Venture Atlanta is, without a doubt, one of the largest and most reputable venture conferences in the country. With over 1,600 annual attendees, 450 funds, and $22.3B in successful exits, the better question might be, “Why wouldn’t you attend this networking event?”
See the top-emerging tech companies from across the entire Southeast while making connections with industry leaders, VCs, and investment firms from across the nation.
Be among the 450+ investors who knock out months of work, research, and meetings in just two days in Atlanta. Companies range from early-stage to late-stage, and each one undergoes a rigorous selection process so that every pitch is worth your time.
The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall
1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia
This year’s event will be held in a beautiful space—a campus full of art and possibilities. Join us for more curated breakout sessions, speakers, and pitches on stage at Atlanta Symphony Hall, private lounges for top sponsors, and endless opportunities for networking at this conference.
what to expect
Venture Atlanta: It's All About Community
SOUND OFF
New Programming for Venture Atlanta 2026
Growth Stage Track
Venture Atlanta and Scalebound Present: Off the Record. This is a full day of programming exclusively designed for growth-stage tech CEOs and led by six founders who have built and sold companies at scale.
Think Venture Atlanta is just for software? Think again! Venture Atlanta is expanding into deep tech with networking, panels, demos, and more. Come see the latest innovation and hear from the greatest minds in space tech, defense tech, deep tech, frontier tech, robotics, drones, and quantum computing.
You may register more than one person at one time. Simply register one main contact and then as many guests as you’d like. This will allow you to input your billing and credit card information only once. All major credit cards are accepted at the time of registration. There is no option to pay by check online.
Can I cancel my registration?
Refunds or credits are not extended for this event. However, all registrations are fully transferable. To transfer, simply log back in the Event portal and change the name on the registration. If you have any trouble, contact us here. Let us know of any questions!
Can I register the day of the event?
If tickets are still available. Last year, we sold out weeks ahead of time. Get your tickets today to ensure availability!
Can I register for a one day pass or for one section of the event?
No, we do not sell partial tickets.
What type of payment do you accept for Venture Atlanta registration?
We accept all major credit cards (MasterCard, VISA and AMEX). Checks are not accepted.
Who do I contact if I have a question or problem during registration?
Jeb Terry is President and CEO of Cosm, the leading global experiential media and immersive technology company redefining the way the world experiences content.
Based in Los Angeles, the ex-NFL lineman and former Fox Sports executive oversees the company and its global footprint, creating must-see-to-believe experiences for fans around the world.
Terry’s post-playing career in business kicked off after a successful run as an offensive lineman with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers. While pursuing his MBA at UNC, he interned as an associate at Goldman Sachs before co-founding his visionary start-up StraightCast Media in 2010, which delivered athlete-driven audio and video content to fans, broadcasters, and media partners in real time. When the company was acquired by Fox Sports Digital in 2015, Terry was named Vice President of Program Management to lead multi platform activations around FOX’s vast sports portfolio, including marquee sports events ranging from the Super Bowl and UFC Championship fights to the World Series and FIFA World Cup. This provided Terry with hands-on experience in digital, mobile, and social content, as well as reality technologies (VR, AR, XR), linear distribution, and everything in between.
After his time at Fox, Terry co-founded a venture-backed blockchain company that developed one of the world’s first sports-focused NFT projects, allowing him to continue exploring and identifying groundbreaking opportunities that empower fans, deliver unique experiences, and benefit the entire sports ecosystem.
Today, Terry’s curiosity, energy, and optimism are embodied throughout Cosm and fuel its pioneering vision across all aspects of the business. Incorporating the innovations and rich histories of its multiple acquisitions – Evans & Sutherland, Spitz, LiveLikeVR, and most recently C360 – Cosm is leveraging its end-to-end capabilities to completely redefine the way the world experiences content.
Along with his role at Cosm, Terry is also Managing Director at Mirasol Capital, the private equity and venture arm of the Winn Family Office led by Stephen T. Winn.
Terry earned his BA and MBA from UNC’s Kenan Flagler Business School. He also participated in the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
Senior Vice President of Investments, Cox Enterprises Managing Partner, Socium Ventures
Andrew Davis oversees the company’s efforts in early-stage and minority investments. He is also the managing partner of Socium Ventures, a venture capital firm backed by Cox that invests across the spectrum of technology, healthcare and other high-growth industries. Prior to joining Cox, Davis spent nearly 12 years with T. Rowe Price as a vice president in the U.S. Equity Division. As an investment analyst, he researched and managed public company investments in the North American transportation industry. During his last three years at T. Rowe, Davis was the director of private investments, managing the firm’s $20 billion private venture investment portfolio. His responsibilities included management of sourcing, investment diligence, ongoing analysis and external relationships. During this time, he helped more than 20 companies reach their initial public offerings.
Before his career as an investor, Davis spent seven years at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where he was a manager in the business valuation services group. He was responsible for client projects related to acquisition accounting, tax valuations and bankruptcy reorganizations.
Davis has an MBA in economics and finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Berry College. He is a member of the board of directors for Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., where he is the lead independent director and chair of the talent and compensation committee, and the board of Wheels Up Experience Inc., where he is the chair of the audit committee.
Chief Investment Officer, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Muthu Muthiah is the Chief Investment Officer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, stewarding the institution’s assets to create returns that advance the Children’s mission.
Previously, he oversaw the strategic and sustainable growth of Inatai Foundation. Muthu is a seasoned asset management professional, with experience investing globally across various asset classes, including private equity, venture capital, real estate, real assets, and both public and private investments in emerging economies. He has led investment teams and strategies at Emory Investment Management, Covariance Capital Management, the University of Richmond, the State Board of Administration of Florida, and RSM Equico.
Muthu holds a BHM from Mangalore University and an MBA from Rollins College.
Deputy Director of the Division of Financial Management, Georgia Department of Community Health
Ezeomo Akhirome serves as Deputy Director of the Division of Financial Management at the Georgia Department of Community Health, where he oversees multibillion-dollar procurement operations and financial management for one of the state's largest agencies. In his role, he manages complex procurement processes, vendor relationships, and contract compliance for healthcare programs serving millions of Georgians.
As the agency's Small Business Liaison, Ezeomo is committed to fostering opportunities for small and diverse businesses within Georgia's procurement ecosystem. He provides guidance to vendors navigating state procurement processes and works to ensure compliance with state and federal procurement regulations.
Ezeomo brings over a decade of extensive experience in public and private sector financial management, procurement strategy, and vendor relations. He plays a key role in modernization initiatives, including oversight of technology procurement and implementation projects that enhance service delivery for Georgia's Medicaid and CHIP programs.
Ezeomo holds a Master of Public Administration from Kennesaw State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Managerial Science from Georgia State University. He brings specialized expertise in strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, supply chain management, and public policy implementation.
Based in Atlanta, Ezeomo is dedicated to advancing efficient, transparent, and equitable procurement practices that support the Georgia Department of Community Health's mission to serve the healthcare needs of Georgia's most vulnerable populations.
Small Business and Supplier Diversity Manager, Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS)
Julian Andrea Bailey serves as the Small Business and Supplier Diversity Manager for the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), State Purchasing Division. In this position, Bailey leads the Division’s efforts to facilitate communications and engagement with minority-owned, woman-owned, and veteran-owned businesses through the Small Business and Supplier Diversity Program. This program was put in place in July 2022 because of an executive order issued by Gov. Brian P. Kemp. In addition, she oversees the Georgia Business Certification Program implemented Jan. 2, 2024, through House Bill 128, as well as State Purchasing Division’s communications platforms.
Bailey joined DOAS in 2013 and has established a strong knowledge base in state procurement operations, policies, and systems. She has successfully implemented and managed numerous training programs on navigating the procurement process and systems in the state of Georgia. Prior to joining DOAS, Bailey worked with the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center at Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from Howard University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Management from Troy University. She is a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) with the American Marketing Association.
DJ believes in putting people first while leveraging technology to deliver value. He has expertise in global transformations, digitization strategies, and change management across the Healthcare, CPG, and Finance sectors. Based in Atlanta, he is Invesco's Digital Procurement Lead.
Head of Global Procurement, FIS Supply Chain Management
Curtis Crowder leads Global Responsible Procurement within the Supply Chain Management (SCM) organization for Fidelity Information Services (FIS). Curtis engages across FIS’ supply chain, to imbed social, economic, and environmental practices into the strategic sourcing process, reducing supplier & supply chain risk and imparting client and corporate value.
David Cummings is an Atlanta-based tech entrepreneur who has founded 10 companies employing thousands of people, including Pardot, Salesloft , and Intown Golf Club. David is also the founder of the Atlanta Tech Village — the United States’ 4th largest tech hub — and the lead investor in Calendly, the world’s most popular scheduling app. After selling Pardot, he was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner and one of the 100 Most Influential Atlantans by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Now, he’s renovating one of the largest collections of historic buildings in the country in downtown Atlanta.
David is a member of YPO Southern 7, on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Buckhead Coalition, Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Committee for Progress, and the Westminster Schools. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, David earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Mercer University. David blogs regularly at DavidCummings.org and tweets at @davidcummings.
Stef Crum is the CEO & Co-Founder of Reditus Space, a company building reentry satellites to provide its customers transportation to space and back. Before co-founding Reditus Space, he received his PhD from Georgia Tech, with a focus on Astrodynamics and Orbital reentry. During his PhD he supported NASA, and the Space Force. He previously also founded a non-profit building satellites for scientific discovery.
Executive Director, TAG Education Collaborative, CEO & Managing Partner, Kendall and Kendrick Consulting Group, Venture Atlanta Board Member
Dr. Loretta Daniels, director of the Technology Association of Georgia’s Bridge Builders program and CEO and Managing Partner at Kendall and Kendrick Consulting Group, is an expert in organizational Leadership, DEI, conflict management, and communication. In addition, she specializes in cultural competency. As an executive leader in the corporate arena, she has served in executive leadership roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Executive Director of Sales Operations, and General Manager. In addition, she has written corporate training manuals Leading by Example and Fast Track to Excellence. As the former Executive Director of Corporate Relations of Kennesaw State University (KSU), she worked with medium and large organizations to define and deliver leadership growth certificate programs aligned with the company's vision and objectives. Dr. Daniels has recently created TAG Bridge Builders, a social justice and equity initiative to promote Georgia's Black tech professionals advance from mid-level positions to senior-level leadership roles, providing access to funding and customer acquisition for Black tech entrepreneurs.
Dr. Daniels partnered with C-level Leadership and HR to determine leadership development goals,identify training gaps, enable cultural workplace initiatives, and implement gender pay equality and equitable hiring practices. In addition, she served as the University Office of Diversity and Inclusion Co-Chair and Presidential Commission on Gender & Work-Life Issues. Also, she advised executive teams, including the President and Chief Diversity Officer, consulted as a subject matter expert on DEI challenges and solutions, and supported DEI's continuous improvement efforts.
