Alumni Spotlight is pleased to announce The Top 100 Investors for 2022. These individuals play a vital role in the growth of the companies in which they have invested. Not only do they come with financial backing, these individuals have expertise that makes businesses successful long after they leave. Their critical thinking, market knowledge, and patience provide a foundation for success. The awardees span nearly all industries, including consumer goods, information technology, non-profits, healthcare, and more. While these individuals differ in the strategies and philosophies they apply to their endeavors, they remain consistent in their ability to beat the market.
Awardees include Gautam Malhotra, an Investor in Noosh, who is supporting the world’s leading independent marketing execution software company that’s helping bring campaigns to life; Riyanka Ganguly, an Investor at Blackstone, who uses her industry knowledge and experience to create a positive economic impact and long-term value for investors, companies, and community; and David Mort, an early-stage investor focused on entrepreneurs building the new financial economy, who leads Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm he co-founded in 2016.
This year’s awardees understand the challenges of forging their own paths to produce long-term, profitable returns. They are carving their way into history with new and innovative investment strategies. Please join us in celebrating the achievements of the Top 100 Investors of 2022.
5. Riyanka Ganguly
Investor, Blackstone
Duke University
Riyanka Ganguly began her professional career nearly 7 years ago. Today, she is an Investor at Blackstone. Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. They seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for their investors, the companies they invest in, and the communities in which they work. They do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Its $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.
Ganguly first got her start in 2015 with founding PASH Center (Peer Advocacy for Sexual Health) where she served as the president before eventually moving to becoming an overseas investment and business development officer at ByteDance, her most recent position prior to joining Blackstone. Ganguly graduated from Tsinghua University with a master’s degree in global affairs and from Duke University with an undergraduate degree in political science.
12. Ruminder Dhillon
Investor, Sonoran Founders Fund
Emory University
Ruminder (Romi) Dhillon began his career in venture capital 13 years ago. Today, he is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Sonoran Founders Fund in Scottsdale, Arizona. Prior to that, he served as the CEO at Arizona Founders Fund, which was ranked as Arizona's most active investor in 2020 by CBInsights. They are leaders in providing high-quality, founder-focused capital in Arizona and the Greater Sonoran Region.
Dhillon first got his start in 2009 as an associate at vSpring Capital & Kickstart Seed Fund in Utah. From there, he went to Arizona to found Arizona Founders Fund in 2016, a seed investor dedicated to Arizona startups. He graduated from Emory University with an undergraduate degree, from Columbia University with a master’s degree, and from Thunderbird School of Global Management with an MBA.
14. David Mort
Investor, Propel Venture Partners
University of Wisconsin - Madison
David Mort is an early-stage investor focused on entrepreneurs building the new financial economy. He is a General Partner at Propel Venture Partners, a firm he co-founded in 2016. As part of Propel, Mort is an investor in Coinbase, Neon, SumUp, DocuSign, Hippo, Guideline, TrustLayer, Nomad Global, and 20+ FinTech companies. Mort has nearly 11 years of experience. He began his career in 2011.
Before founding Propel Venture Partners, Mort was an analyst at BBVA Ventures. Earlier in his career he worked with SVB Financial Group as an associate. Mort graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with an undergraduate degree in finance, investment, banking, management and human resources.
20. Jack Mathew
Angel Investor, The Carlyle Group
University of California - Los Angeles
Jack Mathew is an Angel Investor at The Carlyle Group. He first joined the company in 2017. Carlyle is a global investment firm with $301 billion of assets under management. Their purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of their investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which they live and invest. Founded in 1987 in Washington, DC, Carlyle has grown into one of the world’s largest and most successful global investment firms, with nearly 1,850 people operating in 26 offices across five continents.
Earlier in his career, Mathew worked with Microsoft as a software engineer. He earned an MBA in innovation and entrepreneurship from PPA Business School and an undergraduate degree in business administration and management from the University of California - Los Angeles.
24. Ben Stokes
Investor and Partner, Chasing Rainbows
Quantic School of Business and Technology
Ben Stokes is the Founding Partner of Chasing Rainbows, an early-stage investment fund specifically aimed at creating more equality in startup funding by investing in founders who come from underrepresented backgrounds - particularly those from the LGBTQ+ community. Ben previously founded and ran the virtual networking platform SocialTable, with customers on all 7 continents. Using his own experience as an LGBTQ+ founder of color, he has been an active angel investor in companies led by underrepresented founders and has fostered a number through to their exit or next investment phase.
