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 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 has spent over twenty years in sales, marketing communications, direct marketing, advertising, brand awareness as well as building strategic partnerships, alliances. Ray is a founding member of EFN and his mentoring dates back to EFN’s 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.

Alex Hehmeyer

Rootstock Software

Alex is an executive, entrepreneur, and attorney with CEO and other C-level management, Board of Directors, and M&A experience. He has experience ranging from restaurants to software. He is currently the Chairman of Rootstock Software a leader in ERP solutions.

Dinesh Katiyar

Accel Partners

Dinesh is a Partner with Accel Partners a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Palo, Alto. At Accel, he focuses on early stage cross-border (U.S./India) companies, in such areas as technology, Internet, and mobile. Previously, he co-founded was an executive at several tech firms.

Wayne Larocque

Partner at Acquity Ventures, LLP

Wayne is an investor and entrepreneur. He also mentors and advises founders on company formation, fundraising and business development strategy. Wayne’s has worked iin Africa, Europe and in industries as diverse as sports, food, cosmetics, and clean tech.

Ruby Lee

Co-Founder & CTO at Juni Learning

Ruby is 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.

DEBORAH BARTLETT MACARTHUR

EFN Founder
The MacArthur Company – USA and Morocco

Deborah has worked in global consulting environments for 35+ years across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. 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. 

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.

Ralph Poole

Adjunct Faculty, Columbia University

Ralph teaches courses in Findability and Innovation and Digital Product Innovation. In his career, he has held executive positions at Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Ernst & Young, Capgemini and Iknow LLC.

Dr. Mary Spaeth

Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin

Mary is an assistant professor of entrepreneurship and international business at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. With 30 years of experience with start-ups, Mary has served previously as Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Northwestern University Evanston Research Park, Executive Vice-President for ANGLE Technology, Executive Director of the East Sweden Development agency, and President of Transmera International. Mary lives and works in the US and Sweden

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.