Ben Black

Managing Director and
Co-founder

Akkadian Ventures

Benjamin Black is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Akkadian Ventures and a 20-year private equity veteran. Prior to Akkadian, Ben co-founded New Cycle Capital to bring socially responsible investing to sectors like clean energy and social finance. He started his private equity career on the investment teams at Maveron and Rosewood Capital where he focused on branded consumer products and services. Prior to his private equity career, Ben was a member of the founding team of Harris Interactive.

Ben holds a BA and JD from Cornell University.

As a hobby, Ben enjoys developing restaurants and eating in them. He partnered with Top Chef Masters winner Chris Cosentino to bring Cockscomb to SOMA.

Angela Outlaw-Matheny

Director of Investment Staff & Diverse Manager Equity

Colonial Consulting, LLC

Angela Matheny joined Colonial Consulting in July 2016. She and the firm’s CIO co-manage the investment team to ensure internal processes are efficient while managing the firm’s manager selection process and the systematic process that helps best ideas that are constructed into portfolios. Valuing human capital, diverse talent acquisition and building a training and development program is another area of expertise. Angela also continues to drive the firm’s manager diversity initiative to attract and source diverse asset managers while monitoring protocol and the internal vetting process of women and diverse asset managers. Angela facilitates the constant communication between Colonial and fund managers as the firm continues to build a robust pipeline of what it believes is a largely under-followed segment of the asset manager community marketplace. Angela also acts as a conduit in sourcing diverse managers when recommendations or introductions are made by clients and/or board members. She frequently attends emerging manager/diverse manager conferences returning with best practices while networking and learning about industry-wide issues and the inclusive approach many institutions may take to include diverse managers in their searches.

Angela received a Master of Public Administration at Metropolitan College of New York. She also earned a Certificate in Human Resources Management from VillaNova University, which included studies in diversity and inclusion. Angela’s Bachelor’s degree is in Psychology from Bernard Baruch College of New York. She also serves on York College’s (CUNY) foundation board.

Tiffany McGhee

CEO and Co-CIO is Institutional Investment Services

Momentum Advisors

Tiffany is a founding partner of Momentum Advisors and the CEO and Co-CIO of the firm’s Institutional Investment Services business. She is responsible for manager due diligence across all asset classes, including alternative strategies. In her role, she oversees fiduciary investment and advisory services for the firm’s foundation, endowment, and institutional retirement plan clients. Tiffany also chairs the firm’s investment committee. Momentum Advisors is an independent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered Investment Advisory firm based in New York.

Jasmine N. Richards, CFA

Head of Diverse Manager Research

Cambridge Associates

Jasmine N. Richards, CFA joined Cambridge Associates in 2018 as Head of Diverse Manager Research to lead the firm’s ongoing initiative to identify and research institutional-quality investment managers in all public and private asset classes that have diverse owners or leaders, including women and people of color. A highly experienced investment research executive, Ms. Richards has over fifteen years of both buy and sell side experience. Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Ms. Richards worked at FIS Group as an International Equity Manager and Research Analyst responsible for identifying and managing investment strategies, with an emphasis on diverse-owned asset managers. Additionally, Ms. Richards has previously worked in several manager research, sales and client management roles at several other firms.

Ms. Richards holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she concentrated in Finance, Accounting and Strategic Management. While at University of Chicago, Ms. Richards also studied Emerging Markets at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the New York Institute of Technology for her undergraduate education. She is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Boston.

Julie Wroblewski

Senior Advisor, Investments

Pivotal Ventures

Julie Wroblewski leads venture capital strategy and investments for Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates. She developed the company’s venture capital investing arm and built a portfolio of investments in venture capital funds, companies, and innovative organizations to advance Pivotal’s programmatic strategies.

For over decade, Julie has served as an investment and strategy advisor for global leaders and social innovators, including as advisor to Melinda Gates and program teams at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier in her career, Julie worked in economic research at the Federal Reserve Bank.

Julie is Kauffman Fellow. She holds a master’s degree in public finance from the University of Washington in Seattle and a bachelor’s degree from Hamline University in Minnesota.

Erin Harkless Moore

Investments Director

Pivotal Ventures

Erin is the Investments Director at Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates to advance social progress in the United States. Erin is responsible for identifying, investing and overseeing a diverse portfolio of investments that drive breakthrough innovations in the areas of women in tech, caregiving and adolescent mental health.

