Class IV

Dheera Ananthakrishnan, MD

An experienced orthopedic spine surgeon, entrepreneur and investor, Dheera Ananthakrishnan is passionate about making the world a healthier, more equitable place. She advises and invests in health tech startups and serves as a mentor at numerous universities. Dheera has more than 20 years of academic practice in complex spinal deformity surgery. She also started a women’s multidisciplinary clinic at Emory University and piloted a fracture liaison initiative to decrease fractures related to osteoporosis. In addition, Dheera is the co-founder of the nonprofit Orthopedic Link, which has orchestrated the global distribution of $4 million in idle, surplus implants and instrumentation from a consortium of orthopedic companies. She completed her Executive MBA at MIT Sloan, undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from MIT, and a master’s in bioengineering from the University of Washington. She trained in orthopedic surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed fellowship training in spinal deformity surgery at the University of California San Francisco under the scoliosis expert David Bradford. She serves as a mentor at MIT, Emory, Georgia Tech, and Babson College.

Adimika Arthur

Adimika Arthur is a distinguished clinical epidemiologist, investor and global health system executive with over two decades of experience in healthcare. Her expertise spans health equity, strategic investments, and the utilization of disruptive technologies. As the founding Executive Director and CEO of Health Tech for Medicaid (HT4U), Adimika has been instrumental in pioneering initiatives that intersect health equity and technology to improve care quality, equity, and access nationwide. Adimika is also the founder at Curb Cut Ventures, where her strategic focus is on cultivating investments that adhere to a Medicaid thesis. These ventures aim to enhance technology accessibility and make a substantial impact on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, along with advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adimika earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science from Clark Atlanta School of Arts and Sciences, supplementing her academic rigor with studying at Boston University School of Medicine.

Samantha Betancourt

Samantha Betancourt has more than 25 years of supply chain experience across various industries, including technology, healthcare logistics, and diagnostics. She is the COO at Celebrated Experiences, a luxury travel company backed by Snowden Partners. Throughout her career, Samantha has held leadership roles at companies ranging from $50M to $100B. Her early experience, which focused on manufacturing, included roles at Kemet Electronics, Flextronics, and TE Connectivity. She later pivoted to healthcare, holding VP-level positions at Bain Capital-backed BPL Plasma, TerumoBCT, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics — a Carlyle-backed venture that went to IPO before being acquired by Quidel — and the $160B-market cap UPS Healthcare. Samantha holds degrees from the University of Florida and Central Michigan University.

Cassandra Carothers

Cassandra Carothers is the Managing Partner of Departure Capital, where she invests in category-defining frontier tech companies that are addressing humanity's biggest existential risks and opportunities. Previously, she led global deep-tech investments for Upheaval Investments of Chicago and San Francisco, a family office-backed fund focused on funding massive companies with advanced underlying technologies. Cassandra is an active mentor, and advisor for global accelerators and programs including the Creative Destruction Lab, Alchemist Accelerator, Techstars Industries of the Future & AI, Starburst Aerospace, IEEE Entrepreneurship & Tech Transfer, and Hello Tomorrow. She brings a global perspective and network to her investor, mentor, and advisor roles, having lived and worked across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Before her career in venture, Cassandra held roles in technical sales, business development, strategy, and operations. She earned her MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brown University, with coursework in cybersecurity and computer science.

Kim Carson

As Founder and CEO of Parallax Futures, Kim Carson is passionate about enabling creatives, technology leaders, and innovators to tackle the complex, ever-evolving challenges of tomorrow. At Parallax Futures, she empowers a new kind of innovator who bridges the gaps between ideas, culture, and technology to build concrete applications and unexpected perspectives. Parallax Futures stemmed from Kim’s belief in the importance of multi-dimensional diversity in technology and the need for a different type of leadership in AI. Parallax Future's Conceptual Technologists bring together technical expertise, creativity, and conceptual thinking to develop innovations that improve humanity. Before founding Parallax Futures, Kim held leadership positions in both academia and the technology sector. She is a seasoned speaker whose engagements at events such as BIG (Baron Davis' Business Inside the Game), TEDx and Summit at Sea serve as fervent calls to action. Kim was recently named a winner for Success Magazine’s 2023 Women of Influence, one of three finalists for the Black Tech Achievement Awards’ Entrepreneur of the Year and winner of Diversity Professional's Women on Influence Award.

