Rattan L. Khosa SeedCon

Rattan Khosa, MBA ’79, started AMSYSCO in 1981 out of the basement of his home that he shared with his wife and young son, with lifetime savings of $44,000 and no other financing. After nearly four decades, he has grown it into a highly profitable company that provides post-tensioning systems on commercial structures, and occupies a 55,000 square foot facility; the company captures some 65% market share.

“Starting a business from scratch is like jumping off a cliff in the middle of the night while blindfolded, hoping that there is a safety net down below,” Khosa said.

“When more than 80 percent of companies fail within the first year – even those with ample funding – it’s clear that there is much more to a startup’s success than just money,” Khosa said. “I don’t simply want to provide the money for this new program; I plan to serve as a thought leader, mentor and guide for these aspiring entrepreneurs, so that my years of experience, my struggles and my successes may serve as an additional resource to help them succeed.”

“I know from personal experience that everyone needs help at some point in their lives. No one has succeeded on their own.”

Khosa is actively involved with the Polsky Center as a member of its advisory board, the Polsky Council.

Learn more about Rattan Khosa’s story.>>

As Deputy Dean, Starr oversees the Full-time, Evening, and Weekend MBA Programs, as well as the work of the Polsky Center and Rustandy Center at Booth. Prior to her role as Deputy Dean, Starr was the Executive Director of the Polsky Center, working with University of Chicago students, faculty, and staff to launch the next generation of high-impact ventures. She grew the entrepreneurship program at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2020, and continues to champion the Center’s work today.

During Starr’s time as Executive Director at Polsky, she ran and expanded the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge (NVC), which awards over $1M in funding and services to top entrepreneurial companies each year. The NVC is ranked the #1 university accelerator program in the nation. Since 1996, the NVC has fostered more than 800 startups, with 180+ that are still in operation and growing strong, has created thousands of jobs, and has produced exits of over nearly $6 billion, including Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) and Braintree Venmo (acquired by eBay’s PayPal for $800 million). In 2017, Starr testified before the U.S. Congress’ Committee on Small Business on the role of accelerator programs in creating new jobs and positively influencing economic development.

Shivani Siroya is the founder and CEO of Tala, the first financial platform for the Global Majority. Over 10 million people across East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America have used Tala products to start and expand small businesses, manage day-to-day needs, and pursue their financial goals with confidence. Tala has raised nearly half a billion dollars and has been named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50 five years in a row and Forbes’ Fintech 50 list for eight years running. Shivani is an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow, a WEF Young Global Leader, Senior TED Fellow, and an Ashoka Fellow.

For Wired’s 25th-anniversary issue, Melinda Gates nominated her as
one of the 25 icons shaping the future.

Mia Saini Duchnowski is a journalist, engineer, investor, and a successful entrepreneur who sold her first VC-backed company, Oars + Alps, to SC Johnson. Currently, she serves as the cofounder and Board Member of Oars + Alps, a digitally native skin care brand for people who lead an active, on-the-go lifestyle. The products are made with naturally-derived, premium ingredients and are sold on Target and Amazon to name a few. The company launched in 2015 after Mia quit her high-profile job as a TV reporter/anchor with Bloomberg TV, one of the largest financial TV networks in the world.

Mia spent over three years with Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong and in New York City where she was responsible for global economic, political and business coverage. She was the first person at the network to interview the chairman of Microsoft, John Thompson, after he became chairman. She’s interviewed hundreds of CEOs and heads of states including the former CEO of Burberry, Angela Ahrendts, and Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson. She’s routinely covered breaking news stories, such as the disappearance of MH 370, Nelson Mandela’s death, and Steve Job’s passing.

Prior to joining Bloomberg in June 2011, Mia served as an anchor and reporter for Forbes TV. She reported from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as well as interviewed prominent business leaders including Warren Buffett, former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, Blackstone co-founder Pete Peterson, former Bear Stearns CEO Ace Greenberg, SAP CEO Bill McDermott and more. Earlier in her career, Mia was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, working in hedge fund sales and marketing. There, she helped establish strategic relationships with hedge funds representing over $1.2 billion in portfolio value.

Mia earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She earned a double major from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in neuroscience and media studies, and a double minor in civil engineering and management science. While at MIT, she interned at NASA Ames Research Center doing artificial intelligence research. She was featured in Glamour Magazine as one of their Top Ten College Women in 2004.