Erin has over a decade of experience building and managing customized investment portfolios for endowed institutions and family offices. Prior to joining Pivotal Ventures, Erin was most recently at Managing Director at Cambridge Associates and has also held positions at the Princeton University Investment Company, Summit Rock Advisors and Goldman Sachs.

Erin received her MBA from the Harvard Business School and her BSBA magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis. She is also a CFA charterholder and member of the CFA Society of Washington DC.

Lo Toney

Founding Managing Partner

Plexo Capital

Lo is the Founding Managing Partner of Plexo Capital, which he incubated and spun out from GV (Google Ventures), based on a strategy to increase access to early-stage deal flow. Plexo Capital invests in emerging seed-stage VCs and invests directly into companies sourced from the portfolios of VCs where Plexo Capital has an investment. Investors in Plexo Capital include Alphabet (holding company of Google), Intel Capital, Cisco Investment, the Royal Bank of Canada, Kapor Capital, the Hampton University Endowment (Cambridge Associates client), the Ford Foundation, family offices, and technology executives.

Prior to founding Plexo Capital, Lo was a Partner on the investing team at GV, where he focused on marketplaces, mobile, and consumer products. Before GV, Lo was a Partner with Comcast Ventures, leading the Catalyst Fund and worked with the main fund focusing on mobile messaging marketplaces.

He also worked with Zynga as the GM of Zynga Poker with full P+L responsibility For Zynga’s largest franchise at the time. During his leadership, web bookings increased by over 150% with margin expansion. Lo has also held executive roles with Nike + eBay as a startup funded by top tier investors.

Lo received his M.B.A from the Haas School of Business (University of California at Berkeley), where he completed the Management of Technology program, a joint curriculum program with the College of Engineering. Lo received his B.S from Hampton University in Virginia.

Renata Quintini

Co-Founder and Managing Director

Renegade Partners

Renata is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Renegade Partners. Prior to Renegade, Renata was a Partner at Lux Capital, an early stage deep technology investment firm, where she invested in founding teams transforming the future of humanity through the use of technology.

Prior to joining Lux in 2017, Renata was a General Partner at Felicis Ventures, where she worked with startups that define new realities, markets and/or business models. Amongst them: Dollar Shave Club ($1B acquisition by Unilever), Bonobos (acquired by Walmart), Planet (micro satellites) and Cruise Automation ($1B acquisition by GM).

Before becoming a venture capitalist, Renata was an investment manager at Stanford University’s endowment, which invests in dozens of private equity and venture capital funds.

Renata is a Board Member at the NVCA, a Trustee at the Stanford Athletics Department Venture Fund, the Stanford Law School Venture Fund and a Founding Member of All Raise. She earned a law degree from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, LLM and MBA degrees from Stanford University and is a CFA charterholder.

Beto Pallares

Fund of Funds Advisor

Hunt Holdings LP

Ebetuel "Beto" Pallares is the fund manager of two early-stage tech venture capital funds, as well as an investment advisor to a family office based in El Paso, TX. Beto has a particular interest in seed and early-stage companies with an emphasis on the biotechnology, enterprise software, material sciences, and nanotechnology sectors. He serves on the board of a number of tech companies and on the limited partnership advisory committees of several venture funds. In addition, he is on the board of a publicly traded biotech company, Exagen, Inc., (NASDAQ: XGN). Beto is the board chair of the non-profit organization, Success Through Technology Education (STTE) Foundation, which is focused on STEAM education and entrepreneurship for middle school and high school students in the Southwestern United States. Beto is on the board of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), which in turn collaborates with the Stanford Graduate School of Business to identify, select and mentor LatinX entrepreneurs to scale their businesses through the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). He is also a college professor and teaches entrepreneurship and finance, holding the Bill and Sharon Sheriff Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at New Mexico State University, a Hispanic Serving Institution. In addition to his venture activities, Beto is a Kauffman Fellow at the Center for Venture Education and is an advisor to the Pepperdine Cross Sector Leadership Fellows at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Beto holds a BA in Economics from Brandeis University, as well as an MBA and a Ph.D. in International Business Strategy from the University of Texas at El Paso. Beto resides in El Paso, TX with his family.

