Board
Current Board of Directors
All board members are volunteers who serve without compensation. Coronado Ventures Forum board members are:
Andy Alsop, Marketing Committee Chair
A CVF Director since 2006, Andy has been a founder or co-founder of four different technology start-ups spanning the past twenty plus years. Andy is currently Vice President of Business Development for TheRetailPlanet.com. Prior to joining TheRetailPlanet.com, Andy was the VP of Business Development at Deep Web Technologies and beforehand President and CEO of Packet Analytics, a venture-backed Network Forensic Search Engine software company based on technology licensed exclusively from Los Alamos National Laboratory. One of Andy’s former companies, Panorama Point Corporation grew to 20 people with offices in New Mexico and Arizona and established its position as New Mexico’s premier web communications company serving clients such as Lucent Technologies, The Santa Fe Opera, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Andy led the sale of Panorama Point to a leading search engine optimization and web development firm in January of 2005. Andy graduated with a B. A. in Business Administration from the School of Business & Economics at WVU. Follow Andy on Twitter.
Perry Bendicksen, President
Perry is a shareholder in the Albuquerque office of the Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck law firm. He is a member of the firm’s Corporate & Business Group, focusing his practice on private equity, venture capital, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. His clients include private equity and venture capital funds and their investors, investment banking firms and emerging technology companies. Perry’s wide-ranging transactional experience includes venture capital fund formation, private equity fund investments, and project financing. He has been named to the “Best Lawyers in America” in multiple categories for more than ten years and is cited as one of the top corporate lawyers in New Mexico by Chambers & Partners in their “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” guide. He has a B.A. in English from Amherst College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Lawrence Chavez, Marketing Committee Co-Chair
Lawrence has over 18 years of finance, operations management and strategic marketing experience in a variety of entrepreneurial businesses and five years as an active angel investor in New Mexico-based companies. At Flywheel, Lawrence has principal responsibility for managing Flywheel’s New Mexico Gap Fund which provides seed funding of up to $100,000 for promising start-up companies. Lawrence supports the flywheel portfolio with financial management support including recently acting as interim CFO for Micromanipulator. Additional responsibilities include sourcing, screening and structuring new investment opportunities, conducting due diligence and market research for prospective and current investments.
Prior to Flywheel, Lawrence was an active angel investor and entrepreneur in a variety of New Mexico companies. He was a Founder and Principal of Infinity Business Development, a start-up consulting firm, and a Founder/CEO of Infinity Music, Inc., which he exited in a private transaction in 2006. Prior to that he spent six years as Purchasing/Operations Manager for Our Secret Ltd., a growth consumer products company where he oversaw production, manufacturing and global supply chain logistics. Lawrence is an active member of the New Mexico Angels investment group and serves on its Screening Committee. He is currently on the board of the New Mexico Venture Capital Association. Lawrence holds a Bachelors of Accountancy from New Mexico State University and a Masters in Marketing from Texas A&M University. Follow Lawrence on Twitter.
Gavin Christensen
A CVF Director since 2008, Gavin is currently a Principal at vSpring Capital and Managing Director of the Kickstart Seed Fund. vSpring Capital is an early stage venture fund focused on developing and funding companies in the Mountain West. Gavin heads vSpring’s New Mexico office where he is focused on funding companies in New Mexico’s technology-rich ecosystem. Kickstart officially launched in April, 2008. As Managing Director of Kickstart, Gavin is responsible for all aspects of managing the firm in addition to leading due diligence and investment decisions in conjunction with Kickstart’s Investment Committee. Gavin joined vSpring as an analyst in 2003. Gavin’s efforts have had a significant impact on vSpring’s firm strategy and on the success of many of vSpring’s Fund I and II companies. Prior to vSpring Capital, Gavin worked as a consultant in Monitor Group’s Boston office where he advised clients on a range of strategic, operational, and organizational improvements. Gavin began his career at Fidelity Investments as an investments representative. Gavin received a Masters of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Economics (with Honors), cum laude, from Brigham Young University. Gavin currently serves on the boards Chargeback Guardian, Fuze Networks, Intelisum, nanoMR, Jackrabbit Systems, Juxta, Panoptic Security, Symbiot, Zenprint and Zerista. Follow Gavin on Twitter.
