Financing for Inclusion: Investing in a Diverse Group of Business Leaders
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Panel on Financing for Inclusion:
Investing in a Diverse Group of Business Leaders
David Hornik
Principal, August Capital
David Hornik is the Principal of August Capital. He is featured as the first"Giver" in Adam Grant’s “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drive Our Success.” Hornik teaches entrepreneurship at Harvard Law School and Stanford Business School and is one of the Ally/ Leaders in Penn Law’s class on Leadership and had played a leadership role in bringing together some of the most important voices in allyship.
For the last 20 years, Hornik has worked closely with technology companies to help them grow and prosper. He joined August Capital in 2000 to invest in a broad range of software companies. Since that time, he has invested in dozens of companies across the software spectrum, including a number of enterprise software and SaaS (e.g., Splunk, Fastly, GitLab), consumer services (e.g., Evite, Ebates, Drop), and financial technology companies (e.g., WePay, Bill.com, PayNearMe).
Along with colleagues at August Capital, Hornik started the first venture capital blog, VentureBlog, and the first venture capital podcast, VentureCast. He is the creator and executive producer of the The Lobby and Lobby:Enterprise, August Capital’s annual gatherings of the thought leaders across digital media and enterprise/SaaS software. Hornik has also served as the Tech Curator for the TED Conference in Vancouver and is the co-creator and host of TEDxStanford. He received Deloitte’s 2013 Venture Capitalist of the Year award and has been honored by Forbes Magazine as a member of its Midas List of top Venture Capitalists.
Hornik has an eclectic educational background. He received an B.A. from Stanford in Computer Music, an M.Phil. in Criminology from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He teaches courses in entrepreneurship and venture capital at Stanford Business School and Harvard Law School, and serves as a VC Partner at the Harvard Business School. He is the vice-chair of GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ rights organization, and is a member of the board of the Stanford Alumni Association.
Vanessa Liu
Vice President of SAP.iO
Vanessa Liu is a builder. She is a builder of businesses, concepts, networks and connections.
Liu presently leads SAP.iO Foundries in North America, which are SAP’s accelerators for B2B enterprise startups. She has earned degrees in neuroscience and law.
Early in her career, Lui worked in the business consulting world with McKinsey Company, which took her around the world to posts in Amsterdam, London and New York, were she presently resides. Along her dynamic career path, Lui developed a keen interest in media, and she has launched and invested in a number of successful media ventures, including Inside Hook and Fevo.
Lui is a champion for social justice and a tireless advocate for under-represented business start-ups, especially those led by women or diverse founders. She graduated from Harvard with a B.A. and J.D.
Kumar Mahadeva
Founder and Managing Partner Kubera Partners LLC; Operating Partner, GRS Partners; Member of the Board of Directors, Antuit
Kumar Mahadeva serves on Antuit’s Board of Directors. He is the founder and a managing partner at Kubera Partners LLC, and an operating partner at GRS Partners.
Mahadeva founded Cognizant Technology Solutions in 1994 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2004. He was the catalyst behind the company's accelerated growth and ranking as one of the fastest growing global technology companies.
Previously, Mahadeva served as chairman of Dun & Bradstreet for India and China and led the company's business development in the region. He has held senior management positions at AT&T, McKinsey, and the British Broadcasting Corporation in London.
Mahadeva holds a Master's in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Craig Newmark
Founder, Craigslist
Craig Newmark is a self-professed nerd who founded Craigslist in the nineties.
He handed over management to Craigslist's current CEO Jim Buckmaster in 2000, continuing his role in customer service.
In 2016,Newmark started The Craig Newmark Foundation, and since retiring from Craigslist is focusing 100% of his energy on philanthropy via Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
Ambassador Matthew Nimetz
Former Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, General Atlantic; Former Partner and Chair of the Paul Weiss Law Firm; and Former Under Secretary of State
Ambassador Matthew Nimetz is a former Advisory Director at General Atlantic LLC. He joined the firm in January 2000 as Chief Operating Officer and is based in New York City. Ambassador Nimetz was a Partner and Chairman at Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City, where he concentrated on corporate and international law from December 1980 through January 2000. Prior to December 1980, he served as an Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology from February through December 1980, and as a Counselor of the Department of State from 1977 to 1980. In those capacities, Ambassador Nimetz supervised United States security assistance programs and the State Department’s international scientific and technological programs, including scientific and technical cooperation, nuclear nonproliferation issues, environmental matters, and international communications activities of the United States government.
He also supervised, among other things, United States policy on the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus) and relationships with Eastern European countries. From March 1994 through September 1995, Ambassador Nimetz served as the President Clinton’s Special Envoy in the mediation of a dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He previously practiced law as an Associate and Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett between 1969 and 1977.
Ambassador Nimetz served in 1974 as an Executive Director at New York Governor-elect Hugh Carey’s transition. His previous federal government positions include service as a Staff Assistant to President Lyndon Johnson from July 1967 to January 1969, and as a Law Clerk to Justice John M. Harlan of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1967. In addition, he served as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1975 to 1977. Ambassador Nimetz serves as a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Member and former chair of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, a Trustee of Central European University, and a Trustee of Committee for Economic Development. He served as the President at Harvard Law Review. He served previously as the Founding Chairman of World Resources Institute, as a Director of The Nature Conservancy of New York, a Trustee of Williams College, Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Levin Institute of the State University of New York, and a Director of The Revson Foundation and The Nature Conservancy of New York. Ambassador Nimetz also served as the Chairman of the United Nations Development Corporation, as an Appointee of New York City Mayors Koch and Dinkins from 1986 to 1994.
Ambassador Nimetz has done a LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1965, an M.A. from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1962 where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.A. from Williams College in 1960.