Portfolia

Christina Jenkins (known as CJ) is a physician and venture investor who co-founded Convergent Ventures, where she leads health and life sciences investing focused on Seed and Series A AI-enabled healthcare platforms. Her background includes clinical medicine, health systems, and health plans; she was the founding CEO of OneCity Health Services, a subsidiary of NYC Health and Hospitals. She earned a BS in Industrial Management from Purdue University and an MD from Northwestern University, completed her residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Noramay Cadena is a Founding Partner at MiLA Capital, an early-stage venture firm in Los Angeles focused on hardware startups, drawing on manufacturing and supply chain expertise. She is a lead investor in Portfolia's Rising America Fund, which backs Latinx, Black, and LGBTQ founders. A Kauffman Fellow, she holds an MBA, a Master's in Engineering Systems, and a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Tracy Gray is the Founder and Managing Partner of The 22 Fund, an impact growth equity and advisory firm focused on increasing the competitiveness of manufacturing companies, with an emphasis on women- and BIPOC-owned businesses. She serves as an Executive-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and is the first Social Impact Fellow at UC Berkeley Haas Business School's Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership. She also founded the nonprofit We Are Enough, which educates women on investing in women-owned businesses.

Trish Costello builds venture funds that center women as lead investors and customer-experts, targeting overlooked intimate-health spaces like menopause and pelvic health, and teaching first-time angels via learn-by-investing deal teams.

Amber Caska is a lead investor in Portfolia's Consumer Fund and an angel investor in Silicon Valley, focusing on women-led companies in health and health infrastructure. She previously served four years as Chief Financial Officer for Investments at Hillspire LLC, the family office of Eric Schmidt, and was an officer of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation. Earlier she spent more than eight years at Vulcan Inc., Paul Allen's family office, rising to Senior Director and Treasurer.

Angela Jackson combines regional seed and national women-led thesis investing experience as a co-founder and co-manager, bringing founder empathy and risk-tolerance forged by a serial-entrepreneur upbringing and early ventures.

Anna Nakayasu is a healthcare investor at Sozo Ventures, focusing on companies at the intersection of healthcare, aging, and longevity, with a cross-border focus between Japan and the United States. She earned an MD from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine and practiced as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Tokyo for four years before moving into healthcare investing. She also holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Barbara Clarke is an early-stage investor in Boston and the Northeast who backs women-, POC-, and LGBTQ-led companies. She is a lead investor across several Portfolia funds and a founding member of Astia Angels, serving on Astia's national investment board. She has a background as an economist and entrepreneur, with senior leadership roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG, and holds a BA in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and an MA in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University.

Beatriz Franco's Brazilian legal training, MBA in finance, former CEO of a climate-focused fertilizer company and COO role help her evaluate food, agriculture and climate startups at the venture–credit intersection.

Bethann Kasman is a lead investor at Portfolia, active across its Rising Tide Fund, Consumer Fund, and FirstStep Fund. She is CEO of Go Beyond Network, a global angel investment network she has been part of since 2009, and has invested in early-stage companies across Europe and the United States. Earlier she ran a consulting practice split between Florida and Switzerland and held faculty appointments in entrepreneurship, marketing, and strategy at Webster University's Geneva campus and the Open University's Executive MBA program.

Bodil Arlander combines senior private equity experience at Bear Stearns, governance across 12 boards and an Ironman background to guide consumer brands toward exits in Active Aging, Longevity and sports/fitness.

Brita Rosenheim is a Partner at Culterra Capital with 20 years of experience in food and tech investment, M&A, and strategy, focusing on food tech, supply chain, restaurant tech, and consumer innovation. She is also a Venture Partner at Better Food Ventures and previously ran her own strategic consulting firm, publishing annual Food Tech Landscape and Restaurant Tech Ecosystem analyses. Earlier, she worked as a corporate finance and M&A investment banker at Robertson Stephens, Cowen, and ThinkEquity in San Francisco, and holds a BA in Mathematics from Pitzer College and an MA in Food Culture and Communications from the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche in Italy.

