DCVC - Key Persons
Biography
Alan brings extensive entrepreneurial and operational expertise to DCVC portfolio companies, particularly in product development, go-to-market, and executive leadership. He is executive with extensive hands-on experience running large enterprises as well as startup companies. His past three ventures created over $5B in aggregate value. Alan serves on the Board of Directors of numerous DCVC portfolio companies in physical security, med tech, and energy, and is an advisor and investor in multiple billion-dollar companies.
Prior to DCVC, Alan was the Chief Commercial Officer and served on the Board of Directors at Illumio, one of DCVC's portfolio companies. Before Illumio, Alan was VP of Marketing at Nicira, which was acquired by VMWare for $1.3 billion. Prior to Nicira, Alan served as VP and head of marketing for Cisco's $25 billion enterprise business, managing over 400 people and 25 product lines. Alan came to Cisco via the $460M acquisition of Airespace, where he was an early employee and served as VP of Marketing and Product Management. Alan received an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University, an MA in International Affairs from American University, and a BA from SUNY Buffalo.
Job Titles:
- Head of Investor Relations
Biography
Allyson brings to DCVC nearly two decades of experience in client relations and business development. As DCVC's Head of Investor Relations, Allyson is the primary point of contact between DCVC's Limited Partners and the firm's investment and operations teams. Previously, Allyson worked in business development, fundraising and investor relations roles for Medley Management, Corrum Capital and Oak Hill. Allyson began her career in the Asset Management Division at Goldman Sachs in New York, where she was a Senior Product Manager and Client Portfolio Manager. Allyson received an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- Investment Director DCVC Bio
Job Titles:
- Entrepreneur in Residence DCVC Bio
Biography
Clara is responsible for the accounting for the DCVC Bio funds, the daily operations of the management companies, and the operations of the GP & Equity Partner entities. Clara has extensive experience in tax accounting and fund accounting for private equity and venture capital entities gained through her many years of work and training with top 5 global accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and BDO. Prior to joining DCVC, Clara worked for Bay City Capital where her responsibilities included funds, management company and tax matters.
Clara received a BA degree in English Language and Literature from Hong Kong Baptist University and a MS in Taxation from Golden Gate University. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Job Titles:
- Entrepreneur in Residence DCVC Bio
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner DCVC Bio
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner DCVC Bio
Biography
Linda is an Operating Partner at DCVC focused on working with companies at the intersection of Deep Tech and healthcare. Linda is an experienced ENT facial plastic surgeon, independent corporate director, and the Founder and Executive Director of The Biomedical Zone at Ryerson University, Canada's premier hospital-embedded medical technology incubator. The Biomedical Zone's core mission, the transformation of healthcare through innovation, focuses on strategic acceleration of early-stage digital health and medical technology companies, delivering solutions to real-world healthcare problems. This confluence of medicine, surgery, research, entrepreneurship, education, and business networks provides a specialized ecosystem in which start-up companies may refine and validate their technology, products, and services through direct input from customers and end-users: patients, clinicians, hospital.
In additional to over 10 years at the front line of medicine as a surgeon with healthcare experience on three continents, Linda has international experience in research commercialization, early stage capital raising, and management of healthcare angel investment networks.
Linda currently serves as an independent member of the Board of Directors at ImmunityBio, Inc. (Nasdaq: IBRX) and United Therapeutics Corporation (Nasdaq: UTHR) and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Linda received a A.B. in Biology from Harvard University, a M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine and a M.B.A. from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate DCVC Bio
Biography
Rachel is a Partner at DCVC focused on climate, sustainability, and energy investments. Before joining DCVC, Rachel was an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where she held leadership roles in several data science and entrepreneurship efforts. Concurrent to being a professor, Rachel was a Division Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where she ran the Cyclotron Road Division. She served as a Program Director at the Department of Energy's ARPA-E, where she created the nuclear fission program and managed the agriculture portfolio as well as solar and virtual reality teams. Rachel co-founded the Good Energy Collective and currently serves as Chair of the Board. Rachel received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics.