He was a mentor at the Australian Landing Pad in San Francisco, assisting Australian founders who take their start-ups and scale-ups global. Ben has an Executive MBA, attended UC Berkeley’s Venture Capital Program and was selected to be part of both the StartOut Growth Lab, a start-up incubator located in San Francisco, and RBL1, based in Austin. In 2020 he was asked to address the UN General Assembly for their Leaders on Purpose Summit. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he worked at Oracle and Salesforce. Ben Stokes grew up on a farm on the North-West Coast of Tasmania after being adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, by a loving Tasmanian family. Ben's mission is to help create a world that's built on radical inclusivity where diversity of knowledge and experience is celebrated. It is the cornerstone for the vision of his fund, Chasing Rainbows. Stokes graduated from Quantic School of Business and Technology with an MBA, from James Cook University with a master’s degree in tropical medicine and public health, and from Southern Cross University with an undergraduate degree in law.
33. David Kellenberger
Investor, Snowflake
Dartmouth College
David Kellenberger is an Investor in Snowflake. He first invested in the company in 2020. Snowflake is a cloud data platform that provides a data warehouse-as-a-service designed for the cloud. The platform is built for the cloud, focusing on an instant, secure, governed access to an entire network of data, and is built to enable a variety of data workloads, including a single platform for developing modern data applications. It combines the power of data warehousing, the flexibility of big data platforms, and the elasticity of the cloud at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.
Previously, Kellenberger was a venture capital investor at Norwest Venture Partners and before that a technology investment banking at William Blair & Company. Kellenberger earned an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.
36. Jay Grimsted
Angel Investor, Investors Bank
Dartmouth College
Jay Grimsted is an Angel Investor of Investors Bank. Investors Bank is a full-service community bank that has been serving customers since 1926. With over $27 billion in assets and a network of more than 150 retail branches, Investors Bank delivers personalized services and products tailored to the needs of its customers. Investors serve a wide range of consumer, business, commercial real estate, nonprofit and local government customers. In addition, its charitable foundation supports local and statewide organizations that enrich the quality of life in the communities they serve. Grimsted has nearly 34 years in the banking industry. He began his career in 1988.
Before joining Investors Bank, Grimsted was a VP of the middle market group at PNC and before that an account manager of information solutions at Schlumberger. Earlier in his career he worked with Merrill Lynch as an associate. Grimsted graduated from Emory University - Goizueta Business School with an MBA and from Dartmouth College with an undergraduate degree in accounting and business management.
View the complete list of awardees.
43. Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes
Private Investor, Goldfingr
University of Miami
Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes is a Private Investor of Goldfingr. Goldfingr is a global club and social investing platform. They provide investment opportunities, resources, and experiences to their members powered by $GFT. Vasiliu-Feltes is a healthcare executive, futurist and globalist who is highly dedicated to digital and ethics advocacy. She is a Forbes Business Council member, digital strategist, passionate educator and entrepreneurship ecosystem builder, known as an expert speaker, board advisor and consultant. Throughout her career she has received several awards for excellence in research, teaching or leadership and was appointed to the board of advisors for several organizations.
Vasiliu-Feltes is the CEO of Softhread Inc., the founder and CEO of The Science, Entrepreneurship and Investments Institute, founder and CEO of Revexpo Consulting and currently serving as a Country Director for WBAF USA, Senator of WBAF, and Faculty Member of the WBAF Business School- Division of Entrepreneurship. She has held several executive leadership roles for organizations like the Government Blockchain Association, Detect Genomix, Mednax, and the University of Miami UHealth System. She also holds several certifications from Harvard, MIT Sloan, and Stanford and graduated from the University of Miami Herbert with an executive MBA.
46. Raju Rishi
Investor, Datadog
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Raju Rishi is an Investor in Datadog He first invested in the company in 2015. Datadog is an essential monitoring platform for cloud applications. It brings together data from servers, containers, databases, and third-party services to make a stack entirely observable. These capabilities help DevOps teams avoid downtime, resolve performance issues, and ensure customers are getting the best user experience.
Previously, Rishi was an advisor at APTEXX, Inc. and before that an investor at ClearGraph (acquired by Tableau). Earlier in his career he worked with Bell Laboratories as a member of the technical staff and project leader. Rishi earned an MS and an undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
50. Aabed Meer
Investor, Questa Capital
Stanford University
Aabed Meer, MD is a Partner at Questa Capital focused on growth-stage healthcare technology, healthcare services and medical device investments. His investments include Epic Systems, Altruista Health (acquired by Blackstone), HealthPlan Services (acquired by Wipro), Performance Health (acquired by Patterson Medical), AAI Pharma (acquired by Alcami), Breg, HeartFlow, and Capsule.
