsible for the Education Channel Partners program, serving as the Program Director for emerging markets Business Development, being a Marketing Manager for Asia/Rest of World including working from Penang, Malaysia, serving as an International Marketing Manager, a Latin America Marketing Manager, a Latin America Marketing Engineer and as an Applications Engineer.
Eloisa has a BS in Electronics and Telecommunications from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, and has taken additional coursework at the Center for Creative Leadership, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management, the Antarctic Leadership & Sustainability Program, and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley
Eloisa is a Board Member of Austin Achieve, a public charter middle school in East Austin, and has also served as a judge for the Big Ideas Competition at UC Berkeley.
Wade Allen
Business Strategy
Wade Allen is the CEO of Cenda, 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. Wade knows how to design, market and manage best-in-class business strategies through the experience gained and relationships fostered throughout his career. He has a keen ability to envision beyond the needs of a position and bring in Impact Leaders who help take an opportunity to the next level.
Specialties: Executive, Leader, Human Capital, Strategic Vision, Entrepreneur Experience
Eric Boyce
Finance
Eric is an experienced financial and investments professional who has worked extensively with not only individuals, families, retirees, trusts and partnerships, but also small business owners, corporate executives, and other non-profit institutions such as endowments and foundations. I’ve had the great pleasure to work with a wide variety of clients on their financial and investment matters, and I embrace the opportunity to continue to learn and grow every day.
I’ve always approached my work the same way – to exercise patience, prudence and skill to help my clients assess and analyze their financial profile, to understand their risk preferences and tolerances, and to develop investment policies and strategies designed to meet their long term investment goals.
I love what I do, and I consider every day to be a gift of life and learning. I believe firmly in community reinvestment, and I am also a staunch believer that we should invest more in our children.
Keith Cheney
Products and Technology
Keith is passionate about helping early-stage startups develop and refine product and market strategies. He is also interested in nurturing ethical business practices in small companies and assisting companies that make a positive contribution to society.
Keith has more than 30 years of high-tech experience in general management, marketing, sales and engineering with multiple companies, including Anue Systems, Cirrus Logic, Motorola, 3Com, Bridge Communications, and Sprint. Most recently, Keith led the product management and product development activities for Anue Systems, an Austin bootstrapped startup, resulting in rapid growth and the sale of the company to Ixia. Keith was an early employee with Bridge Communications, an early Ethernet startup in California, which later merged with 3Com.
Zoe Gabbard
investment Analysis
Zoe is a Senior Analyst, Natural Resources Investments at UTIMCO. UTIMCO is the first external investment corporation formed by a public university system and oversees investments for The University of Texas and Texas A&M Systems. As a Senior Analyst, Zoe monitors endowment assets including equities, commodities, and private investments in the energy, agriculture, metals and mining, and infrastructure sectors, analyzes performance of the natural resources and emerging markets group relative to benchmarks , and develops and manages models linked to internal accounting databases and market data software.
Prior to working at UTIMCO, Zoe was a Senior Valuation Analyst at the BVA Group LLC
She has graduated from the LAVCA - Wharton Private Equity Executive Program, and holds a BA In Business Administration in Corporate Finance from UT Austin.
Jim Gerberman
Corporate Strategy
Jim is extensively networked and an impactful deal maker.
Enthusiastic, empathic and creative advisor.
Proven business leader with multiple successes as President/CEO/GM of emerging technology companies serving a broad array of industries & markets.
Known for transforming businesses by building value in turnarounds and by growing market share under intense competition.
Comprehensive & direct experience in all aspects of acquisitions: strategic planning, assessment, negotiations, due diligence, post-acquisition integration. Has done both buy-side & sell-side deals. Has worked in small & large multi-national companies- private & public.
Jim’s interests include Family, Friendship, Service, Spirituality, Learning, Reading, Golf, Racquetball and Making a difference.
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. He is best known for my proficiency in distilling market dynamics, emerging technologies, and customer needs into exceptional products, typically ahead of the competition. This ability has resulted in achieving many industry firsts.
