Meet Our Team
CapZone Group
Executive Leadership
Gene Huang
CEO, CapZone Healthcare
Gene has a 30+ year career building health care businesses, focusing on health services companies, health plans, provider organizations, and most recently payment reform and value based care initiatives in the post acute setting for skilled nursing facilities. Gene managed home health care, and home IV therapy businesses, was COO of OptiCare Eye Health, and was President and Chief Development officer of a multi-state physician home visit company that was sold to CIGNA. In the health plan sector, he built the Medicare Advantage business from start up to an $850 million unit of Oxford Health Plans in the CT/NY/NJ market, was CEO of ....
Chris DeMarche
Digital Infrastructure Advisor
Chris brings over 30 years of experience in building large scale operations focused on technology development and introduction across a wide variety of sectors including internet, wireless networks, data centers, and advanced video enhancement. Past projects include scaling greenfield start-ups to over $300M in annual revenues and up to $5.5B in valuations.
Advisory Board
David Call
Vice President
Stewart Title Guaranty Company
David Call is Vice President and Underwriting Counsel at Stewart Title Guaranty Company, where he leverages 27 years of industry experience to structure highly complex deals for clients in real estate, energy, and P3 projects. Previously to joining Stewart Title, David has held senior underwriting positions in the title industry. Prior to his focus in the title industry, David worked at the law firms of King & Spalding, Paul Hastings, and Pullman & Comley. Throughout his career in insurance underwriting, David's expertise has ensured his client's successful ....
RuthAnne Dreisbach
President & CEO
Stratevist
RuthAnne has over 30 years of experience in corporate strategy, technology, design and communications, and, since 1998, has led Dreisbach Group, a boutique consultancy focused on strategic communications for capital raising, client acquisition and investor relations programs across the financial services, technology, energy and healthcare industries. She has co-led and managed communications for several sell-side transactions in the energy sector, working with the Rural Infrastructure Opportunities Fund (JV between Capitol Peak ...
Howard J. Krongard
Former Inspector General, U.S. Department of State
Howard J. Krongard served as Inspector General of the U.S. Department of State and of the Broadcasting Board of Governors from 2005 to 2008. As an independent reviewer and evaluator of their operations and activities, he had oversight of audits, inspections, and investigations domestically and abroad, including at 260 diplomatic missions in 163 countries and international broadcasting operations in 61 languages that reached an audience of more than 100 million people around the world ....
John C Ferrara
Chief Financial Officer
Squan
John has over 30 years of executive experience in strategy, finance and operations and has developed and executed business plans to raise capital, improve operating efficiencies and build shareholder value. As a trusted adviser, John is known for promoting sound business practices and financial accountability. John has experience as CFO at public, private and PE portfolio companies with a prior background at Fortune 500 companies and a Big 4 public accounting firm. He is also an experienced Corporate Director, having served on the Board of Directors and Audit Committees of four publicly traded companies. John is currently CFO of Squan, an industry leader specializing in telecommunications design/build services for network infrastructure. John holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Maryland and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University.
Stephen E. Flynn, Ph.D.
Founding Director
Global Resilience Institute
Dr. Stephen Flynn is Founding Director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University, leading a major university-wide research initiative to advance societal resilience in the face of growing human-made and naturally-occurring turbulence and, in 2014, was appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Security to serve as member of the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Council (HSSTAC). Dr. Flynn is also a Professor of Political Science with affiliated faculty appointments in the College of Engineering and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, and Co-Director of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern.
Formerly, Dr. Flynn served as President of the Center for National Policy, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, lead homeland security ....
Dale Fredston
Member of the Board
Metropolitan Commercial Bank
Dale Fredston brings over 30 years of experience as a corporate lawyer in the financial services industry, together with a passion for improving communities. She currently serves on the board of Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a full-service bank headquartered in New York City, and its newly public company, Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. She chairs the governance committee and is a member of the audit and risk committees. Previously, she was General Counsel of Sterling National Bank, a growing regional bank, and its public holding company. As a member of the executive team, Dale focused on mergers and acquisitions, as well as risk management, governance, regulatory compliance, and financing. Her experience in raising capital, investment management, commercial real estate, and community development will inform CapZone’s investments.
Max T. Holtzman
Principal
Pontos Acqua Advisory
Principal at Pontos Aqua Advisory, Max Holtzman focuses on developing early stage companies and projects, including Pontos’ unique risk-focused RAS platform, as well as leading its institutional and governmental advisory work. Mr. Holtzman is a founding officer of Stronger America through Seafood, which strives to increase the U.S. production of healthy, sustainable and affordable seafood. Formerly, Mr. Holtzman was Vice Chairman of Capitol Peak Asset Management, where he focused on developing infrastructure projects and companies in Rural America. Prior to Capitol Peak, Mr. Holtzman was appointed by the President of the United States as the Senior Advisor to the United States Secretary of Agriculture. For six years, Mr. Holtzman advised ....
