William Crowder
William Crowder is an early stage venture capitalist and spearheads efforts to create new opportunities for talented tech entrepreneurs across the country. He leads the east coast investing activities of the Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, a $20 million early stage venture fund that invests in diverse entrepreneurs and
tech startups with the potential to become industry leaders. William is also a partner at DreamIt Ventures, a pre-seed stage venture fund and leading global startup accelerator. Prior to these roles, William founded a boutique consulting firm, and held strategy roles at AOL and Thomson Reuters. William received his MBA from Duke University. also holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from NC State University.
Mike Eckert
Mike Eckert is a seasoned business executive with particular expertise in the early stage investment eco-system. Mike currently is Vice Chairman of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), which is comprised of over 200 angel investing groups and 12,000 individual investors; and is the Chairman of the NO/LA Angel Network, a New Orleans
based group of 65 investors. He has extensive operational start up experiences as a member of the launch team of The Weather Channel/Weather.com where he served as CEO for 14 years, and as CEO of Pathfire, a leading early stage digital media technology infrastructure business. Mike also serves as a Fellow in Georgia Tech’s VentureLab program, is a judge of many start-up business plan competitions, and has served and serves on the boards of directors of a number of early stage companies.
Jill Ford
Jill Ford heads the City of Detroit’s innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives. Jill chose to come to Detroit from the San Francisco Bay Area, where as an Angel Investor and Advisor she transformed emerging businesses using
strategies forged in mobile gaming. Jill brings a wealth of global leadership in mobile and games, including heading Disney Mobile’s worldwide distribution to mobile manufacturers and running Motorola’s global games usage. A global citizen, Jill ran a company in Ghana that discovered, developed, and funded new entrepreneurs and she has traveled to more than 15 countries. Jill combines a Wharton MBA in Finance, and Entrepreneurial Management with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard University.
Will Hales
Will Hales is a Vice President in the New Orleans Commercial Banking Group of IBERIABANK. Since 2008, Will has held direct lending, portfolio management, and underwriting roles, and his lending practice has involved a broad spectrum of financing opportunities, including development and refinancing of multi-family residential and commercial real estate projects, lines of credit and term debt for operating companies in a variety of sectors, and complex tax credit finance structures. Additionally, Will has a broad base of experience advising non-profit foundations and start-up businesses on financial matters, in addition to the services he provides his portfolio clients.
Preston James
Preston James a dynamic and creative leader with broad international experience, who prides himself on the ability to effectively lead and collaborate to deliver strong business results on a consistent basis. Throughout his career, Preston has flourished as a motivational and visionary leader who is exceptional in strategic sales planning and new business development. He’s also been greatly successful in developing highly valuable strategic partnerships and optimizing operations to accelerate business growth.