Wayne was a Wall St investment banker and venture capitalist; owner/operator of the number two rock broadcasting stations in Los Angeles; Founder/CEO of the first utility wind energy developer (backed by Chevron); CEO of an international telecom that introduced the first direct dial telephone and wireless service to Moscow; Founder of two software companies. He is now CEO of ClimateCapex, a fintech platform for clean energy project finance.
funding
Kamyar Naficy, Founder/Principal KNECTCOMMS
Kamyar Naficy is the Founder and Principal of KNECTCOMMS, a marketing and communications consultancy to the finance, technology and fintech sectors. He previously worked in senior marketing and communications roles at JP Morgan, London Stock Exchange Group and UniCredit. He holds a BA from the London School of Economics and an MPhil (Masters) in Management Studies from Cambridge University.
Marwan Forzley, CoFounder/CEO Veem
Marwan Forzley is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Veem, a next-generation global payment provider that enables businesses to quickly and securely send and receive payments in local currency. Veem uses the blockchain as a new settlement rail to enable frictionless and inexpensive payments. Prior to Align Commerce, Forzley founded and served as CEO of eBillme, an online payment solution that extended online banking to the merchant’s checkout process. After selling eBillme to Western Union, Forzley joined the Western Union’s digital team as General Manager, eCommerce, and Strategic Partnerships. With extensive experience and expertise in eCommerce infrastructure, mobile payments, content delivery, and alternative payments, Forzley is one of the top entrepreneurs working to pioneer better payment systems.
Alex Marquez VP/Global Managing Director Experian Ventures
Alex Marquez launched Experian Ventures in 2016 and is currently the Global Managing Director and a member of Experian’s Investment Committee. As a leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world, we invest in data/analytics, information security, healthcare, automotive and the broader financial services ecosystem. We have invested more than $225m across the globe since inception. Alex was Managing Director with USAA’s Corporate Development Group and a member of USAA’s Executive Management team where he built USAA Ventures into one of the most active FinTech CVC after his first year. Alex created USAA’s Blockchain Working Group and investment thesis in blockchain [according to CBInsights, USAA was recognized as the first bank/insurance company to invest in blockchain technologies] and was responsible for the group investment in Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Saffron (acq by Intel), and CafeX, ExpectLabs (acq by Cisco), while establishing USAA’s venture brand in Silicon Valley. Alex was a Director with Intel Capital, the world’s largest corporate venture group having invested over $14B globally. In addition, Alex was co-founder and CEO of AppScotch, which brought transparency to paid mobile advertising. AppScotch was acquired by AppAnnie in 2016. Alex received his BS Electrical Engineering with emphasis in Semi-Conductor Physics from UNLV and received his MBA from Purdue University.