Board
All board members are volunteers who serve without compensation. Coronado Ventures Forum 2010 board members are:
Andy Alsop, a CVF Director since 2006, has been a founder or co-founder of four different technology start-ups spanning the past seventeen years. Andy is currently Vice President of Business Development for Deep Web Technologies. Prior to joining Deep Web Technologies Andy was President & 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 previous companies, Panorama Point Corporation grew to just under 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 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.
Brian Birk, a CVF Advisor and Director since 2005 has over 20 years experience as an operating executive and investor. Mr. Birk has over 20 years experience as an operating executive and investor. Prior to forming Sun Mountain Capital, Mr. Birk was a Vice President at Fort Washington Investment Advisors where he managed New Mexico Co-Investment Partners (a single limited partner, state sponsored Fund) and led 8 of the 9 investments originated by the Fund. He also oversaw the New Mexico and Utah in-state Private Equity investment programs with investments in excess of $400 million. Mr. Birk was a founder or senior executive at several high profile start up companies including Applied Minds and BiosGroup. He was a Senior Manager at Boston Consulting Group and a Finance Manager at General Electric and GE Capital. Mr. Birk has an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management where he graduated first in his class and a BS in Economics from Carleton College.
Lawrence Chavez 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, 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. In 2007, Gavin worked in conjunction with co-founders Paul Ahlstrom and Dinesh Patel of vSpring and Brian Cummings of University of Utah to solidify and execute on a seed fund strategy that would help kickstart the development of seed stage companies in the Mountain West. 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. During business school, Gavin worked as a Vertical Strategy Associate for Google’s direct sales organization. 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 Intelisum, Symbiot, nanoMR and Panoptic Security. Follow Gavin on Twitter.
Darlene Collins, a CVF director since 2007, joined Psilos Group Managers LLC in October 2005. Ms. Collins leverages over twenty years healthcare experience and a national network of government and industry relationships in support of Psilos’ investment activities. Ms. Collins focuses on deal sourcing and evaluation and she serves as a strategic advisor to many portfolio companies on market development and growth opportunities in the public sector. She also plays a key role in Psilos public policy initiatives on behalf of our portfolio companies. Her areas of expertise include government and employer-sponsored health benefit programs, information-driven technology, pharmaceutical/health benefit management strategies, disease management initiatives and medical device technology. Prior to joining Psilos, Ms. Collins was an accomplished executive and business management consultant in the areas of best practice evaluation and research, business and market intelligence, customer relationship management and government relations, project management, policy and program technical assistance, and business planning. Managing her own firm, her clients included the World Congress (Strategic Leadership for the Healthcare Industry), the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, PAREXEL International Medical Marketing Services, private companies and organizations (HMOs, outsource vendors, medical groups, industry associations, pharmaceutical firms, PBMs), and the media. Ms. Collins speaks on a variety of topics and often moderates business roundtables and healthcare leadership summits. Collins received her M.P.H. and Credential of Advanced Studies in Health Services Administration from the University of Minnesota, and a Masters in Education from Clarion State University.
Michael Doolittle, a CVF Advisor and Director since 2004, is the Director of Venture Banking at Los Alamos National Bank (LANB). LANB’s Venture Banking group is focused on providing tailor-made debt financing solutions and deposit services to emerging businesses and their investors throughout New Mexico. Mr. Doolittle’s professional background includes over 15 years of experience in accounting, financial analysis and investment management in the U.S., the UK and Europe. He currently serves on the Council of Business Advisors to the Santa Fe Business Incubator. Mr. Doolittle holds a BS in Finance from California State University, Long Beach and an MBA in Finance and New Venture Development from London Business School.
Gary Ebersole, a CVF Director since 2007, is CEO and co-founder of Santa Fe-based veloGraf Systems. An experienced, early-stage startup executive who has held executive roles in many Silicon Valley startups over the last 20 years, Gary has also held management positions with industry leaders such as Sun Microsystems, Informix Software and Apollo Computer. His leadership roles in startups included President and CEO of Clustra Systems, CEO of Paremus Limited and President of ANTS Software. In 2002, Gary engineered the sale of Clustra Systems to Sun Microsystems. Gary has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle. Follow Gary on Twitter.
