Alliance of Angels

Bob Wallach is a Strategic Advisor at Indoor Farms who serves as a board director and corporate advisor. His background includes corporate strategy, marketing, and sales roles at consumer products companies, along with experience as an entrepreneur, board member, and angel investor.

Charles Porter spent 30 years at Accenture, where he served as Managing Partner and CIO with responsibility for global IT infrastructure across 48 countries. He now invests in and advises early-stage technology, healthcare, and AI companies, and serves on Seattle University's Board of Trustees, where he chairs the Strategy, Innovation and Technology Committee, and the Alliance of Angels Board, where he chairs the Finance Committee. Porter is also a certified UAV flight instructor with UAV Coach.

Dan Menser is General Counsel at TEAL Communications, an IoT connectivity company. He previously worked as a lawyer and team leader at T-Mobile USA and serves as Vice Chair of the Alliance of Angels. He is also an angel investor and holds positions on boards of directors and advisory boards.

Eric Larsen is Chair of the Board at Alliance of Angels and an experienced entrepreneur and investor who advises emerging Northwest companies on scaling through technology, finance, and operations. He previously held senior leadership roles at Quellos and BlackRock, where he built proprietary systems including Quasar and Aladdin CRM; at Quellos he helped scale the firm from $324 million to $25 billion in assets, and at BlackRock he served on the Global Operating Committee and launched the Client Analytics group. Larsen has led multiple fundraising rounds and advised emerging hedge funds on risk management and technology.

Gary Ritner is the owner of Ritner & Company and works as a venture capital and private equity consultant. He is the founder and manager of the Puget Sound Venture Club, an angel investment group established in 1985. His work involves raising angel capital for early-stage companies and providing consulting services.

Joana Zhang is a Board Advisor at Lightyear Consulting and works as a venture partner and angel investor focused on AI, robotics, life sciences, and space technology. She has more than 30 years of experience spanning corporate leadership roles at IBM and Microsoft as well as venture and cross-border innovation work. Zhang's background includes affiliations with Harvard and MIT.

Loretta Little is Principal at Trielle Group and has over 30 years of experience as an early-stage investor in the healthcare, medical technology, digital health, and advanced materials sectors. She previously served as a Managing Director at WRF Capital, where she focused on identifying early-stage technologies and teams. She holds advisory and board roles across innovation networks and angel investor communities.

Lowell Ricklefs is the founder of Traction Advising, a boutique M&A firm focused on sell-side transactions for B2B SaaS companies. His background includes founding, building, and selling SaaS companies, as well as acquiring and integrating them. Through Traction Advising, he works with SaaS founders on identifying acquirers, positioning their companies, and negotiating exits.

Magnus Christerson is an angel investor and investor at AI House. His professional interests span artificial intelligence, product development, software development, executive management, startups, and strategy.

Maren Nelson co-chairs the Life Sciences Screening Committee at Alliance of Angels. She has experience in medical device development and regulatory approval across product lifecycles, including external defibrillators, pacemakers, patient monitors, medical software, and surgical devices. Her background includes process improvement and quality management in R&D and business operations.

Mark Taylor is a private investor and retired engineering professional with a background in data and telecommunications networks, wireless communications systems, and distributed systems. He serves as a board member at ActX, Inc. and advises and sits on the boards of early-stage companies and the Alliance of Angels, an angel group in the Pacific Northwest.

Dennis Schmuland is a physician and healthcare entrepreneur who previously served as Chief Health Strategy Officer at Microsoft, where he founded and led the US health insurance vertical from 2005 to 2012. He holds an MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine and undergraduate degrees in psychology and chemistry from Seattle Pacific University, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Schmuland currently serves as a board member at EvergreenHealth and on advisory boards for multiple healthcare organizations and academic institutions, while maintaining investments in healthcare ventures.

A finance leader who was CFO of Arrived overseeing 300 securities offerings, Managing Director of LEHOKI, and Principal/CFO at American Classic Homes, and founded SeaLevel Properties. He holds Math and Computer Science degrees from MIT.

Mark Mueller Eberstein is a startup mentor and advisor at CoMotion at the University of Washington with over 25 years of experience in the IT industry. He has founded multiple companies across investment, software, and services sectors, and serves in board and advisory roles for various companies, funds, and nonprofit organizations. His research and investment interests span blockchain and Web3 technologies, IoT, artificial intelligence, and space ventures, with published work in three books translated into 12 languages and speaking engagements at industry conferences and Fortune 500 organizations.

Serial entrepreneur and angel investor who has co-founded and led five technology companies and serves as Executive Chairman of Indigo Slate, an innovation advisory firm for Fortune 500 companies. Holds a B.S. in Computer Science from St. Stephen's College and an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management.