Burridge Center Advisory Board

Dick is a founding partner, CEO, and CIO of RMB Capital. His career spans more than 25 years in the financial industry, including tenure as one of the top advisors of a Fortune 100 company. It was Dick's outstanding record of investing and unrelenting commitment to his clients' best interests that served as the foundation of the RMB philosophy and approach. In 2005, Dick made the visionary move to co-found RMB as an independent investment firm. This allowed him to gain freedom from corporate conflicts of interest and make the best investment decisions for each individual client while serving them with the highest level of care. At RMB, Dick sets investment policy, oversees all portfolio management activity, and directs clients' asset allocations. Dick and RMB have received remarkable accolades from several prominent publications, including Forbes, Chicago Magazine, and Barron's Top 100 Investment Advisors. Dick earned a BS degree in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Access Mode
Denver

Kevin Allen is the co-founder of Access Mode, a nonprofit organization passionately committed to bolstering BIPOC entrepreneurs. Within this organization, he currently holds the position of Executive Chairman of the Board. Kevin has also served in the role of Managing Director at NCTF Denver, an early-stage Venture Fund concentrating on investments in companies established by BIPOC entrepreneurs where he deployed over $3M in capital. Most recently, Kevin founded Black Pool Capital Advisors, a firm providing fractional executive services and comprehensive strategic support to venture-backed businesses.

Kevin has been involved in building and operating exceptional businesses throughout his entire career, as a founder and executive, leading the organizations from inception to successful exit in a wide variety of sectors including bioinformatics, technology, and sports equipment.

Kevin holds a BS from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School of Business), where he distinguished himself as a two-time All-League varsity football player. He earned an MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, where he was recognized as a Toigo Finance Fellow. Additionally, he obtained a JD from the Law School at the University of Chicago. Kevin resides in Colorado with his wife, two teenage sons, and their black lab, Huey. In his community, he actively engages in various volunteer activities, including football coaching, supporting entrepreneurial programs at The University of Colorado Boulder, and mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs.

Denver Water
Denver

Angela Bricmont is the CFO of Denver Water. She manages the financial resources of the Board of Water Commissioners, a 100+ year-old water utility serving 1.5 million customers in the City of Denver and surrounding suburbs. Angela is responsible for accounting, financial planning and performance, treasury, rates and customer care in addition to managing the retirement plan. Since joining Denver Water in 2010, Angela has overseen a credit rating upgrade to AAA, implementation of a new water rate structure, issuance of Green Bonds, and funding a lead line removal program at no direct cost to customers.

Prior to Denver Water, Angela worked for several consulting firms focused on financial planning and rates for public utilities. Angela also served as Vice President of Rates and Regulatory Matters for Comcast. Angela has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and an MBA from the University of Denver. Angela was appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Denver Urban Renewal Authority Board, and she was appointed to serve on EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board.

Intech
Boulder

Lance has over 25 years of finance and operations experience leading top professionals who support business operations, global institutional investors, and corporate strategy. He is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Intech Investment Management LLC, an independent quantitative asset manager, and a founding partner of Intech’s parent company following a management buyout from its public-company parent in 2022. Lance is a member of the firm’s Executive Management Committee as well as the Risk & Compliance, Compensation, Investment Risk, and Corporate Strategy committees. He has also held financial services and oversight roles with Invesco Funds Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Berger Financial Group, and Trust Company of America. Lance graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder Leeds School of Business with a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting. He also has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of Colorado.

Carrington Advisors
Palo Alto

Noha H. Carrington returned as the CEO in April 2020 and Founder of Carrington Advisors, LLC., an Investment Advisory Firm provides customized manager investment products to meet specific investment needs and goals for clients.  Prior to founding Carrington Advisors, she was COO of WellPay, Corp. since March 2019, a digital patient payment platform for the medical industry. Prior to which was CEO of Carrington Advisors, LLC, providing FinTech Advisory Services to early-stage companies. Noha was Chief Capital Officer of UpLift, a digital payment and lending travel industry platform.

Ms. Carrington spent from 2001 to 2003 consulting with hedge funds and fund of funds from Tokyo where she provided research and analytical insight for the Pacific Rim region.  Ms. Carrington has also spent time with Trilogy Advisors as a Principal responsible for risk management of the portfolios and 15 years as a global equity derivative sales trader advising hedge funds globally with firms such as Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers and Goldman Sachs.
Ms. Carrington received her BS Finance summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut and her M.B.A. cum laude in Finance from New York University Stern Business School. Ms. Carrington is a registered Investment Advisor with a Series 65 license. Ms. Carrington had securities licenses for the Series 3, 4, 7 and 63.

Wealth Management - Family Office
Denver

Joe Cella is a Colorado native who is based in the greater Denver, Colorado area. He is a University of Colorado Boulder Alumni with nearly 15 years of experience as a Wealth Advisor, Investment Consultant, National Speaker, and Business Coach. Joe’s experience includes time at J.P. Morgan and Capital Group | American Funds. Today, Joe serves as a Wealth Advisor for a fully independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) called Mosaic Wealth where he and his team provide Family Office and Private Client Services to those they serve. Joe and his team specialize in partnering with Executives of both Public and Private Companies, Board Members, and Founders/Business Owners who either have had or are expecting to experience liquidity events. He holds both the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) and Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designations.

Colorado PERA
Denver

Jeremy Frenkel is an Equity Analyst at Colorado PERA where he covers the Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, and Industrials sectors. PERA oversees approximately $60 billion, including over $15 billion in internally managed equity portfolios. Prior to joining PERA in 2016, Jeremy covered international small cap equities at a Denver-based asset manager. Jeremy is a CFA Charterholder and is the Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the CFA Society of Colorado. He is also part of Milken Institutes’ 2024 Rising Allocators Cohort. Jeremy graduated from the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business in 2012. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling with his husband and spending time with their two retrievers.

Adams Street
Singapore

Ben Hart is a partner at Adams Street Partners.  Ben focuses on the development of institutional client and consultant relationships and works with other members of the investor relations team to serve the needs of Adams Street Partners’ clients.  Prior to joining the firm, he worked at Capital Dynamics as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Asia, overseeing the firm’s business development efforts in Asia and North America.  Before Capital Dynamics, Ben served as Managing Director at Aircom International, focused on improving regional business performance. He also held senior business development positions at Convergys Corporation, Alliance Digital, Inc., and the JM Network.   Ben graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School of Business, with a B.S. in Business Administration. Ben is a member of Adams Street’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.

VC Investor
Boston

Julie McDermott has been investing in early-stage startups for over a decade as Principal of proprietary capital investment vehicle McDermott LLC, investing in over 25 companies ranging from women’s healthcare, biotech, climate tech and fintech. Most notably, Julie invested in the seed round of women’s healthcare unicorn Maven Clinic. She is on the Advisory Board of several startups serving in business and finance capacities and is an LP in numerous seed stage VC funds. In 2024, Julie was named to Business Insider’s “Seed 100” best early-stage investors list, and “The Seed 40” best women early-stage investors list for 2023 and 2024.

Prior to investing in startups, Julie spent over a decade in senior roles in Fixed Income Trading at top Wall Street investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup where she managed over $1.5Bn of bank capital and generated over $100mm in career trading profits. Julie holds 4 FINRA securities licenses. She left the Wall Street trading floor in 2012 to travel the world, explore tech ecosystems globally, and invest in startups. Julie has traveled to, worked, or lived in over 50 countries, spending substantial time in SE Asia and Latin America. Julie received her BA in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Julie currently lives in Boston with her amazing daughter Vivian. She loves traveling, nature, and spending time in the mountains or ocean.

PNC (retired)
Washington, DC

Kathleen Miles is Chief Counsel, Public Finance in the Washington, DC office of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.  She supports the Public Finance group, in both banking and capital markets activities.  She assists in managing the legal, regulatory, compliance and franchise risks associated with bank and capital market transactions, as well as the secondary market sales and trading of municipal securities.

Ms. Miles has over 20 years of experience in public finance, including at the partnership level, in law firms located in New York and Washington, DC.  Other finance experience includes mortgage-backed securities, while at Fannie Mae, and international project finance and political risk insurance, while at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now US International Development Finance Corporation).

Ms. Miles earned a Bachelor of Arts from Radcliffe College, Harvard University with a major in government, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Smith Capital Investors
Denver

Carys Murphy is Head of Strategic Initiatives at Smith Capital Investors, where she leads business strategy and planning. Carys has a distinguished track record as an internal consultant in financial services.

Before joining Smith Capital Investors, Carys was instrumental in defining client and employee experiences and executing growth and integration strategies that delivered results. At Charles Schwab, she was a leader in the integration office for the $26B acquisition and integration of TD Ameritrade with Schwab.

