The entire JumpStart Ventures team has a driving belief that innovation-oriented entrepreneurs are the growth engine of the economy, and they work hard to balance the goal of helping entrepreneurs make their dreams come true with the reality that investors can and should push companies to exceed expectations. Genuinely energized by their work with the region’s most promising entrepreneurial companies, they strive to embody the JumpStart Operating style – to be challenging, honest, engaged, resourceful, insightful, and fun – in all aspects of their work, every day.
Rebecca Braun
President, JumpStart Ventures
Becca Braun comes to JumpStart with a wealth of knowledge and experience from a variety of entrepreneurial companies. She was co-founder and initial CEO of SupplierInsight, a company that offers supplier management services and software to corporations and government agencies and that was ultimately acquired by Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA). Becca was formerly a Vice President at Kirtland Capital Partners (KCP), a $300 million private equity firm located in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. Prior to KCP, Becca was a principal at The Parthenon Group, a strategic advisory and principle investing firm in Boston, Massachusetts, and an associate at LEK, an M&A advisory firm. Becca graduated from Harvard Business School in 1997 and has a Linguistics degree Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University. She is a co-founder of Boston-based Harbus Foundation, and, in Cleveland, she co-founded the Founders Café and ClevelandClicks. She serves on the boards of Red Cross Blood Services and Cleveland Skating Club, and is an alumna trustee of Springboard Enterprises. For her work with entrepreneurship, she has been awarded the Heroes Award from the ERC Group in Cleveland as well as the “40 Under 40” honor from Crain's Cleveland Business magazine. Read Becca'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 startup 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, the Great Lakes Science Center and Summer on the Cuyahoga, a summer internship program. She is also a partner in Cleveland Social Venture Partners (CSVP), a venture philanthropy organization. Read Lynn-Ann's posts on the IdeaExchange blog.
Kerri Breen
Vice President of External Finance, JumpStart Ventures
Kerri Breen joined JumpStart Inc. with several years experience in capital markets and banking. Prior to JumpStart, Kerri was a Vice President in the Syndicated Finance group at KeyBank where her emphasis was on structuring and distributing large corporate lines of credit and construction loans. From 1997 to 2002, Kerri served in the Investment Banking division at McDonald Investments, where she was involved in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, corporate mergers and acquisitions and real estate asset dispositions. Kerri received her MBA with a focus on finance from the Weatherhead School of Management and her BA in marketing from Ohio State University.
Remsen Harris
Investment Associate, JumpStart Ventures
Rem joins JumpStart with 15 years of experience in the information technology industry, with experience at both large corporations and entrepreneurial startup organizations. His experience includes leadership roles in operations, sales and marketing. Most recently Rem was with Hyland Software where he developed and managed strategic distribution relationships with national partners including Fortune 500 organizations. Rem came to Cleveland to join Responsive Database Services (RDS), a Cleveland-based startup database publisher in 1995. While at RDS, Rem headed the sales and marketing functions and led the introduction of the company’s web distribution platform. RDS was sold to Thomson International in 2000. Prior to joining RDS Rem worked for a division of Lockheed Martin in Los Angeles where he managed production operations for the company’s data processing and information management business. Rem holds a BA from UCLA and an MBA from John Carroll University.
Robert Hatta
Vice President of Entrepreneurial Talent, JumpStart Ventures
Robert Hatta brings over 10 years of entrepreneurial marketing and business development experience to JumpStart. Through his work at several startup companies in Northeast Ohio and Silicon Valley, as well as consumer technology companies across the U.S. and Europe, Robert has gained an extensive understanding of the culture and needs of high growth companies, with a particular focus on talent. He was most recently Director of Strategic Development at Findaway World, makers of the Playaway pre-loaded digital audiobook. Findaway grew from idea to a company with over 100 associates and nearly 2 million units sold in five years. It was also a recipient of the Northcoast 99 award for the top-99 employers in Northeast Ohio in 2009. Prior to Findaway, Robert was the European Head of Retail Marketing at Apple, where he developed and established retail distribution for the iTunes products in European markets. Robert has also held senior marketing positions at Netflix and Virgin Mobile USA, focused on launching new products into both the U.S. and U.K. consumer markets. A Northeast Ohio native, Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Stanford University. Robert is also a member of the Cleveland Bridge Builders class of 2009 and an assistant wrestling coach at Shaker Heights High School.