Chris is currently the Services Director at DropZone Strategies, an Intellectual Property Consultant, and a Principal at Product Principles. Previously he was a Co-founder and Head of Product at SPOT Markets, a Director at Trintech, a VP of Business Development at Globeset, a Director of Business Development at MCC, and a Director of sales operations at Sprint.
Core competencies include: product strategy | technology assessment | market feasibility analysis | business case development | market sizing and segmentation | competitive analyses | product requirements and roadmaps | product management | agile development methodologies | product positioning | value proposition development | pricing strategies | partner identification | go-to-market plans
Chris graduated from the University of Texas at Austin
Elizabeth Jennings
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Elizabeth Jennings helps new products (and their instigators) survive their first five years. She founded and heads Venture Atlas Labs, an international digital agency, with the vision of creating go-to-market strategies for new products in healthcare using modern technologies and methodologies. The forte at Venture Atlas Lab is in diagnostics, wearables, ingestibles, Class I-III devices, and fast-tracked molecule development. Her agency also support institutional funds with due diligence research, accelerators and incubators with workshops and lectures, and commercial teams of growing companies with dynamic BI playbooks, and Elizabeth has been active at Mass Challenge, TMCx and Tech.co.
Elizabeth is also currently the VP of Marketing for Neurolex, a voice diagnostics startup, and Founder of the Knee Initiative, a company dedicated to developing a better knee brace. She has served as an adviser for several startups as well.
Elizabeth has lived and worked outside of the US for under a decade, in countries including Paraguay, Canada, and Italy, after graduating from the University of Texas in Austin.
Rashmi Kilam
Strategy and Exits
Rashmi Kilam has built markets across Africa, Europe, Middle East, US & Asia that paved way for an incredible pool of social capital in the last two decades. She works directly with CEOs, evangelists, think-tanks, investors and entrepreneurs in each of these markets across diverse industries. Her career started in 1999 with Asia Pacific Capital with roots Hong Kong investment group. The group was started in Canada in 1970s by Richard Siemens, "Father of Mobile Telephony" who co-created Hutchison Telephone empire in HK with Li Ka Shing, Orange of UK & Tokyo Digital Phone which is now SoftBank.
Asia Pacific Capital acquired a software start-up after making a few investments in early dot-com era. Rashmi teamed with the CEO to explore new geographies. It got acquired by 1978 based Finnish company to acquire a unicorn status. Rashmi assisted a global outsourcing advisory firm with ICT growth and nearshore strategy for emerging economies. She moved on to start Bouin Consulting in Asia for entities such as Edelweiss Capital, a large investment bank backed by Carlyle group and worked with analysts and channel partners overseas. Rashmi launched Bouin Capital LLC in the US to back disruptive companies seeking strategy, business opportunities and a solid growth path for returns on their invention. She joined a B2B SaaS startup featured on Forbes Japan and listed as a leading Austin based immersive media company to help the chairman with completing seed round, finding a C-level hire and line up investors for Series A round.
Rashmi is invited to judging event at SXSW conference hosted by CASA Mexico & International Accelerator. She is also a supporting partner and judge at Innostars that brings over 900 global companies in Machine Learning(AI)/robotics/Biosciences/Advanced Manufacturing/Energy. Rashmi and the team of judges picked 25 best companies for US China Innovation Alliance at Houston Technology Centre.
Rashmi engenders a strong sense of integrity, work ethic, emotional intelligence, team building and social impact. She has a Masters in International Business & Strategy 1999 and a Bachelors in Science (Biology & Chemistry) from Delhi University. She was one of the highest ranking topper in her batch at Miranda. Rashmi created 'Friends of Austin Cultural Entrepreneurship' in 2010 to fuel visibility and tangible returns for talented artists, musicians, directors, handmade designers and writers. Rashmi speaks four languages fluently, writes three scripts and lives in Austin, Texas with her family.