As an adjunct leadership instructor at KSU since 2002, Dr. Daniels delivered in-class and online lectures encouraging students to think strategically by applying fundamentals to real-world problems. Courses taught included Corporate Communication and Conflict Resolution, Human Communications, Public Speaking, Writing for Public Communication, and Foundations of Leadership. Additionally, she has designed a Coursera Specialty Certificate program, Advanced Leadership Skills for the 21st Century Specialization Certificate, which will be offered in Spring 2023.
Dr. Daniels received a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organizational Leadership from Johnson University, a Master of Science (MS) in Conflict Management, a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Communication from Bradley University, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mass Communication/Media Studies from KSU. She is a Certified Diversity Professional and the author of two books, For Women Only, Women Mean Business (J & W Publishers, 1992), and Unlock Your Success, a Comprehensive Guide for Starting a Successful Business (J & W Publishers, 2006). Dr. Daniels' upcoming book, Leadership, and Diversity - A Practice-Based Systemic Approach to Cultural Competency, published by SAGE Publications, will be available in January 2024. This textbook will offer a new and comprehensive approach to organizational Leadership to address the paradigm shift in our global business community.
Co-Founder, President, & Chief Strategy Officer of Impiricus
Sandy Donaldson is the Co-Founder, President, & Chief Strategy Officer of Impiricus. He is a healthcare expert and entrepreneur powering growth for the world’s leading life science brands and organizations.
Dave is Featurespace’s Founder, responsible for driving Featurespace’s innovation strategy, and working with our global client base to provide the industry with the very best machine learning technology. After studying at the Australian National University and the University of Cambridge, Featurespace began as a concept and has become the leading enterprise financial crime platform for financial institutions and technology providers. Dave is also a Board member of The Knoble, bringing together networks of financial crime specialists to prevent criminals from using the world’s financial systems to profit from the suffering of others.
Gardiner Garrard is the co-founder and managing partner of TTV Capital. Under his leadership, TTV has been an early investor in Green Dot, Bill.com, Cardlytics, MX, Greenlight, TaxBit, SmartAsset, among many others.
Gardiner began his venture capital career in the late 1990s and was one of the first to recognize the broad implications of financial technology, or what we now call ‘fintech,’ on businesses and consumers alike. He co-founded TTV in 2000 based on the thesis that the biggest opportunities develop when emerging technology can be applied to a specific use case. In the twenty-five years since, Gardiner has led the TTV team to invest in more than 100 companies across core financial technologies and embedded fintech, including eight that have attained valuations of $1 billion or higher.
Gardiner is active in the venture capital community and dedicates his time to supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. He is the Chair of the Shuford Entrepreneurship Program at UNC Chapel Hill, a member of the advisory board at the Goizueta Business School, and a past board member of the Georgia Economic Development Board. In 2004, he was honored with the Goizueta Business School’s Outstanding Recent Alumni Award and has been recognized multiple times as one of Institutional Investor’s top fintech investors.
Gardiner earned an M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Robin Gregg is the CEO of RoadSync, a digital payments platform for the logistics industry. With over 20 years of experience, she has a strong background in building and scaling financial solutions.
Before joining RoadSync, Robin held leadership positions at FleetCor, Revolution Money (which was sold to Amex in 2010), and Capital One. Her career began in management consulting at Charles River Associates.
Robin is actively involved in various professional organizations. She has served as an advisor and angel investor for various start-ups in Atlanta, and is a member of the Atlanta Growth Collective and the Entrepreneurs' Organization. She has also served as Co-President of the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta.
Gregg earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Washington and Lee. Originally from West Virginia, she currently resides in Atlanta and is a proud mom to her two sons, Liam and Sam, and their rescue dog, Lucy.
Neeraj is a servant leader and a proven change agent with over 20 years of experience in leading engineering, business management, and consulting functions at Fortune 100 companies. Neeraj joined Southern Company Technology Organization in Oct 2022 as Director of Business Excellence and currently leads Strategic Supplier Management, Risk and Compliance, Innovation and Emerging Tech, and Service Management functions that enable the next generation of energy solutions for our electric and gas customers.
Prior to joining Southern Company, Neeraj held several leadership roles at Amazon and Ernst & Young, where he led product development, cloud engineering, and business management functions for mission-critical systems.
Richard Hesse leads Commercial Procurement at Inspire Brands, where is responsible for enterprise-wide sourcing, vendor negotiations, and innovation initiatives across a multi-brand portfolio. With over a decade of experience in procurement and partnerships, he specializes in coaching startups through enterprise buying, accelerating digital transformation, and is passionate about driving a new narrative of enterprise procurement.
Vanessa Larco co-founded Premise, a modern VC firm focused on Consumer Tech (B2C) and Consumer Enablement Tech (B2B2C) in early 2025. She is focused on backing technical founders with an eye for consumer behavior change at the pre-seed and seed stages.
Prior to starting Premise, Vanessa was a General Partner at NEA from 2016 to 2025 where she focused on Enterprise SaaS and Consumer Internet investing. Vanessa has led investments in Kindred, Mejuri, Assembled, Greenlight, and others. She was also a board observer at Robinhood from 2017 through the IPO in 2021.
Prior to joining NEA, she held Product leadership roles including; Director of Product Management at Box (NYSE: BOX) where she worked on building the next generation of productivity apps, Product Lead for Voice API at Twilio, Co-founder at Funloop, Product/Studio Lead at Playdom (acq. Disney) and leading the Speech Recognition Experience team at XBOX Kinect.
Vanessa holds a BS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has been on the Board of Advisors for Georgia Tech’s College of Computing since 2019.
Brooke MacLean is a storyteller, strategist, and builder. As the CEO of Marketwake, an award-winning digital marketing agency, Brooke has built a team that serves clients across the globe. Under her leadership, Marketwake has grown into one of the most respected agencies in the Southeast, earning a place on the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Businesses list five years in a row and being named one of Inc.’s Best Places to Work for four consecutive years.
Before Marketwake, Brooke served as CEO of Kevy, an email marketing automation company she grew after being tapped by Atlanta tech leader, David Cummings.
She is also the Founder and Chairman of Marketwake Ventures, an investment firm that champions early-stage companies. Her portfolio includes transformative brands like Sonar (backed by Slack and Craft Ventures), Curamia Tequila, and SupportNow.
Brooke is not just a business leader—she’s a speaker who inspires and empowers. From delivering a TEDx talk to hosting Venture Atlanta, the Southeast’s largest venture capital conference, Brooke has shared her voice with audiences across the country. Her topics range from leadership and resilience to the importance of play in the workplace, all delivered with a mix of warmth, humor, and actionable takeaways.
At her core, Brooke is driven by the belief that businesses thrive when they focus on people— building strong cultures, fostering collaboration, and turning challenges into opportunities for growth. Whether she’s in a boardroom, on a stage, or in the trenches with her team, Brooke brings energy, clarity, and a commitment to helping others amplify their potential.
Richard Makerson is a technology business executive with diverse global business experience with Fortune 100 & 500companies across retail, manufacturing, transportation and logistics business verticals. His passion for problem solving and finding creative solutions to his customers’ most challenging problems has allowed him to emerge as a trusted advisor within the enterprise mobility industry.
Currently, Richard serves as CEO & Managing Partner of BlueFletch, an enterprise mobile software company with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Richard is responsible for leading the strategic direction, innovation and growth of the software and consulting businesses within BlueFletch. Richard co-founded BlueFletch in October 2008 and took over the CEO & Managing Partner responsibilities in 2015. Since becoming CEO of BlueFletch, Richard has led the organization's 3x growth in consulting revenue and led the pivot to a software as a service company. Software sales have grown +100% year over year since 2018.
Prior to founding BlueFletch, Richard spent 3 years with Accenture managing teams for the United States Postal Service. In his roles as consultant, he led technical teams and worked across operational groups to develop an innovative mobile application platform which enabled rapid development of mobile applications and the hosting of multiple mobile applications on a $600M+ mobile device investment of the Customer.
Richard has been recognized for his professional and civic involvement as a recipient of the Diversity Game Changer Award by the Technology Association of Georgia, the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s and Georgia Trend’s 40 Under Forty Business Leader, Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Small Business Person of the Year Award and Eagle Award as a graduate of the Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection program.
Richard is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2020, an executive-level leadership program series that focuses on exploring critical community, civil and social issues facing the Atlanta area. The program provides an extensive look into some of the most challenging issues facing greater Atlanta and allows selected leaders to gain insight into how they can utilize their leadership to improve the community.
Richard also served as CEO of R&R Express, a freight shipping company he started his senior year at Morehouse College. His responsibilities included managing company employees and executives, payroll and reporting legal documentation required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Through his leadership revenues doubled each year.
Early childhood STEAM education and uniting with the business community to solve community issues is a passion of Richard’s through youth mentoring. Richard is currently on the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, Leadership Atlanta and a member of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta where he supports the organization's commitment to defending the potential of young people through mentoring. Richard is also serves on the board of directors for Emory’s Center for Ethics. One of the nation’s top ethics programs with a focus on bioethics, health science and artificial intelligence (AI) and a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, where the business community comes together to inform, engage, and inspire members to drive real progress in metro Atlanta, our businesses, and the nation.
Richard holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Morehouse College in Computer Science. He enjoys spending time with his wife, daughters Harris (6) and Ricki (4). When he has spare time, Richard can be found playing tennis, golf or snowboarding on his favorite mountains in the winter.
Geri Lynn Williams, Assistant General Counsel for The Home Depot, is an attorney with strong business acumen, and 20+ years of experience providing practical guidance to several business units and corporate functions of the World’s largest privately held company (Cargill, Incorporated) and the World’s largest home improvement retailer (The Home Depot). She is an out-of-the-box thinker, and a trusted adviser who delivers distinctive value to her business clients through actionable advice and pragmatic risk - management. After being recruited by her business partner, Geri accepted a business role - Director – Payments Acceptance - and for two years, lead the team responsible for lowering Home Depot’s cost of accepting $157 B in sales revenue. Geri’s passion for transactional work led her back to the Legal Department where she now supports Home Depot’s store operations. In her spare time, she enjoys rollerblading and being a dotting auntie.
Ethan is a Partner at Khosla Ventures with a focus on growth-stage companies.
Prior to KV, Ethan was a partner at Accel where he focused on growth investments across AI, enterprise software, e-commerce, and fintech infrastructure companies, including Klaviyo (NYSE: KVYO), Pismo (Visa), 1Password, Nuvemshop, and commercetools, among others.
Before Accel, he was at Spectrum Equity where he made investments in Lynda.com (LinkedIn), ExamSoft (Turnitin), PicMonkey (Shutterstock), Headspace, and Lucid Software.