Jerry Frantz
Managing Venture Partner, JumpStart Ventures
Jerry Frantz has over 20 years of consumer marketing and management experience with both corporate and entrepreneurial companies. His career began in advertising with J. Walter Thompson, New York followed by five years of brand management with the Clairol division of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Jerry then entered the entertainment world as Marketing Director for Radio City Music Hall Productions and led Radio City to record revenue and attendance levels for three consecutive years. Following live entertainment, he moved to television. As Vice President of Marketing, Jerry was a member of the management team that launched venture-backed Classic Sports Network (now ESPN Classic). After 15 years in New York City, he returned to his hometown of Cleveland to rejoin Bristol-Myers Squibb as a marketing executive with Matrix Essentials where he managed a $200 million hair care division and created the new product development and promotional marketing departments. Following the L'Oreal acquisition of Matrix, Jerry opted to stay in Cleveland. Since 2001, his entrepreneurial experience includes serving as President of a start-up that partnered with Nickelodeon to launch a line of beverages for kids. He has also served as a business development consultant for BET Jazz Productions, Five Star Technologies, Minardi Beauty Products and the American Wine School. Jerry joined JumpStart in 2004 as a member of the original team of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Jerry holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Jim Doughman
Senior Director of Operations, JumpStart Ventures
Jim Doughman comes to JumpStart with 26 years of business experience with smaller, entrepreneurial companies throughout Northeast Ohio. While with Cleveland Crystals, a manufacturer of crystalline laser components, Jim developed, expanded and managed institutional accounts in several markets, including medical systems, defense, energy research and analytical equipment. He spent two years helping small and midsize companies grow with CAMP, Inc, (now a division of MAGNET), then served as Vice President of Marketing for Indigo Technical Media, a digital media start-up. Indigo provides instructional and marketing products to technical clients. Most recently, Jim worked as Marketing Director for Maingate Business Development Corporation. He earned a BS in Public Relations Journalism with a Physics minor from Kent State University and an MBA from the Case Weatherhead School of Management. Jim chairs the Boards of Directors for the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village and the Passport Project, a new arts education agency that celebrates diversity.
Ted Frank
Venture Partner, JumpStart Ventures
Ted joins JumpStart having spent over 12 years building best-in-class, venture-backed technology companies and seven years in various sales and technology roles in the financial services industry. In addition to his responsibilities with JumpStart, he is Executive Chairman of travel and expense management software publisher SamePage Solutions and is President of Marketcypher, LLC. Prior to these ventures, Ted was a founder and President of Axentis, Inc., the dominant SaaS application provider in the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) market. In addition to building the company, he was a key driver in establishing formal recognition of GRC as a distinct and unique software category. Prior to Axentis, Ted was co-founder and Executive Vice President in charge of sales, marketing and business development for PlanSoft Corporation, a SaaS leader in the convention planning software market (backed by Marriott, Starwood and Hyatt). He began his career at a global banking firm with responsibilities ranging from strategic planning and financial engineering to sales and business development. In addition to his entrepreneurial, company-building roles, Ted has been an influential driver of thought leadership in the GRC market, serving as the founder and chairman of The Compliance Consortium, Co-Chair of OCEG’s Technology Council, a member of OCEG’s Leadership Council and a member of IBM’s Data Governance Council. On a local level, he is a member of The Kenston Local School District’s Business Advisory Board and has been active for years in promoting technology in Northeast Ohio. Ted holds a BS degree from Miami University and a Master of Business Administration in business strategy from Case Western Reserve University.
Kevin Mendelsohn
Venture Partner, JumpStart Ventures
Kevin comes to JumpStart from Athersys, Inc., where he spent the last five-and-a-half years working in business, product, and corporate development positions. Most recently, he was the Senior Manager of Corporate Development. While at Athersys, Kevin worked on establishing strategic partnerships with leading bioscience companies and assisted in the company's strategic planning and fundraising efforts.Kevin received his MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship from the Weatherhead School of Management and his BA in zoology and economics from Miami University.
Lee Poseidon
Venture Partner, JumpStart Ventures
Lee joins JumpStart with 25 years of experience in growing and managing a number of high technology, publishing, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services businesses. His experience spans a number of product and service offerings, including automotive hardware and software information management systems, medical practice management software, electronic medical records, software distribution services, tax processing systems and services, business forms, training and consulting products and services, microfiche production, and electronic cataloging and publishing. Prior to joining JumpStart, Lee was Chief Operating Officer of Quorum Information Technologies, Inc. (TSX-V: QIS). Before joining Quorum, Lee held the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of ProQuest Global Automotive (fka Bell and Howell Publishing Services). Lee has also held the position of Chief Operating Officer for Dealership Operations of the National Automobile Dealers Association, as well as a variety of senior management positions in his 15-year career with The Reynolds & Reynolds Company. Lee remains a principal of Growth Partners, LLC, a consulting firm focused on providing senior leadership, strategy, market expansion, and business development services, which he founded in 1999. Lee serves as a Director of ARI Network Services, Inc. (OTC BB: ARIS) and is Vice Chairman of Shaker Housing Associates. Lee earned his MBA from Xavier University and his B.A. degree in Economics from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Mark Smith
Venture Partner, JumpStart Ventures
Mark Smith brings 30 years of experience providing leadership in large, high growth and entrepreneurial organizations. In addition to being a Venture Partner at JumpStart, Mark is also a principal in Cobalt Group, a nationally recognized private consultancy that is retained by leaders from the private, public and nonprofit sectors to assist with decision-making related to investments in capital projects, research and development, market-based programs, technology initiatives, and growth and sustainability strategies. Prior to joining JumpStart in 2004, Mark served on the executive management teams of start-up endeavors Drive Logic in Chicago, which provided Internet based supply chain management tools, and insurance software provider Claim IQ in San Francisco. During the 1980s and 1990s he held executive management roles for prominent Cleveland companies Invacare Corporation and Progressive Insurance. Mark serves as board member and Vice President of Marketing for the Cleveland International Film Festival and has served on the technology advisory board for Red Cross Blood Services of Northern Ohio. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Michigan State University.
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