Meet Our Team
CapZone Group
Executive Leadership
Cody West
Vice President
Cody West is a Vice President 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 underrepresented communities. Prior to joining CapZone, Cody’s professional experience includes working as a corporate tax attorney for a billion-dollar, publicly traded corporation. In this role, he advised C-Suite Executives on federal and state tax credits.
Jack H. Jacobs
Co-Chair, USA Fund
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 ....
Chris DeMarche
Senior Advisor, Digital Infrastructure
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.
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Chris has a proven track record of M&A and technical due diligence and leading software product development (integrating both domestic and international resources) while growing start-up engineering teams into large global operations.
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Gene Huang
Senior Advisor, 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 ....
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Eric Rubin
Senior Advisor, Global Engagement
Ambassador Eric Rubin brings decades of accomplished diplomatic experience to CapZone. As Senior Advisor of Global Engagement, Ambassador Rubin works alongside CapZone’s investment teams to align U.S. national interests with investors to promote expansion of the Defense Industrial Base as well as support the development of human capital and economic growth in the communities selected for investments. During Ambassador Rubin’s 38-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria, Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Consul General in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and several senior appointments in Washington including two years on President Clinton's White House staff ....
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Kimberly Lake
Co-Chair, USA Fund
Chair & General Counsel, CapZone
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.
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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
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.
Ivan Shyr
Managing Director
As Managing Director, Ivan leads sourcing, structuring, execution and management of P3 infrastructure projects with a holistic and scalable investment plan to stimulate and create economic growth for historically under-invested communities, re-establish industrial resiliency in our supply chain critical to National Security, and deliver market leading risk-adjusted returns for our investors.
Ivan is a mission-oriented investor who believes purposeful allocation of capital can align the varied interest of capital allocators seeking market leading returns, strategic investors building competitive resiliency, and historically under-served communities stifled by systematic underinvestment.