VENTUREDNA - Key Persons
Bill McNitt is a senior executive with public and private company experience in a wide variety of industries. Since 2000 he has been a Principal of Thurston Group a Chicago based Private Equity firm which invests in lower middle market companies. He has significant experience as an executive officer with a deep understanding of financial markets and institutions with international exposure and strengths in developing solutions to complex financial challenges. He has had extensive experience in the Private/Alternative Investing sector with areas of focus including venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and leveraged and management buyouts. As a senior finance officer of companies such as Gould Electronics, a conglomerate with operations in 40 countries, Zenith Electronics, a Fortune 200 consumer electronics company and Netdox, an Internet security services company, Bill played a key role in numerous acquisitions and divestitures ranging in size from $5 to $250 million, as well as directing corporate finance, tax, banking, investor relations, rating agency, treasury, financial operations and ERISA/pension fund administration. He was responsible for corporate-wide risk management, including foreign currency, commodity, and interest rate exposure; directed bank relations with over 70 multinational financial service companies; and initiated and completed significant long-term financings, including publicly-issued Eurobonds, foreign currency debentures, industrial revenue bonds and sale and leasebacks. At Zenith, Bill was a key member of the strategic planning and operating committees chaired by the CEO. In 1995, Bill was named Zenith's Chief Financial Officer. In 1995-96, LG Electronics acquired Zenith in a two- step stock transaction process that he lead. Bill received a B. A. with Honors in Economics from Amherst College and a MBA in Finance from Harvard Business School. He is a certified public accountant and CFA.
Craig Pearlman is Managing Partner at VentureDNA and considered a highly effective business executive, who recently served as a Senior Director at Willis Towers Watson and Partner, Head of U.S. Investment Product Development and Distribution at Aon Hewitt. Craig has advised institutional investors, board of directors, foundations, family offices, c-suite executives and PE/VC partners engaged in deal development, turnarounds, and growth and exit strategies. Craig has a broad range of experience that spans many industries: consumer products, healthcare, technology, telecom, business services and manufacturing industries.
Over the course of his tenures at Willis Towers Watson and Aon Hewitt, Craig developed and managed a variety of financial products and investment outsourcing solutions across all asset classes. This includes private equity, private debt, private real-estate, equity, and fixed income solutions in multi manager and multi strategy solutions. Craig led the U.S. institutional distribution, capital raising for institutional investors. He was a strategic leader in launching and managing the ongoing operations and technology solutions for leading global asset managers and consulting firms.
Craig's understanding of the appropriate intersection between personal relationships, investment philosophies and corporate interests is invaluable. His extensive experience and business contacts, combined with those of VentureDNA, create a solid platform to position young companies for growth and success.
Craig received his MBA from Loyola's Quinlan School of Business and undergraduate degree in business from Illinois State University. Craig and his wife Beth have a 14-year old son, Nathan. Craig is a life-long Chicagoan and resides in Chicago near Wrigley Field.
Job Titles:
- Lead Member of Our Advisory Board
Greg Dennerlein, is a lead member of our Advisory Board. In addition to his board role, Greg has 30 years of diverse financial market experience having held positions in portfolio management, over-the-counter derivatives, sales and trading, and alternative investments. Currently as an independent Financial Advisor managing several portfolios, Greg previously was Senior Vice President with HSBC Private Wealth Management, prior to this role he served as a VP and Director for several banking institutions including Citibank, Northern Trust, and JP Morgan. In his current role he assists his clients in sourcing alternative investments, such as, direct deals in real estate, venture capital, private equity, fixed income, credit and equity derivatives. His clients range from Fortune 500 pensions, university endowments to family offices and high-net worth individuals.Greg's understanding of the appropriate intersection between personal relationships, investment philosophies and corporate interests is invaluable. His extensive experience and contacts, combined with those of VentureDNA, create a solid platform to position companies throughout the Upper Midwest and East Coast.
