Angel Capital Association Elects New Chair, Vice Chair and Directors

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the world's leading professional association for angel investors, has elected Christopher Mirabile as Chair, Linda Lorraine Smith, Vice Chair and three new board directors, Faz Bashi, Marcia Rick Dawood and Tony Shipley.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150706/230681LOGO

"ACA is comprised of more than 13,000 world-class angel investor members and 240 organizations and our incoming Chair, Vice Chair and three new Directors represent some of the brightest minds in angel investing so we're thrilled to have each providing their mentorship and leadership to ACA and its members across North America," stated Marianne Hudson, ACA executive director.

Christopher Mirabile is a full-time angel investor and co-managing director of Launchpad Venture Group (Boston) and co-founder of Seraf, a portfolio management tool for investors in early stage companies. With more than 60 investments in startup companies, Christopher was named one of the "Top Angel Investors in New England" by Xconomy, and is an adjunct lecturer in the MBA program at Babson's Olin School of Business, a regular advisor and mentor to start-ups, an Inc. magazine columnist and a frequent panelist and speaker. He is a member of the Board of Directors or Board of Advisors of numerous start-up companies as well as several non-profits and he is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Babson. Christopher has served as a public company CFO with IONA Technologies PLC, a corporate and securities lawyer with Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault and as a management consultant with Price Waterhouse's Strategic Consulting Group.

Linda Lorraine Smith has had a distinguished public and private career and is an active angel investor. Linda has served three US Presidents, two Congressmen, one mayor and a Governor and spent 12 years in Washington, D.C., including working as Director of Administration in the White House's Office of Management and Budget and for two Congressional Committees on Capitol Hill.  Upon moving to Hawaii she became the Director of Finance for the City and County of Honolulu, responsible for a budget exceeding $900 million serving over 800,000 residents and visitors to Honolulu.  She was also a senior policy advisor to the Governor of Hawaii, where she was actively involved in tax policies that encourage angel investing.  Linda is a former business owner, selling the firm in 2003.  Ms. Smith has made investments through the Hawaii Angels and has been an active member of the Sierra Angels since moving to Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 2011.  She was recently recognized as the Outstanding Alumni from her alma mater, the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University.

Faz Bashi is an active angel investor and has a research background in Immunology and Virology from UCSF. He is Chair of the Angel Capital Association's Life Sciences Syndication group and Chair of the Life Science Angels (LSA) Digital Health & Sciences Screening Committee, and an active member of the LSA Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Screening Committees. Faz is also an active member of Berkeley Angel Network, and an advisor Springboard Enterprises. He worked at San Mateo Medical Center to develop and implement special clinical projects to help the underserved, including TeleDermatology, Diabetic Retinopathy Screening, and advancements in electronic medical records. He works as a consultant to Patient Visit Redesign on workflow process improvement for community health centers, and safety net organizations across the US. He is active on the Advisory Board of Tiatros, a patient-centered clinical collaboration platform. He volunteers his time with Peninsula Bridge program to help the underserved kids of East Palo Alto get inspired about their futures via education. He is committed to helping find treatments for Tinnitus, Autism, Lupus, and Vascular diseases. He completed several triathlons with Team-In-Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Marcia Dawood is a Managing Director in two angel investment groups, Golden Seeds (New York City) and BlueTree Allied Angels (Pittsburgh), where she is also the Chairman of the Education Committee. Marcia evaluates and mentors startup companies and investment opportunities with a clear emphasis on women led businesses.  She served on the board of directors of a company where she was a founder and legal/compliance/financial director giving her experience as an entrepreneur. Previously, Marcia spent 16+ years with Kaplan Higher Education Campuses (KHEC), serving as Vice President of Career Services and also in sales and marketing, operations, and compliance. She is a graduate of the Global Executive MBA program at UNC's Kenan Flagler's School of Business.  

Tony Shipley is a founder and Chairman of Queen City Angels (QCA) based in Cincinnati, and he is an active angel investor.  QCA is the parent organization of QCA First Fund where Tony serves as a co-manager.  QCA was one of the first angel groups formed in the Midwest and is an inaugural member of ACA. Tony brings extensive business and entrepreneurial experience to his role including serving as CEO or founder for five companies. Most recently Tony was CEO and President of CH Mack Inc., an enterprise software solution for health management applications and among his earlier ventures, he was CEO, President and Founder of Entek IRD International and CEO, President and Founder of Entek Scientific Corp. He received his MBA from the University of Cincinnati.

Visit "About ACA" for a complete list of ACA directors and leadership.

About Angel Capital Association (ACA)

The Angel Capital Association is the leading professional and trade association focused on fueling the success of accredited angel investors and portfolio companies in high-growth, early-stage ventures. ACA is the voice of the angel industry, providing comprehensive services in support of members working in angel groups, through portals and individually. ACA provides professional development, public policy advocacy and significant benefits and resources to its membership of 240 angel groups and more than 13,000 individual accredited investors. www.angelcapitalassociation.org; @ACAAngelCapital

Photos available upon request

Contact:
Cheryl Isen, Media Relations for Angel Capital Association
425-222-0779
Email

SOURCE Angel Capital Association

Related Links

http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org