Venture First

Rob Penta is President, Chief Legal Officer, and Vice Chairman of Venture First, and also serves as Chief Legal Officer and a managing General Partner of Whiskey Capital Finance Co. entities. Before joining the firm, he spent 13 years as a partner at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP, advising financial institutions, private equity groups, venture capital firms, restaurant groups, and defense-industry companies. He holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Indiana University and a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.

Mark Crane is VP of Investor Relations at Venture First and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner with over 25 years of experience as a leader or advisor to fast-growth technology, healthcare, and manufacturing companies. He co-founded and serves as General Partner for several funds, including Sequel Fund, DF Distressed Real Estate Fund, Mass Self Storage Fund, and Strike Ventures Fund. He graduated with Highest Distinction from Purdue's Engineering School and lectures and coaches entrepreneurs and students at the University of Louisville's College of Business.

Steve Huey is the founder and CEO of TYP64, a digital transformation company, and has scaled multiple businesses applying new technologies to established industries, including three exits. He previously completed $4B in M&A at CMGI and served as chairman of the board of SharpSpring (SHSP), where he oversaw growth and a reverse merger sale. He holds an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School and has served as an EIR and an Endeavor Entrepreneur.

Ben Lawrence is Vice President of Business Development at Venture First. He previously worked in Chicago and Los Angeles before returning to Louisville, KY, where he became a Managing Partner at Louisville Geek in 2012, focusing on marketing and sales. In 2022 he also joined Vidionix as a Managing Partner. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2003.

Bethany Dupree is VP of CFO Services at Venture First, a CPA and two-time CFO currently pursuing a JD in corporate and securities law. She previously served as CFO at Spalding University and Sullivan University, and earlier worked as Controller for Schnell Contractors and founded her own CPA firm, Smith CPA and Associates, PLLC. She holds a Master of Science in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and is completing her JD at Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law.

Chris Marlin joined Venture First in April 2025 as a COO and CFO. He spent 15 years at Zappos, an Amazon subsidiary, working across FP&A, supply chain, and merchandising, and helped reshape Zappos and Amazon's assortment strategy and operations for a business with over $3B in annual revenue. He later led strategy and finance for three portfolio companies in the restaurant and tequila industry within the family office of Zappos' founders, overseeing operations in Mexico. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville and completed executive education at Columbia Business School.

Elliott Thomazin is a Financial Analyst at Venture First, supporting clients across the CFO, Valuation, and Transaction service lines. He previously worked as a fixed income investment analyst at OneAmerica Financial in Indianapolis, where he passed the CFA Level 1 exam and managed a $1.4B segment of the enterprise portfolio, and his earlier experience includes a medical device manufacturer, teaching, and running his own magic business. He holds B.A.s in Honors Economics and Philosophy and an M.S. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Evan Friedman is an Associate at Venture First. He previously founded Precision Advisory, a consulting practice focused on financial planning and strategic decision-making for healthcare providers, and spoke publicly on healthcare finance and regulatory changes. Earlier in his career he led financial strategy at Fluent Inc., worked in FP&A at NBCUniversal, and provided anti-money laundering consulting at Crowe LLP. He holds a double major in Economics and Finance from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jack Danehy spent 37 years at IBM in client-facing and management roles, including 23 years as IBM's Senior Location Executive for Louisville and a role as General Business Territory Executive handling new client acquisition across 14 states. Since 2000 he has been an angel investor, backing 22 startups and serving as a director on nine of them. He holds a degree from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

Jack Hellige is VP of Funds and Transactions at Venture First, which he joined as a Financial Analyst in 2019 after beginning his career in sell-side equity research at Hilliard Lyons (now Baird) in Louisville. He helped launch Whiskey Capital Finance, Co., where he leads day-to-day fund operations and investments, and briefly left the firm to serve as Strategic Finance Manager for Fubo Gaming following fuboTV's acquisition of Vigtory before returning in 2022. He co-leads the investment team overseeing private equity digital transformation, data and technology venture capital, and special situation credit strategies, and holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance from the University of Louisville along with a CFA charter.

Ken Edwards has more than 30 years of experience in operations management, including enterprise-wide operations leadership roles at ZirMed and Waystar, where he worked to improve client implementation time, software defect rates, and support case resolution. During his tenure, company revenue grew more than tenfold and led to two private equity events and a software IPO. He holds an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.

Scott Sieg is a General Ledger Accountant at Venture First. He previously spent 10 years at TRM Management, a restaurant accounting firm, where he led the local client division, and before that worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years, including owning a restaurant in the Prospect, KY area. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from McKendree University in 2016.

Tarun Bothra is a financial advisory and valuation professional with over 14 years of experience, focused on private company valuations and financial reporting-related analysis, including 409A, ASC 805, ASC 350, ASC 718, derivative valuations, and gift and estate tax valuations. He previously worked with Deloitte's Valuation Services team in India and Aranca's Valuation and Advisory team. He holds an MBA in Finance from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science, and is a CFA Level 3 candidate.

Vik Chadha is the founder and CEO of Scalable Ventures, an investment and software product firm, and previously co-founded Backupify and GlowTouch Technologies. He serves as a General Partner at Unbridled Ventures and an Investment Advisory Partner at Poplar Ventures. Earlier in his career he was a Managing Director at EnterpriseCorp, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at bCatalyst, and a founding member of GE Appliances' Internet team; he holds a B.S. from the Manipal Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech.