Technology

, , , , ,

BTU #450 - Satellite Startup to $500M Acquisition by Google (John Fenwick)

, , , , ,
BTU #450 - Satellite Startup to $500M Acquisition by Google (John Fenwick)

John Fenwick is Head of Spacecraft Operations at Google. He started out at the Air Force Academy, after which he served for 8 years in the Air Force as a Physicist & Space Acquisitions Officer. He holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from Stanford Business School. After business school, John co-founded Skybox Imaging and served as their Vice President of Flight Programs. Skybox provides commercial, high-resolution satellite imagery and high-definition video and analytics services. Skybox raised over $91M in funding prior to being acquired by Google for $500M, as reported by the WSJ. Skybox is now known as Terra Bella within Google.

, , ,

BTU #405 - Taking a Company Public During a Pandemic (Bruce Cleveland)

, , ,
BTU #405 - Taking a Company Public During a Pandemic (Bruce Cleveland)

Why Listen:

As an entrepreneur focused on marketing, it was an extreme honor to interview today's guest, Bruce Cleveland. Bruce is an absolute Silicon Valley legend, having worked in operational roles at companies including Oracle, Apple, and Siebel Systems. In addition to that, he has worked in venture capital for 15 years, where he has personally generated over a billion dollars in returns. This includes his work at InterWest Partners, one of the most respected VCs in the world, but also as the founder of Wildcat Venture Partners where he worked for five years. He is now the Chief Marketing Officer of a company called C3.ai. He just took that company public. It was founded by Tom Siebel of Siebel Systems, who has now created three different billion-dollar ventures. We talk about marketing, the CMO role, artificial intelligence, venture capital, and more.

As always, at beyondtheuniform.org you'll find show notes with links to everything we discuss, as well as a lot of books and great resources that Bruce recommended.

About Bruce:

Bruce Cleveland is the Chief Marketing Officer at C3.ai, a leading enterprise AI software provider for accelerating digital transformation with nearly 700 employees listed on LinkedIn. C3.ai raised over $228 million before going public in December of 2020. Bruce started out at West Point with the class of 1980. He left early to pursue a career in technology including time at Oracle, Apple, Siebel Systems, nine years as a General Partner at investment firm InterWest Partners and more.

, , , ,

BTU #389 - Founding a high-tech security company (Christian White)

, , , ,
BTU #389 - Founding a high-tech security company (Christian White)

Why Listen:
After serving in the Army for 6.5 years, Christian founded an advisory and technology firm focused on helping High-Growth Technology Companies build, manage, and certify their Security, Privacy, and Compliance programs. He has quickly grown his company - risk3sixty - to over 20 employees and it seems like they are just getting started. In this interview we talk about character, we talk about being a steward of a company, we talk about the differences in leadership in and out of uniform, about long-term thinking, finding a co-founder and much more.

About Christian:

Christian White is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of risk3sixty, an advisory and technology firm focused on helping High-Growth Technology Companies build, manage, and certify their Security, Privacy, and Compliance programs. He is a graduate of West Point, and a 6.5 year Army veteran, most recently serving as Company Commander in Fort Campbell. He holds an MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

, , , ,

BTU #379 - Rapid Iteration vs. Building For Scale (Vincent Martino - Co-Founder @ VisitPay)

, , , ,
BTU #379 - Rapid Iteration vs. Building For Scale (Vincent Martino - Co-Founder @ VisitPay)

Why Listen

Vincent's story is pretty much the opposite of the standard entrepreneurial success story you hear. Yes - he has experienced incredible success - his company, VisitPay, now has over 100 employees, 3 of his 7 C-Suite executives are Service Academy graduates, and he has received over $26M in funding from some of the best investors in the world, like Norwest. However, where his story differs is that this didn't happen overnight. Vincent has been at this for nearly 12 years. His success didn't come all at once, it came through a sustained effort over a decade. What I love most about Vincent's story is how he elegantly merged two vital aspects of entrepreneurship that - to me - often seem to be complete opposite skill sets - that of rapidly iterating (building, learning, and reacting as quickly as possible to feedback from customers), and at an opposite extreme, building for scale (slowing down to build things properly so that it can sustain the load of a massive influx of customers). I learned so much from my conversation with Vincent and hope you will too.

