Donald J. Hawkins
Entrepreneur & Angel Investor, Pipeline Entrepreneurs
Kansas City, MO

With a career covering media and technology, Donald Hawkins applies a diverse mix of skills as an early-stage investor, mentor and fintech operator. A serial entrepreneur, Donald has held several leadership roles in adTech, healthTech, and finTech. In his previous role as Founder and CEO of affinity-focused digital bank Kinly, he developed a financial platform focused on improving the financial livelihood of its members through financial education, Black-focused spending, and wealth building tools. He has been named Top Fintech CEO and the 2020 Bankers’ Choice recipient by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), is a member of the Pipeline Entrepreneur Fellowship and serves on a variety of boards.

Erika Lucas
CEO, StitchCrew
GP, VEST Her Ventures
Edmond, OK

Erika Lucas is the Founder of StitchCrew, an organization that has provided non-dilutive capital and resources to more than 200 Women and Minority Entrepreneurs. Erika also founded VEST, a peer network for women professionals and investment fund investing in women-led companies building solutions for the intersection of the Care Economy and Future of Work. Erika is a LinkedIn Top Voice on Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship, currently serving on the Board of Arvest Bank, the Diversion Hub and the Oklahoma City County Health Department. She is also a member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association. Prior, Erika was a Partner at a Private Equity firm investing in Aerospace and Defense and before that she was the Global Director at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

Jessica Murrey
CEO/Co-Founder, Wicked Saints Studios
Medford, OR

Jess is an Emmy-Award-winning storyteller and international peacebuilder turned game designer. Jess is the CEO/Co-founder of Wicked Saints Studios, and creative mind behind World Reborn. First to emerge from Niantic’s (makers of Pokémon GO) BDI incubator, Wicked Saints is building the world’s first XR adventure activism game. As CEO, Jess has raised over $4.5M in venture funding from Riot Games, Reid Hoffman, and others, joining fewer than 100 Black women founders who have raised over $1 million. American Business Journals named Jess 34 Female Founders to watch in 2023. Jess is a finalist for the 2024 BTA Awards (Black Tech Achievement) for the "Force of Good Award. The 2020 Game Awards selected Jess as a member of their "Future Class," representing the bright, inclusive future of gaming.

Angela Lee
Professor, Columbia Business School
Founder, 37 Angels
New York, NY

Angela Lee is an award-winning professor and former Chief Innovation Officer at Columbia Business School where she teaches venture capital and leadership courses. She has started 4 startups and is also the founder of 37 Angels, an investing network that has evaluated over 20000 startups, invested in 100, and activates new investors through a startup investment bootcamp. She also serves as a venture partner at Fresco Capital. Angela has spoken at the White House and NASA and is a sought-after expert on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, MSNBC and Fox Business

Trish Costello
CEO, Portfolia
San Mateo, CA

Trish Costello is Founder and CEO of Portfolia. Portfolia works to activates the wealth of women, with nearly 2,000 women limited partners in its venture capital funds. Portfolia’s 14 VC funds focus on industries that over-index for women, including active aging and longevity, women’s health, sustainability, and Rising America (diversity). 

Trish is recognized for her pioneering work in preparing VC investment partners through the Kauffman Fellows Program, which she created and spun out from the Kauffman Foundation and continues as CEO Emeritus. Trish was Founding President of CVE Capital Corp, the holding company of a $1.7 billion venture capital fund of funds.  She was named Entrepreneur Magazine’s inaugural 100 Most Innovative Women Entrepreneurs in 2020.  Portfolia was recognized as Fast Company's Top Ten Most Innovative Finance Companies.

Beto Pallares
President and CEO, Joseph Advisory Services, LLC
General Partner, Audaz Capital Fund
El Paso, TX

Ebetuel (Beto) Pallares began his career as a management consultant focused primarily on the telecom and banking industries. He’s also been a start-up entrepreneur, a telecom executive, a restaurateur, a nonprofit director, a venture capitalist, and a professor. He is a private fund investment advisor and the general partner of a venture fund. Beto is a Kauffman Fellow and a Presidio Fellow and over the years has served on the board of over two dozen private companies. He also serves on the board of Exagen, Inc. (NASDAQ: XGN). He holds a Ph.D. in International Business Strategy from the University of Texas at El Paso and a B.A. in economics from Brandeis University.

Davina K. Kaile
Parner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Palo Alto, CA

Davina Kaile is a Corporate and Securities partner and Co-Leader of Pillsbury’s Capital Markets practice. Davina has guided companies across a wide range of sectors, including technology, life sciences, financial services, e-commerce, edtech, and retail, in many high-profile multibillion and multimillion-dollar deals. She has extensive experience in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, RTOs, divestitures, going private, deSPAC, and other strategic transactions. She represents issuers and underwriters in IPOs, follow-on offerings, RDOs, CMPOs, rights offerings and PIPE, ATM and ELOC transactions, and has deep expertise in ’33 and ’34 Act reporting, NYSE/Nasdaq compliance, proxy matters, Section 16 and Section 13 reporting, and corporate governance issues.

Trent Ward
CEO and Co-Founder, Interactive Strength Inc.
Austin, TX

Trent Ward is the CEO and co-founder of Interactive Strength, a provider of specialty fitness equipment and virtual personal training services under the brand names of FORME and CLMBR. Previously, he was an equity portfolio manager at Citadel, a large alternative asset manager. He started his career as an investment banker focused on Mergers & Acquisitions. Mr. Ward holds a BS in Economics (Wharton) and a BS in Engineering (Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology) from the University of Pennsylvania.