Job Titles:
- Lead Member to Our Advisory Board
Jeff Yehle is a lead member to our Advisory Board, seeing his solid, senior- level expertise in sales, human resources, and operations in the human capital and technology spaces as a vital asset to the team. Today, Jeff serves as Client Relationship Director at Willis Towers Watson. Jeff's repertoire of experience includes working as Global Vice President of Administration and Human Resources for Monster.com, National Senior Sales Director for ManpowerGroup, and as Senior Vice President of Sales for Workstream, Inc. Having led a multi- billion dollar sales and account management team to double-digit growth in recent years as Senior Partner and Global Client Executive for Aon Hewitt, Jeff's aptitudes in P&L management, mergers and acquisitions, and c-suite / Fortune 100 relationship management have been tested and proven time and again. Additionally contributing his acumen in strategic planning, organizational development, talent management, and brand development, Jeff is an irreplaceable advisor, collaborator, and guide for the continual growing efforts at VentureDNA. Jeff heralds a Bachelor's degree from Arizona State University and participated in Kellogg School of Management's graduate program prior to joining Monster.com. He is a member of the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); Jeff has also served on the boards of several portfolio companies. Most recently, he became Lead Director for Ansen Electronics, a $100,000,000 electronics and lighting manufacturer based in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Jeff is equally committed to community involvement, sitting on the boards of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, Chicago Botanic Garden, Children's Brittle Bone Foundation, Lake Forest Open Lands Association, and the Allendale Association.
Job Titles:
- Member of the VentureDNA Advisory Board
Joan Sourapas is a member of the VentureDNA Advisory Board and serves as a business development strategist to the company. Joan has spent thirty years as a senior consulting executive with experience in business development and planning, strategic information planning, emerging technologies, project management, information systems design and implementation, and financial restructuring. She has sold and managed projects in many industries, both public and private, with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). She worked primarily in the healthcare industry as a partner in CurranCare (purchased by Cardinal Health) and then, as Vice President, led post-acute care consulting for Cardinal Health.
Joe Brickman is Managing Partner at VentureDNA and considered a highly regarded financial tactician who recently served as Chief Commercial Officer at NRS -National Regulatory Services, where he managed three national teams (65 FTEs) including sales, product, and the professional services group for the organization. Joe has worked directly with high-net-worth individuals and families to create customized plans for protecting and growing their wealth, often across multiple generations. Joe is known for helping nonprofit foundations and endowments to realize their long-term financial objectives through effective planning and investment management.
Joe also served as Senior Vice President at Northern Trust Corporation as head of their Institutional Advisor Services, responsible for the Midwest teams new business development for Northern Trust's Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO)/Multi-Manager Solutions practice focused on Endowments and Foundations and Global Family Offices.
Joe's understanding of the appropriate intersection between personal relationships, investment philosophies and corporate interests is invaluable. His extensive experience and business contacts, combined with those of VentureDNA, create a solid platform to position young diverse companies for the next stage of growth and success.
Joe received his received his BA in Economics from the University of Lynchburg. Joe and his wife Katie and their children live in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Managing Partner
Mark Hahs is co-Founder and Managing Partner of VentureDNA. He leads our team of Los Angeles based professionals who provide facets of outsourced marketing, technology and business development related services, including research, analysis, planning, web development, web design, branding, marketing collateral development, event management, systems integration and business consulting solutions for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-enterprise applications. Millions of users, viewers, and attendees from around the globe have responded to and been touched by marketing programs and business systems deployed for his clients. A big believer in maintaining an "entrepreneurial approach" to every engagement, Mark supports the methodology of implementing integrated business and marketing solutions that use a simple set of consistently executed strategies, programs, technology and media to get results. Mark has worked with a diverse range of organizations, including small business start-ups, large corporations, private sector, non-profits, government agencies and advertising agencies where he was responsible for business development, client management and finance.
