TSAI - Key Persons
Cynthia Ekberg Tsai is a native Californian who is known for her leadership, genuine enthusiasm and entrepreneurship. Tsai launched her career on Wall Street, working sixteen, ground breaking and impactful years as a Vice President for Merrill Lynch and Kidder Peabody. She was General Partner of two venture funds, served as CEO and Chairman of a publicly traded biotechnology company and created and sold a consumer health-marketing business. Cynthia moved to Washington, DC, and became president of a global problem-solving firm. Tsai has won numerous awards for entrepreneurship including Leading Woman Entrepreneur of the World. Currently she works with several international publicly traded companies in biotech and information technology, including two which trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange. She is strategic advisor to several US based MedTech and predictive analytics companies.
Tsai credits her mother Kathleen for inspiring her love of science, as it was her mother who bought Cynthia a microscope at the age of six, which she kept next to her Barbie dolls. Tsai's passion for science fuels her mentorship for the companies she advises. Tsai currently serves on the board of the Prix Galien Foundation, the world's leading award for recognition of innovation in medicine. She also serves on the Board of Selectors for the Jefferson Awards Foundation, a nonprofit foundation founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr., and Samuel Beard to honor extraordinary public service.
JB Berkow is an artist, gallerist, writer and philanthropist. She began selling her own art at age twenty, but was alw ays interested in helping promote other talented artists as well. She founded one of the most successful collaborative galleries in the country, Touchstone Gallery, in Washington, D.C. when she was only twenty-six years old. After moving to Florida from D.C. she has owned and run galleries for the last thirty years. Her own artwork has been shown throughout the country and is in many prestigious collections including the Vatican Museum, Boston University and the Palm Beach International Airport. She has published three books: "Shades of Love," an anthology of her own poems; "What They Didn't Teach You In Art School," a ‘how-to' book on taking one's art career to a more professional level; and "Painted Poetry," a monograph spanning fifteen years of her artwork with poetry to match each image.
Her latest philanthropic endeavor has been to take over an old 14,000 square foot, Historic FEC Train Depot building in Lake Worth, Florida and transform it into a 3-dimensional, fine art, fabrication facility with glassblowing, fusing, flameworking, bronze and glass casting and stone carving. However, with all her artistic abilities, she still harbors a passion for business and publishing. Collaborating with others brings her the most joy. With her new book: "Confessions of a Coffeholic" she saw a wonderful opportunity to combine all her collaborative, artistic and writing skills into one.Didn't Teach You In Art School," a ‘how-to' book on taking one's art career to a more professional level; and "Painted Poetry," a monograph spanning fifteen years of her artwork with poetry to match each image.
Job Titles:
- Limited Partner of BELLE Capital, LP
Marti M. LaTour is a limited partner of BELLE Capital, LP, a women's angel fund that invests in women owned or run start-up companies. Marti previously served as a Vice President Wealth Advisor at BMO Private Bank and as a Vice President and Financial Advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management. Marti carries Series 7 and 66 licenses. Prior to the financial industry, Marti worked for PepsiCo as one of six business-unit sales directors in the US responsible for net sales of $346 million, and directed 15 key account managers throughout the Southeast. Prior to that, she was Vice President of theFlorida Division of PepsiAmericas, where she directed a 640-person sales operation and was a founding member of the firm's Diversity Advisory Council. Marti received both a BA in business and marketing (with high honors) and an MBA with a concentration in finance, business and marketing from Lewis University. While there, she earned the Academic Excellence Award and was a member of the University Honor Organization and the Gamma Chi chapter of the Delta Epsilon Sigma national scholastic honor society.
Active in the community, Marti has been listed in Florida Trend magazine's "Must-Know Contacts" of Palm Beach County, and has served as a member of the Criminal Justice Commission of Palm Beach County, the Kravis Center corporate partner executive committee and Friends of the Kravis Center, Advisory Board for Cystic Fibrosis and the Board of Directors of Keep Florida Beautiful. She is currently on the boards of the Palm Beach County Food Bank, Economic Council of Palm Beach County, YWCA, Angel Forum of Florida and the Advisory Boards of Florida Atlantic University's Tech Runway and College of Arts and Letters. She was nominated for the Athena Award of Palm Beach County in 2010. Was awarded Coalition Business Leader by the Palm Beach County Substance Awareness Coalition and was nominated for Women of the Year by the Northern Palm Beach Chamber in 2013.