Mayo Center - Events - Venture Capital Conference - Program2025

Speakers

VC Market Outlook & Washington DC Policy Update

Bobby Franklin President & CEO, National Venture Capital Association Since 2013, Bobby Franklin has led the venture community’s preeminent trade association focused on empowering the next generation of transformative American companies. As president and CEO of the National Venture Capital Association, he champions public policy that supports the American entrepreneurial ecosystem, making NVCA the dominant voice of the U.S startup ecosystem. LinkedIn

 

Assessing the Current VC Fundraising Environment Panel

	Scott Headd, Moderator Senior Director, Sands Capital Scott Headd helps lead fundraising for Sands private strategies. Prior to joining Sands, he spent nearly 10 years at the Private Bank where he was Managing Director and 5 years at FBR Capital Markets prior to Darden. LinkedIn
	Zach Beecher Partner & Head of Growth Strategy, America’s Frontier Fund Zach Beecher is Partner and Head of Growth Strategy at America’s Frontier Fund, advancing innovation at the intersection of technology and national security. A former 82nd Airborne Division Paratrooper who deployed to Iraq and current U.S. Special Operations Command Reservist, he has since led across venture capital, health tech and defense strategy. LinkedIn
	Matt Bressler General Partner, Lookout Ventures Matt Bressler is a General Partner at Lookout Ventures and brings prior experience investing in and working with startup and growth stage companies. Prior to Lookout, Matt worked with TDF Ventures and GE Ventures supporting investments and strategy in intelligent environments. Matt also served as the Director of Investments for the Wharton Social Venture Fund and as an Associate for FOUNDER.org, investing and assisting early-stage startups. Matt started his career as a management consultant for Oliver Wyman where he focused on growth strategy in a diverse set of industries including consumer electronics, transportation, energy and health care IT.  LinkedIn
	Kristi Craig CIO, National Geographic Kristi Craig is the Chief Investment Officer for the National Geographic Society, where she is responsible for the investment management and oversight of the Society’s endowment. Prior to joining National Geographic, Kristi was a Director at the Georgetown University Investment Office, where she worked on a broad range of investments and was a key voice in asset allocation and manager selection decisions. Kristi is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Wenner-Gren and serves on the Investment Committee for Rebalance360, a company dedicated to the democratization of high-quality, low-cost investment advice and financial planning. Kristi earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University and is a CFA charter holder.   LinkedIn
	Caitlin Mavraganis Managing Director, Selby Lane Capital Caitlin Mavraganis is a Managing Director at Selby Lane Capital, an investment firm that specializes in building venture capital, growth equity, and private equity investment portfolios. Prior to joining Selby Lane in 2021, Caitlin was a Managing Director at the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO) where she had co-head responsibility for venture capital and growth equity investments and was a member of UVIMCO’s investment committee. Caitlin also spent three years as an Investment Director with Cambridge Associates in Arlington, Virginia where she advised several university endowments, non-profit foundations, and families on asset allocation, manager selection and portfolio management. Caitlin received a B.S. in finance and accounting from Georgetown University and an MBA degree from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. LinkedIn

Investing in AI Panel

	Bob Creeden, Moderator Managing Director, UVA LVG Seed Fund Bob Creeden, Managing Director of the UVA LVG Seed Fund & New Ventures supports the creation of high-quality ventures based on University technologies and leads the day-to-day operations of two $10 million investment funds. Bob is tasked with building initiatives to identify opportunities for the creation of new ventures based on technologies in the LVG portfolio, recruiting talented executives, and entrepreneurs-in-residence, along with mentoring and advising newly formed companies. LinkedIn
	Welton Chang Co-founder & CEO, Pyrra Technologies Dr. Welton Chang is co-founder and CEO of Pyrra Technologies, an AI-powered social media intelligence company. Most recently he was the first Chief Technology Officer at Human Rights First and founded HRF's Innovation Lab. Prior to joining HRF, Welton was a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory where he led teams and developed technical solutions to address disinformation and online propaganda. Before joining APL, Welton served for nearly a decade as an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in the Army, including two operational tours in Iraq and a tour in South Korea. Welton received a Ph.D and M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from Georgetown University, and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. LinkedIn
	Kristie Han Principal, Canapi Ventures Kristie Han is a principal at Canapi, where she focuses on our collective venture and growth equity investing efforts across AI, horizontal, and vertical apps. Kristie joins Canapi with a decade of experience investing in software companies, having partnered with growth stage companies throughout her career at Bain Capital, PSG, Riverside and Raymond James. Most recently, as a principal at Bain Capital Ventures, she led Series B to pre-IPO opportunities across AI, horizontal, and vertical apps, and led and contributed to investments in Apollo, EvenUp, MaintainX, Relay, Homebase and Wonder. Since her initial days at Bain, Kristie led Bain’s growth efforts building theses and deploying capital across next-gen AI.  LinkedIn
	Greg Kotchick Principal, SineWave Ventures Greg Kotchick is a Principal at SineWave Ventures, an enterprise technology-focused venture capital fund that’s partnered with several category-defining companies, including Databricks and SentinelOne. Greg previously worked on the venture capital team at StepStone Group, and before that, helped lead revenue operations at Clutch.co, a DC-based B2B services marketplace. Greg’s role at SineWave mostly consists of sourcing, deal execution, portfolio company support, and building relationships with tech-forward corporate buyers. LinkedIn
	Nadia Genevieve Masri Founder & CEO, Aris Data Nadia Genevieve Masri is a four-time founder, Forbes 30 Under 30 Headliner, TEDx Speaker, and currently the founder & CEO of Aris – a technology platform that streamlines and scales the acquisition of high-quality, hyperlocal, and multimodal data on-demand to improve the performance and accuracy of AI/ML. Having served over 164 global customers, Nadia and her company have been featured in publications such as Forbes, Fortune, and Entrepreneur. Nadia also holds two patents in app-based bot prevention and user experience design for data collection. LinkedIn

