Board of Advisors

Meet our Advisors

EFN’s Advisory Board advises EFN on direction, growth, and expanding the network of members and partners as well as developing funding sources. Our Advisory Board is comprised of long-time mentors who are leaders in university education, entrepreneurship, and investing.

David Arscott

Compass Technology Group

David is a founding member of EFN. He has spent his entire professional career investing in private and public technology companies including Citibank’s Silicon Valley arm. David’s funds have invested in 36 high-technology companies including as a first mover in Tesla Motors.

Ray Beauchamp

Mentor Committee Chair

Ray’s a founding member of EFN and is considered an expert in corporate branding and marketing communications, Ray has been an integral part of several company Pre and Post-IPO’s. With his extensive experience in building strategic partnerships and alliances, sales management, direct marketing, advertising, and strategies for building brand and product awareness, he has served on many Board of Directors. Ray’s mentoring dates back to EFN’s original beginnings at UC Berkeley in 2003,

Edward Chan-Lizardo

Columbia University

Ed is currently the Director of Global Development for Columbia University. Ed served as COO and Chief Development and Partnership Officer at KickStart International, a leading international development non-profit.

Zulfiqar Deo

Biz Gees

Zufi is an innovator and entrepreneur who has served as an EFN mentor for 10 years. He knowledge shares at global events. A speaker at the Sharing Economy Global Summit, London, 2021. Panel member at Fintech Week London 2019 – FinTech, Social Impact & Emerging Markets. Panel member at Digital Impact Week, London, 2019. A Guest speaker at Wharton Social Entrepreneurs, 2018. He holds degrees from University of Oxford and Kings College in London.

Zachary Holman

Arizona State University

Dr. Zak Holman is the Vice Dean for Research and Innovation at Arizona State University. For several years, he has participated in EFN’s programs, first getting support for Swift Coat, one of his startups, and for two years, advising energy startups. He is an expert in energy technologies and startups. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, as well as the Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship within the Fulton Schools of Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota for his work on plasma-synthesized silicon and germanium nanocrystals, after which he spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher developing high-efficiency silicon solar cells at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. His research group at ASU focuses on new materials, processes, and device designs for high-efficiency silicon solar cells and silicon-based tandem solar cells. He has been named a Moore Inventor Fellow, Trustees of ASU Professor, Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor, and Joseph C. Palais Distinguished Faculty Scholar. He is the co-founder of two solar start-up companies (Sunflex Solar and Beyond Silicon) and an advanced materials start-up company (Swift Coat).

Dinesh Katiyar

Accel Partners

Dinesh is a Partner with Accel Partners a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Palo, Alto. At Accel partner for ten years, he has focused on early stage cross-border (U.S./India) companies, in such areas as technology, Internet, and mobile. Also, he serves on the board of several US Accel portfolio companies. Previously, he co-founded and was an executive at several tech firms. He holds a Phd in computer science from Stanford University.

Ruby Lee

Persona

Ruby was a co-founder of Juni Learning, a YCombinator startup. She recently was a the Product Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB) seed fund and partnered with EFN on Stanford’s mentoring programs when she was President of Stanford BASES as a graduate student at Stanford University.

DEBORAH BARTLETT MACARTHUR

The MacArthur Company – USA and Morocco

Deborah has worked in global consulting environments for 35+ years across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa including serving as a partner at Accenture. She owns The MacArthur Company based in the USA and Morocco which focuses on leading pan-African change initiatives and leading strategic change from the C-suite. For 13 years, she has been the Chief Entrepreneurship Officer at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco.

13 yrs 4 mos

Michael Moon

President, Gistics

Michael has worked in Silicon Valley for 35+ years. He owns GISTICS Inc., an innovation think-tank that develops public advocacy proposals through white papers, events, and a network of websites. Michael has mentored 25+ seedling startups through EFN. In 2019, he launched, Gratitude Games, a global community dedicated to bringing Gratitude Protocols to one billion smartphone users.

Richard Mueller

Mueller Associates

Richard helped build two multibillion-dollar financial services companies, a venture capital firm, and three internationally recognized research and consulting firms. He is a private investor, board member and advisor to companies and nonprofits.

SAFA SAEED

VICE PRESIDENT, Acquisitions and Strategic Investments at JPMorgan Chase

In this role, Safa focuses on venture capital and growth stage equity investments in enterprise technology, markets infrastructure and fund investments. Safa is a former Fulbright Scholar with a decade of experience working with startups, engineering and financial services companies in the US and abroad. She is a coach and mentor across several councils and professional development programs at JPMorgan Chase; including The Global Council of Analysts & Associates, The Fellowship Initiative and other programs. She has served as an EFN mentor for three years.

Dr. Mary Spaeth

Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin

Mary is a recently retired Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management and International Business at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. For 7.5 years she led the nascent entrepreneurship program and was also the Department Chair in her last year. She has a PhD in Socioeconomics/Entrepreneurship. Over the last 40 years, Mary has worked in academic and non-academic settings primarily in startup and innovation support, economic development, internationalization, and foreign direct investment. In addition to over 22 years in university teaching and research in the US, Sweden, Mexico and Scotland, she served 7 years on the Swedish American Fulbright Board of Directors, was the Executive Director of East Sweden Development Agency, Vice President of the US subsidiary of London-based tech commercialization firm, ANGLE Technology (1999-2002), and Director of Marketing and Business Development for Northwestern University Evanston Research Park. She has mentored with EFN for over 12 years. Mary is a dual citizen. She is President of Transmera AB, and lives in the US and Sweden as an innovation development management consultant and visiting professor.

Ravi Thomas

Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Ravi has held senior level executive positions at several startups. At CMU he teaches entrepreneurship and finance to students in software master’s programs. He is also an EIR in VentureBridge, a CMU accelerator based at CMU’s Silicon Valley Campus.