Bobby Franklin

President and CEO

National Venture Capital Association

Bobby Franklin is the President & CEO of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the venture community’s preeminent trade association focused on empowering the next generation of transformative American companies. Based in Washington, D.C., with offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, NVCA acts as the voice of the U.S. venture capital and startup community by advocating for public policy that supports the American entrepreneurial ecosystem. Powered by its members, NVCA arms the venture community for success, serving as the leading resource for venture capital data, practical education, peer-led initiatives, and networking.

Prior to joining NVCA in 2013, Franklin spent ten years at CTIA, a large Washington, DC-based trade association representing the entire wireless industry. While there, Franklin served as the Executive Vice President and second-in-command to the CEO, former Rep. Steve Largent (R-OK), and was responsible for helping manage the organization’s $58 Million budget and 90 employees. Previously, Franklin had served as CTIA’s Vice President of Government Affairs where he led federal and state advocacy initiatives.

Before joining CTIA, Franklin served as Vice President, Federal Government Affairs and head of Alltel’s Washington, D.C. office. In that capacity he was responsible for the company’s legislative and regulatory advocacy in Washington. Franklin originally joined Alltel in 1998 as Vice President of Federal Legislative Affairs. Prior to serving at Alltel, Franklin spent a year and a half as a consultant representing the nation’s land-grant colleges and universities.

Franklin began his professional career with nearly eight years of experience on Capitol Hill working on various issues in the office of Senator David Pryor (D-AR) and on various Senate Committees, including Agriculture, Finance, and Governmental Affairs.

Franklin earned his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Banking from the University of Arkansas. He and his wife, Julia, have three teenagers and reside in Arlington, VA.

Eric Doherty

Partner

Cooley LLP

Eric Doherty’s practice focuses on all aspects of the formation, operation and ongoing maintenance of private investment funds, including venture capital, microcap, private equity, fund-of-funds, secondary market and other investment advisory businesses in the United States and internationally. He has represented many of the nation's leading accelerators, incubators and studios in forming hybrid corporate and investment fund structures.Eric primarily represents sponsor organizations ranging from well-known multibillion-dollar firms to new emerging manager funds that may only raise a few million dollars. He has a passion for working with new managers in forming seed and early-stage venture capital, super angel and similar microcap funds.

In addition to his fund formation practice, Eric represents many fund clients, institutional investors and angel investors in their direct and secondary market investment transactions. He has also represented a number of emerging growth companies as outside general counsel in financing transactions and on matters of general business and corporate law.

Prior to attending law school, Eric was a marketing analyst for the United States Satellite Broadcasting Co. He was also an archivist for Hubbard Broadcasting.

John Dado

Partner

Cooley LLP

John Dado is the head of Cooley’s fund formation practice group. His practice is focused on the formation and operation of private equity firms, including venture capital funds, buy-out funds, fund of funds and investment advisory businesses. He has been involved on behalf of the sponsor in the formation of hundreds of venture capital or buy-out funds in his career, ranging in size from multibillion-dollar buy-out partnerships to very small early-stage venture capital firms.

John has experience in the formation, governance and investing activities of investment partnerships, including securities law matters, partnership agreement terms and conditions, investor relations and relevant tax and accounting considerations. His practice includes structuring and design of the general partner and management company enterprises operating and managing such buy-out and venture capital funds. John regularly counsels teams of investment professionals with respect to their internal affairs relating to the formation and operation of venture capital or buy-out funds, and he has significant experience with respect to the departure of senior investment professionals from such firms. His practice also encompasses the representation of various types of private equity funds in private financing transactions. He is a regular speaker at private equity industry conferences and symposia.

Lauren Chin

Senior Director, Venture Capital

First Republic Bank

Lauren Chin is a senior director at First Republic Bank, focusing on managing relationships with the general partners and limited partners who are engaged on the platform. Prior to FRB she held a director position at CircleUp where she was led the fund’s capital raising and IR efforts and was responsible for bringing new investors into CircleUp’s venture capital and private credit funds. She previously held a business development role at Fairview Capital working with prospective LP clients including large institutions and family offices. Lauren also previously spent several years at SVB Capital, the venture capital subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank, where she was responsible for fundraising and investor relations across the firm’s VC products. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.