HTGC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Credit
Brian Powers joined Hercules in 2023 and is a Principal responsible for business development, sourcing, and executing investment opportunities in the healthcare services and life sciences market.
Prior to joining Hercules Capital, Brian spent 10 years in a variety of roles at Silicon Valley Bank, most recently as a Director within SVB's Life Sciences and Healthcare practice, overseeing a team responsible for providing debt capital across a broad range of private and public technology and healthcare companies.
Brian graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.S. in Finance and was a member of 2004 Co-Big 10 Champion Football Team. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Catherine is a Senior Managing Director at Hercules and leads origination, venture relationships, and business development for the fund's Technology and Sustainable/Renewable Groups. Catherine's investments include AppDirect, Arctic Wolf, C2FO, Couchbase, Fastly, Impossible Foods, Pivot Bio, Postmates, SingleStore, SeatGeek, Thumbtack, Udacity, Varsity Tutors, Wrike (acquired by Vista), and others.
Before joining Hercules, Catherine spent over 10 years in senior operational roles within startup companies, including sales, business development, research and product management. At Cleantech Group, Catherine ran the company's data business, where she lead the product, engineering, research and sales teams. Prior to Cleantech Group, Jhung was the Director of Sales at edo Interactive. Prior to edo Interactive, Catherine spent over five years on the executive team at Equilar, the leading research firm for benchmarking executive and board compensation. There, she built and managed the business development and client services divisions from the ground up, growing the business to over 600 clients.
Catherine received an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, a BS in Agricultural Economics and a minor in Computer Information Systems from UC Davis.
Charlie Vandis is the Chief Credit Officer for Hercules Capital with effect from February 1, 2022.
Charlie joined Hercules in 2017 to lead the East Coast Credit Team and was promoted to sole lead for Hercules Credit in 2021. Prior to Hercules, Charlie was at GE Capital for 16 years where he spent most of his time as an underwriter and portfolio manager supporting Private Equity and strategic led buyouts, recapitalizations, acquisitions and refinancings. Charlie spent the last two years in GE Capital Corporate as part of the leadership team of Global Credit Risk Review.
Charlie has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Asian Studies from Tufts University and an MBA from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.
Christian is the Chief Operating Officer of Hercules Capital with effect from February 1, 2022.
Christian Follmann was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in February 2022. Christian has served a long-term tenure of more than 15 years at Hercules and has made strategic contributions to the growth of the Company's infrastructure and operations. Christian first joined Hercules as an analyst intern in the Palo Alto office in July 2006 and was promoted to the role of associate in December 2009 and then director of investment analysis and strategy in August 2011. He was promoted to Sr. Director of Operations and Strategic Projects in 2016. Christian has a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from both Northeastern University and Reutlingen University in Germany.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director in Hercules' Life Sciences Group
Cristy Barnes is a Managing Director in Hercules' Life Sciences Group. Cristy brings to Hercules over 25 years of investing experience working in both the private and public equity markets.
Most recently, Cristy served as Managing Director at Lighthouse Capital Partners, a leading venture debt firm, where she led the fund's healthcare efforts, focusing primarily on VC-backed biotech and medical device opportunities. While at Lighthouse, Cristy sourced, structured and negotiated 70 loan transactions providing $455 million in commitments to promising growth-oriented businesses.
Prior to joining Lighthouse, Cristy was a Senior Associate at Highland Capital Partners, where she worked on west coast technology venture capital investments. Before Highland, Cristy spent five years at Robertson Stephens and Company in the Technology Research Group.
Cristy holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Business from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Compensation
- Corporate Executive and Board Director
DeAnne Aguirre was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in June 2022. Ms. Aguirre is an experienced corporate executive and Board Director with more than 30 years in senior leadership managing large and complex domestic and international business units. Ms. Aguirre currently serves as a member of the board of directors and Audit Committee of Cisive, a global technology-enabled compliance solutions company, and as a member of the board of directors and Nominating/Governance Committee of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading global provider of software product development and digital platform engineering services. She retired in 2020 from PricewaterhouseCoopers as Managing Partner (CEO equivalent) of the North America Strategy Business, where she was accountable for one-half of the global strategy business across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, including business development, profitability, talent and operations. From 1991 to 2015, Ms. Aguirre held positions at Booz & Co./Booz Allen Hamilton from Technology Leader to Global Co-leader, Organization & Strategic Leadership Business. At Booz Allen Hamilton, she led the Southern Cone (Brazil, Argentina and Chile) Technology business and was elected by her partners to the global board of directors, on which she served for nine years. During her board tenure, she was the chair of the audit and compensation committees. Ms. Aguirre received her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with emphasis in Computer Science, from Fort Hays State University and her Master of Science in Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Compensation
Ms. Crowell was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in February 2019. Ms. Crowell serves on several public and private boards of directors and is a highly experienced technology operating executive with extensive experience in both industry leading venture and private equity-backed companies. She formerly served as Senior Operating Consultant at Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing, as a Member of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group from 2002 to 2019. Prior to Warburg Pincus, Ms. Crowell held executive roles at leading software companies, including Oracle Corporation, E.piphany, RightPoint Software, View Star, Mosaix, Recognition International, DSC and Cubix Corporation. She currently serves as a board member of Envestnet, Inc. (ENV), Pliant Therapeutics (PLRX), GTreasury and Instinct Science. Ms. Crowell received her BS in Education from the University of Nevada at Reno.
Greg, a seasoned executive with more than 10 years of financial services experience, is a Managing Director responsible for business development and loan underwriting in the technology market.
Prior to joining Hercules Capital in 2016, Greg served as Vice President at East West Bank, where he helped found and build the late-stage technology banking practice. Prior to East West, he was a Vice President in Silicon Valley Bank's corporate finance division. Greg began his financial services career as an analyst in Bridge Bank's technology banking group. He has also worked as a management consultant and economic analyst intern for the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg.
Peterson is a CFA charterholder and received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Cornell University.
James is the Managing Director for Europe, having set up the new London office. He leads origination and venture relationships across the continent for Hercules. Joining in November 2021, James focuses on investments into standout European technology companies.
Prior to Hercules, James was a Director at Silicon Valley Bank, where he spearheaded the focus on venture capital relationships, and was closely involved with venture lending transactions across multiple sectors and life stages. Earlier in his career James worked as a Relationship Director at Barclays Bank, where he ran a portfolio of mid-market companies across the tech and media sectors.
James holds an LLB in Law from De Montfort University.
A managing director in the Life Sciences Group, Janice has more than 25 years of life science experience and focuses on emerging growth stage life science companies.
Before joining Hercules in 2010, Janice managed strategic corporate investor fundraising for Commons Capital and Oxford Bioscience Partners to create a global health fund focused on innovative healthcare investments for emerging and developing countries. Before that, she was Senior Vice President and group head-life sciences for Comerica. Janice also led the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, the first biotechnology association in the world, for 12 years as President/CEO.
Janice also held several other senior managerial positions, including CFO/controller of Cambridge Medical Technology Corporation, senior public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand Emerging and Middle Market Group, and project manager for NASA Space Science at UNH.
She currently serves on the board of directors of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and The Village Bank, as an advisor to TBS Technologies, co-President of the Crystal Lake Conservancy and a member of the Women's Forum. She has also been named as one of Boston Magazine's 100 most influential women.
Janice holds an M.B.A in finance and accounting and Bachelor of Science in veterinary science from the University of New Hampshire.
Jeffrey joined Hercules in September 2021 and is a Principal in the Life Sciences Group working in the Boston office. From 2016 to 2021, Jeff was a Director and Vice President in the Healthcare Sponsor Finance group at Silicon Valley Bank where he underwrote and managed senior secured financings for private equity backed healthcare services and healthcare IT companies. Jeff was previously an Analyst and Associate at Hercules, supporting the Life Sciences and Technology groups.
Jeff graduated with honors from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Finance and is a CFA charterholder.
John Eggbeer is a Managing Director in the Technology group working in the DC office. He first joined Hercules Capital as an associate in October 2011 and is focused on deal origination, underwriting and portfolio monitoring of debt and equity investments in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest regions. Prior to joining Hercules, he worked as an associate at MMV Financial, a Toronto Canada based venture lending firm. He began his career as an analyst in the Comerica mid-Atlantic Technology and Life Science office focused on lending solutions for venture backed technology companies.
Eggbeer graduated from the University of Richmond's Robins School of Business with a BS in Business Administration.
John Miotti is a Principal in the Life Sciences Group working in the New York office. He underwrites investments to a broad range of healthcare companies, including biotechnology, healthtech, med device, and value-based care.
John joined Hercules as an Analyst in January 2017 and was most recently promoted to Principal in January 2023. John graduated cum laude from Boston College with a B.A. in both Economics and English.
Kate Kinlin joined Hercules in April 2022 as the Vice President of Human Resources. Kate has over 15 years of experience in the field of Human Resources.
Most recently, Kate was the Senior Vice President and Director of Human Resources for Capital Crossing Servicing Company. Kate oversaw the HR function for Capital Crossing and two subsidiary companies, Capital Crossing Puerto Rico and Lendsteam Small Business Finance. While there, she managed recruiting, employee relations, benefits administration, and the payroll function. Prior to joining Capital Crossing, she was the HR Manager for F-Squared Investments.