Meer is actively involved in Questa's current investments, which include Bicycle Health, Vynca and Claritas Rx. Previously, he was a director and member of the founding team at Martis Capital, where he focused on private equity investments in the healthcare sector. Prior to that, he was with Capricorn Investment Group and New Enterprise Associates. Early in his career, he contributed to the Human Genome Project, a research effort led by the NIH to identify, map and sequence the entire human genome. He graduated from Harvard University with an AB in biochemical sciences, and from Stanford University with an MD and MBA.
53. Kevan Olander
Investor, Headspace
Boston College
Kevan Olander is an Investor in Headspace. Headspace was created with one mission in mind, to improve the health and happiness of the world. Reaching more than 65 million users in 190 countries, Headspace was one of the first meditation apps in the world and remains a leader in mindfulness and mental training. Headspace operates a B2B business to offer its mindfulness products and services to more than 700 companies, such as Starbucks, Adobe, GE, Hyatt and Unilever, to help them build healthier, more productive cultures and higher performing organizations. Olander has nearly 8 years of experience. He began his career in 2014.
Before Headspace, Olander was an investor in Seismic and before that a senior associate at JMI Equity. Earlier in his career he worked with Raymond James as an investment banking analyst. Olander graduated from Boston College with an undergraduate degree in finance and accounting.
54. Angelina DiPaolo
Investor, Outreach
Dartmouth College
Angelina DiPaolo is an Investor in Outreach. Outreach, the first and only Sales Execution Platform, helps revenue teams bring intelligence to workflows, unlock full visibility across the entire revenue cycle, and commit their forecasts with confidence. Outreach is the only solution provider to integrate sales engagement, conversation intelligence, and revenue intelligence into one platform. More than 5,300 companies such as Adobe, Tableau, Okta, Splunk, DocuSign, and SAP depend on Outreach's enterprise-scale, unparalleled customer adoption, and robust AI-powered innovation. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. DiPaolo has nearly 9 years of experience. She began her career in 2013.
DiPaolo is a venture capital investor with Premji Invest and an investor in Chainalysis, Robinhood and Heyday. Previously she was a technology investment banking officer at Citi. Earlier in her career she worked with Anthropologie as a sales associate. DiPaolo graduated from Dartmouth College with an undergraduate degree in engineering and Chinese.
56. Ray Crowell
Investor, SCADpro Fund
American Military University
Ray Crowell is the Managing Director of SCADpro Fund. SCADpro Fund invests in alumni from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Since 2019, Crowell has invested in Liist, Streamlytics, The Big Favorite, Q4 Sports, Deepr, Mini City ATL, Parafin, FilmHedge, Imago Rehab, Outsmartly, and Novel Effect. He also is an angel investor in Ion Learning and invested in Smart Yields and Farm from a Box through crowd-investing platform Republic. Crowell researches, writes, and publishes articles through Inc. focused on the power of creative leaders in business.
Crowell is also Chief Innovation Officer at Bluum, an Idaho charter school incubator and national education opportunity leader. He focuses on strategy at the intersection between K-12 education and the future of work. Crowell has lived several lives over the years from hostage negotiator to business negotiator. He is a passionate ecosystem builder, inspiring brand storyteller, collaborative board member, invested coach, and thoughtful participatory-centric service designer. He was co-founder of Humble Ventures, built and led accelerators for Bunker Labs DC and the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, held several executive leadership roles within the federal government, and is a decorated US Air Force veteran. Crowell supports and mentors founders from inclusive entrepreneurial initiatives that include Patriot Boot Camp and Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator. He has received numerous accolades to include being one of DC Inno's "50 on Fire" as an investor, serving as innovation bridge between the Defense Department and industry co-creating real-time global intelligence visualization with Google Earth, and is in the company of past US Presidents, Senators, and journalist legends as recipient of the United Service Organizations (USO) Spirit of Hope award. He holds several executive certifications from Harvard, Notre Dame, and Georgetown and graduated from the American Military University with a master's in security management and bachelor's in criminal justice.
