Julia Monfrini Peev
Managing Partner, PACE Healthcare Capital
[email protected]About Julia Monfrini Peev:
Julia Monfrini Peev is the Founder and Managing Partner of PACE Healthcare Capital, a venture capital firm investing in digital health and healthcare technologies based in Chicago, IL. As a seasoned institutional VC/PE investor, Julia has deployed $1B of capital in successful and transformative healthcare businesses, with a demonstrated track record.
La Keisha Landrum Pierre
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Emmeline Ventures
[email protected]About La Keisha Landrum Pierre:
Pronouns: She/Her
La Keisha Landrum Pierre is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at Emmeline Ventures, an early-stage VC fund, where she invests in healthcare, fintech, and sustainability solutions built by female founders. She invests in the most promising female founders across these sectors and has spent the last 13+ years building world-class operational teams, infusing strategic excellence and scalability into impact focused companies.
La Keisha is a 2x Co-founder of Harvard Innovation Lab incubated start-ups and was a deep-tech researcher at the Youth and Media Group at Harvard Law School's Berkman Klein Center where she studied the intersection of digital and media literacies for youth. La Keisha brings domain expertise in building and scaling impact-driven companies, taking complex business challenges, and designing solutions that create lasting financial and social change in the world.
Rossie Turman
Partner Chair - International Finance & Co-chair - Africa Practice, Lowenstein Sandler LLP
[email protected]About Rossie Turman:
Pronouns: He/Him
Rossie Turman chairs the Lowenstein Sandler international finance practice and co-chairs the firm's Africa Practice, advising corporations, start-ups, investors, financial institutions and government entities around the globe on their most complex, high-profile matters.
For over two decades, he has negotiated and executed complex business transactions and financings, including equity capital raising, debt financing, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures, throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. He has comprehensive understanding of how to navigate and conduct business across international borders and execute transactions while building effective teams across language and cultural differences.
Rossie often counsels clients from—cradle to grave, guiding technology and other companies from startup through IPOs, going-private, serial acquisitions, and in-court and out-of-court restructurings, in addition to cross-border expansions.
Rossie has extensive leveraged finance and other complex cross-border transaction experience spanning decades of work. He has served a broad range of industries, including financial services, technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, consumer retail, insurance, hospitality, health services, and natural resources. Rossie represents both borrowers and issuers (e.g, start-ups and emerging companies, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, and public and private corporations) and investors (investment banks, commercial banks and other financial institutions, venture capital funds, private equity funds). Rossie also has broad experience dealing with government agencies, supra-national entities, global citizens and other international investors.
Passionate about creating opportunities for underserved communities, people of color, and women, Rossie serves on the Board of Directors of the Council of Urban Professionals and is a Trustee of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He served on the board of the New York City United Way and the Committee for the New York City Bar Association's Vance Center, and he was Vice Chair for the Board of Trustees of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York. Rossie has provided pro bono services for economic development activities, including representations for Abyssinian Development Corporation and the United Way in various transactions, and through his volunteer affiliations with Lawyers Alliance and the Community Law Office of Legal Aid. Rossie also has actively supported several charities on the African continent for over two decades. Rossie also has actively supported several charities on the African continent for over two decades.
In 2013 he was named "Private Practitioner of the Year" by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York City. In 2015 and again in 2023, he was listed in Savoy Magazine as one of the "Most Influential Black Lawyers." This year Rossie was named the Best Lawyers in America in the Banking and Finance Law section. He has been interviewed by several legal periodicals and has published several articles. Rossie remains very active in training and mentoring associates in the firm and attorneys of color across the legal profession.
Sonam Velani
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Streetlife Ventures
[email protected]About Sonam Velani:
Sonam has worked across the world and across the public and private sectors, connecting the dots between cities, climate, and capital. She is now the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Streetlife Ventures, a seed stage venture fund investing at the intersection of cities and climate.