Biography
Earl is a recognized thought-leader in the areas of water and the environment and has extensive leadership experience in growing technology-based organizations. In his role at DCVC, Earl brings focus to the water industry and building a portfolio of Deep Tech water solutions that will have a transformative impact on the availability, quality and affordability of water resources globally.
Previously, Earl served as Chief Executive Officer at Heartland Water Technology, Global Commercial Leader at GE Water, and a Partner at Liberation Capital. Earl co-founded and is Chairman Emeritus of the Northeast Water Innovation Center (NEWIN).
Earl received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the US Naval Academy, an MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland, an MS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. Earl is honored to have served as an Officer in the United States Navy's Submarine Force.
Biography
James has developed, applied, and invested in frontier technology and large-scale analytics for more than a decade. His experience spans R&D in new materials and in semiconductor processing as well as data driven sales & marketing strategy for large life science and healthcare companies. At DCVC, he is interested in companies applying artificial intelligence to vertical problems, technologies that allow us to better characterize and manipulate biological systems, and frontier technologies such as quantum computing. James received a BS in Engineering Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Biography
Jason Pontin is a Partner at DCVC, where his belief that emerging technologies and new scientific insights can solve urgent challenges and expand human possibilities inspires his investments in Deep Tech and life sciences companies. Among his operational responsibilities at DCVC, he helps portfolio companies tell their stories.
He was the first investor in DCVC-backed Totus Medicines, where he is a founding board member, and in Menten.AI. Before joining DCVC, he was a senior partner and senior advisor at Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge, MA, where he worked with the enterprise's therapeutics and agriculture companies.
Jason was CEO and editor in chief of MIT Technology Review and editor of Red Herring magazine, the bible of the dot.com boom. At MIT, he founded MIT Solve, the Institute's open innovation platform, which deploys capital and other resources toward solutions to grand challenges; chaired the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Institute's global entrepreneurial community; and was senior advisor to MIT's 16th President, Susan Hockfield.
He has written for a range of publications including a column for the New York Times and articles for many other newspapers and magazines like The Economist, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe and The Believer. He still writes, mostly for WIRED. At TED 2013, he delivered a Talk, "Can technology solve our big problems?" which has been seen 1.6 million times.
Jason was raised in Berkeley and on a farm on the North Coast of California, where his family raised game birds for restaurants in the Bay Area. He was educated in the United Kingdom at Keble College, Oxford University, where he was awarded a B.A. and M.A in humanities fields completely unrelated to his investment interests.
Biography
As an Associate on the investment team, Joe is focused on aiding our Partners in research, deal execution, and other investment functions. Prior to joining DCVC, Joe was an Investment Banking Analyst at Union Square Advisors in San Francisco, where he primarily focused on software M&A. Before Union Square, he was an Investment Banking Analyst in the consumer & retail group at Citizen's Bank in Los Angeles and before that he was a valuation analyst at Duff & Phelps. Joe received a B.S. in Finance from Pennsylvania State University.
Biography
Kelly's interest has always been how to use data and optimization to push boundaries, faster. From her career as a fixed income trader to building out a new product line for a global investment bank, she has focused closely on building the best models, structuring, and sales teams to optimize outcomes. At DCVC, she enjoys working on problems arising from fundamental population and labor driven shifts. She is especially excited about teams building revolutionary tech in AI, robotics, manufacturing, sustainability, and future of work.
Kelly received a joint BS/MS in Financial Engineering and Operations Research with honors from Columbia University and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton, where she served as President of the Entrepreneurship Club.
Biography
Linda brings 20 years of accounting and fund management experience to DCVC. As a Controller, she is responsible for the accounting and financial reporting of the investment funds. Prior to joining DCVC, Linda was a controller or interim controller at numerous venture capital and private equity firms including Riverwood and Horsley Bridge. She was a Team Leader at eFront and prior to that worked in alternative fund services and PE fund services at Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase. Linda was an Assistant Fund Controller at Standard Pacific Capital and MSD Capital. Linda received a B.A. in Economics from Boston University.
