Berkeley SkyDeck Fund

Partner at the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund.

Kelly Lindberg is Senior Manager of the Innovation Partner Program at Berkeley SkyDeck, where she connects international founders with the Bay Area venture ecosystem. Her background includes roles with Start2/German Accelerator, TechWomen, and the Fulbright Program, managing programs for entrepreneurs and scholars. Her work spans academia, government, and technology innovation, with a focus on helping startups access Silicon Valley resources, mentoring, and investment.

Steph Brown is Regional Director at Reward Finance Group, a business finance provider specializing in asset-based funding solutions. Brown works with businesses to assess individual circumstances and arrange tailored funding arrangements.

Joined SkyDeck Fund following completion of an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he also interned at the fund during the pre-MBA summer. Previously worked at Foundation Capital, Deloitte, and Simon-Kucher & Partners.

Caroline Winnett is the Executive Director of UC Berkeley SkyDeck, the university's startup accelerator and incubator operated as a partnership between the Haas School of Business, the College of Engineering, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. SkyDeck invests $200,000 in each cohort company and provides mentorship, resources, and access to UC Berkeley's network of over 700 advisors and accredited investors. The program has supported more than 140 startups in residence and maintains a Gold Tier rating from the Seed Rankings Project.

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business graduate who previously participated in SkyDeck's incubator program as a founder. She has audit and business operations experience gained from an internship at PwC.

Faculty advisor; EECS professor and Executive Director of the FHL Vive Center for Enhanced Reality.

Areg Alimian is a Managing Partner at SmartGateVC, where he leads investments in deep-tech, physical AI/neurotech, and cybersecurity across a portfolio of 45+ companies. His background includes product executive roles at Box and Ixia, where he oversaw security and test technologies deployed across hundreds of thousands of enterprises, and co-founding Azimuth Systems, a wireless test company acquired by Anritsu. Alimian has contributed to IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standards and serves as an advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck.

Balu Masti is a technology strategist and ecosystem builder with over three decades of experience across the United States, Silicon Valley, and India, currently serving as India Ambassador and Advisor at UC Berkeley SkyDeck and Director of International Collaborations at RV University, Bangalore. He advises accelerators including CMU's Schwartz Center, AI @ Wharton, and Rutgers–Camden, and through HUM Consulting Services provides fractional CTO and advisory support to DeepTech ventures in areas such as AI/ML, data platforms, IoT, embedded systems, and SaaS. His earlier career included nearly two decades at Qualcomm and Intel and the co-founding of a DeepTech startup focused on energy optimization; he is also a Carnatic Veena artist and certified yoga teacher.

Bhavika Patel is a Program Coordinator at Berkeley SkyDeck. She studied Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing at the University of California, Riverside, with a focus on social media, outreach, digital communication, and data analytics.

DEI Committee Chair; CEO of Founder Pitch Week.

Clifford Tong is an advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck and CEO of a management consulting firm serving new ventures and fast-growing companies. He is an active angel investor with memberships in the Berkeley Angel Network and Insync Angels, and serves as a founding investor and advisor for The Batchery and Skydeck accelerators. His investment interests span Enterprise SaaS, software, AI, healthcare, consumer products, energy and cleantech, fintech, and real estate.

Cole Harry is the Japan Program Manager at Berkeley SkyDeck, where the work involves connecting Japanese founders to Silicon Valley. Harry has experience in university partnerships, business development, and research and industry collaborations, with a focus on US-UK academic and economic relations.

Ekin Günaysu is Senior Manager of Program at Berkeley SkyDeck, UC Berkeley's startup accelerator, where the role involves supporting early-stage startups and managing operations with cross-functional teams. Günaysu has over eight years of experience in project management, holds a PMP certification, and has an academic background in Political Science, Business Administration, and European Studies. Prior experience includes work in international development and a 17-year career as a professional tennis player.

DEI Committee member; professional faculty at Berkeley-Haas.

George Willman is a Senior Counsel and Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP specializing in intellectual property law, technology transactions, and venture law. His practice encompasses patent counseling, licensing agreements, and IP advisory services across electronics, software, communications, and biotechnology sectors, as well as IP issues in mergers, acquisitions, and public offerings. He speaks regularly on topics including technology transactions, licensing, intellectual property, and startup financing.

Hobert Wai is a Partner at Hanawa Group with experience in biotech and healthcare leadership across clinical chemistry, immunoassay, immunology, infectious disease, oncology, genomics, and health technology. He has built and led cross-functional teams and launched over 60 new products in the past decade, with background in talent acquisition, team coaching, and mentoring. Wai serves as an angel investor and advisor.

IC Jan is founder and managing director of Taiwan Global Angels, a global angel investment network focused on early-stage companies in Physical AI, Med Tech, and Sensor Tech, primarily in the Bay Area. With over 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur and investor, Jan co-founded AppWorks, Asia's first startup accelerator, and served as general partner for six years before launching healthcare-focused accelerator programs connecting Taiwanese manufacturing and healthcare expertise with U.S. startups. Taiwan Global Angels has invested in 11 startups and 2 venture funds since 2022 with $25 million in assets under management, and Jan serves as advisor to Berkeley SkyDeck and mentor to 500 Global.

DEI Committee member; Senior Enterprise Architect at SAP.

DEI Committee member; Founder & Principal of Gender Lenz.

