Augment Ventures

David Armstrong is Chief Financial Officer at Augment Ventures. He has over 25 years of experience in public accounting and is a partner at the CPA firm Edwards, Ellis, Armstrong & Company, P.C., where he focuses on small business tax planning and consultation. He also serves as Principal and Chief Compliance Officer at Pinnacle Investment Advisors, LLC, and holds a Master of Science in Taxation from Walsh College and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Michigan-Dearborn; he is both a CPA and CFP.

Jeffrey Lee is a Managing Partner at Augment Ventures focused on early-stage deep technology investments. He has experience working with high-growth technology companies in operational and advisory capacities.

Jeffrey Kontulis is a Principal at Augment Ventures. He started his career as an investment banking analyst in the telecom, media, and technology group at Credit Suisse, then helped found Intrepid Financial Partners with the former CEO of Barclays Americas, and later directed product and strategy at Boston-based FinTech SaaS company PaymentWorks. He holds a BA from Princeton University, an MBA with High Distinction from the University of Michigan, and a Certificate in Applied Business Analytics from MIT.

Hirak Parikh is a Principal in Venture Investments at Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, focusing on corporate venture and strategic investments across therapeutics, healthcare IT, and medical devices. He works with portfolio companies in early-stage venture funds and university spinouts, serving on boards and advising management on hiring and strategic planning. Parikh also supports companies in securing follow-on funding rounds.

Abhi Dinkar is a technology executive and investor with a background in high-performance computing and networked storage, developed during roles at Dell, Nvidia, and Veritas. He is President of Acaisoft, a technology services firm focused on data engineering, MLOps, and AI/ML infrastructure, and Principal of Lakeline Ventures, an angel fund backing enterprise solutions. He previously co-founded CloudLanes, a data-platform company working on multi-cloud data governance and lifecycle management.

Akhil Saklecha is Chief Scientific Officer of Acute Care at Danaher, where he leads scientific and technology strategy. He previously served as Managing Director of Venture Capital at Cleveland Clinic, investing in life sciences, medical devices, and digital health, and earlier was Managing Director at Artiman Ventures investing in early-stage companies across healthcare, education, ecommerce, real estate, and packaging. He co-founded and led the saliva diagnostics startup Slive, is board-certified in emergency medicine, and continues to practice part-time at Cleveland Clinic.

Alex Motey is a Venture Fellow at Augment Ventures with a background as a cleantech founder and strategic finance operator focused on early-stage deep tech and software in foundational industries. He co-founded and served as CEO of Nataqua, a modular electrochemical conversion venture, and previously worked as an Investment Analyst at Parabellum Acquisition Corporation sourcing industrial-IoT targets, along with earlier senior financial analyst roles. He is an MBA candidate at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and holds a BS in Finance from Tulane University.

Amit Narayan is an entrepreneur who has founded and sold several technology companies. He currently is Founder and CEO of Climate-AI Ventures, a venture fund and company creation studio focused on using artificial intelligence to address climate change. He previously founded and led AutoGrid, a virtual power plant and distributed energy resources company acquired by Schneider Electric in 2022, served as Director of Smart Grid Research at Stanford University, and earlier founded Berkeley Design Automation (acquired by Mentor Graphics/Siemens) and led products at Magma Design Automation. He holds a PhD from UC Berkeley and a B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur.

Bill Portelli is an executive who has served as CEO, advisor, and board director at technology companies. He is currently Head of Strategy at xMentium, an AI company, and holds board seats at early- to mid-stage venture-backed technology firms. His background includes mixed-signal IC development, open source, and information technology, with prior roles as SVP/GM and corporate officer at Cadence and CTT in the semiconductor and electronic design automation market, and as founding CEO of CollabNet.

Casey Cowell is an entrepreneur and investor who founded U.S. Robotics, later acquired by 3Com. He focuses much of his work on Northern Michigan, particularly the Traverse City area, and founded the Cowell Family Cancer Center at Munson Hospital. He supports Augment Ventures as both an investor and an advisor on the Northern Michigan technology landscape.

Gina Carfagno is a business executive with over twenty years of experience helping global enterprises apply technology, data, AI and analytics to grow revenue and improve customer experiences. She has worked as a senior marketing consultant and sales leader delivering enterprise solutions for Fortune 500 clients, with expertise spanning digital transformation, retail media, marketplace solutions and ecommerce across fintech, consumer goods, retail, pharmaceutical and hospitality. At Augment Ventures she serves as an Advisor focused on enterprise technology.

Nikhil Soares is the Chief Supply Chain Officer at SimpleTire, where he oversees operational functions for its virtual eCommerce platform. He has over a decade of experience managing supply chains at Fortune 500 companies including Nike and Walmart eCommerce, and started his career at Deloitte focused on supply chain strategy and operations consulting across consumer products, life sciences, and retail. He also advises startups such as Hive Brands and Boomerang.

Praachi Jain Mehta began her career in marketing and advertising at Dentsu Singapore before spending over three years as an entrepreneur in the education consulting space, where she managed teams and built client relationships and partnerships. She holds a bachelor's in economics from Nagoya University (Japan) and New York University, and a master's in Technopreneurship and Innovation from NTU Singapore. She serves as Chief of Staff at Augment Ventures, supporting early-stage ventures.

Ramin Vatanparast is a product management leader with over 20 years of experience building AI-powered products, enterprise SaaS platforms, consumer marketplaces, and commerce experiences. He has held Director, Senior Director, VP, Head of Product, and CPO roles at companies including Cisco Meraki, Proximie, Trustpilot, Meta, HP Snapfish, and Yahoo. His work covers enterprise AI, workflow automation, product-led growth, and cross-functional product leadership.

Toby Brzoznowski is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of LLamasoft, a supply chain design technology provider. He has over 20 years of experience building and growing technology businesses focused on process improvement and analytics, and frequently speaks at supply chain and logistics forums. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.