Board & Advisors

Kelly is an active investor, advisor, board member, entrepreneur and former corporate leader. With over 20 years in the private and public sectors of the technology industry, she remains a champion and avid mentor for those pursuing their business passions. More recently, Kelly founded InvestorAvenue and InvestorBuyouts.com. In addition to being a Francophile, she is an aficionado of language, culture, learning and dogs.

Karen is the Entrepreneur In Residence and works at a strategic and tactical level with the Innovation Team, students, and alumni to support entrepreneurship within the College of Engineering and Applied Science and in collaboration with other Colleges and Institutes. She has a focus on mentorship and coordinating resources for students, organizing events, collaborating with faculty, and the engagement of alumni and industry partners.

Dave is the co-leader of the Cannabis Industry and a Partner at Michael Best Friedrich LLP’s Venture Best practice group. As an alumnus of Colorado University Law School and the Deming Center Venture Fund team, Dave focuses on helping start-up and early growth companies with all of their business needs. He helps clients navigate entity formation, corporate finance, contract negotiations, compliance, investment and capital, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and...

James Dudley was previously the VP Direct Investments for Caruso Ventures where he managed the investment process and portfolio of a $25M/yr venture capital investment strategy for a single family office. Before Caruso Ventures he spent several years as a Principal at Boulder Ventures after completing his MBA at CU Boulder's Leeds School of Business. While at Leeds, James was a Managing Director for the Deming Center Venture Fund, overseeing...

Shannon Flahive is a venture capital investor with Ensemble Innovation Ventures Fund, where she focuses on early-stage healthcare technology companies. She has a decade of experience in growth strategy consulting and has been in the Colorado venture capital ecosystem since 2019. Prior to joining Ensemble, Shannon worked with Blackhorn Ventures and Service Provider Capital in early-stage investing, and Cambridge Associates, Boston Consulting Group, Treacy & Company and Egg Strategy in...

Jay Hirsh is the Managing Partner at Break Trail Ventures (BTV), an early stage venture fund based in Boulder, CO and Columbus, OH. BTV partners with entrepreneurs who are breaking trail in their industry, creating best-in-class products, and leading the way for future generations. They invest at the intersection of lifestyle / consumer products, natural products, and innovative tech-enabled enterprise. Prior to Break Trail Ventures, Jay was working in the...

Brandon is the Founder of Quill Strategy, which helps founders scale operations through fractional COO & Chief-of-Staff support, and help Investors diligence Seed and Series A startups. Brandon is an active participant in Colorado’s startup ecosystem through work with Quill Strategy, Techstars, Silicon Flatirons, CU Boulder, and the Seed Angel Forum, and partners with both entrepreneurs & investors as a fractional exec to help scale operations & finance.

Brian Armstrong has over 20 years of experience as an advisor to dozens of companies in financial services, high-tech, manufacturing, retail, and communications. Prior to joining Point B Capital, Brian was the CFO at RB Capital, Inc., the parent company of Rock Bottom Restaurants, Old Chicago Restaurants, and Boulder Beer, where he helped the company complete a $270 million M&A transaction. Before that, he was a Principal at the Lante...

Brad specializes in startups, entrepreneurial law, and early stage finance (such as angel investment and venture capital). His current research studies investment accelerators. In the classroom, Brad teaches and supervises students in the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic (LAWS 7619). He also teaches Venture Capital with co-professor Jason Mendelson (LAWS 7271, TLEN 5835). Brad is the Founder and Director of the Silicon Flatirons Center's Entrepreneurship Initiative. The Entrepreneurship Initiative, launched in 2008,...

Amelia works with early to mid-stage companies at Sage Law Group, and has helped clients raise over $200 million dollars in funding. Amelia previously worked on the Techstars legal team, where she worked on over 100 financings and ran due diligence on the accelerator’s portfolio companies. In addition to DCVF, she enjoys engaging with students and founders as a supervising attorney of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, as a mentor to...

Betsy Klein joined the Leeds School of Business in February 2022, and manages graduate entrepreneurship programming for the Deming Center. She has over seven years of experience in higher education, focusing on entrepreneurship education at Stanford University. She has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee. Betsy loves spending her free time hiking the Flatirons and biking to local breweries.

Wes Lang is a corporate attorney at Holland & Hart in Denver representing companies and investors on commercial agreements, corporate governance matters, and financing transactions. Wes works primarily with high growth companies in the food & beverage and consumer products industry, supporting opportunities for strategic growth. Wes is a proud graduate of the University of Colorado Law School and previous member of the Deming Center Venture Fund team who loves...

Erick Mueller has helped businesses grow throughout his career and has founded many companies. He founded Vision Co., a corporate training and consulting organization and as CEO and President grew the business to over $300,000 in annual revenue. Mueller then co-founded and was Vice President of Sales for Achieve.com, an interactive Web service he led from startup to 10,000+ customers. Mueller also co-founded Real Measure and EyeThink Corp., computer-based instrumentation...

Doug Smith is the Assistant Dean for Programs and Engagement at the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He works at a strategic level with the dean and other leaders to improve the effectiveness of the school with a focus on the development and leadership of student and faculty programs to support college growth and excellence; the engagement of alumni and industry partners; and development and implementation of college marketing...