Cintrifuse Capital

Ryan Rybolt is CEO and co-founder of Payload, a developer-focused platform for enabling digital payments across organizations in multiple sectors. He previously founded Infintech, a payment processing company that reached 15,000 customers and processed nearly $5 billion in annual credit card payments before merging with the publicly traded i3 Verticals in 2015. Rybolt also founded Give Back Cincinnati, a volunteer organization with over 6,000 members, and has served on boards including the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the University of Cincinnati Foundation, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

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.

Claire Prather is a Marketing & Design Specialist at Cintrifuse. She holds a BS in Communication Design from the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Her areas of design interest include branding, motion design, album and artist design, and UX/UI, and she is available for freelance 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.

Guy Persaud is global president of Procter & Gamble Ventures, having previously led businesses for the company across the United States, Europe, China, and Latin America. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Hershey Company and previously served on the Board of Nordstrom. He is also Board Chair of Cintrifuse, a Cincinnati-based venture capital firm supporting local start-ups.

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.

James Vance is SVP and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Western & Southern Financial Group and Fort Washington Investment Advisors.

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.

Mark Fahner is VP Corporate Development at altafiber, where his responsibilities span strategy and M&A, product management and development, marketing, operations, and sales. He led the acquisition of three companies in one year, with transaction sizes of $10M, $200M, and $650M, and has managed a P&L of $350M-$500M along with a capital plan of nearly $200M across consumer, small business, and enterprise segments.

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

Robert Kalutkiewicz is Senior Vice President of Strategy, Corporate and New Business Development at The E.W. Scripps Company, where he focuses on mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments across the technology, media, edtech, sports, and consumer brand sectors. He has more than 18 years of investment and management experience in public and private companies and holds several board positions tied to Scripps investments while advising companies in the media sector.

Rod Robinson is Principal Director in Accenture's Sourcing and Procurement Practice, where he works with Fortune 500 and private equity-backed companies on procurement analytics and digital transformation. He founded and led ConnXus, a cloud-based supplier diversity SaaS platform that raised $10M in venture capital and was acquired by Coupa Software, where he subsequently served as Vice President; he was later Senior Vice President at Insight Sourcing Group prior to its acquisition by Accenture. Robinson holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BS in Accounting from West Virginia University Institute of Technology, is a former CPA and Deloitte & Touche auditor, and serves on the boards of Cintrifuse and the American Jump Rope Federation.

Ryan Hays holds the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of "Strategists First: How to Defeat the Strategy Trap," which examines the characteristics, beliefs, and behaviors of strategists across organizational contexts.

Ryan Kean is Chief Information Officer at Total Quality Logistics and serves as a board member at Magnified Giving. His background includes technology strategy, digital transformation, data and analytics, enterprise systems, and operational excellence within Fortune 50 and privately held enterprises. He has held CIO and COO-level roles and has led cross-functional, multicultural teams.

Stephanie Hogue is Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Infrastructure, a role she has held since 2025, having previously served as President and a board member since 2021 and as CFO from 2021 to 2024. Earlier, she was a Managing Director at PwC Corporate Finance LLC, where she served as New York Branch Manager and led the firm's Inbound Cross-Border M&A and Debt Private Placements practices while based in New York and Mumbai, and she held prior capital markets roles at several investment banks and began her career at Deloitte. She holds a B.A. from Miami University and an MBA from the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business.

Tim Schigel is an entrepreneur and investor who founded ShareThis, a Palo Alto-based social media sharing company, and later launched and managed Cintrifuse, a fund of funds that invested in 15 early-stage funds across the U.S. He has worked in venture capital since 1998 and holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University. He is a member of YPO.

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