Management Team
J. Skyler Fernandes
Co-Founder & General Partner
- Ranked Top 100 Powerlist VC
- 10+ years of VC/PE Investing
- Former Managing Director of Investments at Cleveland Avenue (VC/PE Fund co-founded by Former CEO & President of McDonalds), focusing on food and beverage brands, food related technologies, and new restaurant concepts
- Founder, Head, & Former Managing Director of Simon Venture Group (Corporate investment arm of Simon Property Group, S&P 100, largest retail real estate company in the world), grew to top 5 corporate VC focused on commerce alongside Google Ventures, Intel Capital, and Comcast Ventures
- Adjunct Professor at New York University teaching Venture Capital Intensive
- Creator of Multiple Top Ranked Entrepreneur Resources: #1 Startup Investor Pitch Deck Template (viewed & downloaded 500,000+ times, used by leading business schools and accelerators)
- Co-Founder of the #1 Startup Board Game: The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
Andrew Zalasin
General Partner
- 25+ years of venture capital and private equity investment and operational experience with entrepreneurial growth companies
- Former General Partner for 17 years at RRE Ventures, a leading technology venture capital firm with $1.5B across seven funds
- Involved in nearly 200 investments and has served on more than 30 boards in the US, Europe and Asia, and has been instrumental in generating industry-leading returns and providing experience and resources to help companies build teams, attack new market opportunities, identify and secure strategic initiatives / partnerships and achieve profitable growth in all phases of development
Sergio Marrero
Principal
- Co-Founder, Rebel One
- Associate, Gotham Ventures
- The Degree Is Dead, TEDx Princeton University
- Strategy & Innovation Fellow, Teach For America
- Consultant, Strategy, & Operations, Deloitte
- Supply Chain, Pepsico
- Portfolio Management, Proctor & Gamble
- Contract Manufacturing, Johnson & Johnson
- Quality Control Analyst, Gillette
- Harvard Business School, MBA
- Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Masters
- Northeastern University, BA
Aakash Jain
Senior Investment Associate
- VU Cohort 2 Alum
- Venture Fellow, Jump Capital
- Co-Founder, Booth Bay Area Angel Network (Booth BAAN)
- Technology Investment Banking (Growth Equity), Financial Technology Partners
- Fixed Income Quant Trading, Morgan Stanley
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA
- Cornell University, MEng (Computer Science)
- Jacobs University, BA (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
Michael Siegel
Analyst
- Member of the Marketplace and Consumer investment teams in Venture University's First Cohort
- Venture Fellow, VentureSouth
- Clemson University, MBA, Entrepreneurship
- Wofford College, BA, Business Economics
Jenna Fernandes
Co-Founder, Operating Partner, Head of Admissions & Student Life
- Venture Backed Serial Entrepreneur
- Co-Founder & CEO of The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
- Ranked Top 10 Female Tech CEO by Women 2.0
- Former CEO of Largest Student Run Business in The Country (Tufts Student Resources)
