Edward L. Kaplan, '71, New Venture Challenge (NVC)

Cindy is an affiliate at ARCH Venture Partners. She focuses on life science businesses and is a cofounder of several ARCH portfolio companies, including deCODE genetics, an Icelandic diagnostics company; Adolor, a pharmaceutical firm developing novel analgesics; and Elixir Pharmaceuticals, an anti-aging and metabolic disease company. Cindy has worked with ARCH since 1992 and has been instrumental in sourcing companies like Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Agios Pharmaceuticals. She has also participated in the planning and diligence for many other companies in the portfolio. Early in her career, she was a general field engineer with Schlumberger Offshore Services. She holds a BS in physics from the University of Rochester and an MBA and PhD in virology from the University of Chicago.

Dan Caruso is Managing Director of Caruso Ventures, a 3x decacorn entrepreneur and an avid supporter of entrepreneurship.

In 2020, Dan and Cindy Caruso founded Caruso Ventures, which represents their investment portfolio, family office, and not-for-profit activities. Most of Caruso Ventures’ direct investments are in support of the Colorado ecosystem. Current investments include Exum Instruments, BillGO, Genalyte, Canopy Aerospace, Kuleana Rum Works, ALLCITY, Radia, Boom Supersonic, Guest House, Tovala, Language I/O, Outside Interactive, Voyager Space Holdings, Honest Jobs, Maybell Quantum Industries, VUZ, Arryved, Atom Computing, Infleqtion, Codigo Tequila, Mindful Care, Pippin Title, Ninja Nation, Firefly, Resonance, Chamba, Agile Space Industries, Toters and Zayo Group. Exited investments include euNetworks, Bolder Surgical, Envysion, GTS Central Europe, and Galvanize.

Dan was the Founding Partner, Chairman and CEO of Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO), where investors enjoyed a $8.5B equity exit on a $1.0B investment. Dan was a co-founding executive of Level 3 and joined Metropolitan Fiber Systems (MFS) as it began to scale. All three exited for enterprise values > $10B. Dan also led the take private of ICG, which achieved a 25X return and led to the ideation of Zayo.

Dan is a supporter of Colorado’s and Chicago’s entrepreneurial community, and is particularly interested in the intersection between tech scaleups and inclusion. He serves as Chairman of the Board for Endeavor Colorado and is on the boards of Elevate Quantum and Colorado Thrives. Dan was the original Steering Committee Chairman of Colorado’s Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network.

In 2015, Dan and Cindy established The Caruso Foundation to Support Initiatives that Inspire Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Inclusion. The Caruso Foundation supports a number of impactful organizations including University of Chicago’s New Venture Challenge, University of Colorado Boulder’s Startup Summer, Catalyze CU, and New Venture Challenge, Greenhouse Scholars, Endeavor Colorado, Colorado Thrives, CiviCO, Access Opportunity, and EforAll.

Dan is a recipient of several awards including the Chicago Booth Distinguished Alumni Award for Entrepreneurship, University of Illinois Alumni Award for Distinguished Service, Colorado Technology Association’s Bob Newman Lifetime Achievement Award, University of Colorado Leeds Corporate Partner Award (Zayo), and Colorado Governor’s Corporate Citizenship Medal.

Dan gave the commencement address for the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering (2019) and the University of Colorado Boulder MBA (2020).

Dan holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Jake Crampton is the founder and CEO of MedSpeed, the market-leading provider of same-day transportation services to the healthcare industry. Under Jake’s leadership, MedSpeed has grown from a Chicago-based startup to a national enterprise with over 140 operations across 29 states and a client base that includes one-quarter of the top 100 health systems in the country. Jake and his classmates created the concept for MedSpeed at Chicago Booth as the final project for Professor James Schrager’s New Venture Strategy course which they further developed as a participant in the second annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge. After winning the competition, Jake changed his postgraduation plans to focus on launching MedSpeed.

An entrepreneur by nature, Jake founded and nurtured a successful language-training business in Mexico City prior to launching MedSpeed. Jake was named Entrepreneur of the Year Midwest by EY in 2017 and received the Chicago Booth Entrepreneurial Distinguished Alumni Award in 2021. Jake earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA in entrepreneurship from Chicago Booth.