Ethan studied information systems and economics at the University of Sydney before serving a two-year mission for his church, after which he earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University.
Greggory Bordes has 20+ years of direct investment experience across venture capital, private equity and public market investment strategies. Mr. Bordes is the Managing Partner of Front Porch Venture Partners, which is based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle and provides LPs properly diversified exposure to the Southeast's top venture capital funds and startups.
Prior to co-founding Front Porch, Mr. Bordes helped oversee a multibillion-dollar family office's investment strategy where he was responsible for new private market investments. Prior to this role, he was the VP/Head of Research at venture backed Fintech Unicorn YipitData in New York City.
Previously, Mr. Bordes was a Partner at Hurley Capital in New York City, where he executed a long/short equity strategy in the public markets. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bordes was a hybrid public/private equity investor at Blum Capital Partners in San Francisco, as well as a private equity investor at Stone Tower Capital (now Apollo Global Management) and AEA Investors in New York City. Gregg started his career as an Analyst in the Merger & Acquisitions group at Merrill Lynch.
Gregg received a Master's in Business Administration, with honors, from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a bachelor's degree in Finance and Economics, cum laude, from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Mr. Bordes grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
Jewel Burks Solomon is Managing Partner at Collab Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund she launched to close the funding gap for Black entrepreneurs.
Prior to leading Collab Capital, Jewel was Head of Google for Startups US, where she created initiatives that have deployed over $45M in non-dilutive capital to Black and Latino-led businesses since 2020. Jewel's passion for leveling the playing field for Black founders was born from her own experience. Jewel was the Founder/CEO of Partpic, a startup that was acquired by Amazon in 2016, which streamlined the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology.
Jewel serves on the boards of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Endeavor Atlanta, JP Morgan's Advancing Black Pathways and the Center for American Entrepreneurship. She is a member of the 2019 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Jewel received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Howard University. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband and son.
Mark is a Founding and Co-Managing Partner at Las Olas Venture Capital. He serves as a Board Member at Mosaic, Bainbridge, Leverage, and OpenReel, and as a Board Observer at Leasecake, Rotabull, and UserInterviews. Prior to founding LOVC, Mark spent 15 years as CFO, Chairman, and then CEO of Higher One, a company he co-founded in 2000 while a senior at college. He successfully steered the company through multiple rounds of venture funding and a successful IPO in 2010. While at Higher One, Mark won EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 and was a finalist for the award in 2011. When Mark left Higher One in 2014, their products and services supported more than 1,900 schools and approximately 13 million enrolled students. Mark currently serves on the executive committee of Florida Venture Forum as their Program Chair and is also Vice Chair of the Fort Lauderdale Aviation Advisory Board. He previously served as Director of the Founder Institute in South Florida, helping budding entrepreneurs start their companies. He has also personally angel-invested in over thirty companies since 2008. Mark enjoys flying airplanes, scuba diving, and traveling the world in his free time. Mark received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics from Yale University, where he founded the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.
YB Choi is a Partner at Cercano Management LLC where he is the Head of Venture Capital and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.
Prior to Cercano, he began venture investing in 2008 as a member of the VC team at Vulcan Capital. YB led investments in and managed oversight of 50+ portfolio companies across a broad spectrum of industry verticals including AI Reverie (acquired by Meta), Ally (acquired by Microsoft), BlackSky (BKSY), Pointy (acquired by Google), and Remitly (RELY).
YB joined Vulcan from Microsoft, where he was a Manager in IP Acquisitions and Investments and began his career in investment banking at Oppenheimer & Co. in the mergers & acquisitions group and Cowen & Co. in healthcare investment banking. YB received a B.S. in Engineering and Management Systems from Columbia University.
Founder & Managing Partner, Silicon Road Ventures President, TiE Atlanta
Sid Mookerji is the Founder and Managing Partner of Silicon Road Ventures, a family of US funds with over $100M under management, investing in early-stage tech startups disrupting the retail, e-commerce, and CPG industries. Sid is also a General Partner in Bengaluru-based fund StartupXseed and has made many angel investments through his family office. In addition, Sid is co-founder and CEO of Silver Spirit Global LLC which operates tech parks in the US and India. Sid Mookerji is also a Founding Partner of the Atlanta chapter of the Creative Destruction Labs and President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Atlanta). Sid’s contributions to industry and the city of Atlanta were celebrated as he was inducted into the Kennesaw State’s Coles College Hall of Fame for 2019. Sid was also recognized as an Entrepreneurial Leader for South East USA by TechBridge in 2019.
Prior, in 1994, Sid founded Software Paradigms International (SPI) and served as its CEO and Chairman. SPI provided technology solutions to 350+ retail businesses on five continents. Under Sid’s leadership, SPI completed 14 acquisitions and employed over 3000 employees across the globe. SPI delivered tech services and products to marquee retail, e-commerce, and CPG firms such as Macy’s, Saks, Walmart, P&G, and GroupOn. In September 2016, Sid stepped down from his position of SPI’s CEO after 22 years at the helm, and the company was eventually acquired by IT giant Cognizant.
Apart from business pursuits, Sid supports philanthropies in the United States and India through the Mookerji Foundation. In the U.S., he led the foundation’s relief effort for communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters. The Mookerji Foundation made a substantial gift to the Georgia Tech Foundation in 2016 to establish a retail tech innovation program. The Mookerji Foundation also helped set up the “Mookerji Innovation Fund” for entrepreneurs at the Kennesaw State University.
Head of Industry Discovery & Venture Deal Flow Catalyst by Wellstar
Stefanie Diaz leads industry discovery and venture deal flow at Catalyst by Wellstar. Investing in both early-stage startups and emerging fund managers, her reputation for advancing gender and racial equity extends to the White House. She is a notable figure in the Atlanta startup ecosystem, Host of the She Conquers Capital Podcast, and was named an “Atlanta Startup Wonder Woman.”
Vanessa Larco joined NEA as a Partner in 2016 and focuses on Enterprise SaaS and Consumer Services investing. She is passionate about technology, services and products that enable people to be more productive and efficient at work and at home. Vanessa has led investments in EvidentID, Cleo, Greenlight Card, Feather, and Lily AI. She is also a board observer at Robinhood and OmniSci.
Prior to joining NEA, she was the Director of Product Management at Box (NYSE: BOX) where she worked on building the next generation of productivity apps across web and mobile. Her passion for design and analytics stems from her experience in the gaming industry, which includes leading the Speech Recognition Experience team at Xbox Kinect v1, and building a top grossing gaming studio at Disney Social.
Vanessa holds a BS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Blaise Warren is COO, Multi-Asset Strategies at Invesco, Ltd., an investment management firm based in Atlanta. In this role, he is responsible for operations, business planning, and strategy execution for the firm’s global multi-asset strategies team, spanning macro investing, systematic equities, portfolio advisory, and custom indexing. Blaise is also one of Invesco’s founding committee members with Engage Ventures, serving in various functions with Engage since 2018.
Previously, Blaise worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Atlanta and Washington, DC, and as a practicing attorney with the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Earlier in his career, Blaise served as a law clerk to judges on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Blaise earned a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Blaise currently serves as President-Elect of the University of Virginia Engineering Foundation and on the board of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation.
Rich is a Partner at Knoll Ventures, an Atlanta-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in pre-Series A technology businesses focused on B2B markets. He has been active in the southeastern technology ecosystem for more than 10 years and is currently involved with investments in Belongly, Brightwell, ConverseNow, Daupler, Fetch Trucks, Freede, Lendflow, Repvue, and VoApps, amongst others. In addition, Rich serves in leadership and mentorship positions with multiple local technology organizations.
Co-Founder and General Partner Front Porch Venture Partners
Joe Mancini is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Front Porch Venture Partners, where he and his partners are on a mission to catalyze the next generation of breakout startup ecosystems in the Southeast. Front Porch deploys an innovative hybrid model that invests in venture fund specialists in technology and healthcare as well as directly into early-stage startups. The firm has backed over 30 funds and 40 companies in the region since 2020.
Prior to Front Porch, Joe was an operator and consultant in the tech, media, and telecom industries where he specialized in scaling commercial teams globally. After a few years in sports talk radio (fun fact!), he joined the management consulting firm PRTM (acquired by PwC), Google’s Access and Energy team (now part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets”) and Digital Turbine, a publicly-traded mobile software company where he worked to scale revenue from $70M to $700M and integrate four global acquisitions.
Joe earned his BA from the University of Virginia and his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, where he received the Spaulding Award for Leadership. He grew up in Virginia and now lives in North Carolina with his wife, Jackie and their two kids.
Tim McLoughlin is the Managing Partner of Cofounders Capital, a NC based venture capital fund focused on investing in seed-stage, B2B software companies in North Carolina and across the Southeast. Since 2015, Cofounders has raised almost $100M across their 3 venture funds and has deployed almost $75M into early stage companies, almost exclusively in the Southeast. Tim is a former entrepreneur, has served on the Board of Directors for over a dozen technology companies, has been a core reviewer for the NC IDEA seed grant for over 20 consecutive cycles, is on the Executive Committee for the CED Board, and lives in Raleigh with his wife and two boys.
Founder & Managing Partner Silicon Road Ventures | President, TiE Atlanta
Sid Mookerji is the Founder and Managing Partner of Silicon Road Ventures, a family of US funds with over $100M under management, investing in early-stage tech startups disrupting the retail, e-commerce, and CPG industries. Sid is also a General Partner in Bengaluru-based fund StartupXseed and has made many angel investments through his family office. In addition, Sid is co-founder and CEO of Silver Spirit Global LLC which operates tech parks in the US and India. Sid Mookerji is also a Founding Partner of the Atlanta chapter of the Creative Destruction Labs and President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Atlanta). Sid’s contributions to industry and the city of Atlanta were celebrated as he was inducted into the Kennesaw State’s Coles College Hall of Fame for 2019. Sid was also recognized as an Entrepreneurial Leader for South East USA by TechBridge in 2019.
Prior, in 1994, Sid founded Software Paradigms International (SPI) and served as its CEO and Chairman. SPI provided technology solutions to 350+ retail businesses on five continents. Under Sid’s leadership, SPI completed 14 acquisitions and employed over 3000 employees across the globe. SPI delivered tech services and products to marquee retail, e-commerce, and CPG firms such as Macy’s, Saks, Walmart, P&G, and GroupOn. In September 2016, Sid stepped down from his position of SPI’s CEO after 22 years at the helm, and the company was eventually acquired by IT giant Cognizant.