Javier Coindreau, MD

Javier Coindrea, MD, is a global life sciences executive and board-certified rheumatologist with extensive patient care experience. He is a seasoned medical affairs leader whose therapeutic focuses include autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions and rare diseases. Javier currently serves as Medical Affairs Lead at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Aurinia, he held VP-level roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, and Pfizer. Javier’s patient care experience in rheumatology includes two decades of pro bono clinical practice in a Mexico City-based academic hospital. Javier has a proven track record for launching biologic compounds, biosimilars, small molecules, targeted therapies, gene therapies such as DNA editing and CRISPR, and cell therapies in both domestic and global settings. In addition to designing and executing multiple clinical trials from Phase 1 to Phase 3, he has conducted lifecycle research for dozens of compounds in therapeutic areas including immunologic conditions and oncology. Javier also has invaluable experience in mergers and large-scale company reorganizations, business development, and joint ventures spanning multinational organizations, small companies, and startups. Beyond his medical training, Javier has completed certifications and coursework at Cornell University, Harvard University, Tecnológico de Monterrey and Universidad La Salle, A.C.

Eileen Ellis

Eileen Ellis is a UX research, strategic design, and foresight strategy expert focused on helping organizations navigate uncertainty to bring new ideas to market. She began her career as Co-Founder of the innovation consultancy ORGE Innovation, where she worked with clients such as the United Nations and cleantech incubator PowerBridgeNY to develop innovation strategies and new business models. Eileen then became the Foresight and Innovation Strategist for Toyota North America, where she oversaw the company’s proprietary trends framework and co-led projects that resulted in $1B+ in internal funding. During Eileen’s time at BCG Digital Ventures, she advanced the future trends program and worked with clients from industries such as transportation, travel, and energy to generate and evolve ideas into freestanding startups. She created the UX research methodology at San Francisco-based startup Ridecell and has driven UX research projects for YouTube, Google Cloud, and various startups. Eileen holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Strategic Design and Management from Parsons The New School for Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Quantitative Economics from the University of California, Irvine.

Amber Fehrenbacher

Amber Fehrenbacher has 15 years of experience scaling early-stage tech companies and leading high-performing in-house marketing teams. She is currently the Head of Marketing for Condoit, a seed-stage B2B SaaS focused on solutions for the electrical and EV industries. Amber has led marketing and growth for venture-backed startups spanning hard tech, payments, insurtech, fintech, and enterprise software. She leverages this rich experience as an investor. Before joining Condoit, Amber served as Marketing Director for ING Ventures-backed Flowcast. There, she scaled customer acquisition for the company’s AI credit risk platform, Tillfu, which focused on increasing small businesses’ access to credit and capital and was acquired in 2023. Before Flowcast, she was the Marketing Director and founding marketer for construction tech unicorn EquipmentShare. During Amber’s time as Head of Go to Market at EquipmentShare, the company was listed as a “Top 100 YC Company of All Time'' for valuation and revenue. She also served as the Chief Marketing Officer for a Tokio Marine insurtech company specializing in surety. Amber is a member of the Board of Advisors for Missouri State University’s Design Thinking program and the Association of Junior League International. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia’s School of Journalism.

Leniece Flowers

Leniece Flowers is Founder and CEO of Compass Talent Group, which has partnered with impact-focused companies with annual revenues ranging from $2M to $36B to build diverse and inclusive workplaces. She is also a Senior Global Program Manager at LinkedIn, where she launched a portfolio of programs that invests in the company’s executive leaders of color globally. Leniece is a first-generation graduate that earned her street smarts from the Bronx and her book smarts from Columbia University. She's a contributing writer for Vox, Quartz and The Plug, where she’s known for not tiptoeing around issues of race at work. When Leniece isn’t advising startups through Techstars, serving on boards, she’s applying her thesis to disrupt the U.S. racial wealth gap.

David Gibson

An experienced tech executive, sports business professor, and entrepreneur, David Gibson has a demonstrated history of innovation in financial services, information technology, sports entertainment, and education. As Founder and CEO of SportsMarkit, which he launched in 2015, David develops and delivers innovative fintech tools, business management, and engagement solutions to the sports entertainment and tech industries. He also serves as Advisor and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Sports Industry Management Master’s Degree Program, specializing in the areas of sports business and finance, and economics. Before founding SportsMarkit, David worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for eight years, where he analyzed data, leveraged technology, and developed and analyzed the impact of policy on domestic and international companies across various industries. David graduated from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and an MBA with a finance concentration.