Sara is a Venture Partner at FemHealth Ventures focused on sourcing, diligence, and helping companies grow.   As president of SCS Innovations, she guides entrepreneurs advancing healthcare products and technologies around governance, strategy, and operations.  Currently, Sara serves on the boards of 1871 (Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub), Crown Family Foundation, Musician’s on Call, Erikson Institute, Jewish United Fund of Chicago, Covenant Foundation, Ortus Foundation, Georgetown University Law Center’s Advisory Board, and as President of The Henry Crown Scholarship Fund.

Previously, Sara served on the boards of Thinx (an international FemTech company) and Advanced Absorbent Technologies (a health-focused consumer products company). She has also served on the boards of Crown Family Philanthropies, Latin School of Chicago, Hebrew Union College, and the Craniofacial Center Advisory Board at the University of Illinois. Sara launched the Business Law Scholars track at Georgetown University Law Center, the Star Fellows Cantorial track at Hebrew Union College, and the Bazelon Fellowship at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.  Sara also co-produced two Off-Broadway shows in New York.

Sara graduated with a B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She also completed the Wexner Heritage Program and received an Executive M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Laura Desmond is the CEO at Smartly, an AI-powered advertising technology company, transforming ad experiences for brands and their consumers.

Prior to Smartly, Desmond was Chief Revenue Officer of Publicis Groupe and Chief Executive Officer of Starcom Mediavest Group, the #1 media and marketing services agency brand globally for five straight years under her leadership. Desmond has worked with some of the biggest and most successful marketers worldwide, including Samsung, Spotify, Coca-Cola, Visa, Bank of America, and P&G. 

During her career in Advertising, Desmond has been awarded many honors including: AAF Hall of Achievement, Ad Age “Women to Watch”, WSJ Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and Chairwoman of the Advertising Council. Today, Laura serves on the boards of Adobe, DoubleVerify, as well as Smartly.

Additionally, Desmond is a champion of the advancement of women’s sports serving as an early investor in Chicago women’s sports franchises, including the Chicago Sky and the Chicago Red Stars.

Jim has over 20 years of corporate finance, capital markets, and venture capital experience. He serves on the boards of EdMap, TradeKing, Cleversafe, TDJM, Javlin Capital, SumRidge Partners, Campus Explorer, Apparel Media Group (CustomInk), Automated Insights, Pangea, Falcon Insurance Group, Solovis, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, 1871, IIT, and NU Wave. Prior to cofounding OCA Ventures, Jim oversaw the OCA Ventures pledge fund, which made direct investments for the O’Connor Partners Investment Office. He also traded derivatives at the Chicago Board of Trade and worked in corporate finance with Continental Bank. Jim is a founding member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, where he has served as treasurer, director, member of the executive committee, and chairman of the legislative committee, helping to establish HB 3212 as Illinois law. Jim received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Thomas is a Partner at Elopian Capital, a private investment company focused on early stage software and services businesses. Elopian manages solely the Partners’ money and has a patient and long-term investment horizon. Prior to Elopian, he was the co-founder and co-CEO of Tegus, a leading research platform serving more than 30,000 public and private market institutional investors, investment bankers, consultants, and corporations. In 2024, Tegus was acquired by AlphaSense for $930m. Thomas received his BA in Economics from Brown University. He lives with his wife and two children in Chicago.

Jim Frank spent his entire business career leading Wheels, Inc, a business wholly owned by the Frank Family, where he was CEO from 1975 until becoming Executive Chair in 2017.  Jim’s son, Dan, was CEO from 2017 until October of 2021 when the business was sold to Athene Insurance, a subsidiary of Apollo.  Wheels founded the Vehicle Fleet Management and Leasing Industry in 1939 and, under Jim’s direction since 1975 was a leader in Innovation, growing from 25,000 vehicles to become one of North America’s premier fleet management providers with over 300,000 vehicles under management in North America and over 1 million vehicles in 40 countries in partnership with ALD.  Jim has held leadership roles in Industry Organizations, has been keynote speaker at national conferences and has testified on behalf of the Industry before the US Congress, Federal Trade Commission, U. S. Treasury, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Jim has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University. He is actively involved in Community affairs, serving on the Boards of: University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, Field Museum of Natural History, Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Teach for America, The Chicago Public Education Fund, Vice Chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center where he was recognized as an “Honorary Fellow of the Division of Biological Sciences, and Board Chair of Intrinsic Schools, a charter school network serving 2,000 students in Chicago.

Jim lives with his wife Karen in Winnetka, Illinois and Aspen, Colorado.  They have three children, and five grandchildren.

Mr. Friedman graduated with honors from the University of Michigan, where he received a B.A.; he earned an M.B.A. majoring in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He spent the first part of his career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Jones Lang LaSalle. Mr. Friedman spent the early 2000s buying, building and operating gasoline stations and travel centers located throughout the Midwest. In 2007, Mr. Friedman founded Wells Street Popcorn with the goal of delivering the highest-quality gourmet popcorn nationwide. In 2010, recognizing the tremendous untapped demand for a better-for-you, ready-to-eat popcorn, Mr. Friedman founded SkinnyPop Popcorn. SkinnyPop sold its first bag in August of 2010 and today can be found in well over 100,000 stores nationwide and in many international markets. Mr. Friedman was the Chief Executive Officer from inception until July 2014 when SkinnyPop sold a majority stake to TA Associates. SkinnyPop subsequently changed its name to Amplify Snack Brands, Inc. and, in August 2015, Amplify Snack Brands completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol BETR). Mr. Friedman was on the board of directors at Amplify Snack Brands from July 2014 through January 2018 when The Hershey Company acquired Amplify Snack Brands. Mr. Friedman focuses most of his attention now as an investor and advisor across a diverse set of industries.

Bess Goodfellow is a Partner at HPA. Bess is passionate about empowering founders as they build transformative companies. In her current role, Bess is tasked with sourcing high growth companies and supporting those investments through their lifecycle. She has worked with about 30 companies in the HPA portfolio, primarily focusing on B2B models.

Mar Hershenson is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC, a seed-stage venture firm in Palo Alto backing companies like Guardant Health(NASDAQ: GH), Doordash (NYSE: DASH), Gusto, and Branch. Mar has been recognized in the Midas List of Top Tech Investors in 2021 and 2022.

After earning a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Mar developed a groundbreaking technique of optimizing the design of analog semiconductors. Since then, she has accrued over 13 years of founder experience, co-founding three startups in mobile/ecommerce, enterprise software and semiconductor industries and has registered 14 separate patents.

Mar has received many awards throughout her career. Among them, the renowned T35 Young Innovator Award by MIT (for her technical work), and the prestigious  Marie R. Pistilli Women in EDA Achievement Award in 2010 (for her work in entrepreneurship).

Mar currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College and on the Advisory Council of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University.  Mar is a founder of Equity Summit, the premier conference for connecting URM Venture Capital GPs to LPs, and an initial founding member of All Raise.

Mar is based in the Bay Area with her husband Matt and has three children. She is an avid runner!

Brent Hill is a partner at Origin Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on software, marketplace, and consumer companies. He serves on the board of directors of portfolio companies 15Five, Fountain, Blueboard, Measured, Tilt, Everee, Salad, Pronto, Voxpopme and Kidizen. He is a board observer for the firm’s investments in Cameo, Tracer, and ViralGains. Other previous investments include Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) , Tubemogul (acquired by NASD: ADBE), Ahalogy (acquired by NYSE: QUOT), Teem (acquired by WeWork), and Apptentive (acquired by Alchemer).  Prior to joining Origin, Brent led sales organizations for Twitter, Google, and Feedburner. Before joining FeedBurner, he was the president of a national consumer services business, an entrepreneur-in-residence, and an EVP with a unit of Interactive Corp. He also co founded MVP.com, an early e-commerce business. Brent started his career with Accenture, where he spent 10 years developing CRM software for the telecom industry. He received a BS in finance from Bradley University and an MBA from Chicago Booth.

Robert is a Partner at The SoftBank Vision Fund, the worlds largest technology investment firm, where he leads investments across ML/AI, Generative AI, Consumer Enablement, and Consumer Internet. Before joining SoftBank, Robert was a Principal at B Capital Group leading investments across similar verticals.

Robert began his career at JP Morgan, before leaving to run business operations at a seed-stage ad-tech startup and then lead Growth at Spring (acq. ShopRunner). Robert received a BBA from the University of Michigan (Class of 2011) and an MBA from the University of Chicago (Class of 2019).