Shandra D. Clow
Shandra Clow is a Regional Development Executive within the Development Office at the Technology Transfer Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Since beginning with LANL full-time in 2001, she has been a part of a broad range of programs focused on regional economic development and technology transfer. Ms. Clow currently oversees the MBA Summer Internship Program where she recruits MBA students to provide business development expertise to entrepreneurs and LANL inventors. She also oversees the LANL-internal Technology Maturation Fund that provides funding to researchers to further develop technology with commercial potential. Ms. Clow is also a part of the Northern New Mexico Connect Initiative and is the Program Manager for Networking and Education Events. Through this program, she helps create and promote networking events to the entrepreneurial community in New Mexico. Ms. Clow earned both a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing and Executive MBA from New Mexico State University. Ms. Clow was recognized in 2010 as one of New Mexico Technology Council’s Women in Technology. She also received a Distinguished Mentor Award from LANL in 2011.
Matt Culler
Mr. Culler is a Principal at Sun Mountain Capital. He joined the firm as an Associate in January 2008 following 3 years of investment banking experience at Bank of America in New York. At Bank of America, Mr. Culler was an analyst in the private equity placements group where he was responsible for conducting due diligence, marketing investment opportunities, structuring transactions and raising private equity and debt capital in both the PIPE and private markets. Mr. Culler has a BBA in Finance with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Culler is a Board Member of Sun Mountain Capital portfolio companies Teucrium Trading and Growstone as well as a Board Observer for Sun Mountain’s investment in Exagen Diagnostics, JackRabbit Systems, nanoMR, and Skorpios Technologies.
David Franklin, Secretary, Program Committee Chair
David is a CVF Director since 2006,and currently serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Verge Fund, an Albuquerque, NM-based seed stage venture capital fund. From 1999 to March 2010 Franklin was co-founder, CEO and Chairman of an analytical software venture, Strategic Analytics Inc., until its sale to Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK). Prior to his experience in New Mexico, Mr. Franklin worked as a financial analyst in Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance at Morgan Stanley & Co., Incorporated. After receiving his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business, he joined McLagan Partners of Stamford, CT, a leading management consulting firm to the financial industry where he became a Managing Director in 1997. Mr. Franklin is also a member of the board of the Santa Fe Business Incubator, a leading non-profit facility that houses and supports emerging businesses in the Santa Fe area.
John Freisinger
A CVF Director since 2008, John is also the President and CEO of Technology Ventures Corporation, a New Mexico-based non-profit founded to assist with technology transfer from the national laboratories. An experienced Operations and Sales executive, he has held key positions in a number of New Mexico start-ups including the home automation company, Smart Systems Technologies, Inc., and the supercomputing networking manufacturer, Essential Communications. John played key roles in the acquisition of Essential by SBS Technologies (NSDQ: SBSE) and the prior acquisition by Intrusion, Inc. (NSDQ: INTZ), formerly ODS Networks. He began his career as a sales trainer with Coca-Cola Refreshments, Moscow before starting as the business manager for Access Russia. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of New Mexico. Follow John on Twitter.
Todd Hand
Todd is a CVF Board member since 2006, and is the Vice President of Sales for Altela. He was also the COO and VP of Sales and Marketing at CleanSwitch Solar. Prior to that, he raised venture capital financing and founded Talent Capital Group, an executive search firm for the technology sectors in Boston and New Mexico where he recruited leaders to drive the success of early-stage technology companies. Todd recruited management teams for Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies. He moved there from the Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology market research firm. Todd has been invited as a guest writer for NetworkWorld. He holds a BA from Penn State and is a two-time Ironman finisher.
Kevin Holsapple, Treasurer
Kevin is a CVF Advisor and Director since 1998, and is the Executive Director of the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation (LACDC), a non-profit corporation that promotes community economic development and supports small business development in Los Alamos and the region. LACDC activities include management of the Los Alamos Research Park, the Small Business Center, The Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce and the UNM-Los Alamos Small Business Development Center. He accepted his position with the LACDC following nine years with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Kevin is an alumni of Leadership New Mexico and is the current president of the New Mexico Chamber Executives Association. Mr. Holsapple holds a BA in Business Administration from The Indiana University School of Business and an MBA from Arizona State University and The College of Santa Fe. Follow Kevin on Twitter.
Larry Icerman
Larry is a CVF Founder and Director since 1994, and is President of Icerman & Associates, an advanced-technology, management consulting firm specializing in all aspects of technology transfer and commercialization that he founded in 1989. In addition to nine years of university and government research and development management experience, Dr. Icerman has spent a number of years teaching at the university level and is widely published in research and scholarship. He has also served as the founding Director of the New Mexico Research and Development Institute, one of the first state-funded seed capital programs in the US, where he was involved in the early stages of more than twenty-five technology based companies. Larry holds four engineering degrees from MIT, The University of California at San Diego as well as a PhD in engineering sciences and an MBA in finance from San Diego State University.
