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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 a founder and Senior Managing Director of Progress Partners.
He is a proven technology marketer and fund raiser with 15 years
experience in working with early stage companies in marketing,
branding and advertising; product development; business development;
partnership development; and fund raising. Through his experience
in working with start-ups, top companies and with business leaders,
he brings an extensive network of senior-level contacts in New
England, New York, Washington, DC, and California.
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. In addition to his
role at Progress Partners, Nick is a Principal at
Brooke Private Equity Advisors,
a private equity management firm that provides investment and
advisory services to institutions and high net worth families.
Nick also serves on the screening committee of
Launchpad Venture Group. He
currently holds investments in five early stage companies. Finally,
Nick is the Financial Director of
Ballets Russes 2009, a non-profit
organization celebrating a century of modern ballet. Nick MacShane
is a Registered Representative of Brill Securities.
Frits joins Progress
Partners as Managing Director, with a specific focus on
expansion of New York operations. Frits has over 12 years of
experience in marketing, business development and operations for
start-up ventures, for which he has managed all aspects of new
business formation and developed a targeted investor base for
investment projects.
Before joining Progress Partners, Frits helped launch Longbank
Corporate Restructuring Inc., an alternative investment firm
focusing on distressed assets. He co-founded, and served as
Managing Director of Marketing and Business Development for,
Velocity Holdings, a consulting firm focusing on small to medium
sized businesses. As President and COO of GFN Holdings, a New
York City niche financial services firm, Frits oversaw the
Marketing, Public Relations, Investor Relations, Sales and
Editorial Departments.
Frits founded the
Skidmore Business Network,
serves on the board of the Caron Foundation/Renaissance
Institute and has been a US delegate to the Young Leaders Forum
of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Frits holds a BA in Economics from Skidmore College and a
Certificate in International Political Economy and Trade from
the Institut D'Etude Des Relations Internationales (ILERI),
Paris, France.
Sam is a Vice President at Progress Partners. With experience
in both traditional and interactive media, Sam’s current
efforts are focused on the new media and technology marketplace.
Prior to Progress Partners, Sam worked at the Boston-based
Phoenix Media/Communications Group in both the Media Sales
and Finance departments. Positioned in the finance group
as the Manager of its Trade Department, he focused on financing
advertising campaigns for online, print, and radio media
sales clients. His first exposure to the interactive space
began at the San Francisco-based start-up, IGN Entertainment,
Inc., now a division of News Corporation. While at IGN,
working closely with Advertising Operations, Sam brought
together the Client Relations framework, structure, and
strategy for its media sales department.
Sam graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Lewis &
Clark College in Portland , OR and in 2004 graduated Magna
Cum Laude with an MBA from the F.W.
Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.
Adding to his role at Progress Partners, and bringing purpose
to his love of bicycles, Sam was recently elected to the
board of directors for the local non-profit Massachusetts
Bicycle Coalition as Vice President of Advocacy. Sam Thompson
is a Registered Representative of Brill Securities.
T.S.
brings 9 years of experience in consulting and research in the
information technology and chemical engineering sectors to Progress
Partners, where he focuses on financial analysis, firm/technology
valuation, business development, and cross-border transactions.
Prior to Progress Partners, T.S. worked at Samsung as a project
manager, leading projects ranging from operation consulting
to information system implementations. During the five years
at Samsung, he managed more than ten projects for clients in
financial services, electronic manufacturing and consumer services.
T.S. was also instrumental in restructuring the company's strategy
and organization. He has a keen understanding for integrating
business processes with information technology in the areas
of Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management and
Corporate Performance Management.
T.S. is also an experienced entrepreneur, having launched two
start-up companies, Aigis Systems and Organic-Biotech. T.S.
received a BS and a Ph.D. in Science and Engineering from Seoul
National University, and graduated with an MBA from the S. C.
Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
T.S.Chang is a Registered
Representative of Brill Securities.
Christine
is a Vice President of Progress Partners. Her background is
in product management, product marketing and market research
for start-ups. Prior to Progress Partners, Christine worked
at Predictive Networks, a Cambridge-based start-up focused on
Web personalization, MyWay.com (a wholly owned subsidiary of
CMGI), an Andover-based private label portal for high traffic
ISP and as an independent consultant. Christine has a thorough
understanding of the technology markets, particularly digital
media, and has tied her marketing and product development background
together with her business experience to help start-ups flourish
and compete. Most recently, she has been active in non-profit
work for her own community including fund-raising, marketing
and public relations.
Christine holds an MBA, with honors, from the F.W. Olin Graduate
School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Prior
to business school, Christine worked in asset management for
commercial real estate at AEW in Boston , MA
Vinay
Kantak is a Consultant at Progress Partners, focusing on Strategy,
Operations and Technology. He brings over 23 years of experience
in the areas of information technology, management consulting,
operations, and finance. For the past 10 years, Vinay has
worked in executive management positions with startup/early
stage companies (some of which he co-founded or promoted),
or new business units of large companies. His range of experience
helps him play multiple organizational roles, including COO,
CTO and CFO. Vinay is especially deft at crafting business
models, devising product and solution strategies, creating
technology frameworks, as well as streamlining business and
technical operations to meet business objectives.
Vinay received his BS in Financial Management from University
of Bombay. He then completed his Chartered Accountancy (CPA)
with specialization in Systems Analysis, Cost Accounting,
and Operations Research. He was ranked in top 50 (all-India)
in the final qualifying examination. After his training as
a CPA, with special focus on analysis and audit of business
systems, Vinay started his career in the field of Information
Technology as a developer, assuming roles up to, and including,
COO. Vinay is a practitioner of martial art and is a 2nd Degree
Black Belt in Shaolin Kempo style of Karate and he is training
in Jade Forest Praying Mantis style of Kung Fu and Tai Chi.
Finally, Vinay also studies percussion - Indian, African,
and Latin, and performs as a musician whenever his schedule
permits.
Andrew Clarke is an Associate 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
Lee is an Associate at Progress Partners. Prior to joining Progress
Partners, Sung worked at Hyundai Capital, 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.
Shahriq
has several years of experience working in finance
including his work at Parkview, a merchant bank and
at CAVU Capital, a hedge fund where he developed financial
analysis and research skills all in the tech/media/telecom
sectors. Prior to his MBA at Columbia, Shahriq worked
in the tech sector, primarily in engineering and operations
management roles. He has also been working as a consultant
for NY tech startups, advising on strategy and business
plan development. Shahriq earned his undergraduate
degree in engineering from Northwestern.
Amit Mehta is an Analyst at Progress
Partners. Prior to joining Progress Partners in Fall 2008,
Amit interned at UBS Financial Services in the Wealth Management
Division and at Cooper Power Systems. Coming from a deep
research background, he brings strong analytical skills.
Amit holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University
of Wisconsin – Madison, and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering
from Columbia University.
April
Monchik is an Analyst at Progress Partners. Prior to joining
Progress Partners, April conducted healthcare-related research
for four years in the Cell and Developmental Biology department
at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her focus was on the connection
between the immune system and heart disease. For her thesis,
she studied mechanisms of eye disease in the chick embryo.
She also covered neuronal plasticity, evolution, ecology,
and genetics in her graduate studies, and has worked in a
clinical laboratory at New-York Presbyterian hospital.
April received her MS in biology from New York University
and her BS in chemistry from Skidmore College. In her free
time she enjoys sailing in Buzzards Bay, MA., ballroom dancing,
theater, and opera.
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