Chris Lowimore
Finance and Exits
Chris is accomplished at building the financial, operations and administrative infrastructures to stimulate and support profitable domestic and international growth. He has additional experience in developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies to identify and seize global opportunities. Most recently he co-founded Best Fit Advisors which helps entrepreneurs build their optimal exit, and is CFO of KBC Networks, where he established and managed all financial operations of for this startup electronics manufacturing company that has grown to $8M in global sales with operations in five countries. Chris is also an experienced angel investor.
Ron Martin
Project and Product Management
Ron is a Director of Management Consulting at CTX Capital Management Consulting.
Growing up as a proud Air Force brat and raising two daughters with my amazing wife, Ron learned to always leave a place better than he found it and that we are all in this together. Ron strives to make things better for everyone by looking beyond the bottom line while helping to align, clarify, and focus teams on getting where they are trying to go.
Ron is a visual thinker thriving at the nexus of customer wants, market trends, business needs, technology possibilities, and financial constraints. He enjoys combining chaotic and conflicting views to form a coherent model and strategy that gets to what is important. Put Ron in a room with a whiteboard and see how soon he grabs a marker as he collects and aligns the wisdom. Ron builds a pragmatic plan, achieves buy-in, and leads the team as we roll up our sleeves to create the reality we envisioned. He then makes sure that the team follows through, adapting to new information along the way.
Outside of work, Ron manages the Austin / Travis County group of the Texas Ramp Project – building wheelchair ramps for those trapped in their homes by disability and financial circumstances. He is also the board president for Amphion Choirs – a local group introducing choral music to wider audiences through innovation and energy.
Rachelle Oribio
Strategy/Business Plan
Rachelle has an MBA from IESE (the Business School of the University of Navarra in Barcelona Spain), and is a board member, mentor and community leader who empowers underestimated people to become empathetic leaders. Over the past 6 years, she has built 13 programs and 4 products for Techstars, TechnoServe and other startup programs. She has worked with VC-backed founders and innovators as well as entrepreneurs facing extreme poverty in a former narcotraffic region of the Peruvian Amazon. Her corporate innovation work spans industry leaders including Google’s Area 120. In a previous life, Rachelle was a systems engineer and enterprise architect with a top secret clearance and a management consultant.
Diane Stapley
Technology & Alliances
Diane Stapley is currently the Director of Customer Success and Technical Architecture at AMD. She is a passionate professional who thrives on being at the intersection of exciting technological advances in serving the PC, server, embedded, graphics and custom markets. She absolutely loves what she does, and value working with some of the brightest minds in the industry. She offers technology engineering and marketing expertise with 20+ years of experience in technical strategy, project planning, and product management, along with 10+ years of product planning, end-user experience and solutions strategy expertise.
Diane builds trusting relationships with her team, facilitating success in aligning strategic technical solution sales mission with tactical execution plans. Her experience includes working with sales and marketing department of OEMs and their partners. She also finds it highly beneficial and enjoys brainstorming at industry trade conferences to find uses for the new technologies each company unveils.
Diane has experience in both startup and large companies.
Matt Thomas
Education
Matt is an entrepreneur, a higher education advocate, and a technologist.
Specialties: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Bootstrapping Startups, Product Management, Education Technology (EdTech), Customer Advocacy, Higher Education & Community Foundation Financial Aid Processes, Rapid Technology Development, Technical Sales, Public Sector & Higher Education HR process development & management.
Eric Weaver
Healthcare
Dr. Eric Weaver is a nationally-recognized healthcare executive with progressive senior leadership experience in a wide range of complex ambulatory care, value-based/population health management and managed care settings. Successful track record in the development of collaborative approaches in healthcare delivery with physicians and payers. Well-versed in healthcare IT with the ability to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical groups. Passionate about learning, leading organizations in a change-driven environment, safeguarding physician business interests, and leveraging health information technology to deliver patient-centered care.