Karén Gyulbudaghyan is the Founding Partner of Strategic Value Ventures, a San Francisco-based strategic advisory firm serving global partners and startups. His career spans over 25 years across government, Big Four consulting, multinational technology companies, and World Bank and EU projects, including a role at Yahoo! where he led data center strategy and structured business incentive deals. He serves as an Ambassador, advisor, and selection committee member at UC Berkeley SkyDeck, and holds degrees in economics, mathematics, and accounting, along with a California CPA license.

Product-focused technologist who enjoys identifying product ideas and building engineering teams.

Co-founder of Propel(x) and the MIT Alumni Angel Group.

Strategy Council member; seed-stage investor and advisor.

Strategy Council member and Co-Chair of the SkyDeck Advisor Council.

Marco Salvalaggio is an advisor on business strategy and finance at modelwise with over 20 years of experience in investment banking and quantitative asset management serving large corporations, governments, and financial institutions. He holds degrees in engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, and UC Berkeley, along with an MBA from Berkeley and a master's degree in local economic development from the London School of Economics. He provides advisory services to early-stage companies on business development, fundraising strategies, and fintech matters.

Joined the team in October 2023 to manage deal flow and support daily operations. With a medical background including cardiac imaging research at the Leipzig Heart Center and Harvard Medical School, he has worked in strategy consulting, private equity advisory, and at Philips Ventures.

Managing partner of Incubic and author of 'Toward Entrepreneurship.' Former president of Newport and New Focus, which he took public; companies he incubated led to six IPOs and seven acquisitions. He holds a BS from University of Illinois and a PhD from Caltech, and has served on numerous technology and government advisory bodies.

Angel investor and pitch-deck specialist, former Accenture consultant and hospitality entrepreneur.

Executive-in-residence who was formerly Global Director of GTM Strategy.

Ranjit Pradhan is a senior executive with experience in general management, product management, and business development across Fortune 100 companies and startups, with particular focus on software, SaaS, medical devices, and digital healthcare platforms. He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at American Shared Hospital Services and has held P&L responsibility in diagnostics imaging, in vitro diagnostics, oncology, and pharma supply chain segments. Pradhan has worked internationally across Europe, Japan, and Asia-Pacific markets, and advises venture capital funds and founders in the Bay Area startup ecosystem.

A strategic advisor, board member, and investor in fast-growing technology companies, drawing on his experience at Oracle and as part of Coupa's founding team through its IPO and growth to 3,000+ employees.

Revital Padovitz is founder and product advisor at Invergency, where she coaches founders, product leaders, and technology professionals on leadership, organizational dynamics, and strategic decision-making. She spent two decades in product leadership roles at Meta, Microsoft, and startups, and has facilitated programs including "Influence Without Authority" for product leads at Fortune 500 companies and a cohort on AI navigation for Women in Product. Padovitz also invests in early-stage health and technology startups and serves on advisory boards for nonprofit communities.

Scott Mirer is a member of Sand Hill Angels with prior experience at Netflix. He holds an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and an MS in Applied Mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His background includes executive roles in partner programs, product management, business development, professional services, and software engineering, with expertise in partnerships, product management, and leadership development.

Shawn Merani is Founder and Managing Partner of Parade Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm whose Fund I investments include companies such as Sonar, Monograph, Moichor, Northstar, Knapsack, and Prometeo. Previously, he was a co-founder and partner at Flight Ventures, where he invested in early-stage software and internet companies including Cruise Automation, Dollar Shave Club, and Plastiq, and served as a founding partner at Liquidnet's Private Shares marketplace, which grew to over $150 million in gross merchandise value within two years. Merani holds a BA in Economics and BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and serves as faculty at UC Berkeley.

Sibyl Chen is General Manager and Head of Program at Berkeley SkyDeck, UC Berkeley's startup accelerator. In this role, she advises and supports founders across stages of company development, from initial pitch through scaling. The accelerator works with approximately 250 startups per year.

Steve Felter is a Venture Partner at Berkeley Frontier Fund. He has spent over a decade in leadership roles at venture-backed startups, serving as CEO, COO, and CFO across stages ranging from early fundraising and team building to scaling, acquisition, and integration into a Fortune 50 company. His areas of focus include business development, growth, operations, and finance.

Tatsuro Koyama is a Venture Partner at Lifetime Ventures, which maintains a partnership with the Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology. He invests in Japanese deep technology founders developing products for global markets, including physical AI, robotics, advanced materials, and frontier technologies, typically writing seed-stage checks of $300,000. Based in Los Angeles, Koyama brings nearly two decades of investment banking experience across Tokyo, New York, and London, along with operational experience from a cross-border startup acquisition, and also supports early-stage founders through UC Berkeley SkyDeck.

Tim, a serial founder since 15 who scaled Red Sky Interactive to nearly 600 employees and global awards, leads SkyDeck's Design and Rapid Prototyping, providing hands-on product and validation help.

Zeynep Ilgaz is a General Partner at Cross Ocean Ventures who invests in technology companies and advises founders on fundraising and growth strategy. She co-founded Confirm B, a consumer diagnostics company that achieved retail distribution in over 20,000 stores and was acquired for a nine-figure sum. Ilgaz serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Yale Ventures and mentor with Berkeley SkyDeck and Techstars, supporting early-stage startups across fundraising, investor relations, and scaling operations.