30 years of marketing management, strategy & leadership
Former CMO of Wintrust Financial Corp
Mentor – mHub & 2112 Incubators
Advisory Board – Chicago Innovation, Center for Creative Entrepreneurship
Board Member – Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & NW Indiana, Economic Strategies Development Corp.
University of Texas-Austin (BS) & Loyalty University (MBA)
Head of Marketing Strategy
Mark “Moose” Farnham
Board Member at various startups including FoodBoss, and Enroll ML
Board Advisor at numerous startups including S+V, TailGreeter, and TipTags
Founder at CEO Fuel, Victory Views, and HumanCore
Former Advisor at Project44, RocketMiles, Tagkast, Pre, and Swipp
Key Exec at HighGround, AisleBuyer, XPOV, Columbian, Fortune Brands, and AT&T
Northern Illinois University (BA History) & Loyola Chicago (MBA Program)
Appeared on the Golf Channel 2003-2008 (Big Break, Golf With Style, Fore Inventors Only) and all Major Networks
Head of IP strategy
Jeffrey Drake
Head of IP Strategy
Partner at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.
Assists companies with their day-to-day legal needs, including intellectual property, technology, and general corporate matters
Investor and advisor to start-ups and venture investment funds
MBA, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
JD, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
BS in Mechanical Engineering, Washington University – St. Louis
CEO in Residence
Mathew Taylor
Chief Operating Officer at Polymedco
CEO of WIN Connectivity
President of Lakeshore Venture Club, a University of Chicago VC fund through AVG
Former Managing Partner of Gypsum Ridge Capital
MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business
MS in Finance from Southern Methodist University
Major in the US Marine Corps
CMO in Residence
Kat Van Fossen
Founder of Aspire Agency, a behavioral science-based Marketing and Behavior Design consultancy
15+ years in behavioral science-based Marketing and Behavior Design
Consultant to the world’s leading brands such as Pepsi and North Face
Venture Investor and start-up consultant
MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
BBA in Business, University of Michigan – Dearborn
Managing Partner
Kurt Johnson
Managing Partner: CEO and Co-Founder
Serial entrepreneur and Experienced Operator
Founder, Trivium, LLC
Founder, 11.2 Ventures, LLC
Founder, K8 Ventures, LLC
Venture Partner, Purple Arch Ventures, part of every investment committee and capital deployment decision since PAV’s inception
Founder, Purple Arch Sub-Funds, Raised capital, deployed across multiple vintages
Founded and exited K8 Ventures, raised and deployed capital across fintech, retail, and B2B SaaS
Global F500 Management
MBA, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management
Managing Partner
Dmitry Valbe
Dmitry Valbe, CTO of 11.2 Ventures
Managing Partner
Gary Scheier
Co-Founder K8 Ventures, QuietAgent, and Social Qnect
Managed in excess of $2B AUM as Partner at Weiss, Peck & Greer
Specialty: Management, capital raising, business development
Industry: Tech, financial services, telecom
MA, Northwestern University
Executive Board
Richard Rice
Founder and CEO of March Capital Corporation
CPA/auditor with Arthur Andersen
Assisted with capital raises for early stage entities, including: Helius Medical, Numerix, MedSpeed, Gold Coast
Multiplex (now Fitness Formula Clubs), Windy City Fieldhouse, River West Lofts, The Chicago Theatre
BS, University of Illinois
Executive Board
Greg Williamson
Partner at Pluribus Labs
Former Chief Investment Officer of the American Red Cross
Oversaw $5.5 billion in assets
Named Institutional Investor’s “Turnaround of the Year” in 2017
Previous roles at BP America (CIO and Director) for 25 years
MBA with honors, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Executive Board
Muhammad Azfar
Founder, CEO and Managing Partner at Auctus Capital Partners
Served as Managing Director and Partner at MSC Advisors
Held Vice President and Director positions at Houlihan Smith & Company
FINRA-registered investment banking representative and holds series 79, 82, 63 securities licenses
Serves as the CEO and Chief Compliance Officer for Auctus Securites, LLC
Graduate of Harvard Business School
Smart Manufacturing
Rohit Khanna
President and CEO 3D Infotech, specializing in software solutions for the 3D scanning and metrology industry
Director of Business Development EON Reality
Application Engineer and Director at Siemens PLM Software
MBA, The Paul Merage School of Business University of CA, Irvine
BE in Computer Engineering, University of Michigan
Life Sciences
Sourav Sinha
Co-founder and CEO Oncolinx, developing the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for powerful, targeted cancer therapies
Venture Partner & Head of Innovation Longevity Vision Fund, a $100M life extension-focused investment fund dedicated to making longevity affordable and accessible to all
Global Shaper World Economic Forum, an international non-profit institution for public private cooperation
Entrepreneur in Residence, The Center for Advancing Innovation and Gazelle Futures LLC
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow
AB in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dartmouth
Business Development
Jack McHugh
Institutional sales at Drexel Burnham, Co-head of equity derivative sales at Salomon Smith Barney, and Head of Institutional Sales team at UBS
Private investor in the Ciao Bella Gelato Company and member of the Board in 1989
Formed Praetorian Advisors in 2005 catering exclusively to early stage companies
Sits on the Board of Indulge International LLC
Sits on charitable boards at Kenilworth Community Fund, Joseph Sears Boosters, and Parenting for Non Violence
BA in Public Policy, Hamilton College
Agriculture Technology
Shay Brokemond
Managing Director in the Investment Banking practice at William Blair (16 years) and completed 50+ M&A and capital raising transactions
Named to Mergers & Acquisitions’ 2020 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A
Held engineering roles with Fortune 500 companies
MBA, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
MS and BS in Electrical Engineering, Georgia Tech
BS in Physics, Spelman College
Technology Transfer
Katherine Baird
Intrapreneurial science program builder
Special projects at Environmental Working Group
Four years of research in neuroscience and cell biology
Mentor, Access Distributed
MBA, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
11.2 Ventures
