VACE - Key Persons
Allan Zachariah is a co-founder and serves as Co-Chairman of Pathstone, The Family Office ℠, which serves families, family offices, and endowments and foundations. He is a shareholder and a member of the firm's Executive Leadership Team. He served as Co-CEO from the inception of Pathstone through June 2022. Allan has over 41 years of professional experience as an advisor to families of significant wealth, designing sophisticated wealth transfer strategies for family businesses and high-net-worth individuals, and is a frequent speaker on wealth transfer techniques and family office structures.
Prior to Pathstone, Allan was an Executive Managing Director of Pathstone Family Office. In 2000, as a Managing Director of Harris myCFO, he opened the Atlanta office of myCFO. Allan led the office through a period of significant growth, increasing assets under advisement to more than $1 billion during his tenure. He also assisted in the opening of the Northeast office of Harris myCFO in 2006 and became Co-Managing Director of East Coast operations in 2007.
Allan has also served as a partner and National Director of Estate Planning for Grant Thornton and as a partner and member of the National Estate and Gift Planning Team at BDO Seidman, both in Atlanta. He began his career as an accountant with the Louisville, KY office of Arthur Andersen developing the office's Family Wealth Practice and the Real Estate Service Group for Kentucky and Southern Ohio.
Allan earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky. He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Georgia Society of CPAs, and the Board of Governors for the Buckhead Club. He is also a member of the National Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish National Fund's Atlanta Board of Trustees, and the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics Dean's Advisory Council.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Thoroughbred Hospitality Group Crumbl Cookies / Linkedin
Graduating from the University of Kentucky with degrees in Accounting, Finance, and Management - Ameet started his professional career in public accounting. He later realized that auditing the books of financial institutions and public/private companies wasn't his passion. It was Hospitality. After some years in the industry, Ameet realized that there was a void for the next generation of hoteliers and travelers - thus Thoroughbred Hospitality Group (THG) was born!
At THG, Ameet is responsible for overseeing new construction projects and upon opening - the financial and operational aspect of every hotel in the THG portfolio.
In his spare time, Ameet enjoys traveling, volunteering, and being a foodie.
Job Titles:
- Director of Philanthropy & Alumni Relations
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- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
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- Member of the Intellectual Property Department
Tony is a member of the Intellectual Property Department. He represents Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and individual investors with respect to patent prosecution, trademark prosecution, copyright registration, patent opinions and related litigation.
He has unique experience in intellectual property prosecution and litigation in the electrical, computer and mechanical engineering fields. In the electrical and computer fields, Tony's experience includes DSL technologies, microelectronics, GPS technologies, integrated circuits, networking, communications, semiconductor, computer architecture, Internet technologies, personal communication services, software, and digital logic. In the mechanical engineering field, he has experience in manufacturing and medical devices.
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- Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American & Africana Studies ( AAAS )
- President of the Association of Black Anthropologists
Bertin M. Louis, Jr. is an Entrepreneurs Bootcamp alum, winner, and mentor to early stage startups.
Bertin M. Louis, Jr. PhD is Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American & Africana Studies (AAAS) at the University of Kentucky. He is the winner of the 2023 Sam Dubal Memorial Award for Anti-Colonialism and Racial Justice in Anthropology from the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Louis is also the winner of the 2023-2024 Wenner-Gren Fellowship in Anthropology and Black Experiences (School for Advanced Research).
Bertin serves as President of the Association of Black Anthropologists (a section of the AAA [2021-2023]), is a past Editor of Inside Higher Ed's Conditionally Accepted column, a regular contributor to Higher Ed Jobs, and a co-editor for the Truthout series called "Challenging the Corporate University." Louis is also the co-author of the forthcoming Conditionally Accepted: Navigating Higher Education from the Margins (University of Texas Press, 2024).
Dr. Louis served as the inaugural director of undergraduate studies for AAAS (2019-2021) at the University of Kentucky and Vice Chair of the Africana Studies Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2014-2019). Dr. Louis studies the growth of Protestant forms of Christianity among Haitians transnationally, which is featured in his New York University Press book, "My Soul is in Haiti: Protestantism in the Haitian Diaspora of the Bahamas (2015)" which was a Finalist for the 2015 Haitian Studies Association Book Prize in the Social Sciences. He also studies human rights, statelessness among Haitians in the Bahamas, anti-Haitianism, and antiracist social movements in the US South. Dr. Louis teaches courses in Black Studies and Cultural Anthropology, and he received his PhD in 2008 from the Department of Anthropology at Washington University in Saint Louis.
