ROUTE 66 VENTURES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Office Manager
Amber joined our team in 2012 as an Executive Assistant before transitioning to her current role as Office Manager. Amber came to Route 66 as a seasoned Executive Assistant having worked for various corporate executives in commercial real estate, finance, and consulting in Charlotte (her hometown), New York City, and DC.
When not working as Mother Hen to the office, she can be found working out or traveling. Amber has a BS in Health Promotion and a BA in Organizational Communications from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Job Titles:
- Entrepreneur - in - Residence
As an Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Arif wears many hats at Route 66. His primary focus is to collaborate with organizations, founders, executives, and operators to help develop investment strategies and identify opportunities to catalyze great digital health companies.
Prior to joining Route 66, Arif was the CEO and co-founder of Karate Health, a healthcare startup that leveraged digital technologies and data to improve outcomes for people battling autoimmune conditions. Karate Health was acquired by Progentec Diagnostics where Arif became Chief Technology Officer, leading the strategy and development of digital biomarkers, digital therapeutics, and disease management platforms. Arif graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in biomedical engineering and finance.
Outside of work, Arif enjoys spending time at the playground with his son and wife, traveling, exploring new restaurants, and cheering on the DC sports teams.
Healthcare is hard, but If you are truly passionate about improving outcomes, I will do what I can to help
Ben is a former submarine office and nuclear engineer, so he knows how to lead people in complex, high stakes environments. Prior to Route 66, Ben worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company where he advised organizations on lean operations, strategy, product development, and organizational design. He co-founded WiseChoice, an online college-planning service that helps students navigate the complex world of financial aid and find the best-fit school. Ben also spent time at Goal Financial where he was responsible for capital market transactions, structured finance, and financial analysis.
As Managing Partner, Ben tries to embody a leadership style that amplifies the remarkable strengths and talents of his incredibly gifted team. As director of multiple portfolio companies, Ben works with entrepreneurs to shape good ideas into sustainable and profitable ventures that bring lasting value to all their constituents. As an investor, Ben is always on the look-out for ideas and leadership that have what it takes to build something meaningful.
David is responsible for managing and maintaining our daily books and records. He also makes and manages our financial planning and analysis models, which help drive our overall decision-making, both internally and externally.
Prior to Route 66, David spent two years in public accounting. Here, he focused on provision audits and corporate tax compliance in the firm's technology group. The bulk of his work involved process automation and data analytics for financial services companies.
Outside the office, David can be found perfecting his oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, battling friends at Settlers of Catan, or cheering on his alma mater, the UVA Cavaliers.
Eric is a Principal at Route 66 Ventures where he focuses on identifying and evaluating new companies in the digital health & wellness space. He is passionate about finding outstanding entrepreneurs who are building innovative companies that will improve people's lives.
Prior to joining Route 66, Eric worked as a Consultant at Bain & Company. At Bain, he advised corporate and private equity clients on M&A, growth strategy, and performance improvement. He previously worked at Accion Venture Lab, a global seed-stage fintech fund. After college, he spent a year serving as an AmeriCorps member with City Year New York. Eric graduated from Princeton with a BA in Politics.
Outside of work, Eric enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, and hiking with his dog, Heidi. He is also an avid New York sports fan.
Jim is our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. He manages all legal and regulatory matters for Route 66 and focuses on our primary lines of business, including venture capital, secured lending, and commercial real estate. Jim believes in serving our clients with integrity in a practical, efficient, and hands-on matter. He believes counsel should be as much business advisors as legal experts, and knowing the business you're advising is an absolute prerequisite.
Prior to Route 66, Jim was Associate General Counsel at Goal Structured Solutions. There, he focused on structuring a bespoke, asset-backed lending platform for foreign students, M&A transactions, and a discounted bond repurchase program. Jim began his career in New York at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, representing private equity funds, major investment banks, and issuers on debt and equity transactions. Jim holds a JD from Fordham University and is admitted to the Virginia and New York state bars.
Outside the office, Jim loves to hike, travel (60 countries on every continent except Antarctica), read historical fiction, watch the NY Giants (even through some rough times), and has recently delved into the art of blacksmithing.