About Vincent

Vincent Martino is the Co-Founder of VisitPay, a company he started nearly 12 years ago that now has over 100 employees and has raised $26M in funding from top notch investors like Norwest. 3 of his 7 C-Suite executives are Service Academy Grads. His journey started at the Naval Academy, included five years in the Marine Corps, followed by an MBA at the Wharton School, and includes work at Dynamicsoft, Capital One, COO at Balihoo and co-authoring the book, The Marine Corps Way.

, , , ,

BTU #378 - Know Your Boundaries (Chris Hsu - CEO @ Zibo)

, , , ,
BTU #378 - Know Your Boundaries (Chris Hsu - CEO @ Zibo)

Why Listen

For today’s guest, Chris Hsu, I could have spent a full episode on six incredible positions he held since his time in the Army - his work as an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, as Managing Director at KKR, as Senior Vice President at HP, as CEO at Micro Focus, and as an Advisory Partner at Andreessen Horowitz - each of those blow my mind. While we touch on this briefly, we spend the bulk of our time on his current role as CEO and Co-Founder of Zibo, which blends real estate, financial services, and software. I view this interview more as a personal mentorship call, where I soaked up as much of Chris 20+ years of experience as possible. Whether you are interested in entrepreneurship, developing a side hustle into a full-time job, consulting, finance, or tech, this interview will have a wealth of knowledge for you.

About Chris Hsu

Chris Hsu is the CEO & Co-Founder of Zibo, a company he started nearly 2 years ago to radically improve financial services for independent landlords. Chris has raised over $10M in venture capital and LinkedIn shows over 20 employees. His path to this point started at West Point, included over 5 years in the Army in tanks, and has included work at General Mills, Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, Managing Director at KKR, Senior Vice President at HP, CEO at Micro Focus, and Advisory Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

, , , , , ,

BTU #365 - Impossible Foods (Dan Greene & Ryan Fisher)

, , , , , ,
BTU #365 - Impossible Foods (Dan Greene & Ryan Fisher)

Why Listen:
When Carlson’s School of Management came to us with an offer for financial sponsorship, Steve and I were like kids in a candy store. We had the resources to do any interview we’d like… that’s like a dream come true. As I was thinking through who I wanted to reach out to, I started thinking about purpose - purpose is something that comes up time and time again in my interviews. So, I wanted to find a company that is purpose driven. A company that is doing something pretty different. And that is how I view Impossible Foods. They are re-envisioning how we eat and driven by a deep desire to help us take better care of our planet. Not only that, but they have become a massive sensation - according to LinkedIn there are now over 500 employees at Impossible, and according to Crunchbase they have raised over $1.2B… that’s right - $1.2B… the amount of money a villain in a James Bond movie would demand to avoid destroying the world.

Here’s what I love about today’s interview. First of all, I’m joined by TWO incredible Veterans with TWO incredible career paths. We talk about innovation and sales, two very different career paths, and their perspectives on what it’s like to work at Impossible. While we do talk a lot about Impossible, we cover a lot of ground about general career advice.

If you enjoy this episode, check out the show notes for this episode, where I link to a few interviews I’ve done in the Cyrpto space - that seems to share the same purpose-driven culture that I felt in this interview.

And, of course, this interview was only made possible due to the financial support of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, and I want to share a little bit more about them, whether you're transitioning to a civilian career or continuing military service, an MBA from Carlson, at the University at the University of Minnesota prepares you for a high impact career in business. Carlson is committed to the veteran community and provides the benefits experiential learning and network to accelerate your career. In addition to a resident tuition waiver all admitted full time MBA military candidates receive generous scholarships and stipends to cover expenses that may not be eligible for the GI Bill. To learn more, you can visit the show notes at beyondtheuniform.org for this episode, or you can email MBA@UMN.edu.

About Ryan & Dan:
Dan Greene is a SVP of US Sales and Growth. He started out at the Naval Academy and served over 10 years as a Navy fighter pilot and director of operations for multiple aviation units. Dan served as Chief Revenue Officer for a conversational artificial intelligence startup, and served as an executive consultant with other early-stage software companies. Prior to that, Dan spent 11 years overseeing large teams and revenue-generating business units at Google and Twitter.

Ryan Fisher is the Director of New Product Introduction. He served in the US Army for over four years as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Officer. He has worked in global supply at both Apple and Uber. He holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

, , , ,

BTU #363 - Drones & Data @ Skycatch (Christian Sanz )

, , , ,
BTU #363 - Drones & Data @ Skycatch (Christian Sanz )

Why Listen
I'm so honored to have had time with Christian today. I realized a while back that we hadn't talked to anyone in the drone industry. I think it's an industry that has a lot of interest for veterans - it's growing rapidly, it's cool, it's high tech. I started looking for veterans in this industry and came across Christian. He agreed to be interviewed for Beyond the Uniform and I was so energized and inspired by our conversation.


About Christian:
Christian Sanz is the CEO and Founder of Skycatch, the leading industrial aerial data collection and analytics company, focused on indexing and extracting critical information from the physical world. He served in the Navy for 4 years, and his civilian career includes work as a software engineer for The Walt Disney Company, a Senior Software Engineer at LoopNet, the Senior Director of Engineering at Break Media, the CTO at Kin Community, the Founding CTO of Storify (acquired by Adobe), and the Founder of DroneGames. Over the last 7 years, Christian has grown Skycatch to have over 50 employees and $46M in funding.

, , , ,

BTU #350 - The Semiconductor Industry & Micron Technology (Art Behnke)

, , , ,
BTU #350 - The Semiconductor Industry & Micron Technology (Art Behnke)

Why Listen:

A lot of Veterans I speak with are interested in technology. Most of us in the military get a fair amount of experience with technology, and we hear about the high growth this industry has seen. It’s a pretty broad industry - to me, 10 years out of the military, hearing someone refer to Tech feels like someone referring to “the military” - it’s a great catch all phrase, but there is so much beyond that high level term - branch of service, MOS, warfare speciality, etc.

Today’s interview feels like a gateway to that world of tech. My guest, Art, works at a company called Micron Technologies, which is in the semiconductor industry. Which, as you’ll learn, is a foundational element in pretty much every technology industry: drones, autonomous vehicles, tablets, social media… it’s everywhere.

I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview that has packed in so much information at the end. I really try to keep these interviews to 45-50 minutes, based on feedback I’ve received from listeners. Today was a rare case where we kept going because there was so much richness in what Art was sharing. We talk about translating one’s experience on both a resume and interview. We talk about diversity of perspective as a strength when one is applying to a job. We talk about three things I rarely hear on these interviews: how important it is to evaluate a company by the size of the company and what this offers to you in terms of a community and mentorship opportunities, evaluating a company’s team and how those individuals will challenge and support you to grow, and also looking at how a company behaves in a crisis… like the one we’re going through right now. All of these are fantastic lenses through which to evaluate a company and job opportunity, and they’ve never come up in the 349 episodes that precede this.

As always, at BeyondTheUniform.org you’ll find 350 other free episodes, just like this one. You’ll find show notes with links to everything we discuss today. And you’ll also find a special, limited time offer at BeyondTheUniform.org/micron, where Art is graciously offering to connect with 20 of you to help you with your resume, and answer your questions about job transitioning (side note: he has conducted thousands of interviews), the semiconductor industry, and Micron Technology.

About Art Behnke

Art Behnke is a Manager of Talent Acquisition at Micron Technologies, which is a world leader in innovative memory solutions that transform how the world uses information. Micron Technologies has over 37,000 team members in 18 countries who work with the world’s most trusted brands, delivering memory and storage systems for a broad range of applications and sparking countless possibilities in technology.

Art served in the Marine Corps for 21 years as a FA/18 Hornet WSO and is a graduate of the TopGun program. He has held a wide variety of roles throughout his career and has completed 173 combat flights, with 2,500 total flight hours. He has completed an MBA and is a graduate of the Naval War College

, , , ,

BTU #330 - Tech, Side Hustles, and Relationships (GS Youngblood)

, , , ,
BTU #330 - Tech, Side Hustles, and Relationships (GS Youngblood)

Why Listen:

My guest today transitioned from the Air Force into high tech in Silicon Valley, where he has worked in Product Management at Intel, Trulia, Realtor.com and other great companies. He also wrote a book about Product Management, where he takes the principles around procedures and checklists from the military, and applies them to the functional role of Product Management.