Kayra Hopkins, PhD

Kayra Hopkins is Executive Director of Black Coffee Community Empowerment & Economic Development (CEED) Foundation, a nonprofit championing new strategies to help historically marginalized communities achieve financial freedom. She is also a Software Engineer in Marketing Technology at LinkedIn. While completing her PhD, Kayra made history as the first Black woman to serve as a Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios, where she worked on the Global Technology and Rendering teams for the Academy Award-winning film Coco. While at Pixar, Kayra also co-founded the studio’s first chartered employee resource group (ERG), The Palette, creating a valued forum for company-aligned equity and inclusion initiatives and establishing a model for future studio-sponsored ERGs. Kayra earned her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Spelman College before completing a master's and doctorate in Computer Science & Engineering at Michigan State University, where she developed machine learning algorithms for automated 3D skeletal animation. Kayra’s love for startups and technical innovation comes from her early career experience evaluating intellectual property, commercialization, and startup potential of university research while working in MSU’s tech transfer office.

Jinsy Jacob, MD

A board-certified pediatrician, healthcare operator, and early-stage investor, Jinsy Jacob is passionate about supporting companies that empower patients and enhance the lives of healthcare workers. Her extensive expertise — which includes telehealth, healthcare quality, innovative care models, and the integration of technology into clinical workflows — guides her work as an investor, advisor to numerous startups, and mentor at KidsX, Scale Health, Techstars, and ERA. She is particularly interested in diverse founders and the Medicaid market. Jinsy earned her MD from Manipal University and completed her residency at Cooper Medical school of Rowan University.. She holds a Master’s in Health and Human Services from Deakin University and an MBA from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

Lama Khaiyat

Lama Khaiyat is a social and economic policy advisor with experience across Saudi Arabia and Western Europe. As the Founder and CEO of Awtada, a leading public policy company in Saudi Arabia, Lama merges her profound public policy expertise and rich intercultural business background to address complex challenges in the public and private sectors. Lama also served as Impact Advisor to a London-based healthtech VC. In the role, she focused on the allocation of capital to companies that advanced women’s health. Lama’s journey began in management consulting, where she spent a decade ascending through roles of increasing responsibility. Her work in economic development has been instrumental in shaping policies and strategies for leading international organizations and entities in Saudi Arabia’s financial, cultural, and sports sectors. Lama received her master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Oxford, where she served as Co-Vice President of the Oxford Women in Politics. She obtained her bachelor's degree in international business, specializing in finance and accounting, from Grenoble Ecole de Management.

Rachel Kroft

An accomplished product and design leader, Rachel Kroft specializes in cultivating early-stage products and teams. As the Principal and CEO of Happy Warriors, her strategic product direction, customer insights, and operational support aid B2B and B2C startups from inception through market launch. Rachel’s experience also includes roles at enterprise-level companies in the healthcare, financial services, and civictech spaces, where she delivered product and design expertise and identified new growth opportunities. As an Adjunct Professor in the Parsons New School’s Strategic Management Program, Rachel educates aspiring business leaders on how to work within creative teams and environments. As an investor, she is interested in building a fund focused on parent entrepreneurs and innovations in the Famtech space. Rachel holds an MBA from California College of the Arts, a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Emily Carr University, and a Diploma in Fine Arts from Langara College.

Hiroki Kudo

Hiroki Kudo is a serial entrepreneur and startup mentor with strength in e-commerce, fintech, SaaS and operations. In addition to being on the founding team of Locondo, one of the largest e-commerce services in Japan, Hiroki is the founder of MerryBiz, a startup that provides back-office outsourcing services for enterprises and founder and first Chairperson of the Fintech Association of Japan. The association, which has more than 400 financial institutions and 200 startups as members, works with Japanese ministries to strengthen the nation’s fintech ecosystem. Hiroki is a mentor with Entrepreneurship@UBC and Executive in Residence at the climatech-focused Foresight Canada. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Hiroki was a global alliance coordinator at GREE, a management consultant at CVA, and a Project Manager at IBM Japan. Hiroki earned his MBA from INSEAD and his Master of Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Eliana Lozano