As our Property Manager, Joe oversees, plans, and executes projects across our real estate portfolio, which includes residential, retail, commercial, and historic properties. He's fully dedicated to running our property clients at a 5-star level, ensuring new builds, renovations, and maintenance are on-time and on-budget.
Prior to Route 66, Joe did a bit of everything. He owned cafes in South Africa, helped build custom homes, worked in chemical sales, and spent nearly 20 years in hospitality and private services.
Outside of work, Joe is an avid outdoorsman, gardener, orchid grower, and ice hockey fan.
Michael is our trusted Controller, where he checks expenditures and helps us maintain financial health. Prior to joining Route 66, Michael completed a long-term expedition exploring Western Europe. Earlier in his professional life, Michael worked in both public and private accounting, with a heavy focus on alternative investments.
Off the clock, Michael enjoys spending time in nature fishing and hiking. He describes his perfect day as "a trip on a nature trail with family and friends."
Pat's experience includes entrepreneurship, investing, and a deep understanding of venture capital. His job includes evaluating and leading new venture investments, as well as mentoring and supporting our existing portfolio clients.
Pat gets the challenges that come with starting and growing businesses. Having done it twice himself, he knows the discipline and humility it takes to build a successful venture. As an investor, Pat understands the elbow grease it takes to help build early-stage companies.
Prior to Route 66, Pat was Vice President of Quona Capital, a growth-stage venture fund. Pat also worked as an investment banker and private equity investor at Citigroup, Brazos Private Equity Partners, and HBK Capital Management, a global hedge fund managing $10B in equity capital. Pat left HBK in 2008 to start a private equity fund specializing in acquiring, renovating, and managing affordable, multi-family housing. Under his leadership, the company redeveloped properties now housing over 1,000 low-income families.
When he's not grinding at work, Pat's insatiable curiosity keeps him busy as a beta tester, adventure racer, art student, church-goer, and family guy. Having recently returned from a two-year, 46-country walkabout, Pat and his wife continue to be fueled by a chronic sense of adventure and enjoy communing with the people of the world.
I believe in people and passion. Disrupting the status quo is only part of the story.
Job Titles:
- Lead, Incubations and Special Projects
Prior to Route 66, Pooja was a Product Manager on Doximity's News team. She led a team that expanded and optimized content delivery for U.S. clinicians. She has also worked for three early-stage startups in women's health and Medicare Supplement. Pooja holds a BS in Biology from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Outside of work, Pooja enjoys swimming, surfing, painting, exploring new restaurants, and spending time with her fiancé and family.
Job Titles:
- Associate General Counsel
Rachel helps us structure and negotiate deals in an efficient, organized, and legally sound manner. She also advises our business teams on legal matters and provides strategic legal support to our portfolio companies.
Rachel began her career as a law clerk with federal and state agencies, including the Federal Trade Commision, the Maryland Attorney General's Office, and the Virginia Commonwealth Attorney's Office. From there, Rachel spent five+ years at a law firm, where she practiced both litigation and transactional legal work. As an attorney, she represented real estate investors, business owners, and commercial hard money lenders. Rachel holds a JD from George Mason University School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland.
When she's not working, Rachel enjoys spending time with family and friends. She's actively involved with her church, volunteers on mission trips abroad, and provides pro bono legal services in the community
Ryan and his wife, Amy, currently reside in Alexandria, VA and have four children ages 15, 17, 20 & 21 years old. They met at the University of Georgia in 1993, where he later received a BBA in Finance from the Terry College of Business. Ryan currently serves as a Board member for the Hoffman Institute, UGA's Terry College of Business (Emeritus), and across 5 different portfolio companies at Route 66 Ventures. He has endeavored to maintain a healthy work/life balance over the years, with a focus on keeping his family first, working with people he cares about, and on work that really matters.
