CTAN - Key Persons
Amy handles the day to day activities at CTAN from overseeing the Funding Cycles, Memberships, Events, and supporting the Board of Directors. Prior to joining CTAN she ran a leadership coaching business after obtaining a coaching certification from the prestigious Hudson Institute of Coaching in Santa Barbara, CA in 2017.
Earlier roles in Product Management, Project Management, and Process Improvement at companies as diverse as ADP (Automatic Data Processing), Fidelity Investments, and G&K Services (a Division of Cintas) have allowed her to utilize collaboration and change management skills to best serve the needs of people using process and technology.
Amy received a Master of Arts in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota where her research focused upon the protective factors of after-school activities conducted at a local high school. Prior to graduate school Amy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting & International Business from Marquette University where she captained the Track and Field Team, served as an officer for AIESEC, and was an officer for Midnight Run (a student-run homeless advocacy group).
In her spare time, Amy enjoys traveling, watching sports of all kinds, and honing her skills on the tennis court. Amy and her husband share their home with a true Texas cat named Biscuit whom shares their love of smoked meats.
David Veal - Chief Investment Officer, Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- Treasurer
David Veal is the Chief Investment Officer of a $2.5 billion public pension plan in Austin serving more than 16,000 beneficiaries. Prior to his current role he served as the Chief Investment Officer of a large single-family office based in Houston as well as in senior roles with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the Employees Retirement System of Texas.
David also spent a decade working in New York City for Morgan Stanley as an equity research analyst, most recently with lead coverage of 30 US healthcare services stocks. David also served for six years as a United States Navy officer, where he was twice decorated with the Navy Commendation Medal.
David has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, and Financial Risk Manager designations. He holds an MBA with High Distinction from the Ross School of Business and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering with honors from Auburn University. David joined the CTAN Board in January 2019.
J.D. Stanley III is a seasoned executive, angel investor, board member, and passionate pioneer. He has executive experiences at large corporations, small startups, and non-profit. He previously worked as an executive at Cisco for close to 20 years leading innovation, R&D, and various teams across engineering, M&A, consulting, and P&Ls. He is also a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of hot new startup IoT/AI.
In addition to his business expertise, he has deep science and technical expertise with patents and pending patents in AI/ML, IoT, cybersecurity, and networking. J.D. possess strong commercialization expertise for startups in the SBIR government funding areas, and sits on numerous boards, including Texas Department of Transportation Texas Taskforce, where he helps in ground & air autonomous and AI/ML innovations for transportation and smart cities. JD joined the CTAN Board in October 2019.
John was most recently an Investment Associate at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a $200 billion pension system, in the Strategic Partnerships and Research team and then the Special Opportunities team. As part
of these teams, John worked alongside some of the largest fund managers. John helped to invest money on behalf of TRS into a mixture of various fund structures and direct investments, across all asset classes and geographies, including real estate, traditional buyout, energy, infrastructure, regulatory capital, activist public equity, direct private debt, among others. Prior to joining TRS, John graduated with his M.B.A. from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin where he was a Venture Fellow for S3 Ventures, an agnostic Texas-focused venture capital firm. During the summer, John worked for the Austin Technology Incubator. Prior to McCombs, John worked as an analyst for Forge Capital Partners, a manager of real estate private equity funds focused on commercial real estate in the Southeast and Texas.
Aside from his M.B.A. in 2019, John has an M.S. in Finance and B.S. with a double major in Finance and Real Estate, cum laude, from Florida State University. John was a member of Florida State's varsity Track & Field and Cross-Country programs. Originally from Tampa, FL, John now resides in Austin with his wife, Julianne, and their Goldendoodle named Penny Waffles.
Joseph Liu has worked in the IT industry since 1998, with overseas experience in Taiwan, China, and Singapore. He holds BS degree in Engineering for Sustainable Environment from National Taiwan University and MBA degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a candidate for the Master of Jurisprudence from St. Mary's School of Law. Joseph holds a Level 1 CrossFit Trainer certificate.
Joseph has been an active CTAN member since 2015 and served as the B2B Software Sector Interest Group (SIG) Lead in 2019. His investment portfolio is comprised of companies across Life Sciences, B2B Software, Hardware, and CPG industries. He joined the CTAN Board in October 2019.
Job Titles:
- Board Member and President of EO
- Owner of Lone Star Direct
Kelsey August is the owner of Lone Star Direct, a marketing firm she founded at 24 years old. She has been a serial entrepreneur for the last two decades. She loves to create and grow business ventures.
Kelsey has been a Board Member and President of EO, The Entrepreneurs Organization; has served on the Board of Athletics for Ohio University; and was also the President of the American Marketing Association. She has won distinguished awards along the way: Austin Under Forty Winner, was finalist for Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and was the youngest female entrepreneur to make the Inc 500 fastest growing company list.
Kelsey has been an active angel investor since 1998. She enjoys mentoring her portfolio companies. She has participated as a mentor in SKU (formerly Incubation Station) and is currently at mentor at ATI. Kelsey joined the CTAN Board in January 2017.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Senior Sales Leader for Both Small to Fortune 50
Laurie Cercone has been a senior sales leader for both small to Fortune 50 companies. With a BBA in Marketing and Finance from UT Austin, she started her career with Mobil Oil managing both company-owned and franchised operations in both Houston and Southern California. After leaving Mobil, she joined a food startup, where she grew the company from $2M to over $100M, and stayed on after being acquired HJ Heinz. As a Division Sales Manager, she managed several of Heinz' newly acquired subsidiaries. She now manages the sales division, for Vie de France, a manufacturer of high-end bakery products where she oversees retail and foodservice channels. She specializes in building and managing sales teams, hiring and managing brokers, building distribution, and managing corporate-account relationships.
After living in Southern California for over a decade and getting her MBA at the University of Southern California, Laurie moved back to Austin in 2015. She has since completed a Masters in Technology Commercialization in from UT Austin. Laurie has been a mentor with several Austin-based accelerators including Texas Venture Labs, SKU, and New Chip. She has been a member of CTAN since 2017 and has served as the CPG Lead for two years. Laurie joined the CTAN Board in October 2019.
Stuart Goodman is an accomplished international oil & gas executive with over 35 years of experience at Royal Dutch Shell across diverse business and leadership roles including M&A, business development, finance, commercial, operations and business strategy. He has lived and worked on four continents in addition to serving as a director on various independent boards and shareholder committees.