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Progress Partners team members are a strategic mix of executives with
backgrounds in both entrepreneurial and Fortune 500 companies. Team
members have deep experience in venture capital and angel financings,
mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning and execution, business
development, integrated marketing, and sales management plus new
product /market launches.
This is a team which has not
only been senior management but has also been in the trenches building
and growing small companies themselves as well and managing larger
divisions of Fortune 500s. Progress Partners’ clients benefit
from advice and processes that are time tested and have delivered
results many times before.
Nick is the founder and Senior Managing Director of Progress Partners. He is a
proven technology marketer and fund-raiser with almost 20 years of experience
working with early stage companies in capital raising, mergers and
acquisitions, marketing, branding and advertising; product development; and business
and partnership development. Through his experience in working with
start-ups, top companies and business leaders, Nick brings an extensive network of
senior-level contacts, particularly in the venture community, in New
England, New York, Washington, DC, and California.
Nick has significant transaction experience and has closed numerous
deals within the new media space, most recently: Going, Tremor Media, Media6
Degrees, MediaMath, and Worktopia. Through a strong network, Nick is able to
generate new business and create partnership opportunities for Progress and its
clients. His focus and expertise has allowed for speaking opportunities on
the East and West Coast, including with AlwaysOn and at CES. He also
created the NextMedia Update
(www.nextmediaupdate.com)
newsletter, to serve as a news and information resource for clients and
contacts in the digital media and technology space.
Prior to founding Progress Partners, Nick served in senior marketing and product
development roles at Virtual Access Networks,
MyWay.com (CMGi) and Scotia Pharmaceuticals, a British conglomerate.
In New York, Nick ran an events-planning and non-profit fund raising firm
called Diana Beattie Events. He started his career in New York City Mayoral
politics, and founded and ran the New York State chapter of the Democratic
Leadership Forum.
Nick is a Government and History graduate of Skidmore College. Nick also serves
on the screening committee of Launchpad Venture Group www.launchpadventuregroup.com.
He currently holds investments in five early stage companies and is a Registered
Representative of Brill Securities. Nick enjoys biking, sailing, and participating
as an enthusiastic fan at his son's lacrosse games and his daughters' ballet recitals.
Sam is a Managing Director at Progress Partners. He is a cultured and entrepreneurial
manager cum banker with a twelve-year history in media sales, business development
and leadership. Most recently, Sam has worked with early-stage companies to form
go-to-market strategy, raise capital, develop strategic partnerships, negotiate
business development contracts, as well as organize and act upon merger and
acquisition strategies. With a particular focus in entertainment and news media,
Sam has built a strong network of high-level contacts for both early and growth
stage business alike.
Among other transactions in the online media market, most notably, Sam brought
together Progress Partners client Wavexpress with NBC Sports to deliver
high-definition video coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in partnership with
Microsoft and Lenovo. He is a series 7 and 63 registered representative who
recently worked to close venture investments in online advertising technology
startups Media6° and MediaMath, and facilitated the sale of Going.com to AOL.
In addition to transactional work, Sam created the blog behind Progress Partners’
daily next media update newsletter
(www.nextmediaupdate.com).
Prior to joining Progress Partners, Sam held positions in management of design
at Pod Consulting and Procter & Gamble,finance and sales at the Phoenix
Media/Communications Group, and client relations at IGN Entertainment, Inc.,
and Snowball.com. Sam began his career in commercial photography after graduating
with a BA from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, and more recently earned
his MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, Magna Cum Laude.
Sam actively participates in speaking opportunities, including Digital Hollywood,
makes select investments in early stage companies and brings his passion in business
to the non-profit world as a Vice President of the MassBike
(www.massbike.org) board of directors. Sam regularly
coaches leadership to undergraduate students at Babson College and serves on judge's panels
for business plan competitions at Babson's F.W. Olin School and MIT’s Sloan School.
When not involved with business matters, Sam enjoys road and mountain biking, tennis, skiing
and photography.
Mark McCall is a Vice President at Progress Partners and is leading the development of our emerging clean energy practice. He has over 20 years of business and investment experience and is a former Managing Director of two long/short equity hedge funds with combined assets of $500 million; Connecticut based Rock Crest Capital and NYC based Rothschild Technology Partners. He has over 12 years of experience investing in and managing technology and clean energy companies and is currently a partner and Board Member of a major biofuel project in New England.
Formerly, Mark was the President and a Board Member of eMedicalFiles, a software/biometrics company, where he repositioned the company, helped create a new market and worked with the State of Texas on a major contract win and deployment. Mark began his career in the commercial real estate industry, eventually forming his own firm and completing over $50 million in transactions.
Mark is a graduate of Babson College, attended the University of Massachusetts Engineering School, and completed an Advanced Program in Information Technology at New York University. He has been a guest speaker at the Columbia Business School and was an active conference speaker in the hedge fund industry. Mark has played and coached lacrosse for 25 years and is also a 3rd degree brown belt in Jujitsu. He has also served in leadership positions with the United Way and the St. Vincent dePaul Society.