Dr. Louis is also the owner and founder of Navigating Higher Education (NHE), an award-winning academic consulting firm which offers higher education-related services and empowers its clients to find and secure academic positions.
Brad Patrick has over 33 years of progressive executive roles in human resources, organization change, and communications positions. He is dedicated to supporting community development and non-profit organizations, business consulting, and executive coaching. Currently, he is the Executive in Residence at the University of Kentucky Gatton School of Business & Economics in a lecturing, program development, and research support role. Most recently Brad was the Chief Human Resources Officer for Valvoline based in Lexington, Kentucky. He has held executive positions at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, Delta Air Lines, The Gillette Company, Proctor & Gamble, the Sara Lee Corporation, Tempur Sealy International, and Shearer's Snacks. Brad's expertise is in broad-based strategic human capital leadership in domestic and international business. He is adept in strategic and change management. Brad has extensive experience in leading transformational change, talent, organization, and culture capability development complemented with specialist knowledge in mergers & acquisitions, business transformations, communications, HR information systems, labor relations, and risk management. As a human resources executive, Brad led the development of organization, talent, and culture strategies, including numerous large-scale change initiatives that addressed crisis management, mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, and large-scale technology implementations. In the area of talent development, Brad focuses on coaching and supporting CEOs, executive team leadership, and executive team dynamics in leading their organizations. He has consistently been recognized for his trusted, supportive, and direct relationships with executive leaders.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
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- Founder and President of American Farm Investors
Brian Luftman is the Founder and President of American Farm Investors, a firm that specializes in locating and managing grain-producing farmland. AFI invests individual and institutional capital into profitable grain land in the Midwestern Corn Belt. Mr. Luftman's background is in commodity trading. He spent 10 years trading livestock and grain options on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he founded and operated his own proprietary trading firm, Luftrade LLC. He attended Miami University in Oxford, OH, and graduated with a degree in Finance from the Farmer School of Business in 2001. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Bluegrass Angels Venture Fund and he is an active angel investor. Connect on LinkedIn
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- New York, NY / Entrepreneur & Executive
Chris Houghtaling is the CEO of RaiseLink, a startup he conceptualized while experiencing what does and does not work in the global startup ecosystem. RaiseLink is designed to optimize operations by offering valuable data insights and a structured approach to processes with predictive, proactive, and personalized data insights for entrepreneurs and the organizations that work alongside them.
The idea was born while living in Vienna, Austria, where he became active in the startup ecosystem and started an international sales consulting and coaching firm for Global Fortune 200 clients. Chris was involved in the World Bank's Pioneers of the Balkans, volunteered with international accelerators/incubators and event organizers, was CMO of a SaaS startup, expanded the European Super Angels Club across Europe, consulted with Innovation Consulting Companies, and was on several advisory boards.
Chris returned to the USA in 2018 with his wife and three daughters. He mentors at the National Science Foundation's I-Corps, The Venture Mentoring Team, and veterans at FAU's Adam's Center of Innovation, among others. He is a Programming and Selection Committee member at the Alan B. Levan Center of Innovation at NSU.
Chris started in the corporate world (pharmaceuticals, technology, and travel & tourism) and earned a joint MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business and the Executive Academy at the Business and Economics University of Vienna, Austria (WU-Wien). His undergraduate degree in Marketing is from the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business, and he served for six years in the Kentucky Army National Guard.
Chris Young has been active as an entrepreneur and investor in technology related startup companies for over 10 years. He started his career in Atlanta, GA working as a sales engineer for Security First Technologies, an online banking technology company. He then moved to San Francisco to join the startup technology consulting firm, Scient, working on projects for First Union and Sephora.com, among others. Shortly after Scient went public, he was the founder of two technology related startups, raising over $60 million in venture capital from Sequoia Capital, Freeman Spogli & Co., Capital Research & Management, HarbourVest, Pivotal Partners, Aesop Capital, and Oracle Venture Fund. He returned to Kentucky in 2004 and currently serves on the Board of Managers of the Blue Grass Angel Venture Fund II and Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals. He received a BS in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Owner of Equus Run Vineyards
Cynthia Bohn is owner of Equus Run Vineyards in Midway, KY. Ms. Bohn, a native Kentuckian, grew up on a tobacco farm in Central Kentucky and retired after 30+ years with IBM Corp. She served in numerous roles within IBM, ranging from electrical engineering, international marketing, executive management and teaching at the IBM Harvard Business Institute. She pioneered the rebirth of the Kentucky wine industry by starting the KY Grape and Wine Council in the early 1990's. She launched an agri-tourism business with the start of a vineyard and winery in 1998 in Midway, KY - thus her pre-planning for retirement back to Kentucky farmland! Ms. Bohn is an academic at heart, having three degrees in the sciences and arts and her doctorate in education from University of Kentucky. She is passionate about lifelong learning. Equus Run Vineyards is her full-time job after her IBM Corp. retirement. The winery is open year round as a full-service winery and agri-tourism destination. Connect on LinkedIn
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- Owner & President of Breakthrough Solutions Consulting
David Hasler is the Owner & President of Breakthrough Solutions Consulting, LLC (BSC) - a successful international finance and strategy consulting firm focused on helping organizations solve complex problems, articulate and unlock hidden value, improve employee impacts and develop actionable strategies that deliver results.
