Session Details
Date:
2:30 PM
Where:
Levi's Club, South
More Information
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Speaker Bios
Andrew Karsh, General Partner @ Bay Bridge Ventures
Andrew Karsh is Co-Founder and General Partner at Bay Bridge Ventures, an institutional venture capital firm focused on early to mid-stage technology investments. Andrew has more than 25 years of financial markets experience, directly managing large pools of complex institutional capital and advising C-Suite executives globally. Prior to Founding Bay Bridge Ventures Andrew served for ten years as Portfolio Manager within the Investment Office of CalPERS, a $550 Billion public pension fund. In addition to his direct alternative investment responsibilities, he served as a member of the Absolute Return Strategies Advisory Board and worked to advise the organization regarding Private Equity opportunities.
Outside of his daily role, Andrew has spent the last nine years advising and investing in disruptive startup companies across all industries, and the last six years as part of the advisory team to Berkeley's top ranked SkyDeck Accelerator Program. He was also nominated in 2019 to represent CalPERS as a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal's 30 organization GISD working group, which has tasked thirty of the largest financial institutions globally with creating investment opportunities that will support the success of the seventeen UN SDG initiatives.
Prior to his current position, Andrew was a Portfolio Manager at Credit Suisse Alternative Investments, directly managing more than $5 Billion in assets for some of the world’s largest institutional investors and UHNW individuals. His previous responsibilities have included senior investment banking positions in both New York and London at Credit Suisse where he advised technology and energy company executives regarding strategy and financing.
Andrew was Founding Advisor to Fast Forward, the largest technology focused nonprofit accelerator which through its fellowship program, has helped more than 150 million people globally since 2013. In addition, he is a Founding Board Member at the nonprofit Think of Us, which utilizes a proprietary technology platform to improve the success rates of 400,000 youth in Foster Care.
Andrew received his undergraduate degree in Finance from American University, is an alumnus of Columbia Business School and completed the Board Directors College program at Stanford University.
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Sean Byrnes, General Partner @ Near Horizon VC
Sean is a General Partner at Near Horizon, an innovative early stage venture firm. Near Horizon partners with solo founders at the formation stage to both invest capital and join the founding team, doing the hard work to build the business from zero to one.
Prior to Near Horizon was previously a successful CEO & Founder for twenty years of companies like Flurry and Outlier.ai, a sought after CEO coach and an angel investor in over 100 startup companies.
Sean received his Masters in CS (Artificial Intelligence) from Cornell and his BA from Dartmouth.
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Gregg Hipwell, Director Relationship Management @ Citizen Private Bank - Moderator
Gregg Hipwell is a Private Banker at Citizens Private Bank with a specialty working with businesses in the Technology, Venture, and Professional Real Estate industries, along with personally supporting their founders/managing members. His expertise includes working with clients on lending, depository, and wealth needs, along with supporting their businesses to raise capital, invest, and grow.
He has a decade of banking experience having started his career at First Republic Bank and has been with Citizens Private Bank since 2023.