Eliana Lozano is a New Markets Tax Credits Investment Associate at Raza Development Fund, where she invests capital and creates financial solutions to increase opportunities for Latino and low-income families nationwide. Before joining the fund, she completed the Open Access Fellowship at Hunt Capital Partners, an affordable-housing syndicator based in Los Angeles, and a fellowship at Inicio Ventures, where she worked on pre-seed investments of Latino-led firms. Eliana also conducted an independent study researching early-stage investments for U.S.-based Latina founders. Before earning her MBA and pivoting into tax credit investments, Eliana's career began in corporate finance and brand development at JPMorgan Chase. As an investor, Eliana is interested in social impact and climate-focused ventures.

Golda Manuel, PharmD

Golda Manuel has more than a decade of diverse healthcare experience spanning clinical practice, biotechnology, and health technology. As an investor, she is interested in technologies that enhance the experiences of both patients and healthcare providers while promoting fair access to treatment. Golda earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico and began her career at the university hospital, specializing in outpatient surgery and critical care. Later, Golda worked for a global provider of drug and disease information databases before transitioning to biotechnology, where she worked on therapies for oncology, infectious disease, and rare genetic conditions in children. Her most recent roles included serving as Associate Director of Global Medical Information at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and Founder at Leksi, a platform that provided the healthcare community with easy access to medical literature. Over time, Golda expanded her skills in technology and programming and will soon be graduating with a Master of Science in Clinical Informatics Management from Stanford School of Medicine.

Stuart McCalla

A Managing Partner at Evolution, TechStars startup mentor, and trained professional coach, Stuart McCalla helps senior leaders turn fast-growing companies into long-term successes. Throughout his work with clients at Slack, Glassdoor, Dropbox, Twitter, and Eventbrite, Stuart leverages formal training in various professional methodologies. A leader committed to continuous education, Stuart has also completed workshops with luminaries such as Richard Schwartz and Richard Strozzi Heckler and recently sat on the board of the Strozzi Institute. By bringing these rich perspectives to his work, Stuart is able to create profound, lasting transformational change. He is passionate about applying his skills to early-stage investment through work with impact-focused VC investors, angel investors, family offices and private equity firms.

Aman Merchant

A mission-driven serial parallel entrepreneur, futurist, educator, board advisor, and angel investor, Aman Merchant has more than 25 years of experience across ventures in education, social impact, and disruptive innovation. He is currently Chief Provocateur at Radicle, a futures innovations lab focused on system change across education, climate, food systems, and health; and Founder and General Partner at ReimaginED Collective, MENA's first edtech ecosystem builder. A servant leader in both the YPO & EO communities, Aman holds a MA from Oxford University and is an alum of Stanford Business School and the London School of Economics. A former Adjunct Faculty at New York University’s global campus in Abu Dhabi, he has also taught courses at the intersection of high performance, artificial intelligence, and purposeful living for bold leaders and teams. He has been an Entrepreneur Mentor in Residence at London Business School since 2014 and also serves on the Global Council on SDG4. Aman is a passionate impact angel investor and startups mentor focused on edtech and the future of work. In addition to mentoring founders from various communities, he has curated numerous tech events in the MENA region, including Abundance 360, GITEX, North Star, LEAP, and Step.

Erik Musalem

Erik Musalem is a seasoned international life sciences executive with a proven record for driving success and a passion for collaboration and social change. Across his decades-long career, Erik has led three organizations in Asia and Latin America to the top of their segments, generating $2 billion in cumulative revenue, and has spearheaded 25 drug launches and four operational integrations. Beyond his corporate roles, Erik is actively involved in mentorship, academia, and as a board member and angel investor. He is a Co-Founder and Angel Investor at Sila B, which focuses on impact-driven healthcare startups, and a Business advisor and Executive Mentor with the U.S. Small Business Administration, where he supports Bay Area entrepreneurs. Erik holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Development from the Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Institute, an MBA from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and an undergraduate degree in business administration from Instituto Tecnólogico Autónomo de México.