David has held steadily increasing finance and strategy leadership roles in prominent companies such as Walmart, Procter & Gamble and Limited Brands.David has experience working in consumer products, retail and the restaurant industries including manufacturing, R&D, brand management and corporate settings.
David's unique blend of "get it done" finance accomplishments and C-suite level exposure/work experience can help clients see problems from a new perspective and potentially find solutions they may not have considered.
David holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and a Master in Business Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.David is also a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP)
Over the years, David has worked with the Business Ethics Department at NC State University and has also co-authored an article titled "Managing Reputation Risks" which was published in Strategic Finance in November 2010.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Von Allmen Capital
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- Business Coach With the Kentucky Small Business Development Center
- Executive Director of the Women 's Business Center of Kentucky
Devanny King is the Executive Director of the Women's Business Center of Kentucky. Committed to empowering Kentucky's entrepreneurial ecosystem, the WBC of Kentucky provides no-cost, confidential and credentialed business consulting to start-ups and scaling ventures.
Devanny earned her Business Administration and Communication & Media Studies degrees from Georgetown College and her MBA from Western Kentucky University. She is a former professional athlete, playing internationally in Spain, Mexico and Australia before moving to Beijing, China to work in education management.
In her return to the United States, Devanny became a Business Coach with the Kentucky Small Business Development Center. As a NASBITE Certified Global Business Professional, she led the Kentucky SBDC's International Trade Team in connecting exporting businesses with top markets to enter overseas.
Committed to Entrepreneurship opportunities in her community, she serves on the Lexington Mayor's International Advisory Affairs Committee in advocating for immigrant business owners and entrepreneurs. She also teaches Entrepreneurial Leadership at Georgetown College during the fall semester.
Devanny truly enjoys assisting businesses wherever they are at along their entrepreneurial journey and being a champion for women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Fort Lauderdale, FL / Retired
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Chroma Energy Group / Linkedin
Eric Hauck has been an entrepreneur of over 25 years leading various types of start-ups from bio-tech to consumer electronics with successful outcomes for investors. He currently serves as Founder and President of MEP Equine Solutions commercializing a medical device for the on-site detection of parasitic infection in animals using a smartphone. Eric is an angel investor and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Bluegrass Angels located in Lexington KY. Currently Eric serves on several Board of Directors for several companies and is working with start-up and turnaround companies in the local KY area. Eric holds a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona and a MBA and MS in Science and Technology Commercialization from Northeastern University located in Boston MA.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Specialist for Community Ventures
Fausto Sarmiento is a Business Development Specialist for Community Ventures, located in Lexington, Kentucky. He earned a master's degree in International Trade and Diplomacy from the Patterson School at the University of Kentucky.
Whether on Main Street or on the racetrack, the ability to understand and successfully manage multiple risks simultaneously helps determine who are recognized as leaders. Fausto Sarmiento is the Principle Consultant and Founder of Performance Driven, LLC. Having experienced success as a business consultant, a bank manager, a community leader, and as a performance car driver with multiple podium race finishes on different tracks, Fausto believes that to overcome risks you must be Performance Driven.
Fausto's approach to management consulting and business coaching enables him to quickly garner insights and make immediate, positive contributions to businesses where production, efficiency, innovation, and creativity are essential for growth. Fausto can clearly communicate strategic goals and tactical objectives, including within multicultural and multilingual environments.
Fausto is the past President of the Lexington Forum, past President of the Lexington Young Professionals Association, and is a graduate of Leadership Lexington. Fausto is a member of the Planning Committee for the Keeneland Concours d'Elegance as Tour Director and has previously served as the President of the Bluegrass Bimmers, the Kentucky chapter of the BMW Car Club of America.
