JumpStart's executive management team is comprised of individuals who have founded, led, invested in, or advised a variety of successful, early-stage, high growth Northeast Ohio companies. The staff includes:
Ray Leach
Chief Executive Officer
Ray Leach is a serial entrepreneur, experienced angel investor, expert in technology entrepreneurship, and national thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation. Ray has led JumpStart’s effort in creating economic transformation by providing resources to entrepreneurs leading high potential, early-stage companies, since its founding in 2004. Under Ray’s leadership, the organization has gained national recognition for its innovative model and economic impact in Northeast Ohio, leading to JumpStart’s work in creating strategic entrepreneurial action plans for communities across the United States. Just prior to JumpStart, Ray taught workshops at the MIT Sloan School of Management and served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for CommonAngels, Boston’s largest angel organization. In 2000, Ray founded Capella Investments, Inc., an investment and management consulting firm focused on startup IT companies. He also founded and bootstrapped two startup companies until their sale to Multigraphics Inc. in 1997, when he then became Senior Vice President of Digital Systems and Vice President of Sales at Multigraphics. Ray started his career as an expert in information technologies at IBM. Ray earned his MBA as a Sloan Fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Finance from the University of Akron. He serves on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the U.S. Commerce Department in Washington D.C., as well as the Public Policy Subcommittee of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. Ray is a current leader of the Northeast Ohio Venture Capital Task Force, and is a Charter Member of the Ohio chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). Read Ray's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
John Dearborn
President
John brings 25 years experience in software, Internet and mobile technologies, along with senior management experience leading entrepreneurial companies to JumpStart. Most recently, John was the CEO and a board member of 3Guppies, Inc., a mobile social networking company in Seattle, Washington. Since returning to Cleveland, John has been acting as board adviser to several startups in the areas of strategy development, fundraising and product development. Prior to 3Guppies, John was the Senior Vice President and General Manager for New Ventures in the Interactive Division for American Greetings, where he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In that role, he led new product and business development activities, partnering with leading companies, including MSN, to develop content offerings aimed specifically at the mobile and instant messaging audiences. John also started a self-funded company that developed the first image editor for the PC, which was later sold to a NASDAQ-traded company, Micrografx. In addition, John has held senior management positions for a variety of venture-backed, public and privately-held companies, leading marketing, operations, business development, and sales organizations. John holds a BA in Administration from the University of New Hampshire, Durham. Read John's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
Cathy Belk
Chief Relationship Officer
Cathy brings a wealth of experience in consumer and business marketing and business management to the JumpStart team. She joins JumpStart after four years at American Greetings, where she had a series of brand and business management roles, including Director of the American Greetings brand (within the $1.5 billion greeting card business) and Director of Innovation. As Director of Innovation, Cathy led a team in developing and launching a new product, eventually taking over management of the product as it developed into an $80 million annual business. Prior to American Greetings, Cathy worked extensively in branding, marketing and communications management at The Coca-Cola Company and Procter and Gamble, where she focused on brand development for both mature businesses, such as Coca-Cola classic, Barq’s, and Crest, and start-up companies, including Full Throttle. Prior to her consumer marketing experiences, Cathy dedicated six years to the commercial banking industry, holding a series of positions at Bank of America. Her most recent experience was serving the dynamic Northern Virginia middle market business community, providing financial support to enterprises with up to $250 million in annual revenues. Cathy was a Keller Scholar and received an MBA with a focus in Marketing from Duke University in 1998. She earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from Davidson College in 1990. Read Cathy's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
Lynn-Ann Gries
Chief Investment Officer, JumpStart Ventures
Lynn-Ann Gries joined the team at JumpStart Inc. after working as the Fund Manager for JumpStart, LLC, a venture capital fund dedicated to making investments in start-up companies in Northeast Ohio. Prior to joining JumpStart in August 2001, Lynn-Ann worked in the Investment Banking division of McDonald Investments. At McDonald, she had extensive experience with public equity issuance and worked on stock offerings for many McDonald clients. Prior to joining McDonald, Lynn-Ann worked for Morgan Stanley in institutional equity sales and, prior to that, for Smith Barney in Project Finance. She graduated from Smith College in 1984 with a BA in Economics and received her MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business in 1990. She currently serves on the board of the Fund of the Future of Shaker Heights, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making pro-integrative home loans, and the Great Lakes Science Center. She is also a partner in Cleveland Social Venture Partners (CSVP), a venture philanthropy organization. Read Lynn-Ann's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
Richard E. "Duke" Jankura, Jr.