Carys holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Emory University.

Outside of work, Carys loves spending time being active and traveling with friends and family; including skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and playing squash.

Intrepid Financial Partners
New York City

John Nesland is a Managing Director with Intrepid Financial Partners. John has ~25 years of investment banking experience principally focused in the Midstream and Downstream sectors of the Energy industry. John has advised numerous corporations and partnerships with strategic mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and corporate restructurings. In addition to M&A advisory work, John has also executed a myriad of both public and private capital raises including IPOs, primary and secondary equity offerings, convertible securities, investment grade bonds/loans and high yield bonds/loans. Throughout his career, John has executed ~150 transactions for aggregate deal value approaching $200 billion.

John began his investment banking career in 1999 and worked for Lehman Brothers/Barclays Capital (1999-2011) and UBS (2011-2017) prior to joining Intrepid (2017-Current). Before becoming an investment banker, John worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in its Transaction Services division.

John was raised in the suburbs of Denver and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.S. in Business Administration – Finance.
 

Ribbit Capital
Palo Alto

Ben Paull is a Partner and Chief Financial Officer at Ribbit Capital, where he oversees the firm’s finance function across all aspects of the business. Prior to joining Ribbit in 2021, Ben was the Chief Financial Officer of TPG Growth & Rise Funds. Before that, from 2008 to 2019, he held senior level positions (including CFO) at Magnetar Capital, a $10 bn+ hedge fund in Evanston, IL. Earlier in his career, Ben worked in the investment banking financial institutions group at Lehman Brothers, where he advised alternative asset managers on M&A and capital markets transactions.  Ben graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, Leeds School of Business, with a B.S. in Business Administration. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Silicon Valley Bank
Denver

Cindy Schatz is the Region Manager for the Corporate Banking Relationship Management team at Silicon Valley Bank overseeing the group for most of the country.  In this role she is helping the leaders in each market support our technology clients with their debt and treasury needs.  Prior to that Cindy was the Head of Credit Review reporting to the Board of Directors and helping monitor the $120B loan portfolio.  In this role Cindy rebuilt the function and its objectives and processes to be Large Financial Institution compliant.  Previously, Cindy was a Senior Credit Officer overseeing and managing the bank’s portfolio in the technology sector, specifically in the areas of software, e-commerce, marketplace, and gaming supporting credit decisions on the portfolio.  Prior to that, Cindy was the Head of Structured Products for the central United States.  Cindy and her team focused on providing customers with creative working capital solutions. Earlier in her career, she launched and oversaw SVB’s Global Fund Banking team helping venture capital and private equity firms with their capital needs. Cindy earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she specialized in finance and entrepreneurship and competed on the women’s tennis team; she also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Outside of SVB, Cindy is the CO-Chair for the Burridge Center at the University of Colorado, bringing together academia, students, and industry.  In her free time, Cindy enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.

Gideon Strategic
Los Angeles

Peter Stutz, CFA, is a Managing Director at Gideon Strategic Partners, an independent investment advisor in Los Angeles. He specializes in personalized strategic solutions for individuals, families, and businesses. Focusing on investment management, he employs a macro-driven approach to crafting custom portfolios for clients.

Pete has over 25 years of institutional investment industry experience as a fixed income analyst, trader, and portfolio manager. He was most recently a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Guggenheim Partners, where he was responsible for the management of a variety of insurance company portfolios. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Pete was a Portfolio Manager at Western Asset Management where specialized in global interest rate and derivative strategies and managed inflation-linked bond portfolios.

Pete received his BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Pete earned Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1996 and is a Past President of the CFA Society of Los Angeles.
 

Curinos
Denver

Margarita Vacanti is the director and head of commercial banking practice at Curinos. With responsibility for Curinos’ commercial banking practice, Margarita oversees a suite of data and analytical software solutions and an advisory practice that helps financial institutions optimize pricing, product strategy, growth, and customer acquisition and profitability across their commercial banking businesses, with a particular focus on payments, liquidity and digital banking. Prior to joining Curinos, Margarita held leadership roles at KeyBank, managing Middle Market payments in the West and delivering strategic growth initiatives across the Commercial Bank. Earlier in her career, Margarita was part of Accenture’s and NTT DATA Services’ Financial Services & Insurance practices.