Advisory Board

The following distinguished individuals have served as members of our Advisory Board from previous funds:

Mr. R. John Chapel, CEO and Founder of White Hall Capital, LLC

Mr. Chapel is CEO and founder of White Hall Capital, LLC, a Northern Virginia-based private equity investment firm. The company's primary focus is making majority or controlling equity investments in small to middle-market companies whose primary customers are departments or agencies of the US federal government.

Most recently Mr. Chapel was majority owner and COB of SENTECH, Inc., a provider of clean energy consulting services primarily to the US Government. SENTECH was sold to another government consulting company in June 2010. Previous to SENTECH Mr. Chapel was Chief Executive Officer and Owner of AVIEL Systems, Inc., a federal IT and management consulting services provider in areas critical to national security, transportation and defense. Prior to AVIEL, Mr. Chapel served as President and Chief Operating Officer of OPTIMUS, leading all operational aspects of the company including strategic planning and administration. Earlier, Mr. Chapel served as Chief Operating Officer of Computer & Hi-Tech Management, a $92 million professional services company specializing in providing IT services and solutions to the Department of Defense and public sector, where he led the company's successful transformation and acquisition. He began his career with Westinghouse in their defense sector in Baltimore, Maryland. He was employed there until 1979, including a two year assignment in Nigeria. He then had numerous management positions within the aerospace and defense industries.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for National Technologies Associates, a provider of services to the US Government, and Lexerd Capital, a private equity fund investing in multi-family housing, and on the InfoZen Corporation Advisory Board. He has also served as a Director at the Association for Corporate Growth, UTRON, Inc., the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Clubs, and as Chairman of SENTECH, Inc.

In addition to his business activities, Mr. and Mrs. Chapel have established the Chapel Family Foundation. The foundation supports many worthwhile causes. Among them is the establishment of the Dean’s Chair at Drexel for the Dean of the LeBow Business School, the sponsorship of a floor in the new building that will house the Lebow College, and being a main supporter of Paterno Fellows Program for the Liberal Arts College at Penn State University.

Upon graduation from Drexel with a BS in BA from the LeBow College of Business, Mr. Chapel attended the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina for one year. In 2009, Mr. Chapel was named to the Drexel 100. At Drexel, Mr. Chapel serves on the LeBow Campaign Committee, and he has also lectured at LeBow. Mr. Chapel and his wife, Virginia "Jinnie," reside in Ashburn, VA, and Kiawah, SC and they have two children.

Mr. Joseph D. Corvaia, Chairman, Xtreme Technologies Group

Joe Corvaia is Chairman and co-founder of Xtreme Technologies Group, a mobile computing solutions company. Xtreme Technologies Group was founded in November 1999. He became Chairman in October 2004, after spending thirty three years in the financial services sector.

In September 1998, Mr. Corvaia joined SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) as Senior Vice President. During his five years with Sallie Mae, held the title of Chief Credit Officer and President of SLM Financial, a consumer finance subsidiary. Prior to Sallie Mae, Mr. Corvaia held various senior and executive management positions, both financial and operational, with Equity One, a mortgage banking/consumer finance company, Credit Lenders Service Agency, a regional credit reporting agency and First Pennsylvania Bank.

Mr. Corvaia is a board member of PRWT Services, a privately held transactional services company in Philadelphia. and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA.

Mr. Corvaia received a BA in Economics from Ursinus College in 1970 and a MBA from Drexel University in 1976.

Mr. John Crosby, Real Estate Consultant

John Crosby has more than 25 years of real-estate related experience within the financial/capital markets. Mr. Crosby joined Salomon Brothers in 1981 in the real estate investment banking group and worked in a quasi sales/finance capacity. Following seven years at Salomon, Mr. Crosby joined Merrill Lynch in 1987 and managed the commercial mortgage trading desk. He then joined The Mortgage Capital Group of The Prudential Insurance Company and arranged for the sale of mortgage positions within the capital markets.

Mr. Crosby also was a Principal at Amcon Capital Partners, a California-based real estate partnership, where he focused on sale-leaseback (investment and non-investment grade) business. He was last employed as a Director at The Industrial Bank of Japan where he focused on asset-backed securities business, including some real-estate transactions. Mr. Crosby received a BA in American Literature at Brown University in 1967.