Job Titles:
- Engineer, Physician, and Astronaut
Matt joined DCVC in 2020. He has held a number of leadership roles in the satellite, digital mapping and intelligence industries. Prior to joining DCVC, Matt was a Managing Partner at Seraphim Capital (London). Before that, he was CEO of OneWeb until July 2016. In 2006, he founded GeoEye (NASDAQ: GEOY), a leading global provider of satellite and aerial imagery and digital mapping information, which was acquired by DigitalGlobe in 2013. He has served on several private company boards and government and industry advisory commissions.
Matt has extensive experience in communications management and finance. Prior to forming GeoEye, he held executive positions with Crest Advisors, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on telecom infrastructure, Sony Worldwide Networks, and Cablevision Systems Corporation. He began his career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney on Wall Street. Matt received an LLB from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BA in classics from Trinity College.
Biography
With more than 20 years in Silicon Valley as an executive and engineering team leader, Merline brings an unparalleled level of experience and insight into every boardroom. Merline has first-hand experience from within some of the most iconic companies in the tech industry, where she led large teams and engineering projects that contributed to the success of those companies. She now serves as a board member for some of the next emerging pivotal companies within the tech and finance industries, including DCVC-backed companies Rocket Lab and Evolv Technology as well as Alkami Technology, GitLab, Lightspeed Commerce, and TD SYNNEX.
Merline was the COO, R&D and IT at Change Healthcare. Previously, she was the Head of Operations, Product & Technology at Intuit, and the Head of Operations, Mobile and Emerging Products at Yahoo. Earlier in her career, she held key executive and technical development roles at Joyent, PayPal, and Adobe. She started her career as a software engineer at Sun Microsystems. Outside of her business interests, she is also passionate about advising entrepreneurs and coaching emerging leaders in leadership and technology.
Merline received a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Florida A&M University and a Master of Science in software engineering management from Carnegie Mellon University, where she previously served on the Board of Directors of the alumni association.
Job Titles:
- Communications and Public Affairs Partner
Biography
With more than 33 years of experience building and leading the nation's most elite high functioning teams as part of the U.S. military, Patrick brings a unique perspective to the DCVC portfolio. He is a lifelong student of leadership and built a reputation as a transformative leader whose vision and advice were relied on by some of the most storied leaders in the U.S. Department of Defense. Patrick's ability to not only help organizations build effective strategies but develop cohesive teams to execute in incredibly complex multi-national environments were hallmarks of his service to the nation. He brings this unique experience to DCVC's portfolio companies, helping guide entrepreneurs as they navigate the challenging task of building robust businesses that tackle some our world's greatest issues.
Before joining DCVC, Patrick served at every level of the U.S. Special Operations enterprise, culminating his military career as the 9th Command Senior Enlisted Leader of the 82,000 men and women assigned to the United States Special Operations Command.
Ryan Ward - Chief Legal Officer
Biography
Ryan has a passion for Deep Tech and expertise in working with the founders of complex, science-based companies. As Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Ryan leads DCVC's legal execution and strategy. Ryan was most recently General Counsel at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) during an eight-year period of rapid growth at a16z and in the venture capital industry at large. During his tenure at a16z, Ryan helped them expand into investing areas such as biotech and cryptocurrency, and helped build a legal team to address the increased scale and complexity of managing over $30 billion in assets.
Before working at a16z, Ryan was a corporate attorney at Cooley, advising venture capital firms and companies at every stage of growth. Ryan also brings deep company-side insight from having served as an in-house counsel at two public biotech companies. Ryan received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Biography
As an Associate on the investment team, Stephen is focused on aiding our Partners in research, deal execution, and other investment functions. Prior to joining DCVC, Stephen had worked as an Electrical Engineering Intern at Microsoft and BorgWarner.
Stephen received a BS in Physics from Morehouse College, where he won awards in several STEM and innovation competitions and served as the Founding President of the Atlanta University Center MakeWay, an engineering design organization promoting minority involvement in international STEM competitions.
Biography
Steve is focused on helping DCVC manage and advise portfolio companies with advanced machine learning platforms applied to chemistry and biology. Prior to joining DCVC, Steve was VP of Artificial Intelligence at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Before that, he led Product at the DeepMind-for-Google team including AlphaFold, WaveNet and DataCenter Optimization. In addition to his work at DeepMind, Steve spent several years at Google working on the Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Search product teams. Steve received an MA in History from The University of Oxford and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from University College London.