CoPeace Capital

Nakeita Norman is a finance executive and operator with over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, capital markets, and financial services. As Principal at NormanX Growth Partners, she provides advisory services to lower middle market private equity funds, working with general partners and management teams on operational efficiency, financial infrastructure development, and value creation initiatives. Her expertise includes fund economics, portfolio operations, financial modeling, and M&A analysis.

COO of CoPeace who joined in an advisory role in 2022 and served as fractional COO from October 2023. He was previously a partner at advisory firm ARC Angle, an early-stage startup investor, former President and CEO of Imperial Plastics, and held executive roles at Tennant Company, Storecast Merchandising, and General Mills.

Betsy Poell is a Vice President at JBC Capital Management. Her professional experience spans collateral management, trade settlement, and coordination with custodian banks and brokers, along with expertise in retirement plan structures, load balancing, and logistics management.

VP of Marketing at CoPeace with a global, growth-driven marketing background. He was previously Group Marketing Leader at Pentair and held marketing leadership roles at Textron/Arctic Cat, Kemps, Polaris, and General Mills, and was an early-stage investor in several Minnesota startups.

Dez Stone Menendez founded The Possibility Room, a Seattle-based startup incubator that supported new and existing businesses across sectors including technology, manufacturing, and retail. She joined Colorado College as Director of Creativity & Innovation in 2016, where she developed an innovation model for higher education focused on preparing students with skills for rapid change. Her work across entrepreneurship, product design, and education has centered on empowering individuals through values-driven projects.

Edmund Pendleton is founder and president of Perspective Innovation, LLC, where he works with corporate, academic, and startup innovators. With over 10 years of experience and 10,000+ hours of training in deep technology innovation, he specializes in evidence-based approaches including customer needs analysis, voice-of-customer research, primary research methods, value proposition testing, jobs-to-be-done frameworks, and business model validation. Pendleton has experience as a technology entrepreneur, startup founder, angel investor, and mentor.

Komathi Stem is a pharmaceutical and health IT executive with over 30 years of experience in drug development and healthcare technology. She has held leadership positions at companies including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Genentech, managing R&D and commercial functions with P&L responsibilities exceeding $50M across oncology, endocrine, cardio-metabolic, and other therapeutic domains. Stem co-founded Science 37 and monARC Bionetworks, which together raised over $150M in funding, and currently serves as Strategic Advisor at Oncoustics.

Ryhaan Williams is a Principal and Chief Business Development Officer at The Ryse Group with over 30 years of experience in revenue strategy and go-to-market leadership across broadcast, media, and live production technology sectors. He has built and scaled sales organizations while managing P&L responsibilities, with particular expertise in IP and cloud-based broadcast ecosystems serving sports and media enterprises. Williams has developed extensive industry networks and has led strategic partnerships, U.S. operations expansion, and complex multi-stakeholder projects throughout his career.