Kathy Nguyen

Kathy Nguyen is a femtech advocate and dynamic biotech sales strategist with more than a decade of extensive experience in the biotech and life science sectors. Her expertise spans laboratory and commercial positions across diverse niches and includes both startups and large corporations, providing invaluable perspective to an investment portfolio focused on the impact of technological innovation on human health. Kathy earned an MBA in digital innovation and information systems from the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Riverside. Driven by this strong STEM and technology background, Kathy is interested in advancing longevity, enhancing female health, and transforming drug discovery processes through cutting-edge innovations.

Jennifer Oyedele

Jennifer Oyedele is a seasoned tech professional, artificial intelligence researcher, investor, and philanthropist dedicated to community impact. As a Research Scholar at OpenAI, Jennifer researched scaling laws for transformer variants, a subset of natural language algorithms. She was a technical contributor for machine learning and artificial intelligence products at IBM and served as the AI Director of iConnections, where she led teams in testing and developing new AI products. Before her innate technical curiosity led her to AI, Jennifer worked in management consulting — a role that leveraged her ability to blend technology and strategy. She began her career in software engineering, exploring technology at the intersection of non-technical industries such as consumer goods, beauty, and finance. Beyond her professional endeavors, Jennifer is dedicated to community impact. She champions science education as a board member of Science is Elementary and continues to make strides in technology and community alike as an active investor. Jennifer earned her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

Jesse Posey

An experienced venture capital professional and trained scientist, Jesse Posey empowers early-stage, underrepresented founders through data-driven investing. He is Co-Founder, COO, and Managing Partner at the Seattle-Based fund Dreamward Group. Before venture capital, Jesse spent years as a researcher in the medical device, microbiological, and biotechnology industries. Through this experience, he gained expertise in conducting scientific and business due diligence and managing biotech and life science deals. He previously worked as a bench scientist at several life science startups and in academia, leveraging his background in microbiology and molecular biology. Jesse holds a Master of Arts in international security studies, a Bachelor of Science in Biology-Biomedical Sciences Concentration and a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies.

Bianca L. St. Louis

Bianca L. St.Louis is a builder, strategist, investor, and advisor with a track record for supporting growth and impact initiatives. As Staff Developer Evangelist at Twilio, she connects entrepreneurs and developers with the tools and services they need to bring their ideas to life. Before her role at Twilio, Bianca founded St.Louis Innovations, a company that supports leaders with strategy and planning built on a foundation of innovation and was a Partner at a startup studio supporting go-to market and product development for entrepreneurs. Bianca has also contributed to key growth and impact projects at Pinterest, a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), CODE2040, LinkedIn, the Startup America Partnership, and the White House’s Office of Presidential Correspondence. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a former Betaworks Venture Fellow, is an Indie.VC scout and a proud alumna of Howard University.

Abbie Strabala

An investor in early-stage women-led companies, Abbie Strabala brings deep knowledge of impact investing, women’s health, and LGBTQ+ rights cultivated over years in venture capital and philanthropy. Before her current Investment Associate role at True Wealth, Abbie was a founding member of RH Capital, the largest U.S.-based impact fund investing in women’s health. There, she worked in both operations and investment roles. She is also the co-founder of Queer VC, a VC networking group dedicated to fostering connections and uplifting members of the LGBTQIA+ community to increase visibility, representation, and opportunity. As part of the next generation of investors, Abbie is actively involved in creating opportunities that support investors with non-traditional backgrounds and perspectives on their journey to becoming capital allocators. She is a mentor with StartOut and Women Venture Capitalists, earned her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University, and is focused on investing in early-stage companies that improve human or environmental health.

Jordan Syms

A growth marketing leader, venture-backed founder, and investor, Jordan Syms partners with Fortune companies to build marketing organizations that create and scale game-changing digital businesses. He has more than 15 years of media experience on both the client and agency side of direct response marketing, integrated media, eCommerce, and brand building. His work spans global digital and traditional media campaigns and industries including financial services, healthcare, sports, and technology. Before joining Prophet as Group Account Director, Jordan was Lead Growth Architect for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he served as Chief Marketing Officer for corporate venture build projects spanning innovation to commercialization business stages. He is also the Co-Founder and former SVP of Marketing at Tapin2, Inc., a venture-backed B2B digital food and beverage ordering platform operating in dominant North American sports leagues, universities, and entertainment venues. Jordan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Arts in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.