Judges Panel
Letitia GreenBio: Letitia Green is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of the Virginia Active Angel Network, LLC (VAAN) and Virginia Investment Capital Group, Inc. Since its October 2005 launch, VAAN has invested in 13 companies totaling $2.75M with investments in Washington, DC, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and co-investments with several other ACA-member angel groups.
As an entrepreneur, Letitia has started and run 3 companies. She has served on the Angel Capital Association’s Legislative Committee for the last three years, is certified to teach the Kauffman Foundation’s “Fasttrac” TechVenture and GrowthVenture Programs and is on the faculty at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences teaching Entrepreneurship & Financing for Tech Ventures to engineers in the Business Minor program. She speaks frequently on venture financing at events for entrepreneurs and investors, most recently for the NIH at the Advanced Material Partnership Forum in Hampton Roads. Letitia began her private equity experience in New York and has experience across the financial spectrum holding positions at Oppenheimer & Co., Mocatta & Goldsmid, The Blackstone Group and Roxbury Capital Management (now CBIC-Oppenheimer). She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Otavio FreireBio: As the Chief Technology Officer at OpenQ, Mr. Freire is responsible for the creation of OpenQ's enterprise technology solutions, which enable customers in the global life sciences industries to significantly impact their sales, marketing and compliance efforts. Mr. Freire brings rich experience in internet applications, internet commerce and information technology serving the pharmaceutical, financial services and retail industries.
His expertise spans software development, customer relationship management systems, content management technologies, and systems integration. Prior to co-founding OpenQ, Mr. Freire was the Director of Technology at a software company serving the pharmaceutical industry where he created innovative technology products that are currently live at eight of the ten largest global pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Freire's career has also spanned work at Oracle and InterWorld. Mr. Freire holds a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering, a Masters of Science in Management Information Systems, and an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. He is fluent in Portuguese.
Edward R. BarrientosBio: Ed is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Brazen Careerist, a career focused social networking site targeting Gen Y. He is also Managing Partner of Zeitgeist Holdings, L.L.C., an angel investment firm focused on investing in early stage technology companies. From 1996 to 2005, he was President and CEO of Arc Second Inc., a high growth market leader in the field of laser based, high-precision GPS.
Ed led Arc Second to a successful exit (acquired by Metris NV of Belgium) at the end of 2005. He sat on the Board of Directors of Metris NV, and worked as an active Board member through the Company’s IPO (2006) and its acquisition by Nikon (Japan) in 2009.
From 1993 to 1996, Ed served as Managing Director of Max Schlatterer GmbH & Co KG, a leading German manufacturer of products for the food, drug and machine tool industry with headquarters outside of Munich, Germany. From 1991 to 1993, he was an international marketing consultant for Management Partner GmbH, a boutique management consulting firm based in Stuttgart, Germany. He started his professional career with IBM in 1986, serving in a number of technical and marketing related positions. Ed holds a B.S. in Management from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MBA from the George Washington University.
As a well-known serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Ed is very engaged with university students, entrepreneurship groups and angel investment forums. He is the Angel in Residence at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland and also sits on the Board of Advisors of the George Washington University School of Business.
Specialties
Angel Investing, M&A, International Business, Negotiations, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Startups