Geoff Marietta is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of the Cumberlands and Founder of Invest 606, a business accelerator and pitch contest for Eastern Kentucky in partnership with the University of the Cumberlands, Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, and the James Graham Brown Foundation. Geoff is also the Founder and CEO of Mountain Tech Media, a diversified front-end digital media company based in Eastern Kentucky, and Trillium Ventures, a community development real estate company that invests and restores historic main street buildings in the region. He is the former Executive Director of Pine Mountain Settlement School, an 800-acre National Historic Landmark community nonprofit in Harlan County, Kentucky. Born in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range, Geoff went to the University of Montana where he studied forestry. He then lived on the Navajo Nation in rural New Mexico teaching high school special education and serving as an assistant principal. He went on to earn his MBA from Harvard Business School and a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education. During his time in Cambridge, Geoff co-founded and served as CEO of the software development company, Giant Otter Technologies, acquired by Drift.com. Geoff has written three books-Rural Education in America (in press), Improving Education Together, and Achieving Coherence in District Improvement-and more than 20 case studies, articles, and reports. He currently lives in Williamsburg, Kentucky with his wife, Sky, and their sons, Harlan and Perry.
George Ward serves in several roles at the University of Kentucky including the Executive Director of the Coldstream Research Campus, the President of Kentucky Technology, Inc., and an adjunct professor in the Hospitality Management and Tourism program. He has 35 years of executive experience including technology based economic development, hotel and real estate development, finance and business operations, and government relations. Ward is a co-founder of H&W Management Co. Inc., a regional hotel development and real estate company and served as its President for 18 years. He was appointed Kentucky State Parks Commissioner in 2004 and later served as Kentucky's Commerce Cabinet Secretary for 2 years. He currently serves on the board of the Lexington Transit Authority and the North YMCA, is a member of the Bluegrass Regional Public Policy Council, and is an active participant in Lexington's high-tech entrepreneurial community.
Ian McClure is the Associate Vice President for Research (AVPR), Innovation and Economic Impact and Executive Director, UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky (UK). He leads efforts to translate UK discoveries for the public good, seek equitable returns on UK intellectual property, develop innovative approaches to develop, fund and support opportunities for near-stage research, enhance UK's investments in innovation, catalyze a culture and capacity for entrepreneurship, and expand industry and other collaborative research partnerships with UK Research and in Kentucky more broadly.
Ian's portfolio includes oversight of the UK Office of Technology Commercialization (UK OTC), UK Innovation Connect for industry partnerships, UK Innovation Economic Development, and UK's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training. As UK OTC's previous Executive Director, he oversaw a team of 25+ staff managing the University's innovation, intellectual property and startup portfolios. Ian is also the Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors for AUTM, the world's leading association for technology transfer professionals, an advisory board member for the Oak Ridge Institute, the chair of IPwe's Advisory Committee for University Technology Transfer, Launch Blue Advisory Board member, and is the past chair of OVALS. He is also a co-founder of Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV), a state-funded and KSTC-managed program to provide IP and tech transfer services to all other universities in the state that do not currently have dedicated IP and tech transfer resources. As an innovator, Ian is a PI or Co-I on three federal grants (NIH and EDA) focused on tech-based economic development.
Ian began his career as a Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and Intellectual Property (IP) transactions attorney at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, L.L.P. in Louisville. Following private practice, he helped build a startup company in Chicago, IPXI, the world's first financial exchange for IP and technology rights. He led through product development, capital raise, proof of concept, and growth to 30+ full-time employees and three offices. Ian was Vice President of IP Strategy for Black Stone IP (acquired by Houlihan Lokey), a boutique investment bank headquartered in San Francisco focused on IP-rich M&A and technology-driven transactions. In parallel, he teaches graduate courses on the Law & Business of IP Management at Chicago-Kent College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Law. Ian has been named one of the World's Leading IP Strategists by IAM Magazine every year since 2012.
Ian has published extensively in law and business journals related to the intersection of IP, business process, and corporate governance, including with top IP & Technology law reviews such as UC Berkeley, Fordham University, and Santa Clara University. In addition, he has presented to numerous symposiums and conferences on IP licensing, valuation, risk, and strategy. Ian graduated cum laude with a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, magna cum laude with a Juris Doctorate from Chapman University School of Law, and a Master of Laws in Intellectual Property Law (LLM) from DePaul University College of Law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
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- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
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- Assistant Director and Founder of the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp Accelerator
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Co - Chair / Cincinnati, OH
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- Member of the VACE Advisory Board
- Chairman / Brentwood, TN
Job Titles:
- Member of the VACE Advisory Board