Jack H. Jacobs
Principal
The Fitzroy Group
Jack Jacobs earned the Medal of Honor, the highest and most prestigious military award, for his acts of valor during the Vietnam War in 1968. Currently a principal at The Fitzroy Group, an investment and residential real estate development firm in London, Jack Jacobs is a retired Colonel who served 21 years in the United States Army, including as a faculty member at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and at the National War College in Washington, D.C., and received multiple honors, including two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts. Following his military retirement, Jack founded AutoFinance Group, a pioneer of securitized debt instruments, and served as Chief Operating Officer. He then worked as a Managing Director at Bankers Trust, overseeing the firm’s foreign ....
Gus Spathis
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
The Xogito Group
Gus Spathis is the founder & CEO of The Xogito Group, a product development and management consulting firm, focused on startups, business transformation and advisory services in emerging technologies. Prior to the Xogito Group he co-founded CE Interactive. Prior to CE Interactive, Gus honed his leadership skills at many high profile startups and larger companies working with a wide range of clients, including while at Poppe-Tyson Interactive, he led technology teams that delivered a number of groundbreaking projects for a variety of clients such as ....
Margaret Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer
Sullivan Strategy
Margaret Sullivan is CEO of Sullivan Strategy, an advisory firm focused on investment analysis and corporate growth strategies, and is also a fellow at University of California, Berkeley's Blum Center for Developing Economies. From 2011 to 2014, Sullivan served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff at the United States Agency for International Development and, previously, she served as Director of Political Risk Management at Farallon Capital Management, in San Francisco, California.
Sullivan began her federal career on Capitol Hill, where she served in a variety of positions including as a Staff Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and as National Security Adviser to the House Majority Leader.
Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger
Research Affiliate and Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger is a Research Affiliate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, a Fellow of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy and of MIT Connection Science, Adjunct Professor at the Imperial College Business School, Senior Fellow of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Formerly with IBM for 37 years, Dr. Wladawsky-Berger led a number of IBM’s innovation and technical strategy initiatives, including the Internet, Supercomputing and Linux. Advised Citigroup, HBO and MasterCard on Digital Strategy. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger is also a Distinguished Associate of the Energy Futures Initiative, an Advisory Board member of USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab and of AiRo Digital ....
William F. Wechsler
Senior Advisor, Middle East Programs
The Atlantic Council
William Wechsler has joined CapZone’s Advisory Board because the new law providing for Opportunity Zones offers a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring capital into low-income communities. Currently working as Senior Advisor with The Atlantic Council to promote constructive leadership and engagement in the Middle East, and Interim Director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Will’s career has moved back and forth between the financial industry and government service. He was most recently Vice Chairman of Capitol Peak Asset Management and was previously Managing Director of Greenwich Associates, where he led the firm’s asset management sector. He is a CFA charter holder and also holds the Series 7 and Series 63 ....
Kimberly Lake
Chair of the Board & General Counsel
Kimberly is committed to build CapZone’s national investment program in Opportunity Zones to drive human, intellectual and financial capital to invest in low income communities. To implement its business plan, she applies effective corporate governance and structures public and private relationships. Previously as Managing Director and General Counsel of Capitol Peak Asset Management, she leveraged her experience as a corporate attorney with public sector initiatives to support the firm’s investment and advisory activities.
Al Puchala
Chief Executive Officer
Throughout his 35-year finance career, Al has been an advocate and practitioner for positive social impact investing at scale. As CEO of CapZone, Al combines his expertise and experience to develop a new asset class, Opportunity Zones, to connect profits to purpose nationally. Previously, as an investment banker, private equity investor, strategic financial advisor and creator of market based government related partnership initiatives, he has invested and advised domestic and international parties on complex strategic financial assignments ...
Jonathan Ewert
Chief Executive Officer
CapZone Analytics
Jonathan joins CapZone with a 20-year track record of unlocking new revenue streams and accelerating growth across a variety of companies. As an Operating Partner of multiple Private Equity firms, Jonathan has served in executive and Board roles across a variety of public and PE-backed tech-enabled service sectors including software-as-a-service, location data management, market research, internet infrastructure, digital media, education technology, and social networks.