Apart from business pursuits, Sid supports philanthropies in the United States and India through the Mookerji Foundation. In the U.S., he led the foundation’s relief effort for communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters. The Mookerji Foundation made a substantial gift to the Georgia Tech Foundation in 2016 to establish a retail tech innovation program. The Mookerji Foundation also helped set up the “Mookerji Innovation Fund” for entrepreneurs at the Kennesaw State University.
Rami Reyes is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at NextEquity Partners, a mid-stage venture firm founded by executives from Apple and Elevation Partners. Rami co-leads all investments at the firm, where he’s invested in leading companies, like SentinelOne, Masterclass, Ring, Bridg, and Arctic Wolf.
Previously, Rami was a principal at Elevation Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital and private equity firm, where he worked on investments in leading companies, like Facebook, Marketshare, Sonos, and Airbnb.
Rami graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received the Dean's Award for Excellence, the school's top graduation award.
In his spare time, Rami is very involved in giving back and co-founded LatinxVC, a non profit focused on getting more Latinos into venture, and the Leadership Council for the SEO Scholars San Francisco Scholars Program, which helps talented lower income San Francisco high school students get into and through college.
Katie Roof is a reporter at Bloomberg News where she writes about tech and venture deals and appears on TV. Previously, she covered venture capital for the Wall Street Journal. Before that, she was at TechCrunch.
Panel: The Next Trillion-Dollar Tech Disruption That Might Just Save the Planet: Climate Tech
Jon Shieber is the chief editor and a venture partner at FootPrint Coalition Robert Downey Jr.'s initiative focused on accelerating solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation and planetary restoration. For the last 15 years, he's covered climate tech investment for Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch from Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Shanghai.
Panel: The Talent Wars: How to Attract, Grow and Retain the World’s Best Employees
Gabby’s an HR leader passionate about creating great work environments, scaling culture and finding, growing, and keeping talented people. Many of Gabby’s philosophies were shaped by her time at Google, where she focused on building a culture of openness, autonomy, and transparency. She's used that experience to help organizations big and small build thriving cultures. Currently, Gabby is the Chief People Office for FullStory, where she has led its growth from 50 to 600+ employees.
Gabby has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Morris and sons Lev (7) and Aiden (4). A native NYer, she's on the quest for the best bagel in the ATL.
Panel: The Talent Wars: How to Attract, Grow and Retain the World’s Best Employees
Melissa works closely with founders and CEOs to build, develop, and retain best-in-class executive teams and boards. She designed the CEO leadership program, Invictus, to foster a community of NEA leaders who support one another and propagate best practices across the portfolio. Melissa brings broad operating experience from the technology and healthcare sectors, along with a passion for building relationships, to cultivate leaders who will build life-changing companies with global reach.
Melissa began her career in technology at Qualcomm (supply chain management), Hewlett Packard (global contract manufacturing strategy) and Netopia (strategic technology alliances). She then transitioned to healthcare as President of Drip Drop, Inc., building an oral-rehydration product and realizing her passion for improving human health through creative technology solutions. She joined Khosla Ventures as an Operating Partner before joining NEA as a Partner in 2015.
Melissa grew up in South Africa before coming to the United States to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of San Diego, where she earned her MBA. South Africa provided her with her guiding philosophy, Ubuntu, which recognizes that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye and that we rise by lifting others.
Catapulting South Carolina into the national spotlight, Dawn Staley has made the Gamecocks a mainstay in the battle for SEC and national championships. Under her leadership, the Gamecocks have reached many firsts – National Championships, NCAA Final Fours, No. 1 rankings, SEC regular-season and tournament titles, SEC Players of the Year, National Players of the Year, WNBA No. 1 Draft picks and No. 1 recruiting classes – to name the most notable.
Staley’s 16 seasons at the helm of the Gamecocks include: - Three NCAA National Championships (2017, 2022, 2024) - Six NCAA Final Fours in the last seven tournaments (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) - Seven 30-win seasons, including a program-record 38 wins in 2023-24 - Eight SEC regular-season championships (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) - Eight SEC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024) - Ten NCAA Attendance titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) - Four-time Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year award winner (2022, 2023, 2024)
While her coaching career is in full bloom, Staley is still recognized for her body of work as a one of the most decorated participants in United States women’s basketball history. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame solidified that legacy with her enshrinement as part of the Class of 2013. The Phoenix Club of Philadelphia established the Dawn Staley Award recognizing the nation’s top guard in women’s Division I basketball in 2013 as well. Staley was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2012 and was one of the final nominees for induction to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame the same year. In the summer of 2011, the WNBA recognized her as one of the league’s “Top 15,” honoring the most influential players in the league’s history.
In 24 seasons as a head coach, Staley has led her college teams to 14 25-win seasons, a total of 20 postseason appearances (two WNIT) including an undefeated (38-0) season in 2023-24.
Also a force in USA Basketball, Staley was named the U.S. Women’s National Team head coach for 2017-21, leading the U.S. to 2018 FIBA World Cup gold to earn USAB National Coach of the Year honors that year, adding gold medals at the 2019 and 2021 FIBA AmeriCups and stretching the U.S. Olympic gold medal streak to seven straight at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Prior to that appointment, Staley led three other U.S. teams to gold medals – 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships, 2014 FIBA U18 Americas Championship, 2007 Pan Am Games – and served as an assistant on the Senior National Team 2006-08 and again 2014-16, during which the U.S. claimed gold in the 2014 FIBA World Championship and the 2008 and 2016 Olympics.
At the helm of the Gamecocks over the last 16 seasons, Staley has been named National Coach of the Year five times (2014, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) with her 2020 unanimous selection making her the first former Naismith Player of the Year to earn the Naismith Coach of the Year award. She is the first men’s or women’s coach to receive the award in three consecutive seasons (2022, 2023, 2024). She is a seven-time SEC Coach of the Year and was the 2012 BCA Female Coach of the Year. She is the only Gamecock basketball coach – men’s or women’s – to amass 300 victories at South Carolina and became the fastest coach to 200 wins in program history, needing just 277 games at South Carolina to reach the plateau. She is the program’s all-time winningest coach (440) with a program-record 13 postseason appearances and is the only black head coach in men’s or women’s basketball to win multiple national championships.
Sherry Deutschmann is a serial entrepreneur, author, and passionate advocate for women entrepreneurs. She is the Founder and CEO of BrainTrust, a peer-advisory for women business owners, ensuring they have an equal opportunity to build financial independence, wealth, and influence.
Prior to founding BrainTrust, Sherry founded LetterLogic, Inc., a company she grew to $40 Million and sold to private equity in 2016. LetterLogic was named an INC 5000 company (fastest growing privately held businesses in the US) for ten consecutive years. Sherry was awarded the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women award in 2009, has been featured in the New York Times, Inc., and Entrepreneur, and was named a White House Champion of Change by US President Barack Obama.
Sherry’s book, Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in your People, was released in March 2020 and has received national awards.
Linnea Geiss joined PDI Technologies in 2018 and brings over 25 years of global experience spanning operations, investing, strategy, and corporate development. As the Chief Operating Officer at PDI, Linnea leads a team of more than 2,500 global employees and oversees all product, engineering & professional services operations, innovation, and marketing & education functions. She helps develop and execute organic and acquisition initiatives to drive growth and strategic positioning across global markets.
Prior to joining PDI, Linnea served as head of Strategy and Corporate Development for NCR Corporation, as a venture capitalist with Arcapita, and in a variety of global operating roles with Radiant Systems. Her global transaction & business experience spans over 30 countries, and she has structured a wide variety of transactions in both public & private markets.
She has served as an independent advisor to several private equity firms and management teams and is an active member of a variety of local & global nonprofit civic & professional organizations. She is a widely recognized thought leader on topics of startups, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, M&A, and corporate governance.
She currently serves as a trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center, as a member of the corporate board of directors of Aptean, and member of the international board for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
Lynne Laube is a fintech founder and former CEO with decades of experience building and scaling businesses. She is currently a venture partner at TTV Capital, where she advises early- and growth-stage fintech companies. Lynne also serves on several private and public company boards, including NerdWallet (NASDAQ: NRDS), where she chairs the Compensation Committee.
Lynne is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX), a pioneer in the rewards and loyalty space and a TTV portfolio company. Under her leadership, Cardlytics became one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the U.S., as recognized by the Deloitte Fast 500 and Inc. 5000. Lynne successfully led the company through its IPO in 2018. By the time she stepped down, Lynne had scaled Cardlytics to $300 million in revenue and expanded its reach to over 180 million monthly users, transforming how financial institutions connect with their customers.
Lynne’s work has earned her numerous accolades. She was named one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 10 Venture-Backed Female Founders and was a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Lynne received the Carl H. Linder Award for Outstanding Business Achievement and was inducted into the Technology of Georgia Fintech Hall of Fame.
A passionate advocate for women in business, Lynne founded Women of Cardlytics, a program that supports and mentors women in the workplace. The initiative contributed to Cardlytics’ recognition as one of Atlanta’s top places to work for multiple years.
Before Cardlytics, Lynne spent over a decade in executive roles at Capital One and began her career at Bank One. She holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the University of Cincinnati and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Lynne currently sits on the Business Advisory Council at the University of Cincinnati, where she provides counsel to the leadership of the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
Andrew Levy is the co-founder and CEO of AdPipe, an AI platform helping enterprise brands understand what drives performance in their creative and act on it at scale.
A filmmaker-turned technology founder with over a decade of experience in video and storytelling, Andrew and co-founder Sam Birdsong recognized a core challenge: enterprise brands have vast amounts of authentic footage but lack an efficient way to understand what works and activate it at scale.
As CEO, Andrew leads the development of AdPipe’s platform, which bridges the gap between creative and performance. Using computer vision, AdPipe connects performance data with video content to show which creative elements drive results—so teams can quickly adapt existing footage for different audiences, regions, offers, and channels while staying on brand.
Tyson Nargassans is a seasoned founder, operator, and go-to-market executive with five successful exits across B2B SaaS, fintech, healthcare technology, and insurance technology. He began his career in advertising and marketing before discovering a passion for fast-paced startup environments during the internet boom of the late 1990s. He later joined eClassicSystems, a growing fintech company, as head of sales and marketing, where his leadership contributed to the company’s successful acquisition by Jack Henry & Associates in 2004.
Recognizing the growing importance of data intelligence in financial services, Tyson founded Saylent in 2006 with his wife, Sharon, to help banks and credit unions improve customer experience through data-driven insights. Over 15 years, he grew the company in a highly capital-efficient manner to nearly $10 million in revenue while navigating the 2008 Recession and COVID-19. Saylent earned repeated recognition, including six appearances on the Inc. 5000 list and two appearances on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, before being acquired by MeridianLink, a Thoma Bravo-backed company, in April 2021.