Introduction to Angel Investing Workshop

Rich Diemer Managing Director, CAV Angels Rich Diemer is the Managing Director for CAV Angels having served on a pro bono basis in leadership positions for the past 8 years facilitating over $25 million of investment in 50+ UVA connected businesses. He is a 1980 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce and was recently named to the prestigious Raven Society. In his corporate career Rich was a respected chemicals industry senior finance executive with a proven track record of working within leadership teams that created significant shareholder value. He served as the CFO at two public (Albemarle and PolyOne Corporation) and one sponsor-owned (Trinseo LLC f/k/a Styron LLC) global materials companies. During his tenure, Rich has played a key role in creating over $7 billion of shareholder value. He is a former audit/SEC partner at KPMG and was principally based in their New Jersey practice although he spent four years in the firm's US Capital Markets Group which was based in London and did a stint in KPMG's National Office in New York. After 17 years in public accounting, Rich joined Allied-Signal Inc. He was VP-Corporate Controller during the merger with Honeywell, then became CFO of Honeywell's Specialty Materials segment. In addition, Rich spent four years at Honeywell Capital Management, overseeing equity managers and managing a $500 million+ equity portfolio.  LinkedIn

 

Unique Aspects of Investing as a CVC Panel

	Billy Duval, Moderator Special Counsel, Cooley LLP William Duval primarily represents high growth companies in the life sciences, digital health and technology sectors. He also represents leading venture capital firms in their investment activities in the same sectors. His practice focuses on public and private offerings, venture capital transactions, strategic partnerships and collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. LinkedIn
	Jeff Flynn Partner, Citi Ventures  Jeff Flynn is a senior fintech investor for Citi Ventures, the multistage venture capital arm of Citi. Previously he was the founder of Noho Ventures, a Venture Partner at Fifth Wall and the co-founder and head of Assurant Ventures. Jeff began his career in investment banking, private equity and corporate strategy, and holds a B.A. from Columbia and a MBA from Darden (UVA).  LinkedIn
	Chris George  Principal, SAIC Ventures  Chris George is a Principal at SAIC Ventures the corporate venture arm of SAIC. He supports venture capital investments into dual-use and national security startups. Chris also participates in the ventures platform engagements how SAIC’s business groups and technology teams collaborate with startups to accelerate technology into SAIC’s government customers’ use. LinkedIn
	John Richmond  Investment Manager, Lockheed Martin Ventures John Richmond is an Investment Manager with Lockheed Martin Ventures, the venture capital arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation. John is responsible for identifying and investing in startup companies whose technologies fit within an array of investment landscapes and strategically align with Lockheed’s four business areas. John has advised startup founders as an independent consultant helping them grow through financing, team building, technology maturation and bringing products to market.  LinkedIn
	Mira Witzig Borja  Director of Markets Strategic Investments, Citi   Mira Witzig Borja is a Director of Markets Strategic Investments with Citi based in New York: she invests in stage agnostic fintech and financial market infrastructure companies and sits on the board of Octaura, Amberdata and Claira.io. Prior to Citi, Mira was a growth investor at ABS Capital Partners and early-stage investor at Sands Capital Ventures. Mira started her career at Accenture, leading teams for digital transformation programs and fintech implementations for both the Federal Government and Financial Services organizations. She holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, an M.A. in Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute and a B.A. in International Studies and German from DePaul University.  LinkedIn

 