However, beyond our discussion of Product Management in this interview, there are two things that I absolutely loved about my conversation with GS.

First: side hustle. GS made the transition to the Real Estate industry. While his day job was building tech products for the Real Estate industry, he leveraged what he was learning to start investing in Real Estate as a side hustle. The result is that, over the course of his career, he developed side income that has allowed him to transition into more meaningful work around coaching and writing. This is a wonderful example of how - outside of the workplace - listeners can cultivate a hobby that creates the financial freedom to pursue a deeper purpose in your next chapter.

Second: relationships. In the 300+ episodes I’ve done so far, we’ve only talked about relationships in one other episode, and that is the recent episode #323 - Conscious Leadership, with Floyd Carlson. It’s something we should talk about more. For those of you who are in relationship, I’m sure you can relate: when my relationship is off with my wife, Rebecca, everything is off in my life. I’m not as productive at work, I’m not as focused in my conversations, I’m not able to operate at my peak potential in my professional life. There is not this clear distinction between work and life… they blend together, and one affects the other. In his work with couples, and in his recent book, “The Masculine in Relationship” GS brings some very poignant advice to how listeners can improve and deepen their relationship. I know, I know, this is a podcast ABOUT career success… trust me on this, you can have success in your career without success in your relationship or family, but it’s not much fun.

I met GS through the men’s work I’m doing with John Wineland, and it was a pleasure to get to know this professional side of him in our conversation - I hope you enjoy it as well.

About GS:

GS is a coach who helps men in relationship develop their Masculine core. He is a former Silicon Valley executive, founder of a tech company that he eventually sold, and the author of two books (including the recently published “The Masculine in Relationship”). His teachings are based on 12 years as a student and creator in the realm of the Masculine-Feminine dynamic, and also pull in principles from a variety of fields: psychology, martial arts, tango, meditation, and BDSM.

After his time as a military officer, GS got his MBA from the University of Virginia and transitioned into the high tech industry. He spent time at Intel, Broadcom, Trulia, Realtor.com, and Matterport. He also founded and sold the company CityStash, which sought to disrupt the $23B self-storage space with technology.

, , ,

BTU #303 - Marines to Product Manager at IBM (Richard I. Porter)

, , ,
BTU #303 - Marines to Product Manager at IBM (Richard I. Porter)

Why Listen

While the bulk of this interview is about Product Manager, Richard and I cover a lot of ground that will interest you regardless of your desired career path. We talk about leadership, we talk about technology, we talk about values and how to find a career path that aligned with your personal value; we talk about how technology may be an a-moral career path, and we talk using hypothesis to confirm or deny a career move… and how either of those, the confirmation or the denial, is equally valuable.

About Richard

Richard I. Porter is a Product Manager at IBM as part of their IBM Cloud: API Connect/Gateways team. He started out in the Marine Corps as a Ground Intelligence Officer, where he served for 8 years. After his time in the Marine Corps, he studied business at UNC Kenan-Flagler.

,

BTU #263 - Business Development @ Palantir (Chris Musselman & Michael Adams)

,
BTU #263 - Business Development @ Palantir (Chris Musselman & Michael Adams)

Why Listen:
In this episode I interview not one but TWO incredible Veterans who work at Palantir, both of them work in Business Development. We do a deep dive on both Palantir and the functional role of Business Development, with two different viewpoints on each. We talk about listening to your gut when you make decision; we talk about how Veterans have more tech experience than they may think; we talk about taking a step back before making career decisions; we talk about taking the time to find your own way of advocating for yourself, and much, much more.

About Chris & Michael:
Chris Musselman works in Business Development Executive at Palantir. He started out at the Naval Academy, after which he served for over 21 years with the Navy SEALs. He holds a Master’s in International Public Policy from The Johns Hopkins University.

Michael Adams is an Business Development Executive at Palantir. He started out at the Naval Academy, after which he served in the Navy for over 20 years as both a Surface Warfare Officer and a member of the Judge Advocate General corps. He holds a J.D. from Georgetown University and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School.