Mia was named as one of Crain’s Magazine 40 Under 40 in 2020 and was the emcee for the 2020 TedX Wrigleyville event. Currently, she sits on the Auxiliary Board of the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo. Mia actively interviews high school seniors looking to study STEM subjects at MIT. She is also active in the Chicago startup ecosystem and enjoys mentoring students. She loves cycling and watching film noir movies and lives in Chicago with her husband and their five kids: Tabytha, Thiesson, Kempson, Aubrienna and Sienna.

Rick Desai is a partner at Listen, a brand-focused venture capital firm in Chicago. At Listen, Rick leads investment strategy, sourcing, and diligence and works closely with portfolio companies on marketing and technology initiatives. Rick is also a co-founder of Dashfire, a startup studio that built and invested in over 40+ companies since 2009 including 20 in Chicago. Rick was awarded a Clinton Fellowship in 2008 and spent one year leading social enterprise strategies in urban Indian slums. He previously was an investor at Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm and was in Lehman Brothers Investment Banking Group.

Rick is an active supporter and investor in the Chicago tech eco-system. Rick is a graduate of Georgetown University and co-founder of Venturing Hoyas.

Aaditi Tamhankar is an analyst with Bluestein Ventures, where her responsibilities include engaging with startups, due diligence analysis, and supporting portfolio companies.

Prior to Bluestein, Aaditi was at Emerton, a global consulting firm, where she honed her analytical skills, working with food, energy, and infrastructure companies on applying a strategy-led approach to operating and business models. During undergrad, Aaditi held internships at Plant-Based Solutions and Ocean Hugger Foods, where she identified new market opportunities and delved into industry trends to inform growth strategy.

Aaditi graduated from Wharton with a BS in economics, magna cum laude.

Shivani is passionate about building purposeful brands that drive impact. She believes in everyday wellness and envisions creating easier ways to be more mentally and physically balanced in our everyday lives. Combining these two passions, she, along with her two co-founders built Cubii while they were still studying at The University of Chicago.

Cubii’s mission is to build beautiful, simple, and safe products that help people take the first step in their health and wellness journey. Their flagship product is a compact seated elliptical that helps you “Get Fit While You Sit” – at your couch at home or desk at the office. The brand continues to grow and was included in Inc. 500’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2020 for the second time in a row.

Jason Heltzer began his career in venture capital in 2001 and is currently a managing partner at Origin Ventures. Heltzer is a board member or observer for Tovala, Vivrelle, Prisidio, Idelic, Blackcart, and several unannounced investments.

Heltzer’s prior investments include Tock (acquired by Squarespace), Cartavi (acquired by Docusign), Base CRM (acquired by Zendesk), Brightnest (acquired by Angie’s List), Alert Logic (acquired by Welsh-Carson), and FeeFighters (acquired by Groupon). Heltzer also worked closely with TradeKing (acquired by Ally Bank). Before his venture capital career, Heltzer spent three and a half years as a software engineer and software architect for Deloitte Consulting. He also led engineering and business teams at 1stUp, a San Francisco-based startup.

Heltzer received a BS in computer science, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan. Heltzer also received an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship, with high honors, from Chicago Booth, where he was a Siebel Scholar and Wallman Scholar. In addition to his professional responsibilities at Origin, Heltzer is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, where he teaches the venture capital and private equity lab class.

Jason has an interest in movies, and has watched every Best Picture movie from 1927 to present, plus about 200 documentaries. In addition, for most of his life, Jason has been addicted to video games, which is what prompted him to teach himself how to code when he was 13.

Karthee Madasamy is the founding managing partner at MFV Partners, a Silicon Valley based, early-stage deep tech venture fund targeting technology startups disrupting traditional industries like logistics, automotive, manufacturing, and others. Karthee invests in frontier-tech startups in robotics, artificial intelligence, energy, quantum computing, and data platforms. He represents MFV Partners’ investments in PsiQuantum (Quantum Computing Hardware), Agility Robotics (Humanoid Robotics for Manufacturing), and Sun Mobility (EV Tech platform), among others.