Chief Financial Officer
Duke Jankura provides overall financial and administrative oversight to JumpStart, including its computer and telecommunications systems, accounting functions, financial systems, and internal controls. Prior to JumpStart Inc.'s formation in January 2004, he was the Sr. Director, Finance and Administration for Enterprise Development, Inc. (EDI). Duke is a National Development Council certified Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP), and holds a BS in business administration in management and an MBA in corporate finance from the University of Hartford, CT. Prior to joining EDI, Duke was the Manager of Financial Analysis for McDonald Investments Private Client Group and the Controller for Key Investments in Cleveland. He worked as a Financial Analyst in corporate banking and budget at Society Corporation and as a Marketing Analyst at The Travelers Companies in Hartford. Duke also served as a logistics officer in the United States Marine Corps. He currently serves on the board of the Institute for Creative Leadership as treasurer. He served as the chairperson for the Old Brooklyn/Brooklyn Center Business Revitalization District Review Board until June 2005, and served as Treasurer on the board of trustees for the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation from 1999 to 2002. He was Co-President in 1996 of the Young Friends of the Cleveland Museum of Art, serving as an ex-officio member of the museum's board of trustees.
Michael J. Mozenter
President, JumpStart Community Advisors
Mike has over 20 years of experience working with software, technology and services companies in a variety of capacities, with a focus on technology commercialization, strategy development, financing, and business development. Before joining JumpStart, Mike founded BizLogx, a company that worked with clients to address challenges relating to technology commercialization and business development. During the last eight years, Mike has worked with the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) in the design and evaluation of programs to assist entrepreneurs in their efforts to establish, fund, and grow technology-based businesses. In 2004, the ODOD commissioned BizLogx to develop the Technology Commercialization Framework, an analytical approach to help the ODOD and grant recipients improve the productivity of activities and investment decisions at each phase of technology commercialization. The ODOD currently uses the Framework to analyze and measure the progress of its extensive pre-seed investment portfolio as well as other initiatives under Ohio’s highly successful Third Frontier Program. Prior to BizLogx, Mike was a partner in a seed-stage venture capital fund and served as an investment banker with Banc One Capital Corporation. His career began as a corporate finance attorney and served as the General Counsel of Goal Systems, a publicly held software company located in Columbus, Ohio, while at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. Mike has a J.D. and a B.A in Science Policy from Duke University and a Masters of Management from the J. L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Darrin Redus
Chief Economic Inclusion Officer
President, JumpStart Inclusion Advisors
Darrin joins the JumpStart team having served most recently as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Redus Small Business Advisors, LLC, a strategic planning and management assistance firm Darrin established in 2003. Prior to establishing his own consulting group, Darrin dedicated 16 years to the commercial banking and finance industry holding a series of senior level management positions with National City Corporation and KeyCorp. At National City, Darrin served the small and middle market business community, providing leadership and support to enterprises ranging from start-ups to international firms with up to $100 million in annual revenues. At KeyCorp, Darrin held the position of Senior Vice President in charge of the company's business banking operations for Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Darrin holds an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College and an undergraduate degree from Mount Union College. In 1999 he was selected by National City Bank and Baldwin-Wallace College as an Emerging Leader in the Cleveland community, and over the past 15 years has led a series of workshops and seminars on matters of economic development and diversity. Read Darrin's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
You may also read about our: