The AVG Team

Bio: Cainon has 10+ years’ experience in finance, venture capital, and entrepreneurship, having worked at Boston Consulting Group and PBM Capital Group as well as serving on the founding team of five startups. At BCG, he worked in their private equity practice to conduct due diligence across the semiconductor, transportation, and medical device industries. At PBM (a $500M healthcare-focused venture capital firm), he led investments and worked as an operating partner within portfolio companies (including Human Design Medical, Revive Pharmaceuticals, and Triangle Research Labs). Cainon is a co-founder and advisor of Viafy and was previously a co-founder and CEO of University Laundry (acquired by a national operator and now part of Proctor & Gamble’s marquee Tide brand). He has an MBA from MIT Sloan and a BS from the University of Virginia in Systems Engineering.
Notable Deals: Optimus Ride, Human Design Medical, RapidSOS, Vesper

Bio: Andre is an experienced investor, investment banker, and entrepreneur. He backed leading-edge Internet ventures such as Songza (GooglePlay), Trulia (sold to Zillow), Dash (sold to RIM), and Oodle (sold to QVC). He co-founded Deep Fork Capital as a Managing Partner of Fund I, investing for an ultra-high net worth family, and also founded wine management business Vintrust ($300M+ in assets). Earlier, he managed a $500M venture fund for billionaire Bernard Arnault, ran Morgan Stanley’s global Internet banking practice (working directly with Mary Meeker), and founded the Internet banking practice at Robertson Stephens. He received an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 1995, JD at Boston University School of Law, and BA in Economics from Trinity College.
Notable Deals: Trulia, Songza, Dataminr, Oodle

Bio: Dave has held operating roles in sales and business development at venture-backed companies focused on digital health (Zocdoc) and enterprise cloud software (Shibumi). He has also invested as a Venture Partner at NextGen and an LP at CRE Venture Capital. Dave began his career in investment banking and corporate strategy at Deutsche Bank. He has a BA in Economics from Brown.
Notable Deals: Circulation, Andela

Bio: Lacey joined Green D Ventures from CareGroup Investment Office, a $3B manager of combined endowment and pension assets. As a member of the investment team, Lacey was responsible for investment sourcing and due diligence. Lacey managed investment opportunities across asset classes and strategies, including venture capital, growth equity, buyout, private credit, and hedge fund vehicles. Previously, she was an Associate at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and an Analyst in the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs. Lacey has a BA in History from Middlebury College and an MBA from Tuck.
Notable Deals Propel, WelbeHealth

Bio: Steve has over 20 years of operating and investing experience, having closed 30+ equity, debt, and M&A transactions totaling ~$5 billion. Previously, he was Founder and Managing Partner of Fox Meadow Capital Partners, a PE and infrastructure investment and advisory firm. Prior to that, he was a General Partner and top performer at Clarity Partners, an $800M PE fund, and a Vice President and top performer at Clarity’s predecessor, Rader Reinfrank & Co., a $100M TMT venture capital fund. While at Clarity, Steve founded ImpreMedia, which he built into the largest Spanish language newspaper company in the US as CFO/EVP of Corporate Development. Steve has also worked in investment banking and as a developer and investor in energy and utilities. He has a JD from Stanford, an MBA from Cornell, and a BS with distinction from Cornell’s College of Engineering. Steve teaches Advanced Private Equity at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and serves on the advisory council of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP).
Notable Deals: Trillium Digital Systems, Multex, PrimeCo, ImpreMedia, Verity Studios, Veem

Bio: Alain has 30+ years of experience as a VC, angel investor, CEO, serial entrepreneur, Board Member, and advisor. He was Co-founder of Common Angels, New England’s leading investment group; Managing Director and CEO of Navigator Technology Ventures, a high-tech VC firm funded by Draper Lab; and CEO of Viewlogic, an innovative chip design software company. Alain has mentored over 100 MIT high-tech spinoffs and served on the MassTech Board through the terms of six governors. He was honored as Inc Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He has BSEE and SB Math degrees from MIT, SM Computer Science from Harvard, and OPM from Harvard Business School.
Notable Deals: Viewlogic, Applix, EverQuote

Bio: Shyam has been a technology entrepreneur, investor, and dealmaker for over 20 years. Until recently, he led business development at Tactai, a leading-edge startup focused on haptics for virtual reality and mobile computing. Previously, Shyam was with Fidelity Investments’ Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital platforms, where he led venture capital investments in technology across three funds that spanned the US, Europe, and Asia. His operating experience also includes leading worldwide business development for the data security division of RSA Security. Shyam received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Bombay, a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University, and MBA degrees from Columbia Business School and London Business School.