Before MFV, Karthee spent 11 years as a corporate vice president and managing director at Qualcomm Ventures, where he invested across the US, Israel, and India. He started Qualcomm Ventures’ investment activities in both Israel and India. Some of his notable investments include Waze (acquired by Google), MapMyIndia (NSE: MAPMYINDIA), Validity Sensors (acquired by Synaptics), and BORQS (NASDAQ IPO), among others. He continues as an independent director at MapMyIndia.

Before Qualcomm Ventures, Karthee led technical and product marketing roles in three semiconductor and wireless startups in Silicon Valley, specializing in 3G, WiFi, and bluetooth.

Karthee has a bachelor’s in electronics and communication engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai, India, and a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. Karthee also holds an MBA from Chicago Booth. Karthee is also a Kauffman Fellow.

Stella Garber is co-founder and chief executive officer of Hoop, the AI-powered task manager for busy professionals. Hoop connects to email, chat and meetings to automatically generate and aggregate tasks across tools. Previously, Stella was the vice president of marketing at Trello where she came on as the first marketer and helped grow the company through Atlassian’s $425 million acquisition of Trello in 2017 and beyond.

Stella is an active angel investor in 32 companies and advises startups and venture funds. While at Booth, Stella won the New Venture Challenge in 2013.

Stella holds a BA in psychology from Northwestern University and an MBA ’15 from Chicago Booth.

Josh Lockhart is the chief technology officer (CTO) at Aeropay, a financial technology company specializing in bank-to-bank (ACH) transfers. He joined Aeropay in May 2024, bringing extensive experience from his previous roles at PayPal, Braintree, and as vice president of engineering at GoFundMe. A native of Chicago, Josh is committed to leveraging his expertise to enhance Aeropay’s technological capabilities and drive innovation in the payments industry.

It’s important to note that Aeropay and Aeroplay are distinct entities. Aeropay focuses on financial technology solutions, while Aeroplay Entertainment provides in-flight entertainment services. As of now, there is no publicly available information indicating that Josh Lockhart holds a CEO position at Aeroplay Entertainment.

Josh holds a BS in computer science from University of Illinois Springfield.

Ali Mahmoud is a principal at Glasswing Ventures. In his role, he is responsible for sourcing, investing in, and supporting AI-native applications of software and frontier technology in the enterprise markets. His governance experience includes Observer roles on the Boards of Ship Angel, FeatureByte, Verusen, Labviva, CloudTruth, Zylotech (acquired by Terminus), and Plannuh (acquired by Planful).

Prior to Glasswing, Ali worked on the investment teams of Morpheus Ventures and Lightbank, focusing on early-stage B2B technologies across a variety of sectors. Prior to venture capital, Ali served as head of business development and founding team member at SixPlus. He built out the sales, marketing, and business development functions. Ali started his career at EY, where he worked with global teams on advisory and financial statement audit engagements for the financial services industry.

Ali graduated summa cum laude from University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BBA in accounting and holds an MBA from Chicago Booth.

Dipa leads the Corporate Development and Ventures group at Advocate Aurora Enterprises (AAE). AAE is a subsidiary of Advocate Aurora Health, one of the largest health systems in the United States. She supports the AAE category leaders in sourcing, diligence, negotiating, and post- transaction reporting for a variety of different transaction types. Dipa was formerly a Managing Director at Sandbox Industries, a Chicago-based venture capital firm which is the investment manager to the Blue Venture Fund. The Blue Venture Fund is a unique collaboration between BCBS companies, BCBSA, and Sandbox.  Sandbox is an independent company that provides healthcare-related investment management exclusively for the Blue Venture Fund. Prior to Sandbox, Dipa was at Amgen Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Amgen. At Amgen, Dipa worked closely with the global commercial and marketing organizations to identify companies in the digital health space for Amgen’s commercial products. Dipa started her career in the Global Healthcare Group at UBS and the Healthcare Fund at Paul Capital Partners, which invested in late-stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Dipa earned a BS from the New York University Stern School of Business and an MBA from Chicago Booth where she received the Chicago Booth Leadership Award of Distinction. Dipa is also a Kauffman Fellow.

She lives in Chicago, IL with her husband and twin toddler boys.

Alyssa Jaffee is a partner at 7wireVentures where she invests in companies that empower everyone to be better stewards of their health. She holds board roles at Caraway Health, NOCD, MedArrive, Brightline, Zerigo Health, and Jasper Health. Previously, Alyssa was an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Hyde Park Angels. Alyssa is also a cofounder of TransparentCareer, a NVC winning company helping people make more data-driven career decisions. Alyssa spent time at the Advisory Board Company where she launched new technologies and consulted hundreds of hospital executives to understand their needs and recommend solutions.

Alyssa attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received an MBA from Chicago Booth. Her work and accomplishments have been featured in Fortune, Stat News, MedCity News, Crain’s, and more.

Tunde Oshinowo is a vice president, portfolio growth for Sandbox Healthcare. He supports the Blue Venture Fund’s investments in Lumeris, First Dollar, tango, and HeartFlow.

Prior to Sandbox, Tunde was an associate at Abundant Venture Partners, where he focused on digital health and senior care. Tunde started his career in digital product design at Next College Student Athlete, the largest athletic recruiting network in the US.

An NFL alumni, Tunde played professional football for four years following his time at Stanford University, where he received a BS in electrical engineering. Tunde holds an MBA from Chicago Booth.

Eric Alvarez is the founder and chief executive officer of Grapefruit Health, an innovative startup addressing the healthcare workforce shortage in the United States. As an alumni of Rush University, where he also serves as adjunct faculty, Eric brings valuable knowledge to his role.

Eric’s diverse background includes service in the United States Air Force as an aviation electrical and environmental systems specialist on C-5 aircraft. His also has extensive hospital administration experience at UChicago and Northwestern, as well as prior startup experience as chief operating officer of Cloud-based/SaaS Enterprise Healthcare Solutions Company Fibroblast, which was acquired by Cerner.

Under Eric’s leadership, Grapefruit Health is pioneering a unique approach to healthcare staffing by creating the first national workforce composed entirely of clinical students. The company recruits, trains, and manages these students to perform remote work for healthcare organizations through proprietary software. Eric’s innovative approach has led to several achievements for Grapefruit Health, including being selected for the Amazon Web Services Healthcare Accelerator: Global Cohort for Workforce.

Driven by a passion for solving complex problems and making a positive impact, Eric Alvarez is at the forefront of addressing critical challenges in the healthcare industry while providing valuable opportunities for clinical students.

Eric holds a master degree in health systems management from Rush University.

Meghan Doyle is the chief executive officer and cofounder of Partum Health, where she combines her deep experience in consumer health with her passion for supporting women and families. Prior to founding Partum, Meghan was a senior principal at Boston Consulting Group where she partnered with leading health systems, payers and health services clients to develop and launch growth strategies.

She is also a mom, and was inspired to found Partum after an underwhelming maternal care experience that included cobbling together her own pre and postnatal specialty care. Meghan has a BA from UNC-Chapel Hil and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and.

Lily Wang is the co-founder & chief executive officer of Demi, a social enterprise that aims to combat the climate crisis by making composting mainstream amongst urban residents, starting with Chicago. Their mission is to create a healthier planet by cultivating a culture of composting amongst local communities through sleek biodegradable bins, a mobile interface, affordable collection services, collaborative partnerships, and educational tools and resources. Lily works with local residents, businesses, and families to advance the necessary tools, resources, and training to achieve a truly circular economy, reduce 25 million tons of landfilled food waste and mitigate up to 10 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Lily received an MBA from Chicago Booth, where she was a Forte Fellow and C200 Scholar.

Sara Chamberlain is co-founder & managing director at Earth Foundry, an early-stage venture capital firm which has backed some of the most transformative energy and cleantech companies. Sara is the driving force of the firm, leading investment activity and actively building cutting edge companies including Advanced Diamond Technologies (acquired by SMIN), Azumo, e-Zinc, Intelihot, NanoGraf, Network Perception, Polystyvert, Tank Utility (acquired by Generac), and Volexion.

Prior to Earth Foundry, Sara built government advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and helped climate tech startups raise $300M in non-dilutive funding. She also held roles with GE Energy and environmental consulting firm, GaiaTech.

Sara is an advocate for the ecosystem and serves on the Investment Committee for accelerator Evergreen Climate Innovations, an incubator program at Argonne National Laboratory, and as an executive-in-residence at the Rustandy Center-Chicago Booth. Fortune recently recognized Sara as a Top Seed Stage Climate VC to watch, and in 2015 by Midwest Energy News “40 under 40.”

Sara currently sits on the board of Earth Foundry portfolio companies 3E Nano, Azumo, e-Zinc, Harvest Thermal, Polystyvert, and Volexion.

Sara earned an undergraduate degree from Emory University and an MBA from Chicago Booth.

Fernando Carranza is a venture capital investor with Cleveland Avenue’s CAST US Fund, where he invests in tech-driven businesses led by founders from under-resourced communities that can catalyze systemic change.

Before joining Cleveland Avenue, Fernando was a director of venture at Digital Currency Group in New York City, helping to shape the future of decentralized finance. His career began in investment banking at Société Générale where he advised companies on financing strategies, mergers, and acquisitions, across the US and EMEA regions. Fernando left Société Générale to lead the first Latinx-focused incubator in the US at 1871 Chicago, and later joined Agora Partnerships in Mexico City as an impact investor.

Fernando graduated with a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Fernando also received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management as a Toigo Foundation Fellow, MLT Fellow, and ICM Mosaic Fellow.

Kelsey Willock Jones is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Aura Finance – a venture backed, financial wellness employee benefit platform that combines AI-powered coaching and wealth management. She is also the founder of Stuck in Notes magazine & Author of the weekly newsletter “Not Your Boyfriend’s Investment Advice.”

Kelsey Jones began her career at Goldman Sachs. She was a vice president in the Global Markets Division. where she worked with firm’s top hedge fund clients. In addition, she was an ambassador for Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs’ $1 billion investment strategy grounded in our belief that diverse teams drive strong returns. Through Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs aims to increase access to capital and facilitate connections for women, Black, Latinx & other diverse entrepreneurs and investors. She actively sourced investment opportunities for Launch Lead investors and coordinated west coast events to grow the ecosystem.

Kelsey is actively involved with WISE (Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy), Women in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and an executive committee member of Wake NOW (the Wake Forest Network of Women).

Kelsey holds a BS and BA in business and English from Wake Forest University.

Kelsey manages our active portfolio of investments in fintech and
related companies. She also tracks and monitors relevant fintech
companies for potential partnership and investment opportunities for
Alloy Labs members. She conducts due diligence and market and
financial analysis.

Before joining Alloy Labs she was an Investment Banking Associate
at Citigroup Global Markets, where she led day-to-day transaction
coverage, including ratings analytics, investor outreach, relationship
management, and syndicate coordination.

Kelsey graduated cum laude with BS in business administration from
the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, and she
holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of
Business.

Saurabh Sharma is a Partner and Head of Venture Investments at Jump Crypto where he invests across Blockchain Infrastructure, Open Finance and Web3 primitives. Saurabh has been instrumental in setting up and scaling Jump’s crypto investing efforts and has witnessed closely the rise of this technology paradigm and asset class. Saurabh is an active participant in DAO governance for some of the leading protocols and enjoys studying new token driven economic models.

Prior to this, Saurabh was a General Partner at Jump Capital where he led Infrastructure and Application Software investments and sat on multiple boards. Saurabh started his career as a High-Performance Computing Researcher at French National Research Institute, worked as a quant trader with Lehman Brothers and led data science, operations, and marketing teams at Groupon.

Saurabh received a Masters in Computer Science from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jump Crypto is a leading research, development and investing firm building the next frontier in crypto infrastructure. Jump Crypto has been partnering, innovating, and trading in the crypto world for years with the aim is to help lay down the pavers and conduit that will shape the future of the industry.

Sean Harper is the CEO and co-founder of Kin Insurance. Founded
in 2016, Kin is working at the intersection of software and insurance to bring more affordable insurance options to homeowners in catastrophe-prone regions. Sean holds a bachelor’s in economics and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Meenakshi is the Co-founder and CTO of Manifest, a fintech startup transforming the way individuals consolidate and manage retirement accounts. Before founding Manifest, she spent over 12 years at Goldman Sachs, building innovative technology solutions for the financial sector. Passionate about the intersection of technology and finance, Meenakshi is committed to building accessible and impactful solutions that empower financial security.

Meenakshi earned her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in June ’21. She was a founding member of the E/W FinTech Club and won the 2018 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge for Manifest. She also holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science.

Allison is a Partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners and has been with the firm since 2019. 

Prior to HPVP Allison ran business operations for Civis Analytics, a Chicago-based data science software startup. She also co-founded Flag Analytics, a predictive analytics company focused on public safety, and spent her early career in healthcare consulting at Accenture. She is a 2017 MBA/MPP from the University of Chicago. 

Alexandra (Alex) Chung is an Investor at Chai Ventures, where she invests in high-potential, women-led startups across consumer, healthcare, and the future of work sectors. Passionate about supporting early-stage companies, she has curated impactful deal flow, fostered strategic partnerships, and contributed to successful initial investments that align with Chai Ventures’ mission to empower women entrepreneurs. Her previous experience includes roles at Decibel, Fortress, and Loeb.nyc, where she honed her ability to identify high-growth opportunities and develop go-to-market strategies for transformative companies.

Alex earned her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Philosophy with Allied Fields from the University of Chicago. Outside of work, she is a dedicated runner, having completed the NYC Marathon while raising funds for Tackle

Vikram is an investor at Rocketship.vc, a generalist early-stage investment firm with portfolio companies across 14 countries and most major industry sectors. At Rocketship, Vikram has led 10+ investments and worked closely with portfolio companies on several key projects. Prior to Rocketship, Vikram worked at the Boston Consulting Group for over four years, and had short stints in investing with Jump Capital and the 49ers Enterprises, as well as in marketing at Ecolab. He holds an undergraduate engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Kristina Chapple is a General Partner at 11 Tribes Ventures- an
early-stage fund that proactively invests in the resilience of their founders. In the industry, she is known for asking thoughtful and empathetic questions that challenge conventional approaches to diligence and post-investment support.

Kristina joined 11 Tribes as the first hire, helping the firm grow by deploying the remaining checks from Fund I ($11M) and supporting the Fund II raise ($40M). She is the “front door” of the firm, responsible for bringing 11 Tribes to market to source founders and assess companies through diligence. Thus far from Fund II, Kristina has led investments in companies like Alloy Market, LegalKarma, GoNanas, Nutrad, LeaseUp, and Circadian Risk.

Under her leadership, 11 Tribes is crafting an academically-verified organizational health study and reimagining the founder experience from the first call through to exit. Founders consistently describe 11 Tribes as “the VC that truly cares about them,” and Kristina is proving that healthy founders lead to healthy returns and business outcomes do not have to come at the expense of the founder

Sonia Nagar is a Venture Capitalist, angel investor, and board director. Sonia is currently a General Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital responsible for sourcing, diligence and oversight of the firm’s investments in marketplaces, consumer products and services, and emerging technology companies. Before joining PGVC Sonia was vice president of product and head of mobile apps for RetailMeNot, responsible for leading an app redesign that earned a People’s Voice Webby Award for Best Shopping App. Sonia joined RetailMeNot in 2014 following its acquisition of Pickie, the venture-backed mobile shopping start-up she co-founded in 2011. Prior to Pickie, Sonia was a senior associate for Booz & Company, and worked in product management, investment banking, and engineering roles with Amazon, Goldman Sachs and General Motors.

Melissa Harris began her career as a journalist, capping 15 years in media as a business columnist for the Chicago Tribune. While earning her MBA from the Chicago Booth, Melissa joined a real estate private equity firm as vice president of marketing.

Facing a mountain of MBA student debt and with a newborn infant, Melissa took the greatest risk of her life: She left the world of private equity to start her own company. Three years later, M. Harris & Co. has become one of the fastest-growing marketing firms in the Midwest.

Scott Walbrun is a principal venture capital investor at BMW i Ventures, the independent venture capital fund managed on behalf of BMW Group based in Silicon Valley, where he focuses on Series A & B investments around the future of mobility, energy, artificial intelligence. In this capacity, Scott has served on the board of eight companies. He also serves as a mentor and workshop leader for hundreds of startups through various accelerator programs across the country.

Prior to joining BMW i Ventures, Scott provided M&A and capital markets advisory as a member of Jefferies’ Technology Investment Banking team. Scott joined Jefferies after completing his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. While completing his MBA, he worked at Kinzie Capital Partners evaluating private equity investments, as well as at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation supporting the commercialization of science-based and deep tech companies.

Prior to business school, Scott managed Strategic Finance and FP&A at Truck Hero (a TA Associates portfolio company) and began his career in Fiat Chrysler’s Finance Leadership Development Program.