Mark Koulogeorge is managing general partner of MK Capital where he leads the firm’s digital marketing and software investment practices and has over eighteen years of venture capital experience. Mark’s functional expertise is in developing sales, marketing and distribution strategies to achieve market leadership and in the building of high performance executive teams.

Prior to founding MK Capital, Mark was a managing director at First Analysis and served as a general partner of The Productivity Fund III & The Productivity Fund IV. Prior to his career in venture capital, Mr. Koulogeorge was an Executive Officer of Eagle Industries, a $1.5 billion diversified manufacturer, controlled by Chicago entrepreneur Sam Zell and earlier a consultant with Booz Allen. He earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Mark is a partner in the startup and venture capital group of Fenwick & West. He advises technology and life science companies, including those focused in the software, telecommunications, and semiconductor sectors. His practice includes startup counseling, venture capital financings, public offerings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. Mark represents companies in varying stages, ranging from privately-held startups to publicly-traded companies. Earlier in his career, Mark worked as an engineer. He received a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford University and a JD/MBA from the University of Chicago.

Mark is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Enlightened Hospitality Investments. Mark is actively involved in all of EHI’s portfolio companies, and serves on the boards of Joe Coffee, Salt & Straw, Goldbelly, Dig, Banza, Restaurant Technologies, and Slutty Vegan and is a board observer at Madison Reed. Additionally, Mark sits on the board of Union Square Hospitality Group, is a member of the Council on Chicago Booth for the University of Chicago, is on the board of A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, a leading contemporary dance company, and serves as Chair Emeriti of Jacob’s Pillow Board, a dance school and performance space in the Berkshires, for over 20 years. In 2020, Mark was included in Nation’s Restaurant News’ Top 50 Technology Power List, which features the 50 most influential technology and innovation leaders in the restaurant industry.

Prior to founding EHI, Mark was head of the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Investment Banking group at Piper Jaffray & Co. He previously served on the boards of Trinity College, the Harlem Globetrotters, Centennial Communications, Citadel Communications, T/SF Communications (TSF), US Radio, and Leap Wireless (LEAP) where he also served on the Finance Committee and Transaction Committee during its sale to AT&T.

Mark earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College.

Matt McCall is the Founding Partner, FORGE Capital, Investment Chair at FMC/CCI (Crown Family venture arm), and was formerly a partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and a founding partner with DFJ Portage. He is the author of the popular blog, SomethingVentured.com.

Over his 28+ years in the business, he has backed over 80 companies, completed more than 500 financings and evaluation over 20,000 business plans. He has had over $80B in enterprise exit value. He also has a strong interest studying the drivers & derailers to high performing cultures and sustainable entrepreneurial success. He is certified in an array of leadership and coaching programs.

McCall has been involved with investments including: DollarShaveClub (acquired by Unilever), Coinbase (IPO), Honest Company (IPO), Tock (acquired by SquareSpace), SMS-Assist (acquired by Lessen), P44, Facebook (IPO), Mapbox, Tovala, Feedburner (acquired by Google), PlutoTV (acquired by Viacom), Graphiq (acquired by Amazon), Lefthand Networks (acquired by HP), Performics (acquired by Doubleclick/Google), AwesomenessTV (acquired by DreamWorks), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and TicketsNow (acquired by Ticketmaster).

McCall has taught courses or lectured on Entrepreneurship at Kellogg, Booth/UoC, USC, UCLA, University of Denver and CU Boulder. He has been honored on Crain’s annual “40 under 40”, Crain’s top Tech 25 list, the Re/code top 30 tech power list, a Top 100 VC, a Media 100 and a Hollywood 100 Power Player. He has keynoted or been a panelist at over 125 conferences and events nationwide. He is the founder & trustee of the McCall Family Foundation, focused on encouraging social entrepreneurship and global human/girls’s rights. He has served on numerous regional high technology advisory boards.

Previously, McCall worked in the Boston Consulting Group’s Chicago office, where he managed consulting and client teams on projects in the retail, health-care and financial services industries.

McCall holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Williams College and an MBA with honors from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He also holds a Masters in Manufacturing Management from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering.