Alan Osetek was previously the Managing Director for iProspect's Watertown office, responsible for overseeing all activities for the east coast. These activities included developing and deploying exceptional strategies, training client services teams, and delivering superior results for clients in the region, including Allegis Group, Delta Airlines and Long and Foster Real Estate. Prior to joining iProspect in 2008, Osetek served as Chief Revenue Officer for Visual IQ. While there, he was responsible for the firm's sales, marketing, and revenue generating activities working with clients such as Sirius/XM Radio, Liberty Mutual, Microsoft, and CVS Pharmacy. Prior to Visual IQ, Osetek was part of the Aegis PLC family of companies since 2001 where he held the position of Executive Vice President for Isobar/Carat. There his responsibilities included global business development, corporate development, cross unit integration, and global client services. Prior to the global business development and client services role, Osetek was responsible for organically building or acquiring new service offerings for the Isobar network including CRM, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing and Web development capabilities. He spearheaded the acquisition and integration of two digital marketing firms: Molecular and iProspect. Prior to joining Isobar, Osetek was President/Founder of the digital marketing agency, Vizium. In 2001, he successfully sold the firm to Aegis PLC.
Osetek has written numerous articles for industry publications including DM News, iMedia Connection, MediaPost, Adotas, and Electronic Retailer Magazine. He has spoken at industry events around the country including eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, Digital Hollywood, and eMarketing Conference. Osetek is an Economics graduate of Skidmore College and received his Master's Degree in Business from Babson College.
Giles is a Vice President at Progress Partners. Giles has 18 years of business and investing experience largely in the public markets. After working with Progress Partners on a part time basis, and investing in two Progress early stage deals, he joined as a full time member of the team in September, 2009. Giles spent a large portion of 2009 exploring entrepreneurial opportunities in the digital media, consumer and clean tech verticals, all areas of passion for him. Progress Partners provides a natural fit for GilesŐ experience and talents in the fundamental analysis of companies in diverse industries with a eye to discovery of unique investment opportunities and creation of value for all parties.
Formerly, Giles was a Senior Equity Analyst with Atlantic Investment Management, a NYC based long / short equity hedge fund firm. Prior to his 6+ years with Atlantic, Giles spent close to 9 years as an Equity Analyst at Delafield Asset Management, a long tenured and highly respected money management firm. Giles' background as a generalist investor in the public markets provides him with a unique perspective on early stage companies.
Giles has actively participated in deal screening and analysis of early stage digital media companies through the local chapter of a nation-wide for profit angel investor group. He is an active participant in the NYC technology community and has fostered relationships with a growing universe of the city's tech start up executives. Giles earned his BA from Rollins College in 1992. Giles and his family live in Manhattan.
Andrew Clarke is an Analyst at Progress Partners, having joined
in the summer of 2006. Previously, he has held positions at
the US Army Corps of Engineers and Hemsley Fraser Group, a
management consulting and training company based in London,
where he assisted in projects for several Fortune 500 companies.
Andrew graduated from Skidmore College in 2005 with a BA in
English and Government. Andrew Clarke is a Registered Representative of Brill Securities.
Sung, Senior Associate, joined Progress Partners in 2008. His primary responsibility is
deal execution of M&A transactions and equity financing for early to mid-stage
firms in the new media and technology sector. He currently develops financial, market,
and operation analysis, leads valuation and fairness opinion projects, and conducts
research on industries and transaction targets.
Sung brings over six years of experience in investment banking and financial services.
Prior to joining Progress Partners, Sung worked at Hyundai Capital, a financial arm of
Hyundai/Kia Motor Group, where he led multiple financial projects, developed several
corporate financial services, and managed 100+ corporate and governmental clients. Sung
also participated in several private placement offerings including PIPE deals at a
boutique investment bank, and served in a military intelligence agency.
Sung graduated with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism from Hanyang University in
Korea, and holds an MBA from the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell
University. Sung enjoys traveling, reading and exploring the local culture.
Hakim, Associate, joined Progress Partners in 2009. His primary responsibilities support all capital raise and M&A deal execution for early to mid-stage companies and valuation work. His entrepreneurial background and investment banking experience position him closely with the dealmakers at Progress partners.
Hakim brings experience from three different continents to Progress Partners. Most recently Hakim served as an M&A associate with Valartis Group, Vienna, Austria, where he successfully initiated a pilot roadshow in India, enabling Valartis to make key investor inroads. Before this he worked with Citigroup, Mumbai as a research analyst for two years. Hakim began his career managing his family business of manufacturing printing ink, Maria Ink and Chemi Coats, in Mumbai.
He has a Masters in Commerce and Bachelors in Management studies from Mumbai University and holds an MBA in global finance from Thunderbird School of Global Management. Hakim likes adventure sports, traveling; learning about new cultures and has a goal to travel all seven continents.
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