Chantell Preston, an over-20-year healthcare operations executive, brings an operator-driven, systems-focused perspective shaped by her public experience of losing and rebuilding herself, prioritizing founder well-being, authenticity, and sustainable success.

Claire England is an Investment Partner at GPG Ventures, where she leads the firm's healthcare venture work across biotech, digital health, medtech, and consumer health. At Portfolia she is a Partner in the FemTech and Food & AgTech Funds and has served on investment committees. Earlier she developed the Central Texas Angel Network into an active angel investing community and directed a founder and investor conference in Austin; she is a Kauffman Fellow and holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and Public Relations.

Daphne Dufresne is Managing Partner of GenNx 360 Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on industrial and business services companies, where she serves on the Investment Committee and chairs the Exit Committee. She previously worked in the Bank of Scotland's Structured Finance Group on European management buyouts, was a Principal at Weston Presidio, and was a founding partner and Managing Director of RLJ Equity Partners. She holds a BSE from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Darshana Zaveri is Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures, focusing on investment strategy, portfolio oversight, and capital raising, with a background in medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare technology. Before co-founding Catalyst Health Ventures, she was an investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals working on oncology, metabolic disease, and immunology drug programs, and earlier held roles at Genome Therapeutics and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She holds an MPA from Harvard University, a Master's in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and a BS in Biochemistry from Bombay University.

Elaine Bolle is an angel investor, board director, and strategic advisor who has founded and exited multiple venture-backed companies, including the payments processor Achex, which was acquired by First Data Corporation. She invests in early-stage ventures, emphasizing active board involvement and go-to-market execution, and serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at First Flight Venture Center. Her operating background includes senior leadership roles at Western Union, Citicorp Global Payments, and Quaker Oats, spanning financial services and consumer goods.

Fatimah Bello is a technology executive and impact investor focused on energy, sustainability, and climate technology. She founded SWD Futures, a firm centered on energy transition strategies and investment, and previously held roles in corporate development, product management, and innovation at Heliogen, SABIC, and The Dow Chemical Company. At Portfolia she served as Lead Partner for the Green & Sustainability Fund, and she is also a Venture Partner at Climate Impact Capital and Operating Partner at 8090 Industries. She holds an MBA from Rice University, a Master's in Engineering Management from the University of Alberta, and a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering from The City College of New York.

Jane van Dis is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester, where she also practices as an OB hospitalist. She is Co-Founder and CEO of Equity Quotient and previously co-founded OB Best Practice and Equity Metric, and served as Medical Director at Maven Clinic. She works in digital health, femtech, and women's health, and serves as Lead Partner at Portfolia's FemTech II Fund.

Jennifer Ehlen leads an early-stage fund focused on women-led startups, runs her own investment firm JDE Capital, and builds women-focused accelerators and networks, combining deep operator experience with investing.

Jennifer Fried is a healthcare entrepreneur, operator, and investor. She is CEO and co-founder of Flow Medical, which is developing a thrombolysis catheter to treat pulmonary embolism, and previously co-founded and led ExplORer Surgical, a digital health company acquired by Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) in 2021. Earlier she worked in healthcare venture investing at Park Lane Ventures and Hyde Park Angels and as a management consultant at Bain & Company; she holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Northwestern University.

Jiong Ma is an investor, board member, and technology executive with over 25 years of experience building and financing technology and deep tech companies. She was previously Senior Partner and Investment Committee member at Braemar Energy Ventures and worked in the Venture Capital Group at 3i, and earlier held technical and business leadership roles at Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs while being a founding team member of the startup Onetta. She holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an MS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a BS from Lanzhou University, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Juliana Garaizar is a Lead Investor in Portfolia's Rising America, Consumer, and Rising Tide funds, and serves as Launch Director for Greentown Labs Houston. She previously was Director of the Texas Medical Center Venture Fund and Managing Director of the Houston Angel Network, and earlier managed the Sophia Business Angels network on the French Riviera and led the Antipolis Innovation Campus. She earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship from London Business School and is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 20).