Koichiro “Koh” Nakamura has led numerous investments including Coinbase, Palantir, and Square. He is also actively involved with Zoom, Fastly, Insightly, One Concern, Chainalysis, and Clearbanc among others. Koh, a Waseda University Law and Chicago Booth MBA graduate  and two times finalist of NVC, was a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 12, and was given the Jeff Timmons Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to that program. 

He was an early pioneer in Japan’s IT scene as a member of the founding team of Yahoo Japan, and led the seed investment into Scigineer. He co-founded Sozo Ventures in 2012 to guide globally ambitious founders looking to maximize Japan and Asian expansion opportunities. Koh, who says, “Iconic companies go global, and global markets go through Japan,” points to Palantir as the portfolio company that took the long-term view, which has rewarded them with a $150M joint-venture in Japan, and over $550M in the pre-IPO round from Japanese partners.

Koh, having shepherded hundreds of companies through international expansion, has shared his expertise in Nikkei, MarketWatch, Forbes Japan, Venture Capital Journal, Newspicks and many other publications.

Carter is a Managing Partner of OrbiMed, a $17 billion global healthcare-focused private investment firm.  Since joining the firm in 2002, Carter has led OrbiMed’s growth in several areas, including healthcare royalties and Asia private investments. He was previously a Director in the UBS Alternative Investments Group and spent four years in the investment management division of First Chicago (now part of J.P. Morgan). Carter received an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago and his CFA charter in 1995. He also received a B.A. in Economics from Emory University and a C.E.P. from the Institute D’Etudes Politiques in Paris in 1991, although his French has atrophied quite a bit since then. Carter is a member of the Rockefeller University Council and the University of Chicago’s Harper Society.

Eric Pérez-Grovas is founding partner of Wollef, a VC Fund focused on LATAM early-stage internet companies, among its investments it has unicorns such as Jeeves, Kavak, Konfio, Loft and Nubank. Eric is also co-founder and president of the board of the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), which among other things, organizes the most relevant e-commerce event in Mexico: HotSale. He also serves as board member of Walmart of Mexico and Central America, Kinedu, Solvento and Nexu. Eric actively participates in nonprofits, serving as board member of CMR Foundation. Eric’s internet experience began in 1999 when he opened and managed Mercadolibre’s Mexican operations. He also worked in consulting at McKinsey & Co. and Bain & Co. and held management positions at Cemex and Satmex. Eric holds a BS in industrial engineering, summa cum laude, from the Tecnológico de Monterrey. He received an MBA and MPP from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was elected co-president of the GSB Latin American Student Association and vice-president of the Mexican Student Association at Stanford. Eric is a Kauffman Fellow, Class 22.

Vijay Reddy is a seasoned entrepreneur and healthcare technology veteran with over 30 years of experience. He is the CEO of Dainely, a company that designs and develops innovative healthcare products, including the Dainely™ Belt, a patent-pending belt that helps alleviate back and neck pain.

Vijay has a proven track record of building and growing successful companies. He played a key role in developing OSI Systems, Inc., a healthcare revenue cycle technology company, and later acquired and expanded a medical billing company. He is also the founder of Synthium Health, a healthcare technology company that provides data-driven solutions for healthcare providers.

Passionate about using technology to improve healthcare outcomes, Vijay is committed to delivering high-quality products and services that make a positive impact on people’s lives.

Focus
David is the Co-Managing General Partner at Crosslink. He joined the firm in 2011 and focuses on venture investments in software, financial technologies and digital media.

Experience
David brings more than 20 years of experience working with technology businesses as a venture capital investor and investment banker. Prior to joining Crosslink, David was a partner at 3i Ventures, a global private equity and venture capital firm. He also served as a senior officer in the technology practices at both Robertson Stephens and Piper Jaffray. Some of his prior investments included: BlueLithium (acquired by Yahoo!), Demand Media (DMD), Fotolog (acquired by Hi-Media), Omniture (OMTR; acquired by Adobe), Speakeasy (acquired by BestBuy) and Vonage (VG).