Bio: Brian is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 year of investing experience across a range of industries.Before joining Chestnut Street Ventures, Brian was the Managing Director for New York Ventures, the venture capital arm of the State of New York. Prior to New York Ventures, Brian was VP of Strategy & Corporate Development at Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) and a Managing Director at the Peacock Fund, the venture capital arm of NBC Universal. Before joining the Peacock Fund, Brian worked at GE Capital and Bain & Co.Brian holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from The University of Southern California.
Notable Deals: Outlooksoft, The Rubicon Project, Adify, Unite Us

Bio: Throughout most of her career, Erin has managed a wide range of investments in venture, private equity, buyouts, and more at the senior level. Previously, she was a Senior Investment Officer at Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM), where she managed and invested a $9B portfolio of PE and private debt investments. In this capacity, she sat on numerous boards of top VC & PE firms. Prior to PRIM, Erin was a VP at Bank of America Capital Advisors, investing across the private equity and real estate landscape. In addition, she held positions at Silicon Valley Bank in commercial finance and Citi Group in sales and trading. Erin has an AB in Economics from Harvard with honors, where she was an All-American lacrosse player, and an MBA from Tuck.
Notable Deals: SimpliSafe, JUMP, STRIVR, Landi

Bio: Ron has spent his career in a variety of entrepreneurial, leadership and business development roles. He has been an angel investor and advisor to over a dozen technology startups. Ron was co-founder and CEO of Barcelona-based TravelPerk, a venture capital-backed travel management platform that is ranked as one of the world’s fastest-growing SaaS companies as well as one of the most popular business travel booking tools in the market. Prior to TravelPerk, Ron started the B2B division of Booking.com and before that was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. Ron began his career at Lycos, one of the web’s pioneer search engine and web portals. He has lived in four European cities and traveled for business and pleasure to over 130 countries on six continents. Ron graduated from Babson College and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bio: Peter has 20+ years of experience as a business innovator, leader, and investor in Silicon Valley, Europe, and Asia. He is a member of the Forbes Global CEO network; has served on numerous boards and done business in 40+ countries. He was Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Co., a Co-founder and seed investor of Silicon Valley Data Science, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Almaz Capital, and a partner at Alloy Ventures. Previously, he was a founding member and operating executive with several startups. Peter is a co-inventor of several patented mobile messaging technologies and earned an MBA and BS in Engineering from UC Berkeley. Notable Deals: Yandex (IPO), Xactly (IPO), Qik (acq. by Skype) and Silicon Valley Data Science (acq. by Apple).
Notable Deals: Qik, Yandex, Xactly, Silicon Valley Data Science

Bio: Prior to joining Spike Ventures, Catherine was a successful entrepreneur, product manager, and software engineer. She was Director of Product at NEA-backed DataVisor, an enterprise company offering an unsupervised machine learning fraud solution. Prior to DataVisor, she co-founded the retail analytics company Fancy That, which was acquired by Palantir in 2015. While at Stanford, she built an online platform used by thousands of students and instructors to streamline grading. Catherine graduated from Stanford with a BS and MS in Computer Science, focusing on artificial intelligence.
Notable Deals: Capella Space, Haven, Lily AI, Sunfolding

Bio: Michael has spent most of his career in leadership roles at growing organizations. He has focused his time primarily as an investor, advisor, and/or board member working with companies across a range of industries and stages. Prior to co-founding The Yard, he served as Managing Director of Square 1, leading the expansion of the New England region while providing growth financing to dozens of venture-backed companies. Previously, Michael was an investor at Edison Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, and Summit Partners. He earned an AB from Harvard University( ’00), where he was a four-year letter winner in both Varsity Football and Varsity Baseball. Michael later received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Notable Deals: JUMP, SimpliSafe, Getaround, STRIVR

Bio: Emil was previously Senior Manager at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center, where he was responsible for investment sourcing, due diligence, and closings in renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, mobility, and related sectors. Prior to this role, Emil was Manager of Innovation and Corporate Venturing at Liberty Mutual Insurance, and earlier he sourced investments for General Catalyst Partners. Emil holds a BSc. degree in Finance from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, where he concentrated in VC and PE.
Notable Deals: Algorand, Circle, Mtonomy, Codex Protocol

Bio: Tom Meyer is an experienced CEO and strategic consultant. Prior to becoming Managing Partner of Nassau Street Ventures and Senior Partner at Alumni Ventures Group, Tom was the Chief Operating Officer of OnePak, the leading reverse logistics software company and consultant to over 30 companies, advising on corporate development, sales and marketing, financing, strategic planning, and business transformation. Mr. Meyer has been CEO of three different tech companies, which he successfully turned around. As general manager, he launched Iron Mountain’s award-winning Digital Record Center. He brings a global perspective to business, having lived in Europe and Asia and worked in 40 countries around the globe. Mr. Meyer has an engineering degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He is the former chair of the Princeton Entrepreneurs’ Network of Boston.
Notable Deals: Mapquest, Connotate