Specialties: ACOs, population health, patient-centered medical home, risk-based contracting, health information technology, physician practice management, project management, business/clinical operations, workflow mapping and process re-engineering, revenue cycle, financial management, and strategic planning.
Team Members
Bob Bridge
Founder and Executive Director
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 has built upon that experience to promote social good by founding and running the social-impact angel network. Bob advises and mentors for-profit, social-impact start-up companies, actively support the numerous Austin social-impact accelerators and works with impact non-profits as a Social Venture Partner.
Juan Thurman
Director
Juan is a Director of the Southwest Angel Network and focuses on helping to: - Recruit new Angels - Source potential social impact startups, with a focus on teams led by underrepresented minorities - Recruit and lead MBA interns who assist the network - Screen applicants for funding - Organize the Quarterly dinner meetings 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. He particularly enjoys working with B2B SaaS companies, platforms, communications, health tech, beer and social good. He is passionate about helping teams find customers, listening to their challenges and delivering win-win solutions. He is currently a Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, and has held executive sales positions at Retreaver and Twilio. Juan has also has contributed in sales and technical areas at seven other companies, including both start-up companies and IBM.
Blake Schwartz
MBA Associate
Blake assists the network in evaluating investment opportunities. He is a current MBA student at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the president of the McCombs Entrepreneur Society. Prior to attending McCombs, Blake served as an Aviation Officer in the United States Army in various operations and management roles both within the United States and multiple countries abroad. He is experienced in solving complex problems in high-stress environments as well as building, leading and managing effective teams towards a common vision. Blake is passionate about driving social and environmental innovation forward utilizing emerging technologies and disruptive business models.
Mike Brogioli
Board of Directors
Michael Brogioli, PhD, is a high tech executive, educator, investor and entrepreneur, with a broad range of interests. He Is the Managing Director, Founder of Polymathic Consulting which supports clients in the areas of engineering, research and development, intellectual property and technology, and is also an Adjunct Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Additionally, Michael is the Managing Director of Scout Island Ventures which holds diversified investments in emerging and startup ventures, is an Angel Investor at the Central Texas Angel Network, and mentors at the Capital Factory. Michael serves on a number of advisory boards, most notably Student Loan Genius who is tackling the student loan debt reduction space, and AngelSpan who provides investor relation services for startups and institutional investors to maximize value return on assets.
David Chao
Board of Directors
David Chao is currently the CEO of a stealth start-up in the healthcare IT space. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer of The Advisory Board Company – a role in which he was responsible for originating and communicating the Advisory Board’s technology vision, which in turn helped drive the firm’s concrete corporate strategy. Before that, David served as the Chief Technology Officer of Crimson, leading product development across the entirety of the Crimson portfolio – a continuation of the work he began as the first employee of Crimson (as a Lean bootstrapped start-up) more than a decade ago. Prior to that, he was a researcher in Higgs Boson physics, publishing papers on models of electroweak symmetry breaking, having received a PhD in theoretical particle Physics.
Steve Maysonave
Board of Directors
Steve is an acknowledged expert in sales, global partner development, strategic planning, and marketing. Trusted Advisor to CEOs and Boards in the US, ASEAN, India, and Japan. Global executive contact base. Focus on AI, cloud computing, database, enterprise software, IoT, and IT Security. Operational experience includes six years as CEO and building operations in the US, Europe, India, and Japan. Managed five worldwide sales operations, three of which were built from scratch. Thirty-five years international experience with an established record of team building, acceleration of revenues, and extraordinary international growth. Previously, CEO, Relativity Technologies, Inc. Increased revenues by over 300%, including 49% compound growth 2005-07. Relativity acquired by Micro Focus in 2008. Additional experience includes seven years at Intel Corporation setting sales records that included closing over 20 new commercial accounts in a single year. SVP at Illustra which was acquired by Informix, and SVP/GM at Digital Research, Inc. which was acquired by Novell. At Digital Research, Maysonave built a global team that increased revenues eleven-fold in less than 2.5 years.