59. Adam Hirsch
Investor, Dataminr
University of Michigan
Adam Hirsch is an Investor in Dataminr. He invested in the company in 2012. Dataminr puts real-time AI and public data to work for their clients, generating relevant and actionable alerts for global corporations, public sector agencies, newsrooms, and NGOs. Their leading AI platform detects the earliest signals of high-impact events and emerging risks from vast amounts of publicly available information. Dataminr is making its mark for growth and innovation, recently earning recognition on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Forbes AI 50 and Forbes Cloud 100 lists.
Previously, Hirsch was a VP of operations at David Barton Gym and before that a senior manager at American Express. Earlier in his career he worked with Crunch Fitness as a director of operations. Hirsch earned an MBA from Fordham Gabelli School of Business and an undergraduate degree in communication and sports management from the University of Michigan.
64. Patrick Keating
Seed Investor, Accel
United States Military Academy at West Point
Patrick Keating began his professional career over 13 years ago. Today, he is a Seed Investor at Accel. Accel is a leading venture capital firm that invests in people and their companies from the earliest days through all phases of private company growth. Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, CrowdStrike, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, FreshWorks, Jet, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, UiPath and Vox Media are among the companies the firm has backed over the past 35 years.
Keating first got his start in 2009 as a combat engineer officer with the US Army. From there, he went on to Stanford University, before eventually moving on to become a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, his most recent position prior to joining Accel. Keating graduated from Stanford University with an MBA and from United States Military Academy at West Point with an undergraduate degree.
View the complete list of awardees.
66. Gaetano Franceschi
Investor, Enertiv
Northwestern University
Gaetano Franceschi began his professional career over 28 years ago. Today, he is an Investor in Enertiv. Enertiv is a real estate technology company that transforms building data into asset value. Their platform streamlines building operations by digitizing the physical infrastructure of commercial real estate portfolios. They collect better data, faster and more affordably than anyone else, enabling owners and operators to eliminate waste within their largest and most controllable operating expense.
Franceschi first got his start in 1994 as a software engineer at DXC Technology. From there, he went on to GE Capital, before eventually rising to become a director and CFO of Amazon Games, his most recent position prior to joining Enertiv. Franceschi graduated from Columbia Business School with an MBA in finance and from Northwestern University with an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering.
69. Peter Wang
Investor, Snackpass
Carnegie Mellon University
Peter Wang is an Investor in Snackpass, social commerce for restaurants. Their users order ahead at their favorite restaurants and unlock discounts with friends. This social buying creates exclusive content for users and organic word of mouth for restaurants. They’ve grown 7.5X year over year and gone viral on college campuses by helping other users save time, save money, and connect with friends, all while driving new and repeat business to restaurants. Snackpass has raised over $90M from the top investors in the country such as Craft Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, First Round, Y Combinator along with leading voices in entertainment and hospitality such as the Jonas Brothers, Steve Aoki, Draymond Green, and David Grutman.
Previously, Wang was a CTO at The Mighty and before that, a CTO at Narrativ. Earlier in his career he worked with UBS Investment Bank in bank operations. Wang earned an undergraduate degree in electrical computer engineering and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
71. Andrew Riesenfeld
Investor, People.ai
University of Virginia
Andrew Riesenfeld is an Investor in People.ai. People.ai bridges complex artificial-intelligence and real-world business expertise to help their clients innovate, grow, and generate greater revenue. They do this through reliable, unified data, and more effective approaches to putting that data into action. People.ai uses technology to make business more human.
In addition to his investment roles, Riesenfeld is the VP of GTM Operations and Productivity at DocuSign. Previously, he served as the VP of WW Sales Development + Pipeline at Responsys, where he helped lead the company to an acquisition by Oracle. He is also an early stage investor in a number of companies including Second Nature, Chorus.ai, Routable, Datagrail, Atrium, Groundswell, Pallet, and Forwrd.ai. Riesenfeld graduated from the University of Virginia with an undergraduate degree in sociology and was a four-year letterwinner in baseball.
74. Evan Brown
Investor and Advisor, Datasembly
Dartmouth College
Evan Brown is an Investor and Advisor at Datasembly. Datasembly knows that their customers need real-time data to make real-life decisions. That is why their technology provides in-store and real-time, pricing, promotions, and availability data, without ever stepping foot in a store. From a brand or private label to a store or the competitors', they provide real-time data for every product, every store, every day. Brown has over 25 years of experience in capital markets. He began his career in 1995.
Brown is one of the first investors in Datasembly, and also has made investments in Recapped, Enko Chem, Nesh, Gradient Health, recent hot NFT deal CryptoSlam, and Mainline.GG where he sits on the Board. His capital markets career has included stops at Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, and Velocity Futures where he previously served as COO. Brown graduated from Dartmouth College with undergraduate degrees in molecular biology and Spanish literature.