Following Saylent, Tyson joined the board of Roobrik, a senior living lead conversion company that was later acquired by Rubicon-backed Aline. He then became CEO of CureMint in September 2023, where he strengthened the company’s trajectory by delivering a Procure-to-Pay solution for dental service organizations and ultimately orchestrating its sale to the company’s largest competitor. In June 2025, Tyson joined Slope to accelerate the growth of its actuarial modeling platform for life insurance carriers and pension providers. Slope was acquired by Akur8 in March 2026, extending Akur8’s actuarial capabilities from property and casualty into adjacent markets.
Tyson lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters, Tayla and Carly.
Marty Osborn is a founder, advisor, author, and former software executive who helps entrepreneurs build organizations that scale. He co-founded Advoco, growing the company from three people into an industry leader before its acquisition by a Fortune 100 consulting firm. He later served as a Managing Director at Accenture and now works with founders and leadership teams through By Design Advisors.
Marty is the author of Finding Your Significance: The 5 Keys to Building a Leadership Brand that People Are Happy to See. He speaks on leadership, negotiation, hiring, self-awareness, and execution, helping leaders build organizations where people are happy to work, grow, and contribute.
His work is built around a simple idea: people don’t invest in companies first—they invest in leaders first.
Randy Glein is Founder and Managing Partner of DFJ Growth. His career spans more than 35 years as a venture capital investor, operating executive and entrepreneur. Randy has a long track record as a company builder and partner to visionary entrepreneurs who shape the future by bringing innovation and technological advancement to the world. He has led investments in numerous pioneering tech startups that have risen to industry leadership, including Anaplan (NYSE: PLAN), Anduril, Boring Co, Box (NYSE: BOX), Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Commonwealth Fusion, Impulse Space, Neuralink, Positron, Ring (Amazon), Saronic, ScaleAI, SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX), Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Unity (NYSE: U), xAI, and Yammer (Microsoft).
Forbes has named Randy to its annual Midas List of top venture capital investors eight times, including most recently in 2026. In addition, The New York Times/CB Insights has named Randy to their annual list of the world’s top venture capital investors five times.
Prior to DFJ, Randy was CFO of FeedBurner, a DFJ portfolio company acquired by Google. He also played instrumental roles in the formation and development of DIRECTV and XM Radio. Randy began his career as a systems engineer at Hughes Space & Communications. Randy holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MSEE from the University of Southern California, and a BSEE with high honors from the University of Florida.
Jesse is the Founder and CEO of Danti, Danti is an agentic intelligence platform that puts a team of specialized AI analysts at your fingertips. Make a request, and agents built around the workflows and reasoning patterns of real-world experts — go to work in parallel, delivering traceable, spatially grounded results in a shared operational workspace you can explore, question further, and turn into finished products like reports and briefing decks. Jesse's career has spanned the drone, space, geospatial and broader aerospace and defense industry. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology where his research focused on aerodynamic design of unmanned systems along with advanced system of systems research fusing space and airborne assets. After his graduate work, he spent many years working at the FAA, DoD and other federal agencies. He was an early employee of one of the first commercial drone autonomy and software companies, later built a business for Airbus which brought together drones, satellites and analytics into enterprise software for various key industries. Later he led Airbus's US space/geospatial business focused on delivering space based data and tools to a wide range of markets.
Head of Strategy and Product, Tactical Recon and Strike, Anduril Industries
Dan Kuehme is an aerospace engineer, technology leader, and entrepreneur with extensive experience in autonomous systems and unmanned aircraft development. He currently leads strategy and product for the TRS Division at Anduril Industries in Atlanta.
Prior to his role at Anduril, Dan co-founded Area I, where he served as Chief Technology Officer and invented the Altius tube-launched unmanned aerial vehicle system. He also serves as an independent board member for Pyka, an autonomous electric aircraft manufacturer. Dan holds both a B.S. and an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Reggie Marable is the Chief Customer Officer at Sierra, one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies in history. Sierra is the leading platform for customer experience AI agents, trusted by top brands including Walmart, ADT, Rocket Mortgage, SiriusXM, Cigna, and Sonos.
Prior to Sierra, Reggie held senior leadership roles at Slack and Salesforce, where he built and scaled high-performing teams and drove significant revenue growth.
Beyond his executive work, Reggie is a dedicated mentor, actively supporting and advancing diverse talent across the tech ecosystem. He is a proud graduate of Morehouse College and the author of “The Blue Print – The Keys to Making BIG Money in Professional Sales.”
Ira Ehrenpreis is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a leading impact investing venture capital firm, currently managing more than $1.5 billion of capital. DBL invests in companies that can deliver top-tier financial returns, while simultaneously driving social or environmental change.
Ira is a recognized leader in the venture capital industry, having served on the Board, Executive Committee, and as Annual Meeting Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). He currently serves as the Chairman of the VCNetwork, the largest and most active California venture capital organization, and the President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists (WAVC), the oldest venture capital organization in California.
For his significant contributions to the Venture Capital and Impact industries, Ira has been honored with several prestigious awards. Ira was awarded the NACD Directorship 100 for being “one of the most influential leaders in the boardroom and corporate governance community.” He was also named one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Men Under 45" (alas in a galaxy far, far away when in fact he was under 45!) For his pioneering work and leadership in sustainability innovation, Ira was inducted into the International Green Industry Hall of Fame. In addition, the National Venture Capital Association awards one venture capitalist each year with the industry’s “Outstanding Service Award” for career contribution to the venture capital industry. The Japan Society of Northern California also honored Ira with its 2023 Visionary Award for his “Pioneering Leadership in Impact Investing and the Global Sustainability Community.” Most recently, for his leadership is supporting equity in entrepreneurship, Ira’s firm was awarded by Springboard the “2024 Investor of the Year.”
Ira serves on the public boards of SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). In addition, he currently leads DBL’s investments in several companies including Airspace, Boring Company, Fiber Global, Mapbox, Menlo Micro, Planet (NYSE: PL), R-Zero, and Terram.
A sampling of Ira’s leadership includes serving for several years as the Chairman of the Silicon Valley Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum (SVIEF). He is the Founder and Chairman of one of the most prominent annual energy innovation industry events, the World Energy Innovation Forum (WEIF), which convenes the who's-who in the industry to discuss the important energy issues and opportunities of our time. Ira serves as the Chair of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Northern California. He also served for years on the Advisory Board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE).
Ira is also an active leader at Stanford University, where he has served on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School, is currently Co-Chairman of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Precourt Institute for Energy (PIE) Advisory Council, and was one of the founding board members of the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP). Ira has also been a frequent guest lecturer, including helping to teach a course on Venture Capital.
Ira received his JD/MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of Stanford Law Review. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude.
Executive Director, Innovation Economy, J.P. Morgan
Scott Marshall is an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan within Innovation Economy, where he partners with companies across the innovation economy to support their growth through capital solutions and operational optimization. He brings 18 years of banking experience across Deutsche Bank, Bank of the West / BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan, including 12 years focused on technology banking.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Trog Hawley Capital LLC
Alex Monul is President and Chief Operating Officer of Trog Hawley Capital, a West Palm Beach family office that invests across venture capital, private equity, real estate, and public markets. He has been with the firm since 2014, previously serving as Senior Portfolio Manager. Before joining Trog Hawley, Alex worked at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He brings a family office perspective to evaluating and supporting growing companies.
Adriana Gadala-Maria Ochi is a Principal at Halogen Ventures, an early-stage VC firm investing in consumer technologies and strategic B2B software companies led by women.
Prior to joining Halogen, Adriana spent a decade building strategic partnerships at Reddit, TechCrunch, and Code3. Adriana started her career at Reddit (employee #20) in 2011, where she helped the company win its first institutional clients, including Coca-Cola, eBay, and Netflix. Adriana then transitioned to venture capital, gaining experience at Bessemer Venture Partners, Glynn Capital, Anorak Ventures, and Dorm Room Fund.
Adriana holds an MBA from UVA Darden and a BA from the University of Notre Dame.
AJ Briley is the co-founder and CEO of ProLine CRM, the only communication-first CRM built specifically for roofing contractors. AJ grew up in home services, working summers for his father's home renovation company, knocking doors for pest control during college, and eventually being hired as a marketing manager for DeLaurier Roofing in 2018. Despite his current career in technology, AJ's roots are in the home service industry.
While running marketing for DeLaurier Roofing, AJ taught himself software development, creating automations and early AI systems to help John DeLaurier and his team manage more leads, sell more jobs, and generate more reviews. These automations were so successful that AJ and John decided to co-found ProLine in 2021. Since then, AJ has led ProLine's growth as a CRM focused on helping roofing contractors deliver better communication and customer experiences.
Sal Rehmetullah is the Founder and CEO of Worth, the AI-powered platform transforming how financial institutions onboard and underwrite SMBs. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, he saw firsthand how fragmented applications and slow, opaque approvals created barriers to accessing financial services, often disproportionately impacting MWBEs. As a result, he co-founded Stax Payments, building it into one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the U.S. and a billion-dollar platform by simplifying payments and delivering more transparent, efficient tools for businesses. Now, Sal is solving the next layer of that problem. Worth unifies identity, risk, and financial data into a real-time decisioning engine that enables faster, more accurate underwriting, lower operational costs, and broader access to capital. A recognized fintech leader and EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Sal is focused on how agentic AI and digital identity can make financial systems more accessible, efficient, and trustworthy, shifting decision-making from delayed, manual processes to instant, auditable intelligence.
Marsh, Partner & Global Strategy Leader Venture Capital & Growth Equity Practice
Erik Sebusch is a Partner and the Global Strategy Leader at Marsh for the Firm’s Venture Capital and Growth Equity investment practice. Erik has nearly three decades of experience working in various roles in the asset management industry. Erik’s primary responsibility is manager research/client consulting, and he is based in Atlanta.
Prior positions include Partner at a San Francisco based Venture Capital and Growth Equity Manager, managing a corporate venture capital program, managing the private equity program for a large corporate pension plan, as well as working as financial consultant for high net worth individuals and family offices. He focuses on sourcing investment opportunities as well as developing and maintaining strong relationships with top performing, access constrained Venture Capital and Growth Equity managers globally.
Erik also works directly with a number of Mercer’s global clients that includes notable Endowments & Foundations, Pension Plans, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and large Family Offices.
Erik holds an International MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management and serves on the limited partner advisory committees to several private market funds.
Jack Semrau is a seasoned engineer turned investor and today leads the Atlanta Venture Ecosystem at Cox Enterprises overseeing investments in several funds, accelerators, programs, and community partnerships in Atlanta. He also serves as an investor for Cox's venture fund, Socium Ventures, investing in growth stage businesses with his domains covering frontier technologies. He serves as a board member on several non-profit organizations in Atlanta and private companies Socium is invested in. He previously led venture strategy at Delta Air Lines and led defense focused projects in prior roles. He holds an MBA from Emory University and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech.