Sonam started her career financing $10 billion of transportation, energy, and water infrastructure projects at Goldman Sachs, helped build coastal protection and water systems in Asia at the World Bank, launched drone mobility solutions in Africa at Zipline, and developed new affordable housing, infrastructure, and economic development initiatives at the NYC Mayor’s Office, including the city’s $15 billion Green New Deal.
Sonam is a strong believer in paying it forward and loves being active in her community. She has received the National President’s Volunteer Service Award, launched the Climate Tech Cities community to foster collaboration across climate tech, policy, and justice groups, and runs the Parachute platform on climate solutions and investment opportunities in cities globally. She advises the Aga Khan Development Network on economic empowerment in the Ismaili Muslim community, serves on the Women's Impact Alliance board, and volunteers with the Girl Scouts.
Sonam enjoys sharing ideas about urban climate solutions, and has spoken at the UN COP Climate Summits, C40, Smart City World Congress, and more. Sonam was recently featured in Business Insider as one of the world's top 10 women leaders solving the climate crisis and is on the Crain’s Business 40 Under 40 List. The first in her family to go to college, Sonam attended Harvard University on a full scholarship and received a BA in Government, Economics, and Visual & Environmental Studies.
Sonam’s interest in urban development is deeply rooted in her lived experience. She was born in Mumbai, India and moved to Chicago, USA as a young child. An undocumented immigrant for over two decades, she understands first-hand the complicated ways that inadequate housing, limited transportation options, and environmental risks create structural barriers to upward mobility. This is what drives her passion for investing in and deploying market-defining climate solutions in the communities that need them most.
Fun fact: Sonam enjoys Citibiking, museum hopping, and getting lost in new cities and new conversations – 60 countries, thousands of people, and still counting on both fronts!
Aaron Stachel
Partner, FirstMile Ventures
[email protected]About Aaron Stachel:
Aaron joined FirstMile Ventures at its inception, helping to raise and deploy the first fund in 2014. He became a partner in Fund II.
Since joining the firm, he’s led numerous investments spanning Healthtech, Logistics, Fintech, Commerce, and Robotics. He knows the next big opportunity won't look like the last, and is always on the lookout for founding teams that have unique insights about big markets.
Prior to joining FirstMile, Aaron had a diverse set of experiences that provide great perspective as an investor. He spent 10 years as an Army officer and helicopter pilot, leading teams in a number of challenging environments including two overseas deployments. The lessons on leadership, teamwork, and execution have greatly influenced his thoughts on management and investing.
It was during his MBA that Aaron first developed a desire to work with early-stage companies. He volunteered at a technology incubator, then worked as a summer intern and part-time employee at a venture-backed company. Most recently, Aaron worked in the Corporate Strategy Group at Newmont Mining, the #1 gold miner in the world. He worked on M&A, investor relations, and negotiating a mineral agreement with a foreign government.
Aaron grew up in Michigan before studying economics at West Point. After graduation, he attended flight school in Alabama and moved to Korea for his first assignment before making his way to Colorado. He received his MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Daniels College at the University of Denver.
Kelli Saulny
Co Founder & Managing Partner, Corridor Ventures
[email protected]About Kelli Saulny:
Pronouns: She/Her
Kelli Saulny is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Corridor Ventures, where she leverages nearly two decades of experience in scaling startup businesses. Her expertise spans multi-channel expansion, market analysis, strategic business planning, and collaborative supply chain management.
Before founding Corridor Ventures, Kelli served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships andFundraising at Camelback Ventures in New Orleans, LA. During her tenure, she secured multiple six- and seven-figure grants and gift donations, driving initiatives that increased access to opportunity and capital for entrepreneurs of color and women. Her work focused on direct investment in their companies, ecosystem building, and advocacy for equity in funding practices.
Kelli’s entrepreneurial journey began at Carol’s Daughter, then a New York-based startup. As Director of Operations, she was pivotal in the company’s meteoric growth, scaling revenue and the company from startup to acquisition by L’Oréal USA.
A proud native of New Orleans, LA, Kelli earned her degree from the Florida A&M University School of Business and Industry, a five-year MBA program.
