PANEL MODERATOR

Todd Hand, Managing Partner
Talent Capital Group

Todd Hand, a CVF Board member since 2006, is the Managing Partner at Talent Capital Group, a venture capital-backed executive search firm in Boston. Consulting with company boards and founders, Todd specializes in identifying “high impact” leaders to drive the success of technology start-ups. Todd stepped away for two years to be COO & VP of Sales & Marketing at CleanSwitch, a solar technology integrator. CleanSwitch was a client of the company of Talent Capital Group. Prior, 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, where he opened sales offices throughout the US, hired and managed the inside sales and marketing teams, and built the company’s recruiting department. Since 1994, Todd has filled hundreds of technology management positions. Todd has been invited as a guest writer for NetworkWorld. He holds a BA from Penn State and is a two-time Ironman finisher.

PANELISTS

Brian Birk, Managing Partner
Sun Mountain Capital

Brian Birk has over 20 years experience as an operating executive and investor. Mr. Birk co-founded Sun Mountain Capital, a boutique private equity firm focused on the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions, in 2006. Since that time Sun Mountain has grown to be one of the largest PE firms in the region, and currently manages direct investment funds and fund of funds vehicles. Prior to forming Sun Mountain Capital, Mr. Birk was a Vice President and Director of Private Equity at Fort Washington Capital Partners where he helped the firm establish and manage a number of private equity direct investment funds, secondary investment funds, and fund of funds programs.

Mr. Birk was a founder or senior executive at several high profile start-ups, including MetaWeb (acquired by Google), Applied Minds and BiosGroup. In addition, Mr. Birk has held a senior manager position at the Boston Consulting Group and finance manager positions at General Electric and GE Capital. Mr. Birk has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS in economics from Carleton College.

Mr. Birk is a Board Member of Sun Mountain Capital portfolio companies Aspen Avionics, American Clay, Exagen Diagnostics, Lumidigm and Puente Partners. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association.

David Blivin
Cottonwood Technology Fund

David Blivin is a founder and managing director of Cottonwood Technology Fund (CTF). CTF is a seed and pre-seed stage venture capital fund focused on the Rio Grande Technology Corridor, and focused on identifying and supporting compelling emerging technology companies based in the region. In addition, Mr. Blivin is managing director of Cottonwood Technology Group (CTG). CTG is focused on supporting and creating programs and the ecosystem related to successful technology commercialization in Los Alamos and throughout New Mexico. Prior to founding the Cottonwood entities Mr. Blivin had a long and successful investment and entrepreneurial career. Dave founded and served as Managing Director of Southeast Interactive where over a five-year period he successfully built the team that established the first and largest information technology-focused fund based in the Southeast. During his tenure, Southeast Interactive raised three funds totaling over $175 million. He was directly involved in fund raising and exit transaction events totaling in excess of $1 billion across the portfolio and generated cash on cash returns on his directed investments of over 4X.

Before founding Southeast Interactive, Dave served as the Chief Financial Officer of Montrose Capital Corporation, a merchant-banking firm that formed and managed over 20 limited partnerships representing in excess of $100 million in equity and $350 million in total capitalization. Prior to joining Montrose Capital Corporation, he worked as a Senior Auditor with Arthur Andersen LLP where he audited several companies in the technology and communications fields. Dave has also participated on numerous boards of directors including The Pantry (nasdaq-PTRY), Opensite (sold to Siebel), Accipiter (sold to CMGI), Nitronex, Channelogics (sold to Scientific Atlanta) and Buildnet. He is an MBA graduate of the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

Katie Szczepaniak Rice
Epic Ventures

Katie Szczepaniak Rice is a Senior Associate with Epic Ventures, a venture capital firm headquartered in Salt Lake City specializing in early-stage technology investments. 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 business consulting firm serving Fortune 100 companies as well as emerging businesses. Before Kline, Ms. Szczepaniak Rice was a field engineer in the energy sector for Schlumberger in France.

Katie earned 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 is on the board of DOTGO, serves as an observer on the boards of Iosil and Intern Inc., and assists on the boards of BrightTag, Aspen Avionic and Lumidigm. Katie also serves on boards and committees for several community and industry organizations including Astia, SVForum, NMBio, and New Mexico TechGYRLS.

Francine Sommer, Special General Partner
Village Ventures Fund II

Francine Sommer, a CVF Director since 2006, 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 and 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.

Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Time: 6-8 pm
Venue: The Inn at Loretto, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM
Directions: Map
Cost: $22.50 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

Whether you are an entrepreneur, investor or just interested in venture capital investment in New Mexico, expect a lively discussion of 2010 investment trends, the impact of the global, national and local economy on New Mexico venture investment, and the 2011 outlook for VC activity in our state.

Date: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Time: 6-8 pm
Venue: Eldorado Hotel & Spa, 309 W. San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM
Directions: Map
Cost: $22.50 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

We are delighted to be hosting this event at the Albuquerque Balloon Museum. The Museum is celebrating its 5th anniversary in October with new special exhibitions and events. Plan to explore the Balloon Museum with a special guided tour before the event. Learn more about all the Balloon Museum has to offer by visiting www.cabq.gov/balloon.

Date: Thursday, July 15
Time: 6-8 pm (Special Balloon Museum tour begins promptly at 5:30 pm.)
Venue: The Albuquerque Balloon Museum
9201 Balloon Museum Dr. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
Directions: Map
Cost: $22.50 in advance, (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

Join us to learn more about the realities of social media marketing. Our panelists, Will Reichard of Crosscut Communications, Gary Ebersole of veloGraf Systems and Mick Thompson of Collecta, will discuss the benefits of social media marketing and the challenges of implementing effective programs.

Date: Thursday, June 17
Time: 6-8 pm
Venue: Prairie Star, 288 Prairie Star Rd, Bernalillo, NM
Directions: Map
Cost: $20 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

CVF is now on Twitter: Please follow us @CVF_NewMexico.
You can also connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Please also join us in using the hashtag #cvfnm to track our event conversations. Our speakers Will Reichard, Gary Ebersole, and Mick Thompson are also on Twitter.

Date: Thursday, March 18
Time: 6-8 pm
Venue: Prairie Star, 288 Prairie Star Rd, Bernalillo, NM
Directions: Map
Cost: $20 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only).

Economists Arnold Baker of Sandia and Larry Waldman of the UNM BBER will share their insights and a local perspective on the trends that will influence the New Mexico, U.S. and global economies.

Date: Thursday, January 21
Time: 6 – 8 pm (Networking & hors d’oeuvres followed by presentation)
Venue: Prairie Star, 288 Prairie Star Rd, Bernalillo, NM
Directions: Google Map
Cost: $20 in advance (credit card payments); $25 at the door (cash and check only)

Featured Speakers

Dr. Arnold Baker, Chief Economist, Sandia National Laboratories
Arnold B. Baker is the Chief Economist of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a Deputy to the Senior Vice President and Deputy Laboratories Director for Integrated Technologies and Systems, and serves as principle political economic advisor. He is a Past President (2005) of the International Association for Energy Economics and former President of the United States Association (2002). He holds a BA in History and MA and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Prior to joining SNL in 1996 he served for 17 years at Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), holding a number of challenging positions including Director of Political Economic Analysis, Director of Public Issues, Director of Energy Market Analysis, and Manager of Strategic Planning (ARCO Oil and Gas Company). His assignments included market analysis and scenario based planning, as well as chairing internal planning studies on the future of the oil, natural gas, coal and electricity industries. Prior to joining ARCO he served at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs, and as a staff economist at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He has written book chapters and articles on energy, economic policy and global change.

Dr. Larry Waldman, Senior Research Scientist, UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER)
Larry has been with BBER since 1988, where he has spent most of his time managing the FOR-UNM Economic Forecasting Service. He produces an economic forecast of the New Mexico economy each quarter, which is distributed to clients of the service. He also publishes an economic forecasting newsletter, The FOR-UNM Bulletin, which is available to the public on a subscription basis.

Larry writes four or five articles annually relating to the New Mexico economy for publication in New Mexico Business, Current Economic Report, the BBER monthly economic update newsletter. In addition, he also writes press releases, does numerous interviews for radio and TV, and makes a dozen or so personal appearances each year, explaining recent developments in and the outlook for the New Mexico economy, to professional, civic, and governmental audiences.

We look forward to seeing you at this interesting event that launches CVF’s 2010 program calendar..

