North American Angel Capital Association Expands Board, Adds Four Directors

The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the North American trade association of angel groups and private investors investing in high growth early-stage ventures, has elected to its board  Matt Dunbar of Upstate Carolina Angel Network (Greenville, SC), Curtis Gunn of Desert Angels (Tucson, AZ), Parker MacDonell, Executive Committee member of Ohio TechAngels (Columbus, OH), and Theresa Sedlack of Innovation Notre Dame (South Bend, IN).

The ACA Board of Directors is comprised of representatives of leading angel groups.  “In our role of advocating on behalf of accredited angel investing and nurturing investing best practices across North America, ACA is pleased to bring new talent to our board to continue to best serve the needs of our constituents”, said David Verrill, ACA Chairman.

The new Directors (bios below) will be added to the current board increasing membership to eighteen.

• Chair: David Verrill, Hub Angel Investment Group (Cambridge, MA)
• Vice Chair: Jamie Rhodes, Central Texas Angel Network (Austin, TX)
• Vice Chair: Mike Eckert, Atlanta Technology Angels (Atlanta, GA)
• Secretary / Treasurer: Ralph Mayer, Tech Coast Angels (San Diego, CA)
• Michael Cain, Wilmington Investor Network (Wilmington, NC)
• Jim Connor, Sand Hill Angels (Palo Alto, CA)
• Ross Finlay, First Angel Network Association (Halifax, NS) - NACO Liaison
• Allan May, Life Science Angels (Sunnyvale, CA)
• Christopher Mirabile, Launchpad Venture Group (Boston)
• Catherine V. Mott, BlueTree Allied Angels (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Katherine O'Neill, Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network (Mt. Laurel, NJ)
• Jean Peters, Golden Seeds (Richmond, VA)
• Dick Reeves, Huntsville Angel Network (Huntsville, AL)
• Dan Rosen, Alliance of Angels (Seattle, WA)

Added to those above are the following.

Matt Dunbar, Managing Director of Upstate Carolina Angel Network, is responsible for the strategy and operations of the Greenville-based group of investors that has invested $7 million in 26 companies since its founding in 2008.  Dunbar began his career as a chemical engineer with Eastman Chemical Company and later worked with several Fortune 500 clients as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group after completing his MBA at Stanford.

Active in his community, Dunbar also has a passion for education and serves as a Visiting Lecturer in Venture Finance in the Clemson University MBA program and with the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana.  He is a volunteer Board Member of Junior Achievement of Upstate South Carolina, which teaches young people finance and business and empowers them to own their economic success.  He also serves as Director on multiple portfolio company boards, providing guidance and education to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Curtis Gunn is Chairman of the Desert Angels, an angel investment group of over 95 accredited investors in Tucson, AZ that review presentations from early stage startup companies looking for potential funding. Prior to this role, Curtis traveled the world competing as a professional cyclist riding for both US and Australian-based professional cycling teams. Previous to his life as a professional athlete, he was an entrepreneur founding and operating companies based in retail, Internet, healthcare and real estate. As an angel investor, Curtis has invested in over 30 different companies across a broad base of industries, technologies, and geographies.

Parker MacDonell is a seasoned financial services and business executive whose personal mission includes helping others succeed in business. Though his advisory firm Invergarry Partners, he assists business owners with capital formation, succession planning, goal-setting and value creation. His goal is to help business owners through the next step in the growth of their enterprise and to remove obstacles that may stem from access to capital and funding.

MacDonell’s financial services career has combined commercial banking, angel investing and startup business ventures. At Bank One, he led teams of retail, commercial and community bankers to serve their clients. At CFBank, he successfully launched the entry of the company into the Columbus market and built a base of satisfied clients. As a member of the Executive Committee of, and an investor in, all four of the Ohio TechAngel Funds, Parker assists entrepreneurs with the growth of their emerging businesses.  He has invested in 18 businesses and served on the boards of five startups.

Theresa Sedlack brings more than 10 years of experience working with entrepreneurs, market experts, and investors throughout the Notre Dame family and currently serves as Private Sector Engagement Director of Innovation Park at Notre Dame. Prior to joining Innovation Park, Theresa served as venturing programs manager for Notre Dame's Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Her professional background includes eight years working at Procter and Gamble. She teaches the M.B.A. venture capital class in the Mendoza College of Business. Sedlack has strong ties to the university ecosystem and actively works to develop mentorship programs for entrepreneurs who are seeking early stage funding.  Currently, she teaches the M.B.A. venture capital class in the Mendoza College of Business.

The  ACA provides professional development for angel groups, family offices and individual accredited investors and delivers services and benefits to support the success of the portfolio companies of ACA members.  ACA also serves as the advocacy voice and the trusted authority on accredited angel investing. 

“We look forward to working with these new board members,” said ACA Executive Director Marianne Hudson.  “Each brings new talents and perspectives to help us continue to develop new programming that furthers the personal success of our members and strengthens our innovation economy.”

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About Angel Capital Association (ACA)

The Angel Capital Association is the leading professional and trade association supporting the success of angel investors in high-growth, early-stage ventures.  ACA provides professional development, industry voice, public policy advocacy and an array of benefits and resources to its membership of 200 angel groups and more than 8,500 individual accredited investors. www.angelcapitalassociation.org; Twitter: @ACAAngelCapital.

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