Bio: Wayne has held positions in both successful startups and thriving tech firms and brings a wealth of operational experience building teams, executing deals, and developing clients. He is committed to the growth of the venture and tech community in Chicago, serves as an advisor to a number of startups, and is a founding board member of Great Lakes Academy Charter School. Previously, he led analysis, negotiation, and deal execution for the global content acquisition team at Netflix. Before that, he was VP of Business Development at Silver Chalice Ventures, a digital media startup owned by the Chicago White Sox. Wayne began his career in the US Navy, serving as a Surface Warfare Officer. He holds a BS in industrial engineering from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg.
Notable Deals: Relayr, Exicure

Bio: Ludwig is an experienced entrepreneur, venture investor, and strategic business consultant. Most recently, he was Founder and CEO of Mistral Mobile, delivering mobile fintech solutions to 12M+ people in emerging markets. Earlier, he was General Manager, Digital Financial Services and Business Development & Strategy Lead at Nokia, where he drove global sales, product management and development, and business development. In addition, he oversaw Growth Projects for the Executive Board. At LVMH Venture Fund & LPS Group, Ludwig was a venture investor and product manager. He also served as a Strategy Consultant to The Boston Consulting Group. Ludwig began his career launching and developing a number of startups and small businesses. He has a BA in Political Economy from Brown and an MBA from Columbia. He holds several patents and is an active investor.
Notable Deals: gate5, EMR Ventures

Bio: Carly has spent her career with technology companies, in business development and product roles. Prior to joining Blue Ivy Ventures, Carly worked at dataxu, a marketer-aligned data and analytics company, where her responsibilities included overseeing strategic partnerships, managing multiple BD relationships and leading product development efforts. Carly has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, where she was on the women’s varsity rowing team.
Notable Deals: Honor, Humatics

Bio: Katie is a VP of Strategic Relationships at AVG. She works with institutional investors and wealth advisors interested in learning about AVG’s products. Previously, she was a Senior Relationship Manager for State Street Global Advisors, the third largest institutional asset manager, focused on the firm’s largest Sub-Advisory clients. Key responsibilities included client management with a focus on sales and business development. Prior to that Katie focused on capital raising in the hedge fund industry. Earlier positions included institutional sales trading, proprietary trading at Goldman Sachs and equity research at a mutual fund company. Katie earned her BS with a concentration in Economics from Babson College.

Bio: Prior to joining AVG, Hilary was a Staffing Executive and Program Manager at Robert Half. Previous positions include Retirement Planning & Guidance Consultant for Fidelity and an Investor Assistant for an independent investor. She has a Bachelor of Science, Business Management & Marketing from Fisher College.

Bio: Luis is an experienced strategy, operations, and sales leader who joined Alumni Ventures Group in 2018. Prior to AVG, he held several positions at Liberty Mutual, including roles in corporate strategy and customer experience. Most recently, he served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives, where he led large-scale projects across Liberty Mutual’s 8,000-person U.S. Claims organization. Earlier, Luis led business development and client relationships operations in the Northeast US for BCA Research, a firm serving traditional asset managers, RIAs, and hedge fund managers. Luis holds a B.S. from Boston College and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Bio: Andrew is an experienced strategy, marketing, and early stage investment leader who joined Alumni Ventures Group in 2019. Prior to joining AVG, Andrew was the CEO of a digital marketing company in Burlington, Vermont which doubled in size/revenues during his tenure. Preceding that, he was the VP of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, operating the incubator and seed capital fund. Andrew serves on the board of WheelPad, an L3C that builds accessible housing veterans. Andrew holds an MBA from the University of Vermont.

Bio: Pierre is head of distribution and key account manager for AVG’s broad fund line, helping customers learn about products and nurturing client relationships. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Amundi Pioneer Investments, the second oldest asset manager within the US, managing nearly $400B in assets. Key responsibilities included client relationship management with a focus on sales and asset retention at the institutional and wholesale level. Prior to that, he was Managing Director at Piedmont Capital, the exclusive distributor of Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he managed key account relationships. Earlier positions included Senior Vice President for Prudential Financial and Vice President at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, US. Pierre has a BA in International Economics from Hawaii Pacific University.

Bio: Ingrid joined Alumni Ventures Group from Athena Capital Advisors, a $4 billion Registered Investment Advisor/Multi-Family Office in Lincoln, MA, where she managed the Client Service team. Ingrid was directly responsible for operations in daily money movement & approvals, account opening and investment operations. Prior to Athena, Ingrid spent five years at Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Ingrid holds a BS in Business Administration from Bryant University.