Mr. Phil Garfinkle, Managing Partner of Planet Cotton, Managing Director of Navig8

Phil Garfinkle is a highly successful technology visionary, bringing a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur, inventor, CEO, and investor, with a focus on emerging technologies. He is a five-time successful entrepreneur, held a number of senior management and engineering positions, is an active angel investor, and holds many patents.

Mr. Garfinkle is currently Managing Partner of Planet Cotton, Managing Director of Navig8, and a Venture Advisor for Gabriel Venture Partners. In addition, Mr. Garfinkle is the Chairman of Johns Hopkins Technology Commercialization Advisory Board. Mr. Garfinkle recently sold Trust Strategy Group where he was Managing Partner. Mr. Garfinkle focuses on transformational and transitional issues in an ever changing technology and global business environment. He possesses a unique blend of technological and business acumen to guide business on a path to success.

Mr. Garfinkle is an active board member in a number of technology companies. He was a founder of Yazam, a global Venture Capital firm, which was sold to US Technologies. Mr. Garfinkle founded PhotoNet Japan, which went public in 2002. He also founded PictureVision (Chairman, CEO, and President), which was sold to Kodak, where he also served as a General Manager and in the CTO’s office. PictureVision pioneered the first online photo processing, sharing, and printing services. He established alliances with AOL for “You’ve Got Pictures,” Sony’s ImageStation and many other major product lines. In addition he helps organizations refine their business approaches, raise capital, and find their path to success.

Mr. Garfinkle’s operating experience also includes CTO/VP Engineering at Network Imaging, VP Information Technologies at ASG, and several engineering positions at Teradyne and Comsat.

Mr. Garfinkle holds many patents in several areas of technology, including Object Management, Digital Photography and Processing, Network Printing, and Network Management. He serves on the boards of Shenandoah National Park Trust, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and Planet Cotton. He has authored numerous articles and papers and has co-authored two books, The Handbook of Multimedia Systems and The Handbook of Image Storage and Retrieval Systems.

Mr. Thomas M. Garvey, Former President, Chase Retail Mortgage

Thomas Garvey has worked for J.P. Morgan Chase Bank for 33 years and retired from his most recent position as Executive Vice President of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and President of Chase Retail Mortgage headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey. Prior to becoming President of Chase Retail Mortgage, Mr. Garvey’s responsibilities included the management of all prime and subprime mortgage originations for J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. Annual loan volume exceeded $100 billion in retail, wholesale, correspondent, home equity and direct to consumer business channels. These businesses employed over 7,500 sales and operational support people in 250 offices nationwide.

Mr. Garvey’s responsibilities included managing sales activities and growing mortgage market share nationwide throughout all of Chase Bank branches. Mr. Garvey has participated in numerous national and local partnerships with builders, joint-ventures, and community groups. As Vice Chairman of Chase Home Finance, Mt. Garvey represented the bank as a member of the National Housing Policy Council in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, Mr. Garvey argued for G.S.E reforms including requiring higher capitalization for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Garvey also argued against development of mortgage products like option ARMs and mortgage product features such as negative amortization. These products have recently unsettled world financial markets.

Mr. Garvey was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of Chase Personal Financial Services (PFS) located in the World Trade Center in New York, New York. PFS was the #1 jumbo mortgage lender in the United States and a two time finalist for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Mr. Garvey’s family founded the Kevin Guest House. The Kevin Guest is located in Buffalo, New York and holds the distinction of being the first hospitality house in America. The Kevin Guest house provides a place to stay at a nominal cost or free for families with relatives stricken with cancer. Mr. Garvey is a past member of the board of the Summit Speech School in Summit, New Jersey. Mr. Garvey was the assistant coach of the Summit High School women’s basketball team.

Mr. Garvey graduated from St. Mark’s Seminary in Erie, Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelor's degree from St. Bonaventure University and a Master's Degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

Ms. Marianne Keler, Partner, Keler & Kershow, PLLC

Marianne Keler is a partner in the law firm of Keler & Kershow, PLLC. She formerly served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae). In addition to her legal and consulting work, Ms. Keler currently serves as a director of U-Store-It, a NYSE-listed REIT in the self-storage industry. She also chairs the board of the American University of Bulgaria as well as the board of Building Hope, a charter school facilities fund. She also serves on a number of other education-related non-profit boards.

Ms. Keler began her legal career at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission before joining Sallie Mae. At Sallie Mae she served for over 21 years in both legal and business roles. In particular, she was the chief legal and governance advisor during Sallie Mae’s transformation from a single-purpose government-sponsored entity to a fully private, diversified financial services business.