Veronica Juarez
Managing Partner, Dahlia VC
[email protected]About Veronica Juarez:
Pronouns: She/Her
Veronica Juarez, is a seasoned silicon valley tech executive, with experience building public policy & enterprise teams from startup to post-ipo phase. Prior to tech, Veronica spent a decade in politics, working at the federal, state, and local levels for policymakers, working on behalf of their commitment to criminal justice reform, immigration reform, and the arts. Veronica founded arturo advisory in 2021, an advisory that works on behalf of funds, companies, and projects that are addressing our world's largest social inequities.
Veronica is a fifth-generation Mexican-American, an honors graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, and a first-generation college graduate with an honors degree in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity from Stanford University. Stanford awarded her the James W. Lyons Award for Service and the J.E. Wallace Sterling Book Award for her exceptional leadership, service, and contributions made to the university. Fast Company Magazine named her one of the Most Creative People in Business and The Alumni Society named her an executive to watch.
Veronica Juarez is the Managing Partner of Dahlia VC, a venture capital firm investing in tech companies that leverage the overlooked Latino market. In 2023, L’attitude Ventures awarded Veronica the GameChanger in VC Award, in recognition of her outstanding achievements as an emerging investor. Veronica is an angel investor, a Scout for Lightspeed Venture Partners and manages the grant giving of The Juarez Family Foundation, a social impact fund she founded in 2019. Veronica serves on the board of Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. Veronica was elected as a Director of Phillips Exeter Academy's General Alumni Association Board and as the Class President for the Class of 2000. Veronica is an active member of Stanford University's First Principles Forum, an intimate invite-only organization dedicated to innovation in philanthropy and social impact.
Veronica is a proud native Houstonian, home of her family's infamous taqueria, Villa Arcos, in the 2nd Ward.
Todd Leverette
Founding Partner, Apis & Heritage Capital Partners
[email protected]About Todd Leverette:
Todd Leverette, Founder and Managing Partner, leads the investment team at Apis & Heritage and is responsible for overall firm management and strategy, as well as investment execution. He is also a permanent member of the firm’s Investment Committee.
Prior to founding A&H, he began his career on Wall Street in corporate finance at JP Morgan Chase. He then pivoted into employee ownership by joining the Center for Community Based Enterprise in Detroit. He was subsequently recruited to join the Democracy at Work Institute to lead their Legacy Business Initiatives, where he incubated the novel investment approach that would become Apis & Heritage. He was deeply engaged with the Democracy at Work Institute, focusing on promoting broad-based ownership models across the country. His realization that the lack of capital and expertise was a significant barrier to more widespread adoption of employee ownership models in the USA led him to the idea that would eventually become A&H.
Todd received his B.A. in Management from Morehouse College and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Himalaya Rao-Potlapally
Managing Director, The BFM Fund
[email protected]About Himalaya Rao:
Pronouns: She/Her
Himalaya Rao is the Managing Director and General Partner of The BFM Fund, a seed-stage fund focused on the decentralization of wealth across Black families and communities of color. Prior to becoming a GP, Himalaya got an MBA and specialized training in Venture Finance and worked in seven different firms as an Associate, Deal Lead, and eventually Fund Manager. She is also currently the co-Executive Director of Venture Partners, a non-profit aimed at training people at the intersection of race, class, and gender- and helping them break into VC to facilitate more representative decision makers.
Through her work in creating equity within venture capital, she has been recognized as a Rising Stars in Venture Capital and a Distinguished Alumni by the NVCA/Venture Forward, a Forty under 40 recipient by the Portland Business Journal, and was invited to be a fellow with VC Include, Recast, Catalyze, and Just Economy Institute. Himalaya has a passion for expanding accessibility of entrepreneurship to BIPOC and rural communities as a pathway for economic development and generational wealth building.