, , ,

BTU #236 - Verizon Panel with Tommy Jones, Robert Brandt and Hector Milan

, , ,
BTU #236 - Verizon Panel with Tommy Jones, Robert Brandt and Hector Milan

Why Listen:
This is a unique interview in that (1) it's a panel of three employees and perspectives from Verizon, and (2) in addition to the audio podcast, there is a video version as well. This is a great look at what it's like to transition to a large company, and the advantages that provides. The three perspectives of Tommy, Robert, and Hector provide an immense amount of quality advice around interviewing, preparing for your transition, and why Veterans should consider a career at Verizon.

About our Panel:
Tommy Jones is a Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition - Enterprise Sales & Services, as well as the Leader of Military Programs. He has been with Verizon for 6 years, and served in the Army Signal Corps as a Non-Commissioned Officer, retiring as an E-8.

Hector Milan(mil-e-on) recently joined Verizon as a Field Operations Manager. Previously, he served in the Army as a Master Trainer, Supervisor, and Recruiter, retiring as an E-8.

Robert Brandt has worked with Verizon for 22 years, holding roles as Facility Tech, Local Manager, and now as an Area Operations Manager. In his current role, he leads 12 local managers and over 200 associates across six work centers. He previously served in the Marine Corps Infantry.

, , ,

BTU #206 - Tech Qualled: Helping Veterans Enter the High Tech Industry (Nick Breedlove)

, , ,
BTU #206 - Tech Qualled: Helping Veterans Enter the High Tech Industry (Nick Breedlove)

Why Listen:
If you’re aspiring to enter the High Tech Industry, Tech Qualled is designed to help you get there… for free. They offer a 7-week program that teaches you the skills you need to succeed in your first job, and they pair you with employers at the end of your training. Nick talks about his experience starting Tech Qualled, which is also a great perspective for listeners who aspire to start their own company. We talk about training, about the scars of entrepreneurship, about sales and how important this is to entrepreneurship, about education and the tradeoffs a degree entails, and much more.

About Nick:
Nick Breedlove is a co-founder and the CEO of Tech Qualled, the nation's first enterprise dedicated exclusively to training Veterans and Early in Career individuals for customer-facing roles in the High Tech sector. Through a competitive, immersive and intense training program, Tech Qualled helps motivated Veterans achieve new levels professional potential in the Tech sector. He started out at the Naval Academy, after which he served as a helicopter pilot in the Navy for ten years, achieving the rank of Commander while serving as an Instructor Pilot for a Navy Boeing 737 squadron. After his military service he got his Masters in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, prior to starting Tech Qualled.

, , ,

BTU #204 - 27 Year Army Veteran to Founder of My Military Loans (Michael Fuller)

, , ,
BTU #204 - 27 Year Army Veteran to Founder of My Military Loans (Michael Fuller)

Why Listen:
Michael is a great example of someone who - after 27 years of military service - goes on to a fulfilling and very different civilian career. His company - My Military Loans - has funded over 81 military Veteran companies. He shares more about My Military Loans, as well as advice for aspiring Veteran entrepreneurs. Many of the businesses he helps fund are franchises, so be sure to check out the show notes, which features over 5 other episodes related to franchises and entrepreneurship. 

About Michael:
Michael Fuller is the founder & CEO of My Military Loans which provides working and startup capital for veterans to launch and grow businesses with a focus on fighting back against predatory lenders taking advantage of veterans. LTC Fuller retired on April 30, 2017 from the United States Army after completing over 27 years of service. LTC Fuller entered the United States Army on December 5, 1988 as a Private First Class, serving for over 10 years as an enlisted soldier promoted to the rank of Sergeant. LTC Fuller was commissioned in March 1999 as a First Lieutenant and subsequently rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

, , , ,

BTU #203 - Air Force Veteran to VP of Operations @ ZipRecruiter (Elliot Wilson)

, , , ,
BTU #203 - Air Force Veteran to VP of Operations @ ZipRecruiter (Elliot Wilson)

Why Listen:
Elliot has a long history in startups and operations. In this interview, we talk about the hiring process on how to play competing offers off of each other in order to get the best outcome possible. We talk about a variety of ways to get a job. We talk about Elliot’s experience in the General Manager position, a role that may be appealing to many Veterans. We talk about changing one’s job title from a big to a small company and how to approach this. And we talk about operations - operations in a tech startup, as well as operations in the cost-driven physical products world.