Opportunities in Fintech Panel

	John Imbriglia CEO, Crowd Street John Imbriglia is the CEO of Crowd Street, a leading marketplace for private investments, where he oversees the company's overall strategic vision and growth. John has over 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology, private markets, and high net worth investors. Prior to joining Crowd Street, John was a General Partner at Platform Capital Management, a venture capital firm, where he focused on financial technology investments and helping founders achieve their growth objectives. Previously, John served for nearly a decade as a Managing Director at iCapital, a leading financial technology company which powers the world's alternative investment marketplace.   LinkedIn
	Susannah Burrage Head of Portfolio Management, Zeal Capital Partners, Susannah Burrage is Head of Portfolio Management at Zeal Capital Partners, an early-stage venture firm investing in technology solutions across financial services, workforce and healthcare. Susannah looks to maximize returns and minimize downside risk by monitoring the portfolio and making strategic decisions about where to allocate follow-on capital and additional firm resources to drive returns. Prior to joining Zeal, Susannah worked in growth strategy and innovation at Innosight, a firm founded by Clay Christensen, a leading thinker on disruptive innovation. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a B.A. from Bowdoin College, and resides in Washington D.C. with her husband and son.   LinkedIn
	Jay Long  COO and Co-founder, Parlay Finance  Jay Long is a military veteran, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Parlay Finance, an AI-powered Loan Intelligence System (LIS) that complements Loan Origination Systems and helps community banks and credit unions get more small businesses approved for loans. As a former innovation officer within the U.S. Special Operations Command, he applied human-centered design and emerging technology to drive strategic change in national security. A West Point graduate and Stanford GSB Ignite alumnus, Jay’s expertise in AI, fintech, and disruptive innovation has been featured in Fortune, the National Security Commission on AI, and Harvard’s "Future of Work Pioneers" podcast.  LinkedIn
	Arti Srivastav Investor, Citi Impact Fund Arti Srivastav is an investor with the Citi Impact Fund. Arti has spent the last eight years in the impact investing space both in emerging markets and the US. Prior to Citi Impact Fund, she was with Bamboo Capital Partners in the Singapore office investing in Financial Inclusion across Africa, South and Southeast Asia. She also spent time at Omidyar Network in their DC office, and started off her career at DBS Bank in Singapore. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with an Honours degree in Economics and holds a Masters in International Finance and Development from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). At the Citi Impact Fund, Arti leads investing in the fintech and financial resilience verticals.  LinkedIn
	Casey Williams  Partner, Fenway Summer   Casey Williams is a Partner at Fenway Summer, a venture capital firm focused on early stage fintech, where she also leads the firms’ venture build initiative helping to develop and launch new businesses in financial services. Casey is also the Head of Operations and Founding Ambassador for RightWise Wealth, a financial planning and investment management firm helping high-earners organize and optimize their financial lives.     LinkedIn

 

Protecting Innovation & IP Workshop

Josh Gabriel Senior National Intelligence Officer, Economic Security and Threat Finance, FBI Josh Gabriel has served as the FBI's representative on a variety of economic security matters since joining the Bureau Intelligence Council in 2022. Prior to that, for eight years he supervised all analytic production as part of the FBI's support to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). In this role, he led a multidisciplinary team to award-winning achievements while operating under constantly competing deadlines and also represented the FBI in numerous investment screening engagements with audiences that included the private sector, foreign partners and Congress. LinkedIn

Nicholas Jackson Unit Chief, Foreign Investment Unit, FBI Nick Jackson currently serves as the Unit Chief of the FBI’s Foreign Investment Unit where his team provides analytic support to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and Team Telecom. From 2017 – 2020, Nick served on joint-duty to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a Program Mission Manager within the National Intelligence Manager for Economic Security and Threat Finance where he covered several different threat finance topics as well as served as the IC manager for the foreign investment portfolio. From 2008 – 2017, Nick served as an intelligence analyst and program manager within the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit and as a part-time Detailee to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to joining the FBI, Nick worked at T. Rowe Price as a mutual fund accountant within the fixed-income department. Nick received his Master’s degree in Management from The Catholic University of America and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Mount St. Mary’s University. He currently resides in Maryland with his wife and three sons.       LinkedIn

 

Keynote Session

Nick Superina  Co-Founder & General Partner, Harmonic Growth Partners  Nick Superina is a co-founder of Harmonic Growth Partners and has nearly 20 years of venture capital experience. He focuses on expansion-stage investments in SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure/DevOps, consumer internet, marketplaces and tech-enabled services. Nick has led investments in category-defining companies like Peloton (IPO), Applause (acquired by Vista), Venafi (acquired by Thoma Bravo), and KeyMe, with Harmonic's portfolio including market leaders like ApplyBoard, Electric, OpenSpace, Harness, Caribou, RapidSOS, Nova Credit, Overjet, and Taulia (acquired by SAP). He is a graduate of Duke University and co-founded two of Duke's largest alumni affinity groups, the Duke Band Alumni Association and Duke Peloton.  LinkedIn

Mike Ward   Co-Founder & Managing General Partner, Harmonic Growth Partners  Mike Ward is a co-founder of Harmonic Growth Partners and has over 20 years of venture capital experience. Before Harmonic, Mike was a General Partner at QuestMark Partners. Mike has led investments in Fortify (acquired by HP), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Teladoc (IPO) and Ingenuity (acquired by Qiagen). Mike is a graduate of Northwestern University and Harvard Business School.  LinkedIn