Rose Maizner
Investment Director, Heading for Change
[email protected]About Rose Maizner:
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Rose has spent the past 12 years as an investment professional, with a focus on climate, gender lens and impact investing. Currently, Rose is the Investment Director of Heading for Change, a legacy endowment building a blended, multi-asset class demonstration portfolio of funds investing at the nexus of climate solutions and gender equity. Previously, Rose worked with Jacki Zehner, founder of SheMoney, managing Jacki’s direct and fund investment portfolios, and creating resources and strategies designed to unlock more capital for women and other underestimated founders and fund managers.
Rose also works closely with early stage female-founded companies as an advisor and coach, and is the co-founder of Womenpreneurs, a professional collective dedicated to closing the gender wealth gap by helping women to build and fund their businesses. Previously, Rose was a Partner with RenewableT ech Ventures, an early stage cleantech VC investing in the US and Canada. Rose holds a BA from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and an EMBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Adriana Embus
Senior Associate - Investments, Include Ventures
[email protected]About Adriana Embus:
Pronouns: She/Her
Adriana C. Embus Figueroa (Senior Associate) is a nationally-recognized venture investor and community-builder . Adriana has built a career with expertise in the fields of finance, climate investing, and entrepreneurial empowerment.
Adriana is a Senior Associate of Investments at Include Ventures, a global investment firm directing capital towards underrepresented founders and fund managers. At Include Ventures, she leads due diligence efforts for the two Include Ventures vehicles (Fund of Funds and Direct Investment Vehicle). In addition, she leads the firm’s sourcing, pipeline management and portfolio management efforts.
Formerly a Senior Manager on the Investments Team at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, Adriana headed up both the LACI Impact and Debt Funds. She actively deployed funding for cleantech founders, especially focusing on the needs of under-represented and BIPOC entrepreneurs. In addition, she serves on the Founding Board of VCFamilia, the leading group of Latino venture capital investors in the world, and formerly scouted for the venture fund Vamos Ventures headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Prior to LACI, she served as an Financial Analyst in the Investment Banking division at Samuel A. Ramirez & Co., Inc., the largest Latino investment firm in the country. There, she focused on providing quantitative banking and quantitative support for the procurement of funds for local, regional and national capital improvement projects. Prior to Ramirez, Adriana worked for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, securing over $5million in funding for the more than 10,000 scholarships HSF distributes to Latino students nationwide.
Outside of work, Adriana is a member of the National Gender Justice Task Force through her sorority, Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Inc; a delegate for the National Alumnae Strategy Task Force for Girls Incorporated; and an active young alumna of the Yale Latino Alumni Association.
Ms. Embus-Figueroa graduated with honors from Yale with a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race & Migration and Political Science, and was a QuestBridge Scholar . She is of Colombian & Puerto-Rican descent, and was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia.
Sarah Hubbard
Founder, Good & Partners
[email protected]About Sarah Hubbard:
Sarah Hubbard is the founder of Good & Partners, a consulting company that works with companies that are making an impact in their community, whether that be a specific market like the outdoor industry or women’s issues, or even the global social + environmental community. Sarah has worked across the private and nonprofit sectors, providing clients with branding insights and guidance to help them connect with their audiences on a deeper level and work from a place of authenticity.
Mike Lightman
Founder, Hate Your Deck
[email protected]About Mike Lightman:
Mike Lightman’s journey is anything but conventional. From serving as a Peace Corps volunteer to co-founding Big Idea Ventures — a $50M VC fund focused on alternative protein — Mike has worn many hats: startup ecosystem builder, managing partner at a venture fund, and government policy advisor. He’s helped shape the future of clean tech as the head of the Urban Future Lab and launched global startup programs with the World Bank’s infoDev initiative.
Beyond his diverse career, Mike has always been driven by one thing: storytelling. His insatiable love for fiction (and, in case you’re wondering, it’s mostly sci-fi) fueled a deep dive into the art of the narrative — and that’s where he realized the biggest flaw in how we build decks. We weren’t telling real stories. We weren’t showcasing what made us unique. And we certainly weren’t leaving a lasting impression on investors. So, he set out to fix it.