Past Events
Invited Speakers
Antonio Martinez
Co-Founder · Normal Computing
David Goldman
Partner · Celesta Capital
David Goldman is a Partner at Celesta Capital. Prior to joining Celesta, David was an Associate at Paxion Capital, analyzing direct and fund investments across industries. While at Paxion, David took an operational role in the finance org of one of the firm’s portfolio companies helping to raise capital and oversee cash management in Saudi Arabia and the US. David started his career as an Analyst at DBO Partners, where he advised on M&A and capital raises for Semiconductor and Infrastructure Software companies.
Michael Marks
Founding Managing Partner · Celesta Capital
Michael is a founding managing partner of Celesta Capital, a venture capital firm focused on accelerating and scaling disruptive global technology companies. Prior to Celesta, Michael was a founding partner of Riverwood Capital, a Menlo Park-based private equity firm, and served as Partner and Senior Advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. He spent 13 years as CEO and then chairman of Flextronics International Ltd., building it into one of the largest technology companies in the world. Michael also served as an Interim CEO at Tesla. Michael served as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford Graduate Business School from 2008 - 2017, and is currently a Board Director for over 20 companies. He previously served as a Director for Schlumberger Limited, GoPro, and SanDisk, among others.
Nicholas Brathwaite
Founding Managing Partner · Celesta Capital
Nicholas Brathwaite has more than 40 years of experience as a technology investor, product developer, and executive. Prior to Celesta, Nic co-founded Riverwood Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments in high growth technology companies. Nic spent over 25 years as a technology operating executive, including serving as CTO of Flex for more than a decade, and most recently as the Chairman and CEO of Aptina Imaging. He previously served in various engineering and technology leadership roles at Intel and nChip. Nic earned a M.Sc. Degree in Polymer Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada and a B.Sc.(Honors) Degree in Applied Chemistry from McMaster University, Canada. Nic was also recently appointed Chancellor at McMaster University.
Sammer Richi
Business Operations Lead · Normal Computing