Andy Short is Chief Operating Officer of Lykos Industries, where he is focused on delivering innovative and efficient repair and sustainment capability to the military and commercial field operations.
Andy’s career in aerospace has included roles in Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Enterprise Systems, and Manufacturing Leadership. He has led rapid team growth and scaling of output at companies like Safran, SpaceX, Relativity, and Vast. Andy’s technical expertise spans a broad range of processes and materials, including high temperature composites, large composite structures, machining, fabrication, and additive manufacturing. He has also been responsible for manufacturing of avionics hardware, environmental testing, complex system integration, and payload integration for space launch vehicles.
Andy enjoys running and mountain biking in the North Georgia mountains. He also is a volunteer at the Atlanta Mission, where he teaches life skills classes and supports the vocation training program.
CEO, Soundstripe, Former CEO and CMO of ParkMobile, Former CMO of Tricentis ($4.5B Minority Investment by GTCR), Author of “How Not to Suck at Marketing”
Jeff Perkins is the Chief Executive Officer at Soundstripe, the leading music licensing platform for content creators. Prior to Soundstripe, Jeff spent five years at ParkMobile, the #1 parking app in the U.S. with over 50 million users. He joined ParkMobile as Chief Marketing Officer and later was promoted to CEO. During his time there, he helped grow revenue by 233%, resulting in the successful sale of the business to EasyPark Group in 2021. Before ParkMobile, Jeff was the Chief Marketing Officer of QASymphony (now called Tricentis), where he helped establish the brand and grow revenue 500% over a three-year period, leading to a $40 million Series C with Insight Venture Partners.
He has also held senior marketing leadership positions at PGi and AutoTrader. Jeff started his career grinding it out in the NYC ad industry at Saatchi & Saatchi. His experiences range from traditional to digital, B2C to B2B, and agency-side to client-side. Jeff’s work has earned him numerous accolades, including the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s MAX Award for marketing excellence and the Technology Association of Georgia's Award for Marketing Executive of the Year.
Jeff received his BA from American University and MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where he has served as an adjunct professor.
He is a frequent contributor to several business publications and a speaker at many industry events. His first book, "How Not to Suck at Marketing," was published by How2Conquer in 2021.
When he’s not working, you might find him training for a marathon, riding his Peloton bike, or attending a Bruce Springsteen concert (he’s been to 34 so far). He lives in Atlanta with his awesome wife, two adorable teenage daughters (ages 14 and 17), and two poorly behaved rescue dogs.
Founder & CEO, The Hidden Jams Founder & Former CEO, PrizePicks
Adam Wexler is a serial entrepreneur and recognized leader in sports, entertainment, and technology. A graduate of the Terry College of Business and inaugural class of the University of Georgia’s Music Business Program, he has founded multiple high-growth companies, including PrizePicks, the largest daily fantasy sports operator in North America. His ventures have earned him 40 Under 40 honors, “Rookie of the Year” from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, and Top 40 Digital Strategist recognition. Today, Wexler is returning to his music roots with a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit music discovery platform, The Hidden Jams, blending innovation with his passion for connecting music fans to what they love.
Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Metro Atlanta Chamber Board Member, Venture Atlanta
Alex Gonzalez is the Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, where he collaborates with corporations, entrepreneurs, and creators to grow and promote the nation’s eighth-largest metro region.
He is the author of Disruptor: How to Challenge the Status Quo and Unlock Innovation and brings over 25 years of leadership experience across Fortune 500/1000 companies, startups, and civic organizations. Alex is recognized for his expertise in innovation, marketing, strategy, change leadership, and corporate transformation. He is also a member of the Fast Company Impact Council, an invite-only collective of top business innovators.
His previous roles include Chief Innovation Officer, President of North America Commercial Information Solutions, and SVP of Strategic Marketing at Equifax, where he led the company’s growth and innovation strategy. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at GE Insurance Solutions and began in customer-focused positions at Chubb Insurance.
Alex is the founder of Highwire Group, an advisory firm that helps executives lead innovation and transformation. He is also a frequent writer and speaker on innovation at the intersection of business, technology, and culture, and serves as creator and host of The Disruptor Studio, a digital series featuring inspiring innovators.
A committed civic leader, Alex serves on nonprofit boards including Junior Achievement of Georgia, Zoo Atlanta, Georgia Soccer, Ripples of Hope, and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. He also advises the AMA–Atlanta and the Georgia State University Marketing Roundtable.
Alex holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of South Florida and is Six Sigma certified.
Title: Senior Vice President of Strategy & Investments Company: Cox Enterprises
Andrew Davis is Senior Vice President of Strategy & Investments for Cox Enterprises. He oversees the strategic planning, new venture development, Socium Ventures, and sustainability teams.
Prior to joining Cox, Andrew spent nearly 12 years with T. Rowe Price in the U.S. Equity Division. As an investment analyst at T. Rowe, he researched and managed public company investments in the North American transportation industry. During his last three years at T. Rowe, Andrew was the Director of Private Investments, managing the firm’s $20B private venture investment portfolio. His responsibilities included management of sourcing, investment diligence, ongoing analysis, and external relationships.
Prior to his career as an investor, Andrew spent 7 years at Deloitte & Touche LLP where he was a manager in the business valuation services group. There he was responsible for client projects related to acquisition accounting, tax valuations, and bankruptcy reorganizations.
Andrew has an MBA in Economics and Finance from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Berry College in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.
Kobie brings to Upfront deep expertise in enterprise SAAS and emerging technologies including VR and AR. Over his career he has invested early in notable companies including Exact Target (sold to Salesforce for $2.5B) and Oculus (sold to Facebook for $2B).
Kobie joined Upfront in June 2016 after having previously been an investor at Accel. Prior to Accel, Kobie was the Chief Marketing Officer at LA-based REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-commerce players. Earlier in his career, Kobie helped found OpenView Venture Partners and was an investor at Insight Venture Partners. Kobie graduated from Harvard College.
Maya Noeth joined Accel in 2018 and helps lead the firm’s growth fund.
She invests in both consumer technology and software businesses, with a particular interest in companies serving the B2C and B2B2C landscapes across internet, mobile, marketplace, and subscription/SaaS platforms.
Maya helped source and lead Accel’s investments in Bumble and goPuff, and represented Accel on Bumble’s board.
Prior to Accel, Maya spent seven years at TCV, where she invested in businesses including Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Electronic Arts, TripAdvisor, Rent the Runway, Rover, GoFundMe, VICE Media, Klook, and more. Prior to TCV, Maya was the fourth employee at Paperless Post, where she served as Chief Financial Officer. Maya began her career in TMT banking at Morgan Stanley. She has also spent time doing early stage investing at Thrive Capital.
Maya graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Ellie joined Greycroft in 2011 and is based in New York City. She leads the health tech team and invests across consumer and enterprise models within the sector.
Ellie’s active investments include Baublebar, Boulder Care, Cometeer, Eden Health, Elevate, Expel, Extra, ianacare, Octave, RightMove, and Thirty Madison. Her notable exits include NuORDER (acquired by Lightspeed), Flashpoint (acquired by Audax), Nom Nom (acquired by Mars), Blinkist (acquired by Go1), ELOQUII (acquired by Walmart), and Cotopaxi (interest sold to Bain Capital).
Prior to Greycroft, Ellie evaluated investment opportunities at Lowercase Capital. Ellie also worked at Cisco in corporate development doing acquisitions, investments, and strategy. While at Cisco, she was involved in multiple acquisitions and investments, including PostPath, Jabber, Xobni, and Tandberg. She began her career in growth capital private equity at Summit Partners in Boston.
Ellie holds a BA in Psychology magna cum laude from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is also a board director of Venture Forward.
Title: Managing Director Company: Insight Partners
Jon (also known by friends and co-workers as "Rosie") joined Insight in 2014. He focuses on vertical and horizontal application software and is responsible for executing transactions and assisting in portfolio management post-close. He has also specialized in helping portfolio companies source and execute M&A.
He currently is a board director at a number of Insight companies, including 6sense, LeanTaaS, SimpleNexus, Templafy, Florence, ComplianceQuest, and Earnix. Some of his exits include DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU), nCino (NASDAQ: NCNO), Frontline Education (acquired by Thoma Bravo), and CloudCraze (acquired by Salesforce).
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, where he received the Spade Award and was the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Commencement Speaker.
Outside of work, Jon plays soccer in NYC intramural leagues, enjoys reading, struggles to learn guitar, and is an unabashed Philadelphia sports fan.
Title: General Partner Company: Noro-Moseley Partners
Alan Taetle joined NMP in 1998 and leads the firm’s IT investment practice, which focuses on software, SaaS, internet security and tech-enabled service businesses. He currently represents NMP on the boards of MacStadium, PureWRX, Red Canary, Revenue Analytics and Whitebox. Alan was previously a director for several successful prior NMP investments, including TrendKite (sold to Cision Ltd.), FSLogix (sold to Microsoft), Clearleap (sold to IBM), Virtustream (sold to Dell EMC), and Vocalocity (sold to Vonage Holdings Corp.)
Prior to joining NMP, Alan was the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for MindSpring (which merged with EarthLink in 2000). Alan joined MindSpring as its 13th employee in 1995, and oversaw the company’s subscriber growth from 4,000 to over 325,000 in just three years.
Alan is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Georgia Tech College of Computing. Alan received a BA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Title: Partner and Co-Founder Company: Revolution Ventures
Clara is a Partner and co-founder at Revolution Ventures. She began working with Revolution in 2010 and joined full-time as a member of the investment team in 2012, when she helped launch Revolution’s San Francisco office. Clara serves on the boards of Bright Cellars, GoodBuy Gear, Paro, Sila, and Wagmo and previously worked with Blend Labs (NYSE: BLND), PolicyGenius (Acquired), and SRS Acquiom (Acquired). Clara was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and named one of LinkedIn’s Next Wave: Top 10 Professionals Under 35 for VC & Finance.
Prior to joining Revolution Ventures, Clara managed alternative investment fund opportunities and associated secondary activities at Probitas Partners. Clara began her career at UBS Investment Bank in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance group, where she focused on technology and media companies.
Clara received her B.A. in Economics with a minor in German from Stanford University. Clara was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Title: Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer Company: Invesco
Donie Lochan is a highly accomplished Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, responsible for global strategy and execution at Invesco Technology.
Since joining Invesco in 2015, Mr. Lochan has been instrumental in transforming the firm's technology into a modern, agile accelerator for the business.
Prior to joining Invesco, he served as head of corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions for LPL Financial, and was a partner with Bain and Company, a global strategy consulting firm.
Mr. Lochan's achievements have been widely recognized. He was named Georgia CIO of the Year in 2020 and National CIO of the Year in 2021 by the ORBIE awards. He earned a BSc degree with first-class honors in mathematics, statistics, and computing, demonstrating his deep expertise in quantitative analysis and data science.