Charles T. Lake II
Chief Financial Officer
Charles T. Lake II (Chip), joining CapZone as Chief Financial Officer, has over 20 years of experience leading transactions and managing investments in the telecommunications, IT and media industries. Currently Managing Director of Signal Equity Partners, a private equity investment firm in New York, he has led leveraged buy-outs, roll-ups, restructurings and secondary purchases of investment portfolios and alternative assets. He has served as a Board member for Signal’s investments, and acted as the operational partner of the fund in charge of fund financials, audits, tax preparation and communications with Limited Partners. With extensive experience in company operations and analytical situations, he leads ....
Yvonne Peterson
Executive Vice President
Deputy General Counsel
Government Affairs
Yvonne combines strategic communication skills with her knowledge of legislative and regulatory affairs to broaden and enhance CapZone’s relationships between key public and private stakeholders. From advocacy to execution stages, Yvonne coordinates with the business team on issues of consensus and solutions to complex legislative and regulatory problems. Her client management experience at the Law Department of Delta Air Lines, supported by her JD from Georgia State University and BS in Psychology from the University of Florida, equip her with the skills to promote and protect CapZone’s interests. She is a Member of the CT, GA, and DC Bars.
Cody West
Senior Investment Associate
Cody West is a Senior Investment Associate at CapZone. Cody supports the CapZone investment team with transaction strategy, sourcing, due diligence and execution, as well as monitoring of CapZone’s portfolio companies. Introduced to Opportunity Zones in 2019 as a summer analyst with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Cody realized he wanted to dedicate his professional career to bringing Opportunity Zone investments to scale for low-income communities. Prior to joining CapZone, Cody’s professional experience includes working as a tax attorney for a billion-dollar, publicly traded B2B company. In this role, he advised C-Suite Executives on how to qualify their innovative products and developments for federal and state tax credits.
Robbi J. Jones
President
Kipling Jones & Co
As founder and president of Kipling Jones & Co., Robbi Jones brings three decades of investment banking expertise to Kipling Jones & Co.’s clients. Kipling Jones & Co., a Texas woman-owned, full service regional investment banking firm, specializes in providing investment banking services to the public sector, as well as private institutions which further economic development throughout the nation. Robbi is developing alternative methods of financing infrastructure projects, including innovative uses of public private partnerships as well as initiatives which incorporate participation by philanthropic institutions. Since the creation of the national Opportunity Zone program in late 2017, Ms. Jones has actively worked with clients to structure optimal capital stacks for projects that serve ....
Keith Mason
Principal
KWM Capital Management
Keith Mason is a public/private sector partner, attorney and executive board-level advisor with expertise in developing effective public policy to support major infrastructure projects. Mr. Mason currently serves as Principal for KWM Capital Management (since 2016) in Atlanta and as Senior Advisor to Oaktree Capital Management’s Transportation and Infrastructure Fund. Previously, as Partner at Dentons U.S. LLP (1997-2016), Mr. Mason was instrumental in building the firm's global market presence in transportation, infrastructure, municipal reform and government affairs, and, most recently, served as Co-Chair of the Infrastructure Practice. Mr. Mason has advised Fortune 500 CEOs, boards, elected officials and senior-level decision-makers on projects throughout the ....
Landon Parsons
Senior Advisor
Moelis & Company LLC
Landon Parsons has been in the Financial Institutions Advisory Group at Moelis since 2010 and has nearly 30 years of structured credit experience as an analyst, investor and advisor. He is the co-author of the "Moelis Blueprint for Restoring Safety and Soundness to the GSEs”. Previously, Mr. Parsons was a member of the Mortgage Special Situations Group at Goldman Sachs, which he joined in 2008 after seven years as Managing Director at C-BASS, an affiliate of Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation and Radian, where he was responsible for investing and managing structured products in non-agency and subprime RMBS, CMBS and ABS. Mr. Parsons also served as Managing Director and Co-Head of Structured Finance for CGA Investment Management and as a Senior .....
James Seymour
Managing Partner
Pontefract Global Strategies, LLC
Mr. Seymour has over 40 years of investment experience in international and emerging markets through 18 years at Bankers Trust living and working in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, and Latin America; 13 years at Commonfund Capital managing private equity funds of funds; 4 years at EMP Global, a Washington based emerging markets private equity firm; and since 2010, with Pontefract Global Strategies, LLC (PGS). PGS advises private equity firms with a focus on social impact investing in frontier emerging markets on global best practices.
Rob Simmelkjaer
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Persona
Rob Simmelkjaer is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Persona, a multi-channel video platform launched in early 2019 that will produce and distribute interviews and conversations across a wide spectrum of topics, including law, media, journalism and politics. From 2011 to 2019, Rob was the Senior Vice President of NBC Sports Ventures, the new business development and investment arm of the NBC Sports Group. In this role, he launched numerous new business, including NBC Sports’ radio and podcasting business, its esports business ....