Karen Kerr is a venture investor and advisor with over two decades of experience working with entrepreneurs to build technology companies. She previously held roles as Executive Managing Director at GE Ventures, Managing Director at ARCH Venture Partners, Senior Associate at Patricof & Co., Director at Intellectual Ventures, and Senior Director of New Ventures and Alliances at the University of Southern California. She holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chicago and an AB in Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College, and was part of the Charter Class of Kauffman Fellows.

Kelly Warrick is an investor and venture capital attorney with over twenty years of experience. She was previously General Counsel of GE Ventures, overseeing legal and compliance across GE's innovation platforms while also serving as a portfolio manager and board observer, and earlier practiced M&A, private equity, venture capital, and securities law at Paul Hastings. She holds a BA in History from Boston College and a JD from Georgetown University Law School, and is a member of the National Venture Capital Association's General Counsel Advisory Board.

Lisa Coca is Partner of the Climate Fund at Toyota Ventures, where she focuses on investing in companies advancing carbon neutrality and climate solutions. She previously served as Managing Director and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Intel's Emerging Growth & Incubations Division and was a founding member of GE Ventures, where she led the enterprise software investment practice and built the firm's EDGE program. Earlier roles included strategy and business development positions at GE Capital, Bankers Trust, and Deutsche Bank. She holds a degree from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Lisa Frusztajer is a lead investor in Portfolia's Enterprise Fund and an active angel investor in the Boston and New York markets, having started with Portfolia as an investing member of the Rising Tide Fund. She is also a Venture Partner with Converge Venture Partners, a seed and early-stage fund focused on software, SaaS, cloud, and information technology companies. Earlier in her career she worked at Sun Microsystems, the startup KYOS, and Avid Technology, and she holds an AB from the University of Chicago, an MS from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Maddy Dychtwald is a futurist, investor, and author who co-founded Age Wave, an advisory firm focused on aging, longevity, and generational dynamics that has worked with Fortune 500 companies on strategy and market positioning. At Portfolia, she leads the Active Aging and Longevity II Fund, drawing on her background in longevity trends and consumer behavior. She holds a BA in Communications from New York University.

Manthi Nguyen is a lead investor at Portfolia, working across the Rising Tide Fund, Consumer Fund, and Enterprise Fund. She has worked with early-stage technology companies in routing and networking that were later acquired by NEC, Cabletron, Tut Systems, and Cisco, and previously worked at General Motors' Advanced Manufacturing Research group on automation and standards development. She holds a BS from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of Michigan, and has spent recent years mentoring entrepreneurs, advising, and angel investing.

Milena Bursztyn is a Partner on the Food & AgTech team at Portfolia, where she sources, evaluates, and supports early-stage companies in the food and agriculture sectors. She previously worked as a Venture Investor at Germin8 Ventures and held roles at Spotify, ScoreBeyond (acquired by LinkedIn), and SideChef, and earlier launched a gourmet food retail business. She holds a Master's degree from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Nola Masterson is one of the first women in biotech turned life‑sciences investor, Boardwise partner who uses operating experience and Master Results Coach training to mentor CEOs, advancing women's health.

Olga Yermolenko leads a Green & Sustainability fund, works in Food & Agtech, is an operator/investor, advises family offices on social impact, and prioritizes impact over pure financial returns.

Rachel Sheinbein is a lead investor in Portfolia's Rising Tide Fund and Enterprise Fund and serves as a Venture Partner at Lemnos VC. She co-founded Makeda Capital, a public markets fund investing in Fortune 500 companies led by women CEOs, and was previously a Partner at CMEA Capital focused on early-stage energy and materials investments. Earlier she spent years at Intel working on wastewater treatment and environmental technologies as well as IT in the supply chain. She holds a Master's in Engineering and an MBA from MIT and an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Shayna Harris combines food activism, global supply-chain and scaling experience as ex-Chief Growth Officer at Farmer's Fridge, focusing on U.S. demographic-driven food culture shifts and spotlighting Latina founders in sustainability.