Dami is a partner at Open Opportunity Fund. Previously she was Co-Head of the SoftBank Opportunity Fund, where she helped launched and manage a $100M+ early stage and growth stage vehicle for tech-enabled companies in the U.S. SBOF has invested in over 80 tech companies since 2020, including Quicknode, Squire, Paystand, 8Sleep, Mayvenn, Drift, CareerKarma, Praxis Labs, Noya, Atomic and Lendtable.
Jane McCracken is co-founder of Women on the Cap Table (WCT), a collaborative network advancing women’s participation in angel investing. She and co-founder Karen Robinson-Cope recognized the lack of women in early-stage investing and launched WCT for women to learn about, invest in, and support high-growth companies that deliver strong returns and meaningful market impact.
WCT focuses on Southeast-based technology and tech-enabled companies raising seed and Series A rounds. The network targets 2–4 investments annually and has the capacity to deploy over $1 million in capital.
Jane brings more than 25 years of angel investing and entrepreneurial experience. She is a serial founder who has built and led companies in health tech, software, and e-commerce, raising over $100 million in capital and achieving successful exits via IPO and acquisition.
She currently serves as Chief Growth Officer at Corps Team, where she helps companies scale by building high-performing teams. Jane also serves on the boards of Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, Tern plc, Oncolens, and Radyus R&D.
Title: Serial Entrepreneur & Investor Company: Shark Tank Shark
Robert Herjavec is a globally recognized business leader and trusted cybersecurity expert. For the last 14 years Robert has been well known as one of the founding Sharks and executive producer of ABC’s Emmy-award winning hit show, Shark Tank.
Born in Communist Yugoslavia, Robert and his parents left with very little for a better life in Canada. Boarding a boat called the Cristeforo Columbo in Italy, they made their way a new world. From delivering newspapers, to waiting tables, to launching a billion-dollar, global computer company from his basement, Robert’s drive to achieve has led him to the fulfillment of a better life in a classic rags to riches story.
He has served as a Cybersecurity Advisor for the Government of Canada, participated in the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce Task Force for Cybersecurity.
Robert’s inspiring books have all appeared on bestsellers’ lists, two of them being notably featured in the Top 10 at the same time. A well-known motivational speaker, Robert has spoken to purpose driven companies around the world ranging from IBM to HP and many more. He has spoken to crowds as small as 50 to ones as large as 20,000 and has shared the stage with Tony Robbins, Oprah, and many others. He has also been featured inside and on the cover of multiple lifestyle and business magazines including Inc, Success, Forbes, Fortune and more.
Yuri is responsible for ensuring that CAST AI is growing in the right direction every single day. His executive and entrepreneurial career spans over twenty years. Throughout that time, he has built 5 successful ventures, earning more than $750 million in successful exits for investors. His previous ventures include Viewdle (acquired by Google), Zenedge (acquired by Oracle), The Frayman Group (acquired by Intapp), LegalKEY (acquired by Hummingbird), and CUJO.
Emily Morris is an award-winning entrepreneur and is currently the Founder & CEO of Emrgy, a renewable energy technology company that is transforming the vast real estate segment of water infrastructure into clean energy projects. Emrgy is currently operating commercial distributed energy projects in 4 US States and is developing an initial portfolio of 50 megawatts of distributed hydro, solar, and storage to be online by the end of 2024.
Emily has secured over $30 million in venture capital to launch Emrgy on the global stage. She is also the Commercial Leader on $5 million in DOE contracts, and she is an inventor on 5 technology patents. The Atlanta Business Chronicle named Emily “Top 30 Under 30” in 2016, and she led Emrgy to be awarded Georgia’s Top Startup in 2017. Emily is an Atlanta native and lives in west Buckhead with her husband Jason and four-year-old son, Bennett.
Tyler is currently the Founder & CEO of Saltbox, a venture-backed startup building co-warehousing workspace for the millions of entrepreneurs that operate in the world of physical commerce and need warehouse space but don’t want to surrender their expectations of modern flexibility, comfort, and convenience. Saltbox provides purpose-built, highly functional micro-warehousing facilities complemented by traditional co-working and community spaces that members can feel proud to call home. He also serves as Chairman of True Glory Brands, a leading e-commerce retailer of multicultural hair and beauty products.
Previously, Tyler has served as the Managing Director of Techstars as well as a member of the senior leadership team at Palantir Technologies, where he was Chief of Staff to the President and Head of Operations, including people operations, recruiting, IT, real estate, and corporate development. During his tenure with Palantir, he was broadly engaged in scaling the operations of the business from 100 to nearly 2,000 employees and saw the company grow to become one of the most valuable in Silicon Valley.
Tyler began his career with J.P. Morgan and worked in the fields of private equity and investment banking. He received a bachelor's degree in American Studies and Economics from The University of Virginia. He currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife and son.
Tony Summerville is the Founder & Chairman of Fleetio, a SaaS platform that helps organizations worldwide manage and optimize their fleet vehicles and drivers. He founded Fleetio in 2011, scaling it to over 200 employees as CEO with 5,000+ customers in 70+ countries before becoming Executive Chairman in 2023. Tony is also an Endeavor Entrepreneur and a prominent figure in Birmingham's startup community. He has received recognition as one of the Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2022 by The Software Report and was named one of Birmingham's "Top 40 Under 40" by the Birmingham Business Journal in 2018. Tony graduated from Auburn University in 2004, majoring in Management Information Systems.
Title: VP of Platform & Community Company: Florida Funders
Maria Derchi is the VP of Platform & Community at Florida Funders, a venture capital fund and investor network focused on finding, funding and building the next generation of tech companies. She also serves as the Executive Director of Refresh Miami, South Florida’s oldest and largest tech and startup community - a position she has held since 2015.
Passionate about diversifying the tech industry, Maria founded Women in Miami Tech, a group dedicated to connecting and supporting women in technology, in 2016. The community has now grown to over 3,000 women strong. She also co-hosts the Miami Tech Pod, a weekly podcast covering the latest news and events happening in the ecosystem.
Maya Noeth joined Accel in 2018 and helps lead the firm’s growth fund.
She invests in both consumer technology and software businesses, with a particular interest in companies serving the B2C and B2B2C landscapes across internet, mobile, marketplace, and subscription/SaaS platforms.
Maya helped source and lead Accel’s investments in Bumble and goPuff, and represented Accel on Bumble’s board.
Prior to Accel, Maya spent seven years at TCV, where she invested in businesses including Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Electronic Arts, TripAdvisor, Rent the Runway, Rover, GoFundMe, VICE Media, Klook, and more. Prior to TCV, Maya was the fourth employee at Paperless Post, where she served as Chief Financial Officer. Maya began her career in TMT banking at Morgan Stanley. She has also spent time doing early stage investing at Thrive Capital.
Maya graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Executive Director, Red Wagon Ventures (a subsidiary of Chick-fil-A Inc.)
Sara Storck is Executive Director of Studio & Strategy at Red Wagon Ventures, Chick-fil-A’s corporate venturing subsidiary, where she leads the development and growth of new businesses beyond the company’s core restaurant operations. With a career spanning corporate venture building, innovation, brand strategy, and advertising, Sara has helped launch new ventures, build strategic capabilities, and create approaches for meaningful brand growth. Prior to joining Chick-fil-A in 2014, she served as an Innovation Director at Prophet, advising Fortune 100 companies on innovation, brand development, and growth strategy.
Director, National Security Business Development, Radiant Nuclear
Rear Admiral Mark Sucato, US Navy, Ret. is the Radiant Nuclear director of national security business development. Mark brings to Radiant extensive experience in leadership and strategy development, defense acquisition, and military requirements following a thirty-one-year career as a Naval Aviator. While in uniform, Mark commanded at several levels, culminating as the commander of all installations and ashore Navy forces in the Pacific Northwest. Mark additionally served in three Pentagon roles working on defense acquisition requirements and Department of War budgetary programming. He is a combat-experienced graduate of TOPGUN and the United States Naval Academy and holds multiple advanced degrees and fellowships from Salve Regina University, the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University.
Lieutenant Troy M. Thompson II is a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer and a native of Marietta, Georgia. A 2017 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Cyber Security, he served at sea aboard USS Germantown and USS Anchorage, including as Navigator, and has deployed across the 5th, 6th and 7th Fleets. Ashore, he served in the Navy's Office of Legislative Affairs and as a Defense Legislative Fellow to Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He holds JPME Phase I from the Naval War College with Distinction and is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He will next serve as Chief Engineer aboard USS Farragut (DDG-99). Views expressed are his own and do not represent the Department of the Navy or Department of Defense.
Jeff Wright is the Founder and CEO of SplashOne Robotics, building autonomous, man-portable air superiority fighter drones. He spent 21 years as an active duty military officer in both the Marine Corps and Air Force, specializing in fire support, special operations, and autonomous warfare. As the Fires and Autonomous Systems Officer at Special Operations Command - Pacific, he led the nation's efforts for autonomous warfare in the western Pacific. Jeff is a graduate of The Citadel, with a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University.
Noa Davidson is the founder and CEO of After the Sprint, a San Francisco-based consultancy that embeds inside leadership teams to design, build, and launch AI and emerging technology programs. She works with Fortune 1000 CXOs on AI adoption, rapid prototyping, and go-to-market strategy, including VSP Vision, where she manages the AI Studio and Springboard program.
She specializes in building global, cross-functional programs and products from zero to scale, and has worked both sides of the enterprise and startup relationship. Previously she was the first Operating Partner at FPV Ventures, where she built a 1,500-member executive network; a founding team member of Amazon Music's Amp; and a program lead on the AWS Startups team, where she helped scale the enterprise-startup Connections program. Before moving to San Francisco, she led The Bridge by Coca-Cola, the company's global emerging technology program, and helped grow Atlanta's corporate innovation community.
She graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering and serves on the boards of Venture Atlanta and Farming Hope.
Seasoned healthcare executive with a passion for transforming care delivery and expanding equitable access for all. Currently serving as Vice President, Head of Digital Health at Wellstar Health, where she leads the development and execution of a systemwide Digital Health strategy.
At the intersection of innovation and care model redesign, she works to advance a more connected and human-centered ecosystem of care. She has the privilege of leading a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team of clinical and operational change-makers, and partner closely with stakeholders across the organization to champion impactful, systemwide healthcare transformation.
Executive Director, Georgia Department of Economic Development / Georgia Center of Innovation
David Nuckolls is the Executive Director of the Georgia Center of Innovation at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. In this role, he oversees six statewide industry-facing teams that help businesses clear the path to innovation and growth through expert advice and navigation to the right resources, sparking inspired solutions to challenges.