Jeff Toler
Board of Directors
Jeff is a registered patent attorney with over twenty years of experience in technology and related intellectual property matters. Mr. Toler has represented highly sophisticated corporate clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, in a wide range of intellectual property areas including strategic counseling, patent litigation and prosecution, offensive and defensive patent analysis, opinions, licensing, and technology transactions. Mr. Toler has significant experience in developing and implementing customized, client-driven, high value patent strategies for corporations of all sizes. He is best known for bringing an unmatched level of sophistication and creativity to the challenges of IP strategy. Mr. Toler practices in the fields of communications, computer hardware, software, and electronics. Prior to founding Toler Law Group, Intellectual Properties, Mr. Toler formed and headed the IP/Technology Transactions Group for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) in Austin, Texas. In this role, he led a prestigious team of attorneys who designed, developed, and enabled the business strategies of venture-backed technology companies through strategic alliances and other complex business arrangements. His background also includes service as the General and IP Counsel for various groups within Motorola, including Motorola’s Corporate Strategy and Wireless Groups. Prior to being in-house at Motorola, Mr. Toler performed patent litigation and prosecution work for Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Toler has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with highest Distinction from Purdue University, a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago at Loyola School of Law. Mr. Toler was a Senior Law Journal Member for the University of Chicago at Loyola School of Law where he received the Loyola Merit Scholarship and was awarded the AmJur Award for the highest grades in the class in Intellectual Property, Contracts, and Law & Economics. Mr. Toler worked as a Research and Development Engineer for five years at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is admitted to practice in the states of Illinois and Texas, as well as the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Eloisa Acha
Social Impact and Marketing
Elosia Acha is a senior executive with 20 years of experience in marketing and sales, business development and strategic partnerships in the high-tech industry. She has a demonstrated ability to successfully set up and scale new teams and programs to drive sales and marketing results. Proven ability to design and implement plans to drive new business opportunities through partners including distributors and resellers. Her specialties include Marketing Strategy and Communications, Strategic Partnerships, Program Management, Corporate Social Responsibility At the Southwest Angel Network she is most interested in working in the areas of social impact and market analysis (customer need verification, motivation of early adopters, market size). Eloisa has many years of experience at National Instruments including being responsible for the Education Channel Partners program, serving as the Program Director for emerging markets Business Development, being a Marketing Manager for Asia/Rest of World including working from Penang, Malaysia, serving as an International Marketing Manager, a Latin America Marketing Manager, a Latin America Marketing Engineer and as an Applications Engineer. Eloisa has a BS in Electronics and Telecommunications from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, and has taken additional coursework at the Center for Creative Leadership, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management, the Antarctic Leadership & Sustainability Program, and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley Eloisa is a Board Member of Austin Achieve, a public charter middle school in East Austin, and has also served as a judge for the Big Ideas Competition at UC Berkeley.
Wade Allen
Business Strategy
Wade Allen is the CEO of Cenda, 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. Wade knows how to design, market and manage best-in-class business strategies through the experience gained and relationships fostered throughout his career. He has a keen ability to envision beyond the needs of a position and bring in Impact Leaders who help take an opportunity to the next level. Specialties: Executive, Leader, Human Capital, Strategic Vision, Entrepreneur Experience
Eric Boyce
Finance
Eric is an experienced financial and investments professional who has worked extensively with not only individuals, families, retirees, trusts and partnerships, but also small business owners, corporate executives, and other non-profit institutions such as endowments and foundations. I’ve had the great pleasure to work with a wide variety of clients on their financial and investment matters, and I embrace the opportunity to continue to learn and grow every day. I’ve always approached my work the same way – to exercise patience, prudence and skill to help my clients assess and analyze their financial profile, to understand their risk preferences and tolerances, and to develop investment policies and strategies designed to meet their long term investment goals. I love what I do, and I consider every day to be a gift of life and learning. I believe firmly in community reinvestment, and I am also a staunch believer that we should invest more in our children.
