Innosphere Ventures

Alex Brandon is an Account Management Analyst at LevelTen Energy and a student of environmental science and political economy at the University of Washington. Prior experience includes venture research within Colorado's startup ecosystem and carbon project operations abroad.

Director of Workforce for the ASCEND Engine, leading regional talent pipeline strategies connecting education and industry across Colorado and Wyoming.

Ben Walker is Executive Director at Innosphere Ventures, where he focuses on life sciences and artificial intelligence. He has more than 20 years of experience in business planning and marketing management, including product development, market development, and technical marketing across commercial and consumer sectors in domestic and international markets. His background includes managing teams of up to 30 people worldwide and completing foreign assignments in Mexico and Germany.

Betty Cozzolino is a Digital Strategist and Events Manager at Innosphere, working at the intersection of science, innovation, and communications. She previously served as Chief Marketing Officer for the NSF ASCEND Engine, a multi-state innovation initiative serving Colorado and Wyoming focused on advanced sensing, environmental intelligence, and applied AI, and earlier led marketing and ecosystem engagement for Innosphere Ventures, a nonprofit startup incubator. Her work spans narrative development, brand and communications systems, and strategic event production across sectors including life sciences, climate, and space systems.

Serves as Program Director of Innosphere's Earth & Space Systems Accelerator.

Dan Moyers is a Startup Client Director at Innosphere, where he advises and supports startups through Innosphere and the NSF ASCEND Engine's accelerator programs. He previously spent 28 years as an operator at early-stage and scale-up companies, with experience spanning customer success, product management, operations, strategy, finance, capital fundraising, sales, marketing, and partnership development. He founded MOventure Outfitters, an adventure vehicle outfitter, and Catchflo, a fishing-themed footwear brand, and co-founded a SaaS CRM company in home healthcare and the zWORKS coworking center.

Ella Merwin Olk is a second-year student at the University of Virginia pursuing a B.S. in Commerce. She works as a Research Associate at Innosphere.

Emily Merwin Olk is a Research Associate at GelSana. She holds a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Information Science and Technology from Colorado State University.

Emily Wilson serves as Operations Lead at the NSF ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming and works in public relations and operations at Innosphere, a Colorado technology incubator, where her responsibilities have included investor relations, entrepreneur education programs in Fort Collins and Denver, and project management for the NoCoBio bioscience cluster. She previously worked for the City of Fort Collins Economic Health office and has been a consultant with the Larimer Small Business Development Center. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies and has completed Leadership Fort Collins and Leadership Northern Colorado programs.

Erin Zimmerman holds a PhD in Political Science/International Relations and is a Terra.do Climate Fellow. She serves as Science Communications Manager at the NSF ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming, with over 12 years of experience in research and writing, including published books and peer-reviewed articles. She is fluent in English and conversational in German and French.

Evan Chang is an undergraduate finance student at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. He is scheduled to join Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) as an Investment Banking Summer Analyst in 2027.

Jake Johnson is the Executive Assistant and Events Coordinator at Innosphere, where he coordinates events for the organization and the NSF ASCEND Engine across Colorado and Wyoming. He holds a bachelor's degree in English, with a Film Studies emphasis, and Communication from the University of Colorado Denver.

Joey Money is a Consultant at IndustriaSpark with experience in corporate development and operations across biopharma, bio-based chemical, and biotechnology companies. Their work has included product commercialization and the structuring, negotiation, and execution of partnering and licensing deals across companies ranging from startups to multinationals. Money also mentors and advises early-stage companies, including through Innosphere Ventures.

Kate Laughrey is the Associate Director of the METEC Research Group at Colorado State University. She oversees the team's financial, human resources, and operational functions and serves as the principal project manager for larger capital projects. Her work involves managing grants and testing services in support of researchers.

Director of the Innosphere Life Sciences Incubator, supporting commercialization of life science innovations across a multi-state network of universities and bioscience associations.

Kristen Tatti is Director of Marketing and Communications at Innosphere. She has more than 15 years of experience in marketing and corporate communications, including upper-funnel strategy and management of budgets exceeding $3 million. Her work spans executive advisory during organizational transitions and crisis situations, thought leadership for B2C and B2B brands, and team leadership in technology-focused environments.

Lucas Gauthier is the Research and Evaluation Manager at Innosphere Ventures, where he directs market and venture capital research supporting early-stage startups and the NSF ASCEND Regional Innovation Engine across Colorado and Wyoming. He previously worked on sustainability reporting and regulatory strategy at Antero Resources and conducted community-based energy, climate, and adaptation research at CU Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science. A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder with a B.A. in Economics and minors in Philosophy and Leadership Studies, he has published work on climate adaptation, policy analysis, and economics, including an honors thesis on the effect of short-term rentals on Hawaii's housing markets.

Finance Director with nearly a decade of accounting and finance experience, specializing in grant management and compliance, including multi-million-dollar FEMA and state grants.

Ravi Smith is a Building Manager at Innosphere. He holds a BS in Biology from Point Loma Nazarene University, where he conducted neuroscience research under Dr. Robert Elson. He later studied Health Economics at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland while serving as an Economic Researcher at the Center for Health, Policy, and Economics.

Riya Sajjan is pursuing a degree in Business Economics at UCLA. She has founded several community-focused initiatives across the health, technology, and advocacy fields, and is an incoming Summer Analyst at JPMorganChase.

Director of Research and Development for the ASCEND Engine, with a data science background spanning environmental science, public health, and policy.

Tim Jones is a Partner at ICI Fund, where he supports fund operations and works with portfolio companies, and also serves as COO of Innospere Ventures. He is active as an investor and mentor in the Colorado venture startup ecosystem. Earlier in his career he held project management, M&A, and quality roles at General Electric's Energy and Oil & Gas divisions, and began his career as a submarine officer in the US Navy. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from the University of Rochester.