Greg Kulka
Greg is a CVF Director since 2003, and serves as Director – Private Equity & ETI Programs at the New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSIC), a position he has held for 10 years. He currently oversees a National Private Equity Program with $2.8 billion in commitments and a New Mexico Private Equity Program with commitments of $350 million. These commitments are invested in a total of 130 different private equity and venture funds. Mr. Kulka has a BA in physics from the University of Colorado and a Masters in finance, accounting and economics from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He also holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).
Belinda Snyder, Sponsorship Committee Chair
Belinda is currently the Program Manager of the Development Office within the Technology Transfer Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Since starting at LANL in 1993, she has worked with a broad range of LANL staff and within a wide variety of programs to facilitate technology commercialization. She has spearheaded the creation and implementation of a number of LANL, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, and state-sponsored programs designed to stimulate regional economic development, including LANL’s MBA Internship Program, Visiting Entrepreneur Program, and Entrepreneurial Post-Doc Program; the Los Alamos Venture Acceleration Initiative; LabStart, a joint venture with Arch Ventures and Verge Fund; and Northern New Mexico Connect. Since 1997, Ms. Snyder has successfully mentored 90 future business leaders and has worked with over 100 new start-up companies in northern New Mexico through these programs. Ms. Snyder earned both a BBA Marketing and Executive MBA from the University of New Mexico. She gained over ten years of sales, marketing, and business development experience in private industry prior to joining LANL and is current chair of the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s State and Local Government Committee and former president of Coronado Ventures Forum. She is also a board member of the New Mexico Technology Council, an advisor to the Northern New Mexico Community College Business Curriculum Committee, and a member of the 2010 Leadership New Mexico class. Ms. Snyder has been recognized as a top technology leader, having been named as one of New Mexico Business Weekly’s “top 25 techies” and “40 under 40” up-and-coming business leaders in 2003 and a “Who’s Who in Technology” honoree in 2009, chosen as a “Future Leader of New Mexico” by the Santa Fe New Mexican, and received Distinguished Performance Awards from LANL’s Director in 1996 and 1998.
Gary Seawright, House Committee Chair
Gary is a CVF Director since 2005, and has 34 years of experience in entrepreneurship; technology and business management; and biomedical research. Gary was the founding President and CEO and is now the Chairman of AmeriCulture, Inc., an aquaculture company which uses sustainable technology and renewable energy to cultivate tilapia, one of the most consumed seafood species in the US. Prior to AmeriCulture, Gary was the founding CEO of Amtech Corporation (now a division of TransCore), which develops, manufactures and markets the world’s leading line of radio-frequency identification (rfid) products for the transportation industries. Gary participated in the rfid development project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and led the research team in transferring the technology out of Los Alamos into the private sector. In five years, Amtech went from a garage startup to a public company and eventually grew to more than $100 million in annual sales and 300 employees in its Albuquerque, NM facilities. During his career, Gary has also served as a Captain in the US Air Force, Assistant Professor of Virology, Veterinary Officer at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, and Project Leader and Program Manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has conducted research and published papers in the fields of virology, microbial and diagnostic immunology, radio-telemetry, and various applications of rfid technology, and has been a speaker at numerous scientific and entrepreneurial meetings and conferences in the US and abroad. Gary holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Washington State University and MS and Ph.D. Degrees in Virology/Veterinary Science from the University of Wisconsin.
Francine Sommer
Francine is a CVF Director since 2006, and is a Special General Partner of Village Ventures Fund II, responsible for investments in New Mexico. She is a founder of the predecessor to newyorkangels.com and is a past President of the Venture Investors Association of NY. She was during the Giuliani administration on the Board and Executive Committee of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. She is a Board member of the NMVCA & was Chairperson of the Board of New Mexico Angels. She also serves on the the Board of Directors of The Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe. She was formerly Senior Vice President, Head of the Angel Funds Group, Wit Capital, General Partner, Gabelli Multimedia Partners, Managing Director, First Security Management, President of 655 Associates and Vice President, Research & Science Investors. Ms Sommer is a graduate of the Columbia Business School.
Katie Szczepaniak Rice
Katie Szczepaniak Rice is a Senior Associate with Epic Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. Katie focuses on new investments in technology, software and IT. She is on the boards of DOTGO and Figaro, serves as an observer on the boards of Iosil and Exagen, and assists with the oversight of BrightTag, Aspen Avionic and Lumidigm. Prior to joining Epic, Katie was a strategic market analyst at Cabot Corporation in advanced materials for alternative energy markets. Before Cabot, Katie was a consultant with Kline & Co., a management consulting firm serving Fortune 100 companies as well as emerging businesses. Before Kline, Katie was a field engineer in the energy sector for Schlumberger in France. Katie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science & Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She serves on boards and committees for several community and industry organizations including Astia, SVForum, NMBio, and New Mexico TechGYRLS.