Keith Cheney
Products and Technology
Keith is passionate about helping early-stage startups develop and refine product and market strategies. He is also interested in nurturing ethical business practices in small companies and assisting companies that make a positive contribution to society. Keith has more than 30 years of high-tech experience in general management, marketing, sales and engineering with multiple companies, including Anue Systems, Cirrus Logic, Motorola, 3Com, Bridge Communications, and Sprint. Most recently, Keith led the product management and product development activities for Anue Systems, an Austin bootstrapped startup, resulting in rapid growth and the sale of the company to Ixia. Keith was an early employee with Bridge Communications, an early Ethernet startup in California, which later merged with 3Com.
Zoe Gabbard
investment Analysis
Zoe is a Senior Analyst, Natural Resources Investments at UTIMCO. UTIMCO is the first external investment corporation formed by a public university system and oversees investments for The University of Texas and Texas A&M Systems. As a Senior Analyst, Zoe monitors endowment assets including equities, commodities, and private investments in the energy, agriculture, metals and mining, and infrastructure sectors, analyzes performance of the natural resources and emerging markets group relative to benchmarks , and develops and manages models linked to internal accounting databases and market data software. Prior to working at UTIMCO, Zoe was a Senior Valuation Analyst at the BVA Group LLC She has graduated from the LAVCA - Wharton Private Equity Executive Program, and holds a BA In Business Administration in Corporate Finance from UT Austin.
Jim Gerberman
Corporate Strategy
Jim is extensively networked and an impactful deal maker. Enthusiastic, empathic and creative advisor. Proven business leader with multiple successes as President/CEO/GM of emerging technology companies serving a broad array of industries & markets. Known for transforming businesses by building value in turnarounds and by growing market share under intense competition. Comprehensive & direct experience in all aspects of acquisitions: strategic planning, assessment, negotiations, due diligence, post-acquisition integration. Has done both buy-side & sell-side deals. Has worked in small & large multi-national companies- private & public. Jim’s interests include Family, Friendship, Service, Spirituality, Learning, Reading, Golf, Racquetball and Making a difference.
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. He is best known for my proficiency in distilling market dynamics, emerging technologies, and customer needs into exceptional products, typically ahead of the competition. This ability has resulted in achieving many industry firsts. Chris is currently the Services Director at DropZone Strategies, an Intellectual Property Consultant, and a Principal at Product Principles. Previously he was a Co-founder and Head of Product at SPOT Markets, a Director at Trintech, a VP of Business Development at Globeset, a Director of Business Development at MCC, and a Director of sales operations at Sprint. Core competencies include: product strategy | technology assessment | market feasibility analysis | business case development | market sizing and segmentation | competitive analyses | product requirements and roadmaps | product management | agile development methodologies | product positioning | value proposition development | pricing strategies | partner identification | go-to-market plans Chris graduated from the University of Texas at Austin
Elizabeth Jennings
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Elizabeth Jennings helps new products (and their instigators) survive their first five years. She founded and heads Venture Atlas Labs, an international digital agency, with the vision of creating go-to-market strategies for new products in healthcare using modern technologies and methodologies. The forte at Venture Atlas Lab is in diagnostics, wearables, ingestibles, Class I-III devices, and fast-tracked molecule development. Her agency also support institutional funds with due diligence research, accelerators and incubators with workshops and lectures, and commercial teams of growing companies with dynamic BI playbooks, and Elizabeth has been active at Mass Challenge, TMCx and Tech.co. Elizabeth is also currently the VP of Marketing for Neurolex, a voice diagnostics startup, and Founder of the Knee Initiative, a company dedicated to developing a better knee brace. She has served as an adviser for several startups as well. Elizabeth has lived and worked outside of the US for under a decade, in countries including Paraguay, Canada, and Italy, after graduating from the University of Texas in Austin.
