Manhattan Venture Partners Announces Board of Advisors

NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Manhattan Venture Partners, the research-driven merchant bank specializing in the secondary market for late stage private technology companies, today announced the formation of its board of advisors to strategically assist the company as it builds its business in the emerging secondary market, effective immediately.  MVP has tapped seven industry leaders to the Board and will appoint several others in the coming months. Today's announcement comes on the heels of MVP's formal launch into the marketplace on January 27, 2015.

The Board of Advisors will provide strategic guidance, executive leadership, industry expertise, and will further develop the firm's professional network in order to better serve its current clients and develop new client relationships.

"The creation of MVP's Board of Advisors, whose breadth of experience is unmatched, will allow the firm to solidify its presence in the secondary market and help with the firm's expansion into key markets," said Jared Carmel, Managing Partner of Manhattan Venture Partners. "Our Board of Advisors has the experience to assist MVP in implementing our growth strategy and assist our clients to provide value added support."

The Board affirmed, "This is an exciting time for Manhattan Venture Partners – the company's unique approach represents a new way of doing business in the secondary market, one that is being widely embraced by leading technology companies. We look forward to working with the company, and bringing our collective experience and insight to help position them as the leading merchant bank focused on secondary market transactions."

The members of the Board of Advisors include: 

Rob Auten, is the founder and CEO of Hexagram Systems, a NYC-based technology corporation that is creating a backend for connected and immersive experiences. Hexagram's partners include the Intel/Vice Creator's Project and the Marvel comics superhero franchise X-Men.  Mr. Auten is an established creative leader in interactive media who has served as lead writer on several billion-dollar gaming franchises including Gears of War, Electronic Arts's Battlefield, and forthcoming projects for Microsoft and Disney.  Mr. Auten previously supervised interactive production for 20th Century Fox Studios, working closely with filmmakers and game studios on projects including Aliens, Ice Age, and James Cameron's Avatar.

Dr. Elena Branson has over 12 years of experience in Financial Risk and Derivative Instruments. For the past 10 years, she has developed trading strategies in derivatives, fixed income products and commodities. Dr. Branson conducted research on risk premiums and implemented CIP and Asymmetric Modified TAR Models as a Research Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute of Monetary Research (HKMA).

Zack Exley is a long-time innovator across the fields of technology, politics, fundraising, organizing and social media. He currently leads the "organizing practice" at the global IT consultancy, ThoughtWorks. The organizing practice works with economically and political disadvantaged groups around the world on a pro-bono basis to invent new technologies that increase their power of self-determination.  Previously, Mr. Exley was the Chief Community Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation.

Bill Kurtz is the Bloom Energy Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer.  Mr. Kurtz has accumulated 35 years of total experience and has served primarily as a COO/CCO & CFO for fast growth public and private companies headquartered in the Silicon Valley for the past 16 years and spent the first 19 years of his career on the east coast, primarily with AT&T and PriceWaterhouse.   Mr. Kurtz joined his current company, Bloom Energy in March 2008, as its Chief Commercial & Financial Officer.  Additionally, he operates as the President of Bloom's Power Purchase Agreement subsidiary.

Catherine Levene is the Co-Founder and CEO of Artspace.com the premier online marketplace for contemporary art. Ms. Levene is a digital media innovator with over fifteen years experience building successful online media companies.  Prior to Artspace, Ms. Levene was the Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of DailyCandy (sold to Comcast in 2009.)  She served as Senior Vice President of Product and General Manager of content and distribution for TheFind.com. She spent over seven years on the executive team at New York Times Digital (NYTD), building the online properties of the New York Times Company, including nytimes.com.  Early in her career she was the Director of Business Development for Firefly Network, Inc, the company that pioneered the first consumer application of collaborative filtering, the technology underlying ecommerce recommendation engines all over the Internet today. Ms. Levene currently advises early stage Internet companies, sits on the boards of TheFind.com and is an advisor to LearnVest.com and Rent the Runway.  Ms. Levene received a B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania and, concurrently, a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business in 1992. She earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1996. 

Lisa Manuele is a broadly focused CEO/Operating Executive who has demonstrated comprehensive leadership in global marketing and business development in financial services and technology.  Ms. Manuele recently served as Partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Sire Management Corporation, a fund of hedge funds. In 2000, Ms. Manuele joined The Bank of New York – BNY ESI as CEO of BNY International and Global Division Head of Transition Management, upon the acquisition of her global trading and technology firms, GENA, Inc. and GTMS, LLC. She has enjoyed two successful corporate exits of businesses she has founded. Ms. Manuele is a former Board Member and Director of Global Execution Technologies Ltd, Bermuda, G-Trade Ltd; Bermuda; BNY Securities Limited, London; BNY Capital Markets Limited, London, and Global Execution Network Associates, Inc., New York. She also served as a Founding Director of Capital for Good, a 501c3 dedicated to humanitarian causes and currently serves as a Director of the 501c3, VCG - Volunteer Corporate Governance

Stephen Siegel is Chairman of Global Brokerage, advising major corporations and property owners on a broad range of real estate issues.  Mr. Siegel was featured in the Urban Land Institute's book, Leadership Legacies: Lessons Learned from Ten Real Estate Legends. Mr. Siegel was honored with Commercial Property News' Lifetime Achievement Award and named by Crain's as one of the 100 Most Influential Business Leaders in New York City. Prior to the merger with CBRE, as Chairman and CEO of Insignia/ESG, Mr. Siegel was largely responsible for masterminding the global expansion of the firm, nationwide as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Latin America. In that role, he also managed a group that completed approximately $2 billion in co-investments in a wide range of U.S. office, residential, hotel and retail real estate portfolios.

About Manhattan Venture Partners
Manhattan Venture Partners (MVP) is a research-driven merchant bank focused on late-stage private technology companies. We bring Insight, Access and Opportunity to an emerging asset class called Secondary Direct Market Venture. With a core team possessed of over 100 years of combined experience, we have established leadership in the direct venture secondary market. MVP provides direct and managed secondary investment opportunities, principal investing, and advisory services through its in-house and valuation team. For more information: www.mvp.vc

For more Information please visit www.mvp.vc or call 212.858.9900.

SOURCE Manhattan Venture Partners

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