Early-Stage Venture Capital for Private Clients

Douglas Cumming, CFA, is the DeSantis Distinguished Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at the Florida Atlantic University College of Business. Previously, he was a professor and the Ontario Research Chair at York University’s Schulich School of Business. Professor Cumming has also held visiting appointments at Essex Business School, Kobe University, and EMLyon, among others. He has published 18 academic books and over 150 articles in leading refereed academic journals in finance, management, law, and economics. Professor Cumming is the founding editor of Annals of Corporate Governance, a former co-editor of Finance Research Letters and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and an associate editor for numerous academic journals. He is a regular speaker at academic and industry conferences around the world and has recently given keynote speeches at the INFINITI Conference on International Finance, the Vietnam Symposium in Banking and Finance, and the Humboldt University of Berlin Fintech Conference. Professor Cumming earned a bachelor of commerce in economics and finance (with honors) from McGill University, an MA in economics from Queen’s University, and a JD and a PhD in economics and finance from the University of Toronto.

Sebastian Dovey is an entrepreneur, a thought leader, an angel investor, and a board adviser in the fields of global wealth management, consumer insight, scale-up companies, and business management. He cofounded Scorpio Partnership, a global management consultancy and insight data business that was acquired by Aon PLC. Mr. Dovey is a non-executive director of Milamber Ventures Plc, FiComm, and the Entrepreneur Investment Office. He is an associate director of Silver Lane, a director of Angel Academe Nominee, and the external board adviser for a Nordic wealth management enterprise. Mr. Dovey advises two wealthy families on the strategic growth of their investment offices. He has 25 years of experience developing strategies for private banks, global banks, asset managers, family offices, technology firms, service providers, aggregators, and startup initiatives. Mr. Dovey won the WealthBriefing Thought Leader of the Year award and is Thought Leader in Residence for Fitch Learning. He is on the editorial board of WealthBriefing and is a regular commentator on the wealth management industry in the press and at conferences. Mr. Dovey earned a first class BA (hons.) degree in modern history from University College London and an MSc (econ.) with distinction from the London School of Economics.

Patricia Wexler is a managing director at Starlight Ventures LLC. Previously, she served as executive director at the RAMP Foundation and as a managing director at Tembo Capital. She has served as head of international business development at Locaweb and as a principal at Elevation Partners. Ms. Wexler has also served as manager of corporate strategic planning at the Walt Disney Company and head of business development, Brazil, at DeRemate.com. In addition, she has worked as a senior analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Wexler earned a BS in manufacturing engineering from the Universidad Simón Bolívar and an MBA from Harvard Business School.