Clients have included NFL, NBC 2004 Olympics, Motorola, Agilent Technologies, S.C.O.R.E., Microsoft, Chicago Tribune, Warner Brothers, Coca-Cola, Billabong, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, United States Mint, Sony Columbia-Tristar, Interscope Records, MCA, Sungard Treasury Systems, AAA, Oral-B and Grey Advertising. Mark played baseball at Biola University garnering freshman of the year honors as a pitcher while studying for a degree in Mathematics with a minor in Business. He enjoys long runs, road biking and ocean swimming - better known as triathlon training - and occasionally skateboarding with his four children in sunny Southern California.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Endeavor Capital
Rocky Dixon is co-founder of Endeavor Capital, a Portland, OR based company. Rocky co-founded Endeavour in 1991. Since that time, he has worked with companies in the specialty retail, business services and niche manufacturing industries. Rocky serves on the board of the Bi-Mart Corporation. Prior to co-founding Endeavour, Rocky spent six years as the West Coast Director for Earl Kinship Capital, a diversified equity investment company that specialized in real estate, technology startups, and oil and gas exploration. In 1983, he co-founded Support Technologies, Inc., a computer-test equipment company. Rocky also spent five years in marketing and sales management at Stanley Tools. In addition to his roles on Endeavour boards, Rocky also serves on the boards El Aero Services, Adventure Funds and Beef Northwest. He is also the Chairman of the Kinship Trust Company and sits on the board of OHSU. Rocky received a B.S. from the University of Oregon. He has two sons and currently lives with his wife in Asotin, Washington.
Stewart Dixon is Founder and Managing Partner of VentureDNA. An accomplished executive leader with a record of successes, Stewart manages the firm's engagement portfolio as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. Prior to forming VentureDNA, Dixon drove sales in the media and technology industries for well-established brands including ABC News, The Chicago Tribune and Motorola. His proven ability to secure new business and penetrate domestic and foreign markets by identifying prospects and creating strong partnerships allowed these businesses to realize immediate growth and success
Stewart's hands on experience managing growth companies: recruiting top management talent; defining and executing strategy and new business models; creating world class financial and operational infrastructure from the ground up; while leading and developing people, fuels his passion everyday.
Dixon is skilled in directing cross-functional teams while providing quality services to clients in time-sensitive environments. Dixon also spent 10 years in Los Angeles developing new technology methodologies for the entertainment industry with Capitol Records and Apple Computer, today Apple, Inc. This experience allowed him to serve on the technology leadership boards at the American Film Institute and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Stewart is a graduate of Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Roy H. Park School of Communications.
Tom Ramar is Managing Partner at VentureDNA. Tom serves as technology sales lead on the Nucleaus team (A VentureDNA Company) and also leading our Sales Team for Safe Health (A VentureDNA Company) Tom has amazing pedigree as a US Navy Veteran, with extensive experience serving as Lieutenant Commander and Cryptologic/Cybersecurity/Information Warfare Officer.
Tom is the former VP of Global Sales at Crocs, taking the company from a small warehouse outside Denver with $3M in sales to a global powerhouse brand with $1.3B in sales, His experience at Crocs included licensing partnerships with professional sports including, the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and NASCAR. His growth stories include managing logistics and shipments of entire 747 Cargo Carriers from China filled with Crocs. Tom is a fast thinker. Lots of connections and today remains in contact with the entire Crocs leadership team.
Tom's understanding of the appropriate intersection between personal relationships, deep experience in technology and corporate interests is invaluable. His military service, professional experience and contacts, combined with those of VentureDNA, create a solid platform to position companies across the country.
Tom received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, is a graduate of the US Naval War College and received his MBA from Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School. Tom is based in Denver with his two beautiful children.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the Board of Managers
Warren Holtsberg serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Managers and as a Director of the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund. He is a partner at The Tokarz Group, LLC, a private, New York-based merchant bank and is a member of the Board of Directors and Co-Head of Portfolio Management for its MVC Capital Fund (NYSE:MVC), where he sources and executes new investments and helps manage the Fund's global portfolio of private equity, venture, and small and mid cap debt and equity investments. Previously, Mr. Holtsberg founded Motorola Ventures, the venture capital investment arm for Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) where he led the worldwide fund for eight years. Before Motorola, Mr. Holtsberg spent two decades with the U.S. Government where he held a number of senior executive positions in the Aviation, Defense and Intelligence communities. Mr. Holtsberg is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Center. Mr. Holtsberg is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the Kellogg Management Institute at Northwestern University J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.