Kate has a Bachelor of Science in Leadership & Economics from the University of Delaware.
Kiersten Zaza Botelho - Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- Chief Legal Officer
- General Counsel
Kiersten Zaza Botelho was appointed general counsel and chief compliance officer in January 2022. Previously, she was a vice president and associate general counsel in the Boston office of Bain Capital Credit, LP from July 2019 to December 2021. At Bain, she advised the private credit and structured credit groups on transactions, offerings and strategic initiatives, with a specific responsibility for Bain's business development company. Prior to Bain, Kiersten was a vice president in the New York legal department of BlackRock, Inc. from May 2017 to June 2019, where she focused on the firm's closed-end funds and business development company. Before BlackRock, she was an associate in the investment management group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where she represented public and private investment funds and investment advisers with the structuring and distribution of investment products, and in other regulatory, compliance and governance matters. Kiersten holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University and a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law. She is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar.
Lake McGuire is Managing Director responsible for business development in the life sciences and broader healthcare market. He is a seasoned executive, with more than 10 years of experience in the middle-market and venture debt markets, focused on structuring financial transactions for life sciences and technology related companies.
Most recently, Mr. McGuire served as Vice President, Business Development at Comerica Bank, and was responsible for business development in the life sciences and technology markets. He has served in various roles in the Technology and Life Sciences and the Middle-Market Divisions during his 10-year tenure at Comerica Bank.
Mr. McGuire received a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Michigan State University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Michigan.
Lesya is a Managing Director at Hercules Capital with over 10 years of structured finance and investment experience.
Prior to joining Hercules in 2012, Lesya worked with two early stage venture capital firms: Nourish Capital, a start-up fund in San Francisco focused on investing in early stage consumer retail businesses, and Hopewell Ventures, an equity fund in Chicago primarily focused on high-growth businesses across a broad range of industries in the Midwest.
Prior to that, Lesya worked as a Corporate Credit Monitoring Manager for Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria. She began her career in product management at Rockwell Automation.
Lesya received a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a Mathematics minor from Marquette University. She was a recipient of a full international scholarship sponsored by the United States Information Agency/Freedom Support Act program.
Luis is a Principal responsible for sourcing, structuring & underwriting, and portfolio management for growth and private equity backed technology and healthcare companies. Luis has over 10 years of finance experience in the public and private markets, investing in debt and equity across several industries. He started his career on the operating side with a fintech company. At Hercules, he has supported vertical application software, DaaS, fintech, healthcare services, digital health, and marketplace businesses. Luis lives in New York with his wife and two daughters and is a graduate from Stony Brook University and NYU.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Portfolio Mgmt
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Job Titles:
- Managing Director and Senior Investment Officer - Life Sciences
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Consultant
- Director
- Independent Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
Nikos Theodosopoulos was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in 2023. Since August 2012, Mr. Theodosopoulos has served as an independent director, advisor, consultant, and angel investor in the technology industry. From August 1995 through July 2012, he has served in various capacities with UBS, a provider of financial services, most recently as managing director of technology equity research. From April 1994 to August 1995, he served as senior equity research analyst for Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm that was acquired in 2008 by JPMorgan Chase. From September 1985 to April 1994, Mr. Theodosopoulos served in various capacities at AT&T Bell Laboratories and AT&T Network Systems, a provider of communications equipment. He also serves on the board of directors of Adtran Holdings, Inc., a leading global provider of networking and communications equipment. Mr. Theodosopoulos holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from NYU Stern School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Audit / Nominating and Corporate Governance
Pam Randhawa was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in 2021. Ms. Randhawa has over 20 years of business leadership experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries and brings to Hercules a wide range of expertise ranging from policy, corporate strategy, product development, advanced analytics and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, startups and government entities. Since 2013, she has served as Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Empiriko Corporation, a company that has developed a novel in vitro biomimetic platform to accelerate small molecule drug development and is developing a point-of-care diagnostic platform for personalized immunologic/genetic biomarker and drug monitoring. Prior to founding Empiriko, Ms. Randhawa was President and Co-Founder of AgroGreen Biofuels, an alternative biofuels technology company. She has held several executive positions with major healthcare technology companies, including McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK), Phase Forward (acquired by Oracle), InfoMedics and Sermo. Ms. Randhawa currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Biotech Technology Council (MassBio). Ms. Randhawa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Rajasthan and her Master in Public Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director and Group Head - Life Sciences
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Audit
Robert P. Badavas was appointed Chairman of the Board in May 2019 and has served as a director on our Board since March 2006. He is a private investor and, currently serves as President of Petros Ventures, Inc., a management and advisory services company, from 2009 to 2011 and since 2016. Mr. Badavas retired in August 2016 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PlumChoice, a venture-backed technology, software and services company (since December 2011). Mr. Badavas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of TAC Worldwide from 2005 through 2009, and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TAC Worldwide from 2003 to 2005. Prior to joining TAC Worldwide, Mr. Badavas was Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Venture, an international venture capital firm, from 2001 to 2003. In addition, Mr. Badavas serves on the board of directors of Polyvinyl Films, Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of food-grade film products for consumer, retail and food-service markets worldwide, since 2019. In addition to being a certified public accountant with nine years of experience at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an independent registered public accounting firm, and the chief financial officer of a publicly traded company, Mr. Badavas has completed a program that studied strategies to make corporate boards more effective at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Badavas is active in board of director organizations and regularly attends professional seminars addressing issues of current import to boards of directors. Mr. Badavas is a graduate of Bentley University with a BS in Accounting and Finance.
