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Arben Kane
A serial founder and experienced entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in technology, Arben started four companies still operating today. He is currently the CEO of the award-winning Kontur Inc., a Geo Location/Analytics focused Software engineering company that designed & developed the current global DisasterAWARE platform. He also founded Ozolio, a live HD webcam streaming service that increases consumer engagement with brands; FlikMedia, which develops and designs video applications for mobile platforms; iRAPP/Code Rebel, which was the first Citrix for Mac Terminal Services solution with top Fortune 100 enterprise clients.
Arben has also served as the CTO or Senior VP of Engineering for several companies, including the App first location-mapping company EchoEcho. He is an experienced venture investor, as an angel, as an Operating Partner at Pegasus Capital, and as Founder and General Partner of Stacked Venture Builder & Dreamit Capital.
Arben received a B.S. in Logistics from Berufsakademie Stuttgart and a B.S. in Computer Science from Fernfachhochschule Darmstadt. He holds four US patents in interactive video viewing and media data processing.
Marcia Allen
Ms. Allen is the CEO and founder of Allen&Associates (“AA”) a global Strategic Advisory and Investment firm. In 2012, Allen&Associates expanded from Los Angeles to London with a focus on the EU debt markets. At this time, AA initiated debt securitization programs and related business in Luxembourg. This expansion of AA led to several notable transactions Including in 2017 founding and directing the Consortium which structured, organized and initiated operations of the Türkiye Varlık Fonu, the Turkish Sovereign Wealth Fund for the government of Turkey. This successful transaction saw the valuation and movement of US$220B of the country’s assets into the wealth fund for the purposes of creating below market debt.
Marcia has a broad financial background, with both corporate and institutional experience. She is not your typical Investment Banker. For the past three decades she has been devoted to corporate finance, focused on wealth management, private equity, venture capital and M&A. She has represented all levels of investors and corporate clients for strategic consulting, acquisitions, restructures and divestitures. Her primary focus is to build value and/or resolve problems through balanced structures and proper timing of financing, growth and divestiture.
In this capacity, Ms. Allen has developed and successfully completed many financial transactions through her companies, Allen&Associates, Elite Capital, a California based Venture Capital Firm, Allen/Brenner, Inc., a wealth and cash management firm focused on the entertainment and media industry. During these years Ms. Allen was a founder and Managing Director of The Movie Group, (AMX) the originating company which is today Lionsgate Entertainment (NYSE).
Ms. Allen’s began her career as a member of the founding group of Ruby Tuesday, Inc. Upon her departure, she joined Taco Bell, Inc. (NASDAQ) as the Chief Financial Officer; where she structured and facilitated the acquisition of Taco Bell, Inc. by PepsiCo, Inc (NYSE). From PepsiCo, Ms. Allen moved to W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE) initially she was with the Restaurant / Retail Division as CFO, and later as a Corporate Development Officer (M&A).
Her Advisory clients are quite diverse from the House of Al Thani and the QIA, the governments of Zambia, Turkey and other developing countries to US hospitality giants Marriott and McDonalds. She is a problem solver and she is known for successfully executing her “out of the box” financial and operational strategic plans.
She was educated at the University of Tennessee in finance and accounting. She has been a speaker for Forbes, Strategic Research Institute, Inc. magazine, the National Restaurant Association, Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA). She is active in numerous civic and political organizations. Currently she is a Member of the Board of Directors of Ark Restaurants (ARKR), INmuneBio (INMB) along with several private companies.
Keli Whitlock
Ms. Whitlock has worked with companies and executives backed by venture capital and private equity funding, as well as the investors who support those companies and funds, since 1998. She practiced law for over 25 years in two AM Law 100 firms: DLA Piper and Duane Morris, advising clients in connection with their growth as well as corporate and securities transactions, focusing on venture capital, private equity, public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. In that capacity, Ms. Whitlock has led billions of dollars in transactions and worked closely with some of the largest financial firms as well as some of the most successful and cutting-edge companies in the U.S.
Ms. Whitlock’s experience spans multiple industries including media, gaming, biotech, life sciences, sports, construction and engineering, technology, fintech and cybersecurity. She advises many companies on strategic planning, operations, structuring and risk analysis with respect to capitalization, business models, growth strategies and exits.
Ms. Whitlock is also the Founder of Wyzer, a technology platform designed and being developed to help empower entrepreneurs with a deep understanding of starting and running businesses, all the while making the process more automated, efficient and effective.
Ms. Whitlock was voted one of the 40 Under 40 by the Baltimore Business Journal and has been deeply involved in the technology community in the Mid-Atlantic for many years. She was educated at Vanderbilt University and Goucher College and obtained her law degree from the University of Maryland Law School, where she achieved Order of the Coif.
Nick Provenzano
Nick is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration, earning a degree in Global Management and side degrees in Economics and Italian Language. Throughout his studies he always had a passion for startups, working for a multitude of different types including Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs a search fund and X Shore, an all electric boating company based in Stockholm Sweden.
Nick also holds current roles as a strategist within Beacon NGO, a disaster safety platform bringing advanced geo-spatial software to the NICS program for disaster alerts. As well as an analyst for Allen & Associates, an International Strategic Finance entity; operating within the entire deal flow of capital raising, investor relations and deal closing.
Gueta Mezzetti
Gueta Mezzetti is a strategic advisor, task force and thought leader of long standing to The Pentagon, NASA’s climate change research program, and to their complementary private sector companies and political support systems. She identifies new industries the country needs, vets the inventors, techs and start-ups, helps investors acquire them, and commercializes them. Her noted successes include the commercial earth satellite industry, the renewable energy microgrid industry, and the military biofuels industry. Currently, she is developing the water production technology industry.
Gueta is widely recognized in the US national security community as the pioneer who first identified military, national and allied nation infrastructure vulnerabilities due to dependence on the electric grid, fuels originating in the Persian Gulf and climate change, then quantified, developed, and secured public and private funding for their resolution for the Pentagon. Ms. Mezzetti advises Pentagon and Senior Leaders how to establish secure strategies to minimize effects of climate change and deliberate attacks on critical infrastructure, such as electricity and fuel vulnerabilities from terrorism and climate induced disasters. She is widely credited with DOD’s early initiation and growth of clean industries and securing consensus for the retention of strategic critical infrastructure industries in the US.
Prior to joining NASA Headquarters and the Pentagon, Gueta served as congressional staff, including Appropriations and marine environment committees.
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