Cintrifuse Capital

Tarek Kamil is the CEO and Founder of Cerkl, a company that develops AI-powered communication tools, including its Cerkl Broadcast product. He has over 10 years of experience building and scaling technology platforms, and leads a team spanning engineering, design, and marketing. Cerkl uses behavioral analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing to personalize content delivery across email, web, and mobile channels.

A recognized leader in early-stage investing and entrepreneurship with a background spanning investing, consumer product development, business operations, and strategic leadership.

Has spent her career in the venture ecosystem as an operator, founder, and investor, and is passionate about strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A former venture-backed founder who advises entrepreneurs on go-to-market and fundraising, bringing startup scaling experience to his venture capital work.

Evan Garcia is a Startup Engagement Manager at Cintrifuse with over 10 years of experience in program design, cross-functional management, and executive reporting across startup, healthcare, and disaster-focused settings. His work centers on running multi-stakeholder programs, managing partner relationships, and building operating systems, with a focus on capital readiness and pitch strategy. He has worked with ecosystem organizations to expand program scale, support founders and partners, and maintain reporting standards.

Heather Quinley is Managing Director, Sustainability at Duke Energy Corporation, where she leads the company's sustainability team. She previously directed Duke Energy's Midwest external stakeholder engagement and philanthropy across Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, overseeing a team that invests more than $4 million annually in education, workforce development, and environmental programs. Her work has included facilitating strategy roundtables with external stakeholders on regulatory initiatives, spanning two decades in energy and environmental roles.

Jeremy Vaughan is a Principal and Global Client Service Leader within EY's Global Consumer team, where he works with Fortune 500 consumer-facing clients. He has more than 30 years of experience in professional services and management consulting, with work spanning the UK, Europe, and the Americas. His areas of experience include technology-enabled back-office transformation, divestitures, acquisition integration, operational and service delivery improvements, process performance optimization, and decision analytics.

Brings leadership experience across biotech, fund operations, and growth equity, with a Boston College degree and roots in Boston and Cincinnati.

Has an extensive background working for startups and helping businesses grow, focused on supporting founders across the startup ecosystem.

Ryan Hays serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of "Strategists First: How to Defeat the Strategy Trap," a book addressing the identity, beliefs, and practices of strategists.

Tim Schigel is Managing Partner at Refinery Ventures, an early-scale investment firm he founded in 2017 that focuses on companies between post-seed and Series A funding. His background spans roles as an entrepreneur, venture investor, and fund manager, including founding ShareThis. He has worked in the Midwest and Silicon Valley.

A recent Xavier University finance graduate with experience in public equity valuation and private equity secondaries prior to joining Cintrifuse.