Board of Directors
Chris Onan (Chair) - Appian Ventures
Chris is a Managing Director with Appian Ventures. He has extensive venture capital experience and enjoys working with entrepreneurial management teams to help sharpen their product definition and their marketing and financial strategies. Chris represents Appian on the board of directors of Tendril and Auctionpay and is a board observer of Thought Equity Motion.
Previously, Chris spent five years as an associate with Wolf Ventures and Roser Ventures, where he had the privilege of working with companies such as: Broadbus Technologies (acquired by Motorola) and NextAction Corporation. Prior to locating to Colorado, he worked as an associate with LEK Consulting, an international strategy consulting boutique.
Chris speaks frequently on entrepreneurial finance at both Denver University’s Daniels College of Business and the Leeds College of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He also serves on the board of directors of the Colorado Venture Capital Association. In addition, Chris works actively with the When I Grow Up Foundation and is Northwestern University's alumni admissions council leader for Colorado.
Originally from Minnesota, Chris received a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Brian Birk (marketing) - Sun Mountain Capital
Mr. Birk has over 20 years experience as an operating executive and investor. Prior to forming Sun Mountain Capital, Mr. Birk was a Vice President at Fort Washington Investment Advisors where he managed New Mexico Co-Investment Partners (a single limited partner, state sponsored Fund) and led 8 of the 9 investments originated by the Fund.
He also oversaw the New Mexico and Utah in-state Private Equity investment programs with investments in excess of $400 million. Mr. Birk was a founder or senior executive at several high profile start up companies including Applied Minds and BiosGroup. He was a Senior Manager at Boston Consulting Group and a Finance Manager at General Electric and GE Capital. Mr. Birk has an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management where he graduated first in his class and a BS in Economics from Carleton College.
Tim Connor (VCIR Selection Committee) - Sequel Venture Partners
Tim is a partner with Sequel Venture Partners, a venture capital firm based in Boulder, CO. Sequel has $410 million under management and provides early stage funding for emerging technology and life sciences companies in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. Tim focuses on investments in information and communications technology companies.
Prior to Sequel, Tim held senior finance, operations and strategic development positions with Access Health, a healthcare information services firm that was acquired by McKesson Corporation. Tim joined Access from Lehman Brothers where he was a Managing Director in Investment Banking and provided financing and strategic advisory services to established and emerging technology and telecommunications companies. Tim serves on the board of directors of several Sequel portfolio companies including Aztek Networks, Avinti, Indicative Software, InfoNow, Lefthand Networks, Quova and Xaware. He is a member of the board of directors of the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, is on the advisory boards of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and the Silicon Flatirons program at the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a member of the board of directors of the Boulder Valley Lacrosse Club.
Kirk Holland (Treasurer) - Vista Ventures
Kirk is a General Partner at Vista Ventures. Kirk has broad operating experience in business development, sales and marketing, engineering, and operations with companies such as Procter & Gamble and Sprint Corporation. He was also an investment banker in U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray's Internet and Enterprise Software Group, where he was involved in equity offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Kirk was a Vice President at internet.com Venture Funds, where he led several software and information technology investments. Kirk received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington and an MBA from Stanford University.
Tracy Kerr - Meritage Private Equity Funds
Tracy Kerr heads the due diligence team and leads the investment selection process at Meritage Private Equity Funds. Her responsibilities begin when a business plan is received and continue until the return from an investment has been realized.
The due diligence team provides support to the firm's portfolio companies including activities such as acquisition due diligence and the assessment of joint venture opportunities.
Ms. Kerr joined Meritage from The Wallach Company, Inc., a Denver boutique investment bank, where she was a partner specializing in sell-side merger and acquisition advisory services. Previously, Ms. Kerr worked as a Professional Engineer, performing design and construction management assignments for a variety of civil engineering infrastructure projects.
Carl Ledbetter (VCIR Fall Selection Chair) - UV Partners
Carl Ledbetter is a General Partner in the private equity firm UV Partners, which makes high technology investments in computer hardware and software, networking, telecommunications, and life sciences. He has been on the boards of directors of four public and eleven private companies, and is currently serving on the boards of five networking and software companies. From 1999 until 2003 Carl was Senior Vice President, Engineering, Research & Development and Chief Technology Officer for Novell, Inc., where he was responsible Novell's entire product business, all of engineering, and Novell’s business development and venture fund activities.
Prior to Novell, his experience includes roles as president of AT&T’s $3B Consumer Products Division, as corporate vice president and General Manager of Sun Microsystems's PC networking business, as the director of IBM’s Kingston Laboratory, as CEO of ETA Systems, the Control Data Corporation supercomputer subsidiary, and as chairman and chief executive of Hybrid Networks, Inc., an innovator in the wireless broadband industry.
Before joining the computer industry, Carl taught mathematics as an instructor or assistant professor of mathematics at Wellesley College, Arizona State University, Northwestern University, Brandeis University, and Clark University, and was academic dean and professor of mathematics at California State University, Sonoma. He also served in the administration of Governor Jerry Brown of California as director of a scientific and public policy agency. He has served a term on the Advisory Committee to the Joint House Senate Committee on Science and Technology for the U.S. Congress, chaired the Governor’s Task Force on the Computer Industry for governors Rudy Perpich and Arne Carlson of Minnesota, and was a member of the East Coast Team of the Computer Bowl. Carl earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Clark University, his master's degree in mathematics from Brandeis University and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Redlands.
Seth Levine (VCIR Conference) - Foundry Group
Seth’s career spans venture capital investing as well as operational, transactional and advisory roles at both public and private companies. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, Seth began his venture capital career at Mobius Venture Capital.