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time: 6 – 8 pm

Location: Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Google Map Link

Event Details

• 6:00 – 6:30 pm: Hors d’oeuvres & Networking
• 6:30 – 8:00 pm: Presentation

About the Speakers

John Chavez, President of New Mexico Angels

John J. Chavez is the President of Tafoya and Brainerd Partners LLC, a nationwide business development consulting firm. Mr. Chavez is also the Vice President Business Development at Financial Management Systems, a Chicago based financial services firm. Mr. Chavez has been an active angel investor since 2003. Prior to creating Tafoya and Brainerd Partners LLC, Mr. Chavez was appointed by New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson as the Cabinet Secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department. Mr. Chavez served as Cabinet Secretary for six years and as the President of the Federation of Taxation Administrators for one year.

Mr. Chavez is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Squash Blossom Classic – an organization that organizes a yearly adventure sport event in McKinley County.

Mr. Chavez received the following degrees from New Mexico State University.

• Master of Business Administration
• Bachelor of Art in Economics
• Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance

Gavin Christensen, Principal at vSpring Capital

Gavin heads vSpring’s New Mexico office where he is focused on funding companies in New Mexico’s technology-rich ecosystem.

Gavin joined vSpring as an associate in 2003, left in 2005 to attend the Kellogg School of Management, and in 2007 he rejoined vSpring as a Principal. 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. From 2000 to 2003, 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 is active in the New Mexico community: fostering entrepreneurship, education, and promoting the state. He is also active with his alma mater, Northwestern. He recently led an effort to create an experiential learning curriculum focused on venture capital and entrepreneurship. 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 and Symbiot.

Lee Rand, Partner at Sun Mountain Capital
Mr. Rand has over 15 years experience starting and managing technology businesses at both startups and large corporations. Prior to joining Sun Mountain, Mr. Rand founded Knogee a semantic search company, ran business development for Intel’s consumer electronics group, launched and managed the product marketing and standards team for Intel’s blade based server initiatives and led product management at semiconductor start-up Netboost which was acquired by Intel in 1999. Mr. Rand also has extensive business consulting experience having worked at Ernst and Young early in his career and more recently as an independent consultant brought in by investors and the board to work with start-ups on strategy and operations.

Mr. Rand has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a dual BA in computer science and mathematics from Cornell University.

Co-Hosted with:

Those who missed the event may be interested in the content of certain sessions. Even those of you who attended may have missed a session or two you were interested in. Please click on this link to access these video and slide files.

In addition, there has been interest from a number of folks to continue conversations started at the Summit and contribute to next year’s planning. We have created a LinkedIn group to help facilitate sustaining and growing the community of interest around New Energy and the Summit. LinkedIn seems to be the most professional way to grow a community of interest that preserves the business nature of the relationships and conversations.

I hope you will consider joining and participating in this group. Start a discussion topic of interest (solar, wind, smart grid, etc.) or contribute to one. Activity will create “energy” and ideas.

Date: Thursday, January 22, 2009
Time: 6 – 8 pm
Venue: Prairie Star, 288 Prairie Star Rd, Bernalillo, NM
Map: Google Map

About Kristin Martinez
Kristin Martinez is the founder and CEO of Sound Point Ventures, a new venture development and management company started in Seattle in 1998. Through Sound Point she created and manages Angels with Attitude, the first active angel fund focused on sustainable cleantech investments. Most recently, Kristin was a founder, director and CFO of biotech startup Acoustic Cytometry Systems, Inc., in Los Alamos, NM. The angel-funded company was sold to Invitrogen after 27 months. Kristin spent 10 years in the electric utility industry, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer of Pepco Energy Services, Inc., an unregulated spinout from Potomac Electric Power Company (now Pepco Holdings, Inc.). Kristin has a BS from Boston University and an MBA in Finance and Investments from The George Washington University.

About John Elling, PhD, MBA
After receiving a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, John Elling started his career in New Mexico in 1991 as a Technical Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1998, he left the Lab to start Bioreason which grew to 30 plus employees, marketing its data mining and computational intelligence information technology to automate high throughput screening data analysis. In 2001, he started Cytoprint, which, until its acquisition by Atto Bioscience, developed image analysis technology for biological assay discovery. Three years ago, as CEO of Integrated Genomics in Chicago, Elling redirected the company’s business into bioinformatics, initially downsizing to achieve profitability and then ramping up a 15% to 25% CAGR and arranged a 6x merger. As a Visiting Entrepreneur at Los Alamos in 2005, he helped develop the business plan for Acoustic Cytometry Systems and later led the company until it was acquired in 2008 by Invitrogen.