Scott Bluestein - CEO, Chief Investment Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Investment Officer
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
Scott Bluestein was named chief executive officer and president, and appointed to the board of directors and in July 2019. He was appointed chief investment officer in 2014, and continues to serve in that role today. He joined Hercules in 2010 as chief credit officer and brings more than 22 years of financial services, direct investment and credit experience to Hercules. Before joining Hercules, he served as founder and partner of Century Tree Capital Management, a fund established to make senior secured debt investments with warrants and equity co-investments in small and micro cap public and private companies. Prior to that, he was managing director at Laurus - Valens Capital Management, where he had responsibility for a structured debt with equity investment portfolio, including new investments, portfolio management, and restructurings. Previously, Bluestein worked at UBS Investment Bank, where he was a member of the Financial Technology Coverage Group. Bluestein received his B.B.A. in Finance from Emory University.
Seth Meyer joined Hercules in March of 2019 as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, where he brings more than 25 years of international business management and strategic planning experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, he served as the CFO of Swiss Re's Commercial Insurance business unit for over six years where he led a global finance team of approximately 200 professionals covering business development, M&A, strategic direction setting, financial planning & reporting, controlling and capital management. Mr. Meyer joined Swiss Re in 2000 and was appointed Group Tax Director in 2007, and then promoted to Finance Division Operating Officer in 2009, a position he held until appointed CFO in 2011. Prior to joining Swiss Re, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Senior Tax Manager. Mr. Meyer began his finance career as a senior tax accountant at KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Meyer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and an M.B.A. from Michigan State University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Managing Director and Group Head - Technology
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Compensation
- Executive Vice President - Business Development at Sanmina Corporation
Thomas Fallon was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in 2014. Since 2022, Mr. Fallon serves as the Executive Vice President - Business Development at Sanmina Corporation. Mr. Fallon formally served as chief executive officer of Infinera Corporation, a publicly traded optical telecommunications company, from 2010 to 2020 and has been a member of its board since 2009. From 2006 to June 2009, Mr. Fallon served as Infinera's chief operating officer. Prior to that, he served as vice president of engineering and operations at Infinera. Before joining Infinera, Mr. Fallon served as vice president, corporate quality and development operations for Cisco Systems. Inc., a networking and telecommunications company. He joined Cisco Systems in 2001 as a general manager of its Optical Transport Business Unit in 2001. Mr. Fallon holds a BS in mechanical engineering and MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently a member of the Engineering Advisory Board of the University of Texas at Austin.
Tom Hertzberg is a Managing Director responsible for business development in the life sciences and broader healthcare market, including sourcing and executing investment opportunities.
Prior to joining Hercules Capital, Tom spent 15 years in a variety of roles at Silicon Valley Bank including sales and portfolio leadership positions. Most recently, Tom led a team within SVB's Life Sciences and Healthcare practice, overseeing coverage of 24 states and 700 client relationships. Over his career, he has deployed several billion dollars of debt capital across a broad range of private and public technology and healthcare companies.
He's also a member of the Finance Committee for the Colorado Bioscience Association, which provides networking and development opportunities to professionals in Colorado's thriving bioscience sector. Tom graduated with a BSBA from the University of Denver.
Wade Lin - Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Team
- Audit
- Retired Audit Partner of KPMG
Mr. Loo was appointed to the Hercules' board of directors in July 2021. Mr. Loo is a retired audit partner of KPMG. He has more than 40 years of business experience in finance, audit and strategy, business transformation and corporate development, both domestically and internationally. His clients ranged from financial services companies to energy companies to technology companies in both hardware and software. Mr. Loo currently serves as the Chair of the Board and past Audit Committee Chair for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Company. He also has served as Chair of the Board at JobTrain, a non-profit providing professional services and education in the Silicon Valley, and Audit Committee Chair at both Guidance Software and Kofax. Mr. Loo received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business.