SEC’s 44th Annual Small Business Forum

Brian Belley – Vice President, Kingscrowd, Manchester, NH 

Brian, an aerospace engineer turned tech entrepreneur, is Vice President of Product at Kingscrowd. He founded VentureWallet and Crowdwise, acquired by Kingscrowd in 2021, and has personally made over 230 angel investments across Reg CF, Reg A+, and Reg D offerings. Brian also serves on the Board and as Vice President of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA), advocating for innovation in capital markets such as regulated investment crowdfunding.  

Dr. Yunhao Chen  – CFO, Massimo Group, Plano, TX 

Zachary O’Neill Fallon  – Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, San Francisco, CA 

Zach represents clients navigating the intersection of federal securities laws and innovative financial technologies. He guides companies, investors, intermediaries, and other market participants on securities law compliance obligations and strategic considerations. Prior to rejoining Latham, Zach was co-founder and partner of a financial technology focused law firm, and founder of a crowdfunding marketplace.  He also previously served as a Senior Special Counsel at the SEC, holding roles in the Division of Corporation Finance and the Office of General Counsel.   

Aziz Gilani  – General Partner, Mercury Fund, Houston, TX 

Aziz is a General Partner at Mercury, where he has been leading investments in early-stage technology companies for over 15 years.  He focuses on investments in enterprise SaaS, Cloud and data science startups. Aziz is a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a two-year program designed to accelerate the development of VC investors. Aziz also serves on the Board of the National Venture Capital Association. Outside of Mercury, Aziz is a Lecturer at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business where he teaches entrepreneurial finance.

Troy Henikoff  – Managing Director, MATH Venture Partners , Chicago, IL 

Troy Henikoff is Managing Director of MATH Venture Partners and a Senior Advisor for Techstars. Troy was a Co-founder of Excelerate Labs in 2010, which became Techstars Chicago in 2013. He also helps manage the FireStarter Fund, teaches Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business and is on the board of the Chicago-land Entrepreneurial Center - better known as 1871. Prior to Techstars Chicago, Troy was the CEO of OneWed.com, the President of Amacai, and co-founder and CEO of SurePayroll.com. Troy built the technology for Jellyvision (creators of “You Don’t Know Jack!”) and was the President of Systemetrics. His first company was Specialized Systems and Software.  

Jasmine Jones – CEO, Myya, Washington, DC 

Jasmine Jones is the founder and CEO of Myya, an online, insurance-billable mastectomy bra boutique. A Techstars alumna and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, she has raised $2.25M in venture capital. Jasmine built Myya to transform post-mastectomy care through telehealth innovation, and her experience blending institutional and community capital offers a case study in expanding access to entrepreneurship and building healthcare solutions that center on real people.

Dave Lynn  – Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP, Washington, DC 

Dave is a partner in Goodwin’s Capital Markets group and chair of the firm’s Public Company Advisory practice. His law practice is focused on advising companies, boards of directors, and underwriters on regulatory matters, capital markets transactions, and corporate governance. Dave previously served as Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, and he is Senior Editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net. Dave also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a course on exempt securities offerings. 

Sheila Mikhail  – Founder & CEO, Jurata, Chapel Hill, NC 

Sheila Mikhail has nearly 25 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience. She co-founded and led companies such as AskBio, Bamboo Therapeutics, Chatham Therapeutics, and Viralgen VectorCore, all of which were later acquired by larger pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Pfizer, and Baxter. In further pursuit of expanded global access to healthcare, Ms. Mikhail recently co-founded Jurata. In 2017, she co-founded Columbus Children’s Foundation, supporting children with rare neurological diseases. After her 2022 breast cancer diagnosis, she formed BC-Ruckus to advocate for early breast cancer detection.  

Andrew Prystai – CEO and Co-Founder, Event Vesta, Omaha, NE

Andrew Prystai, a two-time founder, is the CEO and co-founder of Vesta, an event discovery and promotion platform he started when he was frustrated by the pain he felt organizing events in Omaha. Since Vesta's founding in 2019, it has grown to promote over 60,000 events across the country including for prominent organizations. Vesta has been recognized as the 2021 Tech Startup of the Year and recently completed the Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars in 2023. In addition to building Event Vesta, Andrew spends time working to improve Omaha’s ecosystem, including by serving on Omaha Chamber’s Board of Directors, Public Policy Committee, and City of Omaha’s Charter Review Convention.

Clay Rankin  – Managing Director & Founder, North Coast Ventures, Cleveland, OH 

Clay founded North Coast Ventures in 2006 as its Managing Director to provide early-stage capital to companies in Ohio, eventually expanding their reach nationally. NCV has seven funds with a current focus on B2B SaaS companies, raising over $100M (including member sidecar investments), investing in 95+ companies, with $60M currently under active management. NCV is one of the largest early-stage investment groups in the United States with over 500 members. Clay also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Angel Capital Association, chairing their Public Policy and Nominating & Governance Committees, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc. (NYSE) and TPA Stream Inc. (Chair). 

Nicole Washington  – Founder & CEO, Boralogix, Inc;  Member Ohio TechAngels Fund and TiE DC Angels, Washington, DC 

Nicole is founder and CEO of the technology consulting company Boralogix. She has been an active angel investor for over a decade as a member of the Ohio TechAngel Fund and Tie DC Angels, and is a member of the board of the Angel Capital Association. Nicole started her management consulting career with Ernst & Young, LLP and has spent time in the US Intelligence Community. As Director of Innovation and Growth at the non-profit accelerator Octane, she has helped small businesses identify strategies for successful start-up.

Keith Zittle  – Senior Associate, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, Denver, CO 

Keith advises entrepreneurs, start-ups, and emerging companies on a range of transactional matters with a focus on funding, formation, exit, and general corporate matters. He provides business and legal counsel to companies at every stage, including start-ups and emerging businesses, investors, and mature companies. Keith has represented companies throughout the startup funding lifecycle and focuses on growth-stage venture capital equity rounds, convertible note and SAFE financings, non-dilutive alternative financings, and ultimately, exits and acquisitions. He represents companies in a variety of industry sectors, including SaaS, HealthTech, Life Sciences, CPG, FinTech, and Ecommerce.