Prior to Mobius Venture Capital, Seth joined a restart of the data communications company, FirstWorld Communications. He was the third employee of a new management team with a goal to transition what had been a traditional competitive local exchange carrier (“CLEC”) into the data and Internet world. Seth was the corporate finance half of the CFO position where he started and led the finance, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations groups. Seth then led the IPO process for FirstWorld’s IPO in 2000 and negotiated simultaneous equity investments from Microsoft, SAIC and Lucent Technologies, eventually raising over $260 million from the IPO and these side-by-side equity transactions. When the company decided to focus on its data center and hosting business, Seth assumed operational control of the remainder of the business and led the Internet service provider, telephony and network integration portions of the company, representing in total approximately $40 million in revenue. He managed the sale of these lines of business in 2001.
Prior to joining FirstWorld, Seth joined the business development group of ICG Communications, a Colorado-based CLEC where he led their mergers and acquisitions practice and worked on strategic partnerships. Previously, he was an investment banker in Morgan Stanley’s telecommunications corporate finance practice, where Seth completed numerous equity, debt, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions assignments.
Previous investment successes in which Seth has been involved include Dante Group (acq. by WEBM), FeedBurner (acq. by GOOG), Feld Group (acq. by EDS) and ServiceMagic (acq. by IAC).
Seth is a summa cum laude graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is active throughout the entrepreneurial community in Colorado. Seth is a member of the board of CU Denver’s Bard Center for Entrepreneurship, chair of the award committee for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce ESPRIT Awards, and a member of the advisory board of High Country Ventures, a fund hired by the State of Colorado to invest money generated from certain tax credits in early stage companies across the state. Seth was previously a member of the board of the Denver chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.
Seth is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys spending his free time mountain biking, snowboarding and mountaineering, as well as spending time with his family. He writes a blog on technology, investing and living in Colorado at www.sethlevine.com.
John O'Donnell (Membership) - Buerk Dale Victor
John is a Venture Partner with Buerk Dale Victor where he is focused on deal sourcing and capital raising in the rocky mountain region. John is the founder and Executive Director of TechRanch; founder of the Bridger Private Capital Network (BPCN); founding Chair and current board member of the Montana BioScience Alliance; board member of CM Russell Museum; and Montana State University College of Business advisory board member. He is also active in the Montana Ambassadors.
John has 20 years of experience in business development, sales, marketing and operations in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments. Under his leadership, TechRanch developed a varied portfolio of 60 new technology ventures in Internet/software, media and life sciences and medical devices. TechRanch is nationally recognized as the leader in high-tech business development in rural, underserved markets and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR and many regional newspapers. Prior to TechRanch, John was the director of business development at Seattle-based Onvia where he helped raise $90 million in private equity and assisted in a February 2000 IPO. He was a co-founder of a Seattle-based software company and ran a sales and marketing agency that worked exclusively with Costco Wholesale.
John began his career in investment banking with Drexel Burnham after graduating from the University of Colorado in 1986.
Dinesh C. Patel, Ph.D. (Outreach) - vSpring Capital
Dr. Patel is a Managing Director and Founding Partner of vSpring Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund with $260 million under management.
Dr. Patel was the Founder, Chairman, President & CEO of Ashni Naturaceuticals, Inc., a company that specializes in the research, development and marketing of clinically tested and patent-protected naturaceutical products from 1999 to 2004. In 1999, Dr. Patel co-founded and was the Chairman of Salus Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the research and development of nucleic acid-based therapeutics, including antisense and gene therapy drugs. From 1985 – 1999, Dr. Patel served as Co-founder, Chairman of The Board of Directors, President & CEO of TheraTech, Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah based company that has been a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of innovative drug delivery products.
Born and raised in Zambia, Africa, Dr. Patel got his undergraduate degree from India and his doctorate degree from University of Michigan. Dr. Patel along with his wife Kalpana and children, Ashish and Avni, reside in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Patel is active in the Indian and local community serving on several boards and is an active donor for various charitable causes.
Mark Solon (VCIR Fall Conference) - Highway 12 Ventures
Mark Solon is the founder and Managing Partner of Highway 12 Ventures. Highway 12 Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the most promising high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in the Intermountain West states of Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Montana. With over $100 million under management, Highway 12 is Idaho's largest venture capital firm. Prior to Highway 12 Ventures, Mark was a General Partner at Atlantic Capital Group, a private equity firm in Boston.
Mark is a director of multiple Highway 12 portfolio companies. Active in the Boise community, he is on the advisory board of the College of Engineering at Boise State University and is formerly President of the Board of Directors of the Discovery Center of Idaho, a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy of Idaho, and currently serves on The Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence.
Christopher Wand (Events) - Foundry Group
Chris is a Managing Director of Foundry Group, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on making investments in the information technology sector. He has over a decade of experience in venture capital investing and technology startups. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, Chris started his venture capital career with Mobius Venture Capital.
Before joining Mobius Venture Capital, he was in charge of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at MessageMedia (formerly known as First Virtual Holdings). At MessageMedia, Chris was an integral part of the company’s initial business planning, private equity fundraising efforts, successful IPO, acquisition of four private companies and SEC compliance. Chris was also instrumental in the transformation of the business from the first secure Internet payment system to a leader in the email messaging services industry.
Prior to MessageMedia, Chris was a management consultant at LEK Consulting, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions advisement and general strategy consulting to Fortune 500 clients in a variety of industries including high-tech, media and entertainment, communications, OEM electronics, industrial products and agri-business.
Chris holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University. He also serves on the board and executive committee of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder and on the non-profit board of directors for the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