Portfolio Companies
AutoFi, Arturo, BetterUp, Brace, Chime, Enigma, Great Jones, MarketDial, OnCue , Clyde and Weave

Select Prior Investments
Bizo (acquired by LinkedIn), BuildingConnected (acquired by AutoDesk), Casper (CSPR ), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Vungle (acquired by Blackstone), BlueLithium (acquired by Yahoo!)*, Demand Media (DMD)*, Fotolog (acquired by Hi-Media)*, Omniture (OMTR; acquired by Adobe)*, Speakeasy (acquired by BestBuy)* and Vonage (VG)*

Education
BA, Dartmouth College
JD, Stanford University

* Investments made prior to joining Crosslink

Guy has been with HPVP since its beginning in 2011. Prior to HPVP, Guy worked for the Boston Consulting Group where he focused on corporate strategy across a variety of industries. Previously he served as an associate and investing member with Hyde Park Angels, and spent his early career as a mechanical engineer with Raytheon and General Electric. Guy has led investments in a number of software companies and manages HPVP’s investments in Fixer, MarketWagon, Upfront Healthcare, and Zipnosis, among others. He writes about venture capital and startups at vcwithme.co.

Gale Wilkinson is the founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed fund and angel community investing in transformative work-tech software. Previously, Wilkinson founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. Gale has led $70M+ in early-stage deals across 125+ portfolio companies, and she has made 50 personal angel investments. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two HR tech startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and data strategy with Orbitz.

Wilkinson received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a founding Board member of Chicago: Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups in Chicago.

She likes public speaking, design, and being a connector. Her inspirations include energy work, vintage and antique pieces, animals (especially horses and dogs), and nature. You can find her on X @galeforceVC. She lives in Chicago and Nashville with her husband and two dogs.

Sam Yagan serves as Founder and CEO of Fifth Star, Inc., a holding company of consumer and consumer-adjacent technology companies, and Co-Founder and Managing Director of Corazon Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. He recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of ShopRunner, Inc., an ecommerce enablement platform; in 2020, he led the sale of ShopRunner to FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX). Prior to ShopRunner, Sam served as Vice-Chairman of Match Group (Nasdaq: MTCH), a position he assumed after leading the company as Chief Executive Officer through a period of explosive growth that culminated in its IPO in 2015.  Sam chairs the Boards of SpotHero and Voltage Park and recently served as a lead director of Grindr, Inc., guiding the company  through its IPO in 2022.

Sam’s prior entrepreneurial ventures in the consumer internet sector include SparkNotes (founded in 1999), still the dominant brand of study guides, and eDonkey (founded in 2002), once the largest peer-to-peer file-sharing network in the world. He sold SparkNotes to iTurf, Inc. and then to Barnes & Noble, Inc., where he served as Vice-President and Publisher and oversaw the expansion of the digitally native brand into an expansive multi-platform media business. He also co-founded OkCupid, which he led as its CEO through its sale to Match Group in 2011.  Under his leadership, Match Group incubated and launched Tinder, one of the most successful native mobile apps of all time.

Outside of work, Sam devotes himself to mentoring technology entrepreneurs and civic leaders. In 2009, he co-founded Excelerate Labs (now TechStars Chicago), a leading start-up accelerator, and served as its first Chief Executive Officer. Sam sits on the board of several private companies, including Brilliant Worldwide.. He also advises several venture capital funds, including Hyde Park Venture Partners and the FireStarter Fund, which he co-founded. He has served on Target Corp’s Digital Advisory Council, the Stanford Graduate School of Business Management Board, the board of Chamberlain Group, and as an advisor to Procter & Gamble. He also sits on the boards of nonprofits Start Early and the Rush University Medical Center. 

Sam has earned recognition on TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Fortune Magazine‘s “40 Under 40,” Crain’s Chicago “Tech 50″ and “40 Under 40”, Billboard Magazine’s ”30 Under 30,” D Magazine’s “Dallas 500” and ranked #19 on Silicon Alley Insider’s “Most Inspiring and Influential People.” He has received the Chicago Innovation Awards’ “Visionary of the Year Award,” IMSA’s “Distinguished Leadership Award,” the DCIA’s “Pioneer’s Award,” and admission to Chicago Innovation’s Hall of Fame. Sam has testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and has spoken at the CATO Institute, Digital Hollywood, IRCE, the Federal Trade Commission, and numerous other industry events. Sam has a BA with honors in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he earned distinction as a Siebel Scholar, an Arjay Miller Scholar, and the Henry Ford Scholar, the award granted to each class’s valedictorian. Sam lives in Chicago with his wife, Jessica, and three kids, Maggie, Jack, and Max.