• Brian Birk, Managing Partner at Sun Mountain Capital
• Greg Kulka, Director – Alternative Investments Portfolio at the New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSIC)
• Stephanie Spong, Principal at Epic Ventures and current President of NMVCA

Description:
What are the trends? What is getting funded? What’s hot? And what’s not? Join us to learn the insights from some of New Mexico’s most influential Venture Capitalists

Description:
Please join us to hear one of the foremost experts on venture capital & IP. Joe Bartlett will cover a wide variety of topics, as well as take questions from the audience. Co-sponsored by the “New Mexico Venture Capital Association”:http://nmvca.org/.

Panelists
Jason Matlof at “Battery Ventures”:http://www.battery.com/
Brian Birk of “Sun Mountain Capital”:http://www.sunmountaincapital.com/
George Friberg, Senior Director of “Technology Ventures Corporation”:http://techventures.org/
Mitch Zuklie of “Orrick”:http://www.orrick.com/
Stephanie Spong of “Wasatch”:http://www.wasatchvc.com/

Description
Co-hosted by CVF and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
Join us for a special event discussing Cleantech industry trends, opportunities and challenges. Local and national experts will be on hand to meet and network with at Albuquerque’s famous Balloon Museum. Special starting time is 5:15 pm.

Presenters:
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. Continue reading here.

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. Continue reading here.

Tom Stephenson, a CVF Advisor and Director since 1998, is Managing General Partner for “Verge”:http://www.vergefund.com/, a New Mexico based technology seed fund. Prior to founding Verge in 2003, he was a General Partner for Murphree Venture Partners, managing their New Mexico office. Before returning to New Mexico to join Murphree, Tom served as Director of Education and Research at the Austin Technology Incubator. Continue reading here.

Description:
The spaceport is coming, “Eclipse Aviation”:http://www.eclipseaviation.com/ is delivering planes, and aerospace start-ups are surfacing all over New Mexico. Aerospace/Aviation is the hottest new investment frontier and New Mexico is leading the way in Aerospace/Aviation research, technology, and innovation. Our emerging companies are the future and creating a dynamic landscape for growth and financial opportunity.

Description:
The technology behind the movie industry is advancing in fascinating directions, especially in our own state. New Mexico has several clear competitive advantages in film technology: one of the highest concentration of Ph.D’s and advanced degree holders anywhere; a rich culture of creativity and artistic expression; some of the most beautiful landscape in the world; and a highly competitive incentives program for start-up businesses.

Description:
Business development objectives can often be achieved more easily with an effective public/private partnership. The New Mexico State Investment Council has been working diligently on a variety of initiatives that aim to increase investment options for New Mexico businesses. Greg Kulka and Brian Birk will review the SIC initiatives and the results to date. They will discuss the impact of these efforts on investors and the business investment environment in New Mexico.

Description:
When is the right time to exit a deal and provide liquidity for investors? How do you determine when to sell, whom to sell out to, and how to conduct the negotiations? Our speakers will discuss these and other challenging issues in the context of a recent deal-MesoFuel-which was sold to an international company less than two years after it was founded in 2002.

Description:
People issues are one of the critical factors for investors when examining a start-up. The existing team’s experience, track record, and abilities can determine whether the company even receive funding. This program will cover the challenges in creating the initial team,the risks in hiring, the issues surrounding transitions, and the special hiring challenges in New Mexico.

Description:
A startup’s marketing strategy and plan provides a road map for connecting their products or services to interested customers. The speakers will discuss why that plan is essential to investors and the key elements investors expect to see. Topics include how to pull a marketing plan together, where and how to get vital data for that plan, key questions and answers to consider, and how a marketing strategy can drive operational activities.

About the Presenters:
David Van Avermaete, VeraLight CEO, has 22 years of experience in the diabetes field
with specific expertise in home blood glucose monitoring and medical diagnostics. He is
a former US president of the LifeScan division of Johnson & Johnson, who during his 13
year tenure grew annual sales from under $100 million to over $1.0 billion.

Mike Connolly runs the NM offices for vSpring Capital, an early-stage venture
investment firm. He previously served as technology commercialization executive at Los
Alamos National Lab. Before relocating from Silicon Valley, Mike cofounded 7
biomedical companies, including Novacept (acquired for $325M) and Cohesion
(acquired for $40M). Y