76. Matt Carbonara
Investor, Snyk
The Ohio State University
Matt Carbonara began his professional career over 26 years ago. Today, he is an Investor in Snyk. Snyk is the leader in developer security. They empower the world’s developers to build secure applications and equip security teams to meet the demands of the digital world. Their developer-first approach ensures organizations can secure all of the critical components of their applications from code to cloud, leading to increased developer productivity, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, cost savings and an overall improved security posture.
Carbonara first got his start in 1995 as a senior member of technical staff at Terayon Communications Systems. From there, he went on to TeleSoft Partners, before eventually rising to become a principal at Comcast Ventures, his most recent position prior to joining Snyk. Carbonara graduated from The Ohio State University with an MS and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and computer science.
81. Pedro Muller
Angel Investor, Encuadrado
University of California - Berkeley
Pedro Muller began his professional career over 7 years ago. Today, he is an Angel Investor in Encuadrado. Encuadrado provides a platform for appointment scheduling, payments, and invoicing. They help get rid of the administrative hassles so that their clients can finally focus on their true passion: serving. Muller has over 10 years of experience working with the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley and the world. His background ranges from marketing, business development, and corporate innovation.
Muller is a partner and co-founder of Prodigio Capital, an exclusive global venture community, enabling operators/experts and founders to collaboratively build the best tech companies across Africa and Latin America. He is also a director of global startup and innovation for Intercom. Muller first got his start in 2014 at Zendesk where he served in various roles. He graduated from the University of California - Berkeley.
84. Stefan Linn
Investor and Operating Executive, Holexion
The University of Dallas
Stefan Linn is an Investor and Operating Executive at Holexion. He first joined the company in 2016. He is also Managing Partner & CEO, L1 Health at LetterOne, an international investment business headquartered in Luxembourg. They invest their own capital in companies that they think have unrealized potential and where they believe their strategic involvement can improve their performance and build significant value.
Previously, Linn was a chief operating officer at Oxford Immunotec and before that an SVP at IMS Health. Earlier in his career he worked with McKinsey & Company as a consultant. Linn earned an MBA from the University of California - Berkeley and an undergraduate degree in economics from The University of Dallas.
View the complete list of awardees.
92. Dennis Yang
Investor, Various Companies
Northwestern University
Dennis Yang has spent more than two decades launching and growing innovative companies around the globe, with a particular emphasis on education technology. Today he serves as Chairman, Investor, Advisor and Board Member to several technology startups. Yang previously served as CEO of Udemy, a global provider of online education that has served more than 50 million students worldwide.
Yang has been featured in or on national media sources such as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, Inc., Time, and Fortune. He also has spoken at numerous conferences, including Fortune Global Forum, and appeared on Bloomberg TV. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Yang is an Alumni Regent for Northwestern University and has guest-lectured for various Northwestern classes and served as an advisor for the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern.
97. Nick Rockwell
Advisor & Investor, StackShare
Yale University
Nick Rockwell is an Advisor and Investor of StackShare. StackShare is a community-driven SaaS platform that lets individuals see all the best software tools and who’s using them both inside and outside of a company. Over one million engineers, CTOs, and VPEs from some of the world's top startups and companies use StackShare regularly to make tech stack decisions. Their mission is to make developers more productive by helping them learn about technology through the people and companies they trust. Rockwell has over 25 years of experience. He began his career in 1996.
Previously, Rockwell was a CTO at Condé Nast and before that a CTO at TheLadders.com. Earlier in his career he worked with SonicNet as a technical director. Rockwell graduated from Yale University with an undergraduate degree in literary theory.
99. Dixon Doll
Investor, Ten Eleven Ventures
University of Michigan
Dixon Doll is an Investor at Ten Eleven Ventures. He first joined the company in 2015. Ten Eleven Ventures focuses on early stage and growth investments in private companies that are innovating and poised to lead the digital security field. The firm is founded by security entrepreneur and investor, Alex Doll, a co-founder of PGP Corp. Ten Eleven is a specialized venture capital firm exclusively dedicated to helping cybersecurity companies thrive.
Previously, Doll was a co-founder and general partner at Impact Venture Capital, and before that an advisor at ZZ Capital International. Earlier in his career he worked with Accel as a general partner. Doll earned a PhD in electrical and electronics engineering and an MS in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Michigan.
View the complete list of awardees.