Since David stepped into his current role in 2020, the Center has added a new industry focus area, AgTech, and expanded the IT team to include Creative Technology, a burgeoning industry in Georgia. Under David’s leadership, the team's programs were streamlined to expand the team’s reach and support more types of businesses. For example, he has worked to streamline the Center by bringing more of the Center’s staff in-house at GDEcD. In 2024, David played a pivotal role in expanding the team's support to the entrepreneurship, innovation, and small business communities, leading to the creation of the Innovation Support Network that links together entrepreneur service organizations throughout Georgia. David’s previous roles at GDEcD include Associate Director for the Center as well as a role on the Marketing team. His experience also includes roles in economic development, public relations, communications, and marketing with organizations including the Rome Floyd Chamber of Commerce, local nonprofit groups, and a digital agency.
David previously served on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance. In addition, he is a member of Georgia Southern University’s Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing’s Corporate Advisory Council. In 2023, he was appointed by the State Board of Education to the Board of Directors for the Georgia Foundation for Public Education. He also serves as an Advisor to Georgia FLEX, a Fitzgerald-based entrepreneurship program for high school students that engages them in the business world through experiences and mentorships.
David is a third-generation graduate of Berry College, a 2014 graduate of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development, a 2017 participant in GeorgiaForward's Young Gamechangers program, and a 2019 Graduate of the Zell Miller Leadership Institute. He was named on Georgia Trend Magazine’s Inaugural Georgia 500 list in 2022 and again named to the list in 2023, 2024, and 2025. He was also named one of their “Most Notable Georgians” from 2022 to 2025.
David and his wife Anna are raising their two children in Newnan, Georgia, where they have two dogs, he coaches travel baseball, and the family are active members of Crossroads Church.
Alex supports economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship programs across Georgia and around the world. His deep experience comes from across the Georgia Tech innovation ecosystem. He is a 2X co-founder, including Kanga which is a Venture Atlanta alum, and serves as a technologist on Georgia's rural health initiative ARCHER. Alex is also a U.S. Army veteran.
Chris began his career as an aerospace engineer after graduating from Georgia Tech. He joined Area-I as an early employee, where he transitioned into software engineering—first developing autonomous behaviors for the company’s ReMAP autonomy platform and later leading and scaling the software organization through the company’s acquisition.
He went on to serve as Director of Software for Anduril’s Atlanta office helping transition from capability demonstrator to fielded robotic platform, including fleet-wide software deployment, command and control, and autonomy at scale. Today, Chris is Director of Engineering at Walaris, where he leads the engineering organization behind AirScout, an AI-enabled platform that detects, classifies, and tracks airborne threats and integrates with sensors, platforms, and command-and-control systems across defense and commercial applications.
His career has spanned autonomous systems, aerospace, computer vision, and defense software, with a focus on turning emerging autonomy technologies into deployed operational capabilities.
Kaitlin Christine is a breast cancer survivor, ovarian cancer previvor and the CEO & Founder at Gabbi. Christine has spent over 10 years in women’s health and was the youngest hire for the leading genetic testing company, Myriad Genetics. Before starting Gabbi she was the first full-time hire at the email marketing startup Worth eCommerce that she grew to acquisition. Christine won Oregon Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021, Business Insider's Most Promising Femtech Companies in 2022, Inc’s Top Female Founders in 2023, Rock Health’s Top Digital Health Disruptor in 2023, Fierce Healthcare’s Top Innovator of 2023, recognized by the White House for the inaugural Cancer Prevention month in 2024 for her efforts in early detection, and sits on the Leadership Board of the United States Breast Cancer Early Detection Coalition.
With a mom as a registered nurse, and a wife as an Emory physician, Jason has been surrounded by healthcare his entire life. After studying information systems at Carnegie Mellon, he applied his engineering background to various product roles at successful healthcare tech companies, before joining Patientco (acquired by Waystar) as one of the first product managers.
Following his time at Patientco, Jason completed his MBA at Emory and joined Citizens Bank, helping founders raise capital and navigating successful acquisitions as a healthcare-focused investment banker. From there, he started a legal tech startup to help international students navigate the complexities of building a life and career in the US, and after two years leading the company, joined Tech Square Ventures.
As a Principal on the investment team, Jason is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions, as well as growing portfolio companies post-investment, and is a Board Observer at Paccurate and DocStation.
Outside of work, Jason builds and rides bicycles (he used to race motorcycles), competes in marathons and triathlons, and spends time with his two kids and their Lhasa Apso.
Sandy Lake is the Director for the Center of Innovation - Logistics team at the Georgia Department of Economic Development where she helps companies take advantage of the state’s world-class logistics industry, so that they can improve supply chain efficiencies, support growth, and increase global competitiveness. Sandy leads the Center’s effort to connect the industry with Georgia’s logistics technology experts who can assist companies with determining where to invest in and deploy technology to strategically enhance their competitiveness. She also focuses on developing key relationships with logistics education and research partners to advance leading edge innovation.
Sandy is a Certified Supply Chain Professional and currently leads the Center of Innovation – Industry Advisory Board as well as serves on advisory boards for Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, the University of North Georgia, and the Georgia Industrial Systems and Industrial Robotics Advisory Board for Ogeechee Technical College.
Jarrett Lane is the co-founder of the North Carolina Critical Tech Alliance, an organization focused on growing North Carolina's defense economy. He previously worked in the technology industry as a government relations and business development leader for AI, quantum, aerospace and satellite services, and supply chains. He also served as a civilian in the Department of Defense supporting acquisition reform and global partnerships.
Scott Lopano is a Partner at Tech Square Ventures where he is responsible for sourcing new companies, deal execution, and supporting the portfolio’s growth. Since joining TSV in 2017, Scott has led the execution of 50+ new investments across both funds focused on early-stage enterprise (B2B) and marketplace technology companies.
Previously, Scott worked at UBS Investment Bank in New York where he advised clients on capital structure and funding strategy, raising more than $26B in debt and preferred stock capital for clients over his tenure.
Scott graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a concentration in Finance. He was a 4-year starter for the Penn Quaker Football Team during 3 Ivy League Championships. He currently holds the record for most punts and most punt yardage in the school’s history and maintains strong ties to Penn. Scott was a top 5 NFL prospect punter and was invited to Rookie Mini Camp with the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Karen Robinson Cope has spent three decades building companies and raising more than $100 million in angel, venture, and private equity capital. As Chairwoman and CEO of Enrev Corp., she grew the company to a $1.3 billion market value. She later built Prime Point Media into a nationwide advertising network serving more than 100 Fortune 500 clients and sold it for over 20 times EBITDA. At NanoLumens, she drove 60% annual revenue growth for six consecutive years. Today, Karen is an angel investor in more than 30 companies and co-founder of Women on the Cap Table, which helps women become investors and funders. She received Atlanta’s 2023 Siggie Investor’s Choice Award and serves on five boards. Her honors include Mercer University’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Georgia’s Woman of the Year in Technology, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Women Who Mean Business.
Director Federal Government Relations - SE, Hadrian Automation
Lindsay Cline is Director of Government Relations for the Southeast at Hadrian Automation, working at the intersection of AI, advanced manufacturing, national security, and economic development. Her experience across the Navy’s Maritime and Submarine Industrial Base programs-including advising government leaders and shaping workforce and manufacturing initiatives supporting billions in shipbuilding investment - led her to help bring Hadrian to Alabama and expand next-generation defense manufacturing across the Southeast.
Previously, as President of Education for Phillips Corporation, Cline partnered with more than 800 schools worldwide and helped secure over $30 million in scholarships and infrastructure support, helping establish Alabama as a national leader in CNC and additive manufacturing training.
Beginning her career in public relations and NASCAR, she has since become a national voice for reconnecting young Americans with manufacturing and skilled trades, helping launch initiatives including Build Giants Alabama and Build Submarines.
Today, her work focuses on ensuring that AI, robotics, and autonomous manufacturing strengthen America’s industrial workforce and create new opportunities for the rural communities that have long powered the nation’s industrial base.
Aaron Perman is a General Partner at S3 Ventures, investing in seed through Series B technology and healthcare companies. He leads investments in Boom, Buildforce, Ceretax, Hydrolix, Mythic, and others, and has worked with seven S3 portfolio companies that were acquired, including Levelset and Liveoak Technologies. Previously, Aaron was CEO of Qualia Media, which was acquired by IDify. He began his career in public market investing and corporate strategy and holds a BS in International Business from the University of Southern California.
Chair – Aerospace, Defense & National Security Practice, Nelson Mullins
Jeff Perry is a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, where he chairs the firm’s Aerospace, Defense, and National Security Practice. He represents defense technology companies and the investors and funds that back them in financings from seed through nine-figure growth rounds, in M&A, and on the national security regulatory issues that decide whether those deals close. He also serves as outside general counsel to privately held companies, as an independent director of two private companies in the Southeast, and on the External Advisory Board of Georgia Tech’s Space Research Institute. Jeff is a fourth-generation Atlantan.
AJ Piplica is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Hermeus, leading the company's mission to field affordable, high-speed aircraft using an iterative design-build-test approach. Previously, AJ was CEO of Generation Orbit, where he led development of the USAF X-60A hypersonic X-plane. He also led hypersonic and rocket design projects at SpaceWorks. He holds both a BS and MS degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Trog Hawley Capital LLC
Alex Monul is President and Chief Operating Officer of Trog Hawley Capital, a West Palm Beach family office that invests across venture capital, private equity, real estate, and public markets. He has been with the firm since 2014, previously serving as Senior Portfolio Manager. Before joining Trog Hawley, Alex worked at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He brings a family office perspective to evaluating and supporting growing companies.
Mike Dowdle is Founding Partner of Circadian Ventures, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm with $50M AUM across two funds and SPVs. Circadian’s early-stage portfolio spans AI, cybersecurity, fintech, data analytics, healthcare IT, consumer and defense. His entrepreneurial and operating experience includes co-founder of CPO Commerce (acquired by United Stationers) and an interactive agency acquired by iXL Enterprises, prior to its IPO. He is active in the startup ecosystem, sitting on the boards of several portfolio companies as well as Venture Atlanta.
John M. Borland, PhD, P.E., PMP: John is a highly accomplished and versatile leader serving as an Engineer Officer in the U.S. Army, with extensive experience within Special Operations. Most recently, he served as the Innovation Chief for the Command Engineer at United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), where he drove strategic advancements and technological integration while overseeing a global construction project portfolio spanning more than 15 countries. His leadership included developing critical infrastructure, data centers, power plants, microgrids, operations centers, and corporate housing, as well as directing area development planning efforts in support of strategic missions.
As an Adjunct Instructor at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, John still mentors and coaches future engineering leaders. His distinguished military career includes significant leadership roles such as Director of Engineering within the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. John holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering from Texas A&M University, an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
