Advisory board

Ramin Arani

Ramin Arani

Ramin Arani serves on the Boards of public Companies Brunello Cucinelli, LiveOne, and FAST Acquisition Corp I & II.
Most recently Ramin has been a partner at &vest Capital since February 2022 and served as the Chief Financial Officer of Vice Media Group from November 2019 until the end of December 2021.
Prior to this Ramin was a Portfolio Manager at Fidelity Investments where he had worked since graduating from Tufts University with a BA in International Relations in 1992. Most recently Ramin was Fund Manager of the Fidelity Puritan Fund from February 2008 through September 2018 where the Fund achieved top 5%
performance relative to Lipper and Morningstar Balanced Fund Peers over all key
performance time periods. The Fund was a 5 star rated & Silver designated Fund according to Morningstar, under his management.
Prior to the Puritan Fund, Ramin managed the Fidelity Trend Fund for 7 years, the Health Care Sector Fund in the late 90’s, and the Retail Select Fund in the mid-late ‘90’s.
As a Fidelity research analyst from 1992-2000 Ramin covered the Aerospace & Defense, REIT, Retail, and Pharmaceutical industries.
As an investor in Private Companies for the past 13 years, Ramin has served on several Company Boards such as Legendary Pictures, Vice, Moda Operandi, Rent the Runway, Goop, and Emotion Network.
Ramin has also personally been a founding partner and/or Board member of Rumble Boxing, ED by Ellen Degeneres, and Girlgaze.
Among his philanthropic efforts, Ramin has served on the Boards of The College
Foundation of the University of Virginia, The Nichols School, the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, Opportunity Network, Devereux Cleo Wallace, and national dog rescue Danny & Ron’s Rescue.
Ramin has three daughters: the oldest is a graduate from the University of Virginia; one is a graduate of Clemson University; and the youngest is currently attending University of Michigan.
Ramin is an avid snowboarder, rock climber, runner, tennis player and a fan of
American Football (Buffalo Bills), International Football/Soccer, Tennis and live music.

Carlsson

Niclas Carlsson

Niclas Carlsson is the Founder, CEO, and owner of Founders Alliance - a collaborative forum uniting large-scale founders committed to sustainable international corporate creation, responsible ownership, and making a positive societal impact. Their values center around long-term responsible entrepreneurial ownership, diversity, tolerance, and sustainable leadership. Niclas earned his master’s degree in Business Administration from Uppsala University in Sweden. Beyond his professional life, he is an endurance athlete, having completed ultramarathons and adventure races. Furthermore, he is a father to three young children and actively engages as a youth trainer in Orienteering Running.

André Noël Chaker

André Noël Chaker

André is one of Finland’s leading business speakers and writers. First voted Speaker of the Year 2012 by the customers of Speakers Forum Finland and Speaker, Moderator and Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2017. In 2015 he received the Business Moderator of the Year award in Finland. For the past eight years he has spoken at over 700 business events. Amongst others, he has worked with Google, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Fujitsu, CGI to produce some world-class business events. His books The Finnish Miracle (2011) and The Finnish Miracle – One Hundred Years of Success (2017) are among the most sold business books in the history of AlmaTalent. He is currently the Chairman of MySpeaker, the fastest growing speaker bureau in the Nordics.

Lital Dagan

Lital Dagan

Lital has more than 15 years of global experience in investment banking and alternative investments.
She is the founder and managing director of The Fintech Investment Club, a limited exclusive investment invitation-only club which creates a lucrative investment community by bringing together the top venture capital and private equity funds as co-investors.
She served as CEO of the IHFA -The Israel Hedge Funds Association, for over 5 years, representing the hedge fund industry ($16B of AUM), she now serves as a board member.
She has a proven track record of successful collaboration with investors and fund managers and has created a global platform for multinationals in Israel. Lital is well connected in the local capital market as well as with government authorities.
Previously, Lital was the general counsel of a publicly traded company and is currently the head of the Fintech Program of the Merage Institute in California, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of several companies.
She is a member in good standing of the Israel Bar Association and holds an Executive MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Ulf Ekberg

Ulf Ekberg

Ulf is the President of G2020 Advisors Nordics, an investment and advisory firm that offers high-impact strategic and financial advice to Asian UHNW families and emerging Tech Companies. He is the founder of Starpick, the fastest growing Fantasy Sport company, and also a Partner at Result Strategy that assisted over 300 tech companies accelerating their success through innovation and global expansion.
Ulf was an active and major shareholder in MTV Produktion (re-named to Zodiak) before selling it to De Agostini Group. He spent 25 years at the top of the entertainment industry as an artist, producer, song writer, founder and front-man of pop phenomenon Ace of Base, holding the world record for the most selling debut album of all time, with over 25 million albums sold and totaling over 50 mln records.