Ms. Keler was born in Hungary and came to the United States in 1956, lived in Switzerland and France between 1964 and 1969 and attended high school in suburban Philadelphia. She received both her BS (1977) and her JD (1980) from Georgetown University.

Mr. Robert Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Wolverine Capital Corporation

Robert Levine is the Chief Executive Officer of Wolverine Capital Corporation (“W.C.C.”), which manages ownership interests in a number of diverse business activities, including various forms of real estate and manufacturing investments. W.C.C.’s real estate investments are generally in “Class B” apartment dwellings and land. In the manufacturing sector, W.C.C. owns a material interest in Garrett Container Systems Inc., which manufactures custom shipping containers for the U.S. Military and has annual sales of $35 million.

Prior to 2005, Robert Levine held the position of Executive Vice President, Servicing for Sallie Mae, in Reston Virginia. In this capacity, he maintained the operational efficiency of over $100 billion in student loan assets and service quality for seven million customers.

From 1990-1997 as Sallie Mae’s Treasurer, Levine managed the corporation’s approach to the capital markets worldwide. His responsibilities involved underwritten debt activity of approximately $15 billion annually, management of the firm’s $40 billion derivatives book, and serving as chairman of Sallie Mae’s Asset/Liability management committee.

Mr. Levine serves on the board of directors of Garrett Container Systems Inc. and Adoption Associates in Jenison, Michigan. In addition, Mr. Levine is a Finance Committee Member of Spectrum Health Hospitals in Grand Rapids Michigan. Mr. Levine received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1977 and his M.B.A. from George Washington University in 1980.

Mr. James M. Pagos, Chief Executive Officer, P TEK, LLC

Jim Pagos is Chief Executive Officer of P TEK, a privately owned LLC focused on consulting with technology companies, and investing in promising technology and real estate enterprises.

Mr. Pagos has an extensive track record in leading large, medium-sized and start-up organizations. His business experience spans executive and board positions in global industries and markets, and includes hands-on leadership in sales, marketing, international, business development, strategic planning, human resources and public policy.

Most recently, Mr. Pagos was CEO and Director of Renaissance Lighting in Herndon, Virginia. Renaissance Lighting is a leading innovator of LED lighting fixtures and was successfully acquired in 2010. Earlier, Jim served as CEO and Director of Vibrant Solutions, a software company marketing to the communications industry. Vibrant was successfully acquired in 2006. Prior to Vibrant, Jim was President, CEO and Director of Vectant, Inc., a multinational fiber optic infrastructure and services company centered in Japan and held privately by Marubeni Corporation.

Prior to these ventures, Jim worked for 27 years at AT&T, where he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in the varied businesses, operations and functions of the company. His last position was Chief Operating Officer of AT&T Solutions, one of the fastest growing businesses at AT&T at the time. There, he led a global team of more than 8,000 professionals who designed, sold, implemented and managed networks and e-commerce applications for Global 3000 clients. Earlier, Jim was Vice-President, Global Services, where he managed international services as well as the global partnerships for AT&T’s business sector. Over his career at AT&T, Jim held executive positions leading business units, and sales, marketing, human resources and public policy organizations.

Jim has served on numerous Boards of public and privately held companies. Most recently, he served for 12 years as a Director of TranSwitch Corporation, a leading supplier of high-speed semiconductors and HDMI solutions.

Jim is a graduate of Brown University, with degrees in electrical engineering and economics.

Mr. Thierry Porté, Former President and CEO Shinsei Bank, Limited

Thierry Porté is an Operating Partner of J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, a private equity firm focused exclusively on financial services. In this capacity, he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of NPG Wealth Management, a Luxembourg-based insurance group, Chairman and non-executive Director of Equita, a Milan-based investment bank, and a Board Observer of Sicom, a Mumbai-based non-bank financial services company. Mr. Porté worked previously at Shinsei Bank, Ltd., Tokyo, where he served as Vice Chairman (2003-2005) and President and Chief Executive Officer (2005-2008). From 1982 to 2003, he served in various capacities at Morgan Stanley in New York, London and Tokyo, including as President and Branch Manager of Morgan Stanley Japan (1995-2003).

Mr. Porté holds an A.B., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. with high honors from Harvard Business School. He has held leadership roles in a number of Harvard related activities, including serving as President of the Harvard Club of Japan (1995-2008). Among other current roles, he is a member of the Council on University Resources and the Harvard Business School Visiting Committee. He is Chairman of the Japan-US Friendship Commission and the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange, appointments designated by the President of the United States. He is a Director of the New York Philharmonic, a Director and Trustee of Regis High School and a member of the PlaNet Finance Advisory Board.

Mr. Sudhakar Shenoy, Founder, Chairman and CEO, IMC, Inc.

Sudhakar V. Shenoy is Founder, Chairman and CEO of IMC, Inc. (IMC) and was recently named one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Washington, DC high-tech industry, as well as being awarded the 2004 Executive of the Year by the Northern Virginia GovCon Council, the Professional Services Council, and Washington Technology. Mr. Shenoy embodies the same technology expertise and unique, client-driven approach that has earned both he and IMC recognition in the media, including Time (August 2000), ABC News, Washington Technology, and the Washington Business Journal. IMC projects have received the prestigious Golden Hammer Awards, awarded by the Vice President of the United States, as well as IMC being listed in the Top 25 companies to watch list published by KM World Magazine and won a GCN Industry IT award for being the Top Fast-Growth Firm.

Under Mr. Shenoy’s leadership, IMC has become an award-winning technology solutions company, providing expert government, commercial, and scientific solutions designed for each client’s precise mission. He is a frequent lecturer, convocation speaker, and radio personality, often discussing impacts and directions of various technology trends, and was singled out by Business Forward as one of the 40 most influential Global Players in the Washington region. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Lord Fairfax distinction for Fairfax County’s Dranesville District for outstanding community involvement and volunteerism. In 2002, Bio-IT World recognized Mr. Shenoy as a Bio-IT Champion for IMC’s innovative work in bringing together information technology and the life sciences. In 1999, Mr. Shenoy was recognized as Citizen of the Year by Great Falls/McLean Times while a year earlier he received the 1998 Greater Washington High Technology Entrepreneur of the Year award, sponsored by Ernst & Young, NASDAQ and the Washington Post. Mr. Shenoy was also selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the Washington Area Minority and Small Business Person of the Year in 1995. In 1996, Mr. Shenoy was inducted into the University of Connecticut’s School of Business Alumni Hall of Fame and was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay, India in 1997.

Along with a dozen other Fortune 500 CEO’s, Mr. Shenoy was selected for several Presidential trade and development missions to India (1995), Spain (1995), and Berlin (1999). Mr. Shenoy is on the University of Connecticut’s Foundation Board and the School of Business Overseers Board. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the George Mason University School of Engineering and was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to the Board of Visitors at this same university. In 1998, the Governor appointed Mr. Shenoy to the State of Virginia Technology Commission. He has also been appointed by the Governor to the Board of Directors of the Innovative Technology Authority as the Chairman of the Center for Innovative Technology. In 2000, the Speaker of the Virginia State Legislature appointed Mr. Shenoy to a five-member citizens committee on the Virginia Legislative Process. Mr. Shenoy is on the Board of Directors of several private and public companies. He was also the 2000 Campaign Chairman for the Fairfax-Falls Church United Way. Mr. Shenoy is the Chairman of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a Commissioner of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority and a member on the Virginia Governors Biotech initiative board. Mr. Shenoy is the founding co-chair of the Indian American Republican Council.

Mr. Shenoy received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering from IIT, an M.S. in electrical engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut Schools of Engineering and Business Administration, respectively.

Mr. Jeff Weiss, Founder and Managing Partner, ASAP Ventures

Jeff Weiss runs ASAP Ventures to help high-potential, growth-stage companies get to market faster and smarter. He is active in alternative energy, cyber security, mission preparedness and training, software development, and transformational management.

An accomplished entrepreneur, Jeff has founded, managed, and led, as Managing Member, General Manager, CFO, CMO, strategist, and as a Board Member and venture investor, many companies. Among them are Distributed Sun, a solar energy operating company, Advanced Interactive Systems, a military training company; Trust Strategy Group, a strategic intelligence firm; Picture Network International (sold to Kodak in 1997); CDx (Certificate of Deposit Exchange); Vista Information Technologies (a $100M network services firm); VeriSign and Sun Microsystems. Over 30 years, Jeff has assisted dozens of companies to achieve success in the corporate, venture, and capital markets.

Mr. Weiss graduated from Cornell University and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is on the Trustee Council of Cornell University, is Co-Chair of the Washington Leadership Committee of BENS, is on the Executive Committee of the Shenandoah National Park Trust, is Trustee of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, and is immediate past Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute's Socrates Society.