Sheila Collins is a strategic advisor in the innovation space with over 15 years of experience across marketing, eCommerce, and emerging technologies. She works with startups, investors, and industry leaders on technologies that support people as they age, and has launched several ventures and programs, including Piggy Bank, a youth financial literacy initiative. She is also an angel investor and advocates for FemTech solutions and wealth-building opportunities for BIPOC founders. She holds an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and a BA from Long Island University.

Sonia Arrison is an entrepreneur, investor, and author. She founded 100 Plus Capital, chairs the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, and advises Felicis Ventures and Bioverge. She previously co-founded Unsugarcoat Media (acquired by Medium), was an associate founder of Singularity University, and held director and Senior Fellow roles in tech studies at the Pacific Research Institute; she has also written several books on technology and longevity.

Victoria Barnard combines 30+ years of consumer P&L leadership—from $750M divisions to family-owned companies—with angel investing, co-founding a Midwest women-led network and an early pet-therapeutics exit (Aratana IPO, 2013).

Wendee Wolfson is a lead investor in Portfolia's Rising Tide Fund and has invested in early-stage, high-growth companies since 1997. She co-founded and helped manage WomenAngels.net and Women's Growth Capital Fund, and works as a leadership coach and consultant to entrepreneurs, executives, and family businesses. She holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University.

Bethann Kassman, a Portfolia deal lead and CEO of Go Beyond Network, combines a D.B.A. and former Switzerland professorship in marketing and entrepreneurship with cross‑border, women‑led investing from Naples, Florida.

Delphine O'Rourke, a Lead Partner in women's health investing, leverages her healthcare-law and academic background to translate regulatory and operational complexity for early-stage health startups and hosts a health-focused podcast.

Physician-turned-VC who led a $1.2B healthcare transformation for over one million New Yorkers and now focuses on AI-driven medical companies, leading a FemTech fund and sitting on boards like FIGUR8.

Practicing OB-GYN and assistant professor who leads a FemTech fund, co-founded TIME'S UP Healthcare and OBGYNs for Sustainable Future, bringing bedside insight and a rare systems-change, climate‑women's‑health impact lens.

Dr. Mary Lake Polan is a physician-investor (MD/PhD Yale; MPH UC Berkeley), National Academy of Medicine member, board veteran and founder of a 15+-year Eritrea fistula program repairing 1,000+ women.

Faz K. Bashi is a physician‑scientist with UCSF immunology and virology background who focuses on life science and digital health, chairs Life Science Angels' digital health and medical device groups.

Kathy Dodd is a 35‑year veteran operator who founded and exited The Corridor Group and now runs LifeWise CHM and Wineteer, specializing in housing, safety and mobility for aging-at-home.

Kelly Warrick, former GE Ventures General Counsel and venture lawyer, served as a portfolio manager and board observer and helps maintain NVCA model documents that set venture terms.

Lauri Kien Kotcher, with 30+ years scaling consumer brands and leading hello products to a Colgate‑Palmolive acquisition, brings an operator's applied‑AI perspective as CEO/co‑founder of Different Day to FemTech/women's health.

Serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Portfolia and hosts the firm's investing evening panels.

Anastasia Bottos is a strategic advisor to the CEO at ALERT 360 with over 20 years of executive leadership experience across start-up and enterprise environments. As former President and COO of ALERT 360, she oversaw strategic direction, operations, and financial performance for a national security services provider serving over 350,000 customers and ranked as the fifth-largest in the United States, and played a central role in the 2021 merger of My Alarm Center with ALERT 360. Her background encompasses business transformation, M&A, operational excellence, new business development, and investor relations, and she currently serves as an angel investor and board advisor to multiple companies.

Karen Kerr, a PhD chemist and Kauffman Fellows board member, pairs VC, GE Ventures and university commercialization to lead funds investing in companies led by or serving traditionally overlooked markets.

Lorine Pendleton, a former entertainment lawyer who represented Prince, leads a fund targeting underrepresented founders, using legal expertise to make founders investment-ready and bridge traditional wealth with diverse entrepreneurs.