Rashmi Kilam
Strategy and Exits
Rashmi Kilam has built markets across Africa, Europe, Middle East, US & Asia that paved way for an incredible pool of social capital in the last two decades. She works directly with CEOs, evangelists, think-tanks, investors and entrepreneurs in each of these markets across diverse industries. Her career started in 1999 with Asia Pacific Capital with roots Hong Kong investment group. The group was started in Canada in 1970s by Richard Siemens, "Father of Mobile Telephony" who co-created Hutchison Telephone empire in HK with Li Ka Shing, Orange of UK & Tokyo Digital Phone which is now SoftBank. Asia Pacific Capital acquired a software start-up after making a few investments in early dot-com era. Rashmi teamed with the CEO to explore new geographies. It got acquired by 1978 based Finnish company to acquire a unicorn status. Rashmi assisted a global outsourcing advisory firm with ICT growth and nearshore strategy for emerging economies. She moved on to start Bouin Consulting in Asia for entities such as Edelweiss Capital, a large investment bank backed by Carlyle group and worked with analysts and channel partners overseas. Rashmi launched Bouin Capital LLC in the US to back disruptive companies seeking strategy, business opportunities and a solid growth path for returns on their invention. She joined a B2B SaaS startup featured on Forbes Japan and listed as a leading Austin based immersive media company to help the chairman with completing seed round, finding a C-level hire and line up investors for Series A round. Rashmi is invited to judging event at SXSW conference hosted by CASA Mexico & International Accelerator. She is also a supporting partner and judge at Innostars that brings over 900 global companies in Machine Learning(AI)/robotics/Biosciences/Advanced Manufacturing/Energy. Rashmi and the team of judges picked 25 best companies for US China Innovation Alliance at Houston Technology Centre. Rashmi engenders a strong sense of integrity, work ethic, emotional intelligence, team building and social impact. She has a Masters in International Business & Strategy 1999 and a Bachelors in Science (Biology & Chemistry) from Delhi University. She was one of the highest ranking topper in her batch at Miranda. Rashmi created 'Friends of Austin Cultural Entrepreneurship' in 2010 to fuel visibility and tangible returns for talented artists, musicians, directors, handmade designers and writers. Rashmi speaks four languages fluently, writes three scripts and lives in Austin, Texas with her family.
Chris Lowimore
Finance and Exits
Chris is accomplished at building the financial, operations and administrative infrastructures to stimulate and support profitable domestic and international growth. He has additional experience in developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies to identify and seize global opportunities. Most recently he co-founded Best Fit Advisors which helps entrepreneurs build their optimal exit, and is CFO of KBC Networks, where he established and managed all financial operations of for this startup electronics manufacturing company that has grown to $8M in global sales with operations in five countries. Chris is also an experienced angel investor.
Ron Martin
Project and Product Management
Ron is a Director of Management Consulting at CTX Capital Management Consulting. Growing up as a proud Air Force brat and raising two daughters with my amazing wife, Ron learned to always leave a place better than he found it and that we are all in this together. Ron strives to make things better for everyone by looking beyond the bottom line while helping to align, clarify, and focus teams on getting where they are trying to go. Ron is a visual thinker thriving at the nexus of customer wants, market trends, business needs, technology possibilities, and financial constraints. He enjoys combining chaotic and conflicting views to form a coherent model and strategy that gets to what is important. Put Ron in a room with a whiteboard and see how soon he grabs a marker as he collects and aligns the wisdom. Ron builds a pragmatic plan, achieves buy-in, and leads the team as we roll up our sleeves to create the reality we envisioned. He then makes sure that the team follows through, adapting to new information along the way. Outside of work, Ron manages the Austin / Travis County group of the Texas Ramp Project – building wheelchair ramps for those trapped in their homes by disability and financial circumstances. He is also the board president for Amphion Choirs – a local group introducing choral music to wider audiences through innovation and energy.
