Thrive & SIAG Roundtable Social Impact Series Investing in the Underinvested: The Financial Argument for Women and Minority Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has always played a vital role in growing the US economy through innovation, the creation of jobs and global integration. Despite that, women and minority business founders in this country struggle for access to the capital, technology, networks and information necessary to found and grow business ventures. Join the Social Impact Advisory Group and Thrive for a virtual panel of investors and entrepreneurs on why most investors are leaving money on the table when they don’t consider the financial opportunity provided by women and minority-led ventures. What can nonprofits learn from these experiences to apply to their own DEI goals?

 This event is being presented by Thrive Alliance and Social Impact Advisory Group (SIAG)

*Zoom information will be sent to registered attendees.

Moderator

Maya Tussing, Partner and Co-Founder of Fairlight Advisors

Maya Tussing provides investment and risk management services to nonprofits and philanthropic individuals. Prior to Fairlight, Maya was an investment advisor with Alesco Advisors where she co-led the West Coast office. Over the last 20 years, she has held senior risk management roles at firms such as BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors, Visa, and GE Capital. She is a graduate of Pomona College and holds an MBA in international finance from the University of Washington.

Panelists

Sharon Vosmek, CEO Astia

Sharon Vosmek is the CEO of Astia, managing director of the Astia Fund, and a managing member of Astia Angels. Astia is the pre-eminent organization working to ensure the success of high-growth startups founded and led by women. Astia Angels is a global investment group comprised of family offices and HNW individuals to invest directly into women-led, high-growth companies. Sharon is well-regarded around the globe for her opinions, research and commentary on the importance of women leaders as integral to innovation and high-performing entrepreneurial companies.

Catherine Berman, CEO and Co-founder of CNote

Catherine Berman is CEO and Co-founder of CNote, an investment platform delivering competitive returns with 100% positive social impact. She is a 3X entrepreneur with experience building and scaling profitable businesses with transformative social impact. 
In 2017, CNote was named "Top Innovation in Fintech" by SXSW and one of the "most ground-breaking startups of the year" by CB Insights. 
Prior to CNote, Catherine served as Managing Director at Charles Schwab and Senior Vice President at venture capital firm, Astia. Her last startup, Global Brigades, grew to a multi-million dollar in a few short years and is now the global category leader. Catherine has worked with impact investments for over a decade, speaking at Google, Stanford University, Oxford University, SoCap, Coinbase and others about the importance of values-aligned investing.

Neeraja Rasmussen, Founder and CEO Spyglaz

Neeraja Rasmussen is the Founder and CEO of Spyglaz, a machine learning platform for customer retention serving the insurance, investment management and banking industries.  Neeraja brings more than two decades of business, management and leadership experience to her role at Spyglaz. She has managed customer retention/acquisition programs in financial services and tech sectors for 20+ years and has more than 10 years’ experience building global teams from the ground up. She has worked for both Fortune 500 and SMB companies, with former roles at Intuit, J.P. Morgan Chase and Franklin Templeton Investments.

Michael Silton, Founder and Managing Director, Act One Ventures

Michael Silton is the Founder and Managing Director of Act One Ventures a seed stage venture fund that invests in business software. Portfolio companies include AuditBoard, Narrativ, and Finix Payments. 70% of the companies backed were founded by women or minorities. Act One’s community is a diverse and dynamic group of experienced entrepreneurs and executives who are eager to advise and mentor our founders with practical, meaningful advice and connections that lead to revenue. Previously Michael served as Executive Chair of the UCLA Venture Capital Fund.

Michael is an entrepreneur both by background and at heart, having founded and run both private and public companies over the last three decades. Most recently, Michael was CEO/Founder of B2B SaaS company Rainmaker Systems, which he took public on NASDAQ and grew to over 1,000 employees worldwide. They provided eCommerce software and services to clients including Vanguard, IBM, Abbot Labs, Dell and many more.

Call in information will be provided after registration