Magnus Grimeland

Magnus Grimeland

Magnus Grimeland is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Antler, a startup generator and VC company headquartered in Singapore. He leads a global team dedicated to creating the next generation of entrepreneurs and disruptive tech companies. He was the co-founder of ZALORA.com, Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. He served as COO and Managing Director of Zalora after it was acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG) and expanded across 26 countries.
Magnus is an alumnus of Harvard University and McKinsey & Company. He was a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Co and worked in North America, Europe and Asia in the global telecommunications, media and tech industries.

Nezahat Gultekin

Nezahat Gultekin

Nezahat has over 20 years of experience as a strategic advisor, investor, business owner and ecosystem builder in Silicon Valley and Europe. She most recently served as Head of Advisory practice of UniCredit from its foundation. Previously she was Managing Director and Head of Technology Investment Banking for EMEA at Nomura. Prior to Nomura, Nezahat served as Director at Temasek, spearheading direct TMT investments in Europe, and served on the boards of Secret Escapes and BluJay. She provided independent strategic advisory services including as a Senior Advisor to Atlantic Bridge Capital in early and growth stage investments, and as a founding member of the Future Fifty Programme of Tech Nation, a Downing Street supported initiative to foster UK tech ecosystem, as well as initiating Tech Nation’s fintech efforts. Nezahat had previous technology investment banking experience with Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers where she advised on a number of M&A and capital raisings across various tech verticals. She currently serves as independent NED on the board of Logo Yazilim, the largest software company in Turkey, Advisory Board of Emotion Network in Italy, Senior Advisor to iGenius and on the voting panel of UK Tech Awards.
Nezahat has an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey, as top of the graduating class.

Neal Hansch

Neal Hansch

CEO and Managing Partner of Silicon Foundry, a corporate venturing and innovation advisory for leading multinational corporations as they navigate the evolving tech and startup landscape. Neal has over twenty years of venture capital, product management, technology operations, corporate development and advisory experience in Silicon Valley and beyond. Through strategic insights, targeted connectivity, deal sourcing and private events, Silicon Foundry facilitates direct investments, partnerships, M&A transactions and co-creation between startups and corporations.

Lamers

Thijn Lamers

Thijn is a Dutch tech entrepreneur/investor. Thijn is the former Executive
Vice President Global Sales of Adyen since Its inception in 2007.
Over the years Adyen has grown to become one of the world’s leading global payments
platforms servicing clients such as Netflix, McDonald’s, Google, Airbnb and
EBay.
In 2018, following a successful IPO, Thijn stepped down to help start-ups with sales/go to market and scaling strategies and started investing via his family office ‘EQ.XYZ’. EQ.XYZ focusses on early stage and growth tech companies.
Thijn holds an MBA degree and studied at IESE business school.

Simon Piggott

Simon Piggott

Simon was a Director of Finance & Investment for the SEE Property Fund and a Senior Advisor to Lehner Investments, Monaco. He was Chairman and Director of the Boka Fund from 2005-2008, the leading Residential Property Fund in Montenegro. Chaired the Investment and Oversight Committee from inception and was involved closely with Finance and Institutional Investor relations for the Fund. He has also had a long career in Wealth Management having filled the roles of Senior Client Manager with Lloyds TSB Bank and HSBC in Monaco and Head of Italian Department for Merrill Lynch.
He holds a B.A. Hons. from University College London and an M.A. from Milan University. Simon is bilingual English-Italian and speaks fluent French and Spanish.

Caryl M. Stern

Caryl Stern

Caryl M. Stern is the Chief Impact Officer at LionTree, an independent investment and merchant bank with deep roots in the media, technology, communications, consumer, and creative industries. The former Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation (2020–2023), she previously served for 14 years as President and CEO of UNICEF USA, and, before that, as Senior Associate National Director and Chief Operating Officer at the Anti-Defamation League; the founding director of its A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute; and the Dean of Students at Polytechnic University. Caryl was invited to present at the White House’s inaugural summit on The United State of Women and was named one of “25 Women Changing the World in 2017” by People Magazine. She serves on the boards of directors of The Container Store and the We Are Family Foundation, in addition to being a member of the Chime for Change Advisory Board. The recipient of five honorary doctoral degrees, Caryl earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art and a master’s degree in college student personnel administration, and completed her Ph.D. coursework in the same field.

Philip von Wulffen

Philip von Wulffen

Philip co-funded JAB Consumer Fund in 2013. He is a former VP at Blackstone Advisory Service in NY and a former Senior Consultant at BCG, specialized in FMCG and Financial Services. Philip has been board member of VC More Capital and is a board member of Stiftung Lichtblick and Ambassador of Epic Foundation. He has a Master of Business Administration at the Columbia University.

Discover more on our project
Contact us!