Rachelle Oribio
Strategy/Business Plan
Rachelle has an MBA from IESE (the Business School of the University of Navarra in Barcelona Spain), and is a board member, mentor and community leader who empowers underestimated people to become empathetic leaders. Over the past 6 years, she has built 13 programs and 4 products for Techstars, TechnoServe and other startup programs. She has worked with VC-backed founders and innovators as well as entrepreneurs facing extreme poverty in a former narcotraffic region of the Peruvian Amazon. Her corporate innovation work spans industry leaders including Google’s Area 120. In a previous life, Rachelle was a systems engineer and enterprise architect with a top secret clearance and a management consultant.
Diane Stapley
Technology & Alliances
Diane Stapley is currently the Director of Customer Success and Technical Architecture at AMD. She is a passionate professional who thrives on being at the intersection of exciting technological advances in serving the PC, server, embedded, graphics and custom markets. She absolutely loves what she does, and value working with some of the brightest minds in the industry. She offers technology engineering and marketing expertise with 20+ years of experience in technical strategy, project planning, and product management, along with 10+ years of product planning, end-user experience and solutions strategy expertise. Diane builds trusting relationships with her team, facilitating success in aligning strategic technical solution sales mission with tactical execution plans. Her experience includes working with sales and marketing department of OEMs and their partners. She also finds it highly beneficial and enjoys brainstorming at industry trade conferences to find uses for the new technologies each company unveils. Diane has experience in both startup and large companies.
Matt Thomas
Education
Matt is an entrepreneur, a higher education advocate, and a technologist. Specialties: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Bootstrapping Startups, Product Management, Education Technology (EdTech), Customer Advocacy, Higher Education & Community Foundation Financial Aid Processes, Rapid Technology Development, Technical Sales, Public Sector & Higher Education HR process development & management.
Eric Weaver
Healthcare
Dr. Eric Weaver is a nationally-recognized healthcare executive with progressive senior leadership experience in a wide range of complex ambulatory care, value-based/population health management and managed care settings. Successful track record in the development of collaborative approaches in healthcare delivery with physicians and payers. Well-versed in healthcare IT with the ability to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical groups. Passionate about learning, leading organizations in a change-driven environment, safeguarding physician business interests, and leveraging health information technology to deliver patient-centered care. Specialties: ACOs, population health, patient-centered medical home, risk-based contracting, health information technology, physician practice management, project management, business/clinical operations, workflow mapping and process re-engineering, revenue cycle, financial management, and strategic planning.
Leadership
Bob Bridge
Founder and Executive Director
Bob Bridge
Founder and Executive Director
Juan Thurman
Director
Juan Thurman
Director
Blake Schwartz
MBA Associate
Blake Schwartz
MBA Associate
Mike Brogioli
Board of Directors
Mike Brogioli
Board of Directors
David Chao
Board of Directors
David Chao
Board of Directors
Steve Maysonave
Board of Directors
Steve Maysonave
Board of Directors
Jeff Toler
Board of Directors
Jeff Toler
Board of Directors
Mentors
Eloisa Acha
Social Impact and Marketing
Eloisa Acha
Social Impact and Marketing
Wade Allen
Business Strategy
Wade Allen
Business Strategy
Eric Boyce
Finance
Eric Boyce
Finance
Keith Cheney
Products and Technology
Keith Cheney
Products and Technology
Zoe Gabbard
investment Analysis
Zoe Gabbard
investment Analysis
Jim Gerberman
Corporate Strategy
Jim Gerberman
Corporate Strategy
Chris Hamilton
Technology Commercialization
Chris Hamilton
Technology Commercialization
Elizabeth Jennings
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Elizabeth Jennings
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Rashmi Kilam
Strategy and Exits
Rashmi Kilam
Strategy and Exits
Chris Lowimore
Finance and Exits
Chris Lowimore
Finance and Exits
Ron Martin
Project and Product Management
Ron Martin
Project and Product Management
Rachelle Oribio
Strategy/Business Plan
Rachelle Oribio
Strategy/Business Plan
Diane Stapley
Technology & Alliances
Diane Stapley
Technology & Alliances
Matt Thomas
Education
Matt Thomas
Education
Eric Weaver
Healthcare
Eric Weaver
Healthcare