David Franklin, a CVF Director since 2006, was co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Strategic Analytics Inc. until its sale to Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK) in early 2010. 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, is also a Director of Project Development and Business Assistance at Technology Ventures Corporation. 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, a CVF Board member since 2006, is the Managing Partner of Talent Capital Group, a VC-funded executive search firm founded in Boston. Consulting with venture capitalists and their company founders, Todd specializes in identifying “high impact”leaders to drive the success of technology start-ups. Many of his clients come from technologies right out of universities and the research labs. Prior to Talent Capital, Todd was Director of Talent Acquisition at idealab, where he recruited management teams for the incubator’s start-ups. He moved there from the Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology market research firm, where he managed the company’s overall hiring activities. Since 1994, Todd has filled hundreds of technology management positions. Todd has spoken at M.I.T., Harvard, the Massachusetts Software & Internet Council, and the Science & Technology Corp. at UNM. Todd was also the founder of the New England Life Science Advisory Group, and co-founder of CEO Resources, based in Albuquerque. He holds a BA in Industrial Psychology from Penn State and is a two-time Ironman finisher.
Kevin Holsapple, a CVF Advisor and Director since 1998, 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. 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, a CVF Founder and Director since 1994, is President of Icerman & Associates, an advanced-technology, management consulting firm specializing in all aspects of technology transfer and commercialization. In addition to nine years of 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.
David Jargiello is a Silicon Valley business lawyer with over 20 years experience working with start up companies and the professional investors that finance them. He began practicing law in 1989 at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Craig Johnson’s emerging companies group, specializing in corporate finance and securities. In 1993, he was one of the original 14 lawyers who founded Venture Law Group, a leading Silicon Valley law firm that grew to over 120 lawyers in four offices in major technology markets. As a shareholder of VLG, he continued to represent technology companies and their investors on a variety of matters, including equity and debt financings, acquisitions, public offerings, corporate restructurings and commercial transactions. In 1996 he became VLG’s General Counsel and served as part of the management team responsible for the oversight and management of the firm’s business and professional matters. In that capacity, he also developed significant experience in matters of professional responsibility, the laws governing lawyers, and law firm management. When VLG merged with Heller Ehrman in 2003, David became a shareholder in the combined firm’s Corporate/VLG Practice Group. He was a member of Heller Ehrman’s management committee as well as its General Counsel until re-joining Johnson in 2008 to create Virtual Law Partners – the first wholly “virtual” law office of national reach. Public companies represented over David’s career include Adaptec, Collagen, Creative Technology, ISOCOR, Laserscope, PeopleSoft, Plantronics, Preview Systems, Retix, StrataCom, Vertel, Wearnes (Singapore), and Wyse Technology. Follow David on Twitter.
Greg Kulka, a CVF Director since 2003, is Director – Private Equity & ETI Programs at the New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSIC)and has held that position for seven years. He currently oversees a National Private Equity Program with $2.3 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. He also manages the New Mexico Film Investment Program which invests in projects that are filmed in New Mexico and hire New Mexicans as a majority of their production crew. This program has an allocation of $265 million and currently has outstanding investments of $155 million in fifteen film and television projects. Over the life of the film investment program, twenty-two projects totaling $223 million have been financed. 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 Padilla, a CVF Director since 2005, is is currently the Program Manager of the Development Office within the Technology Transfer (TT) Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Belinda’s group is responsible for identifying, nurturing and marketing opportunities for commercialization through education, training, networking and mentoring programs. In addition, Belinda’s group has a specific responsibility to support Laboratory entrepreneurs and encourage new business development in Northern New Mexico. Belinda has been at the Laboratory for twelve years, working with a broad range of LANL staff and within a wide variety of LANL programs to facilitate technology commercialization, most recently focusing on nurturing start-up companies based on LANL technology or expertise. Since 1997, Belinda and her team have supported over 300 clients and worked with over 80 new start-up companies in Northern Mexico. Belinda’s most well-known accomplishment is the establishment of an MBA internship program at LANL for mid-term MBAs interested in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship. Candidates are selected from both in-state universities and top-ten business schools such as Stanford and Harvard University and Babson College. Ms Padilla earned both a BBA Marketing and Executive MBA from the University of New Mexico. Belinda has been recognized by the Santa Fe New Mexican and the NM Business Weekly as one of NM’s top technology leaders, and received Distinguished Performance Awards from LANL’s Director in 1996 and 1998.
Gary Seawright, a CVF Director since 2005, has 28 years of experience in entrepreneurship; technology and business management; and biomedical research. Gary is now the founding President 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, a CVF Director since 2006, is a Special General Partner of Village Ventures Fund II, responsible for investments in New Mexico. Ms Sommer has over 20 years of experience in the venture capital industry. 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 was the 2005 Chairperson of the Board of New Mexico Angels and Chairs its Screening Committee. 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.