In 1995, Ryan moved to San Diego where he co-founded the FFELP Marketing Group (FMG), which provided more than $1B in education financing to families planning and paying for college. After being acquired in 1999, Ryan founded Goal Financial, where he served as the CEO from 2001 until 2010. Goal Financial was principally focused on helping graduates manage their debt repayment after graduation. By 2007, Goal had become a top ten lender, having originated more than $9B in Federal student loans.
In 2010, Goal Financial converted to an ESOP and changed its name to Goal Structured Solutions (GS2), where Ryan continued to serve as Chairman until 2014. Goal Structured Solutions (GS2) re-focused the Goal Financial capital markets and administration business into a platform that has over $20B of assets under management. In 2010, after spending 15 years in the student lending business, Ryan founded Route 66 Ventures, based in Alexandria, VA. Route 66 Ventures is an investment platform that has invested across a wide spectrum of areas ranging from commercial real estate; structuring credit facilities across the solar, healthcare, consumer, real estate, and small business sectors; and in early-stage venture capital. The venture capital team at Route 66 has made more than 30 investments in companies across the Financial Technology market, including Blockchain, Payments, Lending, Asset Management, and Insurance. Since 2020, the venture capital team has shifted its focus to the Digital Health & Wellness market, to invest in idea-driven, technology companies that will change the world in positive ways and impact people's lives.
Simmi joined the Route 66 family in 2015 to help us with financial reporting. From there, she quickly became a jill-of-all-trades, always jumping in where needed. Simmi oversees a multitude of our back office and middle office functions including, but not limited to, financial reporting, liquidity management, performance management, budgeting and forecasting, compliance, international tax, secured credit management, and real estate portfolio management.
Simmi started in New York City as a public accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. There, she facilitated annual audits for many private investment clients, hedge funds, private equity shops, and fund of funds. Shortly thereafter, Simmi joined the Finance Governance & Controls department at Barclays Bank where she oversaw management reporting across Americas, the UK, and Asia. Her primary role involved the daily interface between Finance and internal/external regulatory bodies.
In her free time, Simmi can be found advocating for human rights and raising awareness on human trafficking. When she's not out saving the world or putting out fires at work, she cherishes family time, trying new recipes, and inevitably taking on another renovation project.
Stuart and his team oversee asset allocation and portfolio management, capital markets planning, commercial real estate transactions, development and management, financial and management reporting, and tax strategy. His goal is to create, manage, and assist companies with a rigorous, institutional-quality financial and management reporting platform, a highly efficient tax structure, and operational efficiencies driven by financial analysis.
Stuart joined the Route 66 family in 2012, spending three years in various executive roles at The American Home, a real estate private equity fund backed by Route 66. Here, he oversaw the full company life cycle, from formation to rapid growth to eventual sale. During that time, he helped raise capital, developed an asset purchase strategy, efficiently structured the entities for tax purposes, rolled up the discrete limited partnerships into a single UPREIT, created the management reporting platform, helped turn cash flow positive, made M&A and strategic recommendations to the Board of Directors, and ultimately assisted the sale to a publicly traded REIT.
Prior to Route 66, Stuart focused primarily on corporate tax compliance and M&A transactions. He holds degrees in Actuarial Mathematics and Accounting from the University of Maryland, and is also an accredited CPA and CFA.
Sandwiched between three years in the corporate tax group of a big four accounting firm and another two at a regional firm, Stuart relieved his lifelong travel itch by backpacking across the world for a year and a half. While abroad, he did his best to ‘live like a local' across Central America, South America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
I believe problem-solving takes a mixture of passion, creativity, and intelligence.
Trent is an Associate focused on identifying and evaluating innovative companies in the digital health & wellness sector. He spends time researching emerging spaces, analyzing market trends, and conversing with founders and investors. In addition to new investments, Trent supports our portfolio clients and is always willing to dig in when needed.
Prior to Route 66, Trent completed internships at private equity and risk consulting firms as well as at a market intelligence startup. He holds a BS in Business Administration and a minor in Entrepreneurship from The University of North Carolina.
When he's not at work, Trent loves to watch and play sports. He loves taking snowboarding trips to the mountains or golf trips in the Carolinas. If he can't get away, he's local in DC, exploring the many restaurants the city has to offer.