About Elliot:
Elliot Wilson is the Vice President of Operations at ZipRecruiter, which is the smartest way to hire and get hired. He started out at the Air Force Academy, after which he served in the Air Force for nearly three years. He has worked as a Senior Product Manager at Pictage, General Manager overseeing 250 employees at Lovejoy, and Area Director of Distribution at Sherman-Williams. He holds both an MS and MBA from Loyola Marymount University. 

, ,

BTU #191 - Army Veteran to Instagram Influencer (Roberto Portales)

, ,
BTU #191 - Army Veteran to Instagram Influencer (Roberto Portales)

Robertois a Client Executive for Healthcare and Life Sciences at NTT. He is a social media influencer, with over 315k followers on Instagram, where he goes by Rjportales, where he talk about technology, fitness, travel, lifestyle, meal preparation and more. He started out at West Point, after which he served for five years as a Counterintelligence Officer. 

Why Listen: 
As a side project, Roberto has grown his Instagram audience to over 315,000 followers. This has afforded him not only a creative outlet, but has led him to star in commercials, be sponsored by companies, as well as meet a lot of great people. In this interview we talk about the world of social media influencers, and what every Veteran can learn from Roberto's experience.

, ,

BTU #190 - Navy Veteran to Pinterest & Tech (Jimmy Sopko) (Rebroadcast)

, ,
BTU #190 - Navy Veteran to Pinterest & Tech (Jimmy Sopko) (Rebroadcast)

Jimmy Sopko is a Manager of Growth Sales at Pinterest. Jimmy got his start at Pinterest by rolling up his sleeves and taking a job at Pinterest as part of their Community Operations team. While this was a step back in terms of pay and seniority, it got his foot in the door and he was able to quickly work his way up within Pinterest... a company that has already tripled in growth since he joined. Jimmy is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, and former Surface Warfare Officer. He's also an avid rower, having earned a Silver Medal in the 2009 World Rowing Championships.

, ,

BTU #186 - Army Veteran to Blockchain and Ethereum at ConsenSys (Donnie Benjamin)

, ,
BTU #186 - Army Veteran to Blockchain and Ethereum at ConsenSys (Donnie Benjamin)

Donnie works at ConsenSys in the Office of the Founder. ConsenSys is a blockchain venture production studio. Our global team is building an ecosystem of consumer-centric products and enterprise solutions using blockchain technologies, primarily based on Ethereum. Donnie started out at West Point, served as an Army Intelligence Officer for 5 years, attended Harvard Business School, and has worked at Google, Qualtrics, and Future Finance.

Why Listen: 

Donnie works at the largest, pure blockchain company in the world. Not only is this an exceptional overview of the blockchain and cyrpto currency space, but Donnie covers a lot of ground related to pay post-military, work-life-harmony, the importance of sales, explaining your role to a civilian hiring manager and more.

, , ,

BTU #177 - USMC to VP in Crypto (Stephanie Vaughan)

, , ,
BTU #177 - USMC to VP in Crypto (Stephanie Vaughan)

Stephanie Vaughanis the Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Block X Ventures, a premier boutique crypto-agency advisory firm. Block X Venturessupports leading Blockchain companies worldwide, serving as a strategic and financial advisory for token generating events. She started out at the Naval Academy, after which she served as a Marine Corps officer for over 5.5 years. After her military service, she earned her MBA at Columbia Business School, worked as an Investment Banking Associate at Houlihan Lokey, a Venture Capitalist at LunaCap Ventures, and as Director of Capital Markets at StreetShares. She is a contributing writer at theBlockchain Times.


, , ,

BTU #171 - Navy to Financial Services at Silicon Valley Bank (Charlie Kelly)

, , ,
BTU #171 - Navy to Financial Services at Silicon Valley Bank (Charlie Kelly)

Charlie Kelly is the Managing Director of the Colorado Technology group at Silicon Valley Bank, where he leads a team focused on providing innovative financial services to high tech companies in the seed / series A through cash flow positive stages of development headquartered in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. He started out at Duke University, after which he served as an officer in the Navy onboard Submarines for almost five years. After his military service, he earned his MBA at the University of Colorado Boulder. He then joined SVB, initially as an associate with the Private Equity Banking team, eventually leading SVB’s